Brian [2:11 PM]:
i wish i knew how to crack web sites
then i could change this obit: EMMA BEALE The angels came to the home of Emma Beale, 61, of Alkol, Lincoln County, to take her to be with her Lord Jesus on Saturday, February 9, 2008.
to: EMMA BEALE The angels came to the home of Emma Beale, 61, of Alkol, Lincoln County, and KILLED HER on Saturday, February 9, 2008.
I think it should be more like:
EMMA BEALE The angels came to the home of Emma Beale, 61, of Alkol, Lincoln County, to take her to be with her Lord Jesus on Saturday, February 9, 2008. Unfortunately, Jesus knew all about her secret gambling addiction, internet white slave trafficing and that roll of butterscotch life savers she stole from Mr. Bitter's Corner Emporium when she was 4. He passed judgement damning her immortal soul for longer than the universe has existed. Even with the possibility of last-moment redemption so close, she condemmed herself to the Lake of Eternal Fire by noting that Jesus perpetually seeping wounds made him look kind of "hunky" and wondered if that was the "rough trade" she'd heard tell about. Her soul will bake for 10 billion years in the lake before being transfered to the Beach of Flaying and Scraping in what is know in the 4th circle as "standard punishment 7". A Memorial will be held at Saint Albert the Great on Sunday, 2-4pm. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that contributions be made to the United Way and the Knights of Columbus. Glory!
Monday, February 18, 2008
Playing Jesus to the Lepers in Your Head Just Got Much Easier
With new microwave/acoustic technology, those voices just *might* be real....
Because the frequency of the sound heard is dependent on the pulse characteristics of the RF energy, it seems possible that this technology could be developed to the point where words could be transmitted to be heard like the spoken word, except hat it could only be heard within a person's head. In one experiment, communication of the words from one to ten using "speech modulated" microwave energy was successfully demonstrated. Microphones next to the person experiencing the voice could not pick up the sound. Additional development of this would open up a wide range of possibilities.
I'm getting one of these for the next State of the Union Speech....
Because the frequency of the sound heard is dependent on the pulse characteristics of the RF energy, it seems possible that this technology could be developed to the point where words could be transmitted to be heard like the spoken word, except hat it could only be heard within a person's head. In one experiment, communication of the words from one to ten using "speech modulated" microwave energy was successfully demonstrated. Microphones next to the person experiencing the voice could not pick up the sound. Additional development of this would open up a wide range of possibilities.
I'm getting one of these for the next State of the Union Speech....
Friday, February 15, 2008
Last Day
Yesterday was my last day in Capital Markets, so I sent an appropriately sappy note to my friends (note: it should be explained here that "appropriately sappy" in my context involves the words "bail" and "fire chief" ).
This is an example of the typical response:
I would love to stay in touch with you at least until 21 Dec 2012. Then all bets are off. America's decision to elect Jeb Bush for President in Nov 2012 should rightfully lead to the end of the world the following month.
I'll miss these jokers.
This is an example of the typical response:
I would love to stay in touch with you at least until 21 Dec 2012. Then all bets are off. America's decision to elect Jeb Bush for President in Nov 2012 should rightfully lead to the end of the world the following month.
I'll miss these jokers.
Finally, an MMO We CAa All Enjoy!
Looks like I'll be cancelling my City of Heroes account and heading here soon.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Cosmology
Ever since news of the discovery made national headlines, local hoteliers have been overwhelmed by an influx of atheists from all over the country who have flocked to Huddlesfield to catch a glimpse of the scientific relic.
Discovery here
Discovery here
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Your search - isoclysmic - did not match any documents.
From the forums over at Ben Stein's movie, Expelled
Obviously, this primed free energy function as defined by Dr. Josiah Willard Gibbs of Yale and later slightly modified by Dr. Andrew Gibbs while he remained living into the last century (only Josiah Gibbs is usually given the credit) leads to a clear and fairly devastating disproof of evolution through the Second Law of Thermodynamics.
For those of you who are not well acquainted with the niceties of ID or with the hard realities of thermodynamics, this primed Gibbs Free Energy of an isoclysmic system (as given by K. Ludwig, L. Mayer, X. Austerlitz, and P. Olsen in 1885 in the Zeitschrift fuer Phys. der re. Naturfor., Vol. 10, No. 7, pgs. 23-24) that is quasi-statically bound to an adiabat such as a cell or a human body is while it is still alive is the entropy plus the enthalpy divided by a temperature-dependent scaling factor - often shortened to Enthrapy - please watch your spelling graphicsully. (It was a pleasant surprise, though, to see that someone here knows of this thermodynamic function!) It has its origin in a perfect differential and remains invariant under an arbitrary Legendre transformation. Case closed! Not only is the viability of evolution disproved, but the Zeroth Law of Thermodynamics is necessarily vitiated. (see Turner, L.A., Am. Jour. Phys., Vol. 29, pgs. 71-76 for the standard reference.)
Utter, utter nonsense.
Obviously, this primed free energy function as defined by Dr. Josiah Willard Gibbs of Yale and later slightly modified by Dr. Andrew Gibbs while he remained living into the last century (only Josiah Gibbs is usually given the credit) leads to a clear and fairly devastating disproof of evolution through the Second Law of Thermodynamics.
For those of you who are not well acquainted with the niceties of ID or with the hard realities of thermodynamics, this primed Gibbs Free Energy of an isoclysmic system (as given by K. Ludwig, L. Mayer, X. Austerlitz, and P. Olsen in 1885 in the Zeitschrift fuer Phys. der re. Naturfor., Vol. 10, No. 7, pgs. 23-24) that is quasi-statically bound to an adiabat such as a cell or a human body is while it is still alive is the entropy plus the enthalpy divided by a temperature-dependent scaling factor - often shortened to Enthrapy - please watch your spelling graphicsully. (It was a pleasant surprise, though, to see that someone here knows of this thermodynamic function!) It has its origin in a perfect differential and remains invariant under an arbitrary Legendre transformation. Case closed! Not only is the viability of evolution disproved, but the Zeroth Law of Thermodynamics is necessarily vitiated. (see Turner, L.A., Am. Jour. Phys., Vol. 29, pgs. 71-76 for the standard reference.)
Utter, utter nonsense.
Everywhere, All The Time
Direct quote from a flyer advertising .. software.. I think...
"Windows(tm) is perhaps the most universal software in the world..."
not just universal, but the most universal ... in the whole world!!
idiots.
"Windows(tm) is perhaps the most universal software in the world..."
not just universal, but the most universal ... in the whole world!!
idiots.
Monday, February 11, 2008
Lie Big, Lie Little
The GOP has a real problem with counting votes. I mean really, if they can't even count their own votes straight, how can they be expected to count nationally?
As you know, here at TPM we've been really curious what happened in the Republican caucus in Washington state. For probably the first time in all the primaries and elections I've ever watched, the folks running the election decided to stop counting the votes with 13% of the votes uncounted. And this wasn't a 70-30 blow out, but a tight race where the two top vote getters were separated by less than 2% of the vote. Then this morning, state party chair Luke Esser decided to declare McCain the winner.
...
In terms of consequence, Bush v. Gore it ain't. This is a relatively small contest in a nomination campaign that appears to be over. But this is something you'd expect either from Soviet history or a farcical passage in a Faulkner novel. And let's not forget the context. Huckabee starts the day with a blowout win in Kansas. That evening he gets the largest number of votes in Louisiana. Then in the third contest he's neck and neck with John McCain and looks like he may win all three contests of the day -- a shut-out for the all-but-declared nominee. Then as it's going down to the wire, the head of the state party decides he's seen enough and calls it for McCain.
I'm no fan of Huck, and I'm becoming a little warmer to McCain but Jesus! How entitled do you have to feel to think you can pull something like this off?
Pretty damn entitled.
As you know, here at TPM we've been really curious what happened in the Republican caucus in Washington state. For probably the first time in all the primaries and elections I've ever watched, the folks running the election decided to stop counting the votes with 13% of the votes uncounted. And this wasn't a 70-30 blow out, but a tight race where the two top vote getters were separated by less than 2% of the vote. Then this morning, state party chair Luke Esser decided to declare McCain the winner.
...
In terms of consequence, Bush v. Gore it ain't. This is a relatively small contest in a nomination campaign that appears to be over. But this is something you'd expect either from Soviet history or a farcical passage in a Faulkner novel. And let's not forget the context. Huckabee starts the day with a blowout win in Kansas. That evening he gets the largest number of votes in Louisiana. Then in the third contest he's neck and neck with John McCain and looks like he may win all three contests of the day -- a shut-out for the all-but-declared nominee. Then as it's going down to the wire, the head of the state party decides he's seen enough and calls it for McCain.
I'm no fan of Huck, and I'm becoming a little warmer to McCain but Jesus! How entitled do you have to feel to think you can pull something like this off?
Pretty damn entitled.
More on Hate Speech
In which the Archbishop of Canterbury cites approvingly of the advances of Islam:
But now the archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, has cited the Beth Din as one of his reasons for believing that sharia, or Islamic law, can and should become a part of what he called "plural jurisdiction" in Britain. His reasoning, if one may call it that, is clear: Other faiths already have their own legal authorities, so why not the Muslims, too? What could be more tolerant and diverse? This same argument has been used already, and will be used again, to demand that laws governing "blasphemy," originally written to protect only Christians from being upset, should now, in a nondiscriminatory way, be amended to cover Muslims as well. The alternative—don't have any blasphemy laws and let religious people's feelings be hurt, just as the feelings of the secular are regularly offended by religion—doesn't occur to the archbishop and people who think like him.
Like it or not, the road to civilization is paved with opinions your delicate ears might not like. I wonder if Joe Ratzinger is also quietly clapping.
But now the archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, has cited the Beth Din as one of his reasons for believing that sharia, or Islamic law, can and should become a part of what he called "plural jurisdiction" in Britain. His reasoning, if one may call it that, is clear: Other faiths already have their own legal authorities, so why not the Muslims, too? What could be more tolerant and diverse? This same argument has been used already, and will be used again, to demand that laws governing "blasphemy," originally written to protect only Christians from being upset, should now, in a nondiscriminatory way, be amended to cover Muslims as well. The alternative—don't have any blasphemy laws and let religious people's feelings be hurt, just as the feelings of the secular are regularly offended by religion—doesn't occur to the archbishop and people who think like him.
Like it or not, the road to civilization is paved with opinions your delicate ears might not like. I wonder if Joe Ratzinger is also quietly clapping.
Another Day Older
and deeper in debt. Although in this case, that may be a very good thing. Some speculation on the MSFT/Yahoo deal around the idea of MSFT offering some high quality bonds into a bear market.
Edit: I received a note from corporate asking that I remove my speculation from the post to better comply with SEC regulations. There is substitute text which I could offer, but will decline to do so.
Edit: I received a note from corporate asking that I remove my speculation from the post to better comply with SEC regulations. There is substitute text which I could offer, but will decline to do so.
The Mormon's Miscalculation
I think this is about right:
Blame Christians. By significant margins, in poll after poll, in vote after vote a solid block of evangelical Christians said they would never vote for a Mormon. Since evangelicals made up nearly half of the Republican primary vote in some states, Romney was up against a deep well of distrust of a religion that many evangelicals still label a cult.
It showed again Tuesday, in exit polls in the bellwether state of Missouri. Among the small group of Republican voters who say they never go to church, Romney got his highest vote total – 39 percent. Among people who attend services more than once a week, he received his lowest, 21 percent.
Put another way, those dreaded secularists – whom Romney himself criticized in his off-tune and hugely miscalculated speech on religion in December – were far more likely to vote for him than were the most devout Christians.
It’s tempting to call these voters anti-Mormon bigots. Polls show evangelicals are three times as likely to vote for a black candidate as a Mormon. In the late 1960s, the percentage of Americans who said they would not vote for a Jew was in the teens. By 2000, that number was down to the low single digits. A similar tolerance opened up for Catholics.
After years of stoking the Christianist, End Times fires, the GOP is finally reaping what it has sown; it's thrown away it's best possible presidential candidate in favor of nominating someone who will lose, so a significant part of the base can "show them" how important this Christianists are.
I also largely suspect the leaders of the GOP really want to elect Hillary Clinton. They were never so powerful, or felt as needed, as when they were battling the Clintons, and a rematch probably seems very tempting. A number of articles I read over the weekend suggests the evangelicals want to elect a democrat for 4 years in a repeat of the Carter administration. The idea is that 4 years after that, they'll get a Reagan-like figure.
Of course, history doesn't work that way, but who am I to deny the destiny, power and plan of sky-father?
Blame Christians. By significant margins, in poll after poll, in vote after vote a solid block of evangelical Christians said they would never vote for a Mormon. Since evangelicals made up nearly half of the Republican primary vote in some states, Romney was up against a deep well of distrust of a religion that many evangelicals still label a cult.
It showed again Tuesday, in exit polls in the bellwether state of Missouri. Among the small group of Republican voters who say they never go to church, Romney got his highest vote total – 39 percent. Among people who attend services more than once a week, he received his lowest, 21 percent.
Put another way, those dreaded secularists – whom Romney himself criticized in his off-tune and hugely miscalculated speech on religion in December – were far more likely to vote for him than were the most devout Christians.
It’s tempting to call these voters anti-Mormon bigots. Polls show evangelicals are three times as likely to vote for a black candidate as a Mormon. In the late 1960s, the percentage of Americans who said they would not vote for a Jew was in the teens. By 2000, that number was down to the low single digits. A similar tolerance opened up for Catholics.
After years of stoking the Christianist, End Times fires, the GOP is finally reaping what it has sown; it's thrown away it's best possible presidential candidate in favor of nominating someone who will lose, so a significant part of the base can "show them" how important this Christianists are.
I also largely suspect the leaders of the GOP really want to elect Hillary Clinton. They were never so powerful, or felt as needed, as when they were battling the Clintons, and a rematch probably seems very tempting. A number of articles I read over the weekend suggests the evangelicals want to elect a democrat for 4 years in a repeat of the Carter administration. The idea is that 4 years after that, they'll get a Reagan-like figure.
Of course, history doesn't work that way, but who am I to deny the destiny, power and plan of sky-father?
Friday, February 08, 2008
Least Best
Me: ... and that's probably the least-best option.
Geoff: Dad!
Me: what? it is!
Geoff: No Dad, your grammar is terrible.
Me: What do you mean?
Geoff: You use all these non-grammatical, nonsense phrases like "least-best" and "woman-president..."
Geoff: Dad!
Me: what? it is!
Geoff: No Dad, your grammar is terrible.
Me: What do you mean?
Geoff: You use all these non-grammatical, nonsense phrases like "least-best" and "woman-president..."
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
Or It Could Have a More Prosaic, Less Flattering Explaination
Of course, it could be sheer coincidence that Hillary Clinton showed a rare glimpse of emotion on the day before the New Hampshire primary and again on the day before Super Tuesday.
Ugh. The transparent opportunism is too much even for me. The only way it could be worse is if, afterwards, she turned to the camera and gave a plug for "Crocodile Brand Tears!(tm) Crocodile, when you care enough to pay for the best!"
Ugh. The transparent opportunism is too much even for me. The only way it could be worse is if, afterwards, she turned to the camera and gave a plug for "Crocodile Brand Tears!(tm) Crocodile, when you care enough to pay for the best!"
Join?????? When was he Fired???
I'm in Sydney, where it's always tomorrow, and yet somehow I missed a key piece of news.
Karl Rove, the strategist behind President George W. Bush's ascendancy to the White House, will join Rupert Murdoch's Fox News Channel as a contributor starting with Super Tuesday, the network said.
I am shocked, just shocked by this compromise of the fourth estate!
Karl Rove, the strategist behind President George W. Bush's ascendancy to the White House, will join Rupert Murdoch's Fox News Channel as a contributor starting with Super Tuesday, the network said.
I am shocked, just shocked by this compromise of the fourth estate!
Saturday, February 02, 2008
Say Anything
Ann Coulter is trying to find relavence in a post-GOP world. I'm going to do her the favor and offer a link, so old time's sake.
It's like finding the kid who won the 100 meter at the Special Olympics and letting him beat you in a race to the kitchen for cookies. You know, just to make him happy.
It's like finding the kid who won the 100 meter at the Special Olympics and letting him beat you in a race to the kitchen for cookies. You know, just to make him happy.
Friday, February 01, 2008
Your God Delusion Index
Mine is 0, although given the way one of the questions is worded, I could conceivably get as high as 5.
It gets funnier as it goes on, stay in for the punchline.
It gets funnier as it goes on, stay in for the punchline.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
A Failure of Terrorism
This is the most amazing sentiment I've ever seen from the GOP:
Perhaps Giuliani should blame Bush for his campaign’s demise. If Bush had not been so successful in preventing another domestic terrorist attack, Giuliani’s relevance to voters would be painfully obvious, and his deviations from party orthodoxy less compelling. Instead, he and Bush, the two public figures most associated with September 11, will watch from the sidelines as America turns the page.
more here
via
If only we had more terror so that everyone can see the danger of terror!! Too bad it's too unethical (and time consuming) for the GOP to actually cause some, in the public interest of course.
For me, the question I have never heard answered has always been, what did Rudy actually do during 9/11? He was mayor, yes. But it has always seemed to me that the fire and disaster recovery responded as they should to any major emergency, without a lot of prompting from Rudy. Other than being there, I dont know that he actually *did* anything more than anyone else would have done in the same situation.
I'm more than willing to change my mind on this, if someone has some pointers.
Perhaps Giuliani should blame Bush for his campaign’s demise. If Bush had not been so successful in preventing another domestic terrorist attack, Giuliani’s relevance to voters would be painfully obvious, and his deviations from party orthodoxy less compelling. Instead, he and Bush, the two public figures most associated with September 11, will watch from the sidelines as America turns the page.
more here
via
If only we had more terror so that everyone can see the danger of terror!! Too bad it's too unethical (and time consuming) for the GOP to actually cause some, in the public interest of course.
For me, the question I have never heard answered has always been, what did Rudy actually do during 9/11? He was mayor, yes. But it has always seemed to me that the fire and disaster recovery responded as they should to any major emergency, without a lot of prompting from Rudy. Other than being there, I dont know that he actually *did* anything more than anyone else would have done in the same situation.
I'm more than willing to change my mind on this, if someone has some pointers.
Alternative Universe
Korea yesterday and today. After a long day of presentations to an audience that is really only getting every other word we say, the Korea team offered to take us all out for dinner last night. Going out to dinner is a big part of the Korean business culture, so it was not an offer to be refused without it becoming a huge insult, so of course we went.
The team had been talking all day about the restaurant they had chosen, a “western” place since they thought some of our crew didn’t like Korean food. It turns out this is not true, but were not all exactly sure what they would have fed us, so we let them chose something non-Korean. Our (half-serious) joke all day was that it was going to be a “Country and Western” place.
It was not.
After a brief walk from the hotel (at 27F and I only brought clothes for KL and Sydney, like a dolt), we arrive at an Italian place in the building where our offices are located. The front is decorated in taffeta and bottles of red Italian wine, some of it quite good. The night was looking up.
We were seated at a long table, while the twitchy staff buzzed around us like flies on Seabiscuit. Our tables were set with chopsticks and beer steins but, what I had assumed to be bottles of red wine at first, turned out to be 750ml bottles of blended scotch. Odd.
We sat, still anticipating Italian, when generous pitchers of cheap beer arrived and everyone was poured. Okay. Then the shot glasses arrive. “Hmmmm”, I think to myself, “this is going decidedly pear-shaped”. Our “meal” soon come out, a hot steaming plate of what I first feared was tripe, but soon realized was a large plate of brats, sausages and hot dogs. This was followed very shortly by a football sized ball of aluminum foil which was found to contain bits of very spicy Szechwan beef and veggies. The westerns all looked at each other nervously, but there was nothing for it, so we shrugged and began to eat.
I turned to Brian, one of the guys I’m traveling with and said, “We’re sitting in an Italian restaurant, eating German brats, with Japanese beer and chopsticks, what the hell is going on?”
“Maybe they are trying to show us what the world would have looked like if the Allies had lost WWII”
and we havent even started on the scotch yet...
The team had been talking all day about the restaurant they had chosen, a “western” place since they thought some of our crew didn’t like Korean food. It turns out this is not true, but were not all exactly sure what they would have fed us, so we let them chose something non-Korean. Our (half-serious) joke all day was that it was going to be a “Country and Western” place.
It was not.
After a brief walk from the hotel (at 27F and I only brought clothes for KL and Sydney, like a dolt), we arrive at an Italian place in the building where our offices are located. The front is decorated in taffeta and bottles of red Italian wine, some of it quite good. The night was looking up.
We were seated at a long table, while the twitchy staff buzzed around us like flies on Seabiscuit. Our tables were set with chopsticks and beer steins but, what I had assumed to be bottles of red wine at first, turned out to be 750ml bottles of blended scotch. Odd.
We sat, still anticipating Italian, when generous pitchers of cheap beer arrived and everyone was poured. Okay. Then the shot glasses arrive. “Hmmmm”, I think to myself, “this is going decidedly pear-shaped”. Our “meal” soon come out, a hot steaming plate of what I first feared was tripe, but soon realized was a large plate of brats, sausages and hot dogs. This was followed very shortly by a football sized ball of aluminum foil which was found to contain bits of very spicy Szechwan beef and veggies. The westerns all looked at each other nervously, but there was nothing for it, so we shrugged and began to eat.
I turned to Brian, one of the guys I’m traveling with and said, “We’re sitting in an Italian restaurant, eating German brats, with Japanese beer and chopsticks, what the hell is going on?”
“Maybe they are trying to show us what the world would have looked like if the Allies had lost WWII”
and we havent even started on the scotch yet...
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Science is a Hot Knife Cutting Through the Very Sexy Butter of Religion
If you swap the points of view, I would agree with the Pope.
Also, I thought this was a level of deniability and delusion other politicians can only look at with envy:
Students and teachers at Rome's La Sapienza university – which was founded by a pope more than 700 years ago – cited such views when they protested so loudly during a papal speech scheduled for Jan. 17 that it had to be cancelled.
In particular, they criticized his views on science, saying a speech he gave in 1990 showed he would have favoured the church's 17th-century heresy trial against Galileo.
The Vatican said the protesters misunderstood that speech, made about 17 years ago when he was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.
Don't quote me, I was someone else! Also, if I wasn't, you misunderstood me.
Also, I thought this was a level of deniability and delusion other politicians can only look at with envy:
Students and teachers at Rome's La Sapienza university – which was founded by a pope more than 700 years ago – cited such views when they protested so loudly during a papal speech scheduled for Jan. 17 that it had to be cancelled.
In particular, they criticized his views on science, saying a speech he gave in 1990 showed he would have favoured the church's 17th-century heresy trial against Galileo.
The Vatican said the protesters misunderstood that speech, made about 17 years ago when he was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.
Don't quote me, I was someone else! Also, if I wasn't, you misunderstood me.
2333 Days
since 9/11 and OBL is still at large. It's nice to know that in the 6 years since then, we've made a lot of progress on finding the most wanted man in the world.
"If we could find the cave he is in, I promise you - he would be brought to justice or wherever he's hiding."
"If we could find the cave he is in, I promise you - he would be brought to justice or wherever he's hiding."
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Monday, January 28, 2008
The Affin Bank
Affin Bank is a customer in Malaysia we've worked with quite extensively. A lot of their infrastructure is running on our product and sometime back they agreed to do a customer video for us. They are a great and successful partner, and a point of pride for the account team, the region and the company. During the conference yesterday, the account team decided to show us the result of their installation and it had a terrific impact, especially on the English speakers. I almost had to be removed from the room.
Part of the video shows a small, shy woman in Islamic dress, talking nervously to the camera about how great our products are, and about how much they have been to Affin Bank. She's clearly a little afraid of the camera and is probably using cue cards because there are some odd pauses in her dialog. For example:
"SQL Server has really helped us raise the customer satisfaction .... at the Affin Bank."
"Microsoft ... makes a good partner... for the Affin Bank"
"The Affin Bank has the largest ... community of users in Malaysia"
"I'm proud to part of the ... Microsoft community for the Affin bank"
I laughed so hard at this, I nearly peed. The other English speakers seated next to me were no help at all because they were hardly keeping it together. Several people had to leave the room, clearly on the verge of busting a gut.
Just about the time a few of us got control, just a hair shy of embarrassing ourselves in front of the account team, our partners and the other team members in the room, after a few deep breaths, I turned to the guy next to me and said,
"I need some cab fare, do you know where the Affin ATM is?"
And that threw us over the edge!
Why is this funny? What's so hilarious about a small Islamic woman repeating the name of her bank every 30 seconds?
The name is pronounced "F-in"
Part of the video shows a small, shy woman in Islamic dress, talking nervously to the camera about how great our products are, and about how much they have been to Affin Bank. She's clearly a little afraid of the camera and is probably using cue cards because there are some odd pauses in her dialog. For example:
"SQL Server has really helped us raise the customer satisfaction .... at the Affin Bank."
"Microsoft ... makes a good partner... for the Affin Bank"
"The Affin Bank has the largest ... community of users in Malaysia"
"I'm proud to part of the ... Microsoft community for the Affin bank"
I laughed so hard at this, I nearly peed. The other English speakers seated next to me were no help at all because they were hardly keeping it together. Several people had to leave the room, clearly on the verge of busting a gut.
Just about the time a few of us got control, just a hair shy of embarrassing ourselves in front of the account team, our partners and the other team members in the room, after a few deep breaths, I turned to the guy next to me and said,
"I need some cab fare, do you know where the Affin ATM is?"
And that threw us over the edge!
Why is this funny? What's so hilarious about a small Islamic woman repeating the name of her bank every 30 seconds?
The name is pronounced "F-in"
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Sweet (Potato) Jesus
The Sixth Seal has broken, and Jesus has come.
I'll pause in this inspiring story so you can go to MyFoxColorado to see these remarkable likenesses of Jesus on the Cross in the rotten potato for yourselves, here and here. Please do. I'd put them up here but Fox copyrighted the pics. Apparently Jesus on the Cross is a Fox property.
I'll pause in this inspiring story so you can go to MyFoxColorado to see these remarkable likenesses of Jesus on the Cross in the rotten potato for yourselves, here and here. Please do. I'd put them up here but Fox copyrighted the pics. Apparently Jesus on the Cross is a Fox property.
Image Fault
I was reading about Ted Kennedy's endorsement of Obama, much to the annoyance of the Clinton campaign, and was wondering if this was a turning point in the nomination. Teddy's a big voice for the Old Democrats, which have been a huge support to the Clintons, so this endorsement may move part of her base.
I was thinking about other singular campaign turning point, the most obvious being Dukakis in a tank.
In theory this should be fine, a presidential candidate appearing to support the military. The reality however, was that this image sunk his whole run for the presidency. I wonder if this is that moment for Hillary.
BTW, I'm in a lecture hall in Kuala Lumpur, listening to a partner talk about "critical impacts to business". I searched for the above image and while it was prominently displayed on my screen, the guy next to me leaned over and whispered,
"Stop looking at pornography!"
I was thinking about other singular campaign turning point, the most obvious being Dukakis in a tank.
In theory this should be fine, a presidential candidate appearing to support the military. The reality however, was that this image sunk his whole run for the presidency. I wonder if this is that moment for Hillary.
BTW, I'm in a lecture hall in Kuala Lumpur, listening to a partner talk about "critical impacts to business". I searched for the above image and while it was prominently displayed on my screen, the guy next to me leaned over and whispered,
"Stop looking at pornography!"
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Taipei
Here today on (hopefully) my last Capital Markets world customer trip.
So far, it's beautiful. I wish I could see more, but it's off to KL for tomorrows meeting :(
So far, it's beautiful. I wish I could see more, but it's off to KL for tomorrows meeting :(
Friday, January 25, 2008
Children's Movies
Geoff: Why do you think every movie involves nudity?
Me: They do!
Geoff: No, not all of them.
Me: Sure they do, remember Mary Poppins?
Geoff: What??? NO! Mary Poppins did not have nudity!
Me: Sure it did! Remember the scene with the snake?
Geoff: there was no .... wait... is "Poppins" spelled with a hyphen?
Me: yes
Geoff: Oh god.
Me: They do!
Geoff: No, not all of them.
Me: Sure they do, remember Mary Poppins?
Geoff: What??? NO! Mary Poppins did not have nudity!
Me: Sure it did! Remember the scene with the snake?
Geoff: there was no .... wait... is "Poppins" spelled with a hyphen?
Me: yes
Geoff: Oh god.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Convictions
Wife for Life
Wow
Convictions: Malicious mischief, vandalism, then a guy I dated turned up dead plus his wife.
Convictions: Vehicular assault, vehicular homicide, reckless driving and I had a ton of weed in the trunk
Convictions: Drug trafficking and murder plus some small stuff.
Convictions: Arson but it turned out his kids were in there so they said two counts murder one.
Convictions: I beat up this bitch cop with my bare knuckles and she died so I'm done for life. Lets chat!
Wow
Convictions: Malicious mischief, vandalism, then a guy I dated turned up dead plus his wife.
Convictions: Vehicular assault, vehicular homicide, reckless driving and I had a ton of weed in the trunk
Convictions: Drug trafficking and murder plus some small stuff.
Convictions: Arson but it turned out his kids were in there so they said two counts murder one.
Convictions: I beat up this bitch cop with my bare knuckles and she died so I'm done for life. Lets chat!
Today in Library News!
Everything Art Garfunkel has ever read!!!
Isn't that neat?!!
The thought of all that raw, surging literature makes me wonder why the hell I should care....
Isn't that neat?!!
The thought of all that raw, surging literature makes me wonder why the hell I should care....
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Goons!
Some call it terrorism, others call it a delightful set of pranks. You decide:
And better still, here was a game that had somehow become the Internet's top destination for a specimen of online weirdo the Goons had long ago adopted as their favorite target: the Furries, with their dedication to role-playing the lives — and sex lives — of cuddly anthropomorphic woodland creatures.
Thus began the Second Life Goon tradition of jaw-droppingly offensive theme lands. This has included the re-creation of the burning Twin Towers (tiny falling bodies included) and a truly icky murdered-hooker crime scene (in which a hermaphrodite Furry prostitute lay naked, violated, and disemboweled on a four-poster bed, while an assortment of coded-in options gave the visitor chances for further violation). But the first and perhaps most expertly engineered of these provocations was Tacowood — a parody of the Furry region known as Luskwood. In Tacowood, rainbow-dappled woodlands have been overrun by the bulldozers and chain saws of a genocidal "defurrestation" campaign and populated with the corpses of formerly adorable cartoon animal folk now variously beheaded, mutilated, and nailed to crosses.
The debate my son and I are having is whether or not the constitution applies here and this is "free speech: or not.
And better still, here was a game that had somehow become the Internet's top destination for a specimen of online weirdo the Goons had long ago adopted as their favorite target: the Furries, with their dedication to role-playing the lives — and sex lives — of cuddly anthropomorphic woodland creatures.
Thus began the Second Life Goon tradition of jaw-droppingly offensive theme lands. This has included the re-creation of the burning Twin Towers (tiny falling bodies included) and a truly icky murdered-hooker crime scene (in which a hermaphrodite Furry prostitute lay naked, violated, and disemboweled on a four-poster bed, while an assortment of coded-in options gave the visitor chances for further violation). But the first and perhaps most expertly engineered of these provocations was Tacowood — a parody of the Furry region known as Luskwood. In Tacowood, rainbow-dappled woodlands have been overrun by the bulldozers and chain saws of a genocidal "defurrestation" campaign and populated with the corpses of formerly adorable cartoon animal folk now variously beheaded, mutilated, and nailed to crosses.
The debate my son and I are having is whether or not the constitution applies here and this is "free speech: or not.
Friday, January 18, 2008
Issues Voting
NPR has a quiz that compares your opinions on topics to those of the candidates. I took this and was pretty shocked by the results. I matched Clinton in the majority of choices, and was furthest from Romney and Thompson.
Well, mildly shocked. I'm still not a big fan of Hillary and doubt I would vote for her.
Well, mildly shocked. I'm still not a big fan of Hillary and doubt I would vote for her.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Prank 3:16
Take someone's most cherished religious beliefs, for example about the Rapture, then stage a gag where all your freinds dissappear leaving you "behind". You'd have to be an insensitive jerk to mess with someone like that, so I'm glad these guys thought of it first...
Snake Oil in the Comments
This morning, I received the following as part of the comments thread on an old post:
Seo Link Master has left a new comment on your post "Alternative Fuel: Salt Water?":
Fuel is the adrenaline of any car, truck or engine. Thus, it is every vehicle owner's wish to enhance the fuel of their car and save more of it as well. With this in mind, the most innovative fuel-saving tool in the automotive industry was conceptualized and created: the Tornado Fuel Saver. An automotive air channeling tool that creates a swirling air motion, the Tornado Fuel Saver allows the air to move in a faster and more efficient way by whirling air around corners and bends. Hence, more fuel is saved. Search engine optimization, Try to Be happy
Posted by Seo Link Master to Not Quite a Reputable Journal of Opinion at 4:46 AM
Seems like spam, which is pretty unusual in my comments section (actually, comments are pretty unusual in my comments section). I clicked through the link, curious as to what "swirling air motion" had to do with anything in a fuel injected engine, and discovered a small gem of snake oil.
The Bio Fuel Saver stick is treated to produce a bio-energetic field; this field enables interaction with the fuel changing the molecular structure of the carbon hydrogen. This leads to a better burning process and less exhaust gases.
Basically, they want you to buy a magnet you drop into your fuel tank. Clever. "bio-energetic field"
How does it work? Why that's even more creative!
Space between molecular structures posses hidden energy. Every Material has it's own unique information structure. N-G has over 20 years of research into space energy manipulation, enabling an ability to program molecular structures to give a known performance value to a desired application.
You may ask, what is a molecular structure?A molecular structure is made up of atoms, every atom is defined by the number of electrons, protons and neutrons in it. These three elements are arranged together to form a specific atom, just like the components of DNA are formed to make a specific DNA code.
The atom is encoded with information about how the electrons, protons and neutrons are to arrange themselves in a material formation. N-G is able to use this information within structures to change material characteristics thus bringing out the desired effect.
Forming the above information structure within a material allows N-G to create a bio-energetic field that will influence the structure of the fuel, allowing a cleaner more efficient burning process.
What this has to do with swirling air, I have yet to figure out. I still have a soft spot for a creative con and this one is pretty funny.
Seo Link Master has left a new comment on your post "Alternative Fuel: Salt Water?":
Fuel is the adrenaline of any car, truck or engine. Thus, it is every vehicle owner's wish to enhance the fuel of their car and save more of it as well. With this in mind, the most innovative fuel-saving tool in the automotive industry was conceptualized and created: the Tornado Fuel Saver. An automotive air channeling tool that creates a swirling air motion, the Tornado Fuel Saver allows the air to move in a faster and more efficient way by whirling air around corners and bends. Hence, more fuel is saved. Search engine optimization, Try to Be happy
Posted by Seo Link Master to Not Quite a Reputable Journal of Opinion at 4:46 AM
Seems like spam, which is pretty unusual in my comments section (actually, comments are pretty unusual in my comments section). I clicked through the link, curious as to what "swirling air motion" had to do with anything in a fuel injected engine, and discovered a small gem of snake oil.
The Bio Fuel Saver stick is treated to produce a bio-energetic field; this field enables interaction with the fuel changing the molecular structure of the carbon hydrogen. This leads to a better burning process and less exhaust gases.
Basically, they want you to buy a magnet you drop into your fuel tank. Clever. "bio-energetic field"
How does it work? Why that's even more creative!
Space between molecular structures posses hidden energy. Every Material has it's own unique information structure. N-G has over 20 years of research into space energy manipulation, enabling an ability to program molecular structures to give a known performance value to a desired application.
You may ask, what is a molecular structure?A molecular structure is made up of atoms, every atom is defined by the number of electrons, protons and neutrons in it. These three elements are arranged together to form a specific atom, just like the components of DNA are formed to make a specific DNA code.
The atom is encoded with information about how the electrons, protons and neutrons are to arrange themselves in a material formation. N-G is able to use this information within structures to change material characteristics thus bringing out the desired effect.
Forming the above information structure within a material allows N-G to create a bio-energetic field that will influence the structure of the fuel, allowing a cleaner more efficient burning process.
What this has to do with swirling air, I have yet to figure out. I still have a soft spot for a creative con and this one is pretty funny.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
We Will, We Will, Scar you!
These are just the reactions to the video( which I will not link to). It is sometimes a trial to have a kid in the Army.
Most Likely
I have been reading the previously mentioned website while I rebuild a computer at work. I thought this one was very funny:
The rapture on the other hand most likely won't hurt and will probably be the most awsome sensation we have ever known. Also, I can take my children with me and only a select few in the whole history of the earth will experiance it. I want to be a part of that.
The rapture on the other hand most likely won't hurt and will probably be the most awsome sensation we have ever known. Also, I can take my children with me and only a select few in the whole history of the earth will experiance it. I want to be a part of that.
I Think He Means Vampyres, Not Clones
All elements in the universe (periodic table) get their properties based on their combinations of 3 specific sub-atomic components. Protons, Neutrons, & Electrons. No element has the same combination. (ie...Gold has 79 protons, 118 neutrons, 79 electrons)Carbon (man) has 6 protons, 6 neutrons, 6 electrons. [666]. This will be the number in which the Anti-Christ will be identified by. And because a clone does not have working sexual organs, this explains why a "cloned" Anti-Christ will not have need for a woman.
How do you think this was written in God's word about the anti-Christ being a man that his number will be 666? When the knowledge of protons, neutrons, and electrons was not even known? It is because the word was written just like God said. It was inspired by God, to where man could write it without flaw. And the knowledge was God knowledge, not the knowledge of man.
Wiggy! Much, much more here, if you feel like a guilty pleasure.
How do you think this was written in God's word about the anti-Christ being a man that his number will be 666? When the knowledge of protons, neutrons, and electrons was not even known? It is because the word was written just like God said. It was inspired by God, to where man could write it without flaw. And the knowledge was God knowledge, not the knowledge of man.
Wiggy! Much, much more here, if you feel like a guilty pleasure.
Presidential Truth Table
So far for November, my voting choices look like this:
McCain-Clinton: McCain
McCain-Obama: Obama
McCain-Edwards:McCain
Romney-Clinton: Romney -although I think they are largely fungible
Romney-Obama: Obama
Romney-Edwards: Edwards
Huckabee-Clinton: Clinton
Huckabee-Obama: Obama
Huckabee-Paul: Write in for Jesus -hey, if you're going to go with magical thinking, go with the winning team.
I'm not a Clinton fan, but it's the re-tred of the '90s I would object to in another Clinton presidency. The 90s were very divisive politically and, with the war and all, we need a lot less of that right now. Obama may have no real ability as a manager, but he doesn't seem certifiably crazy and he'd bring some fresh air in with him. People see him as a change agent and set their actions and expectations accordingly, so while I think he's just as unqualified as anyone else, I do think he can act as a catalyst to bring out better behavior in others.
McCain-Clinton: McCain
McCain-Obama: Obama
McCain-Edwards:McCain
Romney-Clinton: Romney -although I think they are largely fungible
Romney-Obama: Obama
Romney-Edwards: Edwards
Huckabee-Clinton: Clinton
Huckabee-Obama: Obama
Huckabee-Paul: Write in for Jesus -hey, if you're going to go with magical thinking, go with the winning team.
I'm not a Clinton fan, but it's the re-tred of the '90s I would object to in another Clinton presidency. The 90s were very divisive politically and, with the war and all, we need a lot less of that right now. Obama may have no real ability as a manager, but he doesn't seem certifiably crazy and he'd bring some fresh air in with him. People see him as a change agent and set their actions and expectations accordingly, so while I think he's just as unqualified as anyone else, I do think he can act as a catalyst to bring out better behavior in others.
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
7 Great Men in History
and why you should hate them.
(via)
"I didn't realize that Cracked magazine was considered a historically accurate publication. "
(via)
"I didn't realize that Cracked magazine was considered a historically accurate publication. "
Worst Science Writing of 2008
To this NYT Science page for this atrocity.
The basic problem is that across the eons of time, the standard theories suggest, the universe can recur over and over again in an endless cycle of big bangs, but it’s hard for nature to make a whole universe. It’s much easier to make fragments of one, like planets, yourself maybe in a spacesuit or even — in the most absurd and troubling example — a naked brain floating in space. Nature tends to do what is easiest, from the standpoint of energy and probability. And so these fragments — in particular the brains — would appear far more frequently than real full-fledged universes, or than us. Or they might be us.
The Boltzman problem is real and the debate in cosmology is, actually, fairly complicated and hard to follow if you're not following it closely. I can understand the difficulties in trying to present it to an interested lay audience, however this is a piece of crap. It doesn't explain it at all, instead making it sound like cosmologists believe in a crazy floating brain invasion. It becomes just silly.
FTR, Don Page, who is mentioned here, was my astrophysics advisor when I was an undergrad. He's one of the brightest humans I have ever met and did a lot to introduce me to some of the most interesting puzzles in cosmology. I always please when I see he's still around.
The basic problem is that across the eons of time, the standard theories suggest, the universe can recur over and over again in an endless cycle of big bangs, but it’s hard for nature to make a whole universe. It’s much easier to make fragments of one, like planets, yourself maybe in a spacesuit or even — in the most absurd and troubling example — a naked brain floating in space. Nature tends to do what is easiest, from the standpoint of energy and probability. And so these fragments — in particular the brains — would appear far more frequently than real full-fledged universes, or than us. Or they might be us.
The Boltzman problem is real and the debate in cosmology is, actually, fairly complicated and hard to follow if you're not following it closely. I can understand the difficulties in trying to present it to an interested lay audience, however this is a piece of crap. It doesn't explain it at all, instead making it sound like cosmologists believe in a crazy floating brain invasion. It becomes just silly.
FTR, Don Page, who is mentioned here, was my astrophysics advisor when I was an undergrad. He's one of the brightest humans I have ever met and did a lot to introduce me to some of the most interesting puzzles in cosmology. I always please when I see he's still around.
NSA Backdoor in MSFT RND()?
According to Bruce, yes!
Microsoft has added the random-number generator Dual_EC-DRBG to Windows Vista, as part of SP1. Yes, this is the same RNG that could have an NSA backdoor. It's not enabled by default, and it's not clear that a user could enable it. It's available as a program call. My advice is to never use it, ever. http://technet2.microsoft.com/WindowsVista/en/...http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa375534.aspx Backdoor:http://www.schneier.com/essay-198.html
Microsoft has added the random-number generator Dual_EC-DRBG to Windows Vista, as part of SP1. Yes, this is the same RNG that could have an NSA backdoor. It's not enabled by default, and it's not clear that a user could enable it. It's available as a program call. My advice is to never use it, ever. http://technet2.microsoft.com/WindowsVista/en/...http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa375534.aspx Backdoor:http://www.schneier.com/essay-198.html
Monday, January 14, 2008
Maybe McCain Wouldn't Be So Bad...
Kind of makes a good argument to vote for him. Maybe he wouldn't be as crazy as I have feared:
McCain supports amnesty for illegal aliens, was behind the Gang of 14, is a gun grabber, opposed the Bush tax cuts, ran roughshod over the Constitution with McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance Reform, opposes a Constitutional amendment to protect marriage, was rumored to be considering switching parties multiple times, talked with John Kerry about being his Vice-President, lines up with the global warming alarmists, wants to close Gitmo, wants to coddle captured terrorists -- you can go on and on with this...
McCain supports amnesty for illegal aliens, was behind the Gang of 14, is a gun grabber, opposed the Bush tax cuts, ran roughshod over the Constitution with McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance Reform, opposes a Constitutional amendment to protect marriage, was rumored to be considering switching parties multiple times, talked with John Kerry about being his Vice-President, lines up with the global warming alarmists, wants to close Gitmo, wants to coddle captured terrorists -- you can go on and on with this...
Windows Server for Kids!
"when a Mommy and Daddy love each other very much, the Daddy wants to give Mommy a special gift"
Here
Here
"Prayer. The last refuge of a scoundrel."
-Lisa Simpson
Rudy today (ABC news):
Saying that "faith can transform lives," Giuliani told parishioners that running for president of the United States "is a marathon, not a sprint. And in may ways it’s a test of strength and a test of faith. The Bible reminds us, Joshua 10:25, 'Fear not, be strong, and of good courage.' That is the way to face the future.”
...
“So I am not coming here to ask for your vote," Giuliani said. "This is not the right place. I am coming here to ask you of something, very special, very important: I am asking for your prayers.”
Most religious folks I know, thats thats a lot, prefer an honest atheist (or agnostic) to a hypocritical panderer.
Rudy today (ABC news):
Saying that "faith can transform lives," Giuliani told parishioners that running for president of the United States "is a marathon, not a sprint. And in may ways it’s a test of strength and a test of faith. The Bible reminds us, Joshua 10:25, 'Fear not, be strong, and of good courage.' That is the way to face the future.”
...
“So I am not coming here to ask for your vote," Giuliani said. "This is not the right place. I am coming here to ask you of something, very special, very important: I am asking for your prayers.”
Most religious folks I know, thats thats a lot, prefer an honest atheist (or agnostic) to a hypocritical panderer.
"Here are the noxious fruits of hate speech laws"
FTR, I used to support "hate speech" laws because I thoguht they had a positive impact on discourse. Then I read the ACLU Nazi cases in Skokei Illinois and realized that it's far, far better to have people free to spew their obnoxious opinions and allow others to make a judgement than to try to hide this behind a cloak of law. I was about 16 or so, and I was workign out that societial pressure can sometimes be a good thing.
Glenn Greenwald has an excellent column up today on how the Canadians are getting this wrong, and how we might as well.
Yes, some people have some pretty obnoxious ideas, but they only fester in the dark, bursting open like a deep bedsore once they have done their damage. Expose these ideas to the light and have some faith in the marketplace of ideas. It's one of the things that makes America worth defending.
All sorts of valid criticisms are frequently voiced, including by me, about the erosion of basic protections and individual liberties in the U.S. But that doesn't mitigate or detract in any way from how oppressive these sorts of Canadian and European laws are. One of the core political values is and should always remain that which Justice Robert Jackson defined in West Virginia Board of Education v. Barnette (1943):
If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein.
Glenn Greenwald has an excellent column up today on how the Canadians are getting this wrong, and how we might as well.
Yes, some people have some pretty obnoxious ideas, but they only fester in the dark, bursting open like a deep bedsore once they have done their damage. Expose these ideas to the light and have some faith in the marketplace of ideas. It's one of the things that makes America worth defending.
All sorts of valid criticisms are frequently voiced, including by me, about the erosion of basic protections and individual liberties in the U.S. But that doesn't mitigate or detract in any way from how oppressive these sorts of Canadian and European laws are. One of the core political values is and should always remain that which Justice Robert Jackson defined in West Virginia Board of Education v. Barnette (1943):
If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein.
Finding Your Way Out of the Woods
A pretty good story about moving from Christianity to atheism. It's very similar to the stories of a lot of folks I know, and certainly mine.
At some point, the collective weight of the religious nonsense outweights the utility value of faith and some of us tip over into free thought. I thought her story was pretty good.
(via)
At some point, the collective weight of the religious nonsense outweights the utility value of faith and some of us tip over into free thought. I thought her story was pretty good.
(via)
Friday, January 11, 2008
Freedom Isn't Free
"What we don’t see is that freedom is not a concept in which people can do anything they want, be anything they can be. Freedom is about authority. Freedom is about the willingness of every single human being to cede to lawful authority a great deal of discretion about what you do. "
-Mayor Giuliani
I was in New York during the Giuliani administration I didn't think he was particularly good for the city, especially in the latter parts of his tenure. One of his proposals was to impound the cars of anyone accused of frunk driving and quickly sell them at auction without benefit of trial. His justification? Basically it was that some folsk get aquitted and he *knew* they were guilty so he should sell their cars anyway.
Glenn Greenwald puts it best:
Whenever he found a crusade that triggered his sense of righteousness, legal and even constitutional constraints were of little concern to the mayor. He ended up on the losing end of one court battle after the next, arising from his efforts to stifle private expression that he disliked, including endless campaigns against an art exhibit he deemed blasphemous, bus and subway advertisements he considered offensive, and political protests he found annoying. According to Rachel Morris‘s recent article in The Washington Monthly, Giuliani “lost thirty-five First Amendment cases in court.”
-Mayor Giuliani
I was in New York during the Giuliani administration I didn't think he was particularly good for the city, especially in the latter parts of his tenure. One of his proposals was to impound the cars of anyone accused of frunk driving and quickly sell them at auction without benefit of trial. His justification? Basically it was that some folsk get aquitted and he *knew* they were guilty so he should sell their cars anyway.
Glenn Greenwald puts it best:
Whenever he found a crusade that triggered his sense of righteousness, legal and even constitutional constraints were of little concern to the mayor. He ended up on the losing end of one court battle after the next, arising from his efforts to stifle private expression that he disliked, including endless campaigns against an art exhibit he deemed blasphemous, bus and subway advertisements he considered offensive, and political protests he found annoying. According to Rachel Morris‘s recent article in The Washington Monthly, Giuliani “lost thirty-five First Amendment cases in court.”
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Things Not to Google, #17*
Lemon Party
Avoid especially Google Images. I promise you, you will know the meaning of "rue".
*brought to you in part by a grant from Geoff Inc. Geoff Inc., building distrust between generations since 1985.
Avoid especially Google Images. I promise you, you will know the meaning of "rue".
*brought to you in part by a grant from Geoff Inc. Geoff Inc., building distrust between generations since 1985.
Iron My Shirt
I saw the picture and laughed. I guess I am just a bad person or something, but I thought it was a joke, not a serious commentary.
Don't Try This At Home
Some people might say it's not a very smart idea to throw 6 lighters into a blender. Those people would be right.
Me: I am going to get one of these.
Geoff: Get two.
Me: Why?
Geoff: because otherwise they are going to find you dead in your apartment and the coroner is going to wonder why you choked to death on a smoothie spiked with Brillo pads.
Me: I am going to get one of these.
Geoff: Get two.
Me: Why?
Geoff: because otherwise they are going to find you dead in your apartment and the coroner is going to wonder why you choked to death on a smoothie spiked with Brillo pads.
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
FSM Hate Mail
Now and them, I dip into the Hate Mail bin over the FSM site just to see what's what. It's often a very illuminating glimpse into the minds of certain kinds of people. Generally the mail comes in one of two flavors, people who have lost even basic credulity and can't recognize an obvious joke:
How can you idiots belive this stupid religion? You idiot taoist won’t believe Christianity because of eternal judgement, but you’ll believe a bunch of crackheads that think a stupid ball of spaghetti with meatballs created the universe? If that’s your logic on this subject, you belong with these moronic crackheads.
I can't figure if they are religious because they just have a low credulity threshold, or if they are credulous because they are religious. Kind of amusing in the way it's amusing to watch global warming denialists wrestle with facts.
The other big grouping centers around people who, for whatever reason, take personal offense. They then, almost always, threaten to use magical powers to invoke sky-father to do various kinds of smiting:
You have caught my attention Bobby Henderson. You know what you’re doing. You don’t believe any of this, but since you’ve decided to make a war against Jesus, then, let it begin. My campaign against you begins now. You aren’t going to remain unopposed any longer.
It would be slightly more honest, although much more revealing, if this poster capitalized the M in "my".
I suppose this is a self-selected group, motivated to write by their limited worldview, leaving the vast majority of folks to chuckle and move on. Still, I find it pretty surprising that so many folks don't get the joke on such a fundamental level.
Ramen.
How can you idiots belive this stupid religion? You idiot taoist won’t believe Christianity because of eternal judgement, but you’ll believe a bunch of crackheads that think a stupid ball of spaghetti with meatballs created the universe? If that’s your logic on this subject, you belong with these moronic crackheads.
I can't figure if they are religious because they just have a low credulity threshold, or if they are credulous because they are religious. Kind of amusing in the way it's amusing to watch global warming denialists wrestle with facts.
The other big grouping centers around people who, for whatever reason, take personal offense. They then, almost always, threaten to use magical powers to invoke sky-father to do various kinds of smiting:
You have caught my attention Bobby Henderson. You know what you’re doing. You don’t believe any of this, but since you’ve decided to make a war against Jesus, then, let it begin. My campaign against you begins now. You aren’t going to remain unopposed any longer.
It would be slightly more honest, although much more revealing, if this poster capitalized the M in "my".
I suppose this is a self-selected group, motivated to write by their limited worldview, leaving the vast majority of folks to chuckle and move on. Still, I find it pretty surprising that so many folks don't get the joke on such a fundamental level.
Ramen.
Tuesday, January 08, 2008
I Can See Clearly Now
At 800x600 it's a far cry from the 2400x1600 resolution I am enjoying with my Dell/nvidia 8800 combo, but it's oh so tempting...
Head Mounted Display
Head Mounted Display
Ice, Ice Baby
A decent article on the melting of the Greenland ice sheet.
The changes seen in Greenland may turn out to be self-limiting in the short run; surging glaciers can flatten out and slow, for instance. Or they may be a sign that the island’s ice — holding about the same volume of water as the Gulf of Mexico — is poised for a rapid discharge. Scientists are divided on that question, and on whether there is a near-term risk from a Texas-size portion of West Antarctica’s ice sheet that is also showing signs of instability. This split divides those foreseeing a rise in the sea level of a couple of feet this century from water added by Greenland, West Antarctica and mountain glaciers, and a few experts who speak of a couple of yards in that time.
...
“It’s basically a big lump of ice sitting on this bedrock,” Dr. Alley said in describing Greenland’s behavior in warm conditions. “What it tries to do is snow more in the middle and melt more on the edges. If it pulls its edges back, then there’s less area to melt, and that helps it survive. That’s why you can have a stable ice sheet in a warmer climate.”
There has been a flack lately about the Arctic surface ice, with one side suggesting that record amount has melted and it's a sign of global warming and another side pointing out that there was also a record refreeze so it doesn't' matter. This neatly sidesteps the actual science, but gives folks something to fight about. In reality the amount of surface area that melts is largely irrelevant, its the *volume* of ice that's significant, a measure neither side has any good data on.
It seems pretty clear that the climate is changing, although it's far from clear exactly why or what can be done about it. Historically, it seems to be changing fairly swiftly as these things are measured (usually in thousands of years), but we have no real written records of a major planetary climate change, so although humanity has lived through this before, civilization has not. It's tempting to blame CO2 emissions and, doubtless they have a part, but CO2 isn't a huge contributor to warming, at least compared to other gasses like CH4, so its a good bet there are other processes going on.
In the end, there may not be a lot we can do about this.
The current state of climatology is similar to the state of early 20th century medicine. It's science but on a complicated organism we don't understand and until recently we just shrugged and prayed to sky-father about it. It's my hopes that advances in atmospheric physics and computer modeling will give us a much better idea of how this whole thing is linked up and what, if anything, we could do to make it better. At this point, almost anything we do is effectively random and may or may not have an effect and certainly it wouldn't have the effect we think it will.
Give science some more time with this.
The changes seen in Greenland may turn out to be self-limiting in the short run; surging glaciers can flatten out and slow, for instance. Or they may be a sign that the island’s ice — holding about the same volume of water as the Gulf of Mexico — is poised for a rapid discharge. Scientists are divided on that question, and on whether there is a near-term risk from a Texas-size portion of West Antarctica’s ice sheet that is also showing signs of instability. This split divides those foreseeing a rise in the sea level of a couple of feet this century from water added by Greenland, West Antarctica and mountain glaciers, and a few experts who speak of a couple of yards in that time.
...
“It’s basically a big lump of ice sitting on this bedrock,” Dr. Alley said in describing Greenland’s behavior in warm conditions. “What it tries to do is snow more in the middle and melt more on the edges. If it pulls its edges back, then there’s less area to melt, and that helps it survive. That’s why you can have a stable ice sheet in a warmer climate.”
There has been a flack lately about the Arctic surface ice, with one side suggesting that record amount has melted and it's a sign of global warming and another side pointing out that there was also a record refreeze so it doesn't' matter. This neatly sidesteps the actual science, but gives folks something to fight about. In reality the amount of surface area that melts is largely irrelevant, its the *volume* of ice that's significant, a measure neither side has any good data on.
It seems pretty clear that the climate is changing, although it's far from clear exactly why or what can be done about it. Historically, it seems to be changing fairly swiftly as these things are measured (usually in thousands of years), but we have no real written records of a major planetary climate change, so although humanity has lived through this before, civilization has not. It's tempting to blame CO2 emissions and, doubtless they have a part, but CO2 isn't a huge contributor to warming, at least compared to other gasses like CH4, so its a good bet there are other processes going on.
In the end, there may not be a lot we can do about this.
The current state of climatology is similar to the state of early 20th century medicine. It's science but on a complicated organism we don't understand and until recently we just shrugged and prayed to sky-father about it. It's my hopes that advances in atmospheric physics and computer modeling will give us a much better idea of how this whole thing is linked up and what, if anything, we could do to make it better. At this point, almost anything we do is effectively random and may or may not have an effect and certainly it wouldn't have the effect we think it will.
Give science some more time with this.
Monday, January 07, 2008
Not Immediately Dismissable
Jose Padilla is suing John Yoo for giving the president legal advice which amounted to advice to do something illegal. I thought this would go nowhere due to sovereign immunity, but it seems I was wrong. There is a pretty good rundown in the comments section over at Volokh. This seems to have some legs after all.
Sunday, January 06, 2008
Riva Tuner
Awesome tool for monitoring everything about your system. I started using it to monitor the temperature of the nvidia 8800 card I bought, but you can also download a handful of plug-ins that make it even more useful.
If your idea of fun is opening the window to see if you can drop the temperature of your coreDuo by 1 or 2 degrees, or blowing compressed air into your graphics card to watch the fan speed self-adjust, this is the tool for you.
If you like opening and closing various graphics programs to see what they do to the ambient box temperature, switching OpenGL and DirectX packages in and out, or simply enjoy an afternoon coding programs from Graphics Gems III to exercise your PhysX board, you're in for a good time.
FTR, 61 unloaded on the 8800, 51 ambient.
If your idea of fun is opening the window to see if you can drop the temperature of your coreDuo by 1 or 2 degrees, or blowing compressed air into your graphics card to watch the fan speed self-adjust, this is the tool for you.
If you like opening and closing various graphics programs to see what they do to the ambient box temperature, switching OpenGL and DirectX packages in and out, or simply enjoy an afternoon coding programs from Graphics Gems III to exercise your PhysX board, you're in for a good time.
FTR, 61 unloaded on the 8800, 51 ambient.
Saturday, January 05, 2008
Also, in Father v. Son
Me: No!
Geoff: Please! I dont have access to Phosphorus Granades and thats the next best thing.
Me: No!
Geoff: How else can I destroy these hard drives?
Me: No Thermite!
Geoff: Please! I dont have access to Phosphorus Granades and thats the next best thing.
Me: No!
Geoff: How else can I destroy these hard drives?
Me: No Thermite!
Musical Interludes
An actual conversation with my son:
Me: No! Stop saying that!
Geoff: Why not, it's true!
Me: No. It isn't.
Geoff: Paul McCartney is the Justin Timberlake of the Beatles! You know I am right!
Me: There is so much wrong with that sentence, I don't know where to begin.
Geoff: Like what?
Me: THE BEATLES WERE NOT A BOY BAND! I'M NOT TELLING YOU THIS AGAIN!
... later
Geoff: you're just angry that Justin Timberlake is a better songwriter than Paul McCartney.
Me: You have a point. I'll tell you what, I'll concede your point when Sir Paul McCartney writes a song about his Dick in a Box. Deal?
Geoff: He won an Emmy for that!
Me: No! Stop saying that!
Geoff: Why not, it's true!
Me: No. It isn't.
Geoff: Paul McCartney is the Justin Timberlake of the Beatles! You know I am right!
Me: There is so much wrong with that sentence, I don't know where to begin.
Geoff: Like what?
Me: THE BEATLES WERE NOT A BOY BAND! I'M NOT TELLING YOU THIS AGAIN!
... later
Geoff: you're just angry that Justin Timberlake is a better songwriter than Paul McCartney.
Me: You have a point. I'll tell you what, I'll concede your point when Sir Paul McCartney writes a song about his Dick in a Box. Deal?
Geoff: He won an Emmy for that!
Friday, January 04, 2008
A Bad Night For the Apparachniks
Last night was a very unusual night in american politics, the mainline parties reversed decades of trends to produce a surprise. It remains to be seen if this is a trend for the election or merely a fluke, but it's a promising sign.
The Dems: For most of my lifetime, the democrats have always nominated the most politically connected, establishment candidate they could. Very by-the-numbers, almost no charisma, very few ideas. Mondale anyone? Kerry? They were like Bob Dole with the quirkiness. If they do actually nominate Obama, it will be the first time in ages a candidate has come from outside the establishment to win the nomination. Which is to say, I am extremely skeptical they will do that. While third place has to sting, Hillary is clearly the establishment candidate and she is no where near out of it. Personally, I am tired of decades of the Clinton/Bush power share and would like to see some outside blood. My expecations are low, but no longer zero.
The GOP: The fruition of the Permenant Republican Majority strategy has yielded up a front candidate who not only beleives the Earth is 6000 years old, but says this with pride. Again, this is a little out of the box, with Romney being their version of Hillary with more god and fewer balls. Huckaee is not popular with the chattering rightwing blogosphere, nor with the party heads, yet is the logical conclusion of their faith-based approach to government (have faith in god and have faith that we know what we're doing because we're not liberals). Huckabee could be a huge problem for them going forward, but again, Romney is nowhere near out of it.
All in all, a good night.
Update: also there is this:
Beyond who won on each side, there's a very big partisan message out of tonight. Just under 220,000 Democrats caucused tonight. About 115,000 Republicans did. That is a very big vote in itself.
I'm not quite sure what this means. I don't, for example, beleive the tradiational percentages have gone away. I expect it means that the GOP field is weak and unexciting, so people aren't bothering to turn out. Also, I expect a lot of independents broke blue in Iowa.
Update II: NPR just reported that Romney spent $80,000,000 in Iowa! Really????!!!??? Holy Shit! $80M and he got second??? Is this true?
I might be wrong, he may really be toast if he can spend that much money and still come in behind Huck.
The Dems: For most of my lifetime, the democrats have always nominated the most politically connected, establishment candidate they could. Very by-the-numbers, almost no charisma, very few ideas. Mondale anyone? Kerry? They were like Bob Dole with the quirkiness. If they do actually nominate Obama, it will be the first time in ages a candidate has come from outside the establishment to win the nomination. Which is to say, I am extremely skeptical they will do that. While third place has to sting, Hillary is clearly the establishment candidate and she is no where near out of it. Personally, I am tired of decades of the Clinton/Bush power share and would like to see some outside blood. My expecations are low, but no longer zero.
The GOP: The fruition of the Permenant Republican Majority strategy has yielded up a front candidate who not only beleives the Earth is 6000 years old, but says this with pride. Again, this is a little out of the box, with Romney being their version of Hillary with more god and fewer balls. Huckaee is not popular with the chattering rightwing blogosphere, nor with the party heads, yet is the logical conclusion of their faith-based approach to government (have faith in god and have faith that we know what we're doing because we're not liberals). Huckabee could be a huge problem for them going forward, but again, Romney is nowhere near out of it.
All in all, a good night.
Update: also there is this:
Beyond who won on each side, there's a very big partisan message out of tonight. Just under 220,000 Democrats caucused tonight. About 115,000 Republicans did. That is a very big vote in itself.
I'm not quite sure what this means. I don't, for example, beleive the tradiational percentages have gone away. I expect it means that the GOP field is weak and unexciting, so people aren't bothering to turn out. Also, I expect a lot of independents broke blue in Iowa.
Update II: NPR just reported that Romney spent $80,000,000 in Iowa! Really????!!!??? Holy Shit! $80M and he got second??? Is this true?
I might be wrong, he may really be toast if he can spend that much money and still come in behind Huck.
Thursday, January 03, 2008
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
The Devil!
No, not me! Harry Potter!
Joe Ratzinger has a chief exorcist who, while not busy helping folks avoid responsibility for their actions (or in some cases treatment for the schizophrenia) by blaming human failing on an imaginary demi-god, has time to do a Dan Quayle act on Harry Potter:
Pope Benedict XVI's chief exorcist, Rev. Gabriele Amorth, has called fictional wizard-in-training Harry Potter the "king of darkness, the devil."
...
"Magic is always a turn to the devil," said the Roman Catholic priest, according to Britain's Daily Mail newspaper.
"Magic is always a turn to the devil". Hmmmm... it seems to me his church is full of magic:
Transubstantiation? Magic
Healing Lepers? Magic
A guy raised from the dead? Magic!
A god who watches everything yuo do and deals eternal punishment for making fun of Joe Ratzinger? Magic!
By George, he's right! Magic is the work of the devil!
Most adults know though there is no such thing as magic, and in that light, the "devil" responsible becomes pretty obvious.
(I note approvingly the Canadians have properly categorized this in "Arts and Entertainment").
Joe Ratzinger has a chief exorcist who, while not busy helping folks avoid responsibility for their actions (or in some cases treatment for the schizophrenia) by blaming human failing on an imaginary demi-god, has time to do a Dan Quayle act on Harry Potter:
Pope Benedict XVI's chief exorcist, Rev. Gabriele Amorth, has called fictional wizard-in-training Harry Potter the "king of darkness, the devil."
...
"Magic is always a turn to the devil," said the Roman Catholic priest, according to Britain's Daily Mail newspaper.
"Magic is always a turn to the devil". Hmmmm... it seems to me his church is full of magic:
Transubstantiation? Magic
Healing Lepers? Magic
A guy raised from the dead? Magic!
A god who watches everything yuo do and deals eternal punishment for making fun of Joe Ratzinger? Magic!
By George, he's right! Magic is the work of the devil!
Most adults know though there is no such thing as magic, and in that light, the "devil" responsible becomes pretty obvious.
(I note approvingly the Canadians have properly categorized this in "Arts and Entertainment").
The Lowest Threshold Ever Set By Man
as expressed by Presidential Candidate Ron Paul:
It just happens, Tim, that I get more support from black people today than any other Republican candidate, according to some statistics.
LOL!
It just happens, Tim, that I get more support from black people today than any other Republican candidate, according to some statistics.
LOL!
Thursday, December 27, 2007
On My Way Home
I'll be coming back from Christmas in Maine tomorrow and looking forward to my present to myself... a 30" Dell Monitor. Thus deftly replacing my current dual 19" set up.
It's going to be the awesomesauce.
It's going to be the awesomesauce.
Also in FSM News...
We Save another group of school children from religious studies class...
The satirical religious Web site asserts that an omnipotent, airborne clump of spaghetti intelligently designed all life with the deft touch of its “noodly appendage.” Adherents call themselves Pastafarians. They deluged Polk school board members with e-mail demanding equal time for Flying Spaghetti Monsterism’s version of intelligent design.
“They’ve made us the laughingstock of the world,” said Margaret Lofton, a school board member who supports intelligent design.
The satirical religious Web site asserts that an omnipotent, airborne clump of spaghetti intelligently designed all life with the deft touch of its “noodly appendage.” Adherents call themselves Pastafarians. They deluged Polk school board members with e-mail demanding equal time for Flying Spaghetti Monsterism’s version of intelligent design.
“They’ve made us the laughingstock of the world,” said Margaret Lofton, a school board member who supports intelligent design.
Pastafarian Christmas
Who says we have no Christmas spirit? or ghost, or whatever?
(It's the father, son and christmas ghosts right? Polytheistic religions are very confusing...)
(It's the father, son and christmas ghosts right? Polytheistic religions are very confusing...)
Worst People of 2007
37. Mitt Romney
Charges: America's first clip-art presidential candidate, Romney is a strange mixture of game show host looks and android charm. A true flip-flopper, Romney's ability to turn on an ideological dime is unparalleled, but his excuses are so inauthentic that even Republicans have trouble suspending their disbelief.
Exhibit A: "You can't have freedom without religion, and you can't have religion without freedom."
Sentence: Strapped to the roof of his family car, which his dog attempts to drive across the country, but crashes horribly (because dogs can't drive, of course). Romney's flesh burns off in the ensuing fire, revealing him to be a standard protocol droid set to world domination mode. Narrowly edged out of primary race by Huckabee.
Some of these are pretty funny. I thought the Romney one is spot on or, as I think of him, Romney is like a Clinton with fewer testicles.
Charges: America's first clip-art presidential candidate, Romney is a strange mixture of game show host looks and android charm. A true flip-flopper, Romney's ability to turn on an ideological dime is unparalleled, but his excuses are so inauthentic that even Republicans have trouble suspending their disbelief.
Exhibit A: "You can't have freedom without religion, and you can't have religion without freedom."
Sentence: Strapped to the roof of his family car, which his dog attempts to drive across the country, but crashes horribly (because dogs can't drive, of course). Romney's flesh burns off in the ensuing fire, revealing him to be a standard protocol droid set to world domination mode. Narrowly edged out of primary race by Huckabee.
Some of these are pretty funny. I thought the Romney one is spot on or, as I think of him, Romney is like a Clinton with fewer testicles.
Saturday, December 22, 2007
The World's Most Awful Cures
#8 is a great one to try if you have a) ear wax and b) fire insurance.
10 Most Awful Cures.
The properties of colloidal silver cannot be discussed without discussing libertarianism and Stan Jones. Many libertarians believe that the FDA is an evil organization that interferes with Americans and their ability to receive treatment.
The cause of choice on this issue has long been colloidal silver and many libertarians (though probably not the majority) buy into the idea that colloidal silver is a better antibiotic and anti-everything treatment than the drugs "they" want you to buy. "They" in this case is the libertarian fantasy of a sinister world government being controlled by the Trilateral Commission and a mixture of European socialists bent on denying honest Americans their toxic medicines.
FTR, I have been, and likely will always be, a fan of the FDA (assuming they still use actual results). Look at the patent medicine market in the early 20th century to get some idea of what cavet emptor would mean for medicine.
10 Most Awful Cures.
The properties of colloidal silver cannot be discussed without discussing libertarianism and Stan Jones. Many libertarians believe that the FDA is an evil organization that interferes with Americans and their ability to receive treatment.
The cause of choice on this issue has long been colloidal silver and many libertarians (though probably not the majority) buy into the idea that colloidal silver is a better antibiotic and anti-everything treatment than the drugs "they" want you to buy. "They" in this case is the libertarian fantasy of a sinister world government being controlled by the Trilateral Commission and a mixture of European socialists bent on denying honest Americans their toxic medicines.
FTR, I have been, and likely will always be, a fan of the FDA (assuming they still use actual results). Look at the patent medicine market in the early 20th century to get some idea of what cavet emptor would mean for medicine.
Sci-Fi Sounds Quiz
Harder than it sounds....
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Toilet Fires
Yeah, you read that right...
7. High-tech toilets
Too bad nobody gave one of these to Chuck Prince. Japanese manufacturer Toto apologizes to customers and offers free repairs for 180,000 high-tech toilets - thrones that feature heated seats, air purifiers, blow dryers, and water sprayers - after at least three catch fire. "Fortunately nobody was using the toilets when the fire broke out," says a company spokesman. "The fire would have been just under your buttocks."
7. High-tech toilets
Too bad nobody gave one of these to Chuck Prince. Japanese manufacturer Toto apologizes to customers and offers free repairs for 180,000 high-tech toilets - thrones that feature heated seats, air purifiers, blow dryers, and water sprayers - after at least three catch fire. "Fortunately nobody was using the toilets when the fire broke out," says a company spokesman. "The fire would have been just under your buttocks."
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Go Back to Nietzsche You Damn, Dirty Atheists!
A piece of an interesting interview with John Haught,
You're saying older atheists like Nietzsche and Camus had a more sophisticated critique of religion?
Yes. They wanted us to think out completely and thoroughly, and with unrelenting logic, what the world would look like if the transcendent is wiped away from the horizon. Nietzsche, Sartre and Camus would have cringed at "the new atheism" because they would see it as dropping God like Santa Claus, and going on with the same old values. The new atheists don't want to think out the implications of a complete absence of deity. Nietzsche, as well as Sartre and Camus, all expressed it quite correctly. The implications should be nihilism.
Let me strip this down and examine what he’s really saying:
You're saying older atheists like Nietzsche and Camus had a more sophisticated critique of religion?
Yes. We’re familiar with the lame and somewhat nonsensical arguments of these guys and have our refutations all ready to go. By changing the game and moving pasted these limited philosophies, atheists aren’t playing very fair. Regular Joes think they’re being lied to when atheists use words like “Nietzsche” and “Ubermenchen” and think about that dumb guy in a “Fish Called Wanda”. This works to our advantage because it makes atheists sound like pompous geeks. But they’re all familiar with Santa Claus and there is no real rhetorical counterpunch to the argument that god is like Santa except to say, in the most indignant tones, “Don’t MOCK GOD!!!”, and then flee the field. Atheists need to move backwards to the defeated arguments like nihilism so we don’t have to try and come up with anything new. Stop it guys! Stop it now! DON’T MOCK GOD!!!
The implications of atheism are not nihilism, they're responsibility. If you stop pushing the responsibility for your actions, and the credit, to made up devils and gods, and start owning them like an adult, you get up off your knees and start building a better place to live.
It's a pretty interesting article all in all, with a lot of points I agree with. But like many of these types of things, Haught mixes elements of truth with seculations of faith and tries to sell it as a package, a "if you agree with some, you much agree with all" kind of deal. No thanks.
You're saying older atheists like Nietzsche and Camus had a more sophisticated critique of religion?
Yes. They wanted us to think out completely and thoroughly, and with unrelenting logic, what the world would look like if the transcendent is wiped away from the horizon. Nietzsche, Sartre and Camus would have cringed at "the new atheism" because they would see it as dropping God like Santa Claus, and going on with the same old values. The new atheists don't want to think out the implications of a complete absence of deity. Nietzsche, as well as Sartre and Camus, all expressed it quite correctly. The implications should be nihilism.
Let me strip this down and examine what he’s really saying:
You're saying older atheists like Nietzsche and Camus had a more sophisticated critique of religion?
Yes. We’re familiar with the lame and somewhat nonsensical arguments of these guys and have our refutations all ready to go. By changing the game and moving pasted these limited philosophies, atheists aren’t playing very fair. Regular Joes think they’re being lied to when atheists use words like “Nietzsche” and “Ubermenchen” and think about that dumb guy in a “Fish Called Wanda”. This works to our advantage because it makes atheists sound like pompous geeks. But they’re all familiar with Santa Claus and there is no real rhetorical counterpunch to the argument that god is like Santa except to say, in the most indignant tones, “Don’t MOCK GOD!!!”, and then flee the field. Atheists need to move backwards to the defeated arguments like nihilism so we don’t have to try and come up with anything new. Stop it guys! Stop it now! DON’T MOCK GOD!!!
The implications of atheism are not nihilism, they're responsibility. If you stop pushing the responsibility for your actions, and the credit, to made up devils and gods, and start owning them like an adult, you get up off your knees and start building a better place to live.
It's a pretty interesting article all in all, with a lot of points I agree with. But like many of these types of things, Haught mixes elements of truth with seculations of faith and tries to sell it as a package, a "if you agree with some, you much agree with all" kind of deal. No thanks.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Monday, December 17, 2007
The State of Atheism Today
Atheism has changed only in that people have come up with more things which we don't believe in.
Remember, if you're an adult, your religion is a choice. Choose wisely.
Friday, December 14, 2007
The Most Free
Heard today:
Since Romney said religion requires freedom, and freedom requires religion, I can only conclude that Iran is the most free nation in the world... QED
Since Romney said religion requires freedom, and freedom requires religion, I can only conclude that Iran is the most free nation in the world... QED
I Can't Beleive It's Not Yoga!
Pat says:
Wednesday's "700 Club" featured a question about the Christian view of yoga. A concerned viewer asked, "Does it really have its origins in evil?" Pat Robertson gave the verdict: Yes! According to Pat, stretching is fine, but by repeating common yoga mantras, you are actually praying to Hindu gods Vishnu and Krishna and you're not even aware of it!
I agree with Pat, praying is evil. Why waste your time hoping the invisible sky-father will take mercy when you could be using your time improving yourself?
Wednesday's "700 Club" featured a question about the Christian view of yoga. A concerned viewer asked, "Does it really have its origins in evil?" Pat Robertson gave the verdict: Yes! According to Pat, stretching is fine, but by repeating common yoga mantras, you are actually praying to Hindu gods Vishnu and Krishna and you're not even aware of it!
I agree with Pat, praying is evil. Why waste your time hoping the invisible sky-father will take mercy when you could be using your time improving yourself?
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Typo of the Year
Typo of the YearThe Houston Chronicle, like just about every other North American media outlet, spent a lot of time reporting on Anna Nicole Smith this past year. In attempting to explain her, um, humble origins, the paper gave itself a measure of comeuppance. And that’s what makes it the typo of the year.
A photo caption in the paper read:
“When Redding, a longtime scout for Playboy, discovered Smith, the model could barely right a sentence…”
Also:
Apology of the YearSunday Times (UK):
An article about Lord Lambton (“Lord Louche, sex king of Chiantishire”, News Review, January 7) falsely stated that his son Ned (now Lord Durham) and daughter Catherine held a party at Lord Lambton’s villa, Cetinale, in 1997, which degenerated into such an orgy that Lord Lambton banned them from Cetinale for years. In fact, Lord Durham does not have a sister called Catherine (that is the name of his former wife), there has not been any orgiastic party of any kind and Lord Lambton did not ban him (or Catherine) from Cetinale at all. We apologise sincerely to Lord Durham for the hurt and embarrassment caused.
more here
A photo caption in the paper read:
“When Redding, a longtime scout for Playboy, discovered Smith, the model could barely right a sentence…”
Also:
Apology of the YearSunday Times (UK):
An article about Lord Lambton (“Lord Louche, sex king of Chiantishire”, News Review, January 7) falsely stated that his son Ned (now Lord Durham) and daughter Catherine held a party at Lord Lambton’s villa, Cetinale, in 1997, which degenerated into such an orgy that Lord Lambton banned them from Cetinale for years. In fact, Lord Durham does not have a sister called Catherine (that is the name of his former wife), there has not been any orgiastic party of any kind and Lord Lambton did not ban him (or Catherine) from Cetinale at all. We apologise sincerely to Lord Durham for the hurt and embarrassment caused.
more here
Uncle Joe
An excellent point:
Joe Ratzinger, who calls himself "pope bendict XVI", recently issued an encyclical arguing against atheism and outright blaming it for most of history's atrocities. He should open a history book or perhaps look at the current pedophile infestation he has been covering up with massive payments to victims.The usual tactic is to note that Joseph Stalin was an atheist and thus insinuate that atheism leads to mass killing because there is no morality to it. And there isn't. Atheism is not a moral philosophy nor a political movement--it's simply a lack of a belief in god(s). One can be a strict science based atheist or a new age quack, a libertarian or a socialist. I've never known anyone who's moral beliefs derived from atheism.
One of the most common arguments I get about atheism is that, without gods, there is no divine justice, and man is free to do what he wants. This is true. It is also true man does what he wants anyway and finds the gods he needs to rationalize the act. Blaming or prasing their invisible friend doesn't actually absolve anyone of anything. In the end, we're all responsible for our actions, justified or not. It seems silly to bring the sky-father into it.
Joe Ratzinger, who calls himself "pope bendict XVI", recently issued an encyclical arguing against atheism and outright blaming it for most of history's atrocities. He should open a history book or perhaps look at the current pedophile infestation he has been covering up with massive payments to victims.The usual tactic is to note that Joseph Stalin was an atheist and thus insinuate that atheism leads to mass killing because there is no morality to it. And there isn't. Atheism is not a moral philosophy nor a political movement--it's simply a lack of a belief in god(s). One can be a strict science based atheist or a new age quack, a libertarian or a socialist. I've never known anyone who's moral beliefs derived from atheism.
One of the most common arguments I get about atheism is that, without gods, there is no divine justice, and man is free to do what he wants. This is true. It is also true man does what he wants anyway and finds the gods he needs to rationalize the act. Blaming or prasing their invisible friend doesn't actually absolve anyone of anything. In the end, we're all responsible for our actions, justified or not. It seems silly to bring the sky-father into it.
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Logic: You're Doing It Wrong
Interestingly wacked out site pitting "physics" against "darwinism", with physics being "science" becuase it has "equations".
Really.
I hope this guy isn't a physics student, because behavior like this really stinks it up for the rest of us. He's really falling into all the standard tropes of bad reasoning: category errors, revealed truth verses discovery, appeal to authority, circular logic, and lots and lots of just simply misstating results or misunderstanding the point.
As I work to throw together a draft of my book on reasoning skills, I troll a lot of these sites looking for examples. To be honest, it's pretty depressing, there are a lot more of them than I would have feared.
Really.
I hope this guy isn't a physics student, because behavior like this really stinks it up for the rest of us. He's really falling into all the standard tropes of bad reasoning: category errors, revealed truth verses discovery, appeal to authority, circular logic, and lots and lots of just simply misstating results or misunderstanding the point.
As I work to throw together a draft of my book on reasoning skills, I troll a lot of these sites looking for examples. To be honest, it's pretty depressing, there are a lot more of them than I would have feared.
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
The Haunted Hotel Room
I’m currently in London, staying at the “posh” hotel the company puts me in on St. Martin’s Lane. The hotel itself eclipses my own tiny coolness by over 400 MegaFoznies and it is doubtful I would be allowed into the lobby, except perhaps has a hat rack or piece of retro art, if the company were not vouching for my presence.
“Don’t Worry!”, it has told the front desk, “the nerd doesn’t rub off onto the furniture!” Just in case, I am certain there has been a deposit put on my room ranging in the six figures in case the next guest touches the desk where I work, loses all cool and suddenly starts making some sense. Also, there is plastic on the floors.
The hotel prides itself on customer service. It caters to the customer’s every whim. Or so it thinks.
Like many men of a certain age, when I get home from a long day slinging bits, waxing geekie or trying to con customers out of their shekels, I like to come, home, relax and have a good long … sit. When I am traveling, this is a little more difficult because my …. Ummm… usual sitting chair … isn’t here and the one they provide is not cluttered with the wide library of reading material my usual chair has to offer (unless I brought it from home which I always fail to do). Usually, I have a few minutes to myself, then get back to the desk and do some email. In this hotel, that’s impossible because… it’s cool to check on the guests.
For example, yesterday. I came in about 4:00pm after a host of meetings and a short walk over from Buckingham Palace (as a tourist, not as a geek or a salesperson). When I came in, I noticed that housekeeping had not made the bed or cleaned yet. Kind of sloppy for 4 pm, but Madonna is in the hotel and (I assume) her pet llama is keeping the staff hopping. No problem for me, I am not that fussy. I grab a magazine and go get comfortable, ready for a good long sit and… I hear the knock…
“Housekeeping, hello? … Housekeeping”
As the maid enters the room, I try to keep my dignity and shout, “No thank you!” but it’s too late, she’s in.. and she knows where I am sitting.
“uhhh housekeeping. Housekeeping sir!”
“uhh no thank you”
“No sir! Housekeeping. I must clean room. Clean room”
“I’m a little busy, can you come back at a more inconvenient time? I was planning a bath later, can you come then?”
“??? Uhhh… housekeeping sir!”
And then the moment was gone. I put myself back together, take my book and go down to the lobby, leaving a puzzled chezch woman to clean the room and express her profound unhappiness at what I have just done to the room in which she is going to be spending the next 15 minutes. As I close the door I hear a swear in Hungarian and the fan click on.
In the lobby, I meet a co-worker, one I left 10 minutes before. Our eyes meet and we say almost simultaneously,
“housekeeping!”
We decide to go get a drink and an early supper. I go back up to my room to get my coat, but the maid is there and she now as a full knowledge of the deeply shameful things I’ve done while sitting in the chair. I enter the room, she turns to me, scowls and says in her best drill-sergeant voice,
“HOUSEKEEPING!”
I grab my coat and flee the scene.
Hotel 1, me 0
My co-worker and I have dinner, a drink and then take a pleasant walk down to the London Eye and back. Very nice. I return to my room about 10:00pm, make a call and get ready to turn in. I sit back in my chair, grab my book and within a minute hear a knock. The door opens and a voice calls out, “Turndown? Turndown sir?”
“No thank you!”, but it’s too late, she’s in the room before she realizes I’m on the chair. A moment later she realizes what’s going on and flees. Hotel 2, me 0.
I get ready for bed and call for a wake up call at 6am. I have a lot of early meeting and have a client breakfast at 7am.
“Would you like a pot of coffee in the morning sir?”
“Yes, that would be nice, thank you”
That seems cool. I like morning coffee and at 6am, 9 timezones from home, that seems perfect. As the reader may have already guessed, this is a Bad Idea.
6am comes. The phone rings. I pick it, bleary eyed and stupid. “Hello?” I answer.
“This is your wake up call sir”
“Okay, thanks.” I am cold, tired, in my underwear and vaugly think I should look for my glasses when…
“Coffee service sir!”
“I just hung up the fucking receiver!” , I whine, letting go of the phone.
In comes an improbably cheery (and blurry) man wheeling a cart of (what I assume to be)coffee. Which I need to sign for, while I am fat, tired, blind and hanging out for all the world to see. Hotel 3, me 0.
Today, I get back from meeting out in Reading, about 90 minutes door-to-door from the hotel. It’s 4:30pm. I enter the room and realize, a) it’s been made up and b) I’m likely safe. I grab my book and proceed to the throne. I do not pass Go! I do not collect $200. I do, sit down, get comfortable and almost immediately hear,
“housekeeping!”
“Go AWAY!”
“Sorry sir, I just need to check and make sure the room has been made up”
“It’ fine! Go Away”
But it was too late. She knew. Hotel 4, me 0.
So finally, tonight. I go to dinner, do some shopping, have a walk. I come back. It’s 8:30pm. I grab my book. I check it for hidden cameras, microphones, microdots and poltergeists. Nothing. I enter the bathroom. It looks fine. I check the chair for pressure switches. I find none which shouldn’t be there. I wait. … nothing happens. I wait a few more minutes…. More fails to happen. I figure I am safe. I sit.
“Housekeeping!”
“IMMIGRATION!” I yell back.
The door closes.
I open my book and start reading.
“Don’t Worry!”, it has told the front desk, “the nerd doesn’t rub off onto the furniture!” Just in case, I am certain there has been a deposit put on my room ranging in the six figures in case the next guest touches the desk where I work, loses all cool and suddenly starts making some sense. Also, there is plastic on the floors.
The hotel prides itself on customer service. It caters to the customer’s every whim. Or so it thinks.
Like many men of a certain age, when I get home from a long day slinging bits, waxing geekie or trying to con customers out of their shekels, I like to come, home, relax and have a good long … sit. When I am traveling, this is a little more difficult because my …. Ummm… usual sitting chair … isn’t here and the one they provide is not cluttered with the wide library of reading material my usual chair has to offer (unless I brought it from home which I always fail to do). Usually, I have a few minutes to myself, then get back to the desk and do some email. In this hotel, that’s impossible because… it’s cool to check on the guests.
For example, yesterday. I came in about 4:00pm after a host of meetings and a short walk over from Buckingham Palace (as a tourist, not as a geek or a salesperson). When I came in, I noticed that housekeeping had not made the bed or cleaned yet. Kind of sloppy for 4 pm, but Madonna is in the hotel and (I assume) her pet llama is keeping the staff hopping. No problem for me, I am not that fussy. I grab a magazine and go get comfortable, ready for a good long sit and… I hear the knock…
“Housekeeping, hello? … Housekeeping”
As the maid enters the room, I try to keep my dignity and shout, “No thank you!” but it’s too late, she’s in.. and she knows where I am sitting.
“uhhh housekeeping. Housekeeping sir!”
“uhh no thank you”
“No sir! Housekeeping. I must clean room. Clean room”
“I’m a little busy, can you come back at a more inconvenient time? I was planning a bath later, can you come then?”
“??? Uhhh… housekeeping sir!”
And then the moment was gone. I put myself back together, take my book and go down to the lobby, leaving a puzzled chezch woman to clean the room and express her profound unhappiness at what I have just done to the room in which she is going to be spending the next 15 minutes. As I close the door I hear a swear in Hungarian and the fan click on.
In the lobby, I meet a co-worker, one I left 10 minutes before. Our eyes meet and we say almost simultaneously,
“housekeeping!”
We decide to go get a drink and an early supper. I go back up to my room to get my coat, but the maid is there and she now as a full knowledge of the deeply shameful things I’ve done while sitting in the chair. I enter the room, she turns to me, scowls and says in her best drill-sergeant voice,
“HOUSEKEEPING!”
I grab my coat and flee the scene.
Hotel 1, me 0
My co-worker and I have dinner, a drink and then take a pleasant walk down to the London Eye and back. Very nice. I return to my room about 10:00pm, make a call and get ready to turn in. I sit back in my chair, grab my book and within a minute hear a knock. The door opens and a voice calls out, “Turndown? Turndown sir?”
“No thank you!”, but it’s too late, she’s in the room before she realizes I’m on the chair. A moment later she realizes what’s going on and flees. Hotel 2, me 0.
I get ready for bed and call for a wake up call at 6am. I have a lot of early meeting and have a client breakfast at 7am.
“Would you like a pot of coffee in the morning sir?”
“Yes, that would be nice, thank you”
That seems cool. I like morning coffee and at 6am, 9 timezones from home, that seems perfect. As the reader may have already guessed, this is a Bad Idea.
6am comes. The phone rings. I pick it, bleary eyed and stupid. “Hello?” I answer.
“This is your wake up call sir”
“Okay, thanks.” I am cold, tired, in my underwear and vaugly think I should look for my glasses when…
“Coffee service sir!”
“I just hung up the fucking receiver!” , I whine, letting go of the phone.
In comes an improbably cheery (and blurry) man wheeling a cart of (what I assume to be)coffee. Which I need to sign for, while I am fat, tired, blind and hanging out for all the world to see. Hotel 3, me 0.
Today, I get back from meeting out in Reading, about 90 minutes door-to-door from the hotel. It’s 4:30pm. I enter the room and realize, a) it’s been made up and b) I’m likely safe. I grab my book and proceed to the throne. I do not pass Go! I do not collect $200. I do, sit down, get comfortable and almost immediately hear,
“Go AWAY!”
“Sorry sir, I just need to check and make sure the room has been made up”
“It’ fine! Go Away”
But it was too late. She knew. Hotel 4, me 0.
So finally, tonight. I go to dinner, do some shopping, have a walk. I come back. It’s 8:30pm. I grab my book. I check it for hidden cameras, microphones, microdots and poltergeists. Nothing. I enter the bathroom. It looks fine. I check the chair for pressure switches. I find none which shouldn’t be there. I wait. … nothing happens. I wait a few more minutes…. More fails to happen. I figure I am safe. I sit.
“IMMIGRATION!” I yell back.
The door closes.
I open my book and start reading.
"Have People Forgotten How They Pythons Suffered For Us?"
Being in London atm, I thought this was terrific:
I'll have to check the FSM position on being a pythonist. I assume a dual-class is allowed if I split my xp evenly...
(via)
I'll have to check the FSM position on being a pythonist. I assume a dual-class is allowed if I split my xp evenly...
(via)
Monday, December 10, 2007
Anti-Science Explosion!
Warning: The number of logical fallacies per second exceeds 15 KiloFalwells:
This is awesomely bad, an actual masterpeice of non-science. Unpacking this would take weeks. In fact it's back with so many bad facts and misinformation, light itself cannot escape! It's a black hole of information!
This is awesomely bad, an actual masterpeice of non-science. Unpacking this would take weeks. In fact it's back with so many bad facts and misinformation, light itself cannot escape! It's a black hole of information!
Grammar Humor
"First they came for the verbs, and I said nothing because verbing weirds language. Then they arrival for the nouns, and I speech nothing because I no verbs." -- Peter Ellis.
via
I'm still in Europe until the end of the week, but I should start blogging again soon.
via
I'm still in Europe until the end of the week, but I should start blogging again soon.
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