Month: September 2010

Equal Treatment

Dana Hunter

I’ve been watching this whole Ground Zero (and every other) Mosque kerfluffle with bemusement.  I mean, seriously, people, there are worse things in the world than a Muslim community center.  Take Glenn Beck, for instance. Believe me when I say that given the choice between an hour with him and a day with Imam Rauf, it’s the imam hands-down.  We’d probably have a good conversation, and I wouldn’t come away covered in spittle.

There’s been a sense that, to be a good liberal, you mustn’t say a single thing against moderate Islam or the community center, which is absolute bullshit.  I read an article at Butterflies and Wheels last night that rather put that in perspective:

Again, I can understand that point, and on an everyday basis of course I am pleased to see the emergence of moderates who are seeking to divert Muslims away from extremism, but, at the same time, to exempt moderates from theological and philosophical criticism on this basis is condescending to them as fellow adults and also reinforces a worrying notion that as long as a belief system isn’t likely to immediately result in a bombing campaign then that belief system should be beyond criticism.
[snip]
No-one would consider that their personal political views should be exempt from criticism just because they are non-violent political views, and it would be an absurd and worrying precedent to be set were that the case. Religion is no different. Despite the fact that religious people seem to have a lot emotionally invested in their ‘faith’, the fact remains that religion, just like politics, is an ideology, and as such it is a perfectly legitimate target for criticism and debate, even if it is liberal and moderate in its nature.

Criticism of the sort that we deal out on a daily basis to every other religion and bit of woozy thinking doesn’t automatically put us in the same camp as the xenophobic frothing freaks who are busy drumming up as much anti-Muslim animus as possible.

Some folks in the atheist community aren’t for the community center, nor do they have to be.  They don’t scream with joy at the grand opening of every Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist or any-ol’-sect’s newest building, either.  Most of what I’ve seen from our side is simply equal treatment – religion doesn’t get a pass, not even when it’s getting drenched in Glenn Beck’s raving spittle.  Not that we’re likely to be out there protesting, either, because when it comes down to it, Muslims have every right to build a nice community center for themselves in old clothing stores.  Or in Tennessee, or California, or wherever they may roam.  This is a free country in which you are free to waste your money on invisible sky daddies if you like.  We might critique your faith (sometimes starkly, perhaps even dickishly), and we might grumble about the idiocy of it all, but we’re not going to be out there vandalizing, burning, or otherwise damaging your property, and we’re sure as shit not going to be beating people up because they look Muslim.

Folks who want to lump us in the same category as the lackwits who’ve been out doing all of the above need to remember something:

Yes, of course we have to respect everyone’s right to hold irrational beliefs, but no of course we do not have to respect the irrational beliefs themselves. There’s a difference, and the difference matters.

Indeed it does.

As PZ says on this matter: “I don’t like the Manhattan mosque, but they’ve got the right — as long as I’ve got the right to point and laugh.”  This being America, and the Cons not yet having had their way with the 10,000,000,000 amendments they want to add, and all the existing ones they want to amend into oblivion, we each have that right. Though the frothing fundies don’t realize it, the freedom to worship or not, where and when one chooses, is one of those things that makes America the amazing place that it is.

So, Imam Rauf, don’t let the bastards keep you from building your center.  This is America, you are an American, and you can absolutely waste your time on outmoded superstition, if you like.  Good luck to you.

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Equal Treatment
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Dumbfuckery du Jour

Dana Hunter1 Comment

Mr. Alan “Social Security’s Just A Bunch of Cow Tits” Simpson’s at it again:

It was encouraging to see the Obama administration make it easier for veterans affected by Agent Orange to receive disability payments. This is a worthwhile move, and it reinforces the fact that this administration is committed to doing right by those who wear the uniform.
It was far less encouraging when Alan Simpson decided it was a good time to start mouthing off again.

The system that automatically awards disability benefits to some veterans because of concerns about Agent Orange seems contrary to efforts to control federal spending, the Republican co-chairman of President Barack Obama’s deficit commission said Tuesday.

Former Wyoming Sen. Alan Simpson’s comments came a day after The Associated Press reported that diabetes has become the most frequently compensated ailment among Vietnam veterans, even though decades of research has failed to find more than a possible link between the defoliant Agent Orange and diabetes.

“The irony (is) that the veterans who saved this country are now, in a way, not helping us to save the country in this fiscal mess,” said Simpson, an Army veteran who was once chairman of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee.

Oh, I’m sorry, are our veterans’ illnesses inconvenient for you, Alan Simpson?

Yup.  So are healthy, happy elderly folk.  In fact, Mr. Simpson seems to believe that the 98% of us who aren’t filthy stinking rich should just get off his lawn.  It’s rather difficult to believe that a former vet could be so callous towards his fellow vets, but then again, he served less than two years in Germany in peacetime, so it would seem he’s never had to experience any actual medical issues from his service to his country.  Perhaps that’s why he can so breezily demand that men who have already sacrificed too much sacrifice their health care as well.

It’s hard to capture in words just what a rancid piece of leper donkey dick this man is.  Put it this way: one gets the sense that Stalin might back away from him after the above comments, muttering in awe, “Dude, that’s harsh.”

Dear Mr. President: it’s well past time to fire his ass.

Dumbfuckery du Jour

SIWOTI Syndrome: Gabbro Edition

Dana Hunter

Lockwood’s scavenging me some lovely gabbro trim (and can possibly scavenge you some, too, if you ask nicely and pay your own shipping).  Gabbro is something I’ve wanted to get my hands on for some time now.  Y’see, my kitchen is white.  White cabinets, white counters, white appliances, so much white it looks like a ski slope plunked down in the middle of my house.  In the immortal (heh) words of Gina on Highlander: “I’m sick of white!”  I’ve slightly remedied the situation with a few brown marble tiles, but what I’ve really had my eye on is some gorgeous gabbro countertop tiles at Home Depot.  Yes, yes, they say they’re black granite, but we all know better.

For various reasons, I’ve never found the opportunity to buy them.  Now, thanks to Lockwood, I don’t have to.  O joyous day!

I decided to do a little piece on gabbro in honor of that occasion, but have been sidetracked by this howler:

When magma gets trapped in a single layer underneath the earth’s crust, it will gradually cool and form gabbro. Now if the same material were to be pushed up from below under great pressure, it would form granite. But then again, if that magma were to come in contact with water it would turn instantly into basalt. Are you still following me here? Gabbro, granite and basalt are essentially the same material in different forms. In order to form granite, magma needs a good hard squeeze so its component materials can separate and form large crystals. If magma cools very quickly upon contact with air or water, it will form basalt. And if magma is left alone for a couple million years it will form gabbro.

Oh, Paul.  Paul, Paul, Paul.  Go back to designing kitchens, and attempt geology no more.

He did get this much right: “black granite” is actually gabbro.  And he’s probably right about the finishes and so forth – I defer to his expertise there, since apartment living has never afforded me the opportunity to install decent countertops.  Closest I’ve been able to come is the current adventure in gluing bits of felt to the undersides of small tiles and laying them on top of the counter, and of course that’s just Not Done on surfaces where one wields sharp knives, as things may skid and lead to tragedy.  Besides, no grout = maclargehuge mess as various juices and so forth trickle between the tiles.  But I digress.  We were about to set the poor man straight on the difference between gabbro and granite (and, for that matter, basalt and rhyolite).

The difference, y’see, is rather simple.  Gabbro is basalt that cooled slowly deep underground.  Granite is basically rhyolite that did the same.  Contrary to Paul (who should fire his geology source), cooling by water ain’t got nothing to do with it. It’s all in the chemical composition, baby, yeah!


Let’s have a look at gabbro first.  According to my handy-dandy Smithsonian Rock and Gem guide, what we have here is a rock composed of calcium plagioclase feldspar and pyroxene, with a bit of olivine and magnetite mixed in.  Gabbro is low in silica, quartz is practically non-existent (duh, right?), and it’s also low in water.  It forms from the same magma that gives us basalt, those nice quiet flowy eruptions that create our sea floors and our Hawaiis.  It’s not common on the Earth’s surface, although it’s not exactly rare, either.


Now, granite.  When we look at the minerals, we know we’re already in much different territory: it’s composed mostly of potassium-feldspar, quartz and mica, with bits of sodium-plagioclase and hornblende.  Totally different animal, there, innit?  Quartz, of course, is our old friend SiO2, which means granite is very rich in silica.  Granite forms the bulk of the continents, and as far as intrusive igneous rocks go, if you stub your toe on one, you can guess with a pretty good probability of being right that you’ve just hit granite or one of its close cousins.  It’s common as dirt.  In many cases, it is dirt – after plenty o’ weathering, o’ course.  And when it erupts, we are talking rhyolite, which because of its high gas content and sticky silica, makes a great big boom.  You can stand on a volcano and watch the basalt erupt.  You would not want to attempt the same with a volcano erupting rhyolite.  It would be painful.

One other thing you’ll notice in the better class o’ rock and mineral guide: granite is listed as felsic, while gabbro is listed as mafic.  Felsic basically means it’s pale, light, and high in silica.  Mafic means it’s dark, heavy, and rich in magnesium and iron.  There’s more to it than that, o’ course, but that’s close enough for laymen’s work.

And my advice to folks who install kitchens: consult a geologist, or at the very least Wikipedia, before you venture an opinion on the geologic origins of the rocks you work with.



Photo sources: gabbro came from here, which has a very easy-to-follow guide to yer basic igneous rocks.  Granite came from here.  For SIWOTI Syndrome, see here.
SIWOTI Syndrome: Gabbro Edition

Dumbfuckery du Jour

Dana Hunter1 Comment

I don’t know whether to thank the Cons or scream:

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) has conceded defeat in her Republican primary, losing in a major upset to right-wing challenger Joe Miller. The primary was held last week, with Miller taking a 51%-49% lead in the election night count to the surprise of many observers. However, the final result was delayed by an extended period of absentee ballots arriving, with many of them counted earlier today.

So, this leaves us with yet another race in which the Dem will face not a staunch conservative lackwit, but a batshit frothing insane conservative fucktard who thinks Social Security and Medicare are illegal, would condemn states to fiscal ruin, and says “we haven’t heard” that humans are responsible for the current drastic global warming trend.  The “we” he’s talking about may not have heard about it, but only because their heads are so far up their own asses all they’re hearing is the sound of their own wind.

If I felt better about Dems’ chances this fall, I probably wouldn’t mind so much.  But the American public is in a throw-the-bastards-out mood, and I’m not sure many general election voters are paying attention to more than the letter after the candidate’s name.  This means that we may end up with a herd of certifiably crazy morons and one hell of a feedback loop.

Those who don’t believe things can get much, much worse are in for a very rude shock indeed if the Crazy Caucus finds its way to the halls of power. 

Dumbfuckery du Jour