The animated version of Tim Minchin’s nine minute beat poem “Storm” is finally out! I first heard of Minchin when he was a guest on the Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe podcast a few years ago. He talked about this poem on the show, so I tracked it down on […]
Read MoreSuppositions
Human nature, by Junior Lopes Here are a few…let’s call them suppositions I’ve reached in the process of doing a very cultural degree program followed by a very cognitive one: 1. Perspective always matters. None of us are truly objective, because we speak from a perspective by necessity. But by […]
Read MoreStanding with the sluts
No, that’s not a character’s name from a take-off of Dances With Wolves. It’s a post from the blog of a Californian history and gender studies professor called Hugo Schwyzer, who writes about a great event with an unfortunate catalyst: This past Sunday, the world’s first “Slut Walk” took place […]
Read MoreWhat would food be like without artificial colors?
Cream soda, cherry, apple? Maybe. The New York Times thinks it knows: Naked Cheetos would not seem to have much commercial future. Nor might some brands of pickles. The pickling process turns them an unappetizing gray. Dye is responsible for their robust green. Gummi worms without artificial coloring would look, […]
Read MoreUpdate
Terry Jones issues a statement on ChristianNewsWire concerning the riots, claiming that “we should hold Islam accountable.” He comments under the name “Dr. Terry Jones.” Doctor of what? I have no idea. The Wikipedia entry on the Dover World Outreach Center says that “Jones received no academic degree in theology […]
Read MoreWill you quit making it about freedom of speech?
No, I won’t. Not when people in positions of power to do so, such as Senators Harry Reid and Lindsey Graham, suggest that perhaps they ought to take some sort of action against people like Terry Jones and his congregation for their blasphemy: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says congressional […]
Read MoreAfghans attack U.N. building, murder workers and each other after Qur’an burning
Cross-posted from State of Formation. 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 […]
Read MoreQuote of the day
From a day long past: “It was at the period of my mental progress which I have now reached that I formed the friendship which has been the honour and chief blessing of my existence, as well as the source of a great part of all that I have attempted […]
Read MoreA refusal to muddy the water
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 […]
Read MoreThe devil in Mr. Jones
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 […]
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