Kitchen cosmos: the universe made from food.

A planet and moon made from glasses filled with water, food colouring and coconut milk. The stars are made of salt, cinnamon and baking powder.

A planet and moon made from glasses filled with water, food colouring and coconut milk. The stars are made of salt, cinnamon and baking powder.

Hat tip to Marcus for sharing this amazing art by Navid Baraty.

From cinnamon galaxies and floury superclusters to coconut planets and sugary stars, photographer Navid Baraty has cooked up an entire universe out of the contents of his kitchen cupboard. Baraty has said the ‘fictional space scenes’ are inspired by Nasa and Hubble space telescope images. Here are a few of his otherworldly confections.

For his Wander Space Probe series, Navid Baraty made a planet by scanning the bottom of a glass containing water and food colouring, and conjured stars from salt, cinnamon and baking powder. Photographs: Navid Baraty.

For his Wander Space Probe series, Navid Baraty made a planet by scanning the bottom of a glass containing water and food colouring, and conjured stars from salt, cinnamon and baking powder. Photographs: Navid Baraty.

You can see much more of this beautiful work at The Guardian, Navid Baraty’s Gallery, and the Wander Space Probe.

Wattlebird and the Interloper.

From Lofty. All photos are 1500 x 996, click for full size. Such a beautiful bird! This is a Red wattlebird, (Anthochaera carunculata).

Sitting at the window this morning I heard the “chirrup! chirrup” of the a wattle bird attacking its image in the driveway mirror on top of the woodshed. Once its mate arrived to watch its hero attacking the interloper the wattle bird had a quick preen and then rushed off.

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© Lofty. All rights reserved.

Ferrofluid Photographs, Wow!

Photographer Philip Overbuary

Photographer Philip Overbuary.

Usually CGI is used to fake reality, but Copenhagen-based artist Philip Overbuary uses reality to fake digital images, using magnets and magnetic ferrofluid for an experimental photo series called Ferro. “I wanted to create something that didn’t look like photography,” Overbuary tells The Creators Project. “I wanted to do something people wouldn’t believe was actually real. Like a dream, or a psychedelic trip—but it actually happened and could be captured.”

Ferro stems from Overbuary’s work as commercial photographer where an overwhelming number of his commissions request heavily Photoshopped and 3D-rendered images. He enjoys using analog technology, like oscilloscopes and TVs with antennas, so it’s immensely satisfying for the artist to use mediums like ferrofluids to create images that look computer-generated but aren’t.

Photographer Philip Overbuary.

Photographer Philip Overbuary.

You can check out two photos from Ferro in The Censored Exhibition at this week’s Copenhagen Photo Festival, or see the full set at The Creators Project.

Embracing Tech to Brainwash Children.

Lincoln Samuelsen, 8, from left, Alex Blair, 8, Michael Vukich, 8,  Sophia Rygiol, 8 and Sarah Powers, 8 sing a song to end Bible class in  Kim Kihm's classroom at Capistrano Valley Christian School at San Juan Capistrano. The class is beta testing a new $1 million Bible curriculumin. ///ADDITIONAL INFO: sjc.biblecurriculum.0219 - shot date 021716-ANA VENEGAS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER Capistrano Valley Christian Schools is developing and beta testing a new $1 million Bible curriculumin Kim Kihm's classroom. The program teaches students Christianity on a digitial platform incorporating apologetics, which will equip the students to use factual evidence based in historical documents, archeological finds and science to defend their faith. Kim Kihm teaches the curriculum on iPads.

Lincoln Samuelsen, 8, from left, Alex Blair, 8, Michael Vukich, 8, Sophia Rygiol, 8 and Sarah Powers, 8 sing a song to end Bible class in Kim Kihm’s classroom at Capistrano Valley Christian School at San Juan Capistrano.  Ana Venegas, staff photographer.

Some religious schools in southern California are using technology to prepare students to defend their faith against the scourge of “secular roommates” they might encounter in college.

Two Orange County families who wish to remain anonymous have donated $1.5 million to set up an Internet-based program to teach Christian apologetics — a field of theology that uses logic to defend faith — starting in elementary school, reported The Orange County Register.

“Our goal is to revolutionize the way the Bible is taught in Christian schools so kids will be firm in their faith,” said Kim Van Vlear, director of Bible curriculum development at Capistrano Valley Christian Schools. “We want to show why the Bible is true with proven evidence like science, archeology and history.”

They are worried about kids meeting an evil secular student in college. Is ‘paranoid’ an adequate description here? Serious shades of the notorious Jesus Camp here.

The program uses a variety of activities to teach students about scripture and biblical philosophies, including salvation, truth and knowledge, and the origins of the universe.

“The curriculum will give students the opportunity to learn, understand and compare and contrast the claims of Neo-Darwinism and the claims of the intelligent design thesis,” said program editor Catherine Waller. “We invite students to follow the evidence where it leads.”

Christian teens are becoming less engaged with their faith as they grow older and encounter tough questions about their beliefs, studies have shown.

“There are so many kids going to college and having their faith rocked by a secular roommate,” Van Vlear said.

[…]

The theology depends on confirmation bias, the tendency to seek out or interpret evidence to confirm a particular worldview, but school officials say the curriculum is necessary “to maintain cultural relevance.”

Full Story Here.

 

We Will Line Up For Crucifixion to Defend Our Bigotry.

Gov. Phil Bryant. AP Photo.

Gov. Phil Bryant. AP Photo.

Well, Misssissippi Governor Phil Bryant must be bursting with pride – he’s made Right Wing Watch. ‘Over the top’, melodramatic, dramatic, glurgetastic, none of these is an adequate descriptor anymore. A brand new word is needed.

At least week’s Watchmen on the Wall conference, Family Research Council president Tony Perkins presented Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant with the first ever “Samuel Adams Religious Freedom Award” for having signed a radical anti-LGBT bill into law earlier this year that will allow businesses to deny service to gay people.

While introducing the governor, Perkins said that America’s elected leaders should be “ministers of God,” while Bryant praised the hate group leader as something of a modern-day David.

[…]

Later, Bryant recalled how “all of the secular progressive world had decided that they were going to pour their anger” out on him for pledging to sign the legislation, wrongly thinking that he could be pressured into backing down because they were unaware that Christians like him would line up to be crucified before turning their backs on Jesus.

“They don’t know us very well, do they?” he asked. “They don’t know that Christians have been persecuted throughout the ages. They don’t know that if it takes crucifixion, we will stand in line before abandoning our faith and our belief in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. So if we are going to stand, now is the time and this is the place.”

Gee, Phil, did you ask all the other Christians if they are good with being crucified?

 

Onbashira Festival

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Held every 6 years in Nagano, Japan, the festival involves moving enormous logs over difficult terrain completely by hand with the help of thickly braided ropes and an occasional assist from gravity as the logs barrel down hills. The purpose is to symbolically renew a nearby shrine where each log is eventually placed to support the foundation of several shrine buildings. The event has reportedly continued uninterrupted for 1,200 years.

Onbashira is split into into two parts, Yamadashi and Satobiki, taking place in April and May respectively. Yamadashi involves cutting down and transporting the logs, each of which can weigh up to 10 tons. The logs are harnessed by ropes and pulled up to the tops of mountains by teams of men and then ridden down the other side. The event is exceedingly dangerous and comparable to the Running of the Bulls in Pamplona, where a brush with peril is seen as a form of honor. The second part, Satobiki, is a ceremonial raising event where participants again ride atop the logs and sing as each is hoisted into the air. Participants of both events are frequently injured and sometimes killed, but despite the obvious risks the tone of Onbashira is quite festive with lots of singing, music, and colorful costumes.

Via Colossal Art.

The End of Absolutes: America’s New Moral Code.

Barna_Morality_charts_v42

Christian morality is being ushered out of American social structures and off the cultural main stage, leaving a vacuum in its place—and the broader culture is attempting to fill the void. New research from Barna reveals growing concern about the moral condition of the nation, even as many American adults admit they are uncertain about how to determine right from wrong. So what do Americans believe? Is truth relative or absolute? And do Christians see truth and morality in radically different ways from the broader public, or are they equally influenced by the growing tide of secularism and religious skepticism?

Again with this “oh no, Christianity is on the very brink of extinction!” The hell it is. If that were the case, then why are constant attempts to legislate Christian bigotry happening every 5 bloody seconds? Why is there a never ending fight against Christian based hatred of this group, that group, every group but the Christian one? All this wailing and weeping over nothing.

While most American adults agree that culture plays some role in establishing moral norms, a majority also agrees “the Bible provides us with absolute moral truths which are the same for all people in all situations, without exception” (59%). There is broad agreement across age groups, which is surprising when one considers the notable generational differences on other questions related to morality. When it comes to faith groups, practicing Christians (83%), as one might expect, are much more likely to agree with the statement than others, especially those with no faith (28%). In fact, more than half of practicing Christians strongly agree (56%).

I am sick to death of Christian ‘morality’. There’s no such thing. What there is, is Christian hate. What passes for Christian morality is patriarchal privilege, sitting in judgment and ruling over every tiny aspect of others’ lives. If that patriarchal privilege is eroded even by the smallest amount, the wailing, weeping, gnashing of teeth, and panic sets in.

Americans are both concerned about the nation’s moral condition and confused about morality itself. As nominally Christian moral norms are discarded what, if anything, is taking their place? Barna’s research reveals the degree to which Americans pledge allegiance to the “morality of self-fulfillment,” a new moral code that, as David Kinnaman, President of Barna argues, has all but replaced Christianity as the culture’s moral norm.

Emphasis is mine. Once again, the fuck it has. Mr. Kinnaman, is the president of Barna, supposedly a non-partisan organization, who has written a book about faith and being a good Christian. So, we continue with the stream of melodramatic glurge from those who insist that Christianity is dying, slain by secularism.

The morality of self-fulfillment can be summed up in six guiding principles, as seen in the table below.

Barna_Morality_charts_v43

“The highest good, according to our society, is ‘finding yourself’ and then living by ‘what’s right for you,'” says David Kinnaman, president of Barna Group in Good Faith: Being a Christian When Society Thinks You’re Irrelevant and Extreme. “There is a tremendous amount of individualism in today’s society, and that’s reflected in the church too. Millions of Christians have grafted New Age dogma onto their spiritual person. When we peel back the layers, we find that many Christians are using the way of Jesus to pursue the way of self. . . . While we wring our hands about secularism spreading through culture, a majority of churchgoing Christians have embraced corrupt, me-centered theology.

There’s much more, including more graphs and charts, here.

Darla – #Absolutnights.

Screen capture.

Screen capture.

Absolut Vodka’s #AbsolutNights campaign centers on archetypes that don’t get much attention in traditional advertising…The newest ad in the series, titled “Darla,” features a guy at a music festival who runs into an old friend, who’s gone through gender reassignment and renamed herself. As they run the gauntlet of cool music festival stuff, Darla explains her experience in a teachable moment that honors the campaign’s tagline, “When was the last time you were true to yourself? Sometimes being open to new possibilities is all it takes.”

Reaction to this ad has been mixed, to say the least. The most mature response came from Unicorn Booty, whose editor-in-chief both slagged the ad for being a “typical cisgender redemption story,” which it totally is, and cautiously applauded it for being “one of the few [ads] from a major company that even acknowledges trans existence.”

Unicorn Booty’s response is a fair one, we think. Considering who Absolut’s preferred demographics are, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that the ad’s protagonist is a cisgender guy who’s cool enough to accept his trans friend. But now that we know brands are open to speaking to the trans community in a way that isn’t crass or insulting, we should definitely ask more of them.

From Adweek.

Trump’s Last Stand.

Photo courtesy of Rep. Kevin Cramer via Facebook.

Photo courtesy of Rep. Kevin Cramer via Facebook.

Ruth Hopkins at ICTMN has a scathing column about Trump’s recent visit to Bismarck, ND., and his happy little follower, the nightmare known as Kevin Cramer.

On Thursday, Donald Trump, flanked by enthusiastic brown noser Congressman Kevin Cramer (R-ND), who pushed for legislation that makes it more difficult for Natives to vote and threatened to “wring Tribal council’s necks” while making Native women cry at a state gathering on domestic violence a few years ago, appeared in Bismarck, North Dakota.

During a press conference, he couldn’t resist tearing into Senator Elizabeth Warren, once again referring to her as “Pocahontas.”

[…]

Let’s be clear: Donald Trump isn’t calling Senator Warren “Pocahontas” to honor her. He is using it in a derogatory manner, to belittle and insult her. This is what he thinks of Native people and women in general. Such statements are not only arrogant, they’re misogynistic and racially charged.

[…]

Trump shows us time and again that he has no respect for women, and by continuing to use the term “Pocahontas” as a racial slur, he is showing us his particular distain for Native people and women, especially. Because of stereotypes like the Pocahottie that fetishize and hypersexualize Native women, we continue to be preyed upon by non-Natives who see us as exotic objects meant purely for sexual gratification. There is a 1 in 3 likelihood that a Native woman will be sexually assaulted in her lifetime. Through Native provisions in the Violence Against Women Act, tribes are working to close loopholes that allow non-Native men to escape legal prosecution for beating and raping Native women on tribal lands. Canada’s First Nations are in the midst of an epidemic of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, a systemic problem that is finally getting the long overdue attention it deserves.

In spite of all of this, Donald Trump came to North Dakota, the homelands of Sitting Bull, where Native people are the largest minority in the state, and spat in our faces. He owes us all a sincere apology, but I’m not holding my breath. Trump has spent his campaign insulting everybody, including veterans and the disabled.

[…]

While in North Dakota, Trump secured 1,237 delegates, enough to garner the Republican nomination for President of the United States. Let that sink in. Donald Trump is so racist, that like flies to buffalo dung, white supremacists and the KKK flock to endorse him. This man, who doesn’t have enough self-control to hold his tongue for two seconds, could be in charge of nuclear weapons. Donald Trump, who never explains how or why on anything, has promised to use eminent domain to force pipelines like Keystone XL through tribal lands. He has said he would eliminate minimum wage. Native communities are already impoverished. You can bet that tribal funding will be cut under a Trump administration and trust responsibility will fall by the wayside as well. Not to mention, he talks out of both sides of his mouth and flips on a dime. The litany of disastrous policies he would put forth goes on and on. Do we really want the country to be another bullet on Donald’s list of failures? I’m Rez born and raised and I know a con when I see one. We’ve seen his kind before. Those who come to kill and destroy. Weaklings and cowards who fight with women. Trump is just another incarnation of George Armstrong Custer, and we got your Crazy Horse.

Full column here.