I have an advanced degree in procrastination and another one in paranoia.
I know I know… I missed some days. Hey! Nobody promised you a post every day… technically…
Anywho, here’s a two for one, some lovely links to stories you might be interested in and some appropriate musical accompaniment.
Can children spread the coronavirus? It’s complicated. (Vox)
As most of the world continues to socially distance because of the coronavirus, Switzerland’s infectious disease chief wants to loosen restrictions for children — so they can hug their grandparents.
It’s a poignant move, as it was made in part to benefit older people’s mental health. But it’s also very risky, as it’s unclear whether or not young children, who generally seem to get mild cases of Covid-19, transmit the disease to others at similar rates as adults.
Paranoia about cheating is making online education terrible for everyone (Vox)
When student Marium Raza learned that her online biochemistry exam at the University of Washington would have a digital proctor, she wanted to do her research. The system, provided by a service called Proctorio, would rely on artificial intelligence and a webcam to monitor her while she worked. In other words, as tests must happen remotely in the Covid-19 crisis, Raza’s school is one of many using a mixture of robots and video feeds to make sure students don’t cheat.
“We don’t have any transparency about how our recorded video is going to be used or who is going to see it,” Raza told Recode. “The status quo should not be visualizing each student as someone who is trying to cheat in any way possible.”
Inbreeding Is Disastrous, Says Scientist Who Believes in Noah’s Ark (Love, Joy, Feminism)
Answers in Genesis has absolutely wild views on Neanderthals. They argue that Neanderthals, like modern humans, were descendants of Noah and his children after the Flood, which occurred around 4,500 years ago. The idea that you can start with eight humans—a man, his wife, his three sons, and their wives—and in a couple hundred years end up with two groups as genetically distinct as Neanderthals and modern humans boggles the imagination. It also runs in the face of everything we know about genetics. But that is what Answers in Genesis claims happened.
PS. Libby Anne has some great Creation Museum stuff right now.
7 Atheist Parenting Don’ts (Godless Mom)
I’ve had the pleasure of connecting with tons of secular parents here on the intertubes since starting the Godless Mom blog. I hear lots of stories… some are sad, some are triumphant, some just gutting. There are a few things I hear though, that just strike me as strange. These things feel counterproductive to me and could have the opposite effect you are hoping them to.
Here’s a handful of the most frequent actions taken by atheist parents who contact me, that in my mind are complete no-nos…
Fundamentalist Baptist father told not to teach hateful beliefs to children
A B.C. judge says a fundamentalist Baptist father who believes homosexuals should be executed shouldn’t have any say in the religious upbringing of his children.
Chilliwack Provincial Court Judge Kristen Mundstock made it clear she didn’t want to limit the religious freedom of the father, who is known in court documents as JKH.
But she said she feared his three young children — who live with their mother, AJH — would become social outcasts if they adopted their father’s extreme views.
“J believes the Bible directs him to teach the word of God to his children. In other words, J will teach his children that homosexuals should be put to death,” Mundstock wrote in a decisionreleased last week.
“If J is at liberty to teach the children his religious views, I am concerned the children will not be able to get along with people they must interact with on a daily basis.”
“He acknowledges he has hateful beliefs but he says they are based on good faith,” Mundstock wrote. “He states there are certain people that God commands us to hate.”
PS: Kudo’s to Canada… both the judges decision, and for the frank discussion of hateful US preachers spreading their vitriol by the CBC journalists The latter is refreshing compared to the passive both sider-ist tendency’s in American news coverage of religious issues. Call hate out when you see it, it’s part of speaking truth to power.
I was torn about what music to share today. Jonathan Coulton’s First of May is a standard, but NSFW. Then I thought about the things we are missing this spring and fucking outside is only one of them. It’s May and I haven’t seen a pitch thrown in anger yet this baseball season. So here’s a seventh inning stretch for the whole family, brought to us by the Cookie Monster.
Featured Image: Rain Delay by John on Flickr, shared with a Creative Commons license.
