Rainbow

A twofer

Poetry of reality
Science

We must know.
We will know.

* Physics
* Chemistry
* Biology
* Astronomy
* Geology

A view from the
shoulders of giants.

* Prediction
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* Steven Dutch
* Doomsday Clock
* House Committee on Science, Space and Technology
* Charles Darwin

v \- t \- e

Rainbows are God's way of frowning at gay people. They are also, if Christian writer Constance Cumbey is to be believed, a secret symbol used by New Agers who put it on their cars to identify each other. (To her credit, when she wrote that, the rainbow flag hadn't yet become popular as a gay symbol -- but since when was that an excuse?) They are also Jesse Jackson's favorite political motif.

However, God had other plans for the rainbow. According to creationists, back in 2500 B.C. or thereabouts there was a great flood. After Noah's Ark saved all the animals from extinction, God promised Noah he would never again flood the planet, and he instituted the rainbow as the symbol promising it wouldn't happen again — a reminder to his omniscient self.[1] If that occasion marked the Earth's first rainbow, then perhaps the  physical laws of optics changed at that point.

Rainbow crossings use the traditional colors of the rainbow so that those who hate and despise Judeo-Christian divine symbolism can show their contempt by trampling on them with their feet. Attempts by the likes of Destiny Church to desecrate the pretty design[2] demonstrate the dangers of taking graven images too seriously.

Rainbows are not just diurnal or limited to visible light. Nocturnal rainbows (moonbows), produced by the Moon, have been documented since Aristotle and they also extend into the infrared and ultraviolet.[3]

## References[edit]

1. ↑ Genesis 9:13-17 \- "I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud: And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth."
2. ↑ Brian Tamaki not ruling out Destiny Church members painting over more rainbow crossings \- 27 March 2024: "Church members are angry about drag queens hosting a storytime event inside the library, and Gisborne Council's rainbow pedestrian crossings. [...] So, they painted over it on Monday night."
3. ↑ Link

| For those of you in the mood, RationalWiki has a fun article about Rainbow.

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