The Bar Mitzvah
Square America has a delightful series of stereo animated gifs titled “The Bar Mitzvah and Other Tales of Living in Stereo.” Totally worth a look.
Posted by Tara McGinley |
Discussion
Square America has a delightful series of stereo animated gifs titled “The Bar Mitzvah and Other Tales of Living in Stereo.” Totally worth a look.
This is disturbing. Can you imagine being responsible for responding to this on a governmental level? Talk about a mine field, you’d be getting this from all sides no matter you you did.
Clearly, though, they’ve got to do something. It just won’t be easy. Or popular. Yikes.
Police have identified children as young as seven being groomed for terrorism, with some expressing a wish to become suicide bombers.
Up to 10 primary school pupils, aged between seven and 10, have been placed on a government outreach programme for individuals considered at risk of being radicalised and turning to violence.
Some have taken inspiration from jihadi websites or after viewing extremist material in Islamic bookshops.
One child was referred to the programme by his teacher after writing on a school book: ?
The disclaimer at the God’s Little Ones reads: “Warning if you have had an abortion or miscarriage this page may be hard to view. If you choose to proceed you may want a tissue box near by.” The site also feature dolls in various stages of “gestation.” The photo below shows dolls ranging from eight to eighteen weeks.
And while it might be true that we’re all created in His image, “creation” costs more for some of us than others: “Models available in pink, tan and brown skin tones others available upon request add $10.00 for brown as it is a more expensive pigment.”
(via AFC)
Michel Chion’s 1973 composition “Requiem
from Modern Illusions:
Chion’s Requiem probably represents one of the defining moments of the musique concrete canon, a work all other pieces must be judged by and one of the few absolute masterpieces of the genre. Things begin with a high pitched tone soon joined by an electro-acoustic, echoing wind and then just after 40 seconds, silence, a man narrating a few lines in French and the start of a slow buzzing, chant-like humming, dripping water, echoes, reverbs and more French vocals repeating the words ‘Requiem Aeternam’. And all of this is only two and half minutes into this labyrinthine construction which comes close to nearly annihilating the standard structure of a requiem. Traces of the traditional Funeral Mass remain (largely through the titles of the various movements), but have been so brutally deconstructed that it’s very difficult to know exactly at which point in the proceedings you are experiencing. In fact, it’s almost as if Chion wants to create all moments at once, stopping time so that everything and anything can happen simultaneously, purposefully disorientating and confusing the listener.
listen to the opening piece here
And here are two more excerpts with great sound quality but not great (mostly lifted) visuals added by the kind fan that uploaded them.
Interesting article in the Guardian about Noah’s Ark, and how our understanding of its traditional shape might be in need of an overhaul. Anyone familiar with In Search Of Noah’s Ark, Evan Almighty, or even the incredibly odd “Arco giveaway” knows that the lore suggests a cruise ship-like shape to the Ark. Well…
According to newly translated instructions inscribed in ancient Babylonian on a clay tablet telling the story of the ark, the vessel that saved one virtuous man, his family and the animals from god’s watery wrath was not the pointy-prowed craft of popular imagination but rather a giant circular reed raft.
The now battered tablet, aged about 3,700 years, was found somewhere in the Middle East by Leonard Simmons, a largely self-educated Londoner who indulged his passion for history while serving in the RAF from 1945 to 1948. The relic was passed to his son Douglas, who took it to one of the few people in the world who could read it as easily as the back of a cornflakes box; he gave it to Irving Finkel, a British Museum expert, who translated its 60 lines of neat cuneiform script. There are dozens of ancient tablets that have been found which describe the flood story but Finkel says this one is the first to describe the vessel’s shape.
“In all the images ever made people assumed the ark was, in effect, an ocean-going boat, with a pointed stem and stern for riding the waves ?
88-year old Harold Camping, was wrong about the end of the world once, but this time he’s sure he’s right. For 70 years, Camping has crunched the numbers, developing, he claims, a mathematical system of interpreting divine prophecies from the Bible. Camping laughs off all this 2012 stuff. Why who’d be silly enough to buy into that whale of a tale? According to The San Francisco Chronicle:
“That date has not one stitch of biblical authority,” Camping says from the Oakland office where he runs Family Radio, an evangelical station that reaches listeners around the world. “It’s like a fairy tale.”
The real date for the end of times, he says, is in 2011.
Okay… sure… but this isn’t the first end of the world date that Camping has predicted! He’s already gotten it wrong once:
On Sept. 6, 1994, dozens of Camping’s believers gathered inside Alameda’s Veterans Memorial Building to await the return of Christ, an event Camping had promised for two years. Followers dressed children in their Sunday best and held Bibles open-faced toward heaven.
But the world did not end. Camping allowed that he may have made a mathematical error. He spent the next decade running new calculations, as well as overseeing a media company that has grown significantly in size and reach.
You see, Camping is following the first—and by far most important—rule of the failed doomsday prophet: If at first you don’t succeed, DIG IN!
By Camping’s understanding, the Bible was dictated by God and every word and number carries a spiritual significance. He noticed that particular numbers appeared in the Bible at the same time particular themes are discussed.
The number 5, Camping concluded, equals “atonement.” Ten is “completeness.” Seventeen means “heaven.” Camping patiently explained how he reached his conclusion for May 21, 2011. “Christ hung on the cross April 1, 33 A.D.,” he began. “Now go to April 1 of 2011 A.D., and that’s 1,978 years.” Camping then multiplied 1,978 by 365.2422 days - the number of days in each solar year, not to be confused with a calendar year.
Next, Camping noted that April 1 to May 21 encompasses 51 days. Add 51 to the sum of previous multiplication total, and it equals 722,500. Camping realized that (5 x 10 x 17) x (5 x 10 x 17) = 722,500. Or put into words: (Atonement x Completeness x Heaven), squared.
“Five times 10 times 17 is telling you a story,” Camping said. “It’s the story from the time Christ made payment for your sins until you’re completely saved.
“I tell ya, I just about fell off my chair when I realized that,” Camping said.
Me too, grandpa. laughing…
Biblical scholar’s date for rapture: May 21, 2011 (San Francisco Chronicle)
“You’ve pissed off God, you’ll see what he’s got…”
Like a particularly bad case of herpes, the Phelps family are the comedy gift that just keeps on giving. Happy New Year!
Westboro Baptist Church prepares to protest Lady Gaga St. Louis concert
Variety reports that as the efforts to challenge Proposition 8 are set to begin next month in San Francisco, a media coalition of the major networks, Hearst Corp. and Dow Jones & Co is asking for the permission to broadcast the court proceedings. TruTV (formerly Court TV) would broadcast everything, from start to finish, daily.
Defenders of the anti-gay marriage proposition are objecting, complaining that witnesses would face harassment and “the potential for intimidation.” Oh, you mean like the kind of harassment and intimidation they’re sowing against gays and lesbians? Are these people for real?
In a letter sent to (Judge) Walker on Monday, their attorney, Charles Cooper, referred to the aftermath of the 2008 election, a time marked by protest rallies, marches and, in some cases, boycotts of those who contributed to the Yes on 8 campaign, including one website that identified donors and their addresses with a Google map overlay.
Indeed, some potential witnesses have indicated that they will not be willing to testify at all if the trial is broadcast or webcast beyond the courthouse,” Cooper wrote.
—snip—
Attorney Thomas Burke, representing the media coalition, said that they anticipated there would be some opposition to the effort, but he noted that because the trial will be public, witnesses will be identified whether cameras are present or not.
Burker further added: “Moreover, given the historic nature of the case, interest among the public in the details of the proceedings are significant.”
Count me as real interested, how about you? These busybody religious people took it upon themselves to try to RESTRICT THE HUMAN RIGHTS OF OTHER AMERICAN CITIZENS. They sponsored Prop 8, they paid for it and they are actively trying to amend the constitution of the state of California! Do it in the the light of day, folks, if you are so sure God is on your side. Do it in the daylight if you have the courage of your convictions. Own your deeds if you’re so proud of yourselves—and shouldn’t gays and lesbians (and intelligent people in general) have the right to know who these preposterous people are so they can boycott their businesses? If not, why not?
A matter this important deserves a PUBLIC hearing. Let’s hope we get one. This whole matter is a waste of brain cells and tax payer money. It’s an embarrassment to California.
Best quote from the video: “Next, when you enter a nursing home, do not stand there with your group in a large cluster of clowns. Clowns can look rather intimidating if you see a lot of them in one place.”
(via HYST)
