The Digital Pack-Rat, Volume 6

From a Friday Cephalopod post (sepiateuthis australis):

Off the coast of Australia, and not the Bahamas,
Swims a squid in a pair of striped pajamas.
This may seem odd to folks like you
But he thinks your shirt looks funny, too.

From "Purple America", where I thought this image:

... looks like a Rorschach ink blot. Reading the comments, I was right--people saw all sorts of things in that picture, including contradictory analyses of the election. Pretty much what we expect from Rorschach.

Is one explanation the best?
Can we tell it from all of the rest?
We project all our thoughts
On these maps, just like blots--
A political Rorschach test!

From "What is an 'atheist community'?", in which it was reported that Paul Bloom looks to the advantage that religion gives in building communities. Atheists, lacking communities, do not get to benefit from this. Apparently, he looks only at the good coming from community. When we do that, it really does look like atheists miss out.

It's true that the atheist birds of a feather
Don't gather in churches--the more is their loss;
The warmth of community, gathered together
For singing, and praying, and burning a cross.

(oops. wrong example.)

The monks in their abbeys, preserving the writing
Of ancients, when everyone's future was black;
They strove for salvation, while kindly inviting
The godless among them to stretch on the rack.

(dang. wrong example again.)

The New World and Africa, ignorant, dismal,
Called for new Missions, converting each brother;
Heathens were called--they could choose their baptismal--
Christ's blood or their own; it's one or the other.

(crap. I suck at this.)

When people are gathered, they still remain people,
They're good and they're bad, both alone and in unity
You can meet in a bar, just as under a steeple
Good and bad don't depend on religious community.

Lastly... Pat Buchanan uses more decibels to deliver less content than perhaps anybody out there.

My Buchanan doll (I couldn't be prouder!)
Has two voice settings: Loud! and LOUDER!!!
Just wind him up and pull his string;
He'll shout and shout just anything--
When Caribou Barbie invites him for tea
He's happy as a doll can be
They sit and talk and say dumb stuff
Until I think they've had enough.
They really are a funny pair;
When you open their heads, there's nothing there!
As dolls, these two have some appeal--
They'd be scary as hell if they were real.