14 April 2010
Evidently, there’s a big wide world out there in cyberspace. Today, in particular, I found – and was shown – a few amazing sites on the ol’ WWW:
First off, check this out: The Miracle of Transubstantiation. After finding this from another site I was visiting, I forwarded this on to two of my co-workers; one came over to my desk and said: “I’m not religious, but I even find that offensive.” He then shrugged and said something about it being an accurate depiction of what Catholics must believe.
Second: Does anyone want to go in on a case of Sink the Bismarck with me? As the world’s most alcoholic beer, the price tag is a little steep and, anyway, if I drank the whole case myself, I don’t think I’d ever wake up again. Or maybe we could just share a bottle of Tactical Nuclear Penguin.
Third: This was one awesome short film. At 2.5 minutes, I actually wish it was longer, which, I think, is about the highest praise a person can give to a film. Heck, I even stuck around to watch the credits.
Fourth: I had no idea Mike Huckabee was such an asshole. I mean, I knew he was super-conservative, and I knew he was a man of faith, but I didn’t know he was also stupid. What a dangerous combination. Let’s just look at a few of his points:
He says: “There are people who believe in polygamy, should we accommodate them?”
I say: Sure. Why not? All of his favorite bible characters (Abraham, Jacob, David) were polygamists, so what’s the problem? If a man wants to have two wives – or more – that’s just fine with me. I would add, however, that the arrangement must be consensual for all, so that the existing wife/wives must agree to the addition of new a new wife and, essentially, they would all be married to each other.
He says: “The burden of proving that a gay marriage can be successful rests with the activists in favor of changing the law.”
I say: Bullshit, asshole. Heterosexuals are under no compulsion to prove their marriage will be successful upon applying for a license to marry. And, in fact, half of them are not successful. Or maybe Huckabee is in favor of banning divorce?
He says: “I do not believe we should change the traditional view of marriage.”
I say: Why not? We change it all the time. Back when Huckabee’s favorite book was written, the traditional view was that polygamy was okay. So were child brides. In this country, interracial marriage was once prohibited. Does Huckabee feel we should criminalize interracial marriages and nullify such existing marriages?
Lastly, here’s a great video a co-worker sent my way this morning. Sagan never fails to inspire, and here his words are set first to thought-provoking imagery of the Earth’s place in space, and then to movie clips that demonstrate the expanse, beauty, and insignificance of the human struggle.
On the Miracle: I have never been a fan of eating someone else, no matter who they are. On the Bismark: Generally, I’ll try anything once (except cannibalism) but this stuff sounds a bit over to top to me. I’d be willing to split a bottle with you but not a case. On Pixels: Very clever, I really enjoyed it too, even though at the end the Earth turned in to the Borg. On Huckabee: he is one to beware of, all of the points you wrote are excellent examples of why organized religions (and leaders of) should be avoided at all cost. On Sagan: He is one of my favorites too, too bad we will never get to vote HIM to some high ranking office, but he was way to smart to allow himself to become one of those. Great post James!
That Pixel movie was cool, my kids love anything game related. I liked the Tetris pieces falling from the sky on to the buildings and the Arkanoid paddle breaking apart the Brooklyn Bridge.
I find it interesting that the only polygamist relationship you can imagine would be a man having more than one wife. Women can live in polygamist marriages with more than one husband as well. If we are limiting polygamy to only mean that a man can marry more than one woman and not the other way around then I definitely have a problem with it.
Mike:
Thanks! I’m not even sure I want to split a bottle; I was pretty much kidding there. Though, if a bottle of the stuff was in front of me, I would try a sip.
And, yeah, the problem with politics is that it takes a certain personality for someone to be drawn into becoming a politician and, so, if they’re a really cool person, like Sagan, then they’re not likely to enter the political arena.
Cory:
Yeah, I like when the pieces achieve a tetris, and a 4-story block vanishes. Also, isn’t that paddle from Breakout (not Araknoid)?
Jennifer:
I did imagine it the other way around, too, and even began writing my post that way, but I left this off for two reasons:
1) I was pointing out that Huckabee, a bible fan, should embrace polygamy because it’s in the bible. And every case of polygamy I can think of in the Bible is between a man and multiple women.
2) I thought that a marriage consisting of multiple males and a single female went by the name polyandry. It does, however, polyandry and polygyny are the two forms of polygamy. Had I realized polyandry was a subset of polygamy and not a separate set, I would have worded my post to reflect this (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polygamy).