The Sexiest Makeover IS Reading a Book!

I came across this when I was looking for the Reading Rainbow logo:

Aww, thanks Levar! I feel better already!

Goodbye Reading Rainbow

After 26 years of reading fun, PBS has decided to take the classic children's show Reading Rainbow off the air. I have to say that I am genuinely sad. Like so many people, I have fond memories of exploring the exciting world of books with Levar Burton. The show's cancellation is due in part to a lack of funding but also to a shift in the philosophy of what the purpose of children's TV show should be. This change can be traced back to the Department of Education under the Bush Administration. The emphasis shifted heavily toward giving kids basic ready skills like phonic and spelling. As a result, PBS, CPB and the Department of Education began to put large amounts of funding toward shows that taught children how to read. Unfortunately, the focus of Reading Rainbow was to help children develop a love of books and reading -- and assumed that they already had basic reading skills.

Reading Rainbow is the third longest-running children's show in PBS history; survived by Sesame Street and Mister Rogers. In a way, it feels like this marks the end of an era where children's shows were not based on technology and computers, but instead had a low-tech and more tangible theme. There was no 3D animation or fancy CG graphics, the emphasis was on real people doing real things. When I think of kids shows today, I don't understand many of them. And maybe that's because I have become old and cynical and prejudiced toward my own childhood. But while many of these new shows don't lack Flash! and Wow! I can't help but feel they don't have soul. At least not the kind of soul that shows like Reading Rainbow had.

Good bye Reading Rainbow; you will be missed.

And, because we all need to listen to it one more time, I leave you with the Reading Rainbow theme song:

What's even better than a high-five? A sci-five!

I need this shirt. It's brilliant, because, after all, if you're going to high-five, why not give it a little Vulcan flair?

I came across this stylish shirt on a list of the top 101 T-shirts for scientists, science geeks and nerds that was sent to me by a friend. If you like geeky shirts it's definitely worth checking out. I am proud to say that I actually already own the "Stand Back! I'm going to try SCIENCE!" shirt.If you're looking for some great math shirts, my favorites are here. I especially like the "Keepin' it real" shirt.

I don't even know what to call this...except disturbing...

Ok, so it's really horrible that these kids did this at all, but it's seriously disturbing that one of them was black.

Dear Black Kid: White Power does not like you! Swastikas are not your friend! When your friends start saying "Hey, let's go write KKK in sod!" that's when you say "Hey, I gotta go get some new friends!" You should not respond with, "Oh super! I'll start making the swastika!"

My mind is officially boggled.

I am wondering if these kids knew what they were writing. It is so hard to believe that they didn't. But then, in the past year, I have been constantly surprised about what the teenagers at the high school where my boyfriend teaches are unfamilar with. They seem to do and say things of which they do not understand, or fully understand, the meaning or consequences. Perhaps that was the case here. Or perhaps its another example of the fact that racism is still pervasive in the United States and being passed down to younger generations. But I still don't understand what the black kid was thinking...

Children Are Not Walking Billboards

Apparently Wayne Sapp, a member of the Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Florida thinks that they are. On monday, sent his 10-year-old daughter to school wearing a shirt whose back reads "Islam is of the Devil." The Dove World Outreach Center is a New Testament Church whose pastor, and apparently its parishoners as well, have been vocal not only about their belief that the way of Jesus is the only true way (the Lord's way or the highway?) but also about their anti-Islamic views. Apparently Islam is especially anti-Jesus. Pastor Terry Jones wanted to have the "Islam is of the Devil" shirts printed in town but, according to Jones, no local printers "had the guts" to do it. So instead, Wayne Sapp had them printed online. Which brings us to Monday, when his 10-year-old daughter went to school wearing the shirt. And was sent home, rightfully I feel, for violating the school dress code by wearing something that had a distracting and hostile message on it.

Now, I'm all about free speech but I don't think an elementary school is an appropriate venue to parade your child around wearing clothes that shout a discriminatory and volatile message. (In fact I don't think it's ever appropriate to dress up your child as any sort of hateful or discriminatory political or religious sign.) Wear it yourself. It's still hateful and inflamatory and offensive and you're still teaching your children that it's alright, and in fact preferable, to hate people who are different from them, but at least you're not forcing them to convey that message on their person.

Sapp's 15-year-old daughter also wore the shirt to school on Monday and said that she made the decision to wear the shirt, not her parents, despite the fact that it was her father who had the shirts made. And it is not unlikely then that her younger sister wanted to wear it as well, since it was something "cool" that her older sibling was doing. But it's not cool. Hate and bigotry are never cool. Unfortunately, that's not the message that the Dove World Outreach Center is sharing with their young members. And Pastor Jones believes that spreading the church's message is "even more important than education itself." That's pretty disturbing.

This is not the first time that the Dove World Outreach Center has caused an anti-Islam ruckus. It has been boldly displaying its anti-Islam sentiments on the grass in front of the church with signs that read, like the t-shirts, "Islam is of the Devil," in addition to signs that aim to paraphrase the Quran and read "Kill the misbelievers wherever you find them." Pastor Jones said that the "Islam is of the Devil" sign was " an act of saying there is only one way and that is actually what Christianity is about. It's about pointing people in the right direction, and that right direction is Jesus and only Jesus."

Well, snap. He's got it all figured out.

We now return to your regularly scheduled programming...

Dear Loyal Readers and Friends,

I apologize for the lack of posts over the last couple days! I took the GRE this morning and have spent the last few days studying middle school math and memorizing obscure words.

I'll be back tomorrow with more bloggy excitement to share with you!

In the meantime, I'll leave you with this amusing xkcd comic.

Thanks for stopping by!

Laurel

Low-tech Fun

Need a break from our crazy high-tech, iPhone, 24-hour news cycle, electricty-devouring world? Never fear; there are some great options out there for having some low-tech fun that's more social than reading a book or napping. All you will need are a few friends to enjoy the following fun, battery and electrity free games!

• Empire Builder: Empire Builder is all about building your own railroad empire and getting rich. I'll admit, I was skeptical at first, but it's a lot more fun than it sounds. Anyone who is a fan of Atlas Shrugged will enjoy this game as it will remind them of Dagny Taggart and Taggart Transcontinental. At least, that's what it made me think of... Also, you get to draw your railroad on the game board with crayons, which is pretty cool.

• Settlers of Catan: This German favorite is all about building settlements and roads and trading commodities. Once you master the basic game, there are a lot of expansions available that allow for more players or add new commodities.

• Risk: A favorite of International Relations students everywhere and a personal childhood favorite of my own. On school vacations, my brother and I would spend hours and hours playing risk without leaving the room for fear that the other person would cheat... This classic global domination game is easy to learn and will bring out an imperialistic spirit in even the most peace-loving individuals. Who doesn't want to take over the world?

• Arkham Horror: This is by far the most complicated board game I have ever played, but once you figure out all the steps and rules and what everything means, it's a lot of fun. The game board is the town of Arkham where mysterious portals are opening up. Monsters emerge through these portals and the players must fight them throughout the game and close the portals. There are a million other supernatural things that happen along the way, but I won't give them away except to say that you can get sucked through the portals into strange "Other Worlds" and that you get to use magical weapons. AND unlike most games, this is a co-operative board game where all players work together to win. Expansions are available that make the game and its board absolutely massive.

I wish I were a cartoon...

So I don't even actually watch the show Mad Men because I don't have TV, but if you go here on the show's site, you can make yourself into a very stylish 1960's cartoon. I found this to be highly entertaining, mostly because I really like seeing myself as a cartoon. I think it really works for me.

Must... stop...wasting...time...on the...interweb...

Dino Evo Devo

The first time I watched Jurrasic Park, I remember thinking, "That would be so cool if it were real!" Many years later, I now think it would be fairly terrifying. But still pretty cool.

It seems that all my dino dreams could come true. This article on Macleans.ca discusses how Paleontologist Jack Horner is working to bring dinosaurs to life:

"If it sounds straight out of Jurassic Park, it’s no coincidence: Horner served as scientific advisor on all three films, and is said to be an inspiration for the rugged protagonist, Alan Grant. Unlike in the movie, though, Horner thinks he can bring back a dinosaur without using its DNA—a crucial difference, because in real life, dino DNA hasn’t been recovered. Horner has a different plan. By making a few genetic tweaks to its modern- day ancestor, the bird, he wants to hatch a dinosaur straight from a chicken egg."

"It’s Horner’s vision, and McGill University paleontologist Hans Larsson is working to make it happen. With Horner’s encouragement, Larsson is experimenting with chicken embryos to create the creature Horner describes: a “chickenosaurus,” they call it. If he succeeds, Larsson will have made an animal with clawed hands, teeth, a long, dinosaurian tail and ancestral plumage, one that shares characteristics with “the dinosaur we know that’s closest to birds, little raptors like the velociraptor,” Horner says."

Chickenosaurus?

Our new dino pal will be made possible by a relatively new field of science called Evolutionary Developmental Biology, or "Evo Devo" to folks in the know. Evo Devo is the study of how changes in the development of an organism can result in different end products. By turning genes on or off at different times or for different lengths of time, you get a different final organism. In this project, scientists are trying to alter the development of a chicken to get it to turn out very similar to a dinosaur. Because chickens are descendants of dinosaurs, and therefore are very genetically similar, it's a matter of taking the genes that are already there and utilizing them in a different way.

It's an exercise in evolution. As Horner puts it: "The chickenosaurus will be a conversation piece," he says, sparking a public debate about evolution by winding its tape backwards for all to see. “Let’s put it this way,” Horner says. “You can’t make a dinosaur out of a chicken, if evolution doesn’t work.”

Thank God for Atheist Buses...

This week the Des Moines Area TransitAuthority(DART) suspended a bus driver because she wouldn't drive a bus sporting an advertisement for the Iowa Atheists and Freethinkers because it went against her Christian faith. DART's policy is that drivers cannot refuse to drive a working bus as it interferes with the ability to keep buses moving on time. The ACLU believes that this policy helps uphold the right to free speech that advertisers have when they post advertisements on the sides of DART's buses. I found it interesting that the ACLU compares this situation to one where an employee refuses to work with someone of a different faith. You cannot refuse to work with a coworker because they are of a different faith, and in this situation, that bus is our coworker. And bus drivers have to work with buses, even if that bus is an atheist.

Now, I would like to step back and take moment to ponder how ridiculous it was for this bus driver to refuse to drive this bus.

First, let's get the obvious things out of the way:

• Her job is to drive the bus. Not to critique it's exterior decor.

Ok, now that we've gotten that out of the way, let's move on to more interesting things:

• Whether or not she agrees with the advertisement on the outside of the bus she is driving is totally irrelevent and should not affect her job, which, again, is to drive the bus. This reminds me of instances where pharmacist refuse to fill prescriptions for birth control because it goes again their faith. They seem to forget that their job is to fill prescriptions, not make moral judgments about which drugs should be allowed to be prescribed according to their religious dogma.
• Everyone faces things they disagree with everyday. Thanks to the First Amendment we are constantly bombarded with things we may dislike, or even fiercely disagree with. But you know what, that's the way the United States works. In order to have the right to speak our minds we also have to be subjected to what everyone else thinks, too, even if we consider it blasphemy or just plain ridiculous. After all I believe that fast food is disgusting and that everything on Fox News is total crap, but that's not going to stop me from getting on a bus that's telling me that Big Macs are delicious and that Fox News is "Fair and Balanced." I would even get on it if it were telling me that Jesus loves me. I might think all those beliefs are ridiculous, but I respect someone else's right to yell them from the side of a bus, or a billboard, television, or whatever other medium they can get access to. But in return, I expect my fine fellow citizens to respect the things that I agree with, even if they don't like it.

Hang in there Atheist Buses! The First Amendment is on your side!

Ukrainian Pop Fusion At Last!

I seriously dig accordian music. And I am a huge fan of Eastern European gypsy-style bands. So you can imagine my uncontainable delight when I came across this Ukrainian Polka Band's cover of Katie Perry's song, Hot'n'Cold. It's magical.

They play it with such intense concentration, with enthusiasm that wouldn't normally be given to a Katie Perry song. They've even given it some very special pizazz by adding great back-up singing. I dare say that these four fellows are the next Ukrainian Beatles.

Los Colorados doesn't have a CD out yet, but I'm hoping that this cover is their big break so I can listen to their great (real) Ukrainian tunes to get my daily dose of accordian. I just don't feel right without it.

Noah's Ark on the Big Screen?

I went to the movies the other day and one of the fine previews I had the pleasure of viewing was the trailer for 2012, in which the Mayan's correctly predict the end of the world in the 2012. I had seen a preview for this several times but I had not seen this extended version. It starts out with the expected "The Mayans warned us," and epic natural disaster scenes. But then, much to my delight, it cuts to a scene where John Cusack says in an urgent and serious voice, "the governement is building these ships." AND THEN, cuts to a giraffe being airlifted. At this point I can hardly contain my gleeful giggles and I'm certain that people are looking at me. But it would seem that this is not simply a movie about the end of the world, but about a great flood where people escape on large ships. With animals. Why does that sounds so familiar...

I'm definitely going to see 2012 when it comes out. I think it's going to be a cinematic gem.

Vienna Vegetable Orchestra!

It's an orchestra -- made entirely of VEGETABLES! There's a super cool video on the website that shows how they make the instruments and then a performance. The range of sounds that vegetables can make is pretty amazing. My personal favorite is the pepper instrument... If I'm ever in Vienna, this is the first thing I'm going to check out!

Unfulfilled?

During the last few road trips I took from NC to MI and back, I noticed billboards with pictures of bored looking young professionals with the word UNFULFILLED? written across it? This piqued my interest. Was this a website that would help a young person such as myself find a fulfilling career?? How I hoped it was. I made a mental note to look into this website when I got home and then promptly forgot until this afternoon.

After a bit of searching, I found it: Unfulfilled.org. Much to my chagrin it was not a career site as I had hoped, but was instead a site that claimed that the reason I could not find fulfillment in my career and life in general was that I had not yet bathed in the love and light of everyone's favorite Jew, the one and only, Jesus Christ.

Well, shucks. Not exactly what I was hoping for.

The site didn't actually have that much to offer in terms of content. Once you click past the first page there is the ubiquitous Jesus on the cross picture and afte that there are two (long) pages of text. The aim, of course, to convince you that your life will be dark and miserable until you embrace Jesus Christ as your own personal guide and savior.

I don't know; my life seems pretty good so far.

But with quotes like:

"Jesus Christ is Truth and Life. The Bible says, “In Him was life and the life was the light of men." John 1:4 We are separated from God and remain in darkness until we realize we need forgiveness for our rebellion to God and must be reconciled to God. Your problem is not with man, it is with God. When you are lost and unaware of where you are going, it leaves an unfulfilled, insecure, empty feeling. One thing is certain, you will die and without Jesus Christ you will be fearful, insecure and afraid of this reality. The fear of death deep in your soul reveals that you know will be judged by God Almighty. “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” Hebrews 9:27"

How can I say no??? I AM INSERCURE AND EMPTY AND I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW. Good thing I found this website.

When I click the next button at the end of the passage it takes me to a page where I can email for more information AND there's even a spot where I can write my salvation experience. Neato. There's also and option to register with Unfulfilled Ministries. I'm tempted to do it just to see what they'll send me.

Maybe I'll get a complimentary T-shirt...

Holy Anacreon!

As I wrote my first post last night, I realized that in many ways, this blog is my "coming out" as an Atheist, officially and publicly. People who are close to me know this about me already, of course. But for most of my life I have been a polite and quiet Atheist. When asked about my religion I would share that I was raised Greek Orthodox, or, if I was feeling a little more daring, that I was agnostic or "not very religious." But these were half-truths, a way to prevent an uncomfortable situation or being prematurely judged.

But you know what? I want to say it. And I don't want to feel bad. I am an Atheist.

So there.

After all, I've never met anyone who tried to cover up the fact that they do believe in god. In fact, I've met a lot of peoplewho are downright thrilled to share that fun little tidbit with me. And they do not feel ashamed. Neither should I! Do I expect to be judged unfairly? Yes. Do I expect uncomfortable conversations and awkward expanses of silence? Bring it on! What better way to show that there is absolutely nothing wrong with being an Atheist than being honest about it?

I've started talking about it more openly lately, and it feels good. It feels like the right thing to do, because I really don't like the fact that so many people feel like Atheists are immoral and untrustworthy. If you know me, you know that I am made of the strongest of moral fibers -- moral burlap if you will. So I take those accusations quite personally. I've worked hard to hold myself to high standards all my life and I'm certainly not going to let anyone tell me that I need to believe in a "higher power" to be a good and kind person. Because I know with every ounce of who I am, that that is just not true.

So I'm going to lead by example. I'm an Atheist, yes. But I want people to know that so that they stop making assumptions. I don't have horns. I'm not compelled to attend orgies. I've never killed a man. And I'm not going to hell. I'm a human being. I like kittens and cake and funny jokes just like everyone else.

Yes, that's right, Atheists are people, too! How novel an idea!

Am I a little nervous about what some people with think? Yes, I am. I woke up this morning with a feeling of nervous anticipation. What will old friends think? My boyfriend's parents? Who will read this and then gasp dramatically and shout OH MY? We'll just have to wait and see...!

I'm looking forward to getting Atheism out in the open, to having lively discussions with religious folks and Atheists alike, and to getting heckled every now and then. It's going to be an adventure!

And now, I'm off to check out this cool Scarlet Letter shirt on RichardDawkins.net!

Hello!

Hi everyone!

In this blog, I hope to do my part to fight against the phoniness and hypocrisy -- the tartuffery-- all around us and start intelligent, thoughtful discussions on atheism, feminism, science, current events and all the strange and crazy things happening in the world around me.

I am originally from Michigan ( I grew up in Metro-Detroit) and about a year ago I moved down to Durham, North Carolina. It is more different here than I could even imagine. The last year has sparked many interesting conversations dealing with race, gender, homophobia, class and income disparity, fried chicken and collard greens, cultural relativism, discrimination, the American public school system, and the list goes on and on. One of my goals here is to share with you some of the experiences I've had since leaving the familiarity of the midwest and venturing into the steamy south. It's been quite an adventure -- after all I am a part of the most distrusted minority in the United States -- Atheists! An Atheist Feminist Midwestern girl living in the south -- if that's not a recipe for comedy, I don't know what is!

It's certainly been a trying year; I have a sneaking suspicion that my short hair leads salespeople to believe I'm a lesbian and therefore give me poor customer service... Maybe I'm just overly suspicious of strangers here after experiencing a solid session of gay-bashing first-hand, but things just seem odd sometimes when I ask anyone for assistance around here... I suppose Midwesterners really are some of the most friendly people in the U.S. afterall?!?

But alack! Time to turn over a new leaf! I'm thoroughly looking forward to sharing my thoughts on a myriad of scintillating topics with all you free-thinkers out there!

With Love and Squalor,

Laurel