spiritual but not religious
Just think. You’re sitting at home (or possibly sleeping in), playing video games or surfin’ the web (or possibly taking care of that horrible stack of grading glowering at you on your desk), when you could be attending the Church of the Spiritual But Not Religious.
Doesn’t that look like fun and a great way to spend a Sunday morning?
I might need something to excuse procrastination and putting off grading, but I don’t think I’ll stoop that low.
They are not trustworthy news sites. They throw in satire and outright lies mingled with straight news, so that it becomes difficult to sort them out.
Here’s the latest that is suddenly popping up all over my social media. Louie Gohmert is a goddamn dumbass who says some of the most godawful stupid crap, and these “news” sites are highlighting a recent speech complaining about a bill that would support women in STEM careers. They “quote” him from his speech:
Gohmert also added that “women were created for one thing and one thing alone,” as well as that “we are insulting the Lord by allowing women to act like men.” “Women are beautiful creatures, no doubt about that. We marry them, we look after them, we provide for them and we love them, but that does not mean they are the same as us. It is the job of a woman to stay at home, to maintain the household, to bear children and look after them after they’re born. Nowhere in the scriptures does it say that women should be chasing after fancy titles and knowledge. The only knowledge they need is the one we men allow them to have.”
Outrageous, yes? Incredibly idiotic? It sure is. Only one problem: he didn’t say any of that. Really, I’d love to catch this fool saying something so blatantly inane, and so would a lot of other people…which Newslo relies on, so they made up the quote. Some of the cites quoting Newslo even include a video of the talk, which they apparently never bothered to listen to, because those words aren’t in there.
He says a lot of other stupid crap in there: he somehow thinks Martin Luther King Jr. would oppose the bill, because it discriminates on the basis of something other than the content of the character. He seems to think that racism is over. He is very concerned that supporting women in science would harm boys. And he riffs ridiculously on the idea that it sure is good that Marie Curie was not supported by this bill, because it promotes entrepreneurship, and apparently government support for that would somehow deprive women of the ability to do basic research. Gohmert is one of the lowest wattage bulbs in congress and needs to be shuffled away somewhere where he can’t do any more harm, but he did not say what was quoted.
There are lots of these lying “news” sites out there that rely on making shit up to stir up interest, because apparently the real idiocy going on in the Republican party is just not enough. Shut them off.
And jebus, if you’re going to quote something from a video, watch the video first to see if it’s actually in there.
I knew that ancient sculptors would paint their statues, rather than leaving them as plain stone, as we usually see them — the Philadelphia Museum of Art, for instance, is adorned on the outside with classical-style sculptures painted in lifelike colors, and they are amazing. It’s too bad the colors of winged Nike and Venus de Milo and all those statuary busts aren’t restored as well.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art is doing something interesting, though. Egyptian art was also painted in bright colors, so what the Met is doing with the Temple of Dendur is painting it with light, using projection mapping, to hint at what it looked like in its glory days.
Gorgeous. I want to see it. I want a time machine so I can really see what it was like, too.
Thanks, Dave Futrelle! Now I’m sleepy and nauseated!
It seems that Allum Bokhari and Milo Yiannopoulous (and an army of unmentioned, unpaid interns), those darlings of the discredited ‘news’ site, breitbart.com, have churned out a defense of the alternative right. It’s tedious and stupid and tries very hard to gloss over reality, but here’s Shorter Breitbart:
We aren’t racists, we’re just frustrated intellectuals who enjoy shit-posting!
Hilariously, the Daily Stormer has responded. Shorter Stormer:
We are too racists, and we hate you degenerate gay jew-boys and mud people! Heil Hitler!
A pox on you both.
I’d go back to bed, but now I’m wide awake and disgusted.
Now you can Powerpuff yourself! Unfortunately, there is no Mojo JoJo option, so this will have to do.
The resemblance is uncanny.
…or at all. I don’t anticipate hearing these phrases that comfort truly socially anxious much, and I just realized reading them that there are several of them I say often to other people.
Except that one about “meeting cancelled”. I love hearing those words.
Watch State Sen. John Milkovich make his case for creationism before the Louisiana legislature. He’s a Democrat. I’m so embarrassed.
This guy just sits there and lies his ass off, supremely confident that the truth doesn’t matter in the least.
Scientific research and developments and advances in the last 100 years — particularly the last 15, 20, 10 years — have validated the biblical story of creation by archaeological discovery of civilizations in the middle east that seculars said did not exist …
No, science has not validated Genesis. The Earth is not just a few thousand years old, there was no global flood, all animals were not created in a single week. Finding evidence of a civilization mentioned in the Bible that “seculars” never heard of is not evidence for all the miraculous poofing described in the book.
And what civilization is that? It seems entirely reasonable to me that the authors of the Bible would have good knowledge of contemporary cultures, and it wouldn’t surprise me if some obscure people mentioned in the Bible were confirmed by trustworthy evidence. On the other hand, some of the treasured stories of the Bible are being found incredible and lacking in evidence. The Exodus almost certainly didn’t happen, for instance.
there is some published research that a large boat or ark was found on top of Mt Ararat …
Published…where? On the web pages of Ron Wyatt? Because no, there is no credible evidence of a 4000 year old big boat sitting on a mountaintop in Turkey.
But hang on, here comes my favorite part of his argument.
the notion of instantaneous creation has been validated by the scientific study of heliocentric circles in rocks which is consistent with an instantaneous…I guess I’m asking this. Are you aware that there’s an abundance of recent science that actually confirms the Genesis account of creation?
He doesn’t say instantanous what — he just lurches off into more assertions. But still, I’m amazed at heliocentric circles in rocks
. What does that even mean? Is he saying something in the rocks circles around the sun? Or is this some strangely garbled version of Gentry’s bogus polonium halos claim, which, even if you believed it, does not say anything about instantaneous anything — he uses them to claim that the earth is young.
I think he’s just pompously pleased at being able to seem wise by babbling out a 5-syllable word. Incorrectly. Which makes him look like a world-class fool.
And no, there is no recent science that actually confirms the Genesis account of creation
. All of the science says that the literal interpretation contradicts the evidence.
Almost. I would love to have an all-electric car, and the new Tesla Model 3 has been announced. It looks good, but it’s not quite there yet.
Look behind the squid — I know it’s hard, why would you want to look past cephalopods? — and what do you see? That blurry poster in the background? It’s a space shuttle launch.
And now you know. This is a top secret program to train Euprymna scolopes to pilot spacecraft. They’d probably be better at 3-dimensional thinking than us, so it’s only natural. Quick, reboot Star Trek with a more appropriate cast!
Oh, I think it’s been done–the Thermians from the Klaatu Nebula in Galaxy Quest. Man, that was a prescient movie.
Librarians noticed something about their clientele.
Of the 5,000 people who visit the San Francisco Public Library every day, about 15 percent of them are homeless, PBS reported. After years of watching this underserved demographic float through to get Internet access, a restroom and often, just refuge from the cold, the library realized…
Wait. Before we go on, allow me to channel my inner Libertarian/Republican.
THEY REALIZED THESE PARASITES WERE LEECHING OFF THE TAXPAYER, SO THEY INSTALLED UNCOMFORTABLE CHAIRS TO PREVENT NAPPING AND REDUCED THE HEAT TO 50°F AND REQUIRED PROOF OF HOME OWNERSHIP TO USE THE WIFI AND PUT IN PAY TOILETS AND HIRED SECURITY GUARDS TO ROUST THE RIFF-RAFF.
Actually, that wasn’t their response. They realized…
it was in an auspicious position to stage effective interventions.
So, in 2009, the library hired Leah Esguerra, who is believed to be the nation’s first psychiatric social worker to be employed full time at a library, SFGate reported. Since the program started, about 150 homeless people have received permanent housing, and another 800 have enrolled in social and mental health services, according to PBS.
The success is due in part to the fact that the library has become a hub for homeless people, and that those involved in the program approach homeless patrons with empathy.
Holy christ, Jesus has returned to Earth as a swarm of librarians.
That is so awesome. That is exactly how a community should respond to the underprivileged and needy, by helping them.
Do you have to take a test for basic humanity in order to become a librarian? I’m not sure I’m angelic enough to ever meet the requirements.
And if that tingled your feels, you are now required to read this Superman comic.
