Friday, August 7, 2009

Beware of mice

Greetings.

Jewish date:  17 ’Av 5769.

Today’s quasi-holidays:  Hamburger Day, Sea Serpent Day.

Worthy cause of the day:  “Tell Republicans to Denounce Rush Limbaugh's Outrageous Comments”, “Whales in Danger”, “Ask the United Nations to End Violence in Schools”, and “Tell Your Senators to Ignore the Scare Tactics”.

Relevant to Divine Misconceptions:
  1. “Defending the Frum and Blaming the Non Frum”:  This article deals with a moral shortcut sometimes made in dealing with conflicts between one or more members of one’s own group and members of another group:  to automatically assume whoever belongs to one’s own group is right.  Most of us probably have a bit of a bias in this direction, but the author deals with a documented cases in which the assumption was taken to the point of ignoring evidence to the contrary, even constructing elaborate “conspiracy theories”.  The author is correct that evidence should always trump preconceptions.
  2. More religious intolerance and oppression:  “Bangladesh: Police Torture Pastor, Two Others”, “Sudanese police beat women opposing Islamic ban on pants” (I do not make stuff like this up; I just report it), “Ahmadiyah followers seek exit from shelter”.
Today’s news and commentary:
Today’s weird thing is “Mouse Trouble: 20 Weird Pointing Device Patents”.  Enjoy, share the weirdness, and Shabbath shalom.

Aaron

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