Link round-up for 22 February 2015
Some NASA guys know how to have fun.
Only one of these stories is silly?
Jono Ottosson posts a photo series ranging from humor to philosophy, and a little NSFW.
See the striking diorama art of Ali Alamedy and Satoshi Araki (both found via GoodShit).
Here's a very NSFW memo from an inventory manager in response to a badly-filled-out shipping request (found via Mendip).
Check out this map of how religious the various US states are -- sigh, once again Oregon can't quite match New England (but we're getting this right).
P M Carpenter has a good quickie assessment of the Republican Presidential hopefuls.
This may be the stupidest company in the United States (found via Mendip).
Can we afford free community college?
Bullshit, this was no mere accident.
Rosa Rubicondior has an intriguing new view of the Biblical story of Jesus and the temple money-changers.
Really, Mr. D'Souza? "Boy"???
Air travel -- if the terrorists don't get you, the scorpions will.
Now that the fundies have lost their fight against gay marriage, here's something else for them to bitch about. And now that their campaign against Fifty Shades of Grey has imploded, here are some more books for them to freak out over (found via GoodShit).
Right-wingers hate federal regulation, suffer the consequences.
Catholicism in the US is imploding, and disgruntled Catholics aren't shy about voicing the reasons.
Shaw Kenawe remembers Lesley Gore, an early pop singer with a secret.
Ohio exemplifies Republicans' intensifying attacks on women's freedom.
Pushing back against slut-shaming means fighting the anti-abortion thugs too.
A Christian doctor in Michigan rejects a baby as a patient because its parents are a lesbian couple (an example of why I call Christianity the religion of exclusion).
Here's the most dangerous terrorist threat facing the US.
Leonard Pitts Jr. looks at Judge Roy Moore, Alabama's modern Wallace in the schoolhouse door.
Enforced fear-mongering is ruining childhood (found via Mendip, who is exasperated).
Why would a preacher with deep knowledge of the Bible abandon Christianity?
Even Megyn Kelly is shocked by Giuliani's vomitous Obama-hatred.
Must-read: Jim Wright turns his rhetorical flamethrower upon the ghoulish hypocrisy of the "pro-life" fanatics.
Here's an interesting chart of US religious groups by average age and education (found via Republic of Gilead).
Jeb Bush won't have an easy time with his party's wingnuts.
Pope Francis seems to be dropping the façade at last and letting his true evil shine through.
Britain doesn't have many hard-core Christians any more, but the ones they do have are nasty bigots just like here.
After an anti-Jewish terror attack in Denmark, young Muslims in Norway hold a human-chain vigil in solidarity with Jews.
First reports on the deal between Greece and the EU sound ominous. If electing an anti-austerity party isn't enough to roll back austerity, it's hard to see what other options remain except violence.
Sanctions against Iran continue to harm innocent people who don't support the theocracy.
Three words: "Hamas TV scientist". And the man's views are every bit as bizarre as his title.
What will be the fate of these Kurdish fighters taken prisoner by ISIS?
Egypt strikes back hard after the murder of 21 Christian Egyptians by ISIS sympathizers in Libya.
So, Islamotards, if you don't like Muhammad cartoons, how about a manga adaptation of the whole Koran?
The dawn of the computer age was more complicated and interesting than popular accounts suggest.
posted by Infidel753 at 7:00 AM
8 Comments:
Thanks for the shout-outs again.
Harlan, Kentucky? They need federal marshal Raylan Givens on the case! A Justified/Frozen crossover would be hilarious.
Those dioramas were lovingly made and so detailed.
Rosa is spot-on regarding the decline of the Catholic Church in America. The Catholic Church's decline fills me with schadenfreude in the wake of its child abuse and financial scandals. Its "Medieval repressive, misogynistic, homophobic, autocratic dogmas the Catholic Church" is unappealing to many 21st century Americans, and because it cannot adapt, it will wither.
There's another possible reason why the Catholic Church is faltering in the U.S. -- it fails to provide spiritual community. When I was a Catholic, the parish I was in had few clubs or events, and the priests weren't really involved in the lives of the congregants (unless they donated $$$, of course). Protestant churches are much more adept at making congregants feel engaged and welcome.
Rosa: Thanks for the great posts.
Ahab: A Justified/Frozen crossover would be hilarious.
I have no doubt there's a fansite somewhere working on it already.
What strikes me about the Catholic Church's decline in the US is what a role their anti-gay bigotry is playing in it. The Church has defused the child-molestation scandals more successfully here than in Europe, but homophobia is becoming as socially unacceptable as homosexuality used to be.
That joke warrant for Elsa's arrest was funny. It's nice when people can have a bit of a laugh like that (puts me in mind of that clip you linked to a few weeks ago of the weather forecaster who realized some of the temperatures on the map behind him were utterly ridiculous, and decided to just go with it).
Ahab: You're a Justified fan, I take it? I've been considering looking into that show myself (I need to fill the void that's been left in my life by some of my favourite shows ending); is it any good?
Interesting to hear you're a former Catholic. As someone who was raised in that faith myself, I view its current decline with mixed feelings. I actually didn't have any terribly bad experiences with it myself growing up, but I've become turned off it due to its archaic stances on a lot of issues, and the truly messed-up reasoning it often uses to justify those stances. I've sometimes heard Catholics complain that those outside the faith base their opinions of it on what they think Catholic doctrine says, rather than what it actually does*; ironically, one of the things that probably turned me off Catholicism the most was actually finding out what its official stance was on a lot of things, and realizing it was far more screwed up than I'd originally thought! Funnily enough, on some issues I've found Catholics just as capable of nuanced thinking as anyone else; on others, though (particularly anything relating to sex), they're depressingly dogmatic. I don't understand, for example, how some of them can argue that killing civilians in wartime can be justified if things have degenerated to a state of "total war", yet refuse to allow a woman to have a life-saving abortion if her pregnancy will end up killing her if it's allowed to continue.
*One place I've often heard this lament made is a site called Catholic Answers Forums, which is the place to go if you really want to see some Catholic craziness!
Infidel, as usual these are terrific links. I can sometimes get sucked into the comment sections at the end of the articles, but eventually some of the stupidity finally shuts me down. On my own I can only catch a few of them so I really appreciate the leg work. And thanks for the shout-out.
Zosimus: Yes, I always feel that somebody who can play around with things like that is something of a kindred spirit.
Ahab is a fan of some surprising things. I first heard of Unheilig via him.
I get my Catholic craziness here, and that's quite enough.
Jono: And thanks for the post! Comment sections on articles do vary greatly in quality, unfortunately. Teh stoopid can be pretty daunting, but we all need occasional reminders that it's out there.
Zosimus -- I highly recommend Justified. The characterization is rich, and the show does a good job of capturing the feel of rural American life. A recurring theme is how the main characters are shaped by their families and their pasts. Seasons 1-3 and 6 are excellent, but seasons 4-5 are mediocre.
Funny how Catholic doctrine can be flexible on some moral issues and rigidly dogmatic on others.
Ahab: Thanks for the recommendation. I'll definitely check it out!
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