Reachin’ For Fireflies

02 Monday Apr 2012

Posted by Sherry in Creationism, Evolution, fundamentalism, Humor, Life in the Meadow, LifeStyle, religion, Satire, Sports, What's Up?

≈ 17 Comments

Tags

Art, Bear, creationism, evolution, NCAA basketball, religion, Richard Dawkins, the meadown

I am not a good person.

I know that.

I took entirely too much glee in the Kansas win over Ohio State. Entirely too much.

I loathe Ohio State. It is not “THE” anything.

I loathe it because I am from MSU. I loathe U of M too. I dance on their graves.

I would root for satan in a match between them.

I am thrilled to squash their little heads in my hands until their brains squirt out.

I am not a good person.

But we all have our little quirks don’t we? 🙂

I believe in God. I have a worked out theology that I’m comfortable with. I fit in pretty well in most of the mainline Catholic, Protestant theologies. We quibble around the fringes. I consider myself sane and reasonable, and frankly normal.

Much as I admire the intelligence of Richard Dawkins, he would not return the favor. He thinks I’m nuts, and I frankly don’t appreciate it. I saw him on Chris Hayes Up a week ago, and found him as I usually do, just a bit too insufferably arrogant. The problem was put in a nutshell by Quinn O’Neill from 3quarksdaily—the man cares more about eradicating religion than he does in keeping vacuous “creationism” out of school curriculums. And that is simply wrong in my opinion.

Dawkins actually now advocates outright, in-your-face ridicule of believers. He doesn’t differentiate between the knuckle-dragging fundies who believe the earth is flat and only 6,000 + years old and those who believe that the universe is the creation of a greater mind who nurtures life and encourages connection to a fuller life.

On the other hand, there are folks like Robert Wright, whose book I reviewed here, who take a very different tack. In his article at The Atlantic, Wright argues that such an approach is needlessly confrontational and creates enemies where none need be.

While I agree and have argued here, that the far far Right is unreachable by reason, that is simply not the case with a great many who hold anti-science opinions, simply because that is what they were taught at home and they’ve never had the need or reason to confront an alternative explanation. These people can be persuaded by real evidence, and that opportunity is missed when you come at them like a Rottweiler.

Both are worth reading.

Which brings me to art. Now, I am not what you call art savvy. I know what I like and what I don’t like, and I’m not impressed with experts on this issue, because I think a piece either speaks to you, or it doesn’t and that is the point is it not? It says something about life, the human condition or you simply love the colors and it matches the sofa. I am thusly a live and let live woman when it comes to what makes you swoon artfully speaking.

That said, I saw a segment on 60 Minutes about the pop art of the day, and the unbelievable prices for which the stuff goes. Some of it is crap, and I wouldn’t want it sitting at the end of my drive way awaiting the trash collector. Other stuff I thought “wow, I’d love to have that!”

Except that I can’t. These art fairs are singularly held in the playgrounds of the rich and famous, and while you make look, you may not touch, unless you have at least $250,000 to plunk down for that rusty faucet dripping water, or that hoe with an entangled bunch of hose and some flamingo boas entwined in what can only be described as “I found a way to make a million exercising only 1/10 of my brain cells” chic.

Yes, I’m well aware that there are little known “local fairs” with a bunch of local artist wannabes and a few genuine original geniuses possibly to be found, but I can learn to throw a pot too ya know. So my question is still valid.

My question?

Yes. Is there no morality to art?

Meaning–where are the artists who so love their work that they want the little guy to have a chance to own a piece? Where are the artists who refuse to let their pieces initially sell for more than say $50 or at least no more than 20% over the cost of materials? Am I whacked for even suggesting it? Is art only the play toy of the rich and famous?

You tell me.

On a final note, a little help.

We are not looking for you to vote and decide for us.

But, we are entirely conflicted regarding our dog Bear. Some days we feel we should have him put down and bury him with Brandy, and at other times, he seems good to go. We don’t trust ourselves any more. It would be vastly easier to not take him. How much is this truth likely to push us in the wrong direction?

Here are the facts.

He is incontinent either through dementia or just not giving a rat’s ass any more. We have to cut him off from water by 8 pm or face a clean up the next day.
He is increasingly hard of hearing.
He has some difficulty on some days getting up and down the porch steps (he had his leg badly broken as a youngster).
He gags some days all day, a bit between gagging and coughing (which can be a sign of heart trouble or at least some growth)
He is in his 14th year and that is really old for a border collie.
He took Brandy’s death very badly and it took weeks before he pulled himself out of it. The trip would be disorienting and confining. He would be on a harness and leash for months.
He’s always been free to roam and this meadow has been his home for 12 years.

On the other hand:

He eats fine.
He seems to eliminate fine.
He seems in no major pain, though we suspect he aches (he paces some nights)
He still likes to go for a ride, and experiences some interest in sniffing around, if only for a short time now.
He still seeks pets and affection.

We are thinking of taking him to the vet and having him checked out and let the vet guide us. Any other ideas we have missed ?

Robert Wright promotes accommodationism, disses Dawkins (whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com)
In Defense of Dawkins’s Reason Rally Speech – Daniel Fincke – Camels With Hammers (richarddawkins.net)
Christopher Hitchens: In Defense of Richard Dawkins (alwaysquestionauthority.wordpress.com)
Kansas claws back to stun Ohio State, will face Kentucky for national title (cbssports.com)

Iona We Hardly Gots to Known Ya

14 Wednesday Mar 2012

Posted by Sherry in Brain Vacuuming, Election 2012, Humor

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Election 2012, History Peyton Style, Humor, Iona College, NCAA basketball

It was bound to be a slow night.

It was more or less a perfect storm.

Primaries in both Mississippi and Alabama. You knew it was gonna be a long night.

They have to import counters for the vote. There are not enough residents of either state that can count past ten. And even less when you add up all the toe/finger impaired individuals in the state. Both states have more than their share of “accidental amputations” of digits.

At one point the vote count in Alabama stood at 37 to 8 to 3 to 1. They were releasing the results as the guy called out from his table “Got 7 here boss!”

The relative IQ threatened to bottom out in Mississippi when it was learned that a goodly portion had left the state to attend the NCAA tournament in Dayton, Ohio. That begat this exchange:

“Babe, who you rooting for in the first game?”

“Who’s playin’ again?”

“Mississippi Valley State and Western Kentucky.”

“Lord, let’s see if either or both of them finds their way to the arena first. It may be a default.”

As it were, one team squandered a large lead and I think one of them won. I think it was Miss, not to be confused with Old Miss, which is somebody’s maiden aunt. But then again, Western Kentucky might have upset at the end.

Anyway, the fun of the night went to Iona, pronounced as in “I own a chevy” minus the chevy.

Well, having never heard of Iona, I sent the Contrarian to the computer to find out where the blazes they were from.

That would be New Rochelle, as in where Rob and Laura live. (If you don’t get that reference, well screw you.)

So, there is a college of some sort located in New Rochelle and they call themselves the “Gaels” which I assumed was a typo, or rather the girl who had the L sat down next to the S instead of between the A and E. (In the stands where they spelt it out”) I mean, given the New Rochelle thing, they were eligible to be as dumb as the Kentuckian/Mississippian Valleyans no?

So digging a bit farther we found the following. (Shove aside some brain space, this gets slightly complicated). Iona is an island off the coast of Scotland. That would be over in the vicinity of England, who is visiting our President, in the guise of Mr. Cameron, which has nothing to do with this story.

Anyway, long ago, in another century, a band of hardy Ionians, not to be confused with anything Greek, sailed the mighty Atlantic, and after visiting around and about, headed home. They landed upon the shore, and were shocked and dismayed to find all their villages (of which there were two) gone, clean disappeared.

After wandering around for several months, they were even more amazed to discover that they could not find the shores of their island. After much scratching of heads, it was determined that the island had probably grown in size due to a volcano, which has probably swallowed up the two villages and all their loved ones at the same time.

One day, while gathering firewood, an Ionian ran into a stranger with feathers in his hair and a bow across his back. Through various signs and wonders, the Ionian learned many amazing things. He returned to his brethren and explained that they were in a place called “Mother’s forest” and were not on the Isle of Iona at all.

The feathered dude brought more friends, some of whom wore tricornered hats, who explained that this place was actually called “New Rochelle” after Old Rochelle, a cousin to Old Miss who also was a spinster.

Well, you could have knocked the Ionians over with a feather (not one attached to the feathered dude since that would have been rude). They had completely missed their island entirely, and were in the NEW HEMISPHERE OF NORTH AMERICA.

Whereupon the Ionians resolved to start a college, the first order of business was to teach, and hopefully learn NAVIGATION.

To this day, the students of Iona College can get a BA in Navigation and other sailing necessities, such as rope tying, sail billowing, and swabbing decks, which is de rigueur (love that frenchie stuff) aboard all ships.

Alas the Ionian Gaels which is Gaelic for Irish losers, squandered a 25-point lead to lose to the Brigham Young team which is a school started by a dude who led a bunch of guys looking for some golden tablets and a way to marry many women at one time.

It’s all a mess in Dayton, which is not to be confused with Daytona which is where the Mississippi Valleyans all bought tickets to before an alert member of the media, explained that their game was in Ohio and not Florida. Which was all very confusing.

Not as confusing as the state of Arizona is getting I might say in passing. There, a Republican woman has successfully pushed through a bill through committee in their state house, that would allow an employer to fire an employee for USING contraception for family planning rather than for acne. Should said behavior be against said employer’s sensibilities. After all, said Debbie Lesko, Republican from the lost land of Glendale,

“I believe we live in America. We don’t live in the Soviet Union,” Lesko said. “So, government should not be telling the organizations or mom and pop employers to do something against their moral beliefs.”

So there! And you think I was hard on Mississippi!