Here it is, the 6th episode of the monthly CFI Ottawa podcast… now with 100% more “having a name”.
This month we play another round of “Guess the Philosopher”, talk about “baby woo” (not the martial art… but still interesting!) and a bunch of other stuff.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Hank Green, a.k.a. EcoGeek, a.k.a. the nerdier of the Vlogbrothers, has just unveiled a brand new YouTube channel called Scishow. Updated four times a week, the goal of the channel is to bring you, the viewer, in touch with the majesty and awesomeness of science, through interviews, breaking news, and explanations.
So let’s join Hank (and his fabulous goatee) in a search for the Higgs Boson particle:
Or perhaps you want to find out how a bulletproof hoodie might be made:
We had some fun Santa facts in episode 5 of the CFI-Ottawa Podcast, so most of this information is already old hat. C. G. P. Grey’s newest video corrects a few Santa myths:
The fifth episode of the CFI Ottawa Podcast is here, and as a special treat includes a new Newtonmas song performed by a few members of CFI Ottawa.
Show notes to come later… as soon as I have time to write them up.
Enjoy!
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
December can be a difficult time for non-believers in Christian majority countries. There’s the usual stress of buying gifts and hosting dinner parties, plus all the extra work involved in waging war against Christmas. On top of all that, many of us come from Christian families, so this time of year can be a complex balancing act between our lack of belief and the feelings of those we love.
Given this, it’s not surprising that some non-believers might reach out to advice columns for help in dealing with what, for many families, has become a veritable minefield.
Today’s edition of Dear Prudence featured a letter from someone who is “not religious at all.” The author’s family isn’t particularly religious either or, as she describes them, CEO (Christmas and Easter only) Catholics. Not only does she feel like a hypocrite attending mass as a non-believer, she also feels that it wouldn’t be too much to ask for her family to spend their time together rather than going to church.
Prudie advises this ex-Catholic to show up anyway and make her mother happy, unless it violates a principle she holds sacred:
Your parents may show up at church only twice a year, but on those rare occasions, your mother is simply not going to think that staying home and playing Parcheesi is an appropriate substitute. You’ve got the wrong idea about your hypocrisy in going to Mass even though you’re not religious. If no hypocrites entered places of worship, attendance would plummet. If you go, it’s perfectly fine for you to get lost in daydreams, or to think, “I do like the music, but the rest of it is a load of hooey.” Going to church on Christmas and Easter is meaningful to your mother, so you don’t have to call her out because she’s getting a pedicure the other 50 weekends a year. You can view accompanying your parents as a matter of honoring people you love. If you decide setting foot in church is a violation of some principles you hold sacred, then without making a big deal about it say, “Mom, I’m sorry, I’m just exhausted and I’m going to stay put on the couch this year. Thanks for understanding.” But it sounds as if you’re more flexible than that. While the religious “aerobics” won’t do much for your body or soul, the warm feeling it will give your mother if you go will make this workout worthwhile.
If you have religious family members, how do you deal with religion over the holidays?
I grew up on LEGOs, and many of my fondest memories feature those fantastic little bricks. Whether it was building a Robin Hood castle with my older step-brother (and getting beaten up after the subsequent RAWR! Dragon attack!) or building a giant labyrinth that covered the entire livingroom floor with my dad, LEGOs were a huge part of my childhood.
It never occurred to me that they were a gendered toy, or that they weren’t meant for kids like me. Sure, I would have liked some women in my castles who weren’t witches, but I found ways around that. I was perfectly happy appropriating female minifigs from other sets, using time travel to save a dying society that for some reason had no (non-witch) women of its own.
But I never felt offended until the Paradisa and Belville collections came out. I admit that I did buy one Paradisa set, but only because it had a foal and I felt that my medieval society would do better with some baby horsies (horsies!). Other than that, I stayed away from the sets because for me, as a tomboy, they were too strong a reminder of the pressure I was under to conform. Paradisa told me that I was abnormal, that my tastes were inappropriate, and I was expected to stop playing with the toys I enjoyed and start acting my gender. Even as a kid, I avoided these two collections because they made me feel uncomfortable in my own skin.
And yet, they were nothing compared to the new Friends collection, which can only be described as Bratz for LEGO. Not only are the sets simplistic and involve very little complicated building (something that has always been a problem with “girl versions” of popular toys), but they reinforce body image expectations as well. Gone are the blocky figures that represent people while leaving room for imagination. These new Friends are curvy and thin, with delicate button noses and large eyes.
The sets themselves are the standards: The puppy set, the beautician’s salon, the clothing designer’s workshop. As with all companies that don’t want to appear sexist, LEGO even includes a token “smart girl” who looks fabulous, has equations written on her blackboard, and builds robots with pretty purple tools. Ugh.
If I wanted a Polly Pocket, I’d buy a Polly Pocket. This new collection sends a clear message to girls: Regular LEGOs are not for you.
….call for you from Barbara Streisand.
As anyone who has spent any time in the skeptical blogosphere this week already knows, one Marc Stephens, who appears to be some sort of PR dude for a Houston clinic run by one Dr. Burzynski, where cancer patients can receive a fantastically expensive (and almost certainly useless) treatment, has been issuing legalish1 threats to bloggers critical of said clinic, doctor, and treatment, demanding that they take down their criticisms.
There: I got the gist of the whole story in one sentence, which is pretty much all that was needed, as y’all already knew all that, right? The immune system of the blogosphere has reacted in its usual self-protective way: Withdraw the criticism? The hell you say! — we’ll just spread it around some more! A whole lot more.
All that’s needed to further prime the Google bomb is to plagiarize a bunch of links that Larry Moran already posted:
1I say “legalish” as Stephens’ attempts to sound like a lawyer are amusingly pathetic.
This last July, Seanna and I had the privilege of visiting Down House, where Charles Darwin and his family lived from 1842 until his death in 1882. Here is where he conducted and complied much of the research that led to the writing of the two books that revolutionized the way we see the universe and our place in it.
I describe that visit for the November CFI-Ottawa podcast; these pictures of the Down House grounds (photography is not permitted inside) supplement that account. Enjoy.
Links:
The forth episode of the CFI Ottawa Podcast (soon to even have a real name!) has arrived.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
The hosts this time around are Steve Watson, Seanna Watson, Marlowe Filippov, and myself.
Some some background info on the the topics we discussed…
The Centre for Inquiry – Ottawa provides a secular, anonymous peer support group. The group is for anyone wishing to abstain from an addictive substance or behaviour, or for loved ones of those who are struggling with addiction. If you would like to attend a meeting which does not involve a supernatural higher power, this is for you. The approach we use is based on the medical-psychosocial model developed by James Christopher and described in “The Secular Organisations for Sobriety” literature(see below). We will meet once a week on Friday at 8 pm. We meet at the Brittania United Church. The meeting is in a church; however we are a completely secular recovery peer support group. The address is: 985 Pinecrest Rd.
If you have any questions please write to this e-mail address:
sosupportottawa@gmail.com
The following is a link to the SOS website.
http://www.cfiwest.org/sos/index.htm
