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

Beware of eBay

Greetings.

Jewish date: 9 ’Iyyar 5769.

Today’s holidays: Day 24 of the ‘Omer, Fourth Sunday of Easter.

Today’s quasi-holidays: World Press Freedom Day, National Two Different Colored Shoes Day.

Worthy cause of the day: “Tell Congress to stop coal companies from using mountain streams as waste dumps.”

Relevant to Divine Misconceptions:

1. Very sensible:  “Worship sites seek to keep the faithful flu-free”.
   
2. Very disturbing: “Commission Names 13 Countries as Religious Freedom Violators”, “Taliban demolishes 11 homes of Sikh community”
   
3. Very incoherent and paranoid: “Swine Flu: God's Mercy Running Raw”: It should go without saying that saying known lies about someone, such as claiming that Barack Obama is a Muslim, and making serious accusations without the least shred of evidence is itself a dialectic faux pas. A good argument cannot be built on false premises. However, claiming that Obama is “Marxist Muslim”, a combination which is inherently contradictory, is an insult to both Obama’s intelligence and the reader’s.
   
4. Yet another incidence of extralegal witchcraft paranoia: “Couple killed over witchcraft claims”. Remember: never kill anyone extralegally in a non-emergency situation! You may kill someone innocent. When was a trial where anyone was proved to have committed magic? When was it proved that the magic actually could hurt anyone? When was it proved that any magic actually hurt anyone?
5. Very embarrassing to the wrong people: “Inside the cult, scientology”:
   
   
6. Very paranoid and foolish: “Religious sect slams brakes on anti-polio drive”.

Today’s news and commentary:

• “Pa. township has all it street signs stolen”
  
• “Will Egypt's plans to kill pigs protect it from swine flu -- sorry, H1N1 flu?”
  
• “5 Ways to Protect Yourself (and Others) from Swine Flu”
  

Today’s weird thing is “Packages”.

Enjoy and share the weirdness.

Aaron

24 ’Adhar 5769: Vernal Equinox/Sweater Day/National Quilting Day/National Agriculture Day/Great American Meat Out Day/International Day of the Francophonie

Greetings.

Worthy cause of the day: “Join the Fight to End Mountaintop Removal”, “New Networks Must Be Neutral”

Relevant to Divine Misconceptions:

1. “Gambian state kidnaps 1,000 villagers in mass purge of 'witchcraft'”: When are they going to get over this shameful witchcraft paranoia which only hurts innocent people?
   
2. “Pope tells Muslims that religion rejects violence”: The Pope is trying to redefine religion, as it is written:
   
   

   "Genuine religion ... stands at the base of any authentically human culture," he said. "It rejects all forms of violence and totalitarianism: not only on principles of faith but also of right reason."

   The Pope thus commits the fallacy of redefinition.  “Religion” has no one accepted definition.  It is such a loosely defined term that any belief system which has anything to say on theology or morality is likely to be termed a “religion” by someone.  This includes atheism, communism, and Nazism.  Some even claim that science, which is more of a methodology than an ideology, is a religion; while this is usually a politically charged claim, the same sort of dedication, devotion, and feelings of awe usually associated with religion can also be found in the writings of some scientists on science, e.g., those of Carl Sagan.  Trying to indirectly change Islam, which has a documented history of violence and totalitarianism, in this fashion is likely to convince no one sensible.
   
3. “Woman accused of church theft blames Satan”: Uh, yeah... I hope she did not mean it literally...
   

Today’s news and commentary:

• “Vengance!”
  
• “California town to spray-paint lawn bald spots”: Gee, wouldn’t planting actual grass be a better idea?
  
• “It’s the eggquinox!”
  
• “Diebold Admits Audit Logs in ALL Versions of Their Software Fail to Record Ballot Deletions” and “KY Election Officials Arrested, Charged With 'Changing Votes at E-Voting Machines'”: Oops. Is anyone out there really surprised at these?
  
• “Rocket Scientists Shoot Down Mosquitoes With Lasers”
  
• “An Alarming video every Westerner should see”
  
• “Police bring Tardis-style boxes back into use”: Good news for Doctor Who fans.
  
• “Genesis for Exploding Stars Confirmed”
  

Today’s weird thing is “Building my own Solar Panel”. Somebody please send me one of these. Enjoy, share the weirdness, and Shabbath shalom.

Aaron

19 ’Av 5768: National Radio Day

Greetings.

Worthy causes of the day: “Support the Gulf Coast Civic Works Act” and “Release newspaper reporter "Chief" Ebrima B. Manneh and protect freedom of expression in The Gambia”.

Relevant to Divine Misconceptions:

1. “Rabbis, families discuss ways to cope with kids who quit religion”: This is a real problem, and it is good to see people trying to deal with it practically.
   
2. “A Georgia church tries drive-in worship”: Interesting approach.

Today’s news and commentary:

• “Iranian Fanatics”
  
• “The Guardian's Disappointing Response”
  
• “Bigfoot finding turns out to be a hoax - surprised?”
  
• “1918 Flu Antibodies Alive and Well”
  
• “If You Use the Web, You May Have Already Been Enlisted as a Human Scanner”
  
• “The Storied History of the Word 'Planet' ”

Today’s weird thing is “Doctor Who buying a Tardis wardrobe from Harveys”.

Enjoy and share the weirdness.

Aaron