Feb 06 2013
You’ll understand the reason for the title in a moment, although if you’re a Doctor Who fan, you’re already sniggering. Right, so, here we are. Due to my mad photo organizing skillz and an inordinate amount of British detective shows, I’ve now got a folder full o’ botany. I figure I might as well get …
Nov 12 2012
Since getting the Kindle Fire, I’ve been teaching myself the history I never learned. School wasn’t big on freethinkers (although they were big on paens of praise for the Founding Fathers – the real secularist ones, not the weird rabid Christian ones that only exist in right wingers’ heads). My education glossed the suffragettes. It …
May 30 2012
I’ve been reading the works of 18th and 19th century heretics. I feel cheated. My education elided freethinking. If mention of a freethinker was necessary, textbooks and teachers focused on something else they’d done, not the actual freethinking bit. This allowed Christians to slumber happily in the delusion that in days gone by, not a …
Mar 15 2011
Hypatia of Alexandria So I gets this message from Facebook, y’see – my Pharyngulite friend Cameron Cole inviting me to an event called Hypatia Day. Brilliant! A day for remembering one of the most remarkable women in history. We need more of those. And it’s worth punking off the Dojo till tomorrow for this. This …
Jan 17 2011
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Click the link for his “The Other America” Speech. “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” Don’t go silent. On this day, we remember the power of dreams. We remember the power of a great many good people all coming together for a …
Jul 03 2009
My cat may be homicidal, but she’s also a discerning reader. Here she is, drawing your attention to a particularly interesting passage in Guns, Germs and Steel: I’m not sure which passage it was, alas. Too busy photographing the cat. It looks to be the Epilogue, but I can tell you that the entire book …
Jun 29 2009
This is absolutely glorious, a beautiful tour through Thomas Jefferson’s house and his life. Consider yourselves invited. (Tip o’ the shot glass to mcjoan, who’s served up a plethora of interesting items.)
May 11 2009
Devilstower has a fascinating take on America’s political history, and comes to some conclusions that don’t bode well for the Cons’ attempt at a comeback: What the shift of 1992 represents isn’t just a dissatisfaction with Democrats, but the full integration of the southern base and the Christian right into the Republican Party. 1992 was …
May 08 2009
There’s this show called Warriors on the History Channel. This Green Beret guy named Terry Schappert runs around getting all misty-eyed with manly men all over the globe. His credulity grates sometimes. But what makes the show worth watching are tidbits like this, from the “Islands of Blood” episode: Terry: To navigate these vessels, Hawaiian …
Apr 16 2009
You’d think that people who yawp on and on about how they love this country soooo much more than the icky people on the left would know more about it. But when it comes to American History, they’re all epic fail. Allow us to consider American Idiots: a Comedy in Three Acts. Act I begins …
:)
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