{"id":3208,"date":"2012-05-25T03:56:11","date_gmt":"2012-05-25T07:56:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/?p=3208"},"modified":"2013-01-10T15:41:39","modified_gmt":"2013-01-10T20:41:39","slug":"7-quick-takes-52512","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2012\/05\/7-quick-takes-52512.html","title":{"rendered":"7 Quick Takes (5\/25\/12)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a>\u2014 1 \u2014<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019m in Merrie Olde England! \u00a0The Atheist round of the Ideological Turing Test<\/a> carries on in my absence and voting is open now, \u00a0but I will be slow to respond to email and comments since I have limited internet and time to spend on it.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/a>\u2014 2 \u2014<\/strong><\/p>\n

But there\u2019s a great way for you guys to enjoy my vacation vicariously. \u00a0Via Andrew Sullivan<\/a>, a beautiful disquisition on the difference between British and American swearing<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Anglo swearing is ornate, clever, and florid; American swearing is brutal,repetitious, and earthy. There\u2019s a reason they sell t-shirts on St. Mark\u2019s Place that read \u201cFUCK YOU YOU FUCKIN FUCK.\u201d Swearing in [the British comedy series] \u201cThe Thick of It\u201d showed control in the midst of a tantrum, like a well-placed kick in the middle of a marital arts routine. It demonstrated that the speaker was ready to just let forth a string of invective but was powerful enough to channel it into something laced with cultural references and word-games.<\/p>\n

In America, though, swearing tends to signal the threat of violence, the moment when coarse language gets even coarser. It\u2019s a heightener. \u201cHe\u2019s got his eight-track playing really fuckin\u2019 loud\u201d would, in the Anglo incarnation, be something like \u201cHis eight-track was so fucking loud that Helen Keller could hear it four fucking blocks away\u201d or something.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/a>\u2014 3 \u2014<\/strong><\/p>\n

Before wheels-up, I went to town on the Amazon list of free Kindle books in the public domain<\/a>. \u00a0I figured I should skew British, so now I\u2019ve got a kindle full of Austen, Chesterton, Newman, and Wilde.<\/p>\n

I like to imagine they\u2019re all in there arguing. \u00a0Probably the one to win will be the author who first stumbles across one of the only non-British books I picked up, The Simple Sabotage Field Manual<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

<\/a>\u2014 4 \u2014<\/strong><\/p>\n

One of the things I\u2019m most interested to visit in England is the Broad Street pump. \u00a0This is the site of a thrilling scene in epidemiological history, when Dr. John Snow<\/a> traced an 1854 cholera epidemic to the contaminated pump. \u00a0Because the medical consensus believed that cholera spread through the air, the city authorities refused to act on his data. \u00a0So he grabbed a wrench and took the pump apart himself. \u00a0You can read more about this epidemiological badass in The Ghost Map<\/a><\/em> by Steven Johnson.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

(My enthusiasm has caused me a particular annoyance when reading and discussing Game of Thrones<\/em>, which has a considerably lamer John Snow who only fights eldritch abominations, not cholera and statistical ignorance).<\/p>\n

<\/a>\u2014 5 \u2014<\/strong><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, I\u2019ll have to wait til I return stateside to see the season finale of Awake<\/a><\/em>, the awesome (and thus\u00a0predictably\u00a0cancelled) show I mentioned that asked some really cool epistemological questions and came up with interesting ways to test them<\/a>. \u00a0I\u2019m also fond of the show because it caused io9 to write the following headline: \u201cWhen insanity is your superpower, reality will eventually become your Kryptonite<\/a>\u201c.<\/p>\n

In some ways, the show has ended up reminding me of that Luhrmann book on people who talk to God<\/a>, since the reality-switching cop gleans useful information, but doesn\u2019t necessarily have a good way to calibrate his signal-to-noise filter.<\/p>\n

<\/a>\u2014 6 \u2014<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you\u2019re desperately missing my posts while I\u2019m away and are looking to fill the time, might I recommend SyFy\u2019s <\/a>Face Off<\/a><\/em>? It\u2019s a Project Runway<\/em>-style reality show that has special effects makeup people competing. \u00a0The challenges are really cool; in my favorite, each team is assigned a trio of twentysomething identical triplets and needs to age one to 50, one to 75, and one to 100.<\/p>\n

Oh, and in another episode someone makes this:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/a>\u2014 7 \u2014<\/strong><\/p>\n

And finally,\u00a0apropos\u00a0of nothing but it\u2019s own awesomeness, McSweeney\u2019s<\/em> has an interview with a professional safecracker<\/a>. \u00a0(He only does legal work, opening the safes of dead people or safes whose combinations have been lost, etc).<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!<\/a><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2014 1 \u2014 I\u2019m in Merrie Olde England! \u00a0The Atheist round of the Ideological Turing Test carries on in my absence and voting is open now, \u00a0but I will be slow to respond to email and comments since I have limited internet and time to spend on it. \u00a0 \u2014 2 \u2014 But there\u2019s a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3208","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-7-quick-takes"],"yoast_head":"\n7 Quick Takes (5\/25\/12)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"--- 1 --- I'm in Merrie Olde England! \u00a0The Atheist round of the Ideological Turing Test carries on in my absence and voting is open now, \u00a0but I will be\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2012\/05\/7-quick-takes-52512.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"7 Quick Takes (5\/25\/12)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"--- 1 --- I'm in Merrie Olde England! \u00a0The Atheist round of the Ideological Turing Test carries on in my absence and voting is open now, \u00a0but I will be\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2012\/05\/7-quick-takes-52512.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Unequally Yoked\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-05-25T07:56:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-01-10T20:41:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.conversiondiary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/7_quick_takes_sm1.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Leah Libresco\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Leah Libresco\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2012\/05\/7-quick-takes-52512.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2012\/05\/7-quick-takes-52512.html\",\"name\":\"7 Quick Takes (5\/25\/12)\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-05-25T07:56:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-01-10T20:41:39+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#\/schema\/person\/17ee17592b35b40040d5f5f7ea5ab464\"},\"description\":\"--- 1 --- I'm in Merrie Olde England! \u00a0The Atheist round of the Ideological Turing Test carries on in my absence and voting is open now, \u00a0but I will be\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2012\/05\/7-quick-takes-52512.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2012\/05\/7-quick-takes-52512.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2012\/05\/7-quick-takes-52512.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"7 Quick Takes (5\/25\/12)\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/\",\"name\":\"Unequally Yoked\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#\/schema\/person\/17ee17592b35b40040d5f5f7ea5ab464\",\"name\":\"Leah Libresco\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/20e1e6a3a94c4e7928687804a41d888d?s=96&d=mm&r=r\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/20e1e6a3a94c4e7928687804a41d888d?s=96&d=mm&r=r\",\"caption\":\"Leah Libresco\"},\"description\":\"Leah is the author of Arriving at Amen and Building the Benedict Option. Her further writing can be found at leahlibresco.com.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/author\/leahlibresco\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"7 Quick Takes (5\/25\/12)","description":"--- 1 --- I'm in Merrie Olde England! \u00a0The Atheist round of the Ideological Turing Test carries on in my absence and voting is open now, \u00a0but I will be","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2012\/05\/7-quick-takes-52512.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"7 Quick Takes (5\/25\/12)","og_description":"--- 1 --- I'm in Merrie Olde England! \u00a0The Atheist round of the Ideological Turing Test carries on in my absence and voting is open now, \u00a0but I will be","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2012\/05\/7-quick-takes-52512.html","og_site_name":"Unequally Yoked","article_published_time":"2012-05-25T07:56:11+00:00","article_modified_time":"2013-01-10T20:41:39+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.conversiondiary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/7_quick_takes_sm1.jpg"}],"author":"Leah Libresco","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Leah Libresco","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2012\/05\/7-quick-takes-52512.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2012\/05\/7-quick-takes-52512.html","name":"7 Quick Takes (5\/25\/12)","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-05-25T07:56:11+00:00","dateModified":"2013-01-10T20:41:39+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#\/schema\/person\/17ee17592b35b40040d5f5f7ea5ab464"},"description":"--- 1 --- I'm in Merrie Olde England! \u00a0The Atheist round of the Ideological Turing Test carries on in my absence and voting is open now, \u00a0but I will be","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2012\/05\/7-quick-takes-52512.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2012\/05\/7-quick-takes-52512.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2012\/05\/7-quick-takes-52512.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"7 Quick Takes (5\/25\/12)"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/","name":"Unequally Yoked","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#\/schema\/person\/17ee17592b35b40040d5f5f7ea5ab464","name":"Leah Libresco","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/20e1e6a3a94c4e7928687804a41d888d?s=96&d=mm&r=r","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/20e1e6a3a94c4e7928687804a41d888d?s=96&d=mm&r=r","caption":"Leah Libresco"},"description":"Leah is the author of Arriving at Amen and Building the Benedict Option. Her further writing can be found at leahlibresco.com.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/author\/leahlibresco"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3208","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/127"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3208"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3208\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}