‘Look Skyward, Moron’

Going to see these guys live tonight! So good to have them all home! Looking forward to seeing some great comedy with some lovely friends/family (including my fave Girl Drink Drunk). Happy Saturday, indeed.

colemining

It’s not enough that the Shuffle Daemon is predicting the weather and sensing my mood, now the television is starting to read my mind…

Last evening I turned on the free preview of Comedy Gold (aka the Wings Channel- it seriously showed nothing but Wings for three straight days over the holiday weekend.  What programmer anywhere thought THAT was a good idea?) just in time to catch a Viewer Discretion advisory.  The tv guide said that an episode of Kids in the Hall was up next.

I love Kids in the Hall.

As the warning was being recited (those Kids- gotta watch out for the ‘Adult Content’, tsk tsk tsk), ‘I’ve lost my Indian drum’ popped into my head.  So, of course, this was the first sketch:

Man, how I love the Kids.  And, for some reason that sketch- from their first season- tickles my funny bone in a…

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Separation

As frightening as it is to think that such a thing is necessary, today is, evidently, ‘Openly Secular Day’.

So, in the spirit of ‘reducing anti-atheist prejudice’ (again, I shudder at the thought that such a thing exists), here’s an older post examining some of the myriad reasons behind my continuing push for the complete secularization of all rational societies.

I’ve been kept busy lately, doing my part to forestall the implementation of the insanity that is Bill C51, so my apologies for yet another recycled post (although the recycling IS in keeping with the spirit of Earth Day just past). Hope to be back with something new in the near future.

colemining

This evening, over the course of fairly standard dinner conversation, I was asked why atheists needed to be considered under the same aegis as any other religious group- and why the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario was getting involved.

I had no idea what she was talking about, but my first thought was essentially along the lines of ‘holy cows, these New Atheists are becoming as dogmatic and doctrinaire as those ‘believers’ from whom they wish to distance themselves.’

My inquisitor sent me this link to a recent ‘Day 6’ discussion on CBC radio.  According to the National Post the case was brought by a a father- from small town Ontario- who, as a ‘secular humanist’ objected to the distribution of Gideons’ Bibles in the public school his children attended.

He countered this by suggesting that Just Pretend: A Freethought Book for Children be made equally available.  The Niagara…

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Can We Rebrand the Humanities? (Spoiler: Yes. And we need to.)

An insightful overview of the necessity of re-branding to emphasize the importance of the Humanities.

Shaunanagins

As someone who studied both marketing and history (and who finds her history degree a super valuable part of that mix) the question often crosses my mind: “How can I sell my history degree?”

It shouldn’t be that hard, really. As a history undergraduate student, I just came out of a program with intensive research and written/oral communication training. I can mine through data about almost any topic, large or small. I can draw conclusions. I can organize the information. The list goes on and on. I have already gone over that.

When I see the words “B.A. in History,” I see all that.

I just don’t think employers always do. That’s a problem.

Employers often have no understanding of the transferable skills embedded in the discipline. It’s like they see my degree and the only thing that comes to mind is their boring high school history teacher from 1971…

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“Moss grows fat… but that’s not how it used to be”- Part 2

colemining

Part 1 featured a whole bunch of disclaimers.  Here’s another:

1) I am not opposed to religion.  I have spent more years than I care to admit to studying the religions of the world.  I know that they hold value for those who subscribe to them and I very much understand how they can offer a framework that provides stability in the face of the unstable and hope in situations of hopelessness.

Emotionally, I understand the comfort in having something like that as a foundation to life.  The fact that I don’t have the luxury of belief and comfort has not made me angry, or bitter, or lacking in something fundamentally human.   People are going to believe as they wish, and, provided that it does not interfere in any way with the rights and freedoms of their fellow human beings or our progression and evolution as we seek to…

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“Moss grows fat… but that’s not how it used to be” – Part 1

I’m trying reallyreally hard to get down some thoughts about something sort of different, but recent events seem to be conspiring to remind me of this post (and its sequel, that I’ll repost shortly) I wrote quite some time ago.

The magazine in question is, itself, in the news again- for reasons that beggar belief. But I stand by the defence (if it can be named as such) that is included here.

The subject of that article was just found guilty of all 30 counts against him. Which makes an examination of the causes of his radicalization more important, not less.

And that song that provided the title? That’s been on my mind- and in the press- as well. So maybe I’m not thinking different thoughts after all.

Interesting the ways in which things just connect…

colemining

I wasn’t going to weigh in on this.

Because (and the list is nowhere near exhaustive):

1) This blog is supposed to be about myth and music and the good stuff that we have to teach each other- and how these things permeate and enrich our world cultures.

2) I’m not from Boston, so I can’t really comprehend the pain in the city and the rawness of the feelings of violation and horror stemming from the act of terror that occurred at an event as historical and important to its identity as the Marathon

3) I don’t personally know anyone whose life was forever altered by the (alleged) heinous actions of the accused and his brother (although I do empathize with the depth of their loss and with the continuing struggles they will face as a result of this act of terror)

N.B.- I use the qualifier ‘alleged’ only because the US justice system (in…

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