I first tried MarsEdit back in November of 2009, and it is fair to say that my initial impressions were mixed. There were features I wanted that I was surprised it did not have, and I complained that the interface was not as slick as that of Ecto. Still, I ended up buying it after my 30-day trial expired. Flaws aside, it worked reliably. I figured that I would eventually find something I liked better to replace it, but that has not happened yet. I am still using MarsEdit to write the majority of my posts, and I have to admit that it has largely won me over.

Dear Catholics,

Those who pigeonhole you do you a disservice. Surveys show that many of you do not agree with the Pope on many important issues. You probably don't consider him divine and certainly not infallible. That is good; it shows you are willing to think for yourselves and ask difficult questions.

Much like we non-Catholics, I suspect that you are concerned about the epidemic of child sexual abuse happening in the Catholic Church. When the abuse itself is combined with overwhelming evidence that the Church has concealed it, lied about it, and enabled it to continue through practices such as transferring known offenders to other locations, we all have cause for concern.

I have never had much interest in buying a Kindle or similar ebook reader, at least not until recently. What changed? As absurd as this sounds, I am running out of space to store books. I've already given away more of those that I don't expect to read again, but things are still getting a bit more cluttered than I'd like. The thought of being able to buy books without losing space is quite appealing.

Of course, Apple's iPad can also serve as an ebook reader and even has a Kindle app as well as Apple's own iBook app. And yes, it is not that much more expensive considering that it does so much more. The idea of having color for magazines and newspapers is also appealing, but I could certainly live without that. The problem is that the Kindle's screen sounds far superior when it comes to reading in sunlight and minimizing eye strain.

What makes me a bit wary about either option, frankly, is what I found when I perused the selection of books with Kindle versions available at Amazon.com. There really doesn't seem to be much of a selection on the subject of atheism, one of the topics about which I most enjoy reading (imagine that!). This might be a problem, although there are easily at least 30 books in this section I'd like to read. I suspect that some of you own Kindles. How do you like them, and how adequate have you found the selection of non-fiction focusing on atheism, church-state issues, and the like?

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Taner Edis recently posted a fairly dismal take on science education over at the Secular Outpost. I really want to reject it, but I can't shake the feeling that much of it is correct. After noting that surveys consistently show that public distrust of science remains high in matters of paranormal and supernatural phenomena, Taner wrote:

People like me, who are deeply involved in science education, often think that all we have to do is improve scientific literacy...and a better educated population will come to see that trust in science is well-warranted. Then we'll have fewer people believing in ghosts and psychic powers, creationism, occult conspiracies, anti-vaccination paranoia, climate change denial, Scientology, etc. etc...But such hopes themselves might be more faith-based than empirically well-supported.

Graduation ceremonies will soon be held at countless colleges and universities. They mark an important achievement and a transition to the next stage of graduates lives'. At public institutions, they should not be used as an excuse to promote the very sort of superstitious nonsense that secular education is supposed to expose for the deluded fantasy it is. And yet, many state colleges and universities will do just that via organized prayer.

In this post, we look at a particularly disturbing example of what is in store for some graduates. Big thanks to Godless Girl for finding the video below. This was filmed at Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, Texas. And yes, this is a state (i.e., public) university.



When I watch this, I feel sorry for the young woman even though her behavior was inappropriate, disruptive, and unfair to inflict on the audience. I feel sorry for her because it does not appear that she has benefited from the sort of education universities are supposed to provide. Her money (or her parents money) seems to have been wasted. While she may now have a diploma, it sounds like she has managed to make it through college without expanding her mind. For that, I do pity her.

But you know what, it could have been far worse. The audience could have laughed her off the stage. Those on the stage near her, who I imagine were probably university officials (state employees), should have cut her off the moment she started into prayer. This sort of thing has no place at a public university.

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Why is it that idiocy seems to be so much more prevalent some weeks than others? Some weeks it is a real struggle to find someone worth honoring, and it is nearly impossible to pick only one on other weeks.

I try to avoid Sarah Palin these days. I really do. I suppose I just don't want to be part of why she continues to remain in the news even though she hasn't done anything newsworthy (aside from continuing to make a fool of herself). Unfortunately, her comments about Arizona's "show me your papers" law mean that I must honor her yet again as this week's idiot.You see, I am convinced that her brand of idiocy is not just entertaining but harmful.

"Thankfully, Byron York, he hit the nail on the head," Palin told Sean Hannity of Fox News on Tuesday. "There is no ability or opportunity in there for the racial profiling. And shame on the lamestream media again for turning this into something that it is not."