Faith, Myth and Star Wars
The newest George Lucas production, Red Tails, forces a Star Wars nerd to come to terms with a troubling philosophy
From faith stems nuance. From myth, generalities. And, sadly for us, the spirit of myth is winning: We revere Star Wars because to our minds—modern machines that equate religion with superstition and are willing to disregard imperfections in science but never in dogma—the movies represent transcendentalist humanism at its best, a perfect manifestation of that noxious label, “spiritual,” that people use to describe themselves when they’re too dull to believe in religion and too dim to understand science. This is why the Force has become the organizing metaphor of our time; there’s no better one for those who believe that if we only open our hearts and understand people are all the same and all good we’d be enlightened enough to lift rocks with a tilt of our heads.
Just how idiotic is this logic will become evident when we examine the controversy known in geekdom as the “Han Shot First” incident….
(My emphasis)
By way of the Episcopal Cafe.
State of the Climate
NASA Finds 2011 Ninth-Warmest Year on Record
Reported in NASA Finds 2011 is Ninth-Warmest Year on Record and 2011: The 9th hottest year on record.
Also 2011 Climate Change in Pictures and Data: Just the Facts
MIT Climate Scientist’s Wife Threatened in a “Frenzy of Hate” and Cyberbullying Fomented by Deniers
Newt Note
From the Bad Astronomer
For those saying we should launch Newt to the Moon, please be serious. We don’t have that kind of launch capacity for his ego.
Measuring Success
One Law for All
For next month ….
By the Sword
Facing down the Ramnit virus on Facebook
Monday Night Irish Class, January 23, 2012
Irish Class, January 23, 2012
Rang Gaeilge, 23ú lá mí Eanáir 2012
Bhí orm imeacht ó rang go luath. Bhí m’iníon altrama sa seomra éigeandála ag ospidéal Regions. Tá sí ceart go leor anois.
