Happy Solstice

Happy Solstice everybody. Be sure to give presents to your family so that Zombie Jesus doesn't reign down fire and death from his "Sleigh of Doom".


(Merry Christmas to all the Christians who read this blog)

Expect light posting

Starting tomorrow, I'll be visiting some family up in San Francisco and Sacremento. Expect light and mostly likely blasphemous posting for the next week or two.

It's a festivus for the rest of us

Happy Festivus everybody! Down with Christmas!

CONSUME!

I went to the mall yesterday, to try and knock out all my non-online Christmas shopping in one shot. I consumed, consumed and then consumed some more. I don't think I've been to a mall in quite a while, maybe 6 months or so. And I can honestly tell you, malls are hell. Malls during Christmas, that's just a special kind of hell. Here's some quick observations...

• It must have been "Bring Your Baby to the Mall Day" at the local high school, because I must have seen at least a dozen 15 year olds carrying infants around that mall.
  
• The other high school girls (who looked like they belonged on that show Laguna Beach) were talking about how they were going to get wasted before some concert. They purchased 1001 Drinking Games. They make their parents proud.
  
• Does every tool who doesn't go to college have to work at a cell phone booth in the mall? Is it a requirement?
• I don't need help! Let me shop in peace!
• 72inch pool table on sale for $400. I nearly bought it. But dammit, I won't compromise. I want a full sized table.
  
• I don't want to create video to send to my family! Stop soliciting me!
  
• The movie store I went to was selling the Leg Lamp (see below) from A Christmas Story. Awesome!
  
• Yes I'm happy with my cell phone service. Fuck off already!
• 36 Drinking games in one box. Yeah, I bought it. For me. Charity starts at home.
  

From now on, all shopping will be done outside of malls. Why didn't I just do all my shopping online? Foolish.

You've got to be shitting me

Why is it that everytime I start roaming around the MSNBC website, I find something that makes me want to my computer through the window. Tucker Carlson just brings my rage to the surface. Guess what he is plugging this time. Braveheart for Governor of California. That's right, crazy-ass Mel Gibson for Governor of California. You think it's a joke? Me too. But it does have an official website. I'm amazed, but the Republicans have actually found someone even worse than the Governator to run Governor.

Globalization of Science

Landlocked, over at Infinitesimal Perturbations, did a nice post on the Globalization of Science. He raises some good points, including the fact that almost every region of the world is rising in the science world, and the U.S. is about the only country where science is on the decline.

Drastic growth in scientific research is occurring all over the planet, particularly in Asia, but South America, as well (and maybe even Africa someday?). As scientific research has become a globalized effort, it is progressing more rapidly than at any other time in history. Overall, it has never been a more exciting time to do science...except in the case of America where scientific research is on a steady decline.

Today's Bush Administration Pearl of Wisdom

There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don't know we don't know.

-Donald Rumsfeld

Why do people think we live in a Military Dictatorship?

In so many blog posts (such as this one), I've seen the following line of reasoning...

[Fill in name] was a [fill in military service credentials] in [fill in location of combat experience], so [fill in liberal] need to shut the fuck up, because [fill in liberal] don't know what you are talking about.

Now if they are talking about specific military specialities (combat training, tactics, etc.) then I'm inclined to agree. However, if you are talking about national politics or foreign policy, then you are dead fucking wrong. Why? Allow me to explain in the most simple terms possible.

The United States is a representative democracy in which the civilian branch of the government commands the military, not the other way around. Civilians, not the military, are the in charge of policy. See, it's actually quite simple. If you prefer a country where military service is a prerequisite for shaping policy, perhaps you'd prefer living in China or some nice South American military dictatorship?

Porno for Bibles

The first time I saw a "Porno for Bibles" drive, was when I was at the University of Texas at Austin as an undergrad. A group called "The Knighthood of Buh" would trade you a pornographic magazine if you traded them a bible. As they put it...

The booth was simple in concept; students could bring their bibles (or any religious text whatsoever) to the booth, and receive pornography in exchange. This was meant as a parody of all the groups that offer bibles in exchange for pornography, and many people saw the humor in this. Of course, since religion was included in the joke, some people got really pissed off as well.

They were great. Another time, the K.B. came up with this line of reasoning... If meat is murder, and abortion is murder, then abortion is meat. They then handed out Fetus Cookbooks. But, I digress.

Apparently an atheist group at the University of Texas at San Antonio called Atheist Agenda has revived the Porno for Bibles idea, except this time they call it Smut for Smut. I applaud their campaign. It is a clever, provocative idea that raises some real discussions on morality.

And who would deem this student booth as worthy of being national news? None other than good ole Tucker Carlson.

I'm no Lawyer

But I found this article at Slate really entertaining. It addresses military recruitment at law schools. Go check it out.

What would Jesus do to us heathen Evolutionists?

Probably not beat the shit out of us on the side of the road. Unfortunately for Professor Paul Mirecki, a professor of Religious Studies who is highly critical of Christian Fundamentalists and creationism, some followers of Christ prefer talking with their fists. Professor Mirecki was hospitalized after receiving a roadside beating. Should we really be suprised though, he does teach at the University of Kansas.

Professor Mirecki had planned to teach a course titled "Special Topics in Religion: Intelligent Design, Creationism, and other Religious Mythologies". However, that didn't quite happen...

Last week, Mirecki asked the university to cancel the class after he created a furor by sending an e-mail to a student organization mocking Christian fundamentalists.

Mirecki had referred to religious conservatives as "fundies," and said a course describing intelligent design as mythology would be a "nice slap in their big fat face." He has apologized for those comments.

It is early in the investigation, and no suspects have been arrested. Maybe it is just one of those everyday roadside beatings in Kansas and has nothing to do with the Mirecki's controversial statements. However, Mirecki did say "I didn't know them, but I'm sure they knew me." Stay tuned for updates on this story.

Nice idea, I really doubt this will work.

I'm sure most of you have read something about these nifty little $100 computers that M.I.T.'s Nicholas Negroponte brainstormed as the main part of an effort to bring the 3rd world countries of the world into the information age.
Cute looking aren't they? But there are some serious concerns as too whether this thing is actually going to acheive its goals. Slate's Cyrus Farivar outlines some of the more technical difficulties, such as possible cost increases, lack of WiFi hotspots in rural areas, and the previous failures of such programs.

I've got a more simplistic criticisms of this programs. Most computer content, particularly web content, is still text based. Most of the graphics are actually just really nice looking text buttons. What I'm getting at is the fact that if you can't read, then this computer is a waste of time. So, let's look at the literacy rates of 4 of the most industrialized countries this computer is targeted at...

• India - 60%
  
• Thailand - 96%
  
• Egypt - 58%
  
• Brazil - 80%
  

Since, these are likely the highest literacy rates for the countries this computer will be marketed in, the literacy rates raise serious concerns about whether these computers will be effective tools for education. Perhaps quality educational software targeted for literacy can be developed in the wide variety of languages these countries represent, but that is yet more money to be added to this initiative.

Looking beyond the whole literacy thing, if you are a starving kid in Africa why the hell do you care about computers? I bet you are far more interested in food. Maybe if they make edible computers....

Tabbed browsing gets better

This new add-on to the Firefox 1.5 browser is just rocking my world. When you roll-over any of your tabs, you get a preview pane of whatever is in the tab. It is pretty damn smooth. If you are a fan of tabbed browsing, I highly recommend it.

Quote of the Day

"He who joyfully marches to music rank and file, has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would surely suffice. This disgrace to civilization should be done away with at once." - Albert Einstein

Thank you for advancing stupidity Rita Cosby

As I'm browsing MSNBC, I stumble across this gem of ignorance. Rita Cosby, who has been obsessed with the Natalie Halloway case in Aruba, decided to interview a psychic to see whether or not she could give any insights into the case.

Don't worry, her psychic voodoo crap assures us that those boys who were under investigation are guilty. Well fuck the court system, lets just string them up because Medium Allison DuBois got some bad mojo by LOOKING AT A PICTURE OF THEM! Well, isn't that just fan-fucking-tastic! Maybe we should show her pictures of Iraq so she can find the missing WMD's. Or maybe, a picture of the Whitehouse so she can find all the missing competence.

Thanks for this gem Rita, you win the today's "Advancement of Ignorance" Achievement Award.

If you'd like to know all about Medium Allison DuBois, then check out this website. Oh Allison, you've been a naughty little con-artist.