Just in case anyone sensible in the Minneapolis/St Paul area feels like exposing yourself to the wild and crazy world of Minnesota creationism, here are the events coming up in February.
Many people sent me links to this list of bands that will turn you gay, but I held off on posting anything—it was too fishy. David Bowie, Melissa Etheridge, and Ted Nugent, sure…listen to a couple of tracks of those guys and you’ll only want to hang out with your fellow man. But Morrissey is listed as “?questionable?” and everyone knows the Grateful Dead make you lose interest in sex altogether, so I had my doubts.
Now Orac outs the author. He’s not a formerly gay televangelist; he’s a stand-up comedian.
Poor guy. I can sort of understand why he’d prefer to be known as an insane homophobe.
D. James Kennedy, head mackerel of Coral Ridge Ministries, had a very serious heart attack last month. He seems to be recovering now, and let’s all wish him well and encourage him to relax, enjoy the rest of his life, and stop standing up in pulpits and lying.
Strangely enough, though, this opponent of godless naturalism and materialism didn’t trust in prayer and faith when physiological catastrophe struck—instead, he took advantage of the best and latest medical care. Funny, that…do you think he had a deathbed conversion? There are no theistic heart attack patients—they’re all clutching for the defibrillator, the pills, the expert medical assistance before they’ll rely on that ineffectual immaterial ghost in the sky.
The Nielsen Haydens filled my morning with horror, so I’m going to make you suffer, too. Behold, a Danish disco band pretending to be Apaches:
It goes on for an interminable 4½ minutes; seriously, you’ve done your penance if you watch 20 seconds, long enough to spot the sequins and the Groucho mustache on the keyboardist. I recommend you turn it off before the Apache maidens emerge from behind the teepee—that was just too much.
Say, that Making Light thread led me to another cheesy video by Army of Lovers, and since I was soliciting suggestions for a menacing makeover, it gave me an idea: eyeliner and frilly shirts. A busty henchperson with exposed cleavage might also help.
Apparently, I’ve been labeling the Discovery Institute incorrectly all these years. It’s not a think-tank, it’s a belief tank.
Via Bioephemera, I’ve discovered this wonderful medical illustration blog, Street Anatomy. In particular, this article on the illustrator Cvetomir Georgiev has an amazing image of a dissected torso exposing a fetus in situ…and I’ve got a new desktop image. It’s gorgeous stuff; people are so interesting on the inside.
Hey, I’m teaching a genetics class this term, and someone is taking one. I’m going to be spending part of my day setting up flies for an upcoming lab…this looks awfully familiar.
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I am:
In the 1970s she was perhaps the most memorable, and one of the most popular, short story writers. Her real life was as fantastic as her fiction. |
I recently got a short email interview on the subject of science and spirituality. Now I should warn you: “spirituality” is one of those words that sets my teeth on edge and triggers a reflexive reach for my kukri. It’s an empty buzzword that some people use as a placeholder for “deep feelings of connectedness to the universe”, but that I read as “mindless blithering; brains on the fritz”, so I respond to questions like that with an immediate rejection of the premise. The writer seemed like a nice person, though, and the questions are well-intentioned, so after barking out my answers I thought maybe the gang here would like to take a stab (or a slash, or a poke, or a bludgeon) at them, too. Go ahead, answer them yourselves in the comments, or on your own blog.
1.) Would you consider yourself a spiritual person?
2.) We hear time and time again of the disputes between the scientific and religious communities, what is your response to the phenomenon of scientists exploring their own spirituality?
3.) Dr. Charles T. Tart established an online journal dedicated to scientists who wish to share their own personal transcendent experiences in confidence, known as TASTE. Many feel that they would be shunned by the scientific community if they shared their experiences with their colleagues, are you surprised by this?
4.) Do you feel that a scientist can be spiritual? Why is this?
5.) What do you say to some scientists who claim that a strong sense of spirituality and morality are essential in your line of work?
6.) Do you think that this phenomenon could pose a threat to the scientific community, when one considers the current religious climate in the U.S?
7.) Finally, have you ever had an experience that you could not scientifically explain? If so, what was it?
I’ve put my answers below the fold. Warning: there is a little profanity (I told you that ‘spirituality’ irritates me.)
