Beware of the wrong hat

Greetings.

Jewish date: 10 ’Av 5769.

Relevant to yesterday’s holiday:  “Temple Altar Construction Begins on Day of Destruction”.  I had no idea the Temple Institute had started work on the main altar for the next Temple, and I am curious as to how they plan to move it.

Today’s holidays:  Feast of Saint Ignatius Loyola, Forefeast of the Holy Cross.

Today’s quasi-holiday:  Sysadmin Day.

Worthy causes of the day:  “Stop Walmart's War on Free Speech”, “Stop the race baiting:  Call on advertisers to drop sponsorship of Glenn Beck” and “Find a Lasting Solution to Medicare Doctor Payments: No More Cuts!”

Relevant to Divine Misconceptions:

1. More religious intolerance (by people who do not wish to give me a day off!): “Azerbaijani Police Detain Followers Of Unregistered Sect”, “Death threats against believers in Dong Hoi, as the police arrest a Catholic”, “Vandals deface synagogue, slash vehicle tires”, “Hanoi denies attacks on priests. The diocese of Vinh publishes photos”, “Attack on a Vietnam monastery”, “Cover heads, hide the mannequins; Hamas rulers launch campaign to make Gaza more Islamic”, “Gaza judge tells female lawyers to wear headscarf”, and “Turkey: Christian Murdered On Busy Street in Istanbul”.
2. Governmental thoughtlessness on religion:  “Selective Service Is Sued by Quaker”, “Row over religious poster rules”.
   
3. Introspection of one’s own religious community—the sort of exercise every religion should engage in, lest they fail to recognize their own mistakes and correct them:  “When Rabbis Fail their Communities”.
   

Today’s news and commentary:

• “Cashing In On Fear: The Danger of Dr. Sears”
  
• “Pregnant women and children first? CDC announces H1N1 vaccine recommendations”
  
• “Snake oil or fish oil? Americans shelling out $33.9 billion a year on alternative health treatments”
  
• “Burning Bush (1989)”
  
• “New Facebook application helps you bum a ride”
  
• “A bat that crawls as much as it flies shows ancient lineages”
  

Today’s weird thing is “Moshiach’s Hat (A Poem To Ponder)” by Anonymous ben Kolonymous. Enjoy, share the weirdness, and Shabbath shalom.

Aaron

9 ’Av

Jewish date:  9 ’Av 5769.

Today’s holiday:  The Fast of 9 ’Av.

Relevant to today’s holiday:  A message from the National Council of Young Israel.

Today’s quasi-holiday:  National Cheesecake Day (very poor choice).

Worthy causes of the day:  “CNN: Dump Lou Dobbs”, “CNN: Deal with your Lou Dobbs problem”, “5% FOR THE WORLD'S MOST VULNERABLE:  ASK YOUR SENATORS”, and “Tell the Gang of 6: Give back your dirty insurance money.” I had not planned to post today at all, but all these worthy causes ganged up on me.

Relevant to Divine Misconceptions:

1. More religious oppression:  “Hindu Temple and families ransacked and looted”, “UZBEKISTAN: 'Joy' children's holiday camp attacked”, and “Sudan 'trousers trial' adjourned”.  I am not making that last one up; in Sudan, they arrested a woman for wearing pants.  It may sound like a joke, but Islamic morality police are anything but funny, especially when someone may get 40 lashes just for dressing wrong.  One may think it not right for women to wear pants (I suppose), but surely Sudan has more urgent problems to deal with, e.g., genocide?
2. The strangest “honor killing” of which I have heard yet:  “Rights groups: Gaza man suspected of killing daughter for owning cellphone”.  Anything I could say to explain this would be pure guesswork.

Today’s news and commentary:

• “Despite confession, Kasab remains 'gunman' for NYT”
  

Weird things will resume after the Nine Days.

Aaron

8 ’Av

Greetings.

Jewish date:  8 ’Av 5769.

Today’s holidays:  The Nine Days, Feast of Paschal Beverly Randolph.

Relevant to tomorrow’s holiday (the fast of 9 ’Av):  “The day after the Ninth of Av”, “Must we lose the two Temples again?”, and “Jacob Richman's Hot Sites - Jewish - Fast Day - Tisha B'Av”.

Today’s quasi-holiday:  The Anniversary of NASA.

Worthy cause of the day:  The American Red Cross is asking for blood donors.  If you are eligible to give blood, please do so as soon as reasonably possible.  This is a much easier and safer way to save a life (or two or three) than running into a burning building.  Be a hero and give blood.

Today’s news and commentary:

• “Can Birth Control Hormones Be Filtered from the Water Supply?”
  
• “Thanks for giving my pixels back, browser makers”
  
• “Imaginary Friends:  Television programs can fend off loneliness”:  This is sort of disturbing.
• “Shepherd Hotel”
  

Weird things will resume after the Nine Days.  Have an easy fast.  Peace.

Aaron

7 ’Av

Greetings.

Jewish date:  7 ’Av 5769.

Today’s holidays:  The Nine Days, Tuesday of the Seventeenth Week of Ordinary Time.

Today’s quasi-holidays:  National Drive-Thru Day, Singing Telegram Day.

Worthy cause of the day:  “Tell Your Senators Why America Needs a Strong Climate Bill”.

Relevant to Divine Misconceptions:

1. “Tron Legacy exposed”:  Yes, they are making a sequel to Tron.  There is now hope that my unanswered theological questions about the first movie will be answered!
   
2. More religious oppression:  “Half a million Vietnamese Catholics march through the streets against police violence”, “North Korea 'executes Christians'”, and “Nigeria Islamists torch church, police HQ: witnesses”

Today’s news and commentary:

• “Dangerously Obsessed with Celebrities”
  
• This Modern World 2009-07-27
  
• “There Goes the Neighborhood”
  
• “Transparent Aluminum Is ‘New State Of Matter’”:  I cannot make up something like this.
  
• “How Old Mattresses Can Be Recycled”
  
• “Senator Tom Harkin and Representative Darrell Issa declare war on science-based medicine”
  

Weird things will resume after the Nine Days.  Peace.

Aaron

6 ’Av

Greetings.

Jewish date:  6 ’Av 5769.

Today’s holidays: The Nine Days, Monday of the Seventeenth Week of Ordinary Time.

Today’s quasi-holiday:  Take Your Houseplants for a Walk Day.

Worthy cause of the day:  “Curb Global Warming With a Powerful Climate and Energy Plan”.

Relevant to Divine Misconceptions:  I saw the finale of Kings, “The New King, Part Two”, and it moved the plot further back towards that of the Book of Samuel with the characters displaying various mixtures of politics, idealism, and obedience to the Divine Will.  The whole business of Jack trying to usurp Silas, the murder of Reverend Samuels, and Silas considering himself the enemy of God have no equivalent in the original text.  However, once Silas is back on the throne, he goes crazy again and decides to kill David again (despite David helping him regain his throne), much as Sha’ul periodically went crazy and tried to kill Dawidh.  Samuels also appears twice after his death, reflecting the famous episode of the Medium of ‘Endor, though in the original text Shemu’el never spoke posthumously to Dawidh and Mikhal.  In an odd twist, the deceased Samuels proclaims that David and Michelle are married, correctly reflecting the marriage of Dawidh and Mikhal.  (It was about time.  Courtships today are relatively long and drawn-out.  The Hebrew Bible depicts marriage as usually happening very quickly.  The biggest exception coming to mind is that Ya‘aqov waited seven years to marry Raḥel.  However, it only took so long because Raḥel’s father Lavan was trying to squeeze work out of Ya‘aqov.  But I digress.)  David also has to flee to Gath to save his life, much as Dawidh had to flee to the land of the Pelishtim.  The series ends on a strange cliffhanger, with Jack essentially sentenced to produce an heir whether he wants to or not, with said heir to be raised by Silas and Rose.  Michelle is also essentially imprisoned, with the implication that her parents want to get their hands on her and David’s baby when he/she is born.  This is not how I expected the series to end, but apparently the writers were planning on a second season.  Unless there is sufficient demand now to convince NBC to bring the show back, what happens next must be left to writers of fan-fiction.

General evaluation of the series:  Writing sufficiently good to be watchable.  The outline more or less resembles those of the Book of Samuel, even though the details do not.  (Expecting too many details to reflect the Book of Samuel would be asking too much.  Some aspects of the culture back then come out as very strange in the modern world.)

Major problem:  Poor understanding of how prophecy works, with an emphasis on “signs” rather than clear communication.  This may reflect that many of the prophecies that people obsess over today, End Times prophecies, are often couched in symbolic language and thus may be hard to understand.

For the entire series and further information:  Official Web-site #1, Official Web-site #2, Kings on Hulu.

Today’s news and commentary:

• “Hamas's new "Culture War" acknowledge its historic ties to Nazism?”
  

As previously noted, there will be no new weird things until after the Nine Days.  Peace

Aaron

5 ’Av

Greetings.

Jewish date:  5 ’Av 5769.

Today’s holidays:  The Nine Days, Seventeenth Sunday of Ordinary Time.

Today’s quasi-holiday:  Parent’s Day.

Worthy causes of the day:  “Ask tough questions of General Gration”, “Tell Congress: Don't Go Until You Vote on Health Care”, and “Tell Reid: No vacation for the Senate before health care reform passes.”

Today’s news and commentary:

• “ Apollo 11 Experiment Still Going After 40 Years ”
  

As noted previously, there will be no weird things until after the Nine Days.  Peace

Aaron

3 ’Av

Greetings.

Jewish date:  3 ’Av 5769.

Today’s holiday:  The Nine Days.

Today’s quasi-holidays:  Cousin’s Day, Pioneer Day.

Worthy causes of the day:  “Protect Hawaiian Sea Turtles”, “Obama Finally Admits That Only Single Payer Health Care Will Work”, and “Demand Strong Climate and Energy Legislation Now!”

Relevant to Divine Misconceptions:

1. “Naked girls plough fields in India for rain”:  I cannot make something like this up.  I also suspect that some critical information is left out of this article because it is not obvious why naked girls plowing fields would be embarrassing to the Hindu weather gods—embarrassing to the girls would be more obvious—or why an embarrassed god would respond with rain rather than, say, a lightning bolt.
   
2. “Adventist Origins of Young Earth Creationism”:  There is a critical distinction between a popular belief and a historically authentic belief.  Creationism is currently a popular belief among Fundamentalist Christians, but this essay argues that early Fundamentalism did not reject evolution or the Earth being billions of years old and that modern creationism actually got started in Seventh-Day Adventism.

Today’s news and commentary:

• “Why False Positive Results Are So Common In Medicine”
  
• “Expulsion of Jews (1992)”
  
• “He Hath Spoken”
  

Weird things will resume after the Nine Days.  Shabbath shalom.

Aaron

Job application stupidity of the day

Greetings.

I need to kvech about these two advertisements for jobs at a single organization (remaining nameless here so as to not ruin my chances of getting employed by them) I plan on trying to apply to in a moment.  In a well-written job advertisement, the requirements are given clearly so that potential applicants can easily determine whether or not they are qualified.  In these advertisements, part of the requirements are given in a cryptic code peculiar to the organization.  Furthermore, they do not even have the courtesy to tell the applicant where to find a guide to crack the code.  Rather, they assume the applicant either knows the code already or finds it fun to hunt down a guide to the code, only to discover the actual requirements could be easily expressed in fewer words than the code uses.  This is a recipe for making potential applicants think that whoever came up with such a system or perpetuates it is an incompetent idiot.  If you are the suspected incompetent idiot who is responsible for such opaque copy, do something smart and competent and hire me to teach you how to write.  If I have to read such awful stuff, I might as well get paid for it.

Aaron

2 ’Av

Greetings.

Jewish date:  2 ’Av 5769.

Today’s holidays:  The Nine Days, Nisfu Sha’ban.

Today’s quasi-holiday:  National Vanilla Ice Cream Day.

Worthy cause of the day:  “Spur environmentally-safe solar energy in the U.S.”

Relevant to Divine Misconceptions:

1. More religious oppression:  “Chinese official: Beijing has won the battle against Falun Gong”, “AZERBAIJAN: 'The government doesn't want to give up control over religion”, “Fiji police hold church leaders”, and “Vietnam police detain 18 Catholics after clashes”.
   
2. Bizarre paranoia:  “Fiji freemasons held for sorcery”.  While Freemasons may be secretive, my periodic objections that no one should suffer based on allegations of black magic without solid proof that actual magic of a harmful nature was performed.  Otherwise innocent people are bound to needlessly suffer.
   
3. “Online journalist wins victory over 'legal jihad':  Court rebuffs defamation suit from swarm of Muslim organizations”:  Major rule:  suppressing contrary evidence never works to make anything so.  Whenever anyone tries to do so, it is a good sign he/she is wrong.
   

Today’s news and commentary:

• “A scanner to detect terrorists”
  

As noted yesterday, there will be no weird things until after the Nine Days.  Peace.

Aaron

Ro’sh Ḥodhesh ’Av

Greetings.

Jewish date:  1 ’Av 5769.

Today’s holidays:  Ro’sh Ḥodhesh, the Nine Days, Feast of the Scarlet Woman.

Today’s quasi-holiday:  Pied Piper Day.

Worthy cause of the day:  “Ask Interior Secretary Salazar to advance a bold new vision for preserving America's wilderness heritage.”

Relevant to Divine Misconceptions:

1. A note on the Nine Days:  The Nine Days culminate in the Ninth of ’Av, which commemorates the destruction of both the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem.  Both destructions were a severe blow to the Jews, as the Temple occupies a central place in Jewish ritual and life.  (Note that an entire book of the Torah, Leviticus, and an order of the Mishnah and Talmudhim, Qodhashim, are dedicated to the Temple service.  This is not a minor matter in Judaism.)  The Temple was also a center for Jewish learning and the court system, as well as a physical symbol for the unity of the Jewish people.  Having lived for 1,939 years without the Temple, and indeed, largely among peoples without a concept of sacrifice, the emotional depth of the loss of the Temple largely escapes us.  In an effort to get us into the proper mood, mourning-related restrictions (e.g., no eating meat and no bathing for pleasure) are practiced, with the Ninth of ’Av being a full-day fast.  As such, the Nine Days are frankly the most unpleasant period in the Jewish calendar.  Which leads us to a common religious misconception.  Religion is not meant to be a fun activity performed only once a week or on holidays.  Rather, since religion is ultimately about truth and truth is applicable every single quantum of time that anything exists, religion deals with every single aspect of life.  And one consequence of this is that religion deals with the unpleasant aspects of life just as much as the pleasant ones.  It may be easier to celebrate the pleasant holidays, but mourning and fasting are just as necessary.  History is littered with disasters, and the most painful among these are disasters in which people suffered ultimately due to things they did wrong when they should have known better.  Pointless in-fighting and playing dangerous politics led to the destruction of both Temples at the hands of hostile powers.  Unfortunately, humans have not gotten any better along these lines in the past 1,939 years.  We are still fighting each other, often putting short-term interests ahead of long-term potential for danger, trusting people who should not be trusted, and hating each other for no good reason.  Let these Nine Days be a warning to us of what tragedies we can create for ourselves and our descendants.
2. “Danish military unit involved in headscarf row”:  The Danish military is trying to decide whether it is OK for a female Muslim soldier to wear a headscarf.  This is an obvious violation of freedom of religion, and the argument that the headscarf is “a symbol of oppression of women and discrimination” does not apply in this case.  It is not merely that freedom of religion means that everyone should be enabled to embrace whatever she believes is the proper thing to do, no matter how much other people hate it.  Rather, if she can be a soldier, she ought to be able to beat up or shoot anyone who tries to oppress or discriminate against her.
3. More religious oppression:  “Somalia: Convert From Islam Shot Dead” and “Lawyer ejected because of 'no use': monk sentenced to life” (China is getting heavy-handed in dealing with Tibetan Buddhism again).

Today’s news and commentary:

• “Watchdogs: Feds buried data proving that handheld tech dangerously distracts drivers”
  
• “World's first camel-milk chocolates going global”:  I don’t explain it.  I just report it.  Better that they make chocolate than jihad.
  
• “Jupiter Apparently Smacked by Rogue Object, New Images Reveal ”
  
• “Is Tylenol Safe?”:  Long story made short:  Don’t panic.  Just follow the instructions on the bottle and avoid overdosing.
  
• “Iranian Student Protests (1999)”
  
• “Giving the Finger to Accuracy”
  
• “Getting it Straight”
  

Due to the serious nature of the Nine Days, there will be no weird things until after this period of sadness has passed, though there may be updates in the other sections of my blog.

Aaron

Beware of obscure punctuation

Greetings.

Jewish date:  29 Tammuz 5769.

Today’s holidays:  The Three Weeks, Last Day to Do Laundry Before the Nine Days.

Today’s quasi-holiday:  National Tug-Of-War Tournament Day.

Worthy cause of the day:  “A.G. Holder: Appoint a Prosecutor”.

Relevant to Divine Misconceptions:

1. A bad case of jumping to a conclusion:  “Riots flare in Blantyre over suspected satanic practices”. General rule about attacking anyone:  MAKE SURE THEY ARE GUILTY FIRST!!!  While dumping dead chickens in a river might conceivably be part of a satanic ceremony (I suppose), it is not necessarily so, and there is a big gap between water pollution and fatal traffic accidents which needs verification that a causative relationship actually exists and (preferably also) how it works.
2. More oppression:  “European Court rules against the Sikh turban in French schools” and “Oregon's Fashion Police” (denial of freedom of religion to public school teachers).  France I can believe, given that the government there has no regard for freedom of religion; this is the same government which thinks that banning all religious clothing of any kind in schools is a good way to fight against terrorism.  (How something like that is supposed to work, I have no idea.)  But Oregon, here in the United States, now has decided that public school teachers having the freedom to follow the clothing dictates of their religion is wrong.  Why?  How is this not unconstitutional?  And what is this teaching students about freedom of religion?  Are we trying to give the impression that they should not get used to the fact that there are people of different religions around and learn to be OK with it?  Are we trying to give the impression that everyone must hide what he/she believes on the off-chance that someone might be somehow offended?  Are we trying to give the impression that freedom of expression is bad?
3. “Hizb Ut-Tahrir: Shariah Takes Precedence over U.S. Constitution / Imam Promises to Fight "Until Islam Becomes Victorious or We Die in the Attempt"”:  I cannot make up the level of paranoia or poor-quality lying depicted in this article.
   
4. Emes Ve-Emunah: A Forum for Orthodox Jewish thought on Halacha, Hashkafa, and sociological issues of our time:  This is a blog written by an extremely courageous man, certainly braver than I am.  It is very easy to criticize people other than one’s own and find fault with them.  (I know.  I do it often.)  But it is very different to criticize one’s own people, to complain about their problems.  It risks the ire of one’s own community, and it may be personally painful to do so.  Unfortunately, problems which go unrecognized are much less likely to be fixed.  And so I must applaud Rav Harry Maryles for addressing uncomfortable issues with in the Orthodox Jewish community, and I pray to YHWH that he be successful in helping us overcome some of our faults.
   

Today’s news and commentary:

• “Arctic Mystery: Identifying the Great Blob of Alaska”
  

Today’s weird thing is irony mark (؟).  Enjoy (or be puzzled by why it would even be necessary) and share the weirdness.

Aaron

Beware of lines

Greetings.

Jewish date:  28 Tammuz 5769.

Today’s holiday:  The Three Weeks.

Today’s quasi-holiday:  Moon Day.

Relevant to Divine Misconceptions:

1. “Protesters Gather Outside Islamic Conference Near Chicago”:  General rule:  Never trust anyone when there is good reason to believe they are lying.  And while some people have a good reason to lie (e.g., they are going to be killed if they tell the truth about what they really believe or do), viewing positively those who lie to cover up their support of terrorism are not among them.
   
2. “Opinion: Gov. Mark Sanford writes about scandal:  Mistakes can offer valuable lessons”:  This is an apology by the governor of South Carolina for his recently publicized mistakes (to put it gently).  The good news is he places himself in God’s hands.  This is a start.  However, repentance is more than feeling bad and surrendering to God; he needs to do something to change his behavior, or he will likely make the same mistakes again.  Once in God’s hands, he just stays there and expects things will get better.  His plans for future action seem to be limited to better advocacy of his political agenda.  Nowhere is there any mention of doing anything about his marital indiscretions or his going absent without leave from his job as governor.
   
3. Time for an update on the latest episode Kings, this time “The New King, Part One”.   The part that looks the most like Samuel is that Silas is out to kill David, much as Sha’ul tried to kill Dawidh.  Also David, despite this, remains as loyal to Silas as possible, much as Dawidh remained loyal to Sha’ul.  Silas is also angry at Jack for his support of David, paralleling Sha’ul’s anger at Yonathan for his friendship with Dawidh, and in a shift from its original context Michelle helps David escape, albeit without the statue Mikhal used as a decoy to help Dawidh escape.  On the other hand, the handover of Prosperity City to Gath, the attempted assassination against Silas, Rose and William’s machinations, and Silas going to his mistress’s house to die in peace are all without Biblical precedent.  In the next and final episode, I expect the series to end with the wedding of David and Michelle and David becoming king.  Intuition also suggests that Silas and Jack will die.

Today’s news and commentary:

• “Iranian Street Scene”
  
• “Where, Exactly, Does Your Garbage Go After You Toss It Out?”: People will study anything.
  
• “From a Pre-Teen Mind, a Robot that Solves Rubik's Cube”
  
• “New black spot on Jupiter”
  

Today’s weird thing is “Speed Of Line at Market”:

Enjoy and share the weirdness.

Aaron

Beware of risky business plans

Greetings.

Jewish date:  27 Tammuz 5769.

Today’s holidays:  The Three Weeks, Isra Al Mi’Raj (Ascent of the Prophet Muhammad), Sixteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Feast Day of the Magi: Krishna.

Today’s quasi-holiday:  National Ice Cream Day.

Worthy cause of the day:  “Stop Overusing Antibiotics on Healthy Farm Animals”.

Relevant to Divine Misconceptions:  More oppression:  “RUSSIA: Raids continue as doubts grow over Nursi ban”, “Somalia: Islamists Order Women in Dobley Town to Take Veil"”, “UZBEKISTAN: Prisoners' freedom of religion or belief denied”, and “Falungong gather for city protest”.

Today’s news and commentary:

• “Heads Up! Flying Jumbo Squid by the Thousands”
  
• “APOLLO LANDING SITES IMAGED BY LRO!”
  
• “U.S. company converts onion juice to electricity”:  No, I am not making this up.

Today’s weird thing is “The Ghostbusters’ Risky Business Plan”, which is perhaps treating Ghostbusters with more seriousness than it deserves.  (Then again, I plan at some point to do a comparison of Ghostbusters with Revelation...)  Enjoy and share the weirdness.

Aaron

Beware of poorly balanced Web-sites

Greetings.

Jewish date:  25 Tammuz 5769.

Today’s holidays:  The Three Weeks, Friday of the Fifteenth Week of Ordinary Time.

Today’s quasi-holidays:  Shark Awareness Day, Wrong Way Corrigan Day.

Worthy causes of the day:  “Prevent a Catastrophic Oil and Gas Accident Off the Coast of New Orleans!”, “Sign Our Petition for Health Care Reform”, “Empower Women and Girls in Afghanistan”, and “Tell Your Senator No More Offshore Drilling”.

Today’s news and commentary:

• “Obama Meets the Jews”
  
• “Fundamentally Freund: Build a museum of Arab terror”
  
• “Moths Use Sonar-Jamming Defense to Fend Off Hunting Bats”
  
• “Huge blob of Arctic goo floats past Slope communities”:  I cannot make up something like this.  It also sounds like the beginning of a B-movie.
  
• “Single spelling mistake can derail job application”:  Fortunately not every executive is so unforgiving.
  
• “Wastewater Analysis for Drug Abuse Evidence”
  
• Apollo 11 Partial Restoration HD Videos
  

Today’s weird thing, submitted by Barry, is “HEMA - online winkelen”.  Enjoy, share the weirdness, and Shabbath shalom.

Aaron

Beware of more engineers bearing turboenacbulators

Greetings.

Jewish date:  24 Tammuz 5769.

Today’s holiday:  The Three Weeks.

Worthy causes of the day:  “Help End Global Hunger” and “Support Hate Crimes Prevention Act”.

Today’s news and commentary:

• “Breaking the Silence: More Rumor & Hearsay”
  
• “American Pressure (1989)”
  
• “Should Racial Profiling Play a Role in Cancer Prognosis?:  TWO RECENT STUDIES INDICATE THAT THE GENETICS OF RACE INFLUENCES THE SURVIVABILITY OF SOME CANCERS, BUT THE CONCLUSIONS ARE NOT SO BLACK AND WHITE”
  
• “Why Is Israel’s Presence in the Territories Still Called “Occupation”? ”
  

Today’s weird things are “Chrysler Turbo Encabulator”

and “Retro Encabulator”

Enjoy and share the weirdness.

Aaron

Beware of engineers bearing turboencabulators

Greetings.

Jewish date:  23 Tammuz 5769.

Today’s holidays:  The Three Weeks, Saint Swithin’s Day.

Today’s quasi-holiday:  International Dadaism Month.

Worthy cause of the day:  “Support the UN's Work in Pakistan's Swat Valley”.

Relevant to Divine Misconceptions:

1. More oppression:  “KAZAKHSTAN: Anti-terror police, prosecutor, justice department and courts target church”, “Iraq Tightens Security Around Churches, Christian Towns After Wave of Attacks”
2. Bizarre anti-Semitism:  “Report: Hamas says Israel sending aphrodisiac gum to 'corrupt' Gaza youth”:  I really cannot make something like this up.  Besides the fact that “Palestinian” sources are notoriously unreliable whenever talking about Israel, if Israel had aphrodisiac gum, trying to corrupt Gazan youth is not what they would be likely to do with it.  Making Gazan kids horny does not benefit Israel.  On the contrary, something that silenced the libido would work better (as a war tactic) since it would mean fewer “Palestinians” would be having sex and producing children, thus making for a smaller hostile population to bother Israel.  On the other hand, there is a market for aphrodisiacs (think Viagra), so selling aphrodisiac gum commercially would be a better choice.  General rule:  if you are going to lie, lie well.

Today’s news and commentary:

• “What If I'd Never Met My Husband:  New research reveals a better way to boost happiness than counting blessings--imagining that the good things never happened”
  
• “Toy-gun robber foiled by bat-wielding store worker”
  

Today’s weird thing is the turboencabulator.  Enjoy and share the weirdness.

Aaron

Beware of a bad memory

Greetings.

Jewish date:  22 Tammuz 5769.

Today’s holiday:  The Three Weeks.

Today’s quasi-holiday:  Bastille Day.

Worthy cause of the day:  “Start torture investigation with Cheney and Addington”.

Today’s news and commentary:

• “How Divorce Scars Children”
  
• “Middle East Nukes (1989)”
  
• “Manipulative meow: Cats learn to vocalize a particular sound to train their human companions”
  
• “The Next Hacking Frontier: Your Brain?”
  
• This Modern World 2009-07-14
  

Today’s weird thing is “CHANCE OF REMEMBERING TO TAKE OUT THE TRASH”:

Enjoy, share the weirdness, and don’t forget to take out the trash tonight.

Aaron

Greetings.

Jewish date:  21 Tammuz 5769.

Today’s holidays:  The Three Weeks, Synaxis of the Arch Angel Gabriel.

Today’s quasi-holiday:  Embrace Your Geekness Day.

Worthy cause of the day:  “Help California Save Its State Parks”.

Relevant to Divine Misconceptions:

1. “Netanyahu's "Nazi Language"?”:  The logical fallacy known as the Nazi card is an attempt to get the reader/listener to condemn something by associating it with Adolph Hitler or the Nazis.  The point of this is to generate such a negative emotional response that the reader/listener does not think rationally about the subject.  Usually this is done by claiming that Hitler or the Nazis were somehow for or did something, e.g., “Sugar is bad. Sugar rots your teeth. Sugar makes you hyper. Hitler ate sugar.” from the Daria episode “Pinch-Sitter”.  This HonestReporting report documents a new variant on the Nazi card, with Binyamin Nethanyahu being condemned because he used the term Judenrein to describe how the so-called “Palestinians” want a state of their own to be.  The (anti-Semitic) people attacking him are trying to invoke a negative emotional response and totally ignoring whether this description is accurate or fair.
   
2. More religious intolerance:  “Churches and Envoy Attacked in Iraq”.
3. The latest episode of Kings, “Javelin”, draws to some degree on Sha’ul’s attempts to kill Dawidh.  Silas puts David on trial for treason—he is very, very angry that David did not tell him of his affair with Michelle, not to mention he views David’s popularity as a danger to his own—with Jack as the prosecutor.  The evidence is false testimony and faked video footage.  Silas plays on David and Jack’s sense of loyalty to get them to play along with this travesty of justice.  David’s loyalty is so strong that he refuses an attempt to break him out of custody and to overthrow Silas.  Furthermore, Michelle finds out she is pregnant with David’s child, and Rose is also not above playing politics to keep Michelle from testifying on David’s behalf.  Eventually Jack, finding his job unconscionable, refuses to accede to Silas’s scheme, and he, too, is arrested for treason.  This is not how the events in Samuel unfolded, but Silas’s irrational jealousy for David is a decent reflection of Sha’ul’s for Dawidh.  This episode ends leading us to believe further turmoil ahead in the next episode.

Today’s news and commentary:

• “Why the #$%! Do We Swear? For Pain Relief”
  
• “Druse News”
  

Today’s weird thing is “Things to Do Without Access To The Internet”.

Enjoy and share the weirdness.

Aaron

Beware of the form police

Greetings.

Jewish date:  20 Tammuz 5769.

Today’s holidays:  The Three Weeks, Fifteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Feast of Grady Louis McMurtry.

Today’s quasi-holidays:   Christmas in July, International Town Criers Day.

Worthy cause of the day:  “Tell Congress: Stand with Senator Kennedy to Reform Health Care” and “"Whites only" pool in 2009?”.

Today’s news and commentary:

• “Sweet smell of success follows reintroduction of stinking hawk's-beard to U.K.”
  
• “What about the Jewish refugees from Arab lands?”
  
• The Mannahatta Project (Submitted by Barry.)
  
• “Birth Defect Study Casts Doubt on Phthalate Fears”
  
• “11 Places With a Worse Economy Than Ours” (Submitted by Barry.)

Today’s weird thing is “Form”:

Enjoy and share the weirdness.

Aaron

Beware of exotic silverware

Greetings.

Jewish date:  18 Tammuz 5769.

Today’s holiday:  Friday of the Fourteenth Week of Ordinary Time.

Today’s quasi-holiday:  Don’t Step on a Bee Day.

Worthy cause of the day:  “Guarantee Every Child Has Access to the Services They Need” and “Urge the chief of the Forest Service to end the policy of hazing and killing buffalo.”

Relevant to Divine Misconceptions:

1. “now would be a good time to call :”
   
   and “Apparently, Basement cat felt that 4”
   
   I really have no idea how black cats ended up as symbols of evil.  If anyone knows, please tell me.
2. “Plan to ban Uluru climb sparks debate”:  Uluru is a mountain sacred to Australian aborigines.  It is understandable that some would prefer that people did not treat it as a mere tourist attraction and challenge in mountain climbing.
   
3. More religious oppression:  “UZBEKISTAN: Banned from meeting fellow-believers”, “Malaysia Sikhs lose fight against man's conversion”, “Hamas tries to detain woman on beach in feared imposing of strict Islamic law”.
   
4. “Syria Increases Penalty for Honour Killings”:  This article is remarkable for two reasons.  The first is that the title is misleading, given that the increase in penalty is to a mere two years in jail.  (Bernie Madoff got 150 years, and he did even kill anyone.)  The second is that the article completely fails to mention anything about the, shall we say, provenance of honor killings.  Syrians are predominantly Muslim, and Muslims are the group most associated with honor killings.  They do occur occasionally among other groups, but Syria is not record as having appreciable numbers of Sikhs or Hindus.  Nowhere in the text is there any mention of Islam, Muslims, or Arabs at all.  I smell whitewashing.
   
5. “Pope orders reform after Holocaust denial flap”:  Took him long enough.
   
6. “Hindus demand removal of 'offensive ad' by Burger King”:  People do not usually approve of their deity being used to sell food.  Not to mention the idea is tackier than climbing a sacred mountain.
   

Today’s news and commentary:

• “Blog based on Time Magazine’s cover story on Divorce”
  
• “Michael Jackson”
  
• “Orchestra plays live soundtrack to horse race”
  
• “Bottled up: Data on contaminants in bottled water still lacking, government says”
  
• “Frenemy, locavore among new words in Webster's”
  
• “Presidential Commandments (1989)”
  
• “Debunking the Domino Theory”
  
• “Anonymous Sources on Resettling Refugees”
  
• “Turtles crawl on runway, delay flights at JFK”
  
• “Did China's Nuclear Tests Kill Thousands and Doom Future Generations?”
  

Today’s weird things have been prompted by “Silverware in Conjunction”:

Given enough humans and enough time, they will invent practically anything.  I was aware before this of sporks, but now I have discovered that people have gone to the trouble of inventing and even selling spifes, knorks, and what this quasi-Venn diagram calls “knipoonorks”:  Splayds.  Enjoy (or wonder why such things were invented in the first place), share the weirdness, and Shabbath shalom.

Aaron

Beware of people speaking fake Latin

Greetings.

Jewish date:  16 Tammuz 5769.

Today’s holiday:  Wednesday of the Fourteenth Week of Ordinary Time.

Today’s quasi-holidays:  Video Games Day; Savor the Comic, Unplug the Drama (SCUD) Day.

NOTE:  Due to the observance of the fast of the 17th of Tammuz, there will be no weird thing tomorrow.

Relevant to Divine Misconceptions:

1. “Vatican Radio starts carrying ads”:  This is sad.  During this economic downturn, even religious organizations (e.g., the Roman Catholic Church) are suffering.
   
2. “What countermissionaries believe”:  This is an insider perspective from Jewish countermissionaries.  This includes the idea that we do not have to pretend that we all agree, but rather we can get along and respect each other while disagreeing.  Keep in mind that almost any two people will disagree about something.  If we needed to agree to get along, then no one would get along.
   
3. Yes, I am late again in commenting on the latest episode of Kings, this time “Chapter One”.  Here we return to something vaguely resembles something out of Samuel.  The Charter of Gilboa is stolen.  Silas, still angry over David hiding his affair with Michelle, sends David to retrieve it, with the promise that if he does so he can marry Michelle—only he gives David very little in the way of resources to do it.  This resembles to some extent the task which Sha’ul set for Dawidh in order to be able to marry Mikhal:  to bring him the foreskins of a large number of Pelishtim (Philistines) (I know:  Ew!)—a task fraught with danger since Dawidh had to risk getting killed in battle.  David, despite many hardships and to the shock of Silas, manages to complete his mission.  Silas soon afterwards has David arrested on charges of treason.  This is reminiscent of the fact that Sha’ul on multiple occasions tried to kill Dawidh—and if anyone doubts the resemblance, do keep in mind that governments are not famous for preserving the lives of traitors.  Less resembling anything in Samuel is more of this business of trying to read “signs”, which is pointless in Samuel due the presence of prophets who give clear messages.  Nevertheless, I am looking forward to finding out what happens in the next episode.

Today’s news and commentary:

• “Social Security Numbers Can Be Guessed From Data, Study Finds”:  This is scary.
  
• “Police foil radio control zeppelin jailbreak”:  This is creative.
  
• “Iranian Repression”
  

Today’s weird thing is Dog Latin.  Enjoy and share the weirdness.

Aaron

The meaning of life

Greetings.

Jewish date:  15 Tammuz 5769.

Today’s holiday:  Tuesday of the Fourteenth Week of Ordinary Time.

Today’s quasi-holiday:  Father and Daughter Take a Walk Day.

Worthy cause of the day:  “A NUCLEAR FREE WORLD”.

Relevant to Divine Misconceptions:

1. “ISNA's Reform Hasn't Shed It of Radical Ideologues”:  Whether or not the “true” Islam, is pro-terrorism, people who are pro-terrorism are not our friends and should not be treated as such.
   
2. “World's oldest Christian Bible digitized”:  (Submitted by David.)  The Codex Sinaiticus, a copy of the Christian Bible in Greek from the 4th century, has now been made freely available on-line.  This should be a boon to scholars.
   
3. “TV gameshow offers atheists 'salvation'”:  This is at best in poor taste.  Religion is about the truth, not a contest for followers.
   
4. More intolerance:  “Three die in Karnataka violence” and “Faisalabad, a Christian tortured and detained on false charges of blasphemy”.
   
5. For those of you who were wondering about the Ethiopian Orthodox Church revealing the Ark of the Covenant, they claim they were not going to do that.  See  “Ethiopian Ark of the Covenant Not To Be Revealed After All”.

Today’s news and commentary:

• “Collision Course (1989)”
  
• “10 Business Lessons I Learned from Playing Dungeons & Dragons”
  
• “No Holds Barred: The Eulogy you won't hear for Michael Jackson”
  

Today’s weird thing is a little religious humor:  “LOLZ, Cheezebugers and Naps?”.

Enjoy and share the weirdness.

Aaron

Beware of fine musical robots since 2000

Greetings.

Jewish date:  14 Tammuz 5769.

NOTE:  This Thursday is 17 Tammuz, a major fast day in Judaism.  For info on it, please see the site of the Orthodox Union.

Today’s holidays:

Today’s quasi-holiday:  National Fried Chicken Day.

Worthy cause of the day:  “Regulate Shipping to Protect Arctic Wildlife”.

Relevant to Divine Misconceptions:

1. More religious oppression:  “China: Office Becomes New Force For Religious Repression”, “Two shot at Ethiopia church site”, and “Hundreds of Muslims attack about a hundred Christian homes in Punjab”.
2. “Pedophiles, Hebephiles, and Ephebophiles, Oh My: Erotic Age Orientation”:  Yes, this article is sort of creepy.  But it has a point.  Things people often label as “unnatural” often aren’t; things that people do wrong are often natural and have some logic to them.  Also, things that we consider evil are not necessarily a sign of something medically wrong; if people misbehave due to illness, then they belong in a hospital and not a prison.
   

Today’s news and commentary:

• “Star Trek - What You Missed”:  WARNING!  Spoilers!
  
• “From predator to plant in one gulp”
  
• “Electromagnetic Leak”
  

Today’s weird thing is “LEMUR: Purveyors of Fine Musical Robots Since 2000”.  (Think of something like real-life Animusic robots.)  Enjoy and share the weirdness.

Aaron

Beware of impossible objects

Worthy cause of the day:

Relevant to Divine Misconceptions:

1. More religious oppression: “ARMENIA: Will critical review halt restrictive Religion Law?”
   
2. Inappropriate attempt at enforcing Islam: “Dentist 'had Islamic dress code'”.
   
3. “It's time to drop tired, empty idea”: This article notes correctly that neither the Republican nor the Democratic party has a monopoly on morality and that the scandals have not been limited to either party.
   

Today’s news and commentary:

• “Pachyderms outdo people in cross-species chow bout”
  
• “Plastic Not-So-Fantastic: How the Versatile Material Harms the Environment and Human Health”
  
• “West's hypocrites betray Iranians”
  
• “Press TV: Take it Off Air?”
  
• “Why haven't we evolved eyes in the backs of our heads?”
  
• “Save the giant spitting earthworm”
  
• Good commentary on homeopathy: “That Mitchell and Webb Look: Homeopathic A&E”:
  
  (Tip of the hat to Bad Astronomy.)
  
• “The UN kangaroo "investigation" of Israeli "war crimes"”
  

It is well-known that M. C. Escher was one of the greatest weird artists of all time. In his honor, today’s weird things are “Escher for Real” and “Beyond Escher for Real”. Enjoy and share the weirdness.

Aaron

Beware of lobsters

Greetings.

Jewish date:  11 Tammuz 5769.

Today’s quasi-holiday:  Stay Out Of The Sun Day.

Worthy causes of the day:  “YOUNG ISRAEL MOVEMENT LAUNCHES INDEPENDENCE DAY PRAYER CAMPAIGN FOR CAPTURED AMERICAN SOLDIER” (demanding actions from our politicians might also be a good idea), “Stop Toxin-Laden Wastewater Dump in Our Streams!”, and “TELL YOUR SENATORS:  IT'S TIME TO INVEST IN AGRICULTURE”.

Relevant to Divine Misconceptions:

1. “The Paradox of Evangelicals”:  Rav Boteach notes a discrepancy in evangelical thinking on redemption, i.e., trying to hold by a later Christian view of salvation only through grace yet also an older Jewish view of salvation through one’s own actions and taking responsibility for them.  This clash is being played out in the Mark Sanford (governor of South Carolina) scandal, with the governor trying to take responsibility for his mistakes (to be polite about it), and his wife Jenny being a lot more forgiving than Mark arguably deserves.
   
2. More religious intolerance:  “Somalia: Islamists Behead Two Sons Of Christian Leader” (yikes!).
   
3. Obvious inconsistency:  “CoE school pupil banned from wearing crucifix while Sikh pupils allowed to wear bangles”:  I frankly find the notion that there are “health and safety fears” from a student wearing a cross on a necklace a bit difficult, especially when the cross is worn so as to be under one’s top, making it difficult to catch upon anything.  Some statistics on cross-related injuries would be appreciated.

Today’s news and commentary:

• “When Bernie Burned Us”
  
• “News Coverage This Week”:
  
  
• “Some Species Rebound, But More Become Endangered”
  
• “No to SQL? Anti-database movement gains steam”:  I never needed to use SQL, and I find spreadsheets just fine for storing a lot of data.
  
• “Higher temperatures may be shrinking Scottish sheep”
  
• “Scientists Flesh Out Fossilized Tissues from Mummified Dinosaur”
  
• “Presidential Poker (1977)”
  
• “Ant colony crosses continents”
  

Today’s weird thing is “Suddenly, George understood what the”:

Enjoy, share the weirdness, and Shabbath shalom.

Aaron

Beware of Diet Coke and Mentos

Greetings.

Jewish date:  10 Tammuz 5769.

Today’s holiday:  Thursday of the Thirteenth Week of Ordinary Time.

Worthy cause of the day:  “END THESE PLANES, OR OBAMA WILL”.

Relevant to Divine Misconceptions:

1. I have been tardy again on reporting on the latest episode of Kings again, this time “Pilgrimage”.  (Very sorry.)  The writers have been having fun again playing the various characters against each other with seemingly no regard for anything that happened in the Book of Samuel.  This is a very busy episode with enough plot threads tied together to make an impressive knot.  (Enough that I will probably forget one or two and not put those I do remember in the most sensible order.)  David and Michelle are sneaking around behind King Silas’s back and feeling guilt over their affair.  Michelle is also feeling guilty over having broken her vow.  David’s apartment is robbed, and the camera with the naughty pictures on it is among the item taken, which naturally leads to more panic.  Silas goes on “pilgrimage” for inspiration and takes David with him, leaving Michelle to deal with the problem of the missing camera.  Jack’s homosexual lover Joseph mails out multiple copies of a confession and commits suicide.  Jack attends Joseph’s funeral, where both he and Joseph receive compassionate treatment from Reverend Samuels.  It turns out that Queen Rose had her brother William Cross ransack David’s apartment to get information on him.  William’s son Andrewgoes through the items stolen from David, finds the camera, and quickly realizes what the contents are.  Seeking to fulfill his father’s behest to do something more with himself since his return from exile than read newspapers, he gives the pictures to evil Minister of Information Katrina Ghent, who plans on releasing them to the public due to being snubbed by Rose.  Meanwhile Rose, aided by palace secretary and aide-de-camp Thomasina, has her hands on one copy of Jack’s confession and undertakes massive efforts to find the other copies.  One of those copies is leaked to Katrina.  Rose ends up trying to bargain with Katrina, who agrees to embarrass only one of Rose’s children; Rose chooses to spare Jack.  Jack finds out, and he begs Katrina to embarrass him instead to spare Michelle.  Katrina instead wants Jack to marry her and to embarrass Rose instead.  Meanwhile, it turns out that Silas’s pilgrimage is to see his mistress and illegitimate child by her; David is trusted with Silas’s secret, and he wants to know David’s secrets.  Upon their return, Michelle confesses to her father her affair with David.  It is clear that David did not tell Silas about the affair, and thus ends the episode.  In all this bewildering array of twists and turns and evil politics, coming out best is perhaps Jack, who puts his own honor aside for the sake of the honor of Joseph and Michelle.  Andrew at least puts an interesting twist on honoring his father, though he clearly needs some serious help to avoid spending the rest of his life playing petty politics.  Threads that need to be taken up in future episodes are fairly obvious.
2. More lack of freedom of religion:  “Winds of Islamism make Pakistani artists shiver”, “Catholic bishops: between 'hope and fear', Iraq witnesses the withdrawal of U.S. troops”
   
3. “Opinion: Can Games Become 'Virtual Murder?'”:  This article asks the question of how realistic is too realistic in video games, especially considering that games are getting more realistic all the time and people can be desensitized to violence.  No clear answer is given—and indeed, no clear answer is possible without a specific moral system to work in—but the moral worries are valid in a variety of moral systems.  Correctly noted is that most systems agree that “killing humans is usually bad”, which makes for a big question why killing humans, even in simulation, is being passed off as being fun.  What does this say about the industry?  What does this say about those who play the games?  And what are the effects of such “fun” going to be on us, both as individuals and on society as a whole?

Today’s news and commentary:

• “"Israel as Brutal as Iran"”
  

By now, most of us have heard of Diet Coke and Mentos eruption.  Not long ago I came up with a variation on this idea, but, alas, someone else beat me to it.  (That’s the way it works sometimes with creative ideas.)  Nevertheless, it is an idea worth sharing, so today’s weird thing is the Diet Coke/Mentos Rocket.  Enjoy and share the weirdness.

Aaron

Beware of the Dark Side

Greetings.

Jewish date: 9 Tammuz 5769.

Today’s quasi-holidays: Build A Scarecrow Day, Canada Day, Second Half of the New Year Day.

Worthy cause of the day: “Declare Your Energy Independence” and “Help Release Laura Ling and Euna Lee”.

Relevant to Divine Misconceptions:

1. “Al Qaida warns of revenge on France for burka warning” and “Sweden won't push debate over burqa ban in European Union”: I am not keen on the notion of a ban on the burqa—despite considering it overkill—due to opposition to unnecessary restrictions on freedom of religion. However, threatening revenge—which coming from a terrorist group must be given weight as credible—is not a good way to argue that the forces of Islam should not be fought.
   
2. More religious oppression: “AZERBAIJAN: Parliament approves latest Religion Law changes”, “For Bahais, a Crackdown Is Old News”, and “Bible college students killed in Yemen”.

Today’s news and commentary:

• “The East Bank”
  
• “Doctors warn against 'swine flu parties'”: What is wrong with some people? Disease is not fought by spreading it! Diseases are fought by keeping them from spreading!
  
• “Screening Tests – Cumulative Incidence of False Positives”
  

Today’s weird thing, submitted by Barry, is a T-shirt. Enjoy and share the weirdness.

Aaron