tales of an ordinary girl

I read many really good blogs during the week, which I link posts to in the reader on my sidebar. But, there are always those excellent posts I feel especially obligated to point out to my readers, whether because they're funny or thought-provoking. Here's my sampling for this week.

Food
Fast Food: Ads vs. Reality shows exactly why I don't eat meat (mostly) at fast food restaurants. I can't bring myself to eat Taco Bell mushy ground beef or McDonald's nasty beef patties anymore.

Government
Mark Hoofnagle discusses the current US government's role in consumer protection at denialism blog.

At A Wide Angle View of India, Nita discusses whether torture is a necessary evil.

Jason Kuznicki at Positive Liberty writes about waterboarding.

Religion
Evanescent explains being Atheist or Anti-Theist and questions belief in the Apocalypse.

Greta Christina ponders consciousness and selfhood at her blog.

At No More Hornets the Exterminator ponders whether souls will need clothes in heaven.

John at Evolving thoughts continues his discussion on explaining religion in Part III: Is Religion Adaptive?

PZ Myers briefly discusses the influence of religion on our civilization at Pharyngula.

At Symbolic Order, Aaron Powell argues that atheism offers freedom from sin but not freedom from morality.

Science
At The Evilutionary Biologist, John Dennehy explains how scientists took apart a Tobacco Mosaic Virus and then put it back together back in his Weekly Citation Classic series.

I haven't read these books, but I've been thinking about picking up a copy of the first three. Has anyone read them? What do you think?

The Golden Compass

(via denialism blog)

This month's book for the Nonbelieving Literati group is Lamb: The gospel according to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal. The characters were funny, even hilarious at times. I enjoyed and cared about the fates of Biff, Josh, and Maggie. I enjoyed reading about the supporting characters, especially the very off-beat disciples. But as I reached the end of the book I was expecting something... more. I cringe to say it, but I was even a little disappointed.

It seemed like Biff's gospel, his story, ended in a rush. After all the time spent on childhood, I expected something more outlandish. And what happened to Maggie after Biff was gone? I realize she wasn't the central character and Biff wouldn't have known, so the author would have had to lengthen the ending, perhaps drawing out the conclusion too much, but I wanted to know.

And, if angels are really that mentally challenged then I really don't think all of those people who claim to have an angel watching over them should be happy or proud of the fact.

I suppose I should admit to a predisposed bias towards the religion in the book, mostly that it was real. I guess I was hoping for a different interpretation. But the book was fun and you should try giving it a read. But enough of what I thought about the writing of the book.

The central message was good - Josh was about accepting everyone, not just a specific subset of people and he was the sacrifice because he wanted to do away with God's sacrifice. Those were some worthy ideas to bring into the story. They are the most positive, appealing tenets of Christianity.

One thing I don't think Moore ever touched on was the afterlife. Biff just wakes up one day when the angel resurrects him. He has no idea of anything that happened after his death. Since we don't know what happened to Maggie maybe there's another explanation. But I wonder, did this new religion then get pulled off its tracks after Josh's death? Was it intended to be more about how we live our lives rather than what we can hope for after death?

And I guess that's my disappointment. I wanted those questions answered more clearly. I wanted a Priscus so I could know what was going on in the author's head. Of course, I could have just missed it.

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And that brings us to the next selection. The Exterminator asked me to pick the next book and after much deliberating I've selected The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell. Now, as much as I complained about the religion above, this is very much a religious book. In fact, there are a lot of parallels. It's also deeply disturbing in many ways as the author explores what it means to be human. I hope everyone will like it. I'm assuming we're aiming to complete by December 15.