Categories
quotes

No pony for humanity…

we’re not taking care of our gerbil, so we have not demonstrated that we deserve a pony

Tom Murphy [physics.ucsd.edu], in his blog post Sustainable Means Bunkty to Me [physics.ucsd.edu]

I’ve been reading Tom Murphy’s blog on “astrophysicist’s-eye view of societal issues relating to energy production, climate change, and economic growth” since I first came across it a few months ago. It’s a wonderful blog for anyone remotely math capable who is interested in the details of what it would take to ‘fix’ the current issues of human impact on the earth. Somehow in the age of social updates via Facebook, Google+, Twitter and the like I have never plug it on this site… Consider that oversight fixed.

The articles are long and a bit math heavy, as might be expected of an astrophysicist, but you don’t need to focus on the math to understand the conclusions. In fact the only reason to focus on the math would be to try and disagree with him or because you could actually do that level of math and enjoy the challenge. As long as you trust his ability to actually setup and solve the equations the math is just a tool to lead to the inevitable and, bleak, conclusions that our gluttony is leading the world to, spelled out in metaphor and examples that a non-astrophysicist can actually understand.

Categories
quotes

Hegemony through holy genocide

My concept of God does not allow for God’s blessing of genocide as a means for one country’s hegemony over the earth.

Andrew Sullivan in Exceptional and Unexceptional America [theatlantic.com]

He is obviously not a fan of the Old Testament God of Deuteronomy and Numbers.

When the LORD thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou; And when the LORD thy God shall deliver them before thee; thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them

Deuteronomy 7:1-2, King James version

Sounds like hegemony through genocide to me. And it’s not even the worst thing in the Old Testament; remember the Moabites and Midianites?

Categories
quotes ranting

Secular Socialist Islamism

Could somebody slap Newt with a limp herring?

“I have two grandchildren — Maggie is 11, Robert is 9,” Gingrich said at Cornerstone Church here. “I am convinced that if we do not decisively win the struggle over the nature of America, by the time they’re my age they will be in a secular atheist country, potentially one dominated by radical Islamists and with no understanding of what it once meant to be an American.”

Jonathan Chait in Gingrich Reductio Ad Absurdum on The New Republic [tnr.com]

Huh? I mean; What. The. Fuck?

Categories
quotes ranting

Asserting their presence

“So, you can call anyone you know at any time, and that’s so convenient for you, right? Well, it isn’t. Do the math. How many numbers do you have stored in your phone? Fifty, a hundred, more? Well, they’re the people for whom your phone is a great convenience—they know that they can call you and wherever you are, even if you don’t pick up, they have asserted their presence as a part of your day. You are one person with one person’s communication needs; they are legion, and they want and expect answers now. Want to know real convenience? Leave a message on my machine, or email me, and I’ll get back to you when I damn well feel like it.”

Dana Albarella James, in My Life Without A Cell Phone: An Amazing Tale Of Survival [theawl.com] published at The Awl [theawl.com]

I do have a phone —I had one back in the mid-90’s and was, on at least one occasion mistaken for a drug dealer due to said cell phone, trench coat and dark glasses but that’s a story, about fish and their exorbitant electricity consumption, for another day— but I can sympathize with the sentiment. I don’t talk on my phone much. I much prefer SMS or email. I’ve never really liked to talk on the phone…. But I’ve said all this before… [confusion.cc]

Categories
quotes

The Tribe Mentality

“It is very difficult to get a man to understand something when his tribal identity depends on his not understanding it.”

Michael Bérubé, quoted by Judith Warner in the New York Times [nytimes.com] article Fact Free Science