And Holy Pasta Week comes to an end...

ARRRR! It's Talk Like A Pirate Day!

And for science, here are some of the best Science blogs, imho, who fight ignorance on a daily basis: The Panda's Thumb, Bad Astronomy Blog, Pharyngula, and Respectful Insolence.

Arrrr! Ramen.

Holy Pasta Week - Day Four

Sep 15-19 is "Holy Pasta Week"
What's Your Pasta Tonight?

Holy Pasta Week science link of the day: 10,000-year-old stone tools unearthed in Redmond dig. That's right where Eric and I used to live!

Holy Pasta Week - Day Three

Sep 15-19 is "Holy Pasta Week"
What's Your Pasta Tonight?

Holy Pasta Week science link of the day: California’s Sierra Nevada snowpack hit 500-year low in 2015. Um, yikes.

Holy Pasta Week - Day Two

Sep 15-19 is "Holy Pasta Week"
What's Your Pasta Tonight?

Holy Pasta Week science link of the day: Evolution: 24 myths and misconceptions.

Happy Holy Pasta Week!

Sep 15-19 is "Holy Pasta Week"
What's Your Pasta Tonight?

Holy Pasta Week science link of the day: Understanding Evolution.

Get ready for Holy Pasta Week

Sep 15-19 is "Holy Pasta Week"

Welcome to Holy Pasta Week! Unlike many holidays, the origins of Holy Pasta Week are not lost in the midsts of time and memory. In fact, we know EXACTLY how it started. Here's Keith Kisser explaining the dates:

The holiest of holidays for Pastafarians, is of course the birthday of His Most Holy Prophet, Marco Polo (b. sept 15, 1254), who brought the word of his Noodly Appendage back from the East.

As Talk Like A Pirate Day falls on September 19th, this five day period constitutes Holy Pasta Week, during which spaghetti is consumed liberally.

All well and good, but who are Pastafarians? And what do Pirates have to do with Pasta? For that, The Wikipedia entry is probably the best overview. Or you can start at the Open Letter to the Kansas School Board that started the whole thing. In short, the whole Pastafarian movement is a reaction against Creationists trying to get their beliefs into science classes. Strange that the same folks who want religion in science classes don't allow science to be taught in church as an alternate "theory" to their beliefs.

And even if they did, it would be silly. There is a time and place for everything. Science belongs in science classes. Religion belongs in church or philosophy classes. If you cannot apply the scientific method to something, it doesn't belong in a science class... and "Intelligent Design" or whatever they are disguising Creationism as this week is all about belief and not about science. And please note: I'm not saying that Intelligent Design or Creationism is, in and of itself "silly". I'm saying that it's silly to teach religion in a science class. I respect people who are able to hold their beliefs without forcing them on children in inappropriate forums.

Thus, in the spirit of the holiday, I present an Introduction to the Scientific Method. Remember: Science expects to get things wrong and alter the theories to fit the facts. This is the strength of science. Any method of learning which alters or ignores facts to fit theories is not science, and should not be taught in a science class.

Arrr! Ramen.

Happy Holy Pasta Week!

Sep 15-19 is "Holy Pasta Week"
What's Your Pasta Tonight?

Penultimate Pasta Day

Sep 15-19 is "Holy Pasta Week"

Ok, well, we had good old fashioned Kraft Mac & Cheese for dinner tonight.

To my vast amusement, one of the podcasters in the Coolest Stuff on the Planet video podcast kept making FSM references today.

My science link for today is Evolution: 24 myth and misconceptions.

R'Amen.

Holy Pasta Week - Midway Through

Sep 15-19 is "Holy Pasta Week"

I'm not up for a big post tonight (I'm tired of being a human barometer). But Jeopardy tonight had a "Talk Like A Pirate" category which pleased both hubby-Eric and I in a noodly way. We had lasagna tonight, which has pasta in it. Again, we aren't strict Pastafarians, we consider ourselves Post-modern Reformed Pastafarians, and are low-church in any case.

Today's helpful science link is Understanding Evolution. I won't go on a rant today... but it's a good starting page for figuring out what evolution is and isn't. A hint: it isn't a replacement for religion, nor does it try to be.

And so, may you be touched by his noodly appendage. R'Amen!

Happy Holy Pasta Week

We celebrated with a dinner of potstickers and by watching the Doctor Who story Marco Polo (reconstructed).

Sep 15-19 is "Holy Pasta Week"

Some Links for Thursday Night

Ten impressive Optical Illusions, a sampler from a larger article. Via Elayne.

Where does the Alphabet Come From?

How to remember people's names. I really really need to work on this.

The top 50 Music Videos of the 1990s. Sadly, I don't recognize a lot of these. Does that make me old?

If you don't vaccinate your kids, you may be liable if they make someone else sick.

Bad Panda Joke.

LOLDog Theology is simpler than LOLCat Theology.

Pug for the in-laws.

Sep 15-19 is "Holy Pasta Week"
Plan your menus now.

Holy Pasta Mid-Week

Sep 15-19 is "Holy Pasta Week"
Ah, Pasta!

Introduction to the Scientific Method. Holy Pasta Week, at its heart, is about the differences between science and religion. I have nothing against religion at all, and even feel that it's a very good idea for people to have some training in religious studies. If you are going to study literature, you really ought to have a good grounding in the Bible, for instance. But religion has nothing to do with science, and should not be taught in science classes.

I've always said that if creationism is taught in science classes, then science must be taught in Sunday School.

Pastafarianism is a joke, yes, but the point of it is valid. If one religion is allowed into science classes, no matter what name it's disguised under, ALL religions need to be taught. And at that point, you no longer have a science class. You have a class on cultural anthropology. Leave science classes to science.

Happy Holy Pasta Week!

Today marks the beginning of Holy Pasta Week, a celebration of Pastafarians everywhere. Hubby-Eric and I generally celebrate with some sort of pasta dish each night of the week (which runs from the 15 to the 19), and I usually blog about what FSM is all about during the week. As Modern Reformed Pastafarians, we are pretty low-key about it all.

Happy Holy Pasta Week, enjoy your week, and ARRRR on Saturday.

Ramen.

Sep 15-19 is "Holy Pasta Week"
May You Be Touched by His Noodly Appendage!

Get Out Your Pirate Costumes

Holy Pasta Weeks starts tomorrow!


Sep 15-19 is "Holy Pasta Week"
Plan your menus now.

It's Coming

Sep 15-19 is "Holy Pasta Week"
Plan your menus now.

Friday Infodump

Comic Book Legends Revealed #205: Hall of Justice, Thin Alfred, Avengers Big Three. Comic Book Legends Addendum: Wolverine Idea Misattribution. Comic Book Legends Revealed #206: Deadwood, Human Torch TV, Wonder Woman TV.

What do you get if you insert dried spaghetti into chunks of hot dog, then boil the result? I don't know, but pictures here. I think I'd call them Cthulhu Dogs, myself. Add a good pasta sauce... yum! We should plan these for Holy Pasta Week. Can you boil meatballs?

Law Class looks up public information about Scalia, Scalia gets annoyed despite having said in the past that we don't need laws protecting private information. Apparently Scalia doesn't realize just how much private information is out there for anyone to see, because he thinks this lesson was an exercise of poor judgment rather than proof that there isn't enough protection of privacy.

The press uses made-up quote from Wikipedia in mainstream stories. Oops. I guess "checking your sources" isn't taught in journalism schools anymore?

Amway Chocolate. I'd love to try it, but I would NOT want to get involved in selling it, even if it is chocolate. I already have a preferred dark chocolate (Chocolove Strong Dark 70%), although it's hard to get out here and I'm running out.

Square Foot Gardening, this is clearly something I'm going to have to adapt to my own home. I've got enough room for this sort of gardening, and the desire for a small amount. I just don't want to make a huge garden that I have to weed daily. I'm just not sure what I'd plant. Suggestions? We're thinking garlic, and I'd like to try some tomatoes, but what other food plants could I try?

Holy Pasta Week Cleans The Plate

Sep 15-19 is "Holy Pasta Week"
ARRRRRRRR

Some good science blogs you ought to visit if you like scientific topics: The Panda's Thumb, Respectful Insolence, Pharyngula, and my personal favorite: Bad Astronomy.

And, yeah, it's Talk Like a Pirate Day as well. Another excuse for a party! That pirate up there is of course Black Jack the modern pirate, who battled the Golden Age Aquaman. Yeah, gotta tie it into my hobbies somehow.

Ramen.

Penultimate Pasta Day

Sep 15-19 is "Holy Pasta Week"
An Excuse to Eat Pasta and Blog About Science

Today's science link is Understanding Evolution, a great place to really understand what evolution is. Along the same lines, Evolution: 24 Myths and Misconceptions is another place to learn what you don't know about evolution.

Ramen.

Holy Pasta Week Continues

Sep 15-19 is "Holy Pasta Week"
Spaghetti Slurping is Not a Crime.

The link of the day is to the Nation Center for Science Education. Support science, support a teacher.

I need this for my car. Found at the Rof, Inc site. I should also get a flag for our house. I could fly the FSM Flag during Holy Pasta Week. Or the Jolly Pirate Fish just for fun. But I never got a Jolly Pirate Fish pin for my fanbag last year, so I somehow doubt I'll get a license plate holder or flag this year. Holy Pasta Week isn't really about gift giving. Just information sharing.

Ramen.

Holy Pasta, Batman!

Sep 15-19 is "Holy Pasta Week"
Eat Those Carbs!

I should have posted this link yesterday, but have been delayed due to the move: Introduction to the Scientific Method. I would hope that if a person understands the Scientific Method, said person would also understand why Creationism (under any name they attempt to disguise it with) is an utterly inappropriate topic for a science class.

Ramen.