Can I be banned in Boston, please?

Massachusetts has a law on the books that could have gotten me in trouble: Chapter 272, Section 36. Blasphemy.

Whoever wilfully blasphemes the holy name of God by denying, cursing or contumeliously reproaching God, his creation, government or final judging of the world, or by cursing or contumeliously reproaching Jesus Christ or the Holy Ghost, or by cursing or contumeliously reproaching or exposing to contempt and ridicule, the holy word of God contained in the holy scriptures shall be punished by imprisonment in jail for not more than one year or by a fine of not more than three hundred dollars, and may also be bound to good behavior.

Blake Stacey and the Reveres missed their opportunity to turn me in last time I was in their state … although, come to think of it, we were probably more like a gang of outlaws together.

Proud prudes of America

Sometimes you just have to shake your head at the indignant, smug prudes who want to control what you read. Here’s a story of a young lady who wants to dictate what her peers are allowed to see.

Lysa Harding, 15, couldn’t believe the sexually charged prose of the novel she checked out from the library at Brookwood High School. Her grandmother was offended, too.

Now they’re refusing to return the book, “Sandpiper” by Ellen Wittlinger, saying other teens shouldn’t be exposed to it.

She read it, her grandmother read it, but you better not read it … because it’s about teenagers having sex (never mind that it is a cautionary tale), and grandmother and granddaughter are adamant that everyone must be kept in ignorance.

“I honestly believe that it should not be at school, because at my school they teach abstinence and no sex before marriage, but then all the book is teaching is how to do those things,” she said.

So far, it’s just a tale of boring bluenoses, but there’s also something subtle in this story…something that might require that you know a little basic arithmetic, so it might just sail over the heads of those who ought to think about it most.

“This book is sick,” said Pennington. “I’m 50 years old, and I’ve raised 11 sets of kids and been through many a library, and I’ve never seen a book like this in a school library before.”

Heh. This is a woman complaining that teenagers ought not to learn about sex, and she’s 50 years old with a 15-year-old granddaughter, and has had 11 kids. Were they all virgin births? Is she just jealous that no one ever told her about the consequences of youthful boinking?

My money woes are over

I have a daughter of marriageable age, and here is a useful service:

Marry Our Daughter is an introduction service assisting those following the Biblical tradition of arranging marriages for their daughters.

Those who wish to list their Daughters with our site should click on SIGN UP OUR DAUGHTER on our main page for a form to fill out.

Those who wish to propose to a specific Daughter should click on the PROPOSE button on the Daughter’s INFO CARD.

Each entry has a single snapshot, a short one-paragraph blurb, a link to let someone propose, and a bride price (it’s biblically justified!), which seems to vary between $4K and $100K. You can pick up a cute 14 year old girl for only about $8K. I don’t quite see how they set the prices, and suspect it must be like selling horses — the budget girls must have some ungodly flaws, while the high prices represents the parents’ perception of their own bloodline.

Alas, though, I don’t think an uppity godless girl could fetch anywhere that sum, so it hardly seems worth the effort. Also, the testimonials might make one a wee bit suspicious that one’s leg is being tugged upon.

Sign some more

Here’s another online petition you can sign — this one is to censure Kathy Griffin’s censorship. Go ahead and sign, although I’m beginning to wonder if the reason people aren’t marching in the streets and fending off flying teargas canisters and roaring angrily in person at the bad guys is that they’re too damned busy filling out all these forms on their computers, instead.

Maybe I need to create a new category here: “futile, impotent political posturing” or something. But at least it feels a little bit good.

(via Greg Laden)

I don’t know if the public can handle this

It’s official. The big event is on. At the end of this month, it may be the end in more ways than one: four will enter, but only two will leave. It’s the Pretty Boys vs. the Godless Savages in a brutal debate at the Bell Museum.

SPECIAL EVENT:
Speaking Science 2.0: New Directions in Science Communication
Friday, September 28, 2007
7:30 p.m.
Bell Museum Auditorium
$5 Suggested Donation

Seed magazine writers and influential science bloggers gather to discuss new directions in science communication. This lively panel discussion will cover a range of topics, including science and culture, public engagement with science, the role of scientists in the public discussion of science, and communication via the Internet, film, museums and other media. Author and journalist Chris Mooney, American University communications professor Matthew Nisbet, University of Minnesota anthropologist Greg Laden and University of Minnesota Morris biology professor PZ Myers will join moderator Jessica Marshall, a U of M science journalism lecturer. A reception in Dinkytown will follow the event.

Co-sponsored by the Bell Museum of Natural History; Seed Magazine/ScienceBlogs; The Humphrey Institute’s Center for Science, Technology and Public Policy; and the Minnesota Journalism Center.

For more information about ScienceBlogs visit: http://scienceblogs.com/
For more information about the Bell Museum visit: http://www.bellmuseum.org/

It’s gonna be intense, man.

If you can’t make it, rumor has it that it will also be taped for the Point of Inquiry podcast. A recording won’t fully capture the smell of fear or the texture of coagulating blood, though…SO BE THERE.

Something to terrify the students: LOANS

Orac has a discussion that might be of interest to the young ‘uns: what kind of debt is hanging around your neck after med school? I can’t even imagine getting out of school with a bank expecting me to pay off a few hundred thousand dollars.

I went to college in the late 1970s, when we still had reasonable support for college students. I was on my own — my parents still had 5 other kids at home — but I could actually get through four years of college by holding down two part-time minimum wage jobs and with a fair number of scholarships and low-interest or no-interest loans. I graduated with perhaps a few thousand dollars of debt that I paid off easily — I’d get these quarterly bills for something like $30. Since these were loans at negligible interest, I almost felt a little regret at paying it off.

Unlike Orac, I took the grad school track. They pay you to go to grad school in biology. It’s a pittance, and you get to live in cramped apartments for a few years on macaroni and cheese (mmmm…free government cheese…) and the refreshments at departmental seminars, but you don’t come out of it poorer than when you went in. You also don’t come out of it with great job prospects and the employment is all for a low salary, but that’s another issue…

Urbanized

Would you believe the Urban Dictionary has an entry for PZ? It’s lousy—I can’t believe anyone uses the term that way, and I can’t imagine how they pronounce it. And pzizzle isn’t any better.

Myers, at least, has some punch to it: “Last name of any various white masked knife weilding bad muther *uckers.” I still think most of these entries are jokes sent in by people, especially when the spelling and grammar are atrocious, and that they don’t really have any common usage.