With all my posts about my family vacation to Puerto Rico, I had to find some way to slip in a religion/atheism angle, being this is a primarily atheist themed blog.
Because our flight for Puerto Rico last Sunday was scheduled to fly out of JFK at 7:30 A.M., it made more sense to take a taxi to the airport rather than ride the LIRR in the cold and darkness to Jamaica Station to catch the Air Train.
My wife called the taxi company and our driver was literally there like 5 minutes later. As my wife used to take the taxi home from the train station before we got a second car, the cab driver was a man that she knew.
He was quite a gregarious fellow, and he was talking with my wife who was seated behind him about the latest developments in his life. It didn't take him long before he dropped this bombshell:
"A couple of months ago I became a born again Christian! All this time, I was looking for God, but it was God who found me!" I could barely suppress a groan.
It turns out the guy was raised Jewish and had been having a crisis of faith or something, so his mom pushed him to go to Israel, which would supposedly reconnect him with his Jewish roots.
"Who would have guessed," he declared, "that a Jewish man would become a Christian by going to Israel."
It was my wife however, who astutely guessed the real reason. She asked him if he had met a girl.
"Yes, I did," he replied. "She was the daughter of a missionary."
It turned out that they had since broken up, but are apparently still on good terms. From there, he proceeded to blab about the Jews and the Catholics getting it all wrong, and then rambling something about a section of Romans being banned in Canada. I had guessed that what he was driving at was some verse or other that condemned homosexuality. As my two young children were sitting in the back seat, I said, "I would prefer that you don't talk about this in front of my kids."
"Sure, no problem!" he cheerfully complied. He also made mention of some Christian radio station he listened to that had all kinds of important things to say about the future, and he mentioned some date in March or May of 2010 or 2011, I can't remember which, in which something really profound would happen.
As much as I was tempted to take the Cabbie for Christ to task for some of the things he said or ask him what he would do if nothing happened on the date he mentioned, as he was zipping along the parkway in the darkness of the predawn hour, my primary concern was that my family and I make it to JFK safely. The last thing I wanted was for the guy to get into a traffic accident because he was distracted by the argumentative atheist in the passenger seat. Afterwards, my wife said to me that she was surprised that I had kept quiet, and I explained to her why.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
The El Conquistador Resort in Puerto Rico
In making the decision as to where to stay during our vacation in Puerto Rico, I picked the El Conquistador in Fajardo because (1) I decided that on our first visit to Puerto Rico we would see the north east corner of the island, and (2) the El Conquistador seemed like a family friendly place.For the most part, we enjoyed our stay at the El Conquistador. Our children liked the water park and my wife and son liked Palomino Island. The resort was in close proximity to El Yunque and the bioluminescent lagoon, which were two highlights of the trip.
The El Conquistador itself is a sprawling resort, and according to my Insight Guide, was at some point in the past a Maharishi University. My family stayed in the section of the resort called Las Olas, which in retrospect is probably the worst place to stay in the resort. The room itself was pretty nice and spacious, and we had a great view from our balcony. The problem with the Las Olas section was the location.
In the picture above, taken from the ferry as we were headed for Palomino Island, Las Olas is mostly obscured by the marina section, except for the scalloped roof. Las Olas and the marina were physically separated from the main part of the resort, which was set on the hill above. The only way to get to the main section was to take a tram car called a funicular to the top of the hill. There were actually two funicular tracks, an express track that went directly from the main resort to the marina, and a local that also stopped at Las Olas. The problem was, if you wanted to go from Las Olas to the top level, and you just missed the funicular as it was headed to the top, you would have to wait for the funicular to come back to Las Olas, go down to the marina, then back up to Las Olas before proceeding back up to the main level. Another option would be to go down the stairs to the marina level to catch the express funicular to the top level. Once you finally arrive at the top stop on the funicular, it was then a long walk and an elevator ride to get to the main lobby area where all the restaurants were and where you boarded the buses to go on the trips.
Another problem with Las Olas was that it was not very well maintained. In particular, the carpets in the hallway were noticeably worn and stained, and the building looked like it was in need of some serious overhaul. A number of reviewers at Tripadvisor.com made the same observation.
As I mentioned in another post, the El Conquistador is also incredibly expensive, especially the restaurants. While the food was good for the most part, considering that they were banging us on average $150 per dinner for the four of us, it should have been better than good. That being said, the staff were nearly all friendly and accomodating, with the exception of one girl who manned the ice cream and sandwich window at the El Caribe during the evening hours.
I had heard from a number of people, including our guide on the El Yunque rainforest tour that there were a lot of layoffs recently and that business is down at the resort due to the economy. The guide said that the week we were there was the first week where they had full attendance for the tour. Likely, that was due to the fact that the public schools were closed for the week and parents such as myself had the opportunity to take the family on a vacation without missing school.
I was also surprised by the number of fellow New Yorkers staying at the resort, including a family whose daughter attended the same kindergarten as our daughter. We also ran into the daughter of my uncle's second wife.
We plan on visiting Puerto Rico again at some point in the near future. For the next visit, I envision that we will start at the north west corner of the island, around Aguadilla, then make our way east to Arecibo and then San Juan so that we have the chance to stroll through Old San Juan at a more leisurely pace without having to worry about getting back in time to a tour bus. As for the El Conquistador, I don't expect that we will stay there again. If you are contemplating spending time in north eastern Puerto Rico, and you don't mind spending a lot of money, you might want to stay at the El Conquistador. There are steps you can take to reduce your costs, such as bringing your own water and juice for the kids, and researching local restaurants outside of the resort that serve good food at an affordable price. While I was not impressed with the Las Olas wing of the resort, I didn't really see much of the rooms in the other parts of the resort, so perhaps they are nicer as well as being more conveniently located.
El Yunque and Coqui Water Park
Monday, the 16th, was our first full day in Puerto Rico. We started off the day with a trip to the El Yunque tropical rain forest. Because we had two small kids with us, my wife and I had to opt for the easy tour that did not involve much walking, though at a couple of points we did have to make our way up and down some narrow, rocky paths. It was a very nice trip though, and my kids seemed to enjoy it.The pool in the background in the photo above was built in the 1930's by the Civilian Conservation Corps. It was used as a public swimming pool until 1975.
I had a hard time getting a shot of the Walking Stick insect on the leaf hanging down in the center of the picture above. The other shots came out really blurry for some reason, and this one was the best I got.
This shot was taken from near the Yokahu Observation Tower, though not from the tower itself. The view is towards the north east corner of the island, and if you can magnify the picture, you just might be able to make out the El Conquistador resort. Unfortunately, I don't seem to have gotten a shot of El Yunque from the resort. It really looms large and mysterious over the north east corner of Puerto Rico, and its peak is often shrouded in mist. Looking up at it, I can understand why so many cultures believed that the gods dwelled at the tops of mountains.
After we got back to the El Conquistador, we spent the afternoon at the resort's signature attraction, the Coqui Water Park. It's not all that big, but it had several really good water slides, and my kids enjoyed floating around the Lazy River on a tube.Saturday, February 21, 2009
Day Trip to Old San Juan
On Tuesday morning, we went on a day trip through the resort to Old San Juan. I was looking forward to seeing the old forts and my wife was eager to do some window shopping. Unfortunately, because someone who shall remain nameless took so long to get ready, we were unable to eat breakfast before the bus was ready to leave at 9:00 a.m. Thus, when we arrived at Plaza Colon in Old San Juan around an hour later, we had to find a place to eat breakfast, which burned up nearly an hour. The closest fort was the massive complex of San Cristobal, which we arrived at around 11:00 a.m. 
This is an inner wall at San Cristobal that overlooks an outer wall. Thus, if an attacking army managed to breach the outer wall, they would still find themselves facing these ramparts, which in its heyday would have been bristling with cannons.
The fortress of El Morro at the tip of Old San Juan, as seen from San Cristobal. Unfortunately, we did not have time to visit El Morro. After we were done at San Cristobal around 1:00 p.m., we ate lunch at some restaurant on Calle Fortaleza. The next thing we knew, it was nearly 2:30, and we needed to get back to Plaza Colon before 3:00 p.m. for the van ride back to the El Conquistador. El Morro and the rest of Old San Juan will have to wait for another visit to Puerto Rico.
San Cristobal as seen from Plaza Colon.
This is a school near Plaza Colon that I photographed because I liked the architectural style of the building.
The Christopher Columbus statue in Plaza Colon, honoring a man whose discovery of Puerto Rico was the catalyst for the destruction of the native Tainos on the island.The Bioluminescent Experience
One of the main attractions around Fajardo is a nighttime kayak outing into a lagoon near the Cabezas de San Juan Nature Preserve at the northeastern tip of Puerto Rico. The waters of the lagoon and the path through the mangroves to the lagoon are filled with bioluminescent dinoflagellates that light up when moved, either by the blades of your kayak paddle, the wind, or drops of rain falling on the waters. I got to do this on the evening of Tuesday, the 17th. It was really cool, particularly when the canopy of the mangrove forest blocked out the light and enhanced the bioluminescence. Besides slashing the paddle blades through the water to light it up, I also achieved a sparking effect by splashing the water off the paddles onto the surface.This was probably my favorite part of the trip, though sadly I had to experience it without the rest of my family. Since I did not know if the paddling would be strenuous beforehand or what the conditions would be like, I was reluctant to take my children on a trip that they might not want to endure, and I couldn't take my wife, otherwise, there would be no one to watch the children. In retrospect though, they probably could have all handled it.
If anyone reading this is planning on staying at the El Conquistador and wants to go on the bioluminescent kayaking trip, DO NOT book the trip through El Conquistador, as they will charge you twice the price. I was fortunate enough to have read about this while researching for the trip. The El Conquistador charges its guests about $89.00 per person. However, if you walk north for about ten minutes along the back road that hugs the shoreline, you will come upon a park in Las Croabas where the various kayak companies are lined up, with most of them charging as little as $45.00 per person. As I did not have reservations, I walked up to each outfit and inquired if they could fit me in and was told they were all booked, until I came upon the one furthest away manned by a guy who works for Eco Action Tours. He had plenty of availability and was happy to accomodate me. Another outfit that offers the tour for $45.00 is Kayaking Puerto Rico.
The group turned out to be rather small actually, a young Puerto Rican couple, and a nice Indian family of four from upstate New York. Because the largest kayaks held a maximum of three persons, their son, about 5 or 6, rode with the guide, while the daughter, about 10, rode with the parents. Unfortunately, the husband and wife did not have any kayaking experience, as they showed up dressed in plain clothes and didn't even have any kind of dry bag for their camera. However, I asked the company rep if he had a dry bag he could loan them and he did, so they were able to take their camera. Also, unfortunately, the husband and wife couldn't paddle very well either, as I observed that they were unable to synchronize their paddling. Consequently, by the time we had entered the mangrove forest, they had fallen far behind us. The guide ended up going back to them, taking their daughter in his kayak along with their son, and then tying their kayak to his.
The rest of the trip proceeded rather smoothly, until a kayaker from another group returning from the lagoon crossed over to our side of the pathway in the mangroves and collided with me, temporarily separating me from my group. Otherwise, the only time the paddling became somewhat difficult was in the lagoon, which got rather choppy as we headed back towards the mangrove. After that, it got quite easy, as the current was in our favor. In fact, the water was so calm that for a little while I was actually handling the paddle with one hand. The Indian man took the picture of me above with my camera and I happily reciprocated and took pictures of them with their camera. All in all it was a nice trip and I would have liked to have done it again with my family, but the weather the following two nights was not favorable. Perhaps on a future trip to Puerto Rico!
Expedition to Palomino Island
One of the attractions offered by the El Conquistador resort is that it has its own private little island called Palomino Island (or, Isla Palominos for you Spanish speakers!) just offshore from the resort, which we visited on Wednesday, the 18th. It's close enough that you can make out the El Conquistador across the water in the center of the picture above. In fact, I was surprised at how close many of the neighboring islands were. Puerto Rico's eastern islands of Culebra and Vieques were in easy view, and on a clear day, it was possible to glimpse the island of Saint Thomas beyond Culebra.Overall, we had a nice time on Palomino, though my snorkelling excursion was disappointing and frustrating. First off, the coral formations were so close to the surface that it was impossible to swim over them, as I feared that I would scrape my legs against them. I would end up having to back up and look for a gap I could swim over. Then, on the return swim back to the beach I came up against a strong current that really wore me out. At one point, a staff member came up to me on a jet ski and asked me if I needed assistance. I decline the offer, and after resting for a few minutes, I was able to make my way back to shore.
Your friendly neighborhood iguana.
The kids and yours truly wearing his favorite t-shirt.
My wife as swimsuit fashion model. Almost every day she was bugging me to take pictures of her wearing one of the three new bathing suits she bought for the trip.
My "honeybuns".The Highlight of Our Last Full Day in Puerto Rico
Thursday the 19th was our last full day at the El Conquistador. Truth be told, we could have just as well flown home that day, as we had done just about everything we had set out to do. My wife and my son wanted to go back to Palomino Island, which we did, but we had barely gotten to the island and commenced refortifying an abandoned sand castle when the already hazy, cloud covered sky unleashed its rain upon us. As the resort ferry docked at the pier, there began a hasty exodus of the majority of the guests present on the island, including us.
After drying off and getting dressed in our room, we made for the Cafe Bella Vista for lunch. After eating, my wife wandered off to one of the shops while my kids and I went outside to explore parts of the resort we had not seen before. When we returned to the main lobby, I heard a loud drum beating and a whistle blowing. I saw a group of men dressed in white playing some instruments as they walked through the lobby. Then I saw what was in front of them, a troupe of lovely, feathered dancing ladies.
At one point, the dancing ladies were pulling guys out of the audience to dance with them. One of them, the yellow feathered one if IIRC, reached out to me, but I declined, as my wife was not around to take a picture of me with her. However, I did get a nice shot of my kids with the purple garbed one. The yellow feathered one was the best dancer of the four and appeared to be the leader, but for sheer eye candy (and I hope in advance I am not offending any of my female readers), my favorite was the tall one who appears in the middle in the top picture. She wuz smokin' hot! I tried to get a better picture of her, but my efforts were in vain. Just when I would get a good focus on her, she would turn and face a different direction. After several failed attempts, I gave up as I didn't want to make her feel uncomfortable.
After about 20 minutes or so had gone by, the dancing ladies and the band players took the show outside and entertained the diners at the Bella Vista. At that point, the ladies were starting to show their fatigue, as they started dapping the sweat off their faces with napkins and taking turns getting glasses of water. Shortly after they went outside we left, so I don't know how much longer the show went on. But the ladies did a fine job and were the high point of an otherwise waste of a day.
Water That Will Cost You An Arm And A Leg
These bottles were standing conspicuously over the refrigerator located in the bathroom of our room. I expect that resorts such as the El Conquistador will be a bit on the expensive side, but $7.00 for a bottle of water? You would really have to be desperately thirsty to twist off the caps of one of these, given that bottled water can be purchased for much less at any of the shops at the resort.Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?
At the Cafe Bella Vista, an open air eatery near the main pool of the El Conquistador, one cannot help but notice the large numbers of a local grackle that Puerto Ricans call a chango. These particular birds are quite brazen, swooping down on nearby tables to help themselves to scraps left behind by customers who departed only seconds earlier. Anyone who reads this who has stayed at the El Conquistador will undoubtedly remember the changos.
Parting Shot From Puerto Rico
I couldn't leave Puerto Rico without getting a shot of the Kinky Condom Shop in Luquillo on the north side of the main road connecting Fajardo to San Juan. A little further east, on the south side of the ride was another similar establishment called Condom World. I was a little surprised to see these condom stores, given that Puerto Rico is majority Catholic and the Catholic Church's opposition to "artificial" methods of contraception is so well known.I snapped this photo on the bus ride from the El Conquistador Resort back to Luis Munoz Marin International Airport to catch our flight home.
* I am writing my posts on our Puerto Rico vacation in reverse chronological order so that they can be read in chronological order by scrolling down.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Blogging Hiatus
Well, it's not like I have been that prolific lately, due to demands on my time, but Exercise in Futility will be on hiatus until next weekend, as the wife, kids and I will be spending the next 5 days basking in the warmth of Puerto Rico. I hope to have some good pictures posted for you when I return. Until then, best wishes to you all.
Pet Peeve of the Day - February 14, 2009
It seems whenever I go to a card and gift shop, I always see somebody hovering near the counter with a stack of scratch-off lottery cards in hand, furiously scraping away the silver coating to reveal the nothing that they've won.
Late this morning, I was at the card and gift shop near the Shoprite in Plainview Plaza, waiting for someone to help me with getting a balloon for my daughter's birthday party. While waiting, I observed this lady who looked to be in her late sixties, holding several lottery cards, a ten dollar bill and a five dollar bill in her left hand. She was scratching away at the cards with a coin and it was evident to me that when she finished with them that she had not won a penny. Having exhausted her supply, she proceeded to buy another ten dollars worth and continued again with her exercise in futility. Again, she came up donuts. So, did she learn her lesson? Nope, she then blew her Abe Lincoln bill on another one. How pathetic, I thought.
From my own personal observation, this seems to be a common activity. I see these people barking to the register clerk behind the counter, ordering 2 of this one and 3 of that one, with an air of self importance, as if they have convinced themselves that if they order a variety of different scratch-off cards in different amounts that it will somehow dramatically improve their chances of winning the jackpot. Usually, if they win anything at all, it's a couple of dollars that they then use to buy another scratch-off card until they have expended all of their cash.
Sometimes I feel like grabbing these people and yelling at them, "What the fuck is the matter with you!" I mean seriously. If they put the $25 or $30 they spent on this shit everytime they went to the card shop and put it in a cookie jar instead, by the end of the year they would accumulate enough money to actually buy something or go on a trip or whatever. My oldest brother Bobby was like that. The concept of setting aside money and accumulating savings never seemed to have seeped into his brain. Instead, it's either poverty or getting lucky that one time. He was the kind of guy who, for my birthday, would give me a card with $20 worth of scratch-off cards in them. Typically, I wouldn't win a cent, and I would tell him that he should have just given me the $20 instead.
What really annoys me about this scratch-off lottery thing, or lotteries in general, is that they end up becoming a voluntary tax paid by poor people. After all, it's not like rich people are playing the lottery. They've already got theirs. A lot of these people are struggling to make ends meet and they are just pissing their money away chasing a fantasy. I just find that very sad.
Late this morning, I was at the card and gift shop near the Shoprite in Plainview Plaza, waiting for someone to help me with getting a balloon for my daughter's birthday party. While waiting, I observed this lady who looked to be in her late sixties, holding several lottery cards, a ten dollar bill and a five dollar bill in her left hand. She was scratching away at the cards with a coin and it was evident to me that when she finished with them that she had not won a penny. Having exhausted her supply, she proceeded to buy another ten dollars worth and continued again with her exercise in futility. Again, she came up donuts. So, did she learn her lesson? Nope, she then blew her Abe Lincoln bill on another one. How pathetic, I thought.
From my own personal observation, this seems to be a common activity. I see these people barking to the register clerk behind the counter, ordering 2 of this one and 3 of that one, with an air of self importance, as if they have convinced themselves that if they order a variety of different scratch-off cards in different amounts that it will somehow dramatically improve their chances of winning the jackpot. Usually, if they win anything at all, it's a couple of dollars that they then use to buy another scratch-off card until they have expended all of their cash.
Sometimes I feel like grabbing these people and yelling at them, "What the fuck is the matter with you!" I mean seriously. If they put the $25 or $30 they spent on this shit everytime they went to the card shop and put it in a cookie jar instead, by the end of the year they would accumulate enough money to actually buy something or go on a trip or whatever. My oldest brother Bobby was like that. The concept of setting aside money and accumulating savings never seemed to have seeped into his brain. Instead, it's either poverty or getting lucky that one time. He was the kind of guy who, for my birthday, would give me a card with $20 worth of scratch-off cards in them. Typically, I wouldn't win a cent, and I would tell him that he should have just given me the $20 instead.
What really annoys me about this scratch-off lottery thing, or lotteries in general, is that they end up becoming a voluntary tax paid by poor people. After all, it's not like rich people are playing the lottery. They've already got theirs. A lot of these people are struggling to make ends meet and they are just pissing their money away chasing a fantasy. I just find that very sad.
Saturday, February 07, 2009
Taking The Plunge
This year I am going to be hitting 40. As is typical of many people who reach this milestone age, I have a growing awareness of my own mortality and a desire to do "something" while I still can.
Regular readers of this blog for the past year may remember that last spring I became a PADI Certified Open Water Diver. As I believe I wrote in a post last year, I don't know why it never occurred to me do something like that when I was younger and single. But in the last couple of years, I have developed an interest in diving and a desire to explore. What can I say, I'm a late bloomer.
So, in celebration of turning 40 this year, I am going to do "something." In fact, I have already taken the first step. Today I signed up for a trip my dive shop is offering to Belize this coming August and have put down the $1,000 deposit. I will be spending a week aboard the Sun Dancer II as it moves about from one dive site to the next. You can check out the web site for it here.
Even though the trip is not going to be for almost another six months from now, I am thrilled at the prospect of finally doing something adventurous in my life.
Regular readers of this blog for the past year may remember that last spring I became a PADI Certified Open Water Diver. As I believe I wrote in a post last year, I don't know why it never occurred to me do something like that when I was younger and single. But in the last couple of years, I have developed an interest in diving and a desire to explore. What can I say, I'm a late bloomer.
So, in celebration of turning 40 this year, I am going to do "something." In fact, I have already taken the first step. Today I signed up for a trip my dive shop is offering to Belize this coming August and have put down the $1,000 deposit. I will be spending a week aboard the Sun Dancer II as it moves about from one dive site to the next. You can check out the web site for it here.
Even though the trip is not going to be for almost another six months from now, I am thrilled at the prospect of finally doing something adventurous in my life.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
The Importance of Emergency Preparedness
I have been meaning to a do a post on this topic for some time now, but reading this article yesterday made for an ideal tie-in with the subject.
For those of you who might not know, the states that straddle the line between North and South were hit by an ice storm that knocked out power for days. And, as the article notes, "it could take until mid-February for some to come back online in the hardest-hit areas of Kentucky and Arkansas."
Below are some excerpts from the article:
At Murray University in southwestern Kentucky, brothers Jim McClung, 42, and Dale Earnest, 38, were among those resting in every corner of a university theater. Some sprawled in aisles, propped in chairs or curled up on the stage. They, like many others, ran out of food and water at their frigid, powerless home.
"I've been sitting 'round for two days, eating cold hot dogs and bologna," said 70-year-old John Grimes, describing what he ate at home before coming to the shelter. He uses a wheelchair, is blind in one eye, and a diabetic.
Jimmy Eason was among those who decided to tough it out anyway in Velvet Ridge, Ark., gingerly stepping across his yard, watching for icicles falling from electrical wires. He was headed to his Ford F-150 pickup truck, which was warmer than his one-story house.
"I'm sleeping in a car, which is just fine," Eason, 74, said. "There's nothing wrong with a car. Every couple of hours I turn it on, I let it run for 10 minutes and that keeps it pretty warm."
Eason was trying to avoid boredom, and drove to Burger King to get a meal because he was tired of eating cold soup.
The common thread in these and other vignettes from the article is that these people were absolutely unprepared to cope with a situation that would leave them without power for a few days. Some had no food to tide them through the crisis. Others who did have food had no means to heat it. And many had no means to heat their homes without power.
Last year, I started giving serious consideration to how my family and I would cope in a disaster situation. At the time, when the price of gasoline was on a seemingly unstoppable upward march, I was reading some Peak Oil sites. While some of these people struck me as going a bit off the deep end, ready to give up on civilization and living on farms or in isolated rural places with years of food and supplies stocked up to survive what they viewed as the impending collapse of society, it did get me to thinking. How would my family manage in a short term emergency situation that lasted anywhere from a day to several weeks?
The worst winter I remember is the winter of 1977/1978, when we got tons of snow dumped on us and everything was coated in ice. We were without power for several days, if memory serves, and we had to heat our food using Sterno® cans. Then there was the blackout of the entire northeastern United States in August of 2003. While the outage lasted less than 24 hours in my neighborhood, during its duration people couldn't, for example, withdraw money from ATM's or purchase gasoline because the pumps were inoperative.
So I had examples from personal experience, in addition to stories I read about or saw on the news, to provide me with some guidance as to what kind of situations my family might face and how we could cope with them.
It was clear to me that I needed to stock up on enough food and water to last us several weeks in the event of a prolonged storm, power outage or other emergency situation that would keep us confined to our home. Throughout the latter half of last year, I gradually accumulated assorted canned foods and bottled water. Being mindful of expiration dates, I didn't want to buy the canned goods all at once. It is a lot easier to maintain an emergency food supply if you only have to replace a few items at a time rather than replacing everything at the same time.
Besides having an emergency food supply, one must also have the means to heat it in the event of a prolonged power failure. I had previously purchased a mini gas stove that uses butane canisters. I then bought additional butane canisters to reach a total of 10. As a backup, just in case, I also purchased ten Sterno® cans, as I do not know how long the butane canisters will last in the event we have to rely on them. These are very important items to have at hand in an emergency situation. Not only will they come in handy at home, but they are portable and can be taken with you in the event that the situation requires that you leave your home. As the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina demonstrated, being evacuated to an emergency shelter is no guarantee that food will be provided for you. Portable gas stoves can be purchased at just about any store that sells camping supplies. The one I have cost me about $35, and the butane canisters cost about $3.00 each. Sterno® cans be found almost anywhere, including the local supermarket, though I had to order the stove for it online.
Among other useful items I got were glow sticks. While flashlights are indispensable, you don't want to leave them on all night during a power failure, otherwise the batteries will drain rather quickly. Many people in such situations will light a candle, but a lit candle is also a fire hazard. A glow stick, on the other hand, is a safe alternative that will give off light throughout the night so that you don't have to fumble about in the dark. I have about a dozen of them.
One important item I am lacking, the need for which is only underscored by the article I referred to above, is a kerosene heater. While I am well prepared to feed my family if Long Island experiences a winter storm like the one we did when I was 8 years old, we do not have the means of heating our home in the event of a power outage. I do have several electric heaters for times when our boiler craps out on us. Ironically enough, I am putting them to use as I write this, because, as happens occasionally, whenever we get an oil drop like we got today, the sediment in the oil tank gets stirred up and clogs up the fuel line. But the electric heaters would be quite useless during a power failure. Unlike a portable gas stove though, a decent kerosene heater, along with a week's supply of kerosene and accessories, can cost up to several hundred dollars. I came close to buying one at Lowe's last month, but balked at the expense. However, I might decide to take the plunge, as we are experiencing a rather cold winter this year.
Perhaps the most expensive item one might like to have at home during a prolonged power outage is a generator. A generator would particularly come in handy during a blackout in the summer heat, when perishable items can spoil in the refrigerator and freezer. Having a generator and a sufficient supply of gasoline would make it possible to keep the refrigerator running as well as the ability to operate at least some fans to help cope with the heat. A generator, as you can see from this web page on Home Depot, can cost anywhere from hundreds to thousands of dollars. That's a big expense for most people, especially in these difficult times when many are losing their jobs or sense the Damoclean sword of a layoff hanging over their heads. A somewhat less expensive option is a large battery such as this or this, which cost around several hundred dollars and can be used to provide power for charging cell phones, plugging in lamps, or possibly even the refrigerator for a day. However, based on the reviews for these items on Amazon.com, which you can read by clicking on the links I provided, these batteries do not seem all that reliable.
I don't think I will go so far as to purchase a generator, though it might be worthwhile having something that can charge a cell phone and power small electrical items. If lived in a rural area that was prone to ice storms or other weather events that frequently knocked out the power, a generator would be a wise investment. For the most part, the emergency preparedness items I mention above are affordable and do not take up much space. If you haven't already, I would urge you to think about what you would do in an emergency situation where you might not be able to get to the store to buy food for your family or to keep yourselves warm during a winter storm that knocks out the power for a prolonged period of time. Having at the very least a week's worth of food and water, a portable gas stove, and a dozen glow sticks, will cost you less than a hundred dollars and can make the difference between a desperate situation or an inconvenience.
For those of you who might not know, the states that straddle the line between North and South were hit by an ice storm that knocked out power for days. And, as the article notes, "it could take until mid-February for some to come back online in the hardest-hit areas of Kentucky and Arkansas."
Below are some excerpts from the article:
At Murray University in southwestern Kentucky, brothers Jim McClung, 42, and Dale Earnest, 38, were among those resting in every corner of a university theater. Some sprawled in aisles, propped in chairs or curled up on the stage. They, like many others, ran out of food and water at their frigid, powerless home.
"I've been sitting 'round for two days, eating cold hot dogs and bologna," said 70-year-old John Grimes, describing what he ate at home before coming to the shelter. He uses a wheelchair, is blind in one eye, and a diabetic.
Jimmy Eason was among those who decided to tough it out anyway in Velvet Ridge, Ark., gingerly stepping across his yard, watching for icicles falling from electrical wires. He was headed to his Ford F-150 pickup truck, which was warmer than his one-story house.
"I'm sleeping in a car, which is just fine," Eason, 74, said. "There's nothing wrong with a car. Every couple of hours I turn it on, I let it run for 10 minutes and that keeps it pretty warm."
Eason was trying to avoid boredom, and drove to Burger King to get a meal because he was tired of eating cold soup.
The common thread in these and other vignettes from the article is that these people were absolutely unprepared to cope with a situation that would leave them without power for a few days. Some had no food to tide them through the crisis. Others who did have food had no means to heat it. And many had no means to heat their homes without power.
Last year, I started giving serious consideration to how my family and I would cope in a disaster situation. At the time, when the price of gasoline was on a seemingly unstoppable upward march, I was reading some Peak Oil sites. While some of these people struck me as going a bit off the deep end, ready to give up on civilization and living on farms or in isolated rural places with years of food and supplies stocked up to survive what they viewed as the impending collapse of society, it did get me to thinking. How would my family manage in a short term emergency situation that lasted anywhere from a day to several weeks?
The worst winter I remember is the winter of 1977/1978, when we got tons of snow dumped on us and everything was coated in ice. We were without power for several days, if memory serves, and we had to heat our food using Sterno® cans. Then there was the blackout of the entire northeastern United States in August of 2003. While the outage lasted less than 24 hours in my neighborhood, during its duration people couldn't, for example, withdraw money from ATM's or purchase gasoline because the pumps were inoperative.
So I had examples from personal experience, in addition to stories I read about or saw on the news, to provide me with some guidance as to what kind of situations my family might face and how we could cope with them.
It was clear to me that I needed to stock up on enough food and water to last us several weeks in the event of a prolonged storm, power outage or other emergency situation that would keep us confined to our home. Throughout the latter half of last year, I gradually accumulated assorted canned foods and bottled water. Being mindful of expiration dates, I didn't want to buy the canned goods all at once. It is a lot easier to maintain an emergency food supply if you only have to replace a few items at a time rather than replacing everything at the same time.
Besides having an emergency food supply, one must also have the means to heat it in the event of a prolonged power failure. I had previously purchased a mini gas stove that uses butane canisters. I then bought additional butane canisters to reach a total of 10. As a backup, just in case, I also purchased ten Sterno® cans, as I do not know how long the butane canisters will last in the event we have to rely on them. These are very important items to have at hand in an emergency situation. Not only will they come in handy at home, but they are portable and can be taken with you in the event that the situation requires that you leave your home. As the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina demonstrated, being evacuated to an emergency shelter is no guarantee that food will be provided for you. Portable gas stoves can be purchased at just about any store that sells camping supplies. The one I have cost me about $35, and the butane canisters cost about $3.00 each. Sterno® cans be found almost anywhere, including the local supermarket, though I had to order the stove for it online.
Among other useful items I got were glow sticks. While flashlights are indispensable, you don't want to leave them on all night during a power failure, otherwise the batteries will drain rather quickly. Many people in such situations will light a candle, but a lit candle is also a fire hazard. A glow stick, on the other hand, is a safe alternative that will give off light throughout the night so that you don't have to fumble about in the dark. I have about a dozen of them.
One important item I am lacking, the need for which is only underscored by the article I referred to above, is a kerosene heater. While I am well prepared to feed my family if Long Island experiences a winter storm like the one we did when I was 8 years old, we do not have the means of heating our home in the event of a power outage. I do have several electric heaters for times when our boiler craps out on us. Ironically enough, I am putting them to use as I write this, because, as happens occasionally, whenever we get an oil drop like we got today, the sediment in the oil tank gets stirred up and clogs up the fuel line. But the electric heaters would be quite useless during a power failure. Unlike a portable gas stove though, a decent kerosene heater, along with a week's supply of kerosene and accessories, can cost up to several hundred dollars. I came close to buying one at Lowe's last month, but balked at the expense. However, I might decide to take the plunge, as we are experiencing a rather cold winter this year.
Perhaps the most expensive item one might like to have at home during a prolonged power outage is a generator. A generator would particularly come in handy during a blackout in the summer heat, when perishable items can spoil in the refrigerator and freezer. Having a generator and a sufficient supply of gasoline would make it possible to keep the refrigerator running as well as the ability to operate at least some fans to help cope with the heat. A generator, as you can see from this web page on Home Depot, can cost anywhere from hundreds to thousands of dollars. That's a big expense for most people, especially in these difficult times when many are losing their jobs or sense the Damoclean sword of a layoff hanging over their heads. A somewhat less expensive option is a large battery such as this or this, which cost around several hundred dollars and can be used to provide power for charging cell phones, plugging in lamps, or possibly even the refrigerator for a day. However, based on the reviews for these items on Amazon.com, which you can read by clicking on the links I provided, these batteries do not seem all that reliable.
I don't think I will go so far as to purchase a generator, though it might be worthwhile having something that can charge a cell phone and power small electrical items. If lived in a rural area that was prone to ice storms or other weather events that frequently knocked out the power, a generator would be a wise investment. For the most part, the emergency preparedness items I mention above are affordable and do not take up much space. If you haven't already, I would urge you to think about what you would do in an emergency situation where you might not be able to get to the store to buy food for your family or to keep yourselves warm during a winter storm that knocks out the power for a prolonged period of time. Having at the very least a week's worth of food and water, a portable gas stove, and a dozen glow sticks, will cost you less than a hundred dollars and can make the difference between a desperate situation or an inconvenience.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Pray For Compulsory Abortion
Sorry, but I couldn't resist the snarky title. It's my way of mocking the anti-choice signs and bumperstickers that read "Pray To End Abortion."
I'm a little late getting to this, but the other day was the 36th anniversary of Roe v. Wade.
Of course, this brought out the anti-choice crowd:
Tens of thousands of abortion opponents rallied Thursday on the National Mall to mark the 36th anniversary of Roe v. Wade amid concerns they could face political setbacks under the new president. The rally and subsequent march to the Supreme Court came two days after the swearing-in of President Barack Obama, which many demonstrators said emphasized their need to become more vocal with their message.
It didn't take long for their concerns to be validated:
President Barack Obama on Friday struck down the Bush administration's ban on giving federal money to international groups that perform abortions or provide abortion information — an inflammatory policy that has bounced in and out of law for the past quarter-century.
This elicited predictable denunciations from members of God's Party, excuse me, the Republican Party:
"Coming just one day after the 36th anniversary of the tragic Roe v. Wade decision, this presidential directive forces taxpayers to subsidize abortions overseas — something no American should be required by government to do," said House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio.
Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., called it "morally wrong to take the taxpayer dollars of millions of pro-life Americans to promote abortion around the world."
These guys need to get a friggin' clue. While they are so worried about the fate of a fertilized egg inside the uterus of a woman or teenage girl in the developing world, they don't seem particularly concerned with the dangers that pregnancy can pose for women.
From UNICEF's "Progress for Children : A Report Card on Maternal Mortality", comes this sobering statistic: "Each year, more than half a million women die from pregnancy-related causes and an estimated 10 million experience injuries, infections, disease or disability that can cause lifelong suffering."
The report adds, "Most of these deaths and disabilities are avoidable."
And while UNICEF's report "Progress for Children: A World Fit For Children Statistical Review" reports that child mortality rates are in decline, "an estimated 9.7 million children under the age of 5 died before the age of 5" in 2006.
So let's see if I got this straight. If a woman terminates a pregnancy, it is, to quote Rep. John Boehner above, "tragic." But if that same woman dies or is seriously injured from delivering her baby due to lack of adequate medical facilities, or the child dies from malaria at the age of 4, well shit happens, right?
Maybe George Carlin was right about these people after all.
I'm a little late getting to this, but the other day was the 36th anniversary of Roe v. Wade.
Of course, this brought out the anti-choice crowd:
Tens of thousands of abortion opponents rallied Thursday on the National Mall to mark the 36th anniversary of Roe v. Wade amid concerns they could face political setbacks under the new president. The rally and subsequent march to the Supreme Court came two days after the swearing-in of President Barack Obama, which many demonstrators said emphasized their need to become more vocal with their message.
It didn't take long for their concerns to be validated:
President Barack Obama on Friday struck down the Bush administration's ban on giving federal money to international groups that perform abortions or provide abortion information — an inflammatory policy that has bounced in and out of law for the past quarter-century.
This elicited predictable denunciations from members of God's Party, excuse me, the Republican Party:
"Coming just one day after the 36th anniversary of the tragic Roe v. Wade decision, this presidential directive forces taxpayers to subsidize abortions overseas — something no American should be required by government to do," said House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio.
Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., called it "morally wrong to take the taxpayer dollars of millions of pro-life Americans to promote abortion around the world."
These guys need to get a friggin' clue. While they are so worried about the fate of a fertilized egg inside the uterus of a woman or teenage girl in the developing world, they don't seem particularly concerned with the dangers that pregnancy can pose for women.
From UNICEF's "Progress for Children : A Report Card on Maternal Mortality", comes this sobering statistic: "Each year, more than half a million women die from pregnancy-related causes and an estimated 10 million experience injuries, infections, disease or disability that can cause lifelong suffering."
The report adds, "Most of these deaths and disabilities are avoidable."
And while UNICEF's report "Progress for Children: A World Fit For Children Statistical Review" reports that child mortality rates are in decline, "an estimated 9.7 million children under the age of 5 died before the age of 5" in 2006.
So let's see if I got this straight. If a woman terminates a pregnancy, it is, to quote Rep. John Boehner above, "tragic." But if that same woman dies or is seriously injured from delivering her baby due to lack of adequate medical facilities, or the child dies from malaria at the age of 4, well shit happens, right?
Maybe George Carlin was right about these people after all.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA ASSUMES OFFICE - WORST U.S. PRESIDENT SINCE GEORGE W. BUSH
The Dow is down over 200 points and Obama hasn't even caught Osama bin Laden yet!
Monday, January 19, 2009
Jury Duty At Last
Back in early June of last year, I did this post mentioning that I had received a jury questionnaire from the Federal District Court for the Eastern District of New York. Well, last month I finally got my summons and I have to report tomorrow morning to the Federal Court at Cadman Plaza in Brooklyn.
Needless to say, I am less than thrilled about this. Then again most people aren't. Most people who get summoned and telephone in to see if they need to report hope that they are not required to appear. However, the best situation is to report for jury duty, not get picked for a case, and then not be required to appear again. Just serving one day and not being selected to sit on a trial exempts you from having to serve on a jury duty in Federal Court for another two years and state or county court for another four years. Since only a fraction of the people who appear are picked for a case, the odds are in your favor that you will not be picked.
And this is important, because as luck would have it, last week I received a jury duty questionnaire from the Nassau County Commissioner of Jurors. If all goes well tomorrow and I do not get picked on a case, that one day of jury service will exempt me from having to serve as a juror in Nassau County, though to be honest, I would have preferred to have gotten the jury duty questionnaire from Nassau County first, as I would much rather have served in Mineola than Brooklyn.
Anyway, I bought a book from Barnes & Noble today and have a Simply Asia microwaveable meal to take with me to the courthouse tomorrow so that I have something to eat and something to keep me occupied while sitting on my butt all day.
Needless to say, I am less than thrilled about this. Then again most people aren't. Most people who get summoned and telephone in to see if they need to report hope that they are not required to appear. However, the best situation is to report for jury duty, not get picked for a case, and then not be required to appear again. Just serving one day and not being selected to sit on a trial exempts you from having to serve on a jury duty in Federal Court for another two years and state or county court for another four years. Since only a fraction of the people who appear are picked for a case, the odds are in your favor that you will not be picked.
And this is important, because as luck would have it, last week I received a jury duty questionnaire from the Nassau County Commissioner of Jurors. If all goes well tomorrow and I do not get picked on a case, that one day of jury service will exempt me from having to serve as a juror in Nassau County, though to be honest, I would have preferred to have gotten the jury duty questionnaire from Nassau County first, as I would much rather have served in Mineola than Brooklyn.
Anyway, I bought a book from Barnes & Noble today and have a Simply Asia microwaveable meal to take with me to the courthouse tomorrow so that I have something to eat and something to keep me occupied while sitting on my butt all day.
A Modern Art Masterpiece?
Last night when I walked into my daughter's room to read some bedtime stories to her and my son, they decided to play hide and seek with me and make me figure out where they were. Expecting that they were hiding in my daughter's closet, I opened the door and was greeted by the display above.
Turns out they had some free time on their hands over the weekend and created this elaborate display utilizing hangars from both of their closets. My wife tends to be anal retentive about such things and admonishes the kids for making a mess when they do things like this, but I couldn't help but be amused and admire their sense of creativity. When you consider some of the crap that passes for art nowadays, this isn't all that bad by comparison.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
The Absurdity of Hell
To paraphrase the famous line by the late comedian George Carlin about people who are against abortion, do you ever notice that most of the people who proclaim that if you don't accept Jesus Christ as your lord and savior and that you'll burn in hell are the kind of people you wouldn't want to hang around with in the first place?
I got to thinking about that after reading a recent post by my blogger friend Andrea. In her post, she wrote: I have tried asking my friend if she thinks I'm going to hell and she replied with the most bizarre, rambling non-answer that I had the feeling that she just didn't have the guts to simply say "yes."
If there is a heaven and it is filled with the same self righteous Bible thumpers that you can't stand in this life, then it can't be much of a paradise after all. It reminds me of a recent post I did about the Taino chief Hatuey, who spurned the offer to convert to Christianity when he was told he would spend an eternity in Heaven with the same Spaniards who had murdered his people.
But for me, what really makes the idea of a hellish afterlife an absurdity is a Christian who forgets his faith when he becomes afflicted with Alzheimer's disease. What is his family supposed to do, keep trying to convert him to Christianity again when he has a memory lapse? What happens if he forgets his religion, spends money to have sex with a prostitute and then dies during the act? He died in a state of sin, right? So, does he burn in hell, or does God give him a pass because he was a believing Christian before he lost his marbles?
I got to thinking about that after reading a recent post by my blogger friend Andrea. In her post, she wrote: I have tried asking my friend if she thinks I'm going to hell and she replied with the most bizarre, rambling non-answer that I had the feeling that she just didn't have the guts to simply say "yes."
If there is a heaven and it is filled with the same self righteous Bible thumpers that you can't stand in this life, then it can't be much of a paradise after all. It reminds me of a recent post I did about the Taino chief Hatuey, who spurned the offer to convert to Christianity when he was told he would spend an eternity in Heaven with the same Spaniards who had murdered his people.
But for me, what really makes the idea of a hellish afterlife an absurdity is a Christian who forgets his faith when he becomes afflicted with Alzheimer's disease. What is his family supposed to do, keep trying to convert him to Christianity again when he has a memory lapse? What happens if he forgets his religion, spends money to have sex with a prostitute and then dies during the act? He died in a state of sin, right? So, does he burn in hell, or does God give him a pass because he was a believing Christian before he lost his marbles?
Those Darn Morals! Part 2
Regular readers of this blog may remember this post from last June, wherein I described an incident where I ordered an ice mocha from Starbucks but was not charged for it. I had walked out of the store without paying, but then stopped and walked back in and paid for it. It was a moment where my impulses came into conflict with my values, and my values won.
A couple of weeks ago I had brought my kids with me to Trio Hardware, a family owned hardware store here in Plainview. I can't recall what it was I wanted to buy, but when I was standing in line to pay for what I wanted to buy, my kids had each grabbed a small toy from some rack near the register. My daughter (age 5) had some octopus looking thing and my son (age 7) had a little frog that when you squeezed it, its tongue would stick out. My kids pleaded with me to buy the toys for them, but I told them no. I don't normally buy them toys on impulse like that, because I don't want them to think that every time I take them to a store with me that they are entitled to get a toy. (Yeah, I know, I'm a horrible parent!)
I told my kids to put the toys back where they found them and then it was my turn to pay for the items I wanted to buy. Later that night, my kids and I were down in the family room in the basement watching a movie. For some reason, I had opened a storage ottoman I recently purchased that was near the stairs. And when I looked inside, lo and behold, there was the toy that my daughter wanted me to buy for her. When I wasn't looking, she must have put the toy into her jacket pocket while I was making my purchase at the hardware store. I confronted my daughter about it and told her that she would have to go back to the hardware store with me the next morning to return it.
So, the next day, I dropped my son off at a birthday party at Chuck E Cheese in Hicksville and then drove my daughter to the hardware store. As I was talking with my daughter about why it was wrong to steal, she said to me that my son had taken a toy as well. We got to the hardware store and told my daughter to hand the toy over to the teenage girl manning the register. I explained to the girl what had happened, but she seemed rather nonplussed by it all.
An hour and a half later, I returned to Chuck E Cheese to pick up my son. After we had gotten in the car and exchanged small talk about the party, I hit him with it. "By the way, your sister tells me that you also stole a toy from the hardware store yesterday. Is this true." He admitted it. "Great!" I moaned, "now I have to go back to the hardware store again!" So, we stopped at my house first and I told my son to go find the toy he had stolen, and then we headed back to Trio Hardware.
When we got there, the same teenage girl was behind the counter, and I tried to imagine how ridiculous it would look to her to see me back there with another one of my kids to return a stolen toy. As I stood waiting for her to finish with the customer on line ahead of me, I noticed a woman standing near me who looked to be in her fifties. I assumed she was another customer. She looked at me and asked me if I needed help with anything. I told her no, and explained that I was returning a toy that my son had stolen the day before and that I wanted to make him return it to teach him a lesson. She then identified herself as Francesca Carlow, the co-owner of the store. She thanked me for bringing the toy back (not that it really cost much, maybe 2 or 3 bucks, but it was the principle of the thing). I explained to Mrs. Carlow what had happened, and she thanked me again for doing the right thing and shook my hand. I had my son apologize to her and hand over the toy and she thanked him and spoke to him in a very friendly manner.
I saw it as one of those "teachable moments," where my children could learn a valuable lesson by realizing that there were consequences to their actions. I explained to both my children that when grownups steal things, they can be arrested and go to jail. Hopefully, the lesson will stick with them.
So much for atheists not having morals, eh?
A couple of weeks ago I had brought my kids with me to Trio Hardware, a family owned hardware store here in Plainview. I can't recall what it was I wanted to buy, but when I was standing in line to pay for what I wanted to buy, my kids had each grabbed a small toy from some rack near the register. My daughter (age 5) had some octopus looking thing and my son (age 7) had a little frog that when you squeezed it, its tongue would stick out. My kids pleaded with me to buy the toys for them, but I told them no. I don't normally buy them toys on impulse like that, because I don't want them to think that every time I take them to a store with me that they are entitled to get a toy. (Yeah, I know, I'm a horrible parent!)
I told my kids to put the toys back where they found them and then it was my turn to pay for the items I wanted to buy. Later that night, my kids and I were down in the family room in the basement watching a movie. For some reason, I had opened a storage ottoman I recently purchased that was near the stairs. And when I looked inside, lo and behold, there was the toy that my daughter wanted me to buy for her. When I wasn't looking, she must have put the toy into her jacket pocket while I was making my purchase at the hardware store. I confronted my daughter about it and told her that she would have to go back to the hardware store with me the next morning to return it.
So, the next day, I dropped my son off at a birthday party at Chuck E Cheese in Hicksville and then drove my daughter to the hardware store. As I was talking with my daughter about why it was wrong to steal, she said to me that my son had taken a toy as well. We got to the hardware store and told my daughter to hand the toy over to the teenage girl manning the register. I explained to the girl what had happened, but she seemed rather nonplussed by it all.
An hour and a half later, I returned to Chuck E Cheese to pick up my son. After we had gotten in the car and exchanged small talk about the party, I hit him with it. "By the way, your sister tells me that you also stole a toy from the hardware store yesterday. Is this true." He admitted it. "Great!" I moaned, "now I have to go back to the hardware store again!" So, we stopped at my house first and I told my son to go find the toy he had stolen, and then we headed back to Trio Hardware.
When we got there, the same teenage girl was behind the counter, and I tried to imagine how ridiculous it would look to her to see me back there with another one of my kids to return a stolen toy. As I stood waiting for her to finish with the customer on line ahead of me, I noticed a woman standing near me who looked to be in her fifties. I assumed she was another customer. She looked at me and asked me if I needed help with anything. I told her no, and explained that I was returning a toy that my son had stolen the day before and that I wanted to make him return it to teach him a lesson. She then identified herself as Francesca Carlow, the co-owner of the store. She thanked me for bringing the toy back (not that it really cost much, maybe 2 or 3 bucks, but it was the principle of the thing). I explained to Mrs. Carlow what had happened, and she thanked me again for doing the right thing and shook my hand. I had my son apologize to her and hand over the toy and she thanked him and spoke to him in a very friendly manner.
I saw it as one of those "teachable moments," where my children could learn a valuable lesson by realizing that there were consequences to their actions. I explained to both my children that when grownups steal things, they can be arrested and go to jail. Hopefully, the lesson will stick with them.
So much for atheists not having morals, eh?
Friday, January 09, 2009
Would It Really Be That Much of a Loss?
Word has it that Islamic extremists have targeted Amy Winehouse for a possible hit in response to the latest conflict in Gaza.
Given her extremely turbulent personal life, including drug overdoses and frequent run-ins with the law, jihadists would probably be doing Amy Winehouse (and those of us sick of reading about her exploits) a favor by whacking her. I have to confess though that I am not familiar with any of her music, so I couldn't say if it would be much of a loss in that regard.
Given her extremely turbulent personal life, including drug overdoses and frequent run-ins with the law, jihadists would probably be doing Amy Winehouse (and those of us sick of reading about her exploits) a favor by whacking her. I have to confess though that I am not familiar with any of her music, so I couldn't say if it would be much of a loss in that regard.
Friday Funnies - Lust!
Wallace ("Inconceivable!") Shawn gives a great delivery as the priest lecturing the Catholic boys and girls before the commencement of their dance party in the 80's comedy classic Heaven Help Us.
And as I like to say, getting advice on sex from a celibate priest is like consulting an Amish man for advice on automobile maintenance.
And as I like to say, getting advice on sex from a celibate priest is like consulting an Amish man for advice on automobile maintenance.
Saturday, January 03, 2009
How About Those Gasoline Prices: The Dream Came True
Regular readers of this blog may recall this post, from August 17, 2008, wherein I described the following dream I had the day before.Early Saturday morning I had a dream. In that dream, I went out of my house one day and noticed something that completely astounded me. If I recall correctly, in the dream I was walking with my wife up the road to nearby Woodbury Plaza, and in the distance I saw the price sign on display at the BP gasoline station. What caught my attention was the price that was advertised for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline. It read $1.75 per gallon.
Further on in that post, I added:
I think I can be pretty confident that we won't see the price I saw in my aforementioned dream.
Well, as you can see from the photo at the top of this post, I am happy to report that after some four and a half months, the dream indeed did come true. Needless to say, I am absolutely astonished at this. At the time I had the dream, as I wrote in that post, I had no reason to believe it was even possible for the price to fall that low. I had resigned myself to never seeing regular unleaded gasoline fall below $3.00 per gallon.
As I wrote in this recent post, this is not first time I have had a dream or premonition come true concerning something really specific and in no way to be expected to come true. Being a skeptic about things psychic, I have to believe that it is just a coincidence. While it does indeed seem astounding, it is not impossible for such a thing to happen without it being a psychic experience. Still, I can't help but be amazed at it.
Oh, and before I forget, please accept my best wishes for a happy and healthy New Year.
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
The Legend of Hatuey: A Taino Pagan With Cojones
I am currently reading Rivers of Gold: The Rise of the Spanish Empire from Columbus to Magellan by Hugh Thomas.One brief story from the book that caught my interest was the capture of the Taino cacique (chief) Hatuey by the Spaniards on the island of Cuba. Having led a band of Tainos against the Spanish invaders, Hatuey faced execution.
According to the legend, before he was executed, Hatuey was told that if he converted to Christianity, all of his sins would be forgiven and he would go to heaven. Hatuey asked, if he accepted the religion of the Spaniards, would he encounter Spaniards in heaven? When told that he would, Hatuey allegedly spurned the offer and said that he would rather burn in hell then spend an eternity in heaven with the Spaniards. Having rejected their offer, the Spaniards proceeded to have Hatuey burned at the stake, as depicted in the picture above.
As horrible as Hatuey's fate was, if the story is true, one cannot help but admire his bravery. If it was me in his place, I probably would have opted for faking a conversion to Christianity in order to meet a quicker and less painful death.
Saturday, December 20, 2008
A Really Dumb Anti-Abortion Argument
Abortion is one of the biggest hot button issues in the United States and has been for many years. I personally come down on the pro-choice side of the debate, though my intention here is not to initiate a debate about abortion itself, but rather to address a particular argument I have seen put out by some in the anti-choice crowd.
The gist of this particular argument was expressed not too long ago in the Letters to the Editor section of the December 10, 2008 issue of The New York Times by one Elinor Hite of Carrolton, Texas:
"A nation that runs out of people cannot perform the activities of a sophisticated society.
We have a shortage of primary care doctors. There are other skilled-worker shortages. You cannot kill the future population of a nation and then wonder why that nation does not have the people it needs to do the jobs it requires to function.
Our nation needs to face up to the 48 million lives lost through abortion since 1973. I think at least some of that number would have become the skilled people we need now and will need even more as our population ages."
In a nutshell (with the emphasis on "nut"), Mrs. Hite is treating pregnancy as a form of national service, in which women dutifully crank out babies to provide the country with a future labor force.
But the implications of her assertions aside, Mrs. Hite is just plain wrong on the facts. First, let's look at the big picture. In 1970, three years before Roe v. Wade, the population of the United States was over 203,302,000. The population of the United States today, some 35 years after Roe v. Wade, according to the United States Census Bureau, is nearly 306,000,000. So while Hite is decrying some 48 million people who were never born, the population of the United States has increased by nearly 100 million since Roe!
Hite also portrays the 48 million number as a zero-sum game. In other words, she assumes that if all the women who have had abortions were instead forced to carry their pregnancies to term that we would then have had a net gain of 48 million people plus their descendants. But that is not necessarily the case. It is safe to assume that a significant percentage of women who have had abortions in the last 35 years have went on to have children later on in their lives. However, if these women were prevented from terminating their pregnancies earlier in their lives, they might have ended up having fewer children in the future. That means that some of the people alive today would not be alive if abortion were not legal. (Emphasis mine)
Regarding the shortage of primary care physicians that Hite decries, it can take seven to eight years to earn a medical degree. When you consider that Hite's phantom children who were aborted within a year of Roe would have only graduated high school in about 1992, the small fraction of them who would have gone on and earned a medical degree would have only entered the medical profession within the last 8 years. But that still does not address the problem of the shortage of primary care physicians.
The American Academy of Family Physicians reports that "[p]rimary care specialties have lost their appeal to U.S. medical school graduates, and specific primary care specialties are seeing young physicians look to more lucrative sub-specialization." According to Gail Baldwin, M.D., medical director of the Lake Superior Community Health Center in Duluth, Minn., public and private payment rates for primary care services lag behind those paid for services provided by many other specialties, discouraging physicians from pursuing a career in family medicine. So, the problem is not a shortage of doctors so much as a lack of incentive for medical school graduates to go into primary care practice.
Furthermore, Hite does not seem to realize that if her scenario of an extra 48 million children being born became reality, it would have exacerbated the labor shortage she bewails. These extra children, ironically, would have required an increase in the number of pediatric physicians, not to mention the building of more schools, and the hiring of more teachers and support staff. Where would they have come from?
Well, it just so happens that a good chunk of our labor force within the last two decades has come from abroad. From the report Rise, Peak and Decline: Trends in U.S. Immigration 1992-2004, the Pew Hispanic Center notes that "the foreign-born population grew from 9.6 million in 1970 to 19.8 million in 1990. In the last decade of the 20th century the numbers jumped dramatically by 57% to 31.1 million in Census 2000." From 2001 through 2007, according to the 2007 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics, annual levels of immigration have for the most part exceeded one million. So immigration alone has virtually cancelled out Hite's missing 48 million, not even counting the American born descendants of post-1973 immigrants. Furthermore, unlike those missing 48 million, most immigrants have had the costs of their education borne from their countries of origin rather than by the American tax payer. My own wife is an example of this. She was able to immigrate to the United States in 1990 owing to a temporary nursing visa program, which enabled her to immediately participate in our labor force and contribute to our tax base. Of course, my opinion in this regard is highly biased, but it is clear that my wife and other immigrants like her represent a net gain for the United States.
One can of course object to abortion on moral grounds, and it is not my intention to get into that topic with this particular post, but I submit that Hite's argument, which is that we have a labor shortage in this country because of the selfishness of women who have had abortions, is either ignorant or dishonest.
The gist of this particular argument was expressed not too long ago in the Letters to the Editor section of the December 10, 2008 issue of The New York Times by one Elinor Hite of Carrolton, Texas:
"A nation that runs out of people cannot perform the activities of a sophisticated society.
We have a shortage of primary care doctors. There are other skilled-worker shortages. You cannot kill the future population of a nation and then wonder why that nation does not have the people it needs to do the jobs it requires to function.
Our nation needs to face up to the 48 million lives lost through abortion since 1973. I think at least some of that number would have become the skilled people we need now and will need even more as our population ages."
In a nutshell (with the emphasis on "nut"), Mrs. Hite is treating pregnancy as a form of national service, in which women dutifully crank out babies to provide the country with a future labor force.
But the implications of her assertions aside, Mrs. Hite is just plain wrong on the facts. First, let's look at the big picture. In 1970, three years before Roe v. Wade, the population of the United States was over 203,302,000. The population of the United States today, some 35 years after Roe v. Wade, according to the United States Census Bureau, is nearly 306,000,000. So while Hite is decrying some 48 million people who were never born, the population of the United States has increased by nearly 100 million since Roe!
Hite also portrays the 48 million number as a zero-sum game. In other words, she assumes that if all the women who have had abortions were instead forced to carry their pregnancies to term that we would then have had a net gain of 48 million people plus their descendants. But that is not necessarily the case. It is safe to assume that a significant percentage of women who have had abortions in the last 35 years have went on to have children later on in their lives. However, if these women were prevented from terminating their pregnancies earlier in their lives, they might have ended up having fewer children in the future. That means that some of the people alive today would not be alive if abortion were not legal. (Emphasis mine)
Regarding the shortage of primary care physicians that Hite decries, it can take seven to eight years to earn a medical degree. When you consider that Hite's phantom children who were aborted within a year of Roe would have only graduated high school in about 1992, the small fraction of them who would have gone on and earned a medical degree would have only entered the medical profession within the last 8 years. But that still does not address the problem of the shortage of primary care physicians.
The American Academy of Family Physicians reports that "[p]rimary care specialties have lost their appeal to U.S. medical school graduates, and specific primary care specialties are seeing young physicians look to more lucrative sub-specialization." According to Gail Baldwin, M.D., medical director of the Lake Superior Community Health Center in Duluth, Minn., public and private payment rates for primary care services lag behind those paid for services provided by many other specialties, discouraging physicians from pursuing a career in family medicine. So, the problem is not a shortage of doctors so much as a lack of incentive for medical school graduates to go into primary care practice.
Furthermore, Hite does not seem to realize that if her scenario of an extra 48 million children being born became reality, it would have exacerbated the labor shortage she bewails. These extra children, ironically, would have required an increase in the number of pediatric physicians, not to mention the building of more schools, and the hiring of more teachers and support staff. Where would they have come from?
Well, it just so happens that a good chunk of our labor force within the last two decades has come from abroad. From the report Rise, Peak and Decline: Trends in U.S. Immigration 1992-2004, the Pew Hispanic Center notes that "the foreign-born population grew from 9.6 million in 1970 to 19.8 million in 1990. In the last decade of the 20th century the numbers jumped dramatically by 57% to 31.1 million in Census 2000." From 2001 through 2007, according to the 2007 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics, annual levels of immigration have for the most part exceeded one million. So immigration alone has virtually cancelled out Hite's missing 48 million, not even counting the American born descendants of post-1973 immigrants. Furthermore, unlike those missing 48 million, most immigrants have had the costs of their education borne from their countries of origin rather than by the American tax payer. My own wife is an example of this. She was able to immigrate to the United States in 1990 owing to a temporary nursing visa program, which enabled her to immediately participate in our labor force and contribute to our tax base. Of course, my opinion in this regard is highly biased, but it is clear that my wife and other immigrants like her represent a net gain for the United States.
One can of course object to abortion on moral grounds, and it is not my intention to get into that topic with this particular post, but I submit that Hite's argument, which is that we have a labor shortage in this country because of the selfishness of women who have had abortions, is either ignorant or dishonest.
Friday, December 19, 2008
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Open Thread: Caption This Edition
The first atheist to retrieve the cross wins a date with Salma Hayek.Saturday, December 13, 2008
The Philippines and the Curse of Catholicism
By way of Al Jazeera, of all places, comes this report, with accompanying video below, about the influence of conservative Catholicism in preventing poor families from access to birth control in the Philippines. This one is sure to set your blood to boiling.
The chief villain in this report is Lito Atienza, the current environmental minister and former mayor of Manila who "issued an order eight years ago that effectively banned city-funded health centres from providing modern contraceptives such as condoms, birth control pills and sterilisation."
"The central government has been more intent on promoting natural methods of family planning then modern contraceptives, for which services are left largely to the whim of local councils."
It baffles me, this Catholic insistence on "natural" methods of family planning, like the "rhythm method." If these whackaloons like Lito Atienza are against artificial methods of birth control, like condoms and pills, then why not extend such consideration to all aspects of their lives? Maybe they should refrain from riding in cars or airplanes. After all, automobiles and airplanes are not a "natural" way of getting around. Try walking instead. And you might want to get rid of those telephones and cell phones too. Those are artificial means of communicating with people. Oh, and don't even get me started on e-mail and text messages! But seriously, why should matters of contraception and sexuality be the only realm where human invention may not be applied?
In defense of the high rate of population growth in the Philippines, Atienza cites the booming economies of China and India. Is this clown seriously suggesting that the Philippines needs a billion people to become an economic success story? And to think he is the country's minister for the environment! Evidently, Atienza has never heard of China's "One Child Policy" or of India's efforts to control its population growth (though I wish to point out that I personally do not condone the coercive aspects of China and India's population control programs.)
Then there is this amusing nugget from Atienza:
"So it's not within the powers of man to prevent the birth of a child simply because of material reasons. Who knows – the life you are preventing could be the saviour of not only the Philippines, but the whole of mankind."
This is stupid on so many levels. By simply abstaining from sex, one is preventing the birth of a child.
Besides, the last so-called savior of mankind was supposedly conceived when the creator of the universe impregnated a virgin Jewish teenage girl in the Galilee a couple of thousand years ago. If some Filipina woman is designated by God to be the happy recipient of the next savior, is Atienza seriously suggesting that a birth control pill can thwart the will of this all-powerful deity?
The chief villain in this report is Lito Atienza, the current environmental minister and former mayor of Manila who "issued an order eight years ago that effectively banned city-funded health centres from providing modern contraceptives such as condoms, birth control pills and sterilisation."
"The central government has been more intent on promoting natural methods of family planning then modern contraceptives, for which services are left largely to the whim of local councils."
It baffles me, this Catholic insistence on "natural" methods of family planning, like the "rhythm method." If these whackaloons like Lito Atienza are against artificial methods of birth control, like condoms and pills, then why not extend such consideration to all aspects of their lives? Maybe they should refrain from riding in cars or airplanes. After all, automobiles and airplanes are not a "natural" way of getting around. Try walking instead. And you might want to get rid of those telephones and cell phones too. Those are artificial means of communicating with people. Oh, and don't even get me started on e-mail and text messages! But seriously, why should matters of contraception and sexuality be the only realm where human invention may not be applied?
In defense of the high rate of population growth in the Philippines, Atienza cites the booming economies of China and India. Is this clown seriously suggesting that the Philippines needs a billion people to become an economic success story? And to think he is the country's minister for the environment! Evidently, Atienza has never heard of China's "One Child Policy" or of India's efforts to control its population growth (though I wish to point out that I personally do not condone the coercive aspects of China and India's population control programs.)
Then there is this amusing nugget from Atienza:
"So it's not within the powers of man to prevent the birth of a child simply because of material reasons. Who knows – the life you are preventing could be the saviour of not only the Philippines, but the whole of mankind."
This is stupid on so many levels. By simply abstaining from sex, one is preventing the birth of a child.
Besides, the last so-called savior of mankind was supposedly conceived when the creator of the universe impregnated a virgin Jewish teenage girl in the Galilee a couple of thousand years ago. If some Filipina woman is designated by God to be the happy recipient of the next savior, is Atienza seriously suggesting that a birth control pill can thwart the will of this all-powerful deity?
Muslims for Sanity
Those of us here in the atheist blogosphere, like my friend the Spanish Inquisitor, often find the Islamic world to be a veritable gold mine of stories that make us sigh and roll our eyes, such as the recent fatwas in Malaysia against yoga classes and women dressing like "tomboys".
But as batshit crazy as these edicts seem to us, it is easy for us to forget that it is the many moderate Muslims who are the ones who actually have to live under these religious rulings. I recently read a humorous take on the impact these fatwas have on Muslim women in Indonesia by a Julia Suryakusuma in the English language Indonesian daily The Jakarta Post. Below are some excerpts, but I recommend reading the entire column, which you can read here.
Yesterday morning I woke up early as usual and got ready for my early morning meditational yoga. It's something I've been doing since 1981, clearing my mind and reinvigorating myself for the day ahead. It's like getting your cell phone recharged, as simple as that. But then I remembered reading that the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) is thinking of issuing a fatwa declaring yoga haram (forbidden), inspired by the Malaysian National Fatwa Council which has declared yoga haram because it "goes against the teachings of Islam".
So, okay, I thought, I'd best skip my meditation. I donned shorts, T-shirt and sneakers and stepped out of the house for my morning walk instead. Then I remembered I was wearing a bra. Another fatwa, yikes!
The growing conservatism among hardline Muslims in Malaysia, Indonesia and other parts of the world suggests some Muslim leaders want to halt modernity, even turn it back. And if they can't make the world get in line with their regressive fantasies, then they want to destroy it. They share this with their more extreme terrorist brothers (and a few suicidal sisters), as we have seen again and again in recent years, most recently in Mumbai.
It starts with a few ridiculous fatwas. Do we want it to end in more mindless, tragic massacres? Surely it is past time for all Indonesians who believe Islam can be a religion of the modern world to start saying no to this nonsense while it is still a laughing matter.
And while I have an entire series of posts bashing Islamic fundamentalism (with an emphasis on mental) in Malaysia, that southeast Asian country is not without its own voices of sanity. One such organization, which I believe I have mentioned in a previous post, is Sisters in Islam.
Sisters in Islam "is a group of Muslim women committed to promoting the rights of women within the framework of Islam." They have, among other things, publicly condemned the fatwas banning yoga and "tomboys," and they can reliably be counted on to speak out against the forces of misogyny and intolerance in Malaysia.
As we say here in America, "You go, girls!"
But as batshit crazy as these edicts seem to us, it is easy for us to forget that it is the many moderate Muslims who are the ones who actually have to live under these religious rulings. I recently read a humorous take on the impact these fatwas have on Muslim women in Indonesia by a Julia Suryakusuma in the English language Indonesian daily The Jakarta Post. Below are some excerpts, but I recommend reading the entire column, which you can read here.
Yesterday morning I woke up early as usual and got ready for my early morning meditational yoga. It's something I've been doing since 1981, clearing my mind and reinvigorating myself for the day ahead. It's like getting your cell phone recharged, as simple as that. But then I remembered reading that the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) is thinking of issuing a fatwa declaring yoga haram (forbidden), inspired by the Malaysian National Fatwa Council which has declared yoga haram because it "goes against the teachings of Islam".
So, okay, I thought, I'd best skip my meditation. I donned shorts, T-shirt and sneakers and stepped out of the house for my morning walk instead. Then I remembered I was wearing a bra. Another fatwa, yikes!
The growing conservatism among hardline Muslims in Malaysia, Indonesia and other parts of the world suggests some Muslim leaders want to halt modernity, even turn it back. And if they can't make the world get in line with their regressive fantasies, then they want to destroy it. They share this with their more extreme terrorist brothers (and a few suicidal sisters), as we have seen again and again in recent years, most recently in Mumbai.
It starts with a few ridiculous fatwas. Do we want it to end in more mindless, tragic massacres? Surely it is past time for all Indonesians who believe Islam can be a religion of the modern world to start saying no to this nonsense while it is still a laughing matter.
And while I have an entire series of posts bashing Islamic fundamentalism (with an emphasis on mental) in Malaysia, that southeast Asian country is not without its own voices of sanity. One such organization, which I believe I have mentioned in a previous post, is Sisters in Islam.
Sisters in Islam "is a group of Muslim women committed to promoting the rights of women within the framework of Islam." They have, among other things, publicly condemned the fatwas banning yoga and "tomboys," and they can reliably be counted on to speak out against the forces of misogyny and intolerance in Malaysia.
As we say here in America, "You go, girls!"
Sunday, December 07, 2008
UPDATED: How About Those Gasoline Prices? - The Dream Has Almost Come True!
Since my last post on this topic on November 2, the price of gasoline has continued to drop. If you recall, in the dream I had this past August, the price of regular unleaded had fallen to $1.75. At the time, and until quite recently, I thought there was absolutely no chance of my dream coming true.
Well, I am happy to report that as of yesterday morning, the price of regular unleaded gasoline at the BP station at the corner of Woodbury Road and South Oyster Bay Road has dropped to 1.99 per gallon. The price need only drop another 24 cents per gallon for the dream to be realized. We shall see.
UPDATE: As of December 12, the price of regular unleaded has fallen to $1.89 per gallon. Just 14 more cents to go for the dream to come true!
Well, I am happy to report that as of yesterday morning, the price of regular unleaded gasoline at the BP station at the corner of Woodbury Road and South Oyster Bay Road has dropped to 1.99 per gallon. The price need only drop another 24 cents per gallon for the dream to be realized. We shall see.
UPDATE: As of December 12, the price of regular unleaded has fallen to $1.89 per gallon. Just 14 more cents to go for the dream to come true!
Saturday, December 06, 2008
Sanitizing A Tale of Genocide for Children
As you all know, we're in the middle of another holiday shopping season.
Last week, when I was shopping for gifts for my children in a local toy store, I saw on one of the shelves a Noah's Ark toy set. I had seen them before, not only for sale in toy stores and toy catalogs, but in businesses that would have toys set aside to offer a diversion for children while their parents were trying on clothes or something.
Since young children tend to be interested in animals, I suppose it is only natural that a toy boat filled with little animals would be popular with them. But I have to admit that I feel a measure of, shall we say, discomfort at the thought of marketing Noah's Ark toys to children. As I expressed in the title for this post, what is happening here is that a story about an angry god committing mass murder is turned into a harmless children's toy featuring a boat, cute animals, and a kindly looking old man. That just strikes me as fundamentally dishonest.
The Ultimate Absurdity of Islam
In case you don't know, the annual pilgrimate, or hajj, to Mecca is currently underway. And according to this article from Al Jazeera, it looks like Saudi Arabia is going to experience a record turnout.
"More than 100,000 security guards have been deployed to cope with the three million people expected in the city of Mecca, when the Islamic pilgrimage gets under way on Saturday."
The article notes that "It is a religious duty for every able-bodied Muslim with the necessary financial resources to make the pilgrimage at least once during their lifetime to cleanse their sins."
Reading this article reminded me of a thought I have had a number of times before. The annual hajj is a logistical nightmare as it is already. Millions attend annually, and it is not uncommon for people to die in stampedes, in some cases in the hundreds, and once well over a thousand.
As with any other proselytizing religion, it is no secret that the followers of Islam want the entire world to convert to their religion. As it currently stands, there are somewhere between one to one and a half billion Muslims in a world with an estimated global population of 6.7 billion people.
Even more sobering, world population in 2050 is expected to reach a peak of approximately 9.2 billion.
If by some bizarre miracle (or rather, nightmare) every person on the planet became a convert to Islam within the next 50 years, it would literally be impossible for every able-bodied Muslim to make the pilgrimage, which is one of the five pillars of the faith. To reiterate, expand the number of Muslims beyond a certain point and there will be no way of accommodating all of them in order to fulfill one of the most important requirements of their faith. It would be interesting to hear what the Muslim faithful have to say in response to this potential conundrum.
Then again, as I pointed out in this post two years ago, Mecca during the hajj could become a disease incubator that sets off a pandemic in the Muslim world. The Economist article I linked to noted that "one in three pilgrims suffers respiratory symptoms during the pilgrimage, and overcrowding (in tents accomodating up to 100 people) provides ideal conditions for illness to spread. The risk to families of pilgrims was highlighted by a study in Malaysia, published in 2002: among people sharing a house with a returning pilgrim, about 8% were carrying traces of the bacteria associated with meningitis."
And therein lies the ultimate absurdity of Islam: carrying out one of its most important requirements is quite literally dangerous to Muslims.
"More than 100,000 security guards have been deployed to cope with the three million people expected in the city of Mecca, when the Islamic pilgrimage gets under way on Saturday."
The article notes that "It is a religious duty for every able-bodied Muslim with the necessary financial resources to make the pilgrimage at least once during their lifetime to cleanse their sins."
Reading this article reminded me of a thought I have had a number of times before. The annual hajj is a logistical nightmare as it is already. Millions attend annually, and it is not uncommon for people to die in stampedes, in some cases in the hundreds, and once well over a thousand.
As with any other proselytizing religion, it is no secret that the followers of Islam want the entire world to convert to their religion. As it currently stands, there are somewhere between one to one and a half billion Muslims in a world with an estimated global population of 6.7 billion people.
Even more sobering, world population in 2050 is expected to reach a peak of approximately 9.2 billion.
If by some bizarre miracle (or rather, nightmare) every person on the planet became a convert to Islam within the next 50 years, it would literally be impossible for every able-bodied Muslim to make the pilgrimage, which is one of the five pillars of the faith. To reiterate, expand the number of Muslims beyond a certain point and there will be no way of accommodating all of them in order to fulfill one of the most important requirements of their faith. It would be interesting to hear what the Muslim faithful have to say in response to this potential conundrum.
Then again, as I pointed out in this post two years ago, Mecca during the hajj could become a disease incubator that sets off a pandemic in the Muslim world. The Economist article I linked to noted that "one in three pilgrims suffers respiratory symptoms during the pilgrimage, and overcrowding (in tents accomodating up to 100 people) provides ideal conditions for illness to spread. The risk to families of pilgrims was highlighted by a study in Malaysia, published in 2002: among people sharing a house with a returning pilgrim, about 8% were carrying traces of the bacteria associated with meningitis."
And therein lies the ultimate absurdity of Islam: carrying out one of its most important requirements is quite literally dangerous to Muslims.
Friday, December 05, 2008
Is Bill Clinton Out of His Mind?
Former President Bill Clinton visited Malaysia recently. According to The Star Online, "Clinton has expressed admiration for Malaysians, saying that their ability to respect other people’s faiths should be emulated by all."
Apparently, Exercise in Futility is not on Clinton's reading list. If he had, he would have learned about the "respect" shown by Malaysian Muslim authorities towards Lina Joy and Revathi Massosai.
Or how does Clinton feel about the recent fatwa against "tomboys"?
While the "Tomboy" fatwa is not legally binding, it should not be surprising if self annointed gangs of brainwashed Muslim Malay youth start assaulting Malay women who are deemed to be in violation of the fatwa. Because that is what public pronouncements like that do, they contribute to a climate of intolerance and oppression that encourages and empowers fanatics.
Bill Clinton had a chance to speak out against this kind of religiously sanctioned bigotry and passed.
Apparently, Exercise in Futility is not on Clinton's reading list. If he had, he would have learned about the "respect" shown by Malaysian Muslim authorities towards Lina Joy and Revathi Massosai.
Or how does Clinton feel about the recent fatwa against "tomboys"?
While the "Tomboy" fatwa is not legally binding, it should not be surprising if self annointed gangs of brainwashed Muslim Malay youth start assaulting Malay women who are deemed to be in violation of the fatwa. Because that is what public pronouncements like that do, they contribute to a climate of intolerance and oppression that encourages and empowers fanatics.
Bill Clinton had a chance to speak out against this kind of religiously sanctioned bigotry and passed.
Nobody Expects the Byzantine Empire
Who knew there was still nostalgia for the Byzantine Empire?
I came across the video below last night while searching for a clip from Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back.
The profile of the person who put up this video, who goes by the name of Orthodox Dog, reads thusly:
I'm: Serb and Russian, Ultra Orthodox Christian, Slavic nationalist, White patriot, not fucking nazi!!!
Orthodox Dog evidently looks forward to a revived Byzantine Empire via a union of the Orthodox Christian countries of Russia, Greece and Serbia that will recover Istanbul, if the end of the video is any indication.
A number of commenters to the video also write of their lament for the fall of Constantinople as if May 29, 1453 was only yesterday. One of them bitterly decries the Hungarian engineer who designed the cannon used by the Ottomans to batter Constantinople's walls, asserting that if the "traitor" Hungarian had not done so, then the Turks never would have taken the city.
These people really need to chill out. Like all empires, the Eastern Romans, or Byzantines as they are more popularly known, had their time and then faded away. The Byzantines were living on borrowed time for the last five decades or so of their existence, and would have fallen fifty years earlier if the Ottomans did not have to end their siege of Constantinople to deal with Tamerlane. The Byzantines owe their decline and fall as much to their own internal disputes as they do to the sack of 1204 by Latin Crusaders sidelined from their journey to retake Jerusalem or to a Hungarian cannoneer offering his skills to the highest bidder.
But I couldn't help but overlook one really delicious piece of irony. Does Orthodox Dog realize that his beloved Serbs themselves, particularly during the reign of their mid-14th century ruler Stefan Dušan, played an important role in the decline of the Byzantine Empire and the ability of the Ottoman Turks to get a foothold in Europe? A few choice excerpts from the Wikipedia article linked to above:
In the first years of his reign, Dušan started to fight against the Byzantine Empire (1334), and warfare continued with interruptions of various duration until his death in 1355.
Dušan exploited the civil war in the Byzantine Empire between regent Anna of Savoy for the minor Emperor John V Palaiologos and his father's general John Kantakouzenos.
There has been speculation that Dušan's ultimate goal was no less than to conquer Constantinople and replace the declining Byzantine Empire with a united Orthodox Greco-Serbian Empire under his control.
Faced with Dušan's aggression, the Byzantines sought allies in the Turks whom they brought into Europe for the first time.
Yeah, what this world really needs is the revival of a Greek Orthodox theocratic empire. Heck, let's restore the Carthaginian Empire too while we're at it!
I came across the video below last night while searching for a clip from Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back.
The profile of the person who put up this video, who goes by the name of Orthodox Dog, reads thusly:
I'm: Serb and Russian, Ultra Orthodox Christian, Slavic nationalist, White patriot, not fucking nazi!!!
Orthodox Dog evidently looks forward to a revived Byzantine Empire via a union of the Orthodox Christian countries of Russia, Greece and Serbia that will recover Istanbul, if the end of the video is any indication.
A number of commenters to the video also write of their lament for the fall of Constantinople as if May 29, 1453 was only yesterday. One of them bitterly decries the Hungarian engineer who designed the cannon used by the Ottomans to batter Constantinople's walls, asserting that if the "traitor" Hungarian had not done so, then the Turks never would have taken the city.
These people really need to chill out. Like all empires, the Eastern Romans, or Byzantines as they are more popularly known, had their time and then faded away. The Byzantines were living on borrowed time for the last five decades or so of their existence, and would have fallen fifty years earlier if the Ottomans did not have to end their siege of Constantinople to deal with Tamerlane. The Byzantines owe their decline and fall as much to their own internal disputes as they do to the sack of 1204 by Latin Crusaders sidelined from their journey to retake Jerusalem or to a Hungarian cannoneer offering his skills to the highest bidder.
But I couldn't help but overlook one really delicious piece of irony. Does Orthodox Dog realize that his beloved Serbs themselves, particularly during the reign of their mid-14th century ruler Stefan Dušan, played an important role in the decline of the Byzantine Empire and the ability of the Ottoman Turks to get a foothold in Europe? A few choice excerpts from the Wikipedia article linked to above:
In the first years of his reign, Dušan started to fight against the Byzantine Empire (1334), and warfare continued with interruptions of various duration until his death in 1355.
Dušan exploited the civil war in the Byzantine Empire between regent Anna of Savoy for the minor Emperor John V Palaiologos and his father's general John Kantakouzenos.
There has been speculation that Dušan's ultimate goal was no less than to conquer Constantinople and replace the declining Byzantine Empire with a united Orthodox Greco-Serbian Empire under his control.
Faced with Dušan's aggression, the Byzantines sought allies in the Turks whom they brought into Europe for the first time.
Yeah, what this world really needs is the revival of a Greek Orthodox theocratic empire. Heck, let's restore the Carthaginian Empire too while we're at it!
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