My friend Lou Reed came to the end of his song. So very sad.But hey, Lou, you'll always take a walk on the wild side. Always a perfect day.

War used to be something you could stand on the nearby hill and watch. Now we have total war; everybody's in it. We have total economics as well. Everything affects everybody. The Malaysian currency shakes, and people around the world are seriously affected.

When...did it become irrational to dislike religion, any religion, even to dislike it vehemently? When did reason get redescribed as unreason? When were the fairy stories of the superstitious placed above criticism, beyond satire? A religion was not a race. It was an idea, and ideas stood (or fell) because they were strong enough (or too weak) to withstand criticism, not because they were shielded from it. Strong ideas welcomed dissent.

No story comes from nowhere; new stories are born from old.

It is often said by religious people that without its framework, there is no sense of right or wrong. My view is that religion comes after ethics.

A sigh isn't just a sigh. We inhale the world and breathe out meaning. While we can. While we can.

When we stop believing in the gods we can start believing in their stories.