(no subject)

There's supposed to be big, windy storms coming to California over the next few days/weeks.  I really should get some waterproof shoes and a rain hat.  I suspect umbrellas are of limited use in 35mph winds.  And maybe I should make sure that hat has a chin strap. Or I could get one of these. Apparently wearing one will turn me into an impossibly skinny person with no arms.

(no subject)

"Pious Encounters": on how such horrible bigotry and racism goes on in otherwise intelligent (in this case, Orthodox Jewish) people who are skilled at logic and reason:

The answer lies in the fact that they both have areas of discourse where reason, however strong, doesn’t penetrate. They were indoctrinated from childhood with certain ideas being a priori truths. These ideas cannot be questioned and are accepted unequivocally. This, I can only speculate, creates a spot in their minds where logic is superfluous and even harmful. And since they have certain topics that are off limits to logical scrutiny, they will say things that seem absurd to those who lack the same indoctrination.

We are all guilty of faulty reasoning at one time or other. But the total breakdown of reason among intelligent people who are indoctrinated in fundamentalist faiths goes far beyond the simple failures of logic we might experience day-to-day. And they produce the kind of bigotry and indifference to other humans that we so often witness.

Emphasis mine. And I entirely agree.