Beware of clouds

Greetings.

Jewish date: 28 ’Iyyar 5769.

Today’s holidays:  Day 43 of the ‘Omer, Jerusalem Day. Relevant to Jerusalem Day are “This year in Jerusalem”, “Once upon an Independence Eve”,“Jerusalem (1973)”, and “The Struggle for Jerusalem”.

Today’s quasi-holidays: International Day for Biological Diversity, Buy-A-Musical Instrument Day, The Anniversary of Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood.

Worthy causes of the day: “Education is the Pathway Out of Global Poverty” and “Help Support Tougher Sanctions on Iran”.

Relevant to Divine Misconceptions:

1. “Oh, Texas, this guy runs your school board?”: Creationist attacks on academic integrity in our public schools have not ceased. This article is about one creationist on a school board in Texas who has trouble with the idea of experts, i.e., people who know more about him on, say, evolution, and who believe he is wrong. Claiming to know better on a subject than people who actually, demonstrably know more is a bad idea. Not to mention this guy has no clue that punctuated equilibrium (“stasis”) is not a disproof of (or even vaguely resemble a disproof of) evolution, which does nothing to help his case.
   
2. “Holocaust remembrance group silenced in Ukraine”: As if covering up something horrible that happened ever made the world a better place to live in.
   
3. More persecution: “ADL voices concern over recent anti-Semitic incidents in Argentina”.
4. More paranoia: “Children in Congo forced into exorcisms”.
5. It is very easy to point at something wrong and announce its wrongness to the world. Harder is to explain why someone reached a wrong belief or decision. “Don't judge the chemo kid” is an article which attempts to explain why Daniel Hauser, the 13-year-old boy with Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and his mother have gone on the run to keep him from having to undergo chemotherapy.  Chemotherapy is an extremely difficult treatment with horrific side effects.  The correct decision is still to undergo chemotherapy, but it is understandable that Daniel and his mother would want to find another way to cure him.

Today’s news and commentary:

• “The State of "Palestine" Quiz”
  
• “Hostility Towards Scientists And Jenny McCarthy’s Latest Video”: Another case of someone ignorant believing she knows better than actual, demonstrable experts. This is the sort of poor thinking which kills children.
  
• “Perfect Pitch Related to Language”
  
• “The Urban Phantom: Why bears are like drug addicts”
  
• “Game Boy Oddities - The PediSedate”
  

Today’s weird thing is The Cloud Appreciation Society. Enjoy, share the weirdness, and Shabbath shalom.

Aaron

2 Shevaṭ 5769: International Holocaust Remembrance Day

Greetings.

Worthy cause of the day: “RUSH TO JUDGMENT”.

Relevant to Divine Misconceptions:

1. The Richard Williamson scandal continues.  Both the Italian bishops’ conference and the Vatican have denounced the Holocaust-denying views of Williamson (see “Italy bishops denounce Holocaust denier” and “Vatican: Comments by Holocaust denier unacceptable”).  No word on Pope Benedict XVI re-excommunicating Williamson yet.  Meanwhile, Williamson himself seems to be increasingly nutty, as evidenced by this bizarre review of The Sound of Music, which is not only pro-Nazi, but also makes some interesting leaps of logic.  (Credit is due to J. L. Bell, who read about this in The Daily Dish.)
   
2. “Tanzania witchdoctors flout ban”: The ban is on using organs from human albinos, procured by murdering people they were part of. Considering that magic only works in the form of psychological effects, this is an extremely high moral price to pay for a placebo. Shame on the witchdoctors, the murderers, and the clients of the witchdoctors!
   
3. More self-promotion: 2009 Darwin Week in Charleston | February 08-15. I am on the panel on the 10th discussing Expelled. Bring your own rotten vegetables.
   

Today’s news and commentary:

• “Doomsday Defense (1994)”
  
• “Digging For the Truth”
  
• “Octuplets stun doctors at U.S. hospital”
  
• This Modern World 2009-01-26
  
• “Astronaut Carving on Ancient Spanish Cathedral”
  
• “Dismantling NCCAM: A How-To Primer”
  
• “IDF: Only 250 of Gaza fatalities were civilians”
  
• “How Gaza was spun”
  
• Relevant to today’s quasi-holiday: “The Holocaust did not begin in the gas chambers - it began with words”
  
• “Vaccines and autism: yet another dead link”
  

Today’s weird thing is Toy-A-Day. Enjoy and share the weirdness.

Aaron

18 ’Iyyar 5768: Day 33 of the ‘Omer (Lagh ba‘Omer)/World Turtle Day/Declaration of the Bab

Greetings.

Worthy causes of the day: “Support the Coal Plant Moratorium”, “What You Don't Know CAN Hurt You”, and “URGENT - Protect Utah Wilderness from Oil & Gas and ORVs”.

Divine misconception of the day: “McCain Backer Hagee Said Hitler Was Fulfilling God's Will”. Basically Hagee claimed that the Holocaust occurred because the Jews failed to return to Israel en masse, the point of Hitler being to drive the Jews there. Based on my meager knowledge of history alone, this does not work. As far back as the 1920s, during the British Mandate, in an attempt to appease violent Arabs, the British severely limited immigration to Mandatory Palestine for Jews. Even though a few Jews did manage to get in, legally or illegally, many did not. Indeed, few countries were willing to accept Jewish refugees at all and none in sufficient numbers, and the disastrous results are well-known. As a candidate for a Divine tool to promote Zionism, Hitler fails miserably. Hagee is also wrong theologically. It is true that suffering may be Divinely inflicted for one’s actions. However, the Book of Job (accepted by Christians as scripture) makes it clear that bad things can happen to even a perfectly righteous person. As such, there are no grounds for assuming that the Jews (or anyone else) who suffered or died in the Holocaust are responsible for what happened to them. It is no wonder that once this scandal hit, McCain rejected Hagee’s endorsement.

Today’s news and commentary:

• “Olmert's One Man Show”
  
• “Report says nation's wildlife refuges underfunded”
  
• “Killer app: Game consoles contain hazardous chemicals”
  
• “Obama tries to reassure Jewish voters” (It only makes sense to be opposed to someone based on their actual beliefs and actions, not rumors and lies.)
  
• “Audit finds lax oversight in contractor payments”
  
• “Every $10 oil rise ups US Air Force costs $610 mln”
  
• “Dinosaur Tracks Discovered on Arabian Peninsula”
  
• “Boars help German cops capture auto theft suspect”
  
• “U.S. corporations massively read employee e-mail”
  
• “Failure to Kick Smoking Habit May Put a Drag on Social Life”

Today’s weird thing is a mathematical cartoon. Enjoy, share the weirdness, and Shabbath shalom.

Aaron