Jewish date: 23 ’Av 5769.
Today’s holidays: Feast Day of Hippolytus.
Today’s quasi-holidays: Left Handers Day.
Worthy causes of the day: “We Don't Need More Dirty Coal!”, “5% FOR THE WORLD'S MOST VULNERABLE: ASK YOUR SENATORS: We can convince the Senate to invest in helping the world's poorest people overcome the threats posed by climate change”, and “End Health Care Discrimination Based on Pre-Existing Conditions”.
Relevant to Divine Misconceptions:
- “Muslim woman barred from wearing 'burquini' in Paris pool”: And yet again France makes itself look stupid when it comes to freedom of religion. Yes, many of us worry about Islam, but that does not translate into violating freedom of religion for Muslims, especially ones who are merely trying to go swimming. Framing this as a hygiene issue is particularly lame and transparent. The real issues with Islam are to the tune of jihad, dhimmitude, trying to coerce acceptance (as opposed to tolerance) out of everyone, violence, terrorism, intolerance, imposition of shari‘a, and questions of whether Muḥammad was a real prophet at all. Freaking out over the clothing people chose for themselves is concentrating on something superficial and fairly harmless and ignoring what is actually dangerous.
- I am seriously considering moving the Divine Misconceptions feature to its own blog again. The breadth of material covered in Weird thing of the day has gotten very wide, and much of the Divine Misconceptions material may not be what people normally consider weird. While Weird thing of the day and Divine Misconceptions are both “accidental” projects, their purposes and goals are different. Weird thing of the day started out as periodic E-mails in which I noted unusual things; it has never gained a set goal beyond that. Divine Misconceptions started out as a list of ideas about religion that were wrong and has turned into a serious writing project; its current goal is to produce at least two books on religious fallacies and misconceptions. A separate Divine Misconceptions blog might be able to focus better on religion and religious epistemology better, while allowing Weird thing of the day to focus more clearly on weirdness. Any thoughts? (And I really mean it. The last time I publicly considered doing this, no one responded.)
- “Road Safety (1999)”
- “Iran calls for international ban on striking nuke facilities”: Translation: They are really, really scared that they are going to get bombed by Israel, which is no surprise since Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has repeatedly threatened Israel’s very existence. Apparently the tactic of apologizing for Ahmadinejad’s indecent behavior and ceasing to be nuclear threat to Israel has not occurred to them.
- “ Newfound Planet Orbits Backward ”
- “Tasting the Light: Device Lets Blind "See" with Their Tongues A pair of sunglasses wired to an electric "lollipop" helps the visually impaired regain optical sensations via a different pathway”: I cannot make something like this up.
Enjoy, share the weirdness, and please comment on this post whether I should spin off a separate Divine Misconceptions blog.
Aaron
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