RedHead Confetti

Trigger Warning: Snark ahead. Lots and lots of it. In fact, this entire entry will be chock-full of all of your daily allowances of snarky, sarcastic wit for the next month. Oh, and it's about religion in America... so yeah, you've been warned! So, today Pew released their newest religion poll. It's amazing! It's New! It's Improved! We can hardly believe it! Yes, for the fourth, or fifth time this year, another poll has come out that tells us what we already know: One in Five Americans is religiously unaffiliated... Now, my husband sent me the CNN link this morning from work. The Slate link, I found myself, as I read news there, too. I was already familiar with the 20% number, because I distinctly remember reading this before-- not that long ago. Where? I can't remember, but I do remember the "1 in 5" and thinking, "huh, that many?" I want to explore that, though, just a little. What does unaffiliated mean, and why is it really such...

About a month ago, I found this article over at Alternet, " Is Prayer Selfish? " It made me think, and ponder, which is what I want articles to do-- I want to be challenged to think about things, perhaps in ways I have not before. It doesn't always work, of course, because some times, news is just news. But occasionally an article bounces around in my head for awhile, and germinates like a seed. This is one of those times. I saved the link, to my "Blog List"-- a document I keep on my desktop for interesting links or ideas, things that I'm thinking of writing about. I do this, because there is always so much going on in my head. I don't want to forget something that struck me as odd, or weird, or made me think, "huh, I need to explore that idea a little bit". Most of the time, to be completely frank, the articles make me think of something in a completely different direction-- they are my jumping off points. This one, is no different. I do...

  Trigger Warning: This blog deals with my thoughts and feelings stemming from a news story about a man murdering the molester/rapist of his daughter. I briefly discuss vigilantism, and self-defence. It's not a deep blog, but it's sorta all over, meanders a bit, and might be difficult to read if you're the victim of molestation or rape. If you have been abused, please seek help. See your school counsellor, call the police, or go to the hospital. You don't have to face it alone, and there are people who can and want to, help you. About a week ago a father in Texas beat a man to death. We heard about it, nationwide, because he walked in on a man molesting the man's daughter. Like most parents, the man freaked out and intervened. The molester was beaten to death-- one of those almost trite "beaten about the head and shoulders" things. The father was very contrite, and seemed to feel genuinely sorry for killing the man. As of last Friday, the gra...

Warning: This blog discussing gender, and it's lack of duality.  If you're not comfortable with the idea that there might be more than males and females skip this one. It meanders a bit, as the topic isn't straight forward. I am not transgendered. However, I do use the pronoun "we" with regards to all members of the LGBTQQIA community [lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning, intersex, asexual]. There is no "them" if you're a member of this community-- only us. There are also more than that small handful of letters that stand for our gender and sexual ids and orientations. I heard somewhere there might be 700 of them, or more! That tells me, that there really isn't any "them" at all, only one large, gigantic Us. There never really was a "them" you know, there has always only been us. I've been thinking a lot about gender lately. I do that on occasion, really think about who I am, and how I am. I ...

I've been kicking this one around for years, in one form or another, and decided that in this week of birthdays and new births, and Mother's Day, I'd unpack it. This week is full! I'll get to Mother's Day later, I promise. I read an article on Slate.com last week, and it really got me thinking; it asked “will humans be marrying robots by 2050?” Funny enough, I watched a documentary the same day called Guys and Dolls . [You can see it at Top Documentary Films , and I highly suggest you see it! It was really well done.] Those two things together got my mind spinning again on this topic, but this isn't the first time I've thought about it. I've thought about the idea of humanity/person-ness many times over the years; what makes us so special-- what makes us people? This is something that humanity has wrestled with for millenia-- and probably will continue to deal with until our species goes extinct. It's been discussed in the various med...

Today is "Good Friday", the Friday that Christians believe their God-man Jesus was crucified first thing in the morning, died in the afternoon and was buried-- just in time for Passover to start tonight at dusk (Jewish holidays start the evening before). Today is also a banking holiday, and often a day off of school for American school kids. In Germany we didn't have school Good Friday or Easter Monday-- they were both banking holidays, although usually our spring break was called "Easter" break, and started Friday. My children are scattered through my house reading PC Gamer , a Horus Heresy book, or randomly torturing each other-- it's what kids do, or well, my kids anyway. They had spring break last week, school for four days this week, and now another long weekend. Their AIMs start next week-- those would be the standardised tests that prove the school has managed to teach them something this year. I'm not sure how I feel about those tests, but t...