The Content Cluster Muster (09.21.17)

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Bad Science and Sex Offenders


Sometimes the Twitter Stars Align Just Right


‘Murica


New Sermon Short


But in Case of Divorce, Who Gets the Car?

So then, a woman in the UK decided to cut the Gordian knot and just marry herself. Details here.


Bootleg Pre-Evangelism

So, as many of you know, Nate made a movie called The River Thief. What you probably didn’t know is that someone bootlegged it, put in Arabic subtitles, slapped it up on YouTube, where it now has close to 900,000 views. Not sure where the MGM lion came from though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1c21S8uTEQE


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MeMe
MeMe
6 years ago

Thanks for the bad science and sex offenders video. It’s encouraging knowing people are actually addressing this problem and that the Supreme court will be revisiting it.

Also, posting this video is sure to get Pastor Wilson back on the supervillain list.

bethyada
bethyada
6 years ago
Reply to  MeMe

Excellent video. And I also have a problem with what counts as a sex offense in the US. Some need to be on it, many probably do not.

Jill Smith
Jill Smith
6 years ago
Reply to  bethyada

I really struggle with this one, Bethyada. My state does not rely on the disputed 80% figure; from the website, I gathered that recidivism rates of 3 to 10% were considered more normal. But, against this, we are told that the average first conviction occurs after many offenses have not been detected or prosecuted. I looked up my own zip code on the California Sex Registry and learned that there are 66 living in my neighborhood (this area is apartment dense, so a zip code does not cover much ground). Reading the case summaries on those 66 offenders, I didn’t… Read more »

bethyada
bethyada
6 years ago
Reply to  Jill Smith

You’ll get no complaint from me when baby rapists are imprisoned. And I do not doubt that offenses occur prior to an arrest or conviction. I find the video helpful because it shows the lie that sex offenders do not change. It appears that after jail they are repeating their actions less than thieves. This is good for potential victims, and gives some hope to those who have strong desires which they also hate. My comment about sex-registries was not to complain about the people who should be on them, but the people who should not. And it is a… Read more »

drewnchick
drewnchick
6 years ago
Reply to  Jill Smith

This doesn’t go nearly far enough!!! I want to know where the murderer registry is!! Where’s the arsonist registry??! The robber registry! The scam artist registry, the panhandler registry, the socialist registry, the carpetbagger registry??! I mean, I want to live in a safe neighborhood. I want to know where ALL the scumbags live so I can live somewhere else and/or lock up my house and pull down the shades when they venture out of doors I want that kooshie wet-blanket feeling of security wrapped all snuggly-wuggly around me. I have a conflicted set of social justice sensibilities that says… Read more »

Jill Smith
Jill Smith
6 years ago
Reply to  drewnchick

I think I understand your point. But, when my child was young and I had to worry about which neighbors were safe and which houses on our street should be off limits, the sex offenders registry was useful. It was especially useful when her school required community service and assigned the children to visit senior housing facilities. We parents were horrified to discover that some of our children had been assigned to visit, on their own, a facility where 40% of the residents were elderly sex offenders! Knowing that our neighborhood had such a high population of offenders enabled me… Read more »

adad0
adad0
6 years ago
Reply to  MeMe

“Also, posting this video is sure to get Pastor Wilson back on the supervillain list.”

Now Pastor Wilson will be lumped in with the New York Times, all those Berkeley “scholars” and “Civil Rights” lawyers!
It’s almost like pastor Wilson is “bad”. ; – )

Wonder what the southern “possibly” law center will have to say? ; – )

Eric Stampher
Eric Stampher
6 years ago

“subcreators make nothing new” ? >> wasn’t it interesante’ however that God hauled back in his chair to listen to what Adam would name those critters?

Maybe there’s more God-like to us than merely rearranging?

jigawatt
jigawatt
6 years ago

Are the subtitles accurate?

Jill Smith
Jill Smith
6 years ago

I think that the scientists who made the moon landing possible probably used the metric system.

bethyada
bethyada
6 years ago
Reply to  Jill Smith

Not so certain the adherence to imperial is anything to skite about. I have seen American references saying things like trace element x: 20 mg per ounce.

And while the US is converting to metric, they are still using mg while the rest of the world is using mmol when quantity is important.

Jill Smith
Jill Smith
6 years ago
Reply to  bethyada

I was a young teacher in Canada when it converted to the metric system; we had professional development days for the non-science types like me. Now, when I go back to Canada, young people think I am a dinosaur when I slip and use imperial references. But I have not heard of mmol.

bethyada
bethyada
6 years ago
Reply to  Jill Smith

mole is the standard SI measurement for quantity. Avogadro’s number is ~6 × 10^23. The number of molecules of carbon in 12 g of carbon-12.

It is often preferred for concentrations. If you dissolve salt in water you will have different concentrations of Na and Cl if written as mg/L (or as the US write it mg/dL). But the same number of atoms (ions) of both Na and Cl which is clear when written as mmol/L.

Jill Smith
Jill Smith
6 years ago
Reply to  bethyada

Thank you, Bethyada. That made sense to me after I banged my head sharply a couple of times.

demosthenes1d
demosthenes1d
6 years ago
Reply to  bethyada

In the US chemists exclusively use metric. We use mg/l or mg/kg, or mmol/l or M when molar concentration is more helpful (such as with reagents – I disagree that it is preferable in all applications).

However, engineers use a motley lineup of standard and metric units, often simultaneously. It can be a real mess.

Ministry Addict
6 years ago
Reply to  Jill Smith

Tough to tell, but this huge stack of equations doesn’t seem particularly “metricky.”comment image

Jane
Jane
6 years ago
Reply to  Jill Smith

Granted, but all the little boys and girls who grew up to be the scientists who made the moon landing possible, grew up with the metric system.

I think there’s a lot to be said for the metric system and I don’t see why we can’t make the transition, but I don’t think that the argument that it handicaps our ability to do science is a great one.

Ministry Addict
6 years ago

Good to see a reference to The River Thief. As the only one in my family who could even remotely stand to watch it, I want to say that I thought it was great.

bethyada
bethyada
6 years ago

I listened to the interview on the blazing center.Topics: Blues; Mac n’ cheese; Reading; Weather and gratitude. Really enjoyed the talk. Glad to hear an interview where the interviewer didn’t hog the time talking.

Much to comment on but for starts, I see a need for you to upload your playlists to this blog. Or create a playlist on YouTube to share.

Gervase Markham
6 years ago

Ask the Mars Climate Observer team how that “using imperial units” thing worked out for them… :-) https://www.wired.com/2010/11/1110mars-climate-observer-report/

bethyada
bethyada
6 years ago

:)

Propulsion engineers, like those at Lockheed Martin who built the craft, typically express force in pounds, but it was standard practice to convert to newtons for space missions.

bethyada
bethyada
6 years ago

So the next request is can you post your wife’s recipe for macaroni and cheese?

Not sure what the big deal is in the US about mac’n’cheese. If you are going to make a cheese sauce should you not also add foods such as chicken, or cauliflower?

And what does Velveeta taste like? I’ll eat processed cheese but it is not my first choice. Is it mild like edam or colby, or a stronger cheese? More likely to put a bit of blue cheese into a cheese sauce for flavour myself.

Jill Smith
Jill Smith
6 years ago
Reply to  bethyada

I have extremely plebeian food tastes, and even I can’t quite handle Velveeta on its own (I am sure it is good mixed with other stuff). It takes as if it has been made in a lab with materials that never saw a cow. Canadians like their mac and cheese in the form of Kraft Dinner, and we lead the world in its consumption. It is made with a brilliant orange powdered cheese which has clearly been made powerfully addictive. The average Canadian has Kraft Dinner three times a week. If you are addicted to KD, you don’t want other… Read more »

adad0
adad0
6 years ago
Reply to  Jill Smith

“Canadians like their mac and cheese in the form of Kraft Dinner, ”

So I am told by “The bare naked ladies”!

Oh, not you Jilly, the band! They are from Canada even! ; – )

JohnM
JohnM
6 years ago
Reply to  bethyada

Port Salut is the closest comparison to Velveeta I can think of. No doubt the French would be appalled by the comparison. Velveeta still makes the best toasted cheese sandwich, I don’t care if it is processed cheese.

Jill Smith
Jill Smith
6 years ago
Reply to  JohnM

JohnM, you brought back one of my favorite travel memories. My ex-husband and I were taking one of the high speed trains from Paris to Marseilles, and knowing the exorbitant price of onboard food, he had bought bread and cheese at a boulangerie by the station. We set off, and slowly, our first class carriage emptied of people–who gave us filthy and accusing looks as they packed up their things and left. Once alone, we realized that the ghastly smell wafting through the carriage was coming from somewhere near us. It smelled like bad drains–and was the Port Salud cheese… Read more »

adad0
adad0
6 years ago
Reply to  Jill Smith

Whew! By going with cheddar cheese, it sounds like Kraft avoided a marketing disaster!????

Whole Foods, don’t get any ideas!????

lndighost
lndighost
6 years ago
Reply to  Jill Smith

That’s a great way to get yourself some space! A bag of mine once sent the airport sniffer dogs into a frenzy. There was no strong French cheese in there, but there had been … a week ago.

Jon Swerens
Jon Swerens
6 years ago

A comment about the Plodcast…

Doug, ten episodes in, and now it’s high time for you to tell people about Ashley Cleveland. It was so great hearing that distinctive voice again!

If you don’t know who she is, take a listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/embed/album/2IpBmt2snlXdZNhJn0tbxl

demosthenes1d
demosthenes1d
6 years ago

Doug. It seems that the recently issued CREC Presiding Minister’s report on the Wight and Greenfield cases should be posted in the controversy page (preferably in a readabl/searchable format). I don’t know why it took 2 years, but the report is quite good.

bethyada
bethyada
6 years ago
Reply to  demosthenes1d

It is on their church website

Scipio
Scipio
6 years ago

Pastor Wilson, regarding the sex offender post, you might be interested in reading the Sixth Circuit’s opinion that the Supreme Court is currently being asked to review. It’s available here: http://www.opn.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions.pdf/16a0207p-06.pdf.

The court held that retroactive application of Michigan’s sex offender registry act violated the Constitution’s ex post facto clause because it constituted retroactive punishment. In addition to critiquing the “frightening and high” statement, the court engaged with the original meaning of the ex post fact clause as well as the natural law dictum: nulle poena sine lege.

Johnny Simmons
6 years ago

I’m having a hard time getting past Robert Longo looking like Captain Kangaroo.