Spot the trend: Atheists *heart* Religion

From the Times: For Good Self-Control, Try Getting Religious About It

From the Times (UK):  As an atheist, I truly believe Africa needs God

“Bradlaugh” at the blog Secularright has been making a similar case for the US, viz. that the proposition that religious community is beneficial to the republic is logically orthogonal to the proposition that God exists, but has not chosen to do so in a single, linkable post.

One possible explanation: atheists in the US may have decided to make their peace with milquetoast Christianity instead of sweeping it aside, only to see the gap filled by Islam, as in the UK.  I seem to recall a certain parable about banishing a spirit, only to have it replaced by seven spirits worse than the first.

Wolf and Blake, like Chocolate and Peanut Butter

Because it was long anticipated, and because it’s now several months old, it’s easy to overlook how radical a book Wolf and Blake is.  Imagine if it had appeared without preamble in 1994.  How many of us would have threatened all over again to jump ship over this or that departure from status quo ante?

Yet it’s a better scenario book than we’re used to by a wide measure.

• The back-story is beefier than in any previous unit book save Wolf Clan and Jade Falcon.
• The art is better.  Those people look real!  And the Roadrunner was reincarnated as a black guy with wrap-around sunglasses!
• For the first time since Subhash Indrahar had chi influence, the BattleTech Universe has super-villains!  (And not those faceless implausibles the Death Commandos, each with the personality of a lesser Ringwraith.)

I can’t see myself using any of the special rules for personnel or units, but I see how the hypothetical fifteen-year-old buyer would appreciate their inclusion.  Memory confirms that I once delighted in learning and applying complicated rules of game play, though today I can scarcely believe it.  The Blake story makes me wonder if Ben spent grade school in fear of nuns.  He gave the Blakists the trappings of Catholicism, though from their origins they ought to be functionally Protestant–that’s more of a quibble than a complaint.

As important as the parts is the effect of the whole: the book shares with its primordial predecessors a strong tug on the imagination, the sine qua non of good pulpy fantasy.  For the first time in many a year, a BattleTech product put me in the mood for a game.  There are a lot of folks in this book I’d like to kill.

The Perfect Solution

Americans have a lot of body fat, and not enough fuel.  Well…

For a time, Beverly Hills doctor Craig Alan Bittner turned the fat he removed from patients into biodiesel that fueled his Ford SUV and his girlfriend’s Lincoln Navigator.

I don’t care that this is probably a hoax.  I love any story that turns an intractable problem into an ingenious solution.

Coal in your Stocking?

Forget namby-pamby solar or pie-in-the-sky fusion power. Coal is where it’s at this winter.  I heard it that bad kids got plastic toys this year, but good kids got precious, precious coal.

CIA Pushes Drugs in Afghanistan

But not like you think!  From the Washington Post.

The Afghan chieftain looked older than his 60-odd years, and his bearded face bore the creases of a man burdened with duties as tribal patriarch and husband to four younger women. His visitor, a CIA officer, saw an opportunity, and reached into his bag for a small gift.

Four blue pills. Viagra.

“Take one of these. You’ll love it,” the officer said. Compliments of Uncle Sam.

The enticement worked. The officer, who described the encounter, returned four days later to an enthusiastic reception. The grinning chief offered up a bonanza of information about Taliban movements and supply routes — followed by a request for more pills.

I really want to see what slogans they come up with for posters.

Hey, Ho!

(Why am I the only one blogging on Christmas Day?)

Reason v. Season

On a lark I thought to look up “Jesus” on Wikipedia and found a striking image I’d never seen before.

It’s 16th Century, but to my eye it looks very modern, like Dali crossed with Goya.

Ho ho ho!

I’ve been very good this year, so Santa brought me an omelette pan.  I enjoyed my breakfast, and now you can enjoy it too.

See how stuffed?

Counting on Global Warming?

Seattle’s streets at present are covered in treacherous, hard-packed snow.  Why?

“If we were using salt, you’d see patches of bare road because salt is very effective,” [Seattle Department of Transportation Chief of Staff] Wiggins said. “We decided not to utilize salt because it’s not a healthy addition to Puget Sound.”

One wonders, how much salt would it take to increase the salinity of an arm of the Pacific Ocean?

Early in the Next Administration, Biblical Literalism Runs Amok.

“My Fellow Americans, we live in trying times.  Our housing sector is overbuilt by a million homes, driving down property values for the middle class.  Also, our prisons are overflowing and breaking state budgets.  Well, it doesn’t take a genius to see that these two problems have a single solution!

“Pursuant to Leviticus 25:10, I am declaring 2009 a Year of Jubilee.  All prisoners in Federal, state and local prisons are hereby unconditionally pardoned and will be given housing vouchers, thereby increasing demand and buoying real estate prices nation-wide.  Furthermore, pursuant to Deuteronomy 19:3, I am naming New York City, Los Angeles and San Francisco as Sanctuary Cities in which no prosecution for manslaughter or negligent homicide may take place.

“Now, turning to the mortgaging of property, pursuant to Leviticus 27:24…