Unindexed Free Fire Zone

The creationists haven’t generated any news today, so once again, we’re on our own. Actually, there is something to report.

Contrary to their excellent service in the past, it now seems that Google no longer indexes this blog. Well, they’ve indexed a few posts during the past few weeks, but we post every day and they’ve skipped ten posts during the month of July — a month that still has a week left to go. Also, they’ve skipped several posts before then. What’s going on?

We assume their unusual behavior is because they’ve had some recent personnel changes, and the new people have very different ideas from their predecessors. We may be wrong about that, but whatever the reason, the result is that Google now protects the websites and ideas that we criticize. They are certainly free to believe and behave as they wish, but we’re also free to point out their change of behavior.

As you’ve probably figured out, we’re declaring another Intellectual Free Fire Zone. You think Biden is doing a great job? Tell us about it. Use the comments for the discussion of pretty much anything — science, politics, economics, whatever — as long as it’s tasteful and interesting. Banter, babble, bicker, bluster, blubber, blather, blab, blurt, burble, boast — say what you will. But avoid flame-wars and beware of the profanity filters.

We now throw open the comments to you, dear reader. Have at it!

Copyright © 2021. The Sensuous Curmudgeon. All rights reserved.

Dirty Underwear in Space? Free Fire Zone

There’s no creationism news today — which is very good news! — so to keep you entertained we’ll give you some news that is certain to ruin your childhood dreams of being an astronaut. We found it at PhysOrg and it’s titled: Dirty laundry in space? NASA, Tide tackle cleaning challenge. Here are some excerpts, with bold font added by us for emphasis, and occasional Curmudgeonly interjections that look [like this]:

How do astronauts do laundry in space? They don’t. [Huh?] They wear their underwear, gym clothes and everything else until they can’t take the filth and stink anymore, then junk them.

Disgusting, huh? Then they say:

NASA wants to change that — if not at the International Space Station, then the moon and Mars — and stop throwing away tons of dirty clothes every year, stuffing them in the trash to burn up in the atmosphere aboard discarded cargo ships. So it’s teamed up with Procter & Gamble Co. to figure out how best to clean astronauts’ clothes in space so they can be reused for months or even years, just like on Earth.

Your Curmudgeon absolutely approves of that project. The PhysOrg article then tells us:

The Cincinnati company announced Tuesday that it will send a pair of Tide detergent and stain removal experiments to the space station later this year and next, all part of the galactic battle against soiled and sweaty clothes.

A worthy project indeed! PhysOrg continues:

It’s no small problem, especially as the U.S. and other countries look to establish bases on the moon and Mars. … When you figure an astronaut needs 150 pounds (68 kilograms) of clothes in space per year, that quickly adds up, especially on a three-year Mars mission, said Mark Sivik, a chemist specializing in fabric and home care technology for P&G.

Let’s read on:

There’s also the health — and ick — factors. [Hee hee!] Space station astronauts exercise two hours every day to counter the muscle- and bone-withering effects of weightlessness, quickly leaving their workout clothes sweaty, smelly and stiff. Their T-shirts, shorts and socks end up so foul that they run through a pair every week, according to Leland Melvin, a former NASA astronaut and NFL player.

Skipping several paragraphs, we gratefully arrive at the end:

One of the many design challenges: The laundry water would need to be reclaimed for drinking and cooking, just like urine and sweat are currently recycled aboard the space station. [Aaaargh!!] “The best solutions come from the most diverse teams,” Melvin said, “and how more diverse can you be than Tide and NASA?”

Now that you’re in the mood, we’re declaring another Intellectual Free Fire Zone. Please use the comments for the discussion of pretty much anything — science, politics, economics, whatever — as long as it’s tasteful and interesting. Banter, babble, bicker, bluster, blubber, blather, blab, blurt, burble, boast — say what you will. But avoid flame-wars and beware of the profanity filters.

We now throw open the comments to you, dear reader. Have at it!

Copyright © 2021. The Sensuous Curmudgeon. All rights reserved.

Hambo Criticizes a Preacher’s Heresy

We were shocked — shocked! — when we read this post by Ken Ham (ol’ Hambo), the ayatollah of Appalachia, the world’s holiest man who knows more about religion and science than everyone else. It’s titled Nashville Church: “The Bible Isn’t the Word of God”, and it’s posted at the website of Answers in Genesis (AIG), Hambo’s creationist ministry. Here are some excerpts, with bold font added by us for emphasis, and occasional Curmudgeonly interjections that look [like this]:

[A] self-professed “progressive Christian” church in Nashville, Tennessee, recently shared a graphic that recapped a message, “What is Progressive Christianity?” I’ll show you the graphic below, but here’s the shocking text they included as an introduction to the graphic: “As Progressive Christians, we’re open to the tensions and inconsistencies in the Bible. We know that it can’t live up to impossible, modern standards. We strive to more clearly articulate what Scripture is and isn’t.”

That quote was the “shocking text” that introduced the church’s graphic message. Are you shocked, dear reader? Well, let’s move on to their graphic, which is the next thing in Hambo’s post. We’ll convert it into text. The graphic has two sections. The first says:

THE BIBLE ISN’T The word of God, self-interpreting, a science book, an answer/rule book, inerrant or infallible

And the second section of the graphic says:

THE BIBLE IS A product of community, a library of texts, multi-vocal, a human response to god, living and dynamic

Hambo explains why he found that to be shocking:

Clearly they haven’t read (or, more likely, they refuse to believe) what Scripture says about itself:

He then gives us several quotes from scripture, all of which say that it’s The Truth™ — for example:

Every word of God proves true. (Proverbs 30:5)

Then he declares:

What this church believes about Scripture is nothing short of heretical [Gasp!] — it’s simply not what Scripture says about itself.

Heresy? This is an outrage! Hambo continues:

In an interview regarding the post, the pastor, Josh Scott, stated: [Hambo quotes the heretical preacher:] There is stuff in there (Bible) that I think really goes against the character of God. There are genocides that have been divinely sanctioned in the Bible. People have used the text in the Bible, in the Bible, plain readings of the text at times to support white supremacy, to defend slavery, to defend segregation . . . Saying the Bible is inerrant and infallible, it absolves us of our responsibility to do what our ancestors did, which is to wrestle.

That preacher makes a few good points. The bible has been used to justify those things. But Hambo is furious. He tells us:

Here is what I would say about this church and pastor: Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. (Matthew 7:15)

Powerful stuff! And he still has more to say. Let’s read on:

It seems this pastor sees his own words, rather than God’s words, as infallible, as he twists, misinterprets, and decimates the truly infallible Word of God. GracePointe Church in Nashville is a Bible-destroying “church.”

Wowie — heavy-duty criticism! And that’s not all. Hambo goes on for several more paragraphs. He even links to an AIG article that claims the bible doesn’t support slavery. We never read that article, but we’ve read the Ten Commandments. One of them says that you shouldn’t covet your neighbor’s manservant or maidservant, or his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s. Isn’t that about slavery? Additionally, Wikipedia has an article on The Bible and slavery.

There’s more criticism of the Nashville preacher and his church, but this is already long enough so we’ll leave ol’ Hambo, sputtering with rage. Maybe one of these days we’ll see a response from the preacher. That’ll be interesting. Until then, what you think of this mess, dear reader?

Copyright © 2021. The Sensuous Curmudgeon. All rights reserved.

Curmudgeonly Happy New Year — 2021

The elves who toil endlessly in our art department have done their usual splendid job on the inspirational graphic which adorns this post. The little guys are amazing!

Now let’s get to business. First, we wish you a happy new year. We assume you’ll be running around tonight, wearing lampshades on your heads, blowing horns, and watching the ball drop in Times Square. But of course you’ll be wearing masks so you don’t spread the plague.

While you’re making merry, your Curmudgeon will be attending to his year-end chores, like backing up the blog, changing the copyright date at the bottom of our post template, and (maybe) setting up a “Controversy 2021” supplemental table of contents page, for links to our posts about what used to be an ark-load of legal battles in the coming year. You can find all of those annual lists here: The Controversy.

Most state legislatures will be starting their new sessions soon, and because so many legislators are idiots, we should be reporting the same kind of creationist activity that we’ve seen in the past. But maybe not. There hasn’t been much to report for the year now ending, so maybe we won’t even set up a new page for that stuff.

We expect tomorrow to be a news-free day, except for a big — really big! — announcement from a creationist outfit in Seattle, babbling about their hottest story for the year now ending.

What else will the new year bring us? As always, there won’t be any actual science news from creationists, but they’re good at making a fuss in other areas. They haven’t been going to court lately — not because they don’t want to, but because their lawyers tell them they’re going to lose. That can have a discouraging effect.

Because there’s nothing happening at the moment, we’re declaring this post to be the old year’s last and the new year’s first Intellectual Free Fire Zone. We’re open for the discussion of pretty much anything — science, politics, economics, whatever — as long as it’s tasteful and interesting. But beware of the profanity filters.

Hold on! Wait! Before we throw open the comments, we’ll follow our custom and conclude with a warning, followed by our famous guarantee of quality:

Warning

Creationists who read this blog may experience some or all of these symptoms: headache, fainting, dizziness, shortness of breath, rapid breathing, heartburn, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, dehydration, high blood pressure, mood swings, paranoia, delusions of persecution or martyrdom, chronic fatigue, feelings of guilt or worthlessness, slowed thinking or impaired concentration, speech impairment, sexual dysfunction, memory loss, hypertension, depression, anxiety, sleep disorders, and panic attacks due to lake of fire phobia.

If you experience any of these symptoms while reading this blog, and such symptoms last for more than four hours, it is strongly recommended that you discontinue reading and promptly seek professional assistance.

And now the quality guarantee:

Self-Proving Truth Certificate

Everything written by the Curmudgeon in this blog is true. The presence of this Certificate is your proof. Our logic is undeniable.

All right! The comments are open. Have at it, dear reader. And Happy New Year!

Copyright © 2020. The Sensuous Curmudgeon. All rights reserved.