September 17, 2012
Where was I?
My first half marathon in Asheville, NC last weekend. Retiring my toe shoes for a new pair after 2+ years of heavy use, including getting a stress fracture as I got used to running in them, and then passing out from heat exhaustion and ending up in the hospital. Otherwise, all was normal. Post race retirement photo:
[ updated 27 Nov 2012 ]
Mah numbah:
Ranking: #712/1351, guntime: 2:09:08, pace: 9:52, tag time:2:07:18.
Weekend of the 24th last month was at Lake Keowee with Nat and Frank and Milly. Fun will grilling and inner tubing and what-not. Buddha watched over us:
The week before, we picked up our first non-objective painting for our art collection from the Piedmont Park Arts and Crafts Festival. "Yoru (Night)" by Chris Strawbridge of Stone Mountain, still to-be-hung:
Before that, my company's 2nd annual picnic which included an exotic animal petting zoo (Lisa gets her finger nibbled on) then dinner with the brother's wife's various family (more shenanigans):
September 12, 2012
Fact resurgence
It's interesting (ha) to see conservatives rally around fact checkers during the DNC last week. Many times, I've winced as conservatives mock the "fact-checking liberal shills" (also: ha). This goes hand-in-hand with the Romney pollster stating that We're not going to let our campaign be dictated by fact-checkers.
Yesterday's Brian Lehrer show had Brooke Gladstone talking about her On The Media edition on fact-checkers. On The Media has always danced between the heady meta of watching the watchers and a more Earthly honesty that has them say what we're all thinking. It gets corny at times (as most Public Broadcasting Humor is guilty of), but the rewards are there. Ultimately, their style of honest curiosity is what fact-checking needs.
The Atlantic's recent assessment of a reporter fact-checking Obama is in this vein too. Coming from a Fox affiliate, it smells of convenient hypocrisy (now it's actually patriotic to question the president...), but an insincere source shouldn't weaken an honest message.
And, partisaness aside, it's interesting to read atheist-liberal Gore Vidal's essays decrying (1) corporate ownership of politicians, (2) media ownership of politics, and (3) the imbalance of wealth that made it possible. And all this 20 years ago... . He's certainly a well-placed choir to the current politics and a prelude to my dive into the new atheist authors.
September 9, 2012
Atheism, feminism
Over lunch recently, someone from the SSA was telling me about the minor schisms that have been cropping up between feminists and atheists. I don't follow the scene that closely, so I miss out on the drama. io9's got a good summary of the three most notable incidences from ReaderCon, The Amazing Meeting, and DefCon. Dawkins comes off looking the worst in the TAM aftermath. A shame. DefCon security staff creating a game to get conference-goer to coax women to show their tits was pretty awful too. The response--rugby penalty cards handed out to creepers--was perfect (Some of them proudly displayed the cards they'd been given on their name tags. "That's fine -- let them make themselves visible," KC said. "That way we know who to avoid."
).
Nico Lang's got a great summary of the Kristen Stewart thing. Another scene I would not normally follow without the keen analysis. Chris Brown can publicly beat the hell out of his girlfriend but ... if you ever cheat on your boyfriend, your life is over and no one will ever want to be associated with you.
And the way that young women are turning on her is almost too Lord of the Flies to be believable. (Although, I am tempted to get a "Kristen Stewart is a trampire" t-shirt for novelty reasons.)
I'm about to dive into My People's sacred texts (The God Delusion, God is Not Great, The End of Faith). I'd previously avoided them because there's only so much preaching a choir wants. Reading books five years after they're popular: I'm the bizarro hipster.