PZ Myers has a more visceral response to the rioting in Afghanistan, entitled “Shades of gray.” I won’t quote it, because it really should be read in full. What I appreciate most is that he identifies motivations such as honor and vengeance that obscure the fact that humans are murdering other humans in cold blood. … Read more
I’m not sure it’s actually worthwhile to delve too deeply into the mind of Terry Jones. He’s far from the only Islamophobe in America, and his reasoning behind the Qur’an burning wouldn’t matter too much even if it were abundantly clear– which it isn’t. A valid argument can be made that paying any more attention … Read more
The rioting continues in Afghanistan. The estimated toll is now 20 dead and more than 80 injured. Two suicide attackers disguised as women blew themselves up and a third was gunned down Saturday when they used force to try to enter a NATO base on the outskirts of Kabul, NATO and Afghan police said. Earlier … Read more
Rioters condemning America in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan Remember Terry Jones? Not the guy from Monty Python, but the Florida pastor who threatened to burn copies of the Qur’an last August in response to the building of the Cordoba House Islamic cultural center a few blocks away from where the World Trade Center used to stand? And … Read more
From the wonderful xkcd.com Poor Jen McCreight. Seriously. If all she did was post about things that offend her, I could understand people thinking that she’s too sensitive and probably a miserable person generally– even though, of course, there are more than enough offensive things happening every second of every day that documenting them could … Read more
By the way, the song I posted on Sunday I got from the Best of Bootie mashups, a series of albums consisting of tracks combining songs or audio recordings from the past couple of decades. They’re all free to download, and there are some definite gems in there. For example, did you know that Avril Levigne … Read more
Doesn’t care about the difference between a secular nationand a Muslim theocracy, and you shouldn’t either. That’s what Newt Gingrich is afraid his country will become by the time his grandchildren are adults, if people like him do not themselves dominate. The full quote: “I have two grandchildren — Maggie is 11, Robert is 9,” … Read more
The Psychologist‘s April issue is dedicated to psychology, religion, and spirituality, and you don’t need a subscription to read articles such as “The Cognitive Science of Religion” by Justin Barrett and Emily Reed Burdett. Update from the New York Times on the gang rape in Cleveland, Texas– it’s worse than we thought. Much worse. … Read more
Dan Savage reports that pro-gay marriage advocates are protesting outside the home of a florist who refused to provide flowers for a same-sex wedding: “Not cool.” Radley Balko points to a story of New Jersey police arresting five teenagers after a noise complaint…and then leaving them in the police van out in the freezing cold … Read more
Boingboing produced this video montage of deaths in the old school age of video games (Atari and NES/Sega mostly, for you young’uns). Along with the memories, the music is actually what makes it– it has a serene yet wistful feeling, bringing to mind the monologue at the end of American Beauty as though it had … Read more