One of my Favorite Bands, Reviewed

Bringing in entire symphonies for heart-fluttering arpeggios on fairy-dusted strings, the band's songs fill the air like mirage waves of sound so glossy, you can almost see your reflection in them.

and

It's just physiologically impossible not to get high from inhaling so much production varnish. For some, it will cause euphoria -- for others, altitude sickness.

I have discovered Rhapsody.

FTR, I laughed at that. They are overblown, but also, I like them.

Your Quantum Computing Crib Sheet

Here (although I don't know that I would say all P-complete problems are "easily" solved by classic computers...)

Batman v. Ironman

(via)

Does Science Make Belief in God Obsolete?

A dozenish essays from Templeton. I have not read them all yet, but Pinker is probably closest to my own view.

I admit I am saving Hitch for last thought.

(via)

A Great Threat Facing Our Fighting Soldiers

They keep the front lines secure so we have freedom. Like the freedom to take away their porn!

House Rep. Paul Broun (GA-10), with 15 co-sponsors and the support of organizations such as the Alliance Defense Fund and the American Family Association, recently introduced a bill that would strengthen the ban on sales of adult-themed publications on U.S. military installations.

Rep. Broun has introduced H.R. 5821, also known as the Military Honor and Decency Act, which would close what he calls a loophole that allows the continued distribution of pornography to soldiers, to their moral detriment, with the help of taxpayer funds.

but who is the villain who wants to put porn in the hands of our fighting men and women, distracting them from the purity of their cause? The vile, evil, unspeakable ACLU!

"We're asking these people to risk their lives to defend our Constitution's principles," said law school professor and ACLU head Nadine Strossen to USA Today last November, "and they're being denied their own First Amendment rights to choose what they read."

ACLU bastards. I'm so mad at them for hating freedom, I feel like writing them a very stern check.

Guess What I Blew This Weekend?

Glass!

I took a weekend class at the Seattle Glassblowing Studio. It was a lot of fun, although a lot, lot harder than I expected. I got to dip my stick, work those 3 glory holes, and make a massive load of white hot glass.

Fun for the whole family!

I did manage to make some paperweights and some small Christmas ornaments. My suckie bowl was a mess though. Next time I want to take a class in making plates, which seems to be quite different than what we did this weekend.

Highly recommended and not as gay as it sounds.