So I was going through some of my old comments here earlier tonight. Too many of my oh-so-clever wordings and allusions were lost because of linkrot.

I feel this everywhere, but perhaps most acutely at Cosh's old blog (index at bottom of page).

If this thing is going to have any longevity greater than a single transit of high school, good people are going to have to make some investments.

I have a couple GB of the stuff I liked most on disk, but it's all dependent on its own distant citations.

Maybe "safe spaces" are needed to protect those of us who don't need them from those that do:

http://heatst.com/culture-wars/university-student-who-criticized-black-lives-matter-faces-expulsion-death-threats/

https://twitter.com/nowhere_nh/status/753301126225784832/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

http://booksbikesboomsticks.blogspot.com/2016/07/tell-us-what-you-really-think.html

Huh:

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit has handed down a very important decision on the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, Facebook v. Vachani, which I flagged just last week. For those of us worried about broad readings of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, the decision is quite troubling. Its reasoning appears to be very broad. If I’m reading it correctly, it says that if you tell people not to visit your website, and they do it anyway knowing you disapprove, they’re committing a federal crime of accessing your computer without authorization.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2016/07/12/9th-circuit-its-a-federal-crime-to-visit-a-website-after-being-told-not-to-visit-it/

California has bad luck?

https://pjmedia.com/instapundit/238566/

Moar California, but in fairness this is just laws are for the little people:

Even by California standards this is stunning. The lawmakers of the state love to write gun control laws. They love to give speeches about the need for strict gun laws. They love to enforce gun laws that restrict the average Californian from enjoying the Second Amendment rights they deserve.

But….they don’t want those laws to apply them!

In a vote of 28-8 California legislators passed a bill to exempt themselves from the gun laws they create.

http://dailysurge.com/2016/07/california-lawmakers-quietly-exempt-gun-laws/

Sue Fish (and her accomplices) prepare the path forward into their political careers:

http://www.itv.com/news/central/2016-07-14/police-force-recognise-misogyny-as-a-hate-crime/

Another biological sex difference found -- in the brain: in the structure and function of the insula in men & women.

http://medicalxpress.com/news/2016-07-evidence-male-female-brains-wired.html

Researcher: Paul Macey, UCLA

Heard about the Noah's Ark in Kentucky?

https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&gl=us&tbm=nws&authuser=0&q=ky+%22noah%27s+ark%22&oq=ky+%22noah%27s+ark%22&gs_l=news-cc.3..43j43i53.1262.1262.0.1597.1.1.0.0.0.0.70.70.1.1.0...0.0...1ac.1.If7IwTBK9So

It's only about 40 miles from the Creation Museum. According to one video, it's big enough that "the White House would fit inside it twice."

I.e., it's almost two football fields long.

It seems it will be followed up with a Tower of Babel.

From Laurie Goodstein, at the New York Times:

WILLIAMSTOWN, Ky. — In the beginning, Ken Ham made the Creation Museum in northern Kentucky. And he saw that it was good at spreading his belief that the Bible is a book of history, the universe is only 6,000 years old, and evolution is wrong and is leading to our moral downfall.

And Mr. Ham said, let us build a gargantuan Noah’s ark only 45 minutes away to draw millions more visitors. And let it be constructed by Amish woodworkers, and financed with donations, junk bonds and tax rebates from the state of Kentucky. And let it hold an animatronic Noah and lifelike models of some of the creatures that came on board two-by-two, such as bears, short-necked giraffes — and juvenile Tyrannosaurus rexes.

And it was so.

Mr. Ham’s “Ark Encounter,” built at a cost of more than $102 million, is scheduled to open on July 7 in Williamstown, Ky. Mr. Ham and his crew have succeeded in erecting a colossal landmark and an ambitious promotional vehicle for their particular brand of Christian fundamentalism, known as “young earth” or “young universe” creationism...

(snip)

Laptops recovered from ISIS jihadists are filled 'up to 80%' with PORN

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3687941/Laptops-recovered-ISIS-jihadists-filled-80-PORN-reveals-former-intelligence-director.html

Howard Stern was right. He said that instead of using ammunition Iraq should be bombed by porn movies, then bring in Fergie, Pam, Carmen, Brit Brit (with a snake between her legs) for entertainment (this was 2003). That would have been the real hearts and minds.

I got a whole lot of 'meh' for you Lenona. We've got a barbed wire museum. There are prison museums (both general and specific), cookie museums, yarn museums. Yada yada yada. So a kook out in bumfark nowheresville wants to build a giant boat replica. Meh!

"their particular brand of Christian fundamentalism, known as “young earth” or “young universe” creationism..."

Yeah, yeah, young earth theory. I've debated it before. It's easily refutable by, among other things, looking at the radiological fossil records. At least they're trying.

But they fall into this trap that I've written about here before. I call it the "God is a practical joker" theory. It goes that things like carbon-14 dating are explainable by the fact that God created the Earth with built-in evidence of a past that never actually happened. My response to is that, if you believe that, there is no reason to suppose that it occurred 4000 years ago. In fact, it is equally possible that you, the reader of this post, you and the universe you live in were created...

... just now, with memories pre-loaded into your head of a childhood and past that doesn't actually exist. Same for this Web site; all those articles you thought you read yesterday? You didn't read them, and Amy didn't write them. God pre-loaded it all.

That pisses them off, because under their own rules, there's no way to refute it.

@Stinky,

Wouldn't be surprised there's more to it than just that:

http://www.express.co.uk/life-style/science-technology/625806/Al-Qaeda-Terrorists-Plans-Attack-Europe-Porn-Film

Breaking - terrorist attacks in Nice:

http://heavy.com/news/2016/07/bastille-days-terrorist-attack-nice-france-photos-videos-watch-see-promenade-des-anglais-isis/

Got Trump?

Another one of Hillary Clinton's enemies killed:

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/washington-dnc-staffer-seth-conrad-rich-shot-killed-article-1.2707538

A "robbery" but "nothing was stolen"

How does a person get shot several times in a house with several (meaning 5 to 7) roommates at 400 in the morning and none of his roommates see anything?

"...And let it be constructed by Amish woodworkers,...

Nah. Pictures of the site show extensive use of power tools of all kinds, exactly as any crew would. "Amish" is just a virtuous label.

A favorite T exchange.

@Snoopy,

And this is how the media is going to react to it:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CnXeS_sUAAAXptO.jpg

> Got Trump?

Have you sent him a check yet?

This seems to mean so much to you....

To Ben: Yes, but did those museums get as much help from taxpayers?

BTW, here's a much longer story from March - no mention of the taxes, though:

https://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/2016/03/23/noah-ark-dinosaurs-and-theme-park/hvFXqmZIOffw7lC9R66yWL/story.html#comments

Best comments:

kate24680
3/27/16 09:41 AM
"They are going to put anamatronic animals into the ark, because.....?

"I imagine because it would be impossible to feed and care for thousands of animals in a boat.

"So,mid they can't do it, how could Noah?

"How many people are building the ark from the point of felling the trees to construction? Are they using any modern equipment? Haven't they just proven that Nosh and his sons could not have built it?

"I mean, these folks are so daft they can't even see that they are disproving the bible all by themselves."

jwinboston
03/27/16 12:27 PM
"I've got my own perspective on the Noah's Ark story. I once created, never published, my own version of the Noah's Ark story. It was in the format of an illustrated children's book and it followed the story of a curious little boy who lived nearby Noah. The little boy watched with fascination as his neighbor built his ark and found great delight in the parade of animals that filled it. Then the storm came and on the last page you see this little boy going under for the last time as the Ark sails away in the distance. I think it's good to remember just how much brutality and carnage lies at the heart of most bible stories."

Inquirer0
03/27/16 03:55 PM
"Great Flood myths abound in human cultures and are probably based on facts, such as some truly catastrophic floods that probably occurred during the end of the last ice age. To people who may have lived in what is now the Black Sea, or in any other low-lying areas that were temporarily dry during the thousands of years of the last ice age (or even during previous ice ages), the sudden flooding that may have resulted from natural ice dams collapsing that previously held back the Mediterranean Sea, the events must have been unbelievably traumatic. In fact, the Mediterranean itself may have been largely dry at one time, when an ice (or even further back, a land ) barrier held back the Atlantic Ocean, which eventually collapsed, causing a vast flash flood to fill the basin.

"It is also possible that a few humans during these times knew of the likelihood of impending catastrophe from 'studying' the deteriorating conditions around these sea-blocking ice damns, where they might have fished or hunted. The more observant and alarmed among them would have been 'prophets' (as well as scientists) of their time who warned their tribes about impending doom, leading some members and their flocks to higher ground.

"The history and lessons of these Great Floods was then passed down as myths by word of mouth in the form of stories for thousands to tens of thousands of years (or more). It is quite likely that through the technology of story telling, this common human heritage was carried all around the world and eventually found its way into more modern cultural traditions, such as the great religions, in the form of 'scripture,' which re-interpreted them accordingly.

"Many other stories survive around the world in the same way as a means of teaching how to think about our most complex inner and outer lives, but that is for another time."

"To Ben: Yes, but did those museums get as much help from taxpayers?"

Yes. (Well not the cookie museum. It was run by the bakery.)

Sorry Lenona you are just parroting anti-Christian bigotry. Plain and simple. Yay, you hate Christians. We get it. Give it a rest.

Um, since when is being opposed to fake science funded by tax dollars anti-Christian?

On a slightly different note, as someone once said, why not make kids listen in science class to the Hindu or Native American creation myths, too? What's the difference between that and making kids sit through a reading of Genesis in science class?

Blah blah blah Lenona. Talk to an actual biblical scholar about the Noah story. What the creation museum is pushing is all pop culture no different than Brittany Spears. Color me surprised that oops, i did it again is just as factual as Mr Ham's story. But your story isn't really about 'tax dollars' and such. It is about coastal wankers wanting to feel superior to those poor primitive people out in the boonies.

If you lived in Kentucky and it was your tax dollars being spent I'd feel a little more sympathy. But that isn't true is it? It isn't your money. It isn't your vote. It isn't your state, is it? You just want to tell other people you're better than them and they should be doing what you think is right. The reality is the Creation Museum is more about giving New York a big middle finger. Stories like that one actually increase local support because they are tired of people like you telling them how to live their lives.

You sound no different than someone talking about how black people are mentally inherently inferior and therefor need white people to manage and take care of them. Give it a rest. I've heard enough.

Every state tax dollar spent on shit like this is money that cant be spent on other projects KY will go begging for FEDERAL taxdollars

Ok Lujlp. Shall we apply that to the whole budget or just things you especially don't like? After all there are tons of things I think should be cut from the budget of California, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, yada yada yada. Far as I can tell Kentucky is far healthier than those states. And if we are only going to pick on Kentucky why are you going for the small potatoes? It's not like this is a significant part of their budget. You may as well complain about the price of cleaners they use in the state capital.

Now, by your own argument Lujlp I get to tell you what to eat. Where to eat it. How to eat it. And when to eat it. After all under obamacare it all could have an impact on my federal tax dollars. Even sorrier than that, under the supreme court your eating habits could affect out of state businesses. So clearly I need to take charge and make sure you aren't wasting my money. Riiight?

Quite frankly I couldn't give a shit about the Creation Museum or Mr Pressed Ham. I may be a devout Christian but they have nothing to do with my religion. But unintentionally you and Lenona laid out the entire Trump campaign. Your arguments are exactly what will get Trump into the oval office.

Letter to the Boston Globe:

April 03, 2016

I don’t begrudge anyone’s religious beliefs. Whatever gets you through the day is OK by me. But I wonder whether the people of Kentucky are as embarrassed about this Noah’s Ark theme park as I am for them (“Noahs’s dinosaurs,” Ideas, March 27). It isn’t so much the fantasy aspects of dinosaurs, giraffes, and people sharing a boat — that might even be fun. It’s more about the many tens of millions of dollars being spent in a state that constantly ranks as one of the worst in the nation when it comes to child poverty, health care, and education.

I realize it’s private money, and the park’s backers could light cigars with it if they wanted to, but if the Bible is so important to them, why don’t they use some of that money to help the less fortunate in this most backward of states?

Bruce McPhee, West Yarmouth

(As Laurie Goodstein pointed out, it's not all private money.)

Thank you for continuing to prove my point Lenona. As I pointed out, that is pure Trump fodder.

A string of nice empty words followed by, 'I live in Rhode Island. I'm better than all those hicks. They should be forced to do what I want because I'm better than them.'

That you can't see the message what you've written sends is the truly depressing part.

The ONLY thing governments should pay for are public services, water power, sewer, land management, emergency services, ect

Not stadiums, not museums, not public art, not land grabs to tun over the land to corporations, ect.

That at least is an intelligent argument. Good luck implementing it.

Who mentioned Rhode Island? I didn't. (West Yarmouth is in Massachusetts, BTW.)

Apologies Lenona. I misread the map. Still ain't a Kentucky voter is he? Doesn't change the point at all does it?

The Ark is nearly two football fields long, so over 500 feet. No wooden ship that ever sailed the ocean was that long, because it would have broken in half in the first gale. Wood just isn't strong enough for a structure larger than about 350 feet to hold together when the waves are alternately picking it up by the middle with the ends hanging, then lifting both ends with the middle hanging.

Not to mention that Noah was neither a shipwright nor a sailor. He couldn't have made a boat of any size that would survive a 40-day world-drowning storm when piloted by a landlubber. Those that passed on his legend didn't even know a word for "ship". "Ark" just means "box", e.g. the ark of the covenant was a fancy wooden box.

There are legends of great floods all over the world because the end of the Ice Age set up conditions for many great floods, with "great" meaning that it affected nearly all the land known to people who traveled on foot and (like most people even today) had never been more than a few days journey away from home. North America had a lake far larger than the Great Lakes trapped behind the last glaciers; when that broke through, it not only rearranged much of the northeast, but it caused a thousand year return of the Ice Age across the northern hemisphere. Africa also had a great inland lake, which carved the Kongo River valley out of mountains when it drained. Most of Indonesia and all of the British Isles used to be connected by land to the mainland - and even today any large storm in the North Sea could turn a large piece of the Netherlands into sea bottom.

More to the point of the middle-eastern flood legends such as Noah: The northern end of the Persian Gulf and the bottom of the Black Sea were once land, and presumably farmland, until rising sea levels lapped over the edge and rather suddenly inundated them. There would have been survivors, but only those who were prepared to immediately cut their belongings down to what they could carry plus herds that they could drive in front of them as they headed for high land; others would have either been too slow and drowned, or escaped with nothing and perished within a year. For some survivors, their landmark might have been Mount Ararat on the horizon.

Put those survivors' stories through 3,000 years of oral transmission and you get the flood legends in the Bible and in the Gilgamesh tale.