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silveradeptToday was frought with work, work, and more work. Oh, well. Such things happen. Tomorrow, of course, things only get better and better. Such is the nature of things. Didn't have much time at all do much other than work. I suspect this is what the "real world" is like, too.
Gay Marriage helps Straight Marriage? Nah. But there is an interesting statistic that shows states that have no laws prohibiting gay marriages have a declining divorce rate, while those that do, on average, have an increased divorce rate. Of course, correlation in this case has jack to do with causality, but it is fun watching things like that happen. Of course, if you have inflatable men at your beck and call, then perhaps marriage really isn't needed.
World Trade Organization talks stall out - it's going to be a little harder to get all the agreements settled out now with everyone pointing fingers.
Panel takes aim at President's use of signing statements to ignore laws. Signing a law while issuing a statement that you intend to ignore it is not good politics. Even if it does prevent an override from happening. In other potentially fatal law interactions, there's a possibility an anti-abortion ban, combined with a law that makes killing an unborn child Murder One, could make the unholy alliance of an abortion doctor being prosecuted with a murder charge. If the law goes through, this one will probably have to be sorted out by the SCOTUS. A good test to see where loyalties lie.
An idea that takes the natural exuberance of children and puts it to interesting work - Play Pumps. Spin the merry-go-round, draw water up from the well and have fresh and clean water available. Wouldn't necessarily be work for the kids, as I'm sure the adults could have a whirl, but if there are a lot of kids in the area...
Something that RPG gamers know well - here's some advice about how to deal with dice that just aren't working for you.
Updating a piece of material well-enshrined in the history of Western society, here are the ninety-five theses of geek activism. Several of them repeat themselves in different forms, so the actual amount of points is less, but it's all good and interesting material to read.
Last night's post was less than coherent, I suspect. Part of it was jumping from one reference to another, to try and prove a point that points could be made using quotes and soundbytes strung together. A mashup of the experience of my life, perhaps. May not have made sense to anyone at all, even me. It wandered, it rambled, and like Calvin's wagon rides, it probably ended with a crash as an apt metaphor. Whatever the cause, it at least brought ideas out, ideas much better formed and of better quality and content than my graspings, certainly. Which makes me wonder whether I have actually found my place in life, as a catalyst rather than as an actor, and now just have to accept it. (If it's true, and that's my destiny, my hero-side wails in despair and refuses to believe it. The ground about my hero complex has been covered many times, though, in earlier places, and doesn't need a rehash)
Anyway, it was a necessary thing, I think. Very much free association, mediated through the extensive use of cultural and not-so-cultural references. Perhaps a realization of the vastness of the cosmos and the existential despair that goes with it. Either way, the distractions rushed in to fill the void.
What I really was planning on talking about, though, probably has no bearing at all on anything else that's been said tonight. It involves one of the few experiences in my life that I remember from my childhood. Perhaps with a touch of humor, it was a Vacation Bible School. Yep. Raised Catholic, but I was curious about it, and one of the people from down the road invited me along for a couple days. There were prizes for the people that had accumulated points over the days. Attendance counted, bringing people counted, a lot of other things counted, I think, but one of the things that happened there, and that probably counted for significant amounts of points, was Bible verse recitation. Now, even as a kid, I thought this was weird. Perhaps even then, I was considering that the interpretation and knowing what verses meant was more important than being able to recite them by rote. Now, I question whether or not any of the meaning would sink in at the ages we were at, or whether it would be like everything else we memorized - long enough for the test and then forgotten. Not such a nice thing to do to the words in a holy book, I'm sure. The points and prizes thing, at the time, I was hoping perhaps to get a taste of - childhood acquisitiveness, yaknow. Now, I wonder whether there might have been some un-biblical motives involved in some of the kids. Performance for the grownups, get the toy, be happy while learning nothing.
Anyway, there was also singing and prayer and such, and one of the songs sticks out with a refrain such as "And if the Devil doesn't like it, he can sit on a bomb". Strange, the things we remember from our youth.
Nowadays, I seen adverts for vacation bible schools around a fair number of the churches, and these days I wonder why they exist. Church camp is the best guess I can think of, where the kids get their Jesus rah-rah on with themed activities and such. Sunday schools may have a similar line of thought to them. I still wonder just how much this actually teaches the kids about the religion, as opposed to memorization and indoctrination. The older I get, the more I think that religion should be a choice made by an informed adult who has ideally been raised with no faith background and has/uses all the tools of thought and discovery available to them before making a decision on a religion or philosophy. Mind you, in any country of the world, that's impossible. Trying to construct a religion-free zone is like trying to construct a no-spin zone. I guess I don't understand, which makes it very hard for me to make any sort of coherent, non-stereotypical statement about the whole idea of VBS. So offenses caused are unintentional from ignorance.
Going to sleep now. Perhaps some other interesting thing will cross my mind tomorrow, and I will apply my generalist's skills to it.
Gay Marriage helps Straight Marriage? Nah. But there is an interesting statistic that shows states that have no laws prohibiting gay marriages have a declining divorce rate, while those that do, on average, have an increased divorce rate. Of course, correlation in this case has jack to do with causality, but it is fun watching things like that happen. Of course, if you have inflatable men at your beck and call, then perhaps marriage really isn't needed.
World Trade Organization talks stall out - it's going to be a little harder to get all the agreements settled out now with everyone pointing fingers.
Panel takes aim at President's use of signing statements to ignore laws. Signing a law while issuing a statement that you intend to ignore it is not good politics. Even if it does prevent an override from happening. In other potentially fatal law interactions, there's a possibility an anti-abortion ban, combined with a law that makes killing an unborn child Murder One, could make the unholy alliance of an abortion doctor being prosecuted with a murder charge. If the law goes through, this one will probably have to be sorted out by the SCOTUS. A good test to see where loyalties lie.
An idea that takes the natural exuberance of children and puts it to interesting work - Play Pumps. Spin the merry-go-round, draw water up from the well and have fresh and clean water available. Wouldn't necessarily be work for the kids, as I'm sure the adults could have a whirl, but if there are a lot of kids in the area...
Something that RPG gamers know well - here's some advice about how to deal with dice that just aren't working for you.
Updating a piece of material well-enshrined in the history of Western society, here are the ninety-five theses of geek activism. Several of them repeat themselves in different forms, so the actual amount of points is less, but it's all good and interesting material to read.
Last night's post was less than coherent, I suspect. Part of it was jumping from one reference to another, to try and prove a point that points could be made using quotes and soundbytes strung together. A mashup of the experience of my life, perhaps. May not have made sense to anyone at all, even me. It wandered, it rambled, and like Calvin's wagon rides, it probably ended with a crash as an apt metaphor. Whatever the cause, it at least brought ideas out, ideas much better formed and of better quality and content than my graspings, certainly. Which makes me wonder whether I have actually found my place in life, as a catalyst rather than as an actor, and now just have to accept it. (If it's true, and that's my destiny, my hero-side wails in despair and refuses to believe it. The ground about my hero complex has been covered many times, though, in earlier places, and doesn't need a rehash)
Anyway, it was a necessary thing, I think. Very much free association, mediated through the extensive use of cultural and not-so-cultural references. Perhaps a realization of the vastness of the cosmos and the existential despair that goes with it. Either way, the distractions rushed in to fill the void.
What I really was planning on talking about, though, probably has no bearing at all on anything else that's been said tonight. It involves one of the few experiences in my life that I remember from my childhood. Perhaps with a touch of humor, it was a Vacation Bible School. Yep. Raised Catholic, but I was curious about it, and one of the people from down the road invited me along for a couple days. There were prizes for the people that had accumulated points over the days. Attendance counted, bringing people counted, a lot of other things counted, I think, but one of the things that happened there, and that probably counted for significant amounts of points, was Bible verse recitation. Now, even as a kid, I thought this was weird. Perhaps even then, I was considering that the interpretation and knowing what verses meant was more important than being able to recite them by rote. Now, I question whether or not any of the meaning would sink in at the ages we were at, or whether it would be like everything else we memorized - long enough for the test and then forgotten. Not such a nice thing to do to the words in a holy book, I'm sure. The points and prizes thing, at the time, I was hoping perhaps to get a taste of - childhood acquisitiveness, yaknow. Now, I wonder whether there might have been some un-biblical motives involved in some of the kids. Performance for the grownups, get the toy, be happy while learning nothing.
Anyway, there was also singing and prayer and such, and one of the songs sticks out with a refrain such as "And if the Devil doesn't like it, he can sit on a bomb". Strange, the things we remember from our youth.
Nowadays, I seen adverts for vacation bible schools around a fair number of the churches, and these days I wonder why they exist. Church camp is the best guess I can think of, where the kids get their Jesus rah-rah on with themed activities and such. Sunday schools may have a similar line of thought to them. I still wonder just how much this actually teaches the kids about the religion, as opposed to memorization and indoctrination. The older I get, the more I think that religion should be a choice made by an informed adult who has ideally been raised with no faith background and has/uses all the tools of thought and discovery available to them before making a decision on a religion or philosophy. Mind you, in any country of the world, that's impossible. Trying to construct a religion-free zone is like trying to construct a no-spin zone. I guess I don't understand, which makes it very hard for me to make any sort of coherent, non-stereotypical statement about the whole idea of VBS. So offenses caused are unintentional from ignorance.
Going to sleep now. Perhaps some other interesting thing will cross my mind tomorrow, and I will apply my generalist's skills to it.
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no subject
Date: 2006-07-26 03:28 pm (UTC)Even in books such as Little House on the Prarie, which we know to be a true story, they used bible verse recitiation as a form of entertainment during the long winters. In the first Anne of Green Gables book we see Anne being asked to memorize the 23rd Psalm. HAving had no religious background whatsoever, Anne replies that it was a very beautiful poem. Marilla is, of course, shocked at her "heathen behavior"...but really, isn't that what most of the bible is? pretty poems?
Church is a social organization more than anything, I think. Sure, there are some people who genuinely are Devout Christians with the desire to contunie to learn, but for the most part...i think it's all about the social inteactions. Even Youth Group, which I attended from 6th to 12th grades was barely focused on the fact it was taking place at the church, and was more geared towards socializing and having fun. We hung out together outside of group, dated each other, fought with each other....did everything any other group of adolescents did...but do you think we ever discussed God outside of yoth group? Nope.
Is sunday school and VBS any different for little kids than story time at the library? Not really. They sing songs, hear a story, and occasionally get to do a craft. The only thing differnt is the parents think they are "helping" their kids along the path of christianity.
I like your idea of not shoving religion down kids throats and letting them mak their own informed descision when they reach adulthood.
BUT - on the other side of the coin, you have the kids who didn't have a church/synagogue/etc growing up or who did and had a "bad experience" (which really translates into "a mean kid at sunday school"), and they turn to experimenting the wrong way turning Wiccan and Pagan into bad names, associated side by side with Satanism.
What I've learned about Paganism, Budhism, Islam, and Taoism I learned all on my own. No, I take that back. we learned a little bit about Taoism, Islam, and Budhism in "world religions", but that class mostly focused on Christainity and Judaism. If there was a class that taught ALL the religions of gthe world, then your idea would work.
I reslly feel as though the world is Christan or Jewish, and if you try ot say you're anything other than those two, you get looked down on.