6 O'Clock BS – That Came Outta There!?

It looks like this is a bit older, but if you haven’t seen it… This is a cool video of a very big stick insect hatching, unfolding from its teeny tiny egg. I just want to reach out and help him get those last bits of leg free! C’mon insect buddy – you can do it!

(Hmmm…The video isn’t loading correctly for me from vimeo right now. If you’re having trouble too, here’s a link to New Scientist which also has it posted)

The Lord Howe stick insect is otherwise known as a tree lobster, which is also the name of one of my favorite web comics.

Hat tap to JREF research fellow Kyle Hill on Twitter

6 O'Clock BS – That Came Outta There!?
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6 O’Clock BS – That Came Outta There!?

It looks like this is a bit older, but if you haven’t seen it… This is a cool video of a very big stick insect hatching, unfolding from its teeny tiny egg. I just want to reach out and help him get those last bits of leg free! C’mon insect buddy – you can do it!

(Hmmm…The video isn’t loading correctly for me from vimeo right now. If you’re having trouble too, here’s a link to New Scientist which also has it posted)

The Lord Howe stick insect is otherwise known as a tree lobster, which is also the name of one of my favorite web comics.

Hat tap to JREF research fellow Kyle Hill on Twitter

6 O’Clock BS – That Came Outta There!?

Bible or College?

On the drive into work today I saw an [sarcasm] AWESOME [/sarcasm] bumper sticker. Ready?

A thorough knowledge of the Bible is worth more than a college education.

*sigh* This is why we can’t have nice things.

Aside from this being a ridiculous premise – (Which is going to help you in the real world: a thorough knowledge of a fairy tale/horror story/slash fiction or a real-world-based education?) – I got pissed off for another reason.

Earlier this month at the American Atheists Regional Conference in St. Paul I had a chance to hear Teresa MacBain, an ex-pastor, speak about how hard it was for her to leave her church. At the Midwest Freethought Festival in Omaha, Nebraska, Jerry DeWitt shared some of his story about leaving the church after 25 years as a Pentacostal minister. He also introduced ex-evangelical preacher Dan Barker at that conference.

Dan Barker heads up The Clergy Project, a confidential online community for active and former clergy who no longer believe in the supernatural. Dan spoke about some of the challenges that clergy members have to think about when they want to quit the church. One of the big ones is career placement. How hard must it be to fill out a resume and have little other job experience to write down than “preacher” for the past 10, 20, 30 years? How well does that thorough knowledge of the bible serve ex-clergy when they leave the church and have to find a new career?

But I don’t know; this is outside my experience. And I had a thought: Does a theology degree translate well to changing careers mid-life? For those of us who go to college, we all specialize in something and that doesn’t necessarily keep us from changing careers. The difference is, I think,  that we don’t have to worry about losing belief in biology, physics, math, business, art, computer science, literature, history. These subjects are based in reality and they prepare us for taking a place in a reality-based world.

But then this bumper sticker isn’t saying a theology degree is worth more than any other degree. I’m betting in this case it falls more along the lines of “if you know the Good Book real good, that’s worth more than book-learning at one of them librul colleges.”

Bible or College?

Creatives not Creationists

This is a post by guest blogger Ellen Bulger.

When the lines of engagement are drawn, most everyone counts science on the side of atheism. But many theists claim art as theirs and theirs alone. Atheists, we are told, are cold, bitter, empty souls. “Look,” we are admonished, “look at all the great art that was created in the name of religion.” Endlessly we hear how artists come down on the side of god.

Folded Church © Ellen Bulger

I call bullshit.

I hear the magnificent musical masses and songs of praise. I can’t take my eyes off the soaring cathedrals with their stained glass and altar triptychs. But you think those things are proof that creativity springs from a god? Then you are so not an artist.

Artists need to eat. Artists need to buy materials. Artists need a place to live and work. Artists need their work to be seen because it is, after all, COMMUNICATION.

Artists need to be safe from persecution. Not for nothing, if you do sculpture or painting in a totalitarian state, you seriously increase your chances for sponsorship by perfecting a style of portraiture that reflects back at the PTB like Snow White’s Stepmother’s mirror. You might even extend your life expectancy. During much of Europe’s history, you towed the line of whatever Christian sect was dominant at the given time, or you risked your life, never mind getting a big fat generous patron. The only grants available during the dark ages were from the church. It is no coincidence that the fundies want to shut down the NEA.

But having been through the art school route, I can tell you that there is damn little discussion of god. Or rather, god gets no more attention than science or politics and considerably less attention than light, form, color, composition and, oh yes, sex and death. As far as I can tell, contemporary artists explore god mostly as a concept. Artists are less interested about god than they are in man’s relationship to god, in much the same way as they are interested in man’s relationship to everything else. Doubtless there are exceptions. And if artists want to question god and religion, they aren’t necessarily vocal about it. What they do is, put those questions into their work and then display it and let the public do the interpreting. Artists might rub your nose in issues public and private, but they won’t necessarily spell it out for you. You are required to participate.

Artist © Ellen Bulger

The artists I know who are atheists are quiet atheists. And there are artists who are quietly religious. But the public discussion between artists is not one of “Let us strive to express the glory of god!” as some would have you believe.

The pandering politicians who bristle at contemporary art yearn for the good old days. Yet their very reactionary reactiveness has elevated Serrano’s Piss Christ into an iconic work of historical significance. Do they realize that? Mustn’t it just, you should pardon the expression, grill their cheese?

Many conservatives would like all art to be propagandist patriotic or comforting mirrors to the collective narcissism. It’s queasy making. Really, atheists should get together and commission a spectacularly tacky 30-ft bronze of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. It would be a droll and delightful project. And we should install it in the lobby of a National Museum of Atheism. I’m envisioning a modest-yet-imposing marble structure of Greek revival-style architecture. We should raise money and acquire an existing building or build one right in D.C.. Then wait and pray for Banksy to come along and tag the motherfuckin’ shit out of the exterior. EVEN IF HE IS CRITICIZING US. Wear it proudly, like the best ink EVER.

Great art often makes people uncomfortable. Like science, art is an exploration. Art is also communication. Science asks, what do we know, what is real? Sometimes art just says LOOK, and leaves the rest up to you. Art often asks, what do we think, and why do we think it? The Mormon Tabernacle Choir makes music, not history. They don’t change the way people think about music and sound and the world. They don’t challenge us.

Creative expression is not magical, even if observer and artist alike are often unaware of the processes at work. The religious think that art is a gift from god. Scientists act like they suspect artists are idiot savants.

What both sides miss is that art is problem solving. Artists, like scientists, build on the work of those who came before them. But unlike scientists, they are free to ignore the old knowledge and head off in an entirely new direction. Instead of standing on shoulders, artists might choose to tie some giant shoelaces together to catch the Titans unaware.

Art can simultaneously be freewheeling and an intellectual exercise, though often a non-verbal one. Art is banging together concept rocks in your head to make sparks, make FIRE. To really dig it, you have to let go. You can’t just be comfortable with uncertainty, you have to seek it. You have to crave it. Or so it seems to me.

These are my thoughts. I’m just one artist, a very tiny sample size of me. I’d like to hear from other artists who are atheists and see what they have to say. I’d like to feature their art here.

As atheists, we believe that man created god, not the other way around. As artists? Hell, we just get down to work and create.

Creatives not Creationists

Married People Conversations: NASA

The Scene: Last night, dinner at Noodles. 

The Hubby: Guess what I bought at Target today.

Me: Dunno. What did you buy?

The Hubby, eyes big and excited: A NASA shirt!

Me, confused: Really? You’re not a space fan kinda guy. [a pause, thinking] What’s the name of the rover that’s on Mars right now?

The Hubby, bluffing: The Mars Rover, duuuuuh.

Me, shaking my head pitingly.

The Hubby: Just kidding. It’s Galileo.

Me, blinking.

The Hubby: No? How about Newton? Einstein? Copernicus?

Me: Curiosity. Tell me why it’s there. What’s it doing on Mars?

The Hubby: Roving?

Me, stiffling a smile and trying to look stern SO. HARD.

The Hubby: Research and shit.

Me: Won on a technicality! But seriously, dude, why a NASA shirt?

The Hubby: It’s an emblem of science and innovation. It’s a message to people around me that I support science and that I believe in humanity’s ability and dream to get out into the stars and discover new things about the universe we live in.

Me aka The Jackass: You, sir, are going to rock that t-shirt so hard.

Married People Conversations: NASA

Taylor Ferrera Explains Legitimate Rape

I found this video on Facebook today and thus was introduced to the awesomeness that is Taylor Ferrera. The only downside to this song is that I’ll be humming “Legitimate Raaaaape” for the next couple of eternities. She has the lyrics in writing at her YouTube channel. She’s also written songs called Chick Fil A and I Hate Bank of America that are pretty epic.

Taylor Ferrera Explains Legitimate Rape

Follow-up to Pareidolia, Do Ya, Don't Ya

This is a post by guest blogger Ellen Bulger

About the Quasi Cryptic photograph of last week – It is indeed a pair of submerged plastic watering cans. They were resting in a water barrel sitting in the middle of a squash field at a family farm in Bethel, Connecticut. The algal slop is charged with hopeful intentions, that or random bird poo. I’m gonna market it as nature’s own cure for woo. Instruct a homeopathist to soak his head in it. I don’t have data to prove this will help, but we can always hope.

Two Watering Cans and Algal Abstract in a Barrel © Ellen Bulger

Yucky stuff, that slime, but also a glorious color, so it shares more than one attribute with lime Jell-O. The green glows because light is flooding it from all sides. It was that electric color that caught my eye. I pulled my camera out of my pocket and stuck it in the bucket for a few shots. I saw white and faded red plastic submerged, but I didn’t realize what it was until I got home and uploaded the photos to my computer. I was thrilled! I love the shadows. I love the curves. I love the way the waterers float, nested against each other in a yin-yang embrace. I cackled. I drummed a happy little tattoo with my heels. And it slays me that I hadn’t realized what they were.

The floating shoes comment made me think about the Hansa Carrier. And so my thoughts do drift…

Thanks for looking and guessing!

Follow-up to Pareidolia, Do Ya, Don't Ya

Follow-up to Pareidolia, Do Ya, Don’t Ya

This is a post by guest blogger Ellen Bulger

About the Quasi Cryptic photograph of last week – It is indeed a pair of submerged plastic watering cans. They were resting in a water barrel sitting in the middle of a squash field at a family farm in Bethel, Connecticut. The algal slop is charged with hopeful intentions, that or random bird poo. I’m gonna market it as nature’s own cure for woo. Instruct a homeopathist to soak his head in it. I don’t have data to prove this will help, but we can always hope.

Two Watering Cans and Algal Abstract in a Barrel © Ellen Bulger

Yucky stuff, that slime, but also a glorious color, so it shares more than one attribute with lime Jell-O. The green glows because light is flooding it from all sides. It was that electric color that caught my eye. I pulled my camera out of my pocket and stuck it in the bucket for a few shots. I saw white and faded red plastic submerged, but I didn’t realize what it was until I got home and uploaded the photos to my computer. I was thrilled! I love the shadows. I love the curves. I love the way the waterers float, nested against each other in a yin-yang embrace. I cackled. I drummed a happy little tattoo with my heels. And it slays me that I hadn’t realized what they were.

The floating shoes comment made me think about the Hansa Carrier. And so my thoughts do drift…

Thanks for looking and guessing!

Follow-up to Pareidolia, Do Ya, Don’t Ya

Stay Classy, Senator Dan Hall

Dan Hall is a Minnesota state senator representing District 40, which includes areas of Burnsville and Bloomington. He’s a Republican and was one of 38 senators to co-sponsor and support MN SF 1308, the constitutional amendment to recognize marriage solely between one man and one woman.

Attempting to restrict the rights of the people you represent  is gross. Thumbing your nose at them on Twitter using your professional account is just plain nasty:

Get that? If you plan on voting no on Senator Hall’s constitutional amendment you’re not a Real American™. Because implying that your constituents who disagree with you are anti-American is AWESOME. And professional. And a viewpoint I’m looking for in a government representative and civil servant.

And he hasn’t taken it down! A later tweet says “Everyone seems touchy when I give them my observation. U read into it what U want, but no one is calling anyone unpatriotic.”

You’re right. I don’t know what I was thinking. Of course no elected official in this day and age would accuse another US citizen of being un-American, right?

Stay Classy, Senator Dan Hall

6 O'Clock BS – Tweet o' the Day

Man – the internetz are ‘sploding with goodies today! The top news story that I’ve seen in my Twitter and Facebook has probably been responses to Todd Akin’s terminal (perhaps literally, at least with regards to his campaign) foot-in-mouth comments about legitimate rape and how us uteruses – errrr….I mean women – can magically destroy rapesperm and then all the backpedaling and not-pologizing.

There was a lot of tweetin’ going on, but I think this was my favorite:

Oh, John Scalzi! You make this world a better place.

Did you see any tweets about the Akin-Idiocy that you particularly enjoyed today?

6 O'Clock BS – Tweet o' the Day