Sunday, August 31, 2008

Next!

You know it's time for the Republican convention when news stories contain lines like this:

"Minnesota Public Radio reported that authorities had seized gallons of urine.."

God bless the GOP.

Friday, August 29, 2008

First is worst...

One more thing: In 1984, Geraldine Ferraro ran for VP. First woman to do so. She (and presidential candidate Walter Mondale) came in second. That same year, Palin came in second in the Miss Alaska Beauty Pageant. In 2008, Palin will continue the tradition. Of coming in second.

One small step for women's lib, one giant leap backwards for mankind?

McCain picked a woman. He believes that Clinton supporters are going to flock to his side because he picked a woman. He's counting on most people seeing that she's a female and that's it. Is he right?

I would guess that Clinton supporters come in two flavors. The first want more of the Clinton democracy. The second support her because she's a woman. Of course, you also have a swirl of the two. How many, though, were able to bring themselves to vote for Clinton but didn't support any of her ideas? I think there were some who voted for her strictly because she's a woman. But most of those would also believe in some basic feminist ideas, though, right? Palin is pretty much the opposite of that, just looking at her abortion stance alone. Palin wouldn't want her own daughter to get an abortion if she were raped. Even most pro-lifers these days throw in that stipulation, don't they? The rape and incest line? And how about the rest of the crazy - NRA for lifer, creationist, Buchanan supporter, under investigation... Wait - Clintons are familiar with that last one... But beyond that, this lady is further to the right than I can recall anyone having with a reasonable run for the White House. Even Republicans rejected Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee. The moderates and independents? There's no way they can support someone like her. If she were a man, I think this would have already pushed the election to Obama.

But she's a woman. How badly do these Hillary supporters want a woman in White House? Until November, I'm going to remain skeptical that the middle and south of the US can vote for a black man and that everyone else can take five minutes to read about his woman to know that she's Nucking Futs.

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Quick quote

Possibly Jon Stewart's best Daily Show line ever:

"...Republicans, who everyone knows love America, they just hate half the people living in it."

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Preacher

Preacher is dead.

http://blog.newsarama.com/2008/08/26/preacher-series-dead-at-hbo/

Possibly the best comic book series ever (better than Watchmen? Yes.). Bad and good and good and bad news, I guess. Bad because the idea of an HBO Preacher is awesome. Good because the guy who was going to do it is the same guy who made a lame Daredevil movie. Good because he learned not to F with source materials. Bad because it looks like it was HBO that wanted him to change things, making the whole idea of an HBO Preacher seem not so good.

Saturday, August 23, 2008

More people vote for American Idol than for president...

Once again, here's just another example of the priorities in this country. Here are the top two searches on yahoo right now:

Today's Top Searches

  1. Anna Faris
  2. Joe Biden
I guess it should be a relief that he's at least at number two...
(for those reading this on another day, Obama just announced him as his VP)

Thursday, August 21, 2008

I solve the world's energy issues

Just some background info first: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080821/ts_afp/usitinternetenergychipcompanyintel


The basic idea is that Intel is working on electricity for laptops without plugging it in. Is it just me, or is that a freaking big deal? At this point, the article states that they were able to light a 60watt lamp on a stage. 60 watts is more than a laptop needs. And even so, if technology with this increases like everything else, that should go up as well. It looks like they're working out the safety issues. Imagine a completely wireless home. One of the hurdles that electric cars have to face is the plug in issue. Imagine it recharging as soon as you pull into the garage. Or into a parking lot. Or as you drive? People talk about how the future holds a worldwide wireless internet feed or some sort. Imagine a worldwide wireless electrical grid. Imagine that it's powered by a huge solar energy field. And that field is flying through space. Or on the moon. OR ON THE SUN. That's right - fuck the Middle East and their precious, delicious oil.

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

WTF or genius?

Many will say "WTF?" I say: Pure genius.





http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PCRp-1O5lk

Edit: Viacom pulled the youtube video. Those bastards. Here's another link, at least until they pull that one too:

http://comedyjuice.com/2008/08/norm-macdonalds-genius-roast-o.html

Monday, August 18, 2008

Evolution proved!

Of course, evolution has been proved well enough. But wrapping my brain around the actual science doesn't always work. This has nothing to do with any kind of intelligent design BS, but there's a reason why I teach history and not science. However, I'm smart enough to be able to read to a point of understanding so that I can see that scientific explanations work far beyond any religious explanations.

Now as to many specifics of topics such as evolution, I'm a lay person for sure. But for the first time, the general idea of why evolution works was put into words for me. Read this:

The notion that eyes had to be an example of "intelligent design" is flawed because it cannot imagine an eye evolving toward what it cannot conceive. But sight has evolved independently dozens of times on this planet, growing more complex not because it what it was evolving into, but because of what it was evolving away from: less perception of light and movement. Those few creatures who because of chance mutation gained an advantage were of course more likely to survive.

There's the idea I needed for it to all click in my head - the idea that evolution is actually moving AWAY from something bad rather then toward something good. I don't know about you, but these few lines cemented something in my head. It was that last click into place. I want to reemphasize that this wasn't changing my mind about anything, just reinforcing previous ideas. And who do I have to thank for that paragraph? Which great scientist was it? Was it Darwin? Dawkins? Nope. Ebert.

Friday, August 8, 2008

The best day ever!

This is the story of the best day ever. Actually, it was evening, but a 24-hour period is a day, so I'll call it a day. It was after dinner, and I was thinking about some dessert. I miss the days when I could have dessert every day without consequence. Not that I have given up desserts, mind you. I choose to live with the pudgy consequence. I jumped in my car, but my mind was on Misters Ben and Jerry instead of the Hoff. But as I cruised on down to Safeway, my brain and taste buds were each playing their own games of Pong. Did I want some sweet, delicious fudge brownies in my ice cream, or did I want to enjoy the raw tenderness of cookie dough? I would often choose one or the other depending on my mood, but this time I just couldn't put my finger on which one was right. I was almost hoping that they would be out of one or the other to remove this horrible decision from my hands. As I walked into the store, I was thinking through possible scenarios. Would I flip a coin? Dare I be such a pig and oink out on BOTH? But it turns out that God himself made the decision for me. That day was the first day that I was to lay my eyes upon the greatest creation to come from the heavens. More majestic than the Grand Canyon. More intriguing than the platypus. More beautiful than any sunset. I would not have to decide that day, my friends, because God had spoken through Misters Ben & Jerry and put together my two favorite B&J ice creams into one container. No, the greatest creation ever wasn't the Half Baked ice cream that I proceeded to wolf down soon upon returning home. The greatest creation ever is the beauty of coincidence. Beautiful, indeed.