Religion, SF, and Other Speculative Fictions.


Mind on Fire random header image

Entries Tagged as 'Musings'

Spark: Rindercella and the Pransome Hince

January 21st, 2009 · by xJane · 7 Comments

When I was a kid, we had the story of Rindercella taped to our refrigerator. I loved reading it. I grew up in a family where the dominant form of humor was puns, including Spoonerisms. While I was first discovering teh Intarwebs, I looked for Rindercella, a candidate for being somewhere online if ever there [...]

[Read more →]

Tags: Folklore · Humor · Links · Musings · Personal · Society · Spark · Technology

Women in the Workplace

January 7th, 2009 · by xJane · 1 Comment

It’s 2009 and I’ve been seeing more discussions of women and work than usual. Perhaps it’s just that I unplugged from my feminist news sites in the last few months of ‘08. As a woman who will eventually go back to work, and if it’s at a law firm, certainly hopes that she’ll at least [...]

[Read more →]

Tags: Career · Dialog · Feminism · Gender · Justice · Musings · News · Women

“Are you really an atheist?”

December 29th, 2008 · by xJane · 9 Comments

said the friend sitting next to me at Christmas Eve dinner, with a vague look of disgust on her face, like I’d just admitted to enjoying self-flagellation. I was in the company of a number of people who had escaped Western religion (all some form of Christianity) and landed firmly in Eastern religion (all some [...]

[Read more →]

Tags: Atheism · Belief · Buddhism · Christianity · Dialog · Doubt · Feminism · Gender · Getting over Religion · Gods · Humanism · Judaism · Law · Meditation & Prayer · Musings · Mysticism · Personal · Reason · Religion · Skeptic · Society · Spiritual Progressives · Spirituality

Captain’s Blog, Stardate 3.14159265

December 21st, 2008 · by xJane · 6 Comments

Years ago, Avery Brooks (who will forever be Cmdr. Sisko to me) did a truly awesome commercial for IBM, one that still prompts me to occasionally exclaim, “I was promised flying cars!” The point was that, when people look into the future, they see today’s technology modified for the future, not the invention of whole [...]

[Read more →]

Tags: Blogging · Current Events · Dialog · Gadgets · Media and Design · Musings · Personal · Pop Culture · Science · Science Fiction and Fantasy · Site-related · Society · Technology · Video · Web 2.0

the Masquerade

October 31st, 2008 · by xJane · 1 Comment

Driving past the high school today, I saw a number of costumed people. Even at the law school, there are plenty of people dressed up. Halloween is the day that this society acknowledges that mask. We all wear different masks throughout the day, throughout the year (the corporate yes-person, the dutiful child, the loving spouse). [...]

[Read more →]

Tags: Art · Ghosts · Musings · Ritual · Society

Fair Use, the Internet, and some Funny

October 30th, 2008 · by xJane · 1 Comment

Synchronized debating. This is exactly why the internet is so important. Why fair use is not just some abstraction but something that affects each of our lives. And, it’s funny. So learn more about both candidates and a little something about the wonders of the internet:

Get the latest news satire and funny videos at 236.com.

via.

[Read more →]

Tags: Activism · Art · Creativity. · Current Events · Dialog · Gadgets · Links · Media and Design · Musings · News · Politics · Pop Culture · Reason · Science · Society · Technology · Video · Web 2.0

If you could be anything you wanted…

October 23rd, 2008 · by xJane · 3 Comments

One of the more popular genre of games right about now is a cross between full RPG and general story game. The most highly anticipated was Fable, where you start out as a young boy and grow into a hero…or a villain. And this was the major selling point: a slightly more sophisticated Choose Your [...]

[Read more →]

Tags: Art · Consumerism · Ethics · Fantasy · Fiction · Gadgets · Media and Design · Musings · SF · Society

Spark: Does Religion Empower Women?

October 23rd, 2008 · by xJane · 33 Comments

WaPo’s On Faith asks its panelists Does religion empower women? This is one of the few On Faiths that I’ll probably read each response to. I’m looking forward to the Christian/Catholic answer, which I’ve found generally centers around “having kids is empowering!!1!” There is some wonderful evidence for non-child-based empowerment which I’ve yet to hear [...]

[Read more →]

Tags: Atheism · Belief · Blogging · Christianity · Dialog · Feminism · Gender · Getting over Religion · Humanity · Justice · Links · Meditation & Prayer · Musings · Mysticism · Religion · Skeptic · Society · Spark · Spiritual Progressives · Spirituality

In the Dark about AFTERdark

October 21st, 2008 · by xJane · 16 Comments

So, we’ve got these posters up all over campus for an “event” tonight called “AFTERdark” and it’s pissing me off because I think this is a microcosm of the general bait-and-switch of religion.
The campus event of the year
AFTERdark
the compelling drama of
Joe White
“a top 10 influencer of the century”
-New Man Magazine
&
in concert
Jon McLaughlin
Island Records recording artist
Free [...]

[Read more →]

Tags: Activism · Atheism · Belief · Christianity · Depression · Dialog · Doubt · Ethics · Musings · Religion · Skeptic · Society

Music Monday: Still Alive

October 13th, 2008 · by xJane · 6 Comments

I’ve held off for as long as I could bear to, but it is now time to release this upon the MoF community. From the guy who brought us the classic office zombie song, Re: Your Brains and the classy May Day song, First of May, comes the geek classic Still Alive, the end-credits song [...]

[Read more →]

Tags: Art · Death · Ethics · Fantasy · Fiction · Folklore · Gods · Humanity · Links · Media and Design · Meme · Music · Music Monday · Musings · Pop Culture · Science · Science Fiction and Fantasy · Technology · Undead · Video · Web 2.0