I’m ready to take over the world with Rationalism

Who else is going to waste their entire Tuesday playing Civilization 5? I’m purposefully making this post now because tomorrow I’m going to be too busy conquering the world.

I’m a huge Civ fan, though I got into the series a bit late. A friend introduced me to Civ3 in high school, so I played that and Civ4. But I fell in love with the game instantly. There’s just something so addictive about taking over the world! And something twisted and entertaining about Gandhi declaring war on you, or Abraham Lincoln adopting Slavery.

So needless to say, I’m excited for the new game. Sure, I’m going to miss sending out my flood of missionaries to convert everyone to Judaism. And I’m a bit sad Montezuma is back – seriously, what an asshole and source of much ragequitting. Go die in a fire, Monty.

*ahem* But I’m really happy about the new way city borders expand, aka logically and not based on a little arbitrary plus sign. And I think I’m going to love how the battle system actually relies on strategy including the map, not just stacks of doom. When I first played Civ, I would strategically place cities by mountain passes, until I realized it didn’t matter. But now it does, woo!

But the new thing I’m geeking out about the most? One of the Policy trees you can research, in addition to things like Tradition, Honor, and Liberty, is Rationalism. I am atheist-geeking out about this so much. The bonuses are great:

  • Rationalism – Immediately enter a golden age
  • Humanism – +1 Happiness from every University
  • Secularism – +2 Science from every Specialist
  • Freethought – +2 Science from every Trading Post
  • Scientific Revolution – Gain 2 free Technologies

And the cherry on top? You can’t have Rationalism at the same time as Piety, the religious Policy tree. Which is all about increasing happiness, not actually making progress.

lulz

Anyway, I’m super excited. Like I said, I’m going to play as much as possible tomorrow, mainly because I have my departmental retreat Wednesday through Friday. Need to get my conquering in! And classes start the 29th, so I’ll try to squeeze so more in before I have no free time. If anyone is interested in a giant multiplayer Blag Hag reader battle over the weekend, my Steam username is Jennifurret. Friend me!

Now, I’m off. It’s released at 7am here, so I need my beauty sleep. Yes, I’m willing to wake up early for a video game, but I bitch about 9:30am classes. I am a geek.

Today is the start of No Make-up Week

What is No Make-up Week?

I’m asking you to conduct your own experiment. To go a day or a week without make-up, to upload a no make-up photo online or simply explore the relationship through writing or whatever feels right. Make it your own.

It’s not about taking a week off because make-up is somehow bad or because not wearing it is better. It’s that by taking a week off, I should be able to understand my relationship to cosmetics more clearly. Why do I feel I need to sketch on eyebrow pencil before going to the grocery? To shellac my face before seeing a friend? And if I am going to a networking event or party, can I feel comfortable in anything less than contoured cheeks and caked on lashes?

When I think about not wearing make-up for a week, a voice inside of me screams, Noooooooooo! And this is exactly what I want to explore. I mean, the thing is this: Make-up is a powerful tool, it has the ability to transform, to incite imagination and creativity. But, when an option turns into a necessity, I don’t know it it’s still a tool. At the least, it loses it’s spark.

I won’t be spamming you with photos, because I’m sans make-up in all of my photos – or at the most, wearing a little foundation. But I thought this was a great little project, so I wanted to share it with my readers.

I’ve blogged in the past about my make-up anxiety, but I’ll probably put up another post or two throughout the week. There’s also a Facebook event, and you can follow it on Twitter with the hashtag #nomakeupweek.

For now, consider this an open thread. What’s your relationship with make-up? Do you ever feel obligated to wear it? Obligated not to wear it? How do you feel about the make-up double standard between the sexes?

One way to deal with crazy campus preachers

This is what Purdue’s campus looked like last Monday:Crazy campus preachers are fairly typical in the fall. One, it’s still warm, which is conducive to standing around outside yelling at people. But two, they hope to prey on the confused and lonely freshman. Because, according to this group, going to college is the work of the devil:

“Satan has a job to do…and you are it! The tremendous emphasis put on education these days is demonic. Satan knows his time is running out. Resounding throughout the halls of Aristotle are the voices of demons imposing their curriculum from hell. They insist ‘Memorize and regurgitate. Better this world. Self-esteem. Defy God! Exalt Babylon!”

“Deny God! Exalt Babylon!”? Shit, they found the Biology Department’s curriculum!

But my godless alma mater, the Society of Non-Theists, has a light-hearted way of dealing with our standard street preachers: our annual Pastafarian Preaching on Talk Like a Pirate Day.

Mike has a great summary here, describing the overall positive reaction of the event. Our Pastafarian Preaching is a silly satire of all the hateful preachers who come to campus, so it really does put a smile on people’s faces. And they even made the day of this little pirate fan:
Great job, Purdue Non-Theists!

Spider siege update

Somehow I was able to get to sleep last night, but I was forced to wake up early because my bed was being delivered. Finally! The air mattress my landlord had lent me was slowly becoming deflated, so every night of sleeping became sadder and sadder. But here came the movers with my big new bed!

In a horrible twist of fate, THEY BROUGHT IN TWO MORE GIANT HOUSE SPIDERS. I froze watching one cling to my box spring, thankfully on the outside of a plastic sheath. When it fell to the ground, the guy simply picked it up like it was a piece of trash and carried it out. I was terrified. I mean, I’m glad he removed them, but ararrhghgh.

…I mean, I think he removed all of them. Gulp.

The worst part? I have this little overhanging canopy above my door overgrown with some cute vines. As they brought in the mattress, a giant house spider became dislodged from the vines and fell down to the opening of my door.

My doorway is a giant house spider home.

Fuck.

I would say I’m going to go buy a bottle of strong liquor to calm my nerves, but that actually involves going through the giant house spider infested portal. Right now I just can’t imagine walking under something that I know contains these horrifying things. I’m doomed.

Maybe I can use my sincere terror to negotiate with my landlord about how he really should let me have a cat. I’d be willing to pay a pet deposit – I need a spider assassin on duty at all times. Plus, cat’s require less effort than keeping around a spider squishing boyfriend.

Your regularly scheduled atheist programming will be back once Jen stops freaking out.

WTF IS THIS GIANT HOUSE SPIDER BULLSHIT?!?!

Seattleites, you have some ‘splaining to do. Why the fuck did no one warn me about these “Giant House Spiders” that are apparently so common in Seattle? Gaaaaarrahrahbbebabelle.

I’ve blogged about my arachnophobia before, but just in case it’s not clear: I am fucking terrified of spiders. Like, even ones that are a millimeter in diameter. I recognize that this is a totally irrational fear, but I can’t logic it away, so please spare me. Consider this an evolutionary adaptation.

So yeah. Finding two daddy long legs (which, I know, are not spiders, but are spider-y enough) was unnerving. Finding some decent sized spiders guarding my mail box was flail inducing, especially since I see them hanging out in bushes everywhere. But this?

This is unacceptable.

I am not going to show or even link to a photo of these horrible things, not because I don’t want to scare you, but because I am too terrified to even look at them on my computer screen. I turned around, ready to go to bed, and there’s this enormous spider on my wall. It was brown, hairy, and each leg was thick and almost two inches long (not a wolf spider though – unfortunately I have seen those in person). The only reason I was brave enough to squish it was because the idea of waking up and it not being there was even more terrifying. Someone should have been videotaping me as I ran around flailing, silently screaming, and eventually settling on squishing it with a mop because I couldn’t get any closer.

Hilarious for you. Not hilarious for me.

One of the more unnerving parts was how it died. I expected my wall to be covered in exploded spider guts. Instead, it sort of just crumpled into a little ball and fell off. The worst part? I found an identical looking dead crumpled spider yesterday, which means my landlord probably squished one of these before I came. Which means multiple giant house spiders within a short period of time.

FFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

If I had vodka, I’d be doing shots right now to calm my nerves. I feel like stuff is crawling all over me, and I was verging on a panic attack until I decided to blog my neurosis. Seriously, I am not going to be able to sleep tonight. I’m on an air mattress that’s about 3 inches off the ground. At least with a bed I can pretend I’m safe.

Please don’t point out how I’m not :(

Friend: They like cold, dry places like basements, not inside the house.I’ve NEVER seen one in my bed, EVER. If they’re EVER in the house, they like corners of rooms and bathroom tubs because they like really really cold, dry, dark spaces. I’m being as honest as I can here. I’m so sorry this sucks for you. Is there anything I can do to help you feel better?
Me: I LIVE IN A BASEMENT
Friend: …uh. Sorry.

EDIT:

Same Friend: My friend just told me that flea bombs work for spiders. And he says keeping a spotless place is the best defense
Me: Fuccccccckkkkkkk. I am a slob
Friend: Oh, hon.
Me: I will fucking clean if it means no giant ass spiders.
Friend: Yes! Good can come of this!

Kick off the War on Christmas with a cheesey Christian movie!

This is unintentional comedy gold:

I smell a a drinking game. Take a sip every time a stereotype or debunked fallacious claim appears. A very small sip – we don’t want people getting alcohol poisoning.

I love this winning commentary from Steven Humphrey over at Slog:

In case you haven’t noticed, atheists like me RUIN EVERYTHING for EVERYBODY. However, I will not ruin this. What follows is one of the most hilarious, anus-tingling Christian movie trailers ever, in which a small Alaskan town’s Christmas is totally ruined by fat, evil atheist Fat Daniel Baldwin. As it so happens, Fat Atheist Daniel Baldwin is so jealous of hunky Christ Warrior Ted McGinley (who apparently competed with Baldwin for the affections of his own Mom… WHAT???), he’ll do anything to ruin Christmas—even change a town banner to “Seasons Greetings” and man-handle an adorable child dressed as an angel. YOU FUCKING HORRIBLE BASTARD!!! C is for CHRIST, and C is for CHRISTMAS, you fascist, atheist MONSTER!!!!

Amen. …Wait.

Brides + Plastic Surgery = New reality TV show

What the fuck?

The network is set to announce “Bridalplasty,” where brides-to-be compete in wedding-themed challenges to win extensive surgical procedures.

Each week, a group of women competes head-to-head in such challenges as writing wedding vows and planning honeymoons. The winner receives the chance to choose a plastic surgery procedure from her “wish list.” She’s given the procedure immediately, and results are shown at the start of the following week’s episode.

One by one, the women are voted out by their competitors and, according to the show’s description, “possibly walking away with nothing and losing [their] chance to be the perfect bride.”

The last bride standing will receive a “dream wedding,” where she will reveal her new appearance to friends, family and the groom. “Viewers will witness his emotional and possibly shocked reaction as they stand at the altar and he lifts her veil to see her for the first time following her extreme plastic surgery,” E! said.

…

Just when you thought American television couldn’t sink any lower. My addiction with America’s Next Top Model seems positively cerebral in comparison.

This is so stupid I’m not even going to grace it with serious feminist commentary. Feel free to have a real discussion in the comments – I’m going to be over in the corner weeping.

People warned me about the Seattle rain…

…but not the spike pits and Wall of Death.I’m going to be walking past this every day on my way too and from school. I hope this isn’t an omen.

On the bright side, I’m happy that my new iPhone 4G (yes, I broke down) takes such nice photos! My old camera was 4 years old and being held together by duct tape, so this is a nice replacement. And while I’m rambling about iPhones, App suggestions are welcome.

I’ve forgotten what it’s like being the token atheist

Sigh.

So last night one of the new Genome Sciences grad students held a little get together so everyone in our incoming class could meet each other. Overall it was fun – everyone seemed very nice, and I think we’ll have a good group. Not to mention our host totally impressed everyone with his fancy cooking skills.

But it ended on a sour note for me. My ears perked up when I heard someone mention Richard Dawkins. Thinking I just found a new friend, I happily said I was a fan of his. A couple of the people there quickly started making comments about how much they used to like him when he stuck to biology, but not now that he talks about atheism. I commented that I like all of his stuff, and someone claimed that Dawkins was a militant atheist (said with that particular sort of disdain you probably recognize) and wasn’t any different from religious extremists who go around blowing stuff up.

Wow.

It’s not exactly a new argument. Actually, the reason I was so surprised to hear it was precisely because it’s such an old trope that has been debunked repeatedly. I retorted that “militant” atheists simply disagree with people, not go around murdering or converting people. But it went on and on. It was the standard “You’re an asshole if you say someone’s religious beliefs are wrong” argument.

I asked if they had even read stuff like the God Delusion, since Dawkins really isn’t as aggressive as people make him out to be. They claimed to have done so. I gave up defending Dawkins and instead commented that it can be seen as a “Good cop, Bad cop” approach. Aggression works at reaching some people, and that’s what Dawkins does. Sympathy and diplomacy works better with some people, and other authors do that. But then the discussion just devolved into attacks, with one guy claiming outspoken atheists like Dawkins are only in it for the money, and he’s just some pompous old British guy who can’t even defend his arguments on TV.

Yeah, it was frustrating, to say the least. I just wish I had this comic with me:After last night, I recognize how spoiled I’ve been the last three years. Pretty much all of my social interaction at Purdue has been through the Society of Non-Theists. Sure, I’m civil and friendly with my classmates and coworkers. But all of my close friends were made through SNT, and I didn’t really hang out with anyone else.

Why? Because I automatically felt comfortable around those people.

I’m not saying I can’t be friends with religious people. Heck, some of the nicest people there last night were the most religious, and the ones debating with me weren’t very religious. But when I walk into a crowd where I know everyone is an atheist, or at least sympathetic toward atheists (like at skeptical events), I can let my guard down.

I don’t have to be prepared to debate and defend myself at any given moment.

I don’t have to awkwardly deal with people assuming I’m religious.

I don’t have to listen to people equating my outspokenness with suicide bombers.

And I don’t have to purposefully hide parts of my life because I’m afraid it’ll alienate people from me. Last night I was sure as hell not going to mention how most of my blogging is about atheism and as aggressive as Dawkins, or that I founded a club for atheist students, or that I was on the board for the Secular Student Alliance. And when someone asked how I had met Richard Dawkins, I didn’t mention how we’re being published together in the same book about atheism. I lied by omission about something I’m incredibly proud about.

Immediately afterward I felt bad for not being true to myself, but these are going to be my coworkers for the next five years. I don’t bring up religion or my atheism in class or at work because I don’t want it to be an issue, just as I try not to bring up politics. But when it is brought up, I’m not the type to stand there and take it. And thus I feel like the odd woman out.

But when I had dinner with the Seattle Atheists on Sunday night? I immediately felt like I was part of the group. I was so comfortable around them – it felt like I had already been their friend for years. The same thing happens whenever I have a blog meetup, or attend a skeptical conference. We may have different political opinions or hobbies, but everyone can sigh in relief at having one awkward wall already broken down.

This post is partially to get how I feel off my chest, since it’s been kind of festering. It’s partially to illustrate why atheist social networks are so important to people. And it’s partially to sympathize with those of you who haven’t been as lucky as me to have all these atheist social networks. I forgot what it was like being the token “militant” atheist in a group. I’ll survive, but it’s just not fun going into social situations on the defensive. Heck, even writing this post makes me a little nervous, since I’m sure some GS people will read it and I don’t want them to take it the wrong way.

Thankfully the Seattle Atheists are having their game night tonight, so I’m looking forward to that more than ever. It’s still a bit ironic, though. People built up me moving to Seattle as my escape to some secular paradise. At least in Indiana I can always assume I’m going to be in the minority. Here, it’s just a little more disappointing when I am.