Sunday School

[Reg the Fronkey Farmer]

Some cheerful reading to start today with the top 7 societies with a majority of people who don’t believe in God. They don’t need a special day to recommit themselves to observable reality but it could be fun too.

The adage that “Two hands working can do more than a thousand clasped in prayer” is still correct.

The Catholic abortion ban is killing women in Poland.

Bishops should no longer sit as of right in the House of Lords, a commission on political reform in the UK has said.

World of Woo: No more Starbucks coffee for me.  It will also save me about $5 per year.

Environment:  Why we struggle to process the doom.

A non-profit AI research group wants the FTC to investigate OpenAI and halt releases of GPT-4. For some this in not enough and they want it shut down.

Book ban attempts reach record high in 2022, American Library Association report says. I do support banning this book as it has ‘no serious values for minors’ and it might stop them from becoming adults with murderous intentions.

The rise of the respectable Conspiracy Theory.

Is the world better or worse with religion and has science made religion useless?

Long Reads:  How the ancient philosophers imagined the end of the world (See also first video below).  She escaped Scientology in the trunk of a car but her nightmare is far from over. In search of lost time. America’s unique, enduring gun problem, explained. ​Can we delay death with tech? This sinking isle: the homeowners battling coastal erosion. ‘Ritual, even as a Jewish atheist, has enormous power’.

Sunday Book Club: Distrust: Big Data, Data-Torturing, and the Assault on Science (see also second video below).

Some photographs taken last week.

While you are waiting for the kettle to boil……

Coffee Break Video:  The Skeptics’ Guide to the Future with Steven Novella. Distrust: Big Data, Data Torturing, and the Assault on Science.

[Reg the Fronkey Farmer]

Have a great week everyone!

[Strega]

Thanks, Reg!

[_Robert_]

Conspiracy theories in general are low status—as David Aaronovitch argues in Voodoo Histories, they are a way for the marginalised and uneducated to feel superior and perceptive.

True, but the conspiracy-stricken folks I personally know are not really marginalised. The just think they are. 60 plus years old and still dragging themselves each morning to their crappy jobs; their financial future is dim. Hey, but they have a shiny updated steel and granite kitchen. Damn immigrants!

[Reg the Fronkey Farmer]

Thank you, thank you Strega!

[—]

Reg the Fronkey Farmer wrote:

World of Woo: No more Starbucks coffee for me.  It will also save me about $5 per year.

I think it’s kind of fun, but as an Aries I can say that because I’m not susceptible to hokum like astrology. I know that because it said so in my horoscope this morning.

That said, I don’t have much reason to go to Starbucks these days. There is a local café about a hundred metres from my apartment, and there is one right next door to the climbing gym. Those are the two places I spend most of my time.

[—]

Reg the Fronkey Farmer wrote:

Book ban attempts reach record high in 2022, American Library Association report says.

There is a school board in the neighbouring district which has made headlines far too many times in recent years. More recently, parents have been protesting some of the books carried at certain high school libraries. Dissatisfied with the board’s unwillingness to cave into demands to remove the content, someone reported to the RCMP that there was child pornography in the schools. The RCMP investigated and, of course, found there was no child pornography in the schools. What’s sad is the person filing the complaint likely thought the RCMP would see it their way.

Don’t get me wrong: of all the books small libraries choose to carry or not carry, there are some I’d hope they don’t carry. I don’t think it’s wrong to have feelings about curation, especially when there is limited space. But going to the cops to try to get books I dislike purged? It never even occurred to me. Can’t say it’s all that appealing.

[jakelafort]

Starbucks sucks. There coffee is not very good.

Coffee is a great drug. I did not start drinking it until i was a young adult. I used to jump around, up and down, talk in tongues and be generally more nuts than normal. Like a mild for of speed with nice mood elevation.

By now it is so mild that i wonder if i should stop drinking it for a month. Be nice to get some of that pop back. I was thinking of buying the super high caffeine coffee but read that it tastes like Starbucks.

[_Robert_]

I worked with a guy who went there twice a day, 5 days a week and spent ~7 to 10 bucks each time. I mentioned to him one day; that’s around $4,000 0r $5,000 a year. Later that week he brought a coffee machine to work and said it’ll cost him about 0.75 a cup now.

[—]

I’m not anti-Starbucks per se. Like most franchises, it has its place. But in Vancouver they were like unchecked mold growth. One time a Starbucks mildly exploded, and within a few weeks another one opened just down the street to replace it.

But the only thing I ever really want from them is eggnog lattes when in season. I don’t do it anymore though. A venti is over 600 calories. I mean, what else can you expect from a massive drink with 64 grams of sugar? Still, that’s an entire meal’s worth of energy right there, and while it certainly doesn’t taste healthy, it’s way too easy to underestimate.

[Unseen]

jakelafort wrote:

Starbucks sucks. There coffee is not very good. Coffee is a great drug. I did not start drinking it until i was a young adult. I used to jump around, up and down, talk in tongues and be generally more nuts than normal. Like a mild for of speed with nice mood elevation. By now it is so mild that i wonder if i should stop drinking it for a month. Be nice to get some of that pop back. I was thinking of buying the super high caffeine coffee but read that it tastes like Starbucks.

I’m a bit of a coffee nut and I buy whole beans, grind them myself, and brew it in a variety of ways (moka pot, pour over, and Aeropress). I’ve been in the habit of trying different brands available on Amazon, but lately I’ve settled on (surprise, surprise) a Canadian brand. Tim Hortons  (they use no apostrophe). Tim Hortons is a Canacdian restaurant chain loosely analogous to America’s Denny’s chain.

[jakelafort]

Yeah Unseen, i know of Timmy H. He is big time big money in Canada. Have heard it is on a par with my local favorite chain, Dunkin Donuts.

I like private tea houses and coffee shops. Some of those tea houses have amazing tea that is just makes the mundane earl greys look like dog poop. And i’ve learned making tea is an art. I think it is far far more complex and demanding than baristadom. But going to coffee shops i love to try coffee from all over the world. If ya want to try a sample from every nook of da voild Bean Box is a good company.

[Author]

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