Sunday School

[Reg the Fronkey Farmer]

This Idaho sheriff thinks he has the right to raid your library and decide what you can read.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott tells U.N. to ‘go pound sand’ after LGBTQ+ rights criticism.

With the emerging Republican theocracy a new survey finds pockets of support for Christian nationalism across the country.

A year of Republicans lying about abortion as they goosestep towards that theocracy one zygote at a time.

Alabama justice’s ties with far-right Christian movement raise concern.

Christian Nationalists are furious at reporter for accurately reporting on them.

Pakistan woman in Arabic script dress saved from mob claiming blasphemy.

World of Woo: Why are we still Ice Bathing?

Environment:  Scientists issue warning about a ‘tipping point’ that could change our winters. A popular European ski resort has no snow. Here is an example of such change.

Sugar found to have a surprising impact on obesity and the human gut while ultra-processed foods have disturbing health effects.

Our ancient animal ancestors had tails. Why don’t we? On the trail of the Denisovans.

Will our Universe end the same way it began?

Rubber hand illusions shed new light on our bodily sense of self.

Long Reads: Valid concerns about anti-Muslim bigotry should not be used as an excuse to appease Islamist fanatics.  AI: The newest squirrel distracting evangelicals from their own decline.  Girls are still in a bad bargain with patriarchy. Inside North Korea’s forced-labor program in China.  Why appeals to Scientific Consensus are often uncompelling. “Better than Jesus”: How far will the cult of Trump go? The modern Resurrection of the Antichrist.

Sunday Book Club:  Means of Control. How targeted ads are used.

Some photographs taken last week.

While you are waiting for the kettle to boil……

Coffee Break Video:  Christians rewriting history is getting WAY out of hand. Mail from a Muslim with Aron Ra. How to think like a Philosopher with Julian Baggini. Separation of Church and State? Or ‘the wrath of a Holy God’.

[Reg the Fronkey Farmer]

Have a great week!

[Reg the Fronkey Farmer]

“What can I do to think more skeptically?”

Adopt some basic principles of critical thinking:

Extraordinary Claims Require Extraordinary Evidence. This principle was proposed by David Hume and popularized by Carl Sagan. We probably wouldn’t request evidence if someone boasts of having a 2020 penny in their pocket—but we likely would if they claim to have a 1955 copper dime.

Falsifiability. This means a hypothesis must be capable of being tested and proven wrong. For example, we can verify if the dime is genuine copper.

Occam’s Razor. Named after British monk and philosopher Sir William of Occam, when dealing with competing explanations regarding a phenomenon, select the simplest one, which is the “law of parsimony.”

Replicability. If a study of a new medication for headaches reveals reduced intensity and severity of symptoms, that study should produce similar results after the study is repeated—otherwise, the initial effect may be due to something other than the new medication.

Correlation Isn’t the Same as Causation. It’s possible that it rained the last three times I wore my white sneakers (a correlation), but it’s unlikely that wearing white sneakers will cause it to rain.

[TheEncogitationer]

Reg,

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott tells U.N. to ‘go pound sand’ after LGBTQ+ rights criticism.

The United Nations–with Russia and Red China as permanent Members of The Security Council, with an entire Islamic Bloc and a Third World/”South” Bloc with the worst human rights records on the Planet–has no right or moral place condemning anyone on Human rights. Only we private citizens have that right and moral claim.

And petrochemical business in the U.S. producing own own oil and making gas prices back down to $1 a gallon isn’t an LGBTQ issue, except insofar as it benefits all, regardless of sexual orientation, and undercuts the Islamofascists of OPEC.

Abbott’s a mixed bag or raw shit and good compost, but we U.S. Citizens can ventilate the compost bin without the U.N.

[Reg the Fronkey Farmer]

Abbott might be Trump’s VP nomination too!

[TheEncogitationer]

Reg and Fellow Unbelievers,

Valid concerns about anti-Muslim bigotry should not be used as an excuse to appease Islamist fanatics

On Friday and Safurday at my workplace, my Managers taked me with training a new employee all the tasks involved with being a cashier. The new employee was to work on my register while my money till was in and my company numbers were logged into the register.

The first few transactions were easy, since customers used their credit, debit, EBT, WIC or Medicare/Medicaid health cards.

When a customer paid with cash, however, we hit a snag. The woman I was tasked to train did not know about the different Denominations of U.S. coins and thus didn’t know which coins to give the customer for change.

Also, the next day she asked if I had seen a green and tan mat that was almost as tall as she was, a mat she used for prayer. I hadn’t seen one and suggested she trace her steps and told her I would ask maintenace if that seen it where she went to pray. Neither the woman I was training nor maintenance found the prayer rug.

The entire time, I wasn’t afraid of this woman for being a foreigner or Muslim. What got me nervous was the thought of my till coming up short because she didn’t know U.S. coins. I didn’t step away for more than a moment out of concern for my till.

I bore this woman no hatred for being foreign or Muslim, but I was seething mad at Human Resources for not doing due diligance and verifying this woman’s ability to do the job right! HR is truly a useless department in any organization or business!

I was also even more seething mad at whoever kept this woman in ignorance of the skills needed to make a living, avoid getting ripped off, and prosper in a strange new land!

It would be worst of all if this woman was used as a pawn of demographic Jihad, a tactic Libya’s Moammar Quadaffy Duck proposed in the Eighties!

Yet another disry enty in World War IV, where sometimes the real enemy is within as well as without!

[TheEncogitationer]

Fellow Unbelievers,

That’s “Yet another diary entry.”

Fortunately, I notified my Managers about the lack of knowledge of my trainee had with U.S. coinage and my Managers agreed this was a problem and they will be transferring my trainee to another department.

There are some object lessons to learn here:

One, DEI should DIE! The only reason an organization should hire anyone is to fulfill a nescessary funtion in the case of governments or non-profits or, in the case of business, to make a profit. And the only standards to use in hiring are character, merit, and ability.

Two, if you’re going to move abroad, as everybody threatens to do every Election Year nowadays, first, make sure you’re welcome where you want to go. Then learn what it takes to live, thrive, and survive in your new locale. That includes coinage, language, commercial and cultural traditions, the local flora and fauna, industries, food and drink, the marketplace, entertainment, good places and places to avoid. In short, learn everything you can.

Finally, differences between different people are not always a Dialectical power struggle, just sometimes poor thinking and poor fits, both easily corrected if done right and preferably in advance to acting.

[Simon Paynton]

Reg the Fronkey Farmer wrote:

Girls are still in a bad bargain with patriarchy.

I don’t know about this article.  I get the central premise, that women aren’t listened to and have to keep their mouths shut to avoid rocking the boat.  The statistics don’t lie.  That’s a valuable lesson for men, to listen to women more.  But it seems a bit incoherent overall.  I think the comment at the end, which says that sometimes girls are the ones doing the silencing, is more balanced.

[TheEncogitationer]

Fellow Unbelievers,

Through it all, I can’t help but wonder if my trainee’s mis-match with cashiering is also a nasty aftertaste of the teachings of Hamid Al-Ghazali, which Neil DeGrasse Tyson detailed here:

• This reply was modified 2 years, 2 months ago by TheEncogitationer. Reason: Spelling

[unapologetic]

The article on ‘He Gets Us’ reminds me of the Jay & Silent Bob movie (I forgot the name) where George Carlin plays a preacher who rolls out a statue of “Buddy Jesus” to get young people into the church.

[TheEncogitationer]

Reg and Simon,

When Taylor Swift and her throng of teenie girlie followers can actually throw an Election for CEO of the most powerful nation on Earth, I think we can safely say that “The Patriarchy” is nowhere near as powerful as it was in previous times. Bill Maher would most likely concur:

The real silencers of voices are the rabble who make life-and-death decisions affecting our Individual Rights based on the whims of pop stars, not to mention a Party-centric system and sycophantic mass media who leave us with a choice between an anacephalic crook incumbent and a semi-cephalic crook re-incumbent. You might as well choose between a douchbag and a shit sammich.

[_Robert_]

unapologetic wrote:

The article on ‘He Gets Us’ reminds me of the Jay & Silent Bob movie (I forgot the name) where George Carlin plays a preacher who rolls out a statue of “Buddy Jesus” to get young people into the church.

My wife was wondering why the jesus foot fetish? Lets not go after cancer, all-powerful lord. No, let’s wash feet instead. Actually, in reality you have to wash your damn feet all by yourself anyway so the whole thing is idiotic as usual.

[_Robert_]

TheEncogitationer wrote:

Reg and Simon, When Taylor Swift and her throng of teenie girlie followers can actually throw an Election for CEO of the most powerful nation on Earth, I think we can safely say that “The Patriarchy” is nowhere near as powerful as it was in previous times. Bill Maher would most likely concur: <iframe title=”Could Taylor Swift Swing the Election? | Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO)” src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/K2wLXuX4388?feature=oembed&#8221; width=”670″ height=”377″ frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen=””></iframe> The real silencers of voices are the rabble who make life-and-death decisions affecting our Individual Rights based on the whims of pop stars, not to mention a Party-centric system and sycophantic mass media who leave us with a choice between an anacephalic crook incumbent and a semi-cephalic crook re-incumbent. You might as well choose between a douchbag and a shit sammich.

However, one is clearly even more anti-democratic than the other. We need a constitutional convention because this “republic” has been jerrymandered to death and SCOTUS-fried by appointment.

[Author]

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