Yep, you guessed it – the reason I haven’t written a book review in…at least a month was that I’ve been reading nonfiction.  Yes, a single nonfiction book, even one that I generally enjoy and am interested in, will grind down my pace of reading 15fold (2 days->30).  So don’t take it as anything against this book that it took me a month to read it.  It just did.

A book like this just isn’t going to interest some people, so for the interest of civil discussion, don’t chime in if you’re not going to do any more than point out something like that.

That out of the way… the format and style of writing here was quite interesting.  It was very casual slash armchair-scientist, but not really in a bad way.  He lays out a reasonable case by way of all kinds of examples – there’s stuff here from a decent swath of academia: sociology, evolutionary biology, history, archaeology, biblical/Koran/Torah scholarship, etc.

I think there’s a central thesis.  He doesn’t exactly set out to prove it though – merely to show that it’s a possibility, which is an interesting take in today’s world of hardheaded side-taking.  The thesis -  I’m totally going to butcher this, so bear with me -  is that there are things that could be construed as  evidence, based on mankind’s sort of “moral drift” towards what we would generally agree are more positive points of view, that some kind of divinity like being may exist and if so, it is something like Philo’s Logos. Ie if there is a single “god”, then maybe it is a god that operates in ways humans can’t describe and all the various religions we see (he mostly focuses on the Mosaic trinity of modern big guns, but spends a decent amount of time on religions from most sizes & states of social groupings) are poor mappings filtered through the social animal.  Sort of.  Roughly.

It’s a more modern take (using lots of modern data and methodology) on an old, old idea, and it has a bit of bite to it. I’m not convinced of anything – and he doesn’t really set out to MAKE YOU BELIEVE HIM, which I think is admirable – but it’s nice to have another way to look at things, especially if you are inclined to see the spiritual in the natural world, but don’t buy into any of the “old men in the sky” religions.

There’s lots in here on the way social groups of various size use and benefit from religion, evolutionary reasons for doing so, and large sections on each of the Mosiac threesome.  Definitely worth reading if you enjoy this kind of thing (which I do, in small doses).

THREE AND A HALF STARS

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Oh wait, this was actually supposed to be a post about how I paid $16 for a cd that was $13 on Amazon because I’d rather have it now than two weeks later (free shipping).  And some kind of internal debate as to how much *NOW* was worth.  $3 at least, evidently.  Hopefully a nice illustration of why brick & mortar record stores should not go away.

Of course, I’m sure I could have downloaded it to my phone even faster, but assume I’m still living in the realm of wanting physical cds.  Because I am.  If I spend money on a cd, I want the damn plastic.  I’ve gotten more liberal in my attitudes towards computer games – I’ve purchased one or two of those with no packaging – but the packaging rarely brings anything to the table save waste in that arena.

but then, you know, the blog title just sounded like some kind of title of something somewhat literary, so I went with it.

The album in question was David Bazan’s new one.  David Bazan, formerly of Pedro the Lion and, lately, formerly a Christian – for which I find him even more fascinating.  That link was running at dead hampster speed last night, with each page taking 5mins to load (no joke), but it is still worth reading.

I’ll post a review once I’ve processed it, probably take a few days.  Until then, here are two Pedro songs:

Big Trucks:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjWd2rZQp5s

Criticism as Inspiration

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xu_CaAHuVJM

1. Man molests pre-pubescent boy.
2. Therefore, man must be attracted to males.
3. Therefore, man is gay.
4. Therefore, all/most gays are child molesters.

Now, of course we can all point out the obvious logical fallacy involved in traversing the gulf between steps 3 and 4, right?

If not, please don’t call me.  Ever.

Instead, I’m going to dwell briefly on the more interesting breakdown of the brain between steps 1 & 2.

Oh wait, first, lets run the same logic train on a man who molested a little girl (which never happens, right?!):

1. Man molests pre-pubescent girl.
2. Therefore, man must be attracted to girls.
3. Therefore, man is straight.
4. Therefore, all/most straights are child molesters.

Oooo.  It burns doesn’t it? It should.  If not, pick up your phone – and don’t call me.

An average gay man, just like an average straight man, is attracted to people on the post- side of that wacky, sticky river of puberty.   The entrances just don’t completely overlap.   Hey – no harm, no foul eh?

Let’s get something straight:

There is a huge gulf between pre- and post- pubescence.  You should not be sexually attracted to someone on the pre- side of that river.

If you are, you are psychologically, hormonally, biologically (ETC!) damaged and should be kept away from children.

THE END.

So please, TV ads and ignorant people in general, please shut the fuck up with the “protect the children from the gays!” bullshit.  Your logic is insulting, not to mention insulting.

Because shit like this this, blows my mind.

Seriously, click that link, and read the story. It is amazing.

Thousands of years older than the pyramids?  Wow.

You don’t have to believe the theories that people are coming up with to realize the find is absolutely amazing.  What’s weird is that it took me 16 years to hear about it?? I’m usually pretty up on this stuff.  I was reading lots of crazy cryptoarchaeology stuff in that decade and none mentioned this?  Maybe I just forgot.  Or maybe they’ve just recently started publishing?

Anyway. Read the story.

It is amusing how long it took McCain to reject Hagee’s endorsement (the 22nd).  He said things about Catholics and Gays but what finally broke the McCamel’s back…calling the Holocaust the will of God (which I think, technically certain branches of Christianity have to believe this, but I guess that’s irrelevant for the moment, although it does lead to interesting discussion I’ve had many times over the years about predestination/will of god/freewill/structure of time).  So, anti-Jewish sentiment is political poison, but anti-Catholic, anti-gay is ok.  At least the Catholics know how important they are to McCain;  I’m pretty sure the gays already know how they stand with Republicans in general.

Hah, and it looks like McCain had to reject another Pastor’s endorsement (see link at end of linked entry) later that day.  Hilarious!

Seriously John, maybe you should stop looking for people to make you look good, and just not be such a flip-flopper.  You know, try and make yourself look good on your own.  Because it doesn’t look like the endorsement thing is working out.  Although, I hear David Duke is always open to being courted for an endorsement.  You know, if you want that really hardcore religious white segment of the population.

I shouldn’t even have to point out that I have nothing against Muslims, but religion should have nothing to do with American schools. We went through allllllll that hooplah about standard “American” Christian prayer in schools…and we’re letting them force the entire student body to partake in religious activities on school grounds?

And, my opinion in general is that massive religious indoctrination does not lead to good things. See: The Middle East in general.

Really all they have to do is privatize the school and charge though.

I remember reading several stories about the increasing # of Muslim schools in the UK and some of the issues encountered. Unfortunately I haven’t been tracking them.

Here are two I just found at random: 1 2

You know, this makes me wonder what all the Christian fundamentalists will be saying in about 20 years when/if we start getting significant #s of Muslim fundamentalists. They are going to have to restructure their whole rhetoric of fighting for religious allowances in school & society. That is, unless they acknowledge the Muslim fundies as equals. Which I don’t think they should do because at least “our” fundamentalists aren’t FUCKING SUICIDE BOMBERS.  Prrrooobably because the Christian afterlife isn’t conceptualized as rewarding suicide, or suicide bombing….

If Americans aren’t afraid to to blaspheme their own primary religion, with Bush in office no less – Jesus Fucking Christ! (See I just did it, and no Americans are going to threaten me with fatwas and whatnot) – why in the world would they, or any other civilized country give a shit about your blasphemy rules? Grow up and join the rest of the civilized world.

The sad thing is the weird-ass blocks their ISP has set up are evidently affecting youtube traffic to the rest of the world. This doesn’t make much sense, as google should have local servers in the US, but hey, what do I know.

Oh, and just is case someone with zero skills of interpretation comes across this – I have NO problem with Muslims (or most other religions really), I just have a problem with religious fanatics in general.

One of the most important rights in a civilized country is the right to your own personal spirituality – hell, even earlier Muslims respected some other traditions.

Heretics – One story occupies the whole hour – it’s about a very prominent charismatic/pentecostal preacher, Carlton Pearson, and how his mega-church in Tulsa went to a mini-church operating out of other church’s space.

Take a Negro Home – two stories of black/white interaction.  The first is about a failed interracial marriage from the 60s – which seems to be like it failed because they a) didn’t really know each other and b) weren’t really open/honest/up front about shit.   Similar to my parent’s marriage – seems like many people from that time period just got married and never bothered to really be “open” with the other person.  I’d like to think our generation is doing it better, but who knows.  The pov character’s dad’s frat name was Omega Psi Phi (spelling?).  Say it out loud. Awesome!  The second is about a kid from a really poor neighborhood making the jump to an ivy league school.

First off, random quote from a post on a news article I saw somewhere:

A week or so ago I heard Rush Limbaugh play a sound clip on his show in which Obama used the word, “intentionality.” Limbaugh went on to make fun of Obama for using a non-word in the way Rev. Jackson has sometimes been known to do.

Of course Rush was wrong. Intentionality is a word that was coined in the late 1800′s by a French philosopher.

I bring this up to demonstrate how close to the surface racism is in many people. Limbaugh assumed that a Obama, a Harvard-educated, U.S. Senator, black man couldn’t possibly know a word he, Rush, a white ex-shock jock without a high school diploma, didn’t know.

When you think about it, it is remarkable that Obama has managed to get as close to the nomination as he has so far.

Media mischaracterizes Obama’s speech patterns in order to make him look angrier. This should be a surprise to no one. The media normally rapes most anything a candidate says, but this year it seems exceptionally transparent, perhaps because the bloggers/netjournalists are out there to point out all their mistakes? Whatever the reason, the extra accountability is nice.

Some brief commentary on the Jan 22nd Democratic debates. Does a nice job of pointing out some factual errors the debaters made, as well as giving evidence to back up some of their claims.
Transcript of Obama’s “big” speech at Ebenezer baptist. Yes, people have accused him of making a political speech in church on the MLK weekend but, seriously folks, did you think you were going to invite a presidential candidate to ANYTHING and not have it made into a moment? That’s just silly. Billary #2 was falling asleep (not that I can blame him, anytime I have to “sit and listen” anymore I’m dead in the water) and Billary #1 let’s see, what can we find having to do with her and MLK, oh yeah, that stupid comment she made about LBJ having a more important role in the Civil Rights changes than MLK. Yeah. Because he totally would have done what he did without outside pressure. I’m not sure what she was doing for the actual holiday, but I’m sure wherever she turned up was also turned into a political moment.

Oh yeah, back to the speech. I really liked it. Well written. I still have to sit down and watch the video to see the delivery.

Some science bits:

Now, not everyone will be excited about this bit, but for those of us who have had colonoscopies (and will have to have them again, maybe even this month), the prospect of not having to piss out of your ass for a day and then have a very painful camera shoved up the aforementioned orifice is a Good Thing (TM).

Ok, this isn’t really science, but it’s still cool: 50 years of Lego time line. I can’t wait until Z is old enough to play with Legos, Duplos should be soon! I just found a bunch of my old (small) Legos at my Dad’s, so when he’s 6 or 7 he’ll have all those to play with too.

The guy who invented the super soaker has something to say about solar power too.

Turns out the gene for blue eyes is a relatively recent development – and they can all be traced to a common ancestor.

Random stuff:

A nice blog post I stumbled across on atheism and religion. He makes some points I agree with, one of which is that there is no need for atheists to be so attack-oriented vs. religious folks. There’s nothing to be gained here. Religion isn’t going away, and you can’t make it go away, so best learn to live with it. It plays a vital role in the lives of billions of people. Yes, it should be separate from science, but that’s a different issue.

Some really interesting pictures from turn of the century Russia.

It’s always sad when celebrities get more done than government. Dennis Leary is trying to get something done about the horrible state of firehouses in New Orleans. Good for him, someone needs to and he might as well use his celebrity for something. I do find it funny though how celebs often get involved with causes that parallel the roles they play (he’s a firefighter in his current show….). I’m really not sure what that means, just that they “think” they know how people in those roles feel maybe? Or maybe it just make it easier to pick a cause?

That wacky Tom Cruise scientology vid that’s circulating. I haven’t sat through the whole thing, but from what I’ve seen he gives of an insane vibe. Like, mental damage of some sort. Which may not be surprising given the allegations of hypnosis & brainwashing in Xenu land. I’m all for freedom of religion, but if your religion is a silly, obvious pyramid scheme, don’t expect me not to mock you. Yes, most religions are pyramid schemes, but this one is really obvious. If you want a good net resource for Scientology related info, try Operation Clambake.

WTF? CANADIANS?? Ok, this one took me by surprise. That’s the last thing I would expect to be a racial slur.

Long ass essay – I forget what the deal with this is, and I’m too tired to re-read it. Something to do with Creationism, genocide, and ethics. And I think Godwin’s Law gets invoked at some point.

Play music at work? Get sued – See, the record labels repeatedly shooting themselves in the groin phenomena isn’t limited to just the US!

Dirk Gently radio show – haven’t had time to listen yet, but the books were good.

The future: jailed for what we read – Again with the scariness in the UK (see all the stuff about them putting cameras everywhere…hello Orwell!). This is to be expected in the current terror-scare world we live in. It is worth noting that myself and most of my friends had copies of this in High School, and one of my friends did get busted and had a fire marshal or someone come talk to him for having it. Mucho stupido.

God in the brain – very interesting article about neurochemical/brain stuff happenings re: religious experiences. I should note that I don’t think any of this devalues actual epiphanies. Just like I don’t think evolution or science in general has to be at odds with religion. But that could just be me, I’m a nice guy. I like getting along. It certainly will be interesting when we can manufacture these things reliably though.

More televangelist style money shenanigans – None of this should be surprising.

Lead poisoning responsible for violent crimes? – Interesting read along the lines of Freakonomics style non-conventional analysis.

Sold soul on ebay – A brief & interesting article about a guy who sold his soul, or access to at least, on ebay for $504.

UK minister (muslim-not that kind of minister) detained – Sad & funny at the same time.

Hemp fabric – Pretty groovy how long it lasts. I don’t know how this stacks up against other cloths though.

House whistles whistleblowers – Ouch! Could our government look any stupider?

Baby robot – and the human babies who adopted it.
Supermice (movie) – This is cool, and yet scary for so many reasons. 1) You know that shit is going to escape, and then breed like crazy in the wild, and kill us all and 2) You know other countries (and maybe even us) and doing this to humans.

Spagetti monster – it’s fun to point out pastafarians.

Canadian p2p study – summary: “…found that music downloads have a positive effect on music purchases among Canadian downloaders but that there is no effect taken over the entire population aged 15 and over.” SHOCKA!

Children & learning/praise – surprise! Effort wins. I’ve been saying this for years…if you tell a child they are overly smart (or not smart, ie. saying they have some kind of disability when they don’t), it can limit their performance.

Pastafarians attack! Good times.

And, last but not least: couple cheats with each other – ahh.  Gotta love the internet.