On What May Be the Most ‘No Shit’ Science Article Ever

Tags

behaviour, evolution, fashion, feminine, femininism, femininity, high heels, science, shoes, women

Guess what science finally proved: the appeal of high heels is that they accentuate feminine attractiveness.

No shit.

In fairness to the actual study, the researchers acknowledge the high heels/attractiveness connection from the outset. Their study focuses on why high heels have endured over time. Their study found that heels do, in fact, give women a sexier walk. They concluded that this is a culturally influenced exploitation of our primal sexual urges.

Again, no shit.

Since women can be fired for being too attractive, I suppose women have a scientifically proven reason for ousting high heels as business attire.

On Being a Husky 12-Year-Old Boy

Tags

charlotte allen, female, feminism, feminist, guns, lanza, male, masculinity, men, national review, newtown, school shooting, violence, women, wtf

I’d seen it mentioned a few times today, but I finally got around to reading the now infamous Nation Review Online commentary by Charlotte Allen. If I’m being honest, I’m calling poe. I think someone posed as this Charlotte Allen and slipped by editorial what may be the most absurd response to the Newtown tragedy yet.

There were two, truly priceless lines: (1) “Think of what Sandy Hook might have been like if a couple of male teachers who had played high-school football, or even some of the huskier 12-year-old boys, had converged on Lanza.” and (2) “There didn’t even seem to be a male janitor to heave his bucket at Adam Lanza’s knees. “

Where’s the Beef(y Men)?

Ms. Allen’s lament is that there were not any men at the elementary school. As she puts it: “…a feminized setting is a setting in which helpless passivity is the norm.” (Pardon me a minute while I vomit in my mouth). See, had a man (or a husky 12-year-old boy or even a female janitor that didn’t heave her bucket like a girl) been on the premise while Adam Lanza was committing his horrific act, the man would have prevented the whole affair. I can only assume Ms. Allen comes to this conclusion because she thinks men are bulletproof. Don’t laugh, there are certain positions in the military that can only be held by men. This would be reasonable if men were bulletproof. Of course, what Ms. Allen seems to forget is that there was a man at the elementary school that day. He was the one with all the guns killing everybody. And, as he proved on himself, men aren’t bulletproof.

Preventing the Next School Shooting

As with all tragedies, the aftermath leaves us with questions about how we can prevent this from happening again. And, as with all tragedy-aftermaths, the experts are happy to inform us. In fact, they’ve given us a nice 10-point blueprint:

Preemptive Steps-

From Mike Huckabee: (1) We need to offer a formal invitation to God that he is allowed into our schools. Also, (2) we need to allow mangers on public property.

From James Dobson: (3) We need to get rid of abortion. Also, (4) we must only allow one man and one woman to marry.

From Charlotte Allen: (5) We need to station men who played football in high school and husky 12-year-old boys in every school.

From the National Rifle Association: (6) We need to make sure these men who played football in high school and husky 12-year-old boys do not watch violent TV or movies. (7) They can’t play violent video games, either. (8) But we do need to provide them with guns.

In the highly unlikely case that our preemptive measures don’t work-

From Charlotte Allen: (9) Run. And (10) always carry around a mop bucket to throw at the shooter’s knees in case you get cornered. [Important Note: It is a well known fact that women have no sense of direction, so they are more likely to run themselves into a corner. Here is a pretty pink mop bucket for you lovely ladies out there. You're welcome.]

What Totally Definitely Will Not Solve the Problem of School Shootings

As Ms. Allen notes, feminized settings lead to passive people, and passive people don’t attack other people. So, why don’t we end school shootings completely by feminizing everyone until they’re passive? I’m not sure. Probably because it’s too gay.

On Making Lemonade

Tags

court, feminism, feminist, firing, iowa, job, jobs, law, men, women

Ever read a news headline that makes you ashamed to live in the country you do? Normally, such headlines are just met with eye rolls, face palms, and comments on facebook.

However, the Iowa Supreme Court has graciously given us Americans cause for shame in a way that we can use to score some quick romantic points. Keeping reading to find out how.

On New Blogs and Not So Fine Arguments

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apologetics, argument from reason, atheism, atheist, Christianity, cs lewis, materialism, naturalism, philosophy, physicalism, reason, religion

Today, via myatheistlife, I came across Eric Hyde’s blog; which, I promptly began following. I did some glancing through a few of his posts, and I came across one to which I wanted to provide a quick response. Eric’s post is from late October, so my response is a little late.

Eric wrote about the Argument from Reason, which he describes as the “finest argument against atheism“. I recommend reading his post, as it lays out the argument well. The reason I would disagree that this is the “finest argument against atheism” is that it has nothing to do with atheism, per se. To some degree, Eric acknowledge’s this when he says:

It should be noted that this is not an argument “for” Christianity, but rather an argument against atheism, specifically that of materialism and/or naturalism. An argument for Christianity would follow a very different set of rules.

However, even in this caveat, Eric skirts the line of equivocation pretty strongly. At best, The Argument from Reason is an argument against reductive physicalism. As such, one is probably safe is using terms like ‘materialism’ or ‘metaphysical naturalism’ as a substitute for reductive physicalism. However, simply saying ‘naturalism’ is to falsely equate less-robust forms of naturalism with the strictly physicalist forms of naturalism. (In another post, Eric calls this “strict philosophical naturalism,” but this seems to be risky wording as well.)

More to the point, none of this speaks to the existence or non-existence of a god. Therefore, none of this speaks to atheism. This cannot be an argument against atheism. Atheism’s veracity is dependent upon whether or not a god exists. If an argument against reductive physicalism is not an argument for theism, it cannot be an argument against atheism. At best, it can be an argument against an atheism grounded on the assumption of reductive physicalism.

So, there’s no reason for an atheist to be troubled by the Argument from Reason.

For those interested, here is a response, from Richard Carrier, to Reppert’s defense of the Argument from Reason.

On Unnecessary Conclusions and Missed Opportunities

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atheism, atheist, athletics, christian, christiantiy, football, mike shanahan, nfl, prayer, religion, sports, washington redskins

One of my favorite blogs to read is Hemant Mehta’s Friendly Atheist blog at Patheos. He is a wonderful voice in the atheist community, and I very much admire his focus on supporting young nonbelievers. Likewise, I have always appreciated his willingness to call out atheists when they overstate their point. I provide this introduction because I am going to call out Mr. Mehta for overstating his point.

On November

So, it turns out November is a really busy month for me. I had promised to write posts related to men’s health in conjunction with my participation in Movember. Well, work reared its ugly head and has kept me busy.

Specifically, I took on a few new, large projects at work that have occupied a substantial amount of my time. I fell behind on writing posts and taking Movember photos. Eventually, I gave up on trying to keep up with the blog and Movember project.

I did, however, grow the mustache throughout most of the month. I took a picture about 3/4s of the way through the month, complete with a substantial cut I gave myself while shaving. So, I suppose the fates gave me a little pay back for my failure.

I did start a post about my father and the need for strengthening male communication. I intend to finish that and post it. Likewise, I am a good way through a response to John A. David on our back and forth regarding his argument for objective reality. I plan to complete that in the near future as well.

I will be busy well into the new year, but a few of the projects I have taken on are nearing completion, so I should have a bit more time to post.

As always:

On Morality and Logic (A Brief Response)

Tags

apologetics, atheism, atheist, Christianity, ethics, moral, morality, objective morality, philosophy, subjective morality

I recently encountered The Critical Eye, a blog about Christian apologetics by John David, that I have enjoyed reading. Today, he posted about logic and its application to morality. I intend to explore the topic of morality in more depth at a later time, but I wanted to write a brief response to John’s post.

On Movember, Day -1

Tags

cancer, health, healthy, men, men's health, moustache, movember

November is on the doorstep, and that means I’m going to start growing a moustache for Movember.

What is Movember?

Akin to the Pink Ribbon movement focusing on breast cancer awareness, Movember aims to bring awareness and support to men’s health concerns. During the month of November, participants in Movember grow a moustache (the mo). More importantly, it is a time to provide information about men’s health and encourage men to be proactive about their health.

Why am I participating?

First and foremost, I have to give credit to Le Clown. He has organized Bloggers for Movember. It is his clarion call that I am answering.

On a more personal level, if I am being honest, I probably don’t do a great job of taking care of my own health. On the positive side, I do a lot of walking, and I play in a couple rec. soccer leagues. On the negative side, I don’t eat all that healthy, I don’t have a general practitioner nor had a check up pretty much ever, and I’m a regular enough smoker to be concerned. So, as much as I want to do my small part in spreading the word about Movember and the health issues facing men, I also need to pull my own weight in taking care of my own health.

On Googling Before You Speak

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atheism, atheist, big bang theory, catholic, catholicism, christian, Christianity, hawking, religion, science, stupid

Are you smart enough to be an atheist?

Probably not. At least, that should be your conclusion after you watch this clip:

 

What lesson are we to take from this video? Well, according to Katrina Fernandez at The Crescat, the lesson is that:

“every smug high school boy, college hipster, liberal secularist, and twenty something who thinks they have all the answers… [need to] [work] on [their] humility and [prevent] [themselves] from looking profoundly, pathetically stupid.”

Why are these groups singled out? Not sure. But I think Ms. Fernandez needs a bit of looking at herself in the mirror.

Let’s explore…

On Causes for Cancer

Tags

atheism, atheist, cancer, charity, donation, femininity, feminism, fight cancer, health, masculinity, religion

This post is part ‘spread the word’ and part ‘shameless promotion’.

First, in case you hadn’t noticed, October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Second, on October 13th, I’m doing the Light the Night Walk in association with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. I’m walking with the CFI-DC Team. Shameless promotion #1: if you’d like to donate to support the cause, my donation page is here.

If you’ve checked Freshly Pressed, recently, you may have come across A Clown on Fire’s Bloggers for Movember post. Movember is a movement that brings awareness, education, and support to men’s health issues, especially prostate cancer. Shameless promotion #2: You can find my Movember page here (do not donate there, yet, as I am assuming the Bloggers for Movember will become a team). If you’re interested or want more info, check out the blog post or the facebook page.

During the month of November, I will be growing my moustache. I will be posting my moustache progress as well as posts about men’s health (both physical and mental).  One of the things I love about Movemeber is that it plays into one of my physical strengths: facial hair. I had shave-worthy facial hair when I was 10 years old. I am currently 31, so I have been shaving for over 2/3s of my life. I kept a moustache/goatee combo for a good number of years. These days, I tend to have stubble, but I rarely grow out the facial hair beyond that. Should be fun.