[links] Link salad redacts its title

[jaylake]

My Hugo votes 2013, part 1, novellas - Including a tepid review of my nominated novella "The Stars Do Not Lie."

Tor Books Announces Programming for San Diego Comic-Con 2013 - Including yours truly.

The Mom From 'The Cat in the Hat' Finally Speaks - The Man in the Yellow Hat answers. Hahahahaha. (Via Slacktivist Fred Clark.)

Could Superman Punch

Comments

[joycemocha]

The smoking story just makes me angry. As someone who's tobacco smoke sensitive, I can tell you it doesn't matter what the studies say--if someone lights up a cigarette near me and it blows my direction (which is likely to happen outside), I'm going to get choked up by it. Thing is, if I say anything, I get nasty blowback from many smokers and told that I'm the one who has to move.

Pfui. I think you're right about someone having an ax to grind.

[fledgist]

Did Osama also sing "All of my exes live in Texas" I wonder?

[dionysus1999]

Recently finished Asimov's Guide to the Bible, both Old and New Testament. While I'm sure the scholarship has progressed a bit (published 1968), on the whole it was interesting and informative.

According to ex-fundamentalist wife, neighbor doesn't mean the people who live next door, but more like fellow tribal members. The philistines or samaritians didn't count, no matter how good they were. Good luck getting a Christian to admit to it, though.

[jaylake]

I do get that "neighbor" is a big giant escape clause that means the commandments don't apply to people Not Like Us. But given how exercised politicized right wing Christians get about what they perceive as unethical behavior in others who don't happen to be their kind of Christian -- ie, projecting their values and morals on those who are Not Like Them -- simple intellectual and ethical consistency would require that they apply those same values and morals to others.

Not that this will happen in my lifetime or yours.

[daveraines]

If your point is we only need to be truthful regarding other Israelites, that may be true if you read it in its most limited sense. There is this other thing though, the New Testament, where in response to a query "who is my neighbor," Jesus tells a story about... a Samaritan! A group that most Jews of Jesus' day hated. The context? "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Luke, chapter 10.