gregladen | May 11, 2010Pope Benedict XVI has made the statement that the outrage and calls for action from outside the over the sexual abuse of children within the church is a for of "persecution of the Church." He further stated that the cause of that widespread sexual abuse of children that has been documented within the Catholic Church is caused by sin. For those of you who are not paying a lot of attention, or who prefer an appeasement strategy when it comes to El Popo, or who just don't know, let me spell that out for you: If the problem of regular sexual abuse of children by priests is caused by sin, then it…
gregladen | May 11, 2010When I was a kid, everyone in my neighborhood was divided into categories along three dimensions. There were color differences (light vs. dark hair and skin), there was the Catholic vs. Protestant divide, and there was the binary distinction of whether or not your dad served in World War II. In fourth grade and again in seventh, I attended a new school and each time encountered a greater diversity of kids and teachers and learned about new kinds of people. At the same time, I would often visit my father at work, and during the summer he and I would have breakfast downtown at the Dewitt…
gregladen | May 11, 2010Criticizing an event in progress is often futile, both because it's frequently difficult to stop or redirect a process in motion and because ongoing events will distract from your message.
Wait, is this about boobquake?
gregladen | May 10, 2010... None of us want to think that criticism is actually about our behavior. It's much, much easier to dismiss it as the product of someone else's biased thinking. It's much easier to say, "This isn't about what I do, because no matter what I do, this person is not going to like it or me." ...
More on criticism at Almost Diamonds.
gregladen | May 10, 2010The social transaction here is a major theme of both Dragnet and Adam-12, and one that would later be developed in new directions by TV shows like COPS.
.... Read on
gregladen | May 10, 2010You know I'm reviewing my QM blogging. Time for some rants.
The Black Forest Inn: Anarchists 2; Scientists 1
In the email, she had asked for my time. She wanted to talk to me about a strategy for finishing her degree in anthropology, and she wanted to know whether there was some research that she could do with me. At the end of the email, she said, "Can we please meet at the Hard Times? I'd be more comfortable."...
In and of itself, that post is not so much a rant as a piece of a larger ongoing rant. It's kind of hard to explain. Just go look. Here. Click here.
Maybe We Should Have…
gregladen | May 10, 2010Rachel Maddow suggests this as the Must Read document for the impending confirmation process.
gregladen | May 10, 2010How do you build up a movement with destructive criticism?
...
Yeah, that's what I thought. But that doesn't stop the makers of sites like You're Not Helping from going flat-out negative, even when they're offering "praise."
Read the beginning of what looks like a series of posts on how to be helpful on the intertubes, at Almost Diamonds.
gregladen | May 9, 2010Barack Obama will nominate Solicitor-General Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court, US media reports say.
The White House has not yet commented, but Mr Obama is scheduled to announce his choice at 1000 (1400 GMT).
If confirmed, she would be the youngest member and the third woman on the court as well as the first justice in nearly four decades not to have been a judge.
source
gregladen | May 9, 2010In the continuing series recycling highlighting selected posts from the Quiche Moraine Blog, may I recommend a bite to eat ....
I've written a handful of social commentaries thinly disguised as restaurant reviews. Here's two of them:
Strong Ideas and Exclusionary Thinking: Obama, Palin and Greek Food in Minneapolis
Christos Greek Restaurant is one of three well-known Greek restaurants in Minneapolis. The other two are It's Greek to Me and Gardens of Salonica. Which one you like may be a matter of cultural survival.
Read the rest ...
Dinner at Azia
So, another dinner with Lizzie.
We needed…
gregladen | May 8, 2010Sort of.
The Quiche Moraine Blog has been a success in a number of ways. We have a community, though it is small. We have a voice, though it is subtle. And, we have simply done a good deal of pretty good writing on it. And now, as we approach our 2,000th comment, I thought it would be appropriate to drag out highlight a handful of my own contributions to that blog that I particularly enjoyed writing, or for some reason or another, look back on fondly. I thought about reposting them on QM, but we've never done that before and I'm not sure we should. So instead, I've decided to pick…
gregladen | May 8, 2010 ... in Edina.
Science vs. Religion: How Faith Makes Us Wrong
On Sunday, May 16th, Minnesota Atheists will host a presentation by Dr. P.Z. Myers. Myers is a biologist, associate professor at U of M Morris and webmaster of the popular site Pharyngula. His discussion will feature three examples - from physics, developmental biology, and neuro-science - where religion has clearly led people down the wrong path to incorrect answers, and where even now believers oppose many of the fact-based conclusions of science. He will be arguing that, if you try to argue that both science and religion are…
gregladen | May 7, 2010A new show called "JC" is planned for Comedy Central. The details of the show indicate that it has potential to be rather funny. But what is even funnier is watching the Catholic League trying to figure out exactly how to be mad at Comedy Central.
"It's not certain what is more despicable: the nonstop Christian bashing featured on the network, or Comedy Central's decision to censor all depictions of Muhammad," said William Donohue, president of the Catholic League...
Which implies that Donohue would feel less bad about his religion being lampooned if other religions also got more lampooned…
gregladen | May 7, 2010I have now been out for two drives in a row during which I did NOT see a bald eagle. Until now, almost every drive I've been on this year had yielded at least one. But, there is always something: last night a big red tail and the other day the usual egrets and an urban vulture.
But I would have had very different, and interesting luck had I gone to the Twins game last night.
A miniature falcon, which I assume was a kestrel, found a hunting perch in the stadium, and from that location grabbed and consumed a number of moths, as the fans watched and cheered. There are two especially…
gregladen | May 7, 2010Such are the words uttered by a young physical anthropologist in response to Sir Edmund Hillary's request that he join the search for Yeti on the fridgid snow clad slopes of Mount Everest.
Or so I'm told.
Although I've hardly ever blogged about it, I am keenly interested in the topic of cryptozoology which, to me, has two distinct aspects: 1) The scientific, realistic search for previously unknown organisms and 2) the study of OTHER people who are busy in the unscientific, fantasy-riddled "search" (read, often, faking) of so called unknown non-existent organisms.
But who cares what I…
gregladen | May 6, 2010As you may have noticed, I've been blogging less than usual these last few days. Usually, when that happens, you can expect one of my chatty "What I had for breakfast/lunch/dinner" posts, which serve as the blogger's equivalent of the contact call of the black-capped chickadee. In this case, instead of the little bird poking around the backyard feeder and chirping to its kin, it's me, your blogger, poking around your RSS feeder and chirping at you.
There has been an extensive and intensive back room discussion going on about the Berry Go Round blog carnival, among those who have been…