Sunday in Outer Blogness: Technical Difficulties Edition!
General J. C. Christian’s hilarious book review just got the coveted link from Pharyngula this week — and totally earned it!! Check it out, and don’t forget to vote! In other publishing award news, my husband’s latest book has been shortlisted for a prestigious award, the Diagram Prize for Oddest Book Title of the Year. Yes, it’s a real award, and (unlike the J.C. Christian book review) I’m not kidding. I don’t think his book stands a chance against The 2009-2014 World Outlook for 60-milligram Containers of Fromage Frais, though. Of course, he wasn’t shooting for “oddest title” when he named his book — some mathematical objects just have funny names! Oh well, it’s always nice to get shortlisted for a book award. 😉
Then, of course, everyone’s talking about Chris Buttars this week! If you’re not sure what all the fuss is all about, Chino Blanco has compiled all of the relevant videos for your viewing pleasure. Chris Bigelow doesn’t like Buttars, but agrees with him that eventually the gay issue is going to help split this nation apart and cause terrible civil war. On the other end of the spectrum, MoHoHawaii and Tobi are at risk of being forcibly separated and are battling for the right to stay together like other couples.
And, for a little fun, Andee has prepared a set of lol cats using her own cats!!! Actually, you guys are probably all already aware of this, but FLAK has a 33-page sticky thread of LOL Damuz. Oh, and here’s a funny paranoid reaction to the atheist bus ads. And if that’s not enough to keep you entertained for this week, there are a few new chapters of Falling Into Life, and A Motley Vision is organizing a weekly Mormon Lit short story discussion group that you might want to participate in! The first one is an interesting story (from a back-issue of Dialogue) about a little girl in a polygamous family.
Oh, and about the “technical difficulties”: you may or may not have noticed that Main Street Plaza went offline for about a day and a half, but everything is back to normal now. Plus, I’m finally going to be updating Outer Blogness with the twenty or thirty new exmo blogs that I’ve discovered since the blogrolling service broke. They’re promising service by March 2. Of course, they’ve made a lot of promises, so I’m not holding my breath…
Thanks chanson – and to everyone for getting this site back up and running. I loved Andee’s lolcats (and the FLAK thread as well)…
Congratulations to your husband for his nomination! I heard about this award yesterday on Michael Feldman’s What’ya know. Best of luck to him – but I agree about the 2014 book title.
oops, your link is broken…
When you heard about the award, did you notice that my husband’s book was on the list?
I had no idea. The person who mentioned the award mentioned some of the book titles (particularly past winners) but not any of the authors. At least, no one as familiar as your husband.
The link is http://www.notmuch.com. The show aired yesterday, Feb. 21st. It looks like you can download the show through itunes or audible.com – not sure if it’s free anywhere.
Personally I think his real competition is “Curbside Consultation of the Colon”. It has everything, a drive-thru for something that oughted be, colons, alliteration, and horrible, horrible mental images.
Sabayon — You’re right, that one’s pretty hard to beat! 😉
“Last year’s winner was If You Want Closure In Your Relationship, Start With Your Legs.”
*snerk*
Sorry, but that was just too good not to repeat… 😀
Yeah, as someone who’s slept with an ex, I know how true that is. 😉
But I think it’s clear that one is deliberately trying to be funny, which is an automatic point reduction. 😉
Maybe Bigelow doesn’t like Buttars because they’re too much alike for his own comfort. Bigelow is Buttars-lite.
Case in point:
On the positive side, it’s people like Bigelow and Buttars who incrementally help the LGBT community. Their bigotry makes sexuality a part of mainstream discussion and dialogue – scary for folks like Bigelow and Buttars, because they’re blowhards that have no interest in listening.
Sideon — Yeah, I kind of hesitated before linking to that post because I’d like MSP to be a place where gay people don’t feel like they’re put on the spot, like they have to defend themselves. As the same time, it’s instructive to see the reasoning behind what I think is a fairly typical position within Mormonism.
Chris’s post is interesting because it explicitly places people like me (straight but not narrow) in the category of being “worse” than someone like Larry Craig, lying to his constituents and cheating on his wife secretly in an airport bathroom. It’s like the most important point is for gay people to internalize a deep sense of shame. It seems almost incomprehensible that a life of lies and shame would be seen as morally superior to an open, honest, committed (homosexual) relationship.
Yet, the fact that this position seems incomprehensible is a reason to try to comprehend it. It’s hard to effectively criticize a position you don’t understand (as the “Intelligent Design” community has demonstrated many times over. 😉 )
I glanced at the Bigelow link, but that didn’t really register with me until now. That really does seem to be what he’s saying. It’s not almost incomprehensible to me, it’s completely incomprehensible.
Bigelow is a Mormon. Mormons want to be nice. Therefore, Bigelow wants to be nice.
Mormons want to follow the prophet. Therefore Bigelow wants to follow the prophet.
Bigelow has to twist his argument into a pretzel because he attempts to reconcile both requirements.
The problem is that the prophet is clueless about sexuality in general and homosexuality in particular. Informed by superstition and prejudice, the prophet’s advice about sexuality is actually harmful regardless of his intent.
I agree that we must make allowances for people’s ignorance. The problem is that Gordon Hinckley admitted that he had no clue but insisted that he had to regulate the matter nonetheless because he was certain that “those people” had a “problem.”
That attitude seems to be not only cavalier but also callous.