She had a good run, although part of her life was marred by mental illness and religion. Now an icon of the sexual revolution is gone.
I’m rather curious to know how many readers here have never heard of her before — this could make me feel very old.
Mike Huckabee is a smug little hypocrite who tries to defend his opposition to gay marriage by arguing that a) it’s traditional (never mind that marriage has changed greatly since biblical times), b) it’s natural and necessary for procreation (ignoring the fact that a childless marriage is still regarded as a marriage), and c) that you can’t redefine the magic word “marriage” (yeah, like language never evolves). Jon Stewart makes him squirm over his position.
This wretched ignoramus will be running for president again in 2012, you know it. I know I’ll be struggling to suppress nausea when he does.
A few people are trying to put together some events for CONvergence, the SF convention that will be taking place 2-5 July in Minneapolis (I’ll be going, too). They need volunteers to help with organizing — it’s a bit tentative right now, so I can’t give out all the details, but if you write to me I can connect you with the bigwigs and tell you a little more.
I’ll believe them when I see them. Greg Laden says we should all vote on this idea: that we ought to rather thoroughly revamp how science is taught in this country by setting national science standards on the teaching of evolution. I’d like to see it if it could be done well, but I predict that such an initiative would set up some awesome squealing from the creationists…which is another reason to support it.
The temperatures here in Morris are dropping into the single digits °F, snow is on the ground and probably not going away until the spring, and the lakes are all frozen over — we spotted our first icehouse on Lake Minnewaska last weekend. So what does that mean? I’m flying south this weekend, to Orlando, Florida!
I’ll be speaking at the University of Central Florida on Friday, 5 December, at 7pm in Communications Building 101. Afterwards, we tentatively plan to adjourn to the Lazy Moon for refreshments — we can’t be certain because it’s a pizza place in a college town, so we may not be able to squeeze in, depending on how many show up. I’ll post an update if we have to move elsewhere.
On Saturday, 6 December, I’ll be speaking at Rollins College, at 6:30pm in Crummer Hall. I don’t have specific post-babbling plans there, yet, so perhaps someone can suggest something.
I fly away, mission accomplished, on Pearl Harbor day, that Sunday. I have to be a little concerned, though, that the shock of traveling from Florida to frigid Minnesota might be a bit dangerous. I’ll step off the plane in my flip-flops and bermudas and Hawaiian shirt and shatter from the shock. That means this might be the last time anyone gets to see me, so you better show up.
Don’t be too disappointed — it’s some weird blogger. At least he picked the best and most obvious scientist to represent Christmas.
The US is too dependent on cars and oil, and the automobile companies have been total failures at addressing the needs of the country…which is why they’re now looking for bailouts. So I have to say I thought Keith Knight’s solution is very appealing. After pointing out the incompetence of our automakers, he suggests…
Yes! Rebuild the railroads and put together a national mass transit system! Now there’s a public works project that would put people to work and improve our infrastructure. I’d also really like to be able to climb onto a train at the local station when I have to travel.
I have many things to be thankful for. One is that I’m not the brain-damaged idiot who wrote this appalling editorial in the Newnan Times-Herald.
Thanksgiving must be a terrible time for atheists. They have no God to thank.
They do not have the privilege of gathering with family and friends to express gratitude by saying: “Praise God from whom all blessings flow.” An atheist on his deathbed faces serious uncertainties. Gazing upward, he pleads: “Oh God, if there is a God, please save my soul — if I have one.”
I’m also thankful that atheists are not sitting down and taking this nonsense anymore. If you read the comments on the column, you will discover that readers simply eviscerated this clown. Where the column is depressingly stupid, the replies are wonderful and heartwarming.
Oh, yes — I’m also thankful that on Thanksgiving I will be getting together with my family to express gratitude to the real people who count, rather than some imaginary thug in the sky.
I’m normally a fan of the United Nations — I think more international cooperation is important — but they’ve just made a bad decision, voting in favor of a measure to condemn “defamation of religions”. It’s another example of the way religion tries to preserve its inanities by restricting criticism since, after all, it cannot survive any kind of critical thinking. And then there’s this comment:
And don’t forget that no less an authority than Canada’s own Louise Arbour, former UN high comissioner of human rights, wrote in response to a complaint about the publication of those famous Danish cartoons “I find alarming any behaviours that disregard the beliefs of others. This kind of thing is unacceptable.”
We have to respect the beliefs of others? Well, I think my belief that Canada needs to send me one million dollars is far more deserving of respect than the idea that torturing and killing incarnations of a god somehow exempts me from punishment for something my many times great grandmother did while frolicking naked in a garden. SO WHERE’S MY CASH, LOUISE?
I’ll be spending my day at this symposium, “Understanding evolution: the legacy of Darwin”, most of today. It’s about to start, so I’m not going to say much before I focus on the lectures, but it is open to the public, so if you’re in the Penn neighborhood, come on down to Claudia Cohen hall, room G17 (which we have since learned is the famous old surgical demonstration auditorium), and listen in. I’ll report later on the contents of the talks.
