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…yeah I know you did not ask!
I shared information about a blog article at party I was at with a fellow there. He asked me how many followers I had. I made some mealy mouth answer about writing for myself. What I should have answered was, “One, if I remind Robin.”
The Story of Mary MacLane by Mary MacLane
This is a memoir that was very popular in its time. It was “lost”, and then rediscovered. It is written by a 19 year old woman who lived in Butte, Montana in 1901. Ms. MacLane was at the wrong place at the wrong time. Butte, Montana of 1901 was a mining time, and for many reasons Ms. MacLane did not feel like she fit into it. For the times she had more than the usual education for a man and certainly for a woman. She tells us she is a genius, and who am I to argue with her. Later in life she became openly bisexual. The memoir openly speaks of her love for a woman that is beyond platonic. I cannot imagine trying to come to terms with those stirrings in that place at that time. It had to be difficult. The following passage is but one of many that speaks of this.
“I feel in the anemone lady a strange attraction of sex. There is in me a masculine element that, when I am thinking of her, arises and overshadows all the others.
“Why am I not a man,” I say to the sand and barrenness with a certain strained, tense passion, “that I might give this wonderful, dear, delicious woman an absolutely perfect love!”
And this is my predominating feeling for her.
So, then, it is not the woman-love, but the man-love, set in the mysterious sensibilities of my woman-nature. It brings me pain and pleasure mingled in that odd, odd fashion.
Do you think a man is the only creature with whom one may fall in love?” Continue reading “The Story of Mary MacLane by Mary MacLane”
You may remember a few months back Pew published the results of a poll that showed Agnostics and Atheists knew more about religion than people of faith. Quiz is gone on their site.
And here is the link to the Pew article on the results of their poll: U.S. Religious Knowledge Survey
Writing in the Scientific American Charles Seife disputes their methodology and analysis of the results. The article is The Science of “Disestimation”: The Shortcomings of Opinion Polls with a subtitle of Why we shouldn’t put our faith in opinion polls.
Mr. Seife is probably correct in his assessment. Statistical analysis is way beyond my realm of knowledge. I would assume, though, that an organization like Pew would have some statisticians on board…or maybe they should.
Anecdotally from my experience I would tend to agree with Pew. Most of the Atheists that I personally know have gotten there after much study and thought. It is not an easy thing to discard the powerful meme that is religion. Continue reading “Another Point of View on Pew Poll on Religious Knowledge Among Americans”
This is one of the best succinct explanations that I have seen.
It is from this blog DJ Allyn – The Soundtrack for my Life
The following is an accurate Description of the three Abrahamic Religions:
There are three major religions in this world — Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. All of them worshiping the same God — the God of Abraham.
Each has their own religious book that outlines their story, their history, and rules to live by.
Think of each of them like a movie. The Torah is the first one, and the New Testament is the sequel. Then the Qu’ran comes out, and it reconstructs the last one like it never happened. there is still Jesus, but he is not the main character any more, and the messiah hasn’t shown up yet.
Jews like the first movie but ignore the sequels, (Matrix Trilogy) Christians think you need to watch the first two but the third movie doesn’t count. (The Godfather Trilogy) Muslims think the third one was the best (The Starwar prequels), and Mormons like the second one so much that they started writing fan fiction that doesn’t fit with ANY of the series canon.
Of course, the author of this seems to have forgotten Hinduism and Buddhism which are also major world religions, but they do come from a different movie studio.
By Don Willmott , Forecast Earth Correspondent
I’m happy that at this stage in my career I often find myself writing articles about energy-efficient ways to use computers, peripherals, gadgets, and consumer electronics. It makes me feel so, you know, virtuous.
Whenever I crank out a list of helpful hints, one of the first items I include is this obvious but often overlooked gem of advice: Kill your stupid screen saver. In the good old days of tube monitors, screen savers such as those unforgettable flying toasters were invented to prevent burn-in, a permanent shadow branded into the phosphors of your monitor by a static image of, say, a spreadsheet that you left on your screen all weekend. Continue reading “You don’t still use a screen saver, do you?”
“Having burned my ship, I plunged into writing. I am afraid I always was an extremist. Early and late I was at it—writing, typing, studying grammar, studying writing and all the forms of writing, and studying the writers who succeeded in order to find out how they succeeded. I managed on five hours’ sleep in the twenty-four, and came pretty close to working the nineteen waking hours left to me. My light burned till two and three in the morning, which led a good neighbour woman into a bit of sentimental Sherlock-Holmes deduction. Never seeing me in the day-time, she concluded that I was a gambler, and that the light in my window was placed there by my mother to guide her erring son home.
The trouble with the beginner at the writing game is the long, dry spells, Continue reading “Quote for the Day — A Writing Quote Just for Jeanne”