Interesting Links for 17-06-2023

[andrewducker]

1. If geeks talked about cookbooks the way they talk about RPG books, the results would not be pretty

(tags:roleplaying satire cooking funny )

2. Orange Order puts Scottish headquarters up for sale as it runs low on cash

(tags:bigotry money GoodNews )

3. Study shows many American atheists hide their non-belief (and that atheist women find their atheism freeing)

(tags:religion Christianity atheism USA women )

4. Greece migrant boat had 100 children in hold as it capsized

(tags:greece asylum children death OhForFucksSake )

5. The FBI Groomed a 16-Year-Old With Brain Development Issues to Become a Terrorist

(tags:terrorism FBI children OhForFucksSake )

6. Former head of police watchdog charged with multiple counts of raping a girl under 16

(tags:children rape police OhForFucksSake )

7. Whistleblowing banker who went to prison speaks out

(tags:Banking corruption OhForFucksSake UK USA )

Comments

[cmcmck]

That said, I'm a cookbook geek! :o)

[haggis]

2 Ohdearwhatapitynevermind.

[andrewducker]

I need that as a tag!

[dewline]

I can probably design an icon to suit.

[andrewducker]

Nice!

[dewline]

1. BWHAHAHAHA!!!

2. Somehow, I am unmoved by this news.

3. This is sadly unsurprising.

4-6. ...dammit...

[andrewducker]

3) At some point this will change. When people realise that they are the majority people will stop hiding, and it will seem like society changed overnight.

[elf]

I have my doubts about that.

A majority of Americans think abortion should be legal, and yet, here we are.

It doesn't take just being in the majority; it takes changing the entrenched structures that favor public declarations of a particular religion. (Which often believes that the words "religion" and "faith" refer to it alone, so anyone who mentions either of those, is presumed to belong to it unless they make an effort to specify otherwise.) As long as there's a "national day of prayer," it won't matter if non-theists outnumber Christians ten to one.

(...If atheists are the strong majority, they could theoretically abolish the nat'l day of prayer. But only if that majority extends to elected official percentages as well.)

re: atheists in hiding.

[symbioid]

Honestly I feel like some of that may not just be social pressure from Christians, but also the perception of Atheists due to Dawkins, Hitchens, and ilk being such insufferable prats.

Re: atheists in hiding.

[andrewducker]

Certainly doesn't help.

Re: atheists in hiding.

[mellowtigger]

Local Minnesota curmudgeon (and professor and atheist) PZ Myers has some observations about Steven Pinker too.

Re: atheists in hiding.

[andrewducker]

I was not aware of any of that. Thank you.

... plus the agnostic-deniers

[bens_dad]

I do not believe in God.

But neither do I believe there is no God.

Yet, as an agnostic, I feel (yes I have no justification for this) pressured by the vocal atheists to keep quiet.

Some may saying I am hedging my bets; the truth is I don't think about God/god/gods except when my attention is drawn in that direction.

Re: ... plus the agnostic-deniers

[andrewducker]

I used to defined myself as agnostic. Because, yes, no final statements without evidence.

But generally, I think that Russell's Teapot applies.

And nowadays I tend to define as Ignostic. I am willing to debate God only if someone first defines what they mean by the word.

[bens_dad]

7. I am concerned at the suggestion that the government was behind the Libor scandal.

I don't know the dates well enough to figure it out, but it sounds as if it may be related to Gordon Brown's fear that the western economy was not merely illiquid but actually insolvent at the time.