Here is a fascinating (yes, also grim) story about the motivation behind the making of Maya blue - ■

The vibrant sky color can be seen on pottery, murals and other artifacts produced by the Maya people of Central America centuries ago and the unusual, durable pigment remains vibrant today long after other colors have faded away.

It was also the color of Chaak, the rain god, and of human sacrifice.

When the skies looked too much like Maya blue — cloudless and dry — the Maya sometimes selected an unlucky victim to be painted this color and sacrificed to Chaak in hopes that the rains would follow.

And get ready - here is the description of the ritual:

An account by a 16th century Spanish priest described rituals where victims were stripped, painted and thrown onto a stone altar where their hearts, still beating, were cut out.

Hmm...so whats for dinner tonight? Another interesting aspect of this story is that scientists didn't know about its composition until the 1960s (may be I'm the only who finds this story completely fascinating...):

The composition of Maya blue, first used around 300 A.D. and which is almost impervious to age, acid, weather and even modern solvents, remained a mystery until 1960s when chemists deciphered its chemical components: the dye indigo and a clay mineral known as palygorskite, which can be melded together by heat to produce the pigment.

What remained unknown was where and when the Maya made Maya blue. Was there a paint factory churning it out by the gallon? Or was it a secret recipe held tightly by the priests? Was it made at the mines where the palygorskite was dug out or was the palygorskite transported to the cities?

It turns out that indeed, Maya blue was produced as part of the ritual. And the clue came from a bowl that was dug up, along with other artifacts and 127 skeletons, from a natural well called Sacred Cenote locate at Chichen Itza, Mexico (see picture on the right). The bowl was found in the early 20th century, but its analysis with electron tunneling microscope is more recent:

The three-legged bowl, dating from about 1400, contained a chunk of incense that was burned in Maya rituals. Within the incense, were bits of white and blue. Molecular-scale images taken by a scanning tunneling microscope showed these to be palygroskite and indigo.

Thus, the researchers concluded, Indigo blue was made as part of the ritual, the ingredients heated by the burning of incense. The pigment was then applied to pots and sacrifices before being thrown into the well.

Read the full story here.

Read this blog post about breaking the "purge and splurge" cycle once and for all. While it addresses financial matters, it could easily be applied to other matters as well--diet, attitude, and so on.

I hope, what I demonstrate through this blog--at least some of the time--is that splurging doesn't have to involve dollars and cents. It doesn't even have to involve calories and consumption.

Splurging can be taking a little extra TIME to do something that you don't otherwise take the time to do, like:

• Read
  
• Exercise
  
• Call a friend
• Make a new one
• Write a letter
• Get cozy (Ava's favorite thing to do lately)
• Bake cookies
• Daydream
• Write your life
• Pray
• Smile

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Splurge of the Moment

Spending lots of time underneath things with the little one--like desks, tables, tunnels made out of blankets, sofa cushions, you name it, as long as it requires a flashlight.

Turkey is attempting a (relatively) serious revision of Islam. It is being billed as a major reformation (but then these claims have been made before). May be its a start:

The country's powerful Department of Religious Affairs has commissioned a team of theologians at Ankara University to carry out a fundamental revision of the Hadith, the second most sacred text in Islam after the Koran.

The Hadith is a collection of thousands of sayings reputed to come from the Prophet Muhammad. As such, it is the principal guide for Muslims in interpreting the Koran and the source of the vast majority of Islamic law, or Sharia.

But the Turkish state has come to see the Hadith as having an often negative influence on a society it is in a hurry to modernise, and believes it responsible for obscuring the original values of Islam.

It says that a significant number of the sayings were never uttered by Muhammad, and even some that were need now to be reinterpreted.

Hadith do play a major role in the Sharia. They are considered the most important source of guidance after the Quran in the Islamic law. However, they were formally collected over 150-200 years after the death of Muhammad, and the authenticity of many Hadith was challenged at the time and a vast number still generate controversy. In addition, the hierarchy of Hadith, being second only to the Quran, was also challenged in favor of using reason in the first few centuries of Islam. The challenge primarily came early Muslim philosophers (also collectively known as Faylasufs - some also belonged to the theological school of Mutazilla) who were highly impressed with Greek logic and philosophical thought. However, they lost the inter-Islam battle of shaping Islamic law in the 10th and 11th century, and reason was relegated to a position below that of the Quran and the Hadith. It is in this context, that this Turkish effort needs to be looked at:

Turkish officials have been reticent about the revision of the Hadith until now, aware of the controversy it is likely to cause among traditionalist Muslims, but they have spoken to the BBC about the project, and their ambitious aims for it.

The forensic examination of the Hadiths has taken place in Ankara University's School of Theology.

An adviser to the project, Felix Koerner, says some of the sayings - also known individually as "hadiths" - can be shown to have been invented hundreds of years after the Prophet Muhammad died, to serve the purposes of contemporary society.

However, they are also planning on looking at the interpretation of established Hadith, and this is an important step:

But this is where the revolutionary nature of the work becomes apparent. Even some sayings accepted as being genuinely spoken by Muhammad have been altered and reinterpreted.

Well its a start and it has the potential of opening up dialogue about Sharia in the Islamic world. I still think it is interesting that from 8-11th century, these matters could be discussed more openly in the Islamic world. May be if we can remind people that Al-Kindi and Al-Farabi and Ibn-Sina were already arguing about these positions (and a lot more) in the 800s and 900s, then may be that will dampen some controversy.

In the mean time, read the full BBC story here.

Tonight I sent a sketch for a new journal product (I know, as if there aren't enough journals in the world) to this incredible designer.

This was a huge leap for me--so huge that it would've been way more comfortable to just stand still. But I know that if I did stand still, I would regret it.

Stay tuned.

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Almost Splurge

I always make dinner during the week. Saturday night is our eat-someone-else's-food-in night. But tonight, Tuesday, I did not feel like cooking. I just could not muster up the creativity or energy required.

So Pete suggested take-out and I approved.

Except then I got this little voice in my head that says, "If you start eating out on Tuesday nights you might start eating out every night."

So, I rescinded approval and we ate soup.

The next leap will be that little voice, overboard.

We were just recently discussing that the US has created a free religious marketplace and it is now impacting religions worldwide. Just yesterday, Pew Forum released a report, US Religious Landscape Survey, that supports the view of this competitive religious market, at least in the US (also see a NYT article on it). The key result is that there is significant horizontal movement in people's religious affiliations:

More than one-quarter of American adults (28%) have left the faith in which they were raised in favor of another religion - or no religion at all. If change in affiliation from one type of Protestantism to another is included, 44% of adults have either switched religious affiliation, moved from being unaffiliated with any religion to being affiliated with a particular faith, or dropped any connection to a specific religious tradition altogether.

This is quite impressive. Furthermore, the numbers of unaffiliated have doubled:

The survey finds that the number of people who say they are unaffiliated with any particular faith today (16.1%) is more than double the number who say they were not affiliated with any particular religion as children. Among Americans ages 18-29, one-in-four say they are not currently affiliated with any particular religion.

But the whole landscape is very dynamic:

The survey finds that constant movement characterizes the American religious marketplace, as every major religious group is simultaneously gaining and losing adherents. Those that are growing as a result of religious change are simply gaining new members at a faster rate than they are losing members. Conversely, those that are declining in number because of religious change simply are not attracting enough new members to offset the number of adherents who are leaving those particular faiths.

To illustrate this point, one need only look at the biggest gainer in this religious competition - the unaffiliated group. People moving into the unaffiliated category outnumber those moving out of the unaffiliated group by more than a three-to-one margin. At the same time, however, a substantial number of people (nearly 4% of the overall adult population) say that as children they were unaffiliated with any particular religion but have since come to identify with a religious group. This means that more than half of people who were unaffiliated with any particular religion as a child now say that they are associated with a religious group. In short, the Landscape Survey shows that the unaffiliated population has grown despite having one of the lowest retention rates of all "religious" groups.

Basically, we are looking at fierce competition at a high pace and those religions that adapt well will survive and others will become marginal within a few decades. Again, the interesting thing would be observe this battle play out internationally - especially in places where a single religion has traditionally been dominant. This is where globalization and internet inroads will play a significant role.

Read the Pew Forum summary report here and you can download the full report here (pdf).

When you call us here at Long Lane Honey Bee Farms, there are two people who will probably be answering the phone. My wife, Sheri and our youngest son Christian. Christian likes to get his two cents in on the phone conversations too, so you might hear him in the background. I hope little Christian, who is now 5 months old, will one day become a beekeeper. If he does, I'll have to teach him how to keep bees from being destroyed by varroa mites. But, while we wait for him to grow up, how 'bout I teach you...
A bear devouring a hive is an attention getter! A flood or hurricane washing hundreds of hives down stream is terrifying. These are huge calamities which beekeepers go to great lengths to prevent. We'll put up electric fences or put our hives on poles to protect them from bears. We'll elevate our hives to tower above flood plains. However, many beekeepers do very little to protect their hives from what might be their biggest threat. We seem not to take small things very seriously...small things like the tiny Varroa mite. The Bible says it is the little foxes that ruin the vineyard (Song of Solomon 2:15).
Mites are visible with the naked eye, but they are small. I wanted to put a picture of a mite on a bee in here, but fortunately for me, I didn't see any mites on the bees I tried to examine. But if you google "varrora mites" you'll see plenty of pictures. Older mites become dark and are easier to see than young mites which are almost clear at first.
In 1987 mites were introduced into the US probably as the result of imported bees. Within the next few years mites nearly destroyed all feral hives. A feral hive is a natural hive not kept by a beekeeper, like a wild hive in a tree. But the mites did not stop at feral hives but reached deep within the bee yards of all beekeepers, driving many commercial beekeepers out of business, and hobbyist out of a hobby.
I remember in the early 90s a friend of mine said he was done keeping bees because it was cheaper to buy honey than produce it. Mites drove him out of the hobby. They shouldn't have!
THE MITE CYCLE
All hives will have some mites. Mites are found in a bee hive feeding on pupae and on adult bees. It is important for the beekeeper to understand the basic reproduction cycle of the varroa mite which takes place within the honey bee capped brood cell. An adult mated female mite is called a foundress. The female mite enters the brood cell just before it is capped. She then lays her eggs in the cell while munching on the pupae. First she lays an unfertilized egg and it develops into a male mite. Then her other eggs are fertilized and develop into females. Mites mate with siblings. After the bee emerges from the cell, so do the adult female mites, looking for a new cell. Mites are carried from one hive to another by hitching a ride on the bees.
Good news: We can successfully keep bees even though we have mites!
Okay, to be fair, I must tell you what you will be told by most entomologist and bee inspectors and what you'll read in most beekeeping books and magazines. They give you a standard approach for dealing with mites. So, I'll give you what they say, then, I'll give you my thoughts on the subject. For the record, their way is not bad, wrong or unwise. It is sound advice. And keep in mind that I am not a scientist nor an entomologist anyway, right? I just don't like to use chemicals in my hive. That's where we differ.
Most will tell you to do a mite count to determine if you are over the "economic threshold". This is a fancy way of saying there comes a point where too many mites can be bad for your hive. However, that's like someone telling us there is an economic threshold for rattle snakes in your house. One is too many right? So it is with mites. They can carry viruses and when they bite our bees, viruses are spread. So one is too many, but it is practically impossible not to have some mites.
This economic threshold is determined by placing a sticky board under your screen bottom board for 24 hours and then counting the mites that are stuck to the board. Don't buy those expensive sticky bottom board. Make your own. I'll write a future lesson on how to make a lot of these cool things. Based on your number, you determine whether you are over or under the economic threshold which basically means either you treat with chemicals or you don't. At least this is what is commonly suggested. If you have more than 50 mites within a 24 hour drop period, then it is recommend that you treat your bees for mites.
Of course, I have my opinion right? First, the sticky board count method concerns me. Here's why. If I have a very hygienic hive, they may be cleaning out the mites and the mites might naturally fall onto my sticky board. So, I might see a count of 50 mites, but it may not mean I have a problem, but just the opposite. On the other hand, if I only have 5 mites on my sticky board it may cause me to think I do not have a problem, but in reality, my brood cells could be full of mites and mites might be all over my bees and just hanging on exceptionally well.

So I do not trust the sticky board drop test. Let me tell you how I determine my mite levels and then what I do with that information.
1) Digital photography. I photograph several frames, take the photo back to my pc, and zoom in on my drones and worker bees and look for mites.
2) Open drone brood cells and some worker cells. I actually will pull out purple eye pupae and examine the number of mites on the pupae. Mites love drones because queens emerge from their cells in 16 days, workers in 21 days but drones not until day 24, giving the foundress more time to reproduce before the drone merges.
These two methods give me a much better read on my mite levels.
Mites will be in your hives. They are impossible to avoid entirely, but they can be kept to a level that will not disrupt the hive as much.
While it is true that for many years the answer was to treat with chemicals, this is not a good management practice in my opinion. With all our chemicals we seemed to have developed a super mite that is now resistant to our chemicals while at the same time, some of these chemicals have made our queens and drones weaker. Some of the approved chemicals can be absorbed in the comb for 5 years or longer.
Within agriculture, there has long been an approach called IPM for Integrated Pest Management. IPM is an integration of several approaches to keep mites below the economic threshold. While treating with chemicals is part of IPM, that is a step we try to leave out.

WHAT SHOULD YOU DO ABOUT MITES?

WHEN HONEY SUPERS ARE ON: Screen bottom board, small cell foundation, drone brood foundation freezing, hygienic queens and strong colonies.
ADDITIONAL APPROACHES FOR WHEN HONEY SUPERS ARE OFF: Powder sugar drop
First, if you are just starting out with a new package this year, it will be vary rare to have a mite problem within your package of bees. It is possible, but I typically never see mites that much in the spring or early summer. I just don't care about mites until July and August. Mites become more aggressive and spread more rapidly in late summer around August.
You see, I want my bees to produce honey from April through the second week of August. And they do. I try to stay out of my hives as much as possible during heavy nectar flows so as not to disrupt their bringing in all that honey that my customers are lined up in my driveway waiting on! And, you can't use chemicals any way when you have honey supers on the hive. If you do, your customer's honey will be contaminated with chemicals that can harm humans. You DON'T WANT THAT!!
But, there are some things I can do when my honey supers are on to cut down on mites. First, I use screen bottom boards. I used to be a staunch solid bottom board fan until I experimented with a screen bottom board. Wow! I immediately converted all of my solid bottom boards over to screen bottom boards. When mites fall to the bottom of a hive with a screen bottom board, they are gone, and cannot make it back in. On a solid bottom board, they simply wait for the next passing bee to get on and ride back up to infest the hive.
A screen bottom board also provides ventilation and a cleaner hive allowing colony debris to fall on through. Here in Central Illinois winters are harsh, sometimes getting well below 0 and windy. I do not cover my screen bottom boards. I leave them open all winter to allow ventilation to evaporate the moisture out of my hives. It is not the cold that kills bees, but being cold and wet from their own condensation within the hive from poor ventilation. Screen bottom boards will not get rid of all the mites, but it is one of several approaches that contributes toward keeping mites below the economic threshold.
Secondly, I use drone foundation to lure the mites. You see, as I said earlier, mites like drone cells because the foundress mites have a full 24 days to develop their prodigy since the drone is the longest in the cell. So, you can lure the mites off of your worker cells by placing drone foundation on the outside edges of your brood hive bodies. We sell a one piece drone foundation plastic frame. The cell size is for drone cells so the queen knows to lay only unfertilized eggs producing drones. Then, your mites run to these cells and after they are capped, you pull the frames out, put them in a plastic trash bag, freeze them overnight and your mites are dead. Scratch open the cells and place it back in hive for the bees to clean out, and they will! They get rid of all the mites and dead drones. These frames are a bright lime green so you can easily identify your drone frames. We sell these frames for $4.99 each, much cheaper than chemicals. These can be purchased from our website at: www.honeybeesonline.com under frames and foundation. By scratching the cells open after freezing, it allows you to keep the drawn comb intact, but encourages the bees to clean out the dead mites and drones from the cells. If you scrap the wax completely off, then it just takes more time for the bees to draw it out again.
Thirdly, small cell foundation. I'll skip small cell foundation, because it is not a for sure thing and it should be tried only by very experienced beekeepers. It has to do with bee regression and let's just say that's a whole different lesson. But many claim that by using 4.9 mm cell size foundation, the cells are capped a day sooner, throwing off the mite's cycle and not allowing them to get in on time. Some studies have shown this not to be effective, while other studies show it helps control mites.
Fourthly, work is underway to produce a queen that is so hygienic that her daughters might have the characteristic of detecting a foundress mite, opening the cell and dragging the pupae and mites out before they reproduce. I have attended a conference where this was discussed and the results were shared. It is promising! We may not have to wait, as some suggest that bees are now becoming more aware of mites and are actually taking them out of the hive.
Again, if you find you have a queen and her daughters are keeping mites out of the hive, then that is good queen stock to breed from!
Finally, the answer to all colony problems in my opinion is to keep strong colonies. A strong colony avoids most diseases and pests.
When your supers are off of your hive, powdered sugar dropped in the deep hive bodies can be very effective at controlling mites. For a complete lesson on how to apply the powdered sugar drop, check out our lesson at the link below:
http://basicbeekeeping.blogspot.com/search?q=powdered+sugar
When using powdered sugar, the bees actually clean each other off, and mites go too. And mites get the sugar in their suction cups and can't hang on any more and fall out too! It is impressive.
There you have it! Some natural ways and IPM ways to manage your hives and keep mites from destroying your hive.
I've been working on several more lessons at the same time I've written this one. The next one will be on record keeping. A failure to keep beekeeping logs can result in the failure of your hives.
Remember, call in your hive orders as soon as possible so you can get your equipment on hand soon. So call us for your hive order or bee order. Call us between 9am - 5pm Central Time. We'll be happy to help you get what you need to start keeping bees.

We have lots of hives listed at our main website at:
www.honeybeesonline.com We'd love to earn your business.

Remember... BEE-HAVE Yourself!!

David & Sheri Burns
217-427-2678
Long Lane Honey Bee Farms

I haven't said much about it lately, but I'm still doing yoga. I'm mentioning it now because it is relevant to one of today's little leaps.

I've gotten pretty comfortable in my yoga class. (Comfort, by the way, does not come close to conquer). Meaning, I am familiar with the poses and have a sense when I'm close to looking somewhat like I'm supposed to look and when I'm, well, not. There's one transition from pose to pose when you can either walk or jump your feet behind you (think squatting to push up). Well, I've been jumping for some time now, but never in a fluid motion because for me, trying to make something look fluid inevitably looks foolish.

Today, in one big exhale, I did it. I can't say that it looked fluid, but it felt fluid. It felt good.

Leap #1.

Leap #2 is something I've been wanting and meaning to do for some time: find and join a fiction writer's group. I had a little inspiration from a family member in Chicago who joined one and pointed me in a direction where I might find one in Baltimore. I found the email address yesterday and wrote the woman, Ally, today. (Of course, the class is full so I'm on a waiting list, but it's progress).

Leap #2

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I'd love to hear some of the leaps you've taken, are taking, or are preparing to take.

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Splurge-Award Goes To...

The spoonfuls of natural peanut butter and creamed honey concoction that I've worn a path from my desk to the fridge to eat for the last two days.

Here is the second part of the Reasonable Doubts interview with Taner Edis. The first part dealt with Islamic pseudoscience and the differences between Islam & Christianity. This looks at the complexity of treating Muslims and Islam as a monolithic entity. Then there is an excellent discussion over Sam Harris and his severe criticism of Islam. Edis here is spot on in pointing out some sloppy scholarship in Harris' chapter on Islam in his book, The End of Faith, and other problems with his approach. Check out the full podcast here - the interview starts a few minutes into the podcast (also wait till the end for a hilarious news story dealing with a statue of Jesus).

Update: On the topic of Islamic Creationism, here is an article by Taner Edis in the January 2008 newsletter of The History of Science Society: Islamic Creationism: A Short History
(thanks to Don)

Yes, like the character of Anton Chigurh in No Country for Old Men (I'm rooting for it to get the best picture Oscar tonight). Its also funny in this very creative history of evil (tip from openculture):


This also gives me an opportunity to post the first episode of Mr. Deity , which showed up over a year ago (I think its now in season 2). This is still one of their funniest episodes and it also nicely illustrates the Problem of evil. In case you missed it, here it is:

Lately, I've been hearing or thinking about "leap of faith" A LOT. It occurred to me last night that we are also getting ready to experience something that only comes around every four years: leap year.

So I'm getting the message that a leap of some sort is in order.

Although I am much better at letting go of outcomes than I used to be, that is the area where I really need to focus my faith. To me, taking a leap of faith is not an excuse to abandon effort, but I have a difficult time knowing when effort starts to interfere with faith (you know, in attempt to possibly (?) control the outcome). If that makes sense.

Sometimes, leaps of faith are more concrete, other times more obscure. Their outcomes are never predictable--but God promises they will be purposeful.

For example, a couple of years ago I was offered a job shortly after I miscarried that would be a slight departure from my 'career trajectory' (whatever that is). I didn't have any reason to take the job, but I didn't have any reason not to take it either. I just felt like I needed something fresh and different. I prayed on it, I ran on it, I prayed on it a bit more and took it.

A month later, I learned I was pregnant again.

I obviously didn't know it at the time, but the leap I took in accepting that job wasn't about career enhancement, it was about miracle tending. In that new job, I had a boss who gave me the world when it came to maternity leave. I was able to stay home with Ava for the first four months of her life while still contributing to the work of the organization remotely. I am confident that the nature of my previous job would not have afforded me that kind of flexibility.

I returned to work for five months (with Fridays at home) before taking another leap of faith. I started my own business. My leap-of-faith employer is now my largest client.

Taking that job wasn't a departure on my 'career trajectory' whatsoever. It was a departure from what I thought was my career trajectory. Fortunately, someone else knew better--and fortunately I had the presence of faith to listen.

One of my 2008 goal categories is "Just Jump." There are some concrete leaps of faith that I must take; but for these remaining days in February and for the rest of this leap year, I'm going to put those leaps in motion and make room everyday for 'little leaps' --being mindful to not let effort interfere.

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Obvious, concrete, obscure, or otherwise, a leap of faith is wrapped in acceptance that you are exactly where you are supposed to be--at any given second, minute, hour, or day.

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Saturday Splurge

A glass of wine at 2 pm yesterday afternoon. Ahhh. Pete and I found a $10-$12 bottle that we really, really like. I might've splurged about it before, but I can't get over the quality for the price!

To bring the stars further into alignment, I just read the back of the bottle, "Named for St. Thomas Aquinas, a revolutionary scholar in the 13th century who used the laws of science to support his belief in the existence of the Almighty."

Is there a connection between religiosity and poverty? There is an excellent article in this month's Atlantic Monthly, pretty much focusing on the above graph. With a few notable exceptions, there definitely is a correlation between low religiosity and high GDP (based on the data from the Pew Global Attitudes Project). Does that translate into causation? Alan Wolfe certainly thinks so and he also believes that overall, secular values are going to be the dominant force. He is careful in not saying that religion itself is going to go away - but that certain secular values will become dominant:

Yet breathless warnings about rising religious fervor and conflicts to come ignore two basic facts. First, many areas of the world are experiencing a decline in religious belief and practice. Second, where religions are flourishing, they are also generally evolving—very often in ways that allow them to fit more easily into secular societies, and that weaken them as politically disruptive forces. The French philosopher Blaise Pascal once famously showed that it would be irrational to bet against the existence of God. It would be equally foolish, in the long run, to bet against the power of the Enlightenment. The answer to the question of which religion will dominate the future, at least politically, may well be: None of the above.

In this article he analyzes all of the different regions and finds that Africa is the only place where the predictions of religious conflict may turn out to be true:

We are left, finally, with Africa. Religiosity there is widely regarded as high, perhaps higher than in the Middle East, but it differs in character. It is in Africa where the predictions of an old-fashioned, broad-based religious revival, with all its attendant conflicts, may come closest to the mark. Much of the commentary on religion’s muscle in Africa, and the consequent potential for clashing civilizations, centers on Nigeria, the continent’s most populous country and one in which, Pew found, most of those who perceive a struggle between modernizers and fundamentalists put themselves in the latter camp. In recent years, 12 states in northern Nigeria have adopted sharia, or Islamic law, and created special morality police to enforce its tenets. Eliza Griswold explores Africa’s religious revival, and in particular the subtleties of the contest between Christianity and Islam in Nigeria, elsewhere in this issue. Here, suffice it to say that Africa is indeed in the throes of a great awakening.

But his most interesting comments are about the obvious outlier in the graph - the US (yes, fine, Kuwait is also an outlier...):

Americans are not only more religious than Europeans; they are more religious than the citizens of some Latin American countries. If proof is needed that religion will remain a dominant force in history for a long time to come, the fact that the world’s most affluent society is also well up among the faithful would seem to provide it. When the president says that his decision to invade another country was influenced by a call from God, or when school boards decide to include creationism in their curriculum, it appears safe to conclude that Americans are not living in the world envisioned by Marx or Freud.

But one shouldn’t go overboard in describing American religiosity. For one thing, it is as shallow as it is broad: Americans know relatively little about the histories, the theological controversies, or even the sacred texts of their chosen faiths. Recent decades have seen the rise of the Christian right in the United States, but they have also witnessed the seemingly inexorable advance of secular ideals, such as personal choice and pluralism, that blossomed in the 1960s. Some signs indicate that the Christian right may be losing steam, or at least moderating, as a political force. Nonbelief, meanwhile, is increasing: not only are atheist manifestos selling in large numbers, but the percentage of those who express no religious preference to pollsters doubled between 1990 and 2001, to 15 percent.

Yes, Dawkins is smiling somewhere. But Wolfe's interesting claim is that the US has created a free religious marketplace and that is impacting religions worldwide. Basically, when religions have to compete with others, they have to modify to make themselves modern and appealing. While this may still lead to an increased devotion, it may also have a moderating influence on religions. Thus, it is religious pluralism that is making religions adapt to modern times:

Religious monopolies or near-monopolies, such as state-sponsored churches, generally throttle religious practice over time, especially as a country becomes wealthier; the European experience amply demonstrates this. Lacking any incentive to innovate, churches atrophy, and their congregations dwindle. But places with a free religious marketplace witness something very different: entrepreneurs of the spirit compete to save souls, honing their messages and modulating many of their beliefs so as to appeal to the consumer. With more options to choose from, more consumers find something they like, and the ranks of the religious grow.

And that is where the First Amendment comes into place, but more for the protection of religion from the government:

But secularism is not the opposite of belief; nonbelief is. Indeed, secularism has religious, specifically Christian, roots; it renders unto Caesar what is Caesar’s, while leaving to God what properly belongs in his realm. John Locke argued as much in A Letter Concerning Toleration, first published in 1689: genuine salvation, he wrote, can never be achieved through governmental coercion. In contemporary societies influenced by Lockean ideals, then, religion’s priority of belief and secularism’s commitment to individual rights are not in opposition; rather, they complement each other. It was once thought that the First Amendment was written to protect public life from the depredations of religious orthodoxy. It is now commonly accepted that the Founders also separated church and state in order to protect religion from government.

Even in non-secular societies, globalization and broad internet access is providing exposure to other religions and cultures. While it produces a reactionary elements also, Wolfe believes that overall it will have a moderating influence, and I think he is right. Towards the end of the article he makes an important distinction between religious intensity and fanaticism:

The world will never be rid of fanaticism; globalization is just as capable of disseminating extreme ideas as it is of advancing moderation. But fanaticism should not be confused with religious intensity. One can pray passionately to God and lead an otherwise balanced life, just as one can be monomaniacal about things having nothing to do with the divine.

And hopefully he is right about the increasing influence of secularism:

We have seen how rapidly religion has spread in the past, claiming adherents from competing faiths before the competition knew what hit them. Both secularism and secularly inspired ways of being religious are spreading just as rapidly—maybe even more so. Historians may one day look back on the next few decades, not as yet another era when religious conflicts enveloped countries and blew apart established societies, but as the era when secularization took over the world.

While one can nitpick over details, overall though, this is an excellent article with some bold and interesting claims. Read the full article here.

Little Known 'Boring' Websites That Make Incredible Money With AdSense - "As an independent handyman at the mercy of weather patterns near Hartford, Conn., he'd always made a decent income that rarely grew. Then he found Google and his life changed. Alonzy, 57, now makes $120,000 a year from the ads Google places on his Natural Handyman website, and he couldn't be more thrilled..."

On a cold day in Massachusetts, it is good to hear Richard Dawkins on lava lizards of the Galapagos:


And here is a fantastic excerpt about whale evolution from the PBS show, Evolution:


(tip for both from richarddawkins.net)

Last night Ava referred to me as "the mommy."

Then Pete reminded me of the Dinosaurs, a show that was on when we were growing up. The baby called his daddy, "not the momma."

Time and experience sure have a way of making old things new again. Even dinosaurs.

Song Splurge

I ordered a CD and it arrived today. Ava loves it, too. Listen to track #1, All I Want Is You." She can't get enough of the "sea song".

A certain little one I know has been putting everything to music--and requires that everyone around her do the same.

So, we sing about brushing our teeth, sitting on the potty, eating our oatmeal, and driving the car. Today she asked me to sing the "puter song" (that is, computer song) and a bit later requested the "slide song." Keep in mind that most of these songs are written on demand--and the lyrics and the tune change from the first cut to the 20th cut.

Still, it makes both of us laugh, even in the dead of February. Having felt a little under the weather myself lately, I'm convinced that this live-by-song has given me new perspective and new motivation--two things that my 22-month old seems to provide every other minute.

So, what are you waiting for? Get singing! Here's the little one, modeling live-by-song (note, you have to hit the play button on the screen, and then again down in the left hand corner of the square):

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The first song that we wrote was a couple of months ago but haven't sung it in sometime. It's called "the boys" song, after the four brothers (ages 5-12) who live across the street. Ava just adores them and they're pretty sweet on her too.

After dinner but before bath time tonight, she broke out in "the boys" song. It's a little on the long side, but well worth the wait.



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LobotoME is sponsoring a super-sized giveaway in honor of our mutual favorite movie of late, Juno. Get over to her blog and leave a message for a chance to win!

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Happy Happy Birthday to my little brother, Mike and our friend Andy!

Splurge-story

Still no purchases to report (but I'd be THRILLED to post your splurges). I didn't end up making brownies tonight, so I'm going to cheat and count that one for tonight's splurge, too.

Why do we believe in God? (and how much are we willing to spend to find out the answer?) Well at least there is one group now with a big grant to address this question:

Researchers at the University of Oxford will spend £1.9 million investigating why people believe in God. Academics have been given a grant to try to find out whether belief in a deity is a matter of nature or nurture.

Yes, it is funded by the Templeton Foundation, but the project looks great. And fortunately, they are not trying to show if God really exists or not - just the belief in God (which definitely exists):

They will not attempt to solve the question of whether God exists but they will examine evidence to try to prove whether belief in God conferred an evolutionary advantage to mankind. They will also consider the possibility that faith developed as a byproduct of other human characteristics, such as sociability.

Researchers at the Ian Ramsey Centre for Science and Religion and the Centre for Anthropology and Mind in Oxford will use the cognitive science disciplines to develop “a scientific approach to why we believe in God and other issues around the nature and origin of religious belief”.

The project can be boiled down to this:

He compared believers to three-year-olds who “assume that other people know almost everything there is to be known”. Dr Barrett, who is a Christian, is the editor of the Journal of Cognition and Cultureand author of the book Why Would Anyone Believe in God? He said that the childish tendency to believe in the omniscience of others was pared down by experience as people grew up. But this tendency, necessary to allow human beings to socialise and cooperate with each other in a productive way, continued when it came to belief in God.

“It usually does continue into adult life,” he said. “It is easy, it is intuitive, it is natural. It fits our default assumptions about things.”

The research will feed into other areas, such as whether the conflicts associated with religion are a product of human nature. The project will also examine whether belief in the afterlife is something that needs to be taught or is a product of natural selection.

Dr Barrett said: “The next step therefore is to look at some of the detailed questions� which religious beliefs are most common and most natural for the human mind to grasp?” The most exciting questions were in areas such as the different responses to polytheism and monotheism, for example, and relationships between religion and evolutionary biology.

More than the God question, it is the latter specific questions that are really interesting. Read the full story here (tip from richarddawkins.net). Also for a review of the topic, read this excellent article from New York Times Magazine: Darwin's God.

Just in case you were looking for something to do on a Monday afternoon...I've got just the thing.

Pete didn't have to work today in honor of President's Day. So while Ava laid down her sweet head for a nap this afternoon, I hit the computer to work and he hit the pantry to organize.

I know, I know, I know: unusual, incredible, fortunate, blessed, unheard of, lucky, and on and on. I know--and believe me, I try to make sure that I convey "I know" every day (okay, every other day).

I wish I had known what he was up to, because I would've taken a "before" picture, which would've been a little scary (not a lot scary, just a little). I did take an after for you to see.

Here's what he did:

1. Took everything out of the pantry

2. Categorized and inventoried the items and listed every single one according to category (see categories and sample items at link)



3. Discarded things that expired (or that we would just never use)

4. Put them back into the pantry according to category



He said that tonight he's going to make labels so that I always know where things go.

(A sweet gesture on the surface, but what he really means is, "so that this four-hour effort isn't a lost effort by next week).

This kind of endeavor (and trust me, I am NOT complaining) doesn't come without some well-earned capital. And he isn't wasting any time spending it. Some of the comments that I've already heard (a mere one hour since he finished):

• You aren't to buy one more tea until the box of 60 is whittled down to four.

• Are you just curious to see how many different bottles of vinegar you can find and fit into a cupboard or do you really think you'll use them?

It's okay though, I'll take it. Having a fresh, clean, and organized pantry feels a little like having a brand new wardrobe (funny how your expectations and simple pleasures change over the years). With all of my "goods" categorized, dinner planning and preparation will be much more efficient--and economical!

I told him I was going to add his skills as a new "service" under my business. So, any takers?

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Some pictures of the little one...who needs no organization, whatsoever:

Brownie-splurge:

Among the newfound items was a box of Betty Crocker's brownie mix. The chewy kind. Since it expires this month, I figured I'd better get busy!

I am working on a lesson, probably the one after this one, where I will address varroa mites and some natural ways to keep mites under control. But prior to that lesson, I want to put out one more clarion cry for people to help save the bees!
The decline of the honey bee population is alarming. CCD hysteria aside, the decline of honey bees in the US is disturbing. Not only because of the recent concern of Colony Collapse Disorder, but because less and less people are keeping bees. Even before the concern of CCD I was already frightened at the reduction in bee colonies simply due to urbanization and the decline in beekeepers. An absence of honey bees has sent farmers running to the phones begging beekeepers to bring some honey bees to pollinate their crops. I received two such calls last week.
Without the honey bee we face a severe food crises. One third of every bite of food we enjoy is the result of a honey bee. You see, honey bees pollinate. And without adequate pollination, our food supply is in serious trouble unless you want to live on a diet of beans, corn and rice.
Without the honey bee America would have to pay 93 billion dollars A YEAR to do what the honey bee does, if that was even possible. And in reality, no efforts can replace the honey bee. We receive many calls from orchards and melon farmers begging us to bring bees to help them produce a crop. The need for honey bees is tremendous. At times, and in some places, the beekeeper can name any price to rent their hives and the grower will pay it. One grower in Maine pays over $900,000.00 for bees for his blueberries!
In my opinion, the only way we can protect the honey bee from becoming extinct or declining even further is to encourage more and more people to start keeping bees.
One October 28th, 2007, PBS aired a NATURE broadcast entitled, Silence Of The Bee. Several things are worth noting about that broadcast. May Berenbaum, PhD, Entomologist, Univ. of Illinois at U.C. said, "Estimates are that about 600,000 of America's 2.6 million honey bee colonies may have just disappeared". Another interesting observation was that during the broadcast a line came across the screen that encouraged people to go to the PBS website to find out what they could do to help save the honey bee. After the broadcast I followed that link and it basically said that to help save the honey bee more people should become beekeepers. We totally agree! This is our passion.
I am often asked exactly, "What is needed to start my first hive?" My wife might answer you differently than I would. I would encourage you to buy everything at once, all the things you'll need throughout the full year of beekeeping. My wife certainly agrees with me on this, but if she were starting out she would probably buy just enough to get started, and then add to it as the hobby expands. That's because my wife is very frugal with money, spending as little as necessary. I'm a guy. I like to buy big things and everything at once. Why not, I'm going to need it anyway!
To help more people keep bees, our family owned business has developed into 4 areas:
1) Manufacturing of the woodenware, the actual hives.
2) Educating the general public, FREE, on how to keep bees. Of course we educate by offering free mentoring to everyone who purchases a hive from us too.
3) Selling package bees, nucs and queens.
4) And selling honey and other products our hives produce.
People often call and ask what they need to get started. So, we have put together the perfect kit, containing just what you need to start your efforts in helping to save the honey bee.
This complete startup kit is on our website http://www.honeybeesonline.com/ under startup kits, and it's called the "Starter Kit" and it costs $249 plus shipping. If you add in the cost of a 3 lb package of bees with an Italian queen which includes shipping of the bees, the price is $345 plus the cost of shipping the hives. Even this is still a small price to pay to start keeping a hive. Don't forget that I strongly suggest, however, that you start with two hives! This is very important, though not essential if finances are tight. For more information on why you should start with two hives, click on this link to lesson Eighteen, "How Many Hives Should I Start With"?

This will probably be my last opportunity to hit the subject of declining bees so hard within these bee lessons. From here on out, the beekeeping season jumps into full speed and gains speed all the way through November so the lessons will be more hands on, dealing with day to day beekeeping preparation and operations of your hives. So may I challenge you to consider beekeeping! And if you already are keeping bees, then please do your part to encourage others to get on board and start keeping more hives. Bees die, and when they do, don't despair. Replace your dieouts and keep going!
We are here to help you enjoy the wonderful honey bee and the natural products we gather from the hive.

Also, we'd like to post some of the positive comments that you might be willing to share about these beekeeping lessons. So, if you have a positive comment to share about how these lessons have helped you, please send them to: david@honeybeesonline.com and we'll sprinkle them throughout our upcoming lessons. Please include your state and first name.
I can't wait to share my thoughts in our next lesson about varroa mites. I've got a few radical ideas to share, and I think after hearing some of my ideas, you'll agree!
We are still selling 3 lb packaged bees! And we sell at $96, for pick up at our facility only.

Remember, BEE-Have Yourself!

David & Sheri Burns

If you're anything like me, technology and all that it affords is just one big black hole: you're not sure what goes into it and you have know idea what can come out of it.

Well, I am here to tell you that if you are at all interested in tinkering around in blog land, it's seriously simple. Google (big surprise) makes it very easy to set up and maintain a blog. Just visit www.blogger.com and follow the ultra-intuitive prompts.

You can keep it private or you can share it with the world. I had planned to keep mine private...

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Weekend Splurging

Lots of splurges to report:

1. A GREAT movie on Friday night. I mean TERRIFIC. If you don't know what it's about, don't find out (I had no idea). Just go.

2. Mexican food afterwards.

3. A new 8-inch skillet with my 20 percent off coupon to Bed, Bath, and Beyond

4. A carrot raisin muffin for breakfast from our new coffee shop

5. A swim at the pool later today with the little one and the big guy

This would be absurdly funny if a human life was not at stake. Saudi Arabia is planning to execute a woman for practicing witchcraft. She appears to have run out of legal options and now the only hope is an intervention by King Abdullah. Human Rights Watch (HRW) has directly appealed to the King for stopping this execution:

The court in Quraiyat, on April 2, 2006 (3/3/1427), sentenced her to death by beheading for the alleged crimes of ““witchcraft, recourse to jinn [supernatural beings], and slaughter” of animals.

Your Highness, the conviction of Fawza Falih for “witchcraft” is a travesty of justice and reveals severe shortcomings in Saudi Arabia’s justice system. The crime of “witchcraft” is not defined by law; judges breached safeguards for a fair trial in existing Saudi law; and there were significant procedural flaws throughout the trial which effectively eradicated her ability to defend herself against the ill-defined charges against her.

So how did the court decide that this is indeed a solid case of "witchcraft"? And you would assume, that since its practice results in capital punishment (!!!), the court would have an ironclad case for proving witchcraft (and in doing so, they may also win James Randi's million dollar award for proving paranormal activity beyond a reasonable doubt). According to the HRW letter:

First, it is not clear what the actual elements if any of the crime of “witchcraft” are, and the offence is not defined in Saudi law. As you know, Saudi Arabia does not have a written penal code that spells out the elements of a given crime. The accusation of witchcraft appears to have been based upon a broad, vague concept, which cannot be said to constitute “law”. Under international human rights law, persons suspected of crimes may only be charged with offenses as established by law, and which are sufficiently clear so that everyone has the possibility to understand clearly what behavior it is that will cause them to violate that law.

Furthermore, in addition to the lack of a clear definition of “witchcraft” in Saudi law and the absence of a written penal code in which to search for such a definition, the judges in the court of Quraiyat did not define the meaning of “witchcraft”, but instead cited a variety of alleged actions, stated intentions, and “tools” for “witchcraft” in a weak attempt to suggest that “witchcraft” had indeed taken place. The court cited one instance in which a man allegedly became impotent after being “bewitched.” In another, a divorced woman reportedly returned to her ex-husband during the month predicted by the witch said to have cast the spell. The court failed to probe alternative explanations for these developments which appear to be ordinary phenomena. Indeed drawing on the illustrations cited by the courts, it is evident that the practice of “witchcraft”, if it exists, is by its nature impossible to prove, since it involves the alleged use of supernatural powers.

Even medieval witch trials required more evidence than what is being used in 21st century Saudi Arabia (for more, here is a wikipedia entry on witch trials).

Fawza Falih is illiterate and the religious police first beat her and then forced to have her fingerprint on a false confession (without even reading it to her). An appeals court halted her execution, but later Saudi court decided that she should be put to death to “protect the creed, souls and property of this country”. (WTF ??!)

Read her full story here. I'm glad that Saudi Arabia's creed will be protected by this execution. But what creed are they exactly talking about? Lets seriously hope that some sanity prevails and King Abdullah halts this absurd execution. But it should be clear that this would not count as any favor or kindness on his part. Decency and any shred of humanity would demand at least this minimum action. in case you are wondering when was the last time the King intervened with the country's courts - just this past December (from Times online):

The last time he issued such a pardon was in December, for an 18-year-old girl from Qatif who was sentenced to lashes after she was gang-raped.

Her sentence was reversed in response to a chorus of international protest, which included rare criticism from Washington, Saudi Arabia’s long-time ally.

Dear King Abdullah:
As you can clearly see, several components of your judicial system are simply repulsive. After this pardon, please revamp the system so it is no longer a stain on human decency and a blatant assault on logic & human reasoning.

sincerely,
The rest of the world.

Update: And here is a CNN report on the case:

Alright. Get your barf-bags ready again. There is a new inductee in the Sherri Shepherd hall of ignorance (in case you don't remember, Sherri Shepherd is unclear about the shape of the Earth, and believes that history started with Christianity and was surprised to hear about the Romans). This is a clip from Are you smarter than a 5th grader?:


Yikes!!! (and sexist jokes are just part of the gravy)

This clip was the starting point of New York Times article, Are Americans hostile to knowledge? It talks about a number of new books on the topic but focuses on The Age of American Unreason by Susan Jacoby:

But now, Ms. Jacoby said, something different is happening: anti-intellectualism (the attitude that “too much learning can be a dangerous thing”) and anti-rationalism (“the idea that there is no such things as evidence or fact, just opinion”) have fused in a particularly insidious way.

Not only are citizens ignorant about essential scientific, civic and cultural knowledge, she said, but they also don’t think it matters.

She pointed to a 2006 National Geographic poll that found nearly half of 18- to 24-year-olds don’t think it is necessary or important to know where countries in the news are located. So more than three years into the Iraq war, only 23 percent of those with some college could locate Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Israel on a map.

Ok...then. We are all set for the future. Read the full article here.

Today Ava and I celebrated her friend Jacob's 2nd birthday at Port Discovery in Baltimore. She didn't even want a story at nap time, just her bed and her blanket.

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I'm not sure where she picked this up, but lately she's been adding "ey's" on to her words, "foodey," "housey," "milkey."

Strangey.

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Does February feel like the longest shortest month to anyone else? Time sure doesn't need any help moving along (and trust me, I'd slow it down if I could) but February seems to be dawdling this year. To spice it up a bit, I jumped at the invite to meet up with some girlfriends for a movie tonight. At the movies. Normally, I look forward to Friday nights with Pete and Ava (doing pretty much the same thing we do Monday through Thursday night, but with that, "It's Friday night" feeling). But I think this little night out will be good for all of us.

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Splurge-not:

I am strictly adhering to my no spending policy. I have only been to the grocery store once this week (I LOVE the grocery store) and I haven't tempted myself with one "oooh this book looks so good!" this week. Pete and I have had a weekly cash allowance since we've been married ($60/week) and so instead of the special coffees and little shirts for Ava, I've been using it to pay for things that I would normally justify as "chargeable" expenses: parking, extra groceries, coffee beans, etc...plus adding more to the poor box at church. So far, so good! And who would've guessed how great it would feel to have a LOW credit card bill at the end of the month and being giving more to people who probably need it, well, more!

Oh my gosh.

If you want to laugh (hard) you must read my incredibly talented brother's column in tonight's paper.

Here is a Reasonable Doubts podcast interview that deals with science and (Islamic) pseudoscience in the Islamic world. There is also a good discussion of the differences between Islam and Christianity when tackling issues of modern science. Taner Edis is the author of An Illusion of Harmony: Science and religion in Islam, which is an excellent introduction to the topic (he also has a blog, The Secular Outpost). Here is the link to the podcast and his interview starts a few minutes into the podcast. The second part of the interview is not available yet, but it will discuss some of the blistering criticisms of Islam (for example, by Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens, etc) and the apologist end of the spectrum. I will provide a link when its available.

Happy Valentine's Day to you!

And Happy Belated birthday to my friends Leah (2/6), Kristin (2/12)

We're playing toss and catch with some illness in our house, hope it's not the case where you are!

I'll be back in action soon. Keep checking back!

There have been a series of good recent plays that have tackled the complex issues of faith and reason on stage. Darwin's struggle with religion were depicted in Trumpery and more recently, Spinoza's atheism was the center piece in New Jerusalem: The Interrogation of Baruch de Spinoza at Talmud Torah Congregation: Amsterdam, July 27, 1656. Now here is another play, Grace, that depicts an atheist mother in dialogue with her son who wants to become an Episcopal priest:

Grace, commandingly played by Lynn Redgrave, is a professor of natural science who appears to spend most of her classroom hours ridiculing the notion of intelligent design and giving rousing speeches denouncing religious fanaticism. Her atheism — oops, sorry Grace — her “naturalism” is sorely tested when her son, Tom (Oscar Isaac), reveals that he has decided to give up the practice of law to become an Episcopal priest. Grace’s fire-breathing response suggests that she would rather hear that he had opted for the white slave trade.

While the review is a bit lukeworm, the play still seems interesting (and it has a superb cast of actors). It is written by a combination of a playwright (Mike Gordon) and a philosopher (AC Grayling) and appears to tackle some of the science & religion issues seriously:

The important moment in which Tom announces his decision to his parents is, frustratingly, elided in the play’s overly fussy structure. But soon he and Grace are squaring off in heated debates about the possibility (or lack thereof) of blending faith and reason, and the best way to combat the perilous rise of fanaticism.

Grace, who initially dismisses Tom’s calling as a form of “teenage revenge,” later accuses him of complicity in the rising tide of faith-fueled conflict. “Your language and your beliefs provide the context in which Scriptural literalism and religious violence can never be adequately opposed,” she lectures.

Tom retorts: “You’re never going to turn the world’s religious into atheists. If that’s what you’re trying to do, you’re going to lose. The best we can hope for is to turn bad, violent religion into better religion, and that’s what I’m trying to do.”

and as for the relationship between the mother and her son:

Ms. Redgrave, her captivating blue eyes glittering with righteousness, delivers Grace’s orations with a fine ferocity. She has a bravura scene in the play’s last moments, as Grace’s carapace cracks to reveal the wounded, desperate mother beneath the carefully maintained armature of the intellectual. But all the humanity in the performance seems to be cordoned off into this scene; earlier intimations that Grace is not just appalled but also anguished at her son’s decision would give the play more nuance.

There is also a mention of The Matrix in the play in reference to religion (huh??). But I guess, I'll have to see the play to make any comments on that. Its playing at the Lucille Lortel Theater (NYC) until March 8th.

Read the full review here.

The doctor told me I had contracted the "flu's cousin" last week. So I was feeling down and a bit uninspired (my excuse for limited blog posts). Fortunately, Pete was spared and Ava seems to have walked away with congestion only. I say "only" but I'm sure she'd have a whole lot more to say about it seeing how a stuffy nose significantly complicates the thumb sucking process.

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Our local television station is airing a series on bed and breakfasts. I've never stayed at one, but I can't stop daydreaming about the one they profiled this morning, Pleasant Springs Farm Bed & Breakfast. Maybe Peg (the innkeeper) will let us move in.

I am just as attracted by the homemade breakfast made from Peg's chicken's eggs and the peach cobbler from her orchard's peaches (and yarn spun from her sheeps' wool!) as I am by her. In her short 2-minute interview on tv, she exhibited the kindness and peace of a cozy April morning.

I would sound cavalier and shallow to say, "I want to open a bed and breakfast"--understanding that it requires more skill, work, and talent than I have to muster. But I think what it is that I want, after thinking about this bed and breakfast all morning, is the simplicity it inspires.

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Splurge

Pete and Ava tackled the laundry and played some basketball while I slipped out to the bookstore. Not to read or to buy or to browse, but to write.

Oh, and I did splurge on some new watercolors for Ava. We should be busy at that today.

Here is a round-up of Scientology related disaster news and views. Of course, the latest round of PR disaster started when the Church of Scientology tried to remove Tom Cruise's (creepy?) celebration of Scientology video from the internet website gawker.com. Now a group of cyber-hackers, called Anonymous, have decided to retaliate against the Church. (Its not all gloomy for the Church - Will Smith recently became a Scientologist - nooo!!). So here is a collection of different Scientology related items in one post.

First a summary from a Newsweek article about Anomymous:

These are unfriendly times to be a Scientologist. In December, Germany's Interior Ministry moved to ban the organization, which has tax-exempt religious status in the United States. In January, St. Martin's Press published Andrew Morton's salacious unauthorized biography of Tom Cruise, which describes the star as its de facto second in command. The church responded with a 15-page statement, calling the book "a bigoted, defamatory assault replete with lies" and saying Cruise "is a Scientology parishioner and holds no official or unofficial position in the Church hierarchy." Jenna Hill Miscavige, a niece of church leader David Miscavige who left the fold in 2005, this week came out in support of Morton and slammed the organization for, among other things, its practice of "disconnection--essentially severing contact with family members seen as hostile to the group.

Anonymous was planning its attack for today (Sunday) and here is a bit more about them:

Now, a loose-knit consortium of hackers and activists calling itself "Anonymous" has declared "war" on the organization. In a creepy YouTube clip addressed to the "leaders of Scientology," a robotic voice announces "with the leakage of your latest propaganda video into mainstream circulation, the extent of your malign influence over those who trust you as leaders has been made clear to us. Anonymous has therefore decided that your organization should be destroyed." (The clip has been viewed more than 2 million times since it was posted Jan. 21.)

The attack, says Anonymous, was spurred at least in part by what they consider to be the latest example of the church's secretive and litigious nature. Earlier this year, an internal 2004 church interview with Tom Cruise was leaked online. The actor, who called being a Scientologist a "blast," was seen railing against the practice of psychiatry and boasting, among other things, "we are the authorities of the mind ... we can bring peace and unite communities." The church attempted to have the videos taken down from the gossip site Gawker, claiming the material was copyrighted, selectively edited and that Cruise's performance was meant for private consumption. It's an argument that does have legal merit.

Read the full article here.

It has been tricky to deal with Scientology. I have been of the opinion that Scientology has perhaps been singled out unfairly (I have a soft spot for most UFO religions - c'mon...how can you not like Unarians and their Interplanetary Concave of Light celebration??). The German ban on Scientology, especially, seemed a bit extreme and raised the question of how do you really differentiate between cults and religions and who gets to decide that? Perhaps the focus should be on certain practices of a cult or a religion (why should mainstream religions escape that criticism?). I don't know if this was made pubic, but Germany should have provided a list of explicit complaints about Scientology. This can lead to explicit debate about specific practices - such as Disconnection or whether they prevent access to certain essential medicine, etc. Even then, one can ban certain practices and not necessarily the entire religion (for example, polygamy in the US for Mormons). If they don't comply, then impose a ban - but let them have freedom of practice of their religion.

That said, some of the concerns I had were answered in this excellent Point of Inquiry podcast interview with a former Scientology member, Tory Christman. I really liked the questions that the host of the show, D.J. Grothe, raised, especially about the reasons for singling out Scientology. I don't think all of the questions were answered, but still, the interview provided a good snapshot of the organization and reasons to be worried about it. Here is the interview: Anti-Science Scientology?

And now back to Tom Cruise video. Of course, within days it also generated spoofs. Here is one by Jerry O'Connell (but to appreciate it, please first see the original Tom Cruise video).