"Perchance you who pronounce my sentence are in greater fear than I who receive it."*

from LGF
YouTube Bans James Randi

Media | Mon, Mar 30, 2009 at 8:28:15 pm PDT

You have got to be kidding me.

YouTube has suspended the account of the James Randi Foundation, one of the foremost rationalist organizations in the United States?

This is an outrage. YouTube — where you can easily find disgusting, violent jihadi videos, and vile antisemitic garbage like this — is now protecting the delicate feelings of creationists and phony psychics. Shame on YouTube. Shame.

Problem with YouTube
Latest JREF News
Written by Jeff Wagg
Monday, 30 March 2009 12:19

Our YouTube account has been suspended, which means all of the Randi Speaks and other JREF videos are temporarily unavailable. We're researching the problem, and will be back online as soon as possible. Thanks very much for your patience.

*Giordano Bruno

Thinking of Mint Juleps

The Colonel starts at 7:00.

I want one

100,000 secular Britons seek 'de-baptism'

LONDON (AFP) – More than 100,000 Britons have recently downloaded "certificates of de-baptism" from the Internet to renounce their Christian faith.

The initiative launched by a group called the National Secular Society (NSS) follows atheist campaigns here and elsewhere, including a London bus poster which triggered protests by proclaiming "There's probably no God."

"We now produce a certificate on parchment and we have sold 1,500 units at three pounds (4.35 dollars, 3.20 euros) a pop," said NSS president Terry Sanderson, 58.

John Hunt, a 58-year-old from London and one of the first to try to be "de-baptised," held that he was too young to make any decision when he was christened at five months old.

ODS

Obama Derangement Syndrome
By David Horowitz

I have been watching an interesting phenomenon on the Right, which is beginning to cause me concern. I am referring to the over-the-top hysteria in response to the first months in office of our new president, which distinctly reminds me of the “Bush Is Hitler” crowd on the Left.

Speaking of this crowd, have you seen any “I am so sorry” postings from that quarter as Obama continues and even escalates the former president's war policy in Afghanistan and attempts to consolidate his military occupation of Iraq?

Conservatives, please. Let's not duplicate the manias of the Left as we figure out how to deal with Mr. Obama. He is not exactly the anti-Christ, although a disturbing number of people on the Right are convinced he is.

Recommened reading for our government

Francisco's Money Speech

The following is an excerpt from Atlas Shrugged, © Copyright, 1957, by Ayn Rand. It is reprinted with permission from the Estate of Ayn Rand.

"So you think that money is the root of all evil?" said Francisco d'Anconia. "Have you ever asked what is the root of money? Money is a tool of exchange, which can't exist unless there are goods produced and men able to produce them. Money is the material shape of the principle that men who wish to deal with one another must deal by trade and give value for value. Money is not the tool of the moochers, who claim your product by tears, or of the looters, who take it from you by force. Money is made possible only by the men who produce. Is this what you consider evil?

Yes, GateTree, I will release it into the nearest pond....

Found on the sidewalk in front of the Turtle Corral:
one very lost Red-eared Slider.

The Geek Troubador

Start with Skullcrusher Mountain - Jonathan Coulton - The JoCo Primer - Listening Suggestions
He was at PopSci for a while as well.

Visionary Rock

I'll list the new album by the Decemberists with the following visionary modern rock-n-roll albums:

Pixies: Doolittle
The Pogues: Rum, Sodomy, and the Lash
REM: Reconstruction of the Fables
Echo and the Bunnymen: Songs to Learn and Sing
The Cure: Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me
Green Day: American Idiot

All hail the visionary rock-n-rollers...thanks to MTV we have precious few left.

Now where will we emigrate?

Now we are really fucked
from The Devil's Kitchen

It seems that the last vestiges of our freedom are to be handed over to the EU.

European leaders, including Gordon Brown, agreed yesterday that a new regime to tame the excesses of capitalism and regulate the markets should be based on the proposals of a former French central banker, ceding the European Central Bank some authority over the City of London for the first time.

A Carrier By Any Other Name

The Hyuga is the largest warship built by Japan since World War 2. Since the Japanese constitution forbids their navy from building aircraft carriers, the warship is classified as a "helicopter destroyer."
It's a carrier. Three are planned.

Yeah Japan! While this class may not support V/STOL fighters (yet), the rumor is that adding that capability will be next. And though Japan's neighbors may be hesitant to celebrate the return of true Japanese naval air capabilities, helicopter carriers are very useful in anti-submarine, anti-piracy, and peacekeeping/humanitarian relief efforts.

For example, we just deployed the USS Boxer off the coast of Somalia (with a full complement of Marines). It will take over as the flagship for the anti-piracy fleet there.

Via LGF

Texas School Board Chairman Endorses Book Calling Pro-Evolution Parents 'Monsters'

We’ve had several posts about the chairman of the Texas State Board of Education, Don McLeroy, a dentist and young earth creationist who is doing his best to drag science education in Texas back into the Dark Ages, with help from the deceptive propagandists at the Discovery Institute. In an especially Orwellian touch, they’re calling this effort “academic freedom.”

Posse Comitatus no more?

Jiminy Cricket. We can't have this.
Raw Story - Army probes domestic use of troops in Alabama
CNSNews.com - Army Investigating How and Why Troops Were Sent Into Alabama Town After Murder Spree
USA Today - Who sent soldiers into an Alabama town last week?

The French Are Making The Best Horror Movies

Here's one I have to see: Ils. I love me some home invasion flicks.

Happy Birthday, Our First Atheist President

My favorite Madison quotes:

• In no instance have... the churches been guardians of the liberties of the people.
• In Republics, the great danger is, that the majority may not sufficiently respect the rights of the minority.
• Learned Institutions ought to be favorite objects with every free people. They throw that light over the public mind which is the best security against crafty and dangerous encroachments on the public liberty.
• Religion flourishes in greater purity, without than with the aid of Government.
• Religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind and unfits it for every noble enterprise, every expanded prospect.
• The capacity of the female mind for studies of the highest order cannot be doubted, having been sufficiently illustrated by its works of genius, of erudition, and of science.
• The diversity in the faculties of men, from which the rights of property originate, is not less an insuperable obstacle to an uniformity of interests. The protection of these faculties is the first object of government.
• The executive has no right, in any case, to decide the question, whether there is or is not cause for declaring war.
• The number, the industry, and the morality of the priesthood, and the devotion of the people have been manifestly increased by the total separation of the church from the state.
• The purpose of separation of church and state is to keep forever from these shores the ceaseless strife that has soaked the soil of Europe with blood for centuries.
• Union of religious sentiments begets a surprising confidence.

And finally:

• The means of defense against foreign danger historically have become the instruments of tyranny at home.

He wouldn't make it past the primaries today...

Go Global Warming!

Maine and Vermont are inching closer to join Connecticut and Massachusetts in legalizing gay marriage.

Why are all the warm, sunny places populated by superstitious retards?

Happy birthday, Mr. Madison

James Madison
"Father of the Constitution"

Born: March 16, 1751, in Port Conway, Virginia
Died: June 28, 1836, at Montpelier, Virginia

Fonts, Fonts, Fonts

From Smashing Magazine: 40 typography-related blogs

Hired - Part 2

Why don't they look?

Hired!



Last Clear Chance



Posture Pals



X Marks the Spot

AKA: Waterbears

Tardigrades In Space (TARDIS)

Tardigrades In Space or "TARDIS" is the first research project to evaluate the ability of tardigrades to survive under open space conditions. TARDIS is one of the projects within the Biopan-6 research platform provided by European Space Agency (ESA), and will be sent into space with the russian FOTON-M3 mission.

Tardigrades Goldstein Lab, UNC, Chapel Hill

Scott Tenerman Must Die

Man I love this show:
The Ten Most Controversial South Park Episodes

The Republican Party Is Dead, And Rush Is Eating Its Carcass

Newt Gingrich has proposed that the state give money to teenagers not to get pregnant.

In other news, the Democratic president has proposed reforms that would curtail earmarks, a wise (conservative?) fiscal policy that Republicans just didn't get around to during the last 8 years.

And constitution-humping drug-addled gasbag Rush Limbaugh thinks that the "inalienable" rights of "life," "liberty," "freedom (?)," and "the pursuit of happiness" granted by our "creator" is written in the preamble of the constitution! Funny that he constantly pushes that foreign citizens don't necessarily have rights, and can therefore be detained and tortured, but somehow can say "inalienable" without choking on it. Then again, many of us believe that Rush lost his gag reflex in the 80's...

Colbert addresses Rush with his usual absurd/acerbic wit:

The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Tip/Wag - Rush Limbaugh

Colbert Report Full Episodes
Political Humor

Rap Battle
NASA Name Contest

Iron Chef Cora Is Double Pregnant

Not only is alpha lesbo Iron Chef Cat Cora pregnant, but so is her partner.

I would love to hear what their kitchen is stocked with...

One of my favorite local plants

Corallorhiza maculata, Spotted Coralroot

This orchid is a myco-heterotroph; it lacks chlorophyll and gets food by parasitizing the mycelium of fungi in the family Russulaceae.

Best. Anti-Fred Phelps. Sign. EVER!!

In Chicago, a brilliant young woman protests against a"God Hates Fags" Fred Phelps protest.

Jeebus!! I am apoplectic!!

From Ace of Spades

Democrat (Of Course) Legislators In Connecticut Seek To Reorganize Catholic Church In That State


Well, thank Zoroaster they've "reconsidered":

CT Legislature...Hey Maybe We Won't Reorganize The Catholic Church After All

I Love That We Sent The USS Chung-Hoon In Response

The Chinese harassed one of our unarmed naval surveillance ships operating in international waters. We responded with a destroyer.

Typical, predictable Chinese tactics: test the (new presidential) waters.

Movie Review: Watchmen

Big blue schlongs but no "alien" giant squids?

I loved it and hated it. Just like Rorschach with humanity. It was good, but it should have been better. Just like the Watchmen.

Unless you like "aht fillms," you will probably hate it. Just like its writer.

If you like the graphic novel, it's 3 hours of sex on film. But with no climax.

Like Dr. Manhattan, you'll have blue balls.

You don't say...

A report from The Program on Public Values at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn., surveyed 54,461 adult and discovered: More Americans Say They Have No Religion.

No wonder he is my favorite character in Watchmen

Rorschach Doesn't Shrug
The Watchmen's hero as Objectivist saint

SPOILER WARNING: This article contains significant plot and denouement revelations regarding the graphic novel and movie Watchmen.

Lest we forget during the economic turmoil

So humans are not individuals, with inalienable rights, but mere parts of a religious whole, no matter where they reside. From the Middle East Times, via Counterterrorism Blog.

Sharia's Inroads Around the World

Pakistan recently gave in to the pressure of Islamist militants. Indeed to buy off peace, Pakistani authorities allowed the imposition of Sharia (Islamic law) in the Swat valley.

How long the cease-fire will last is anyone's guess. But in any case, Pakistan has allowed a precedent that could extend to other provinces; in fact the Swat valley is only about 100 miles away from Islamabad, the capital. But Sharia is not just making inroads in Pakistan but actually creeping in the West and in particular in Europe....

Read it all.

And now for a pleasant musical interlude

The Smartest President ever....

Courtesy of Ace of Spades HQ

Beware Klingons Bearing Gifts!

Beware Obama's Bearing Gifts (Part 2)

I am mortified.

(While I dislike the ad-hominems about the First Lady, I think that the overall analysis is worthwhile reading.)

I like fonts. A lot.

Font fun du jour of the day!

P22 type foundry: Playing card deck 2008

Bauhaus: Double Dare

Oh to be an angry teenager again...(see coments from here)

Best Band Recording: New Album

The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, the best (punk) band recording now, will have a new album out soon. The first single is out now: it fucking rocks. Think Siouxsie and the Banshees...
_____________________________________________________________

Listen to the new song here.

Hail, Columbia! (College Chicago)

Course Description: Zombies in Popular Media*

Zombies in Popular Media*

52-2725J

This course explores the history, significance, and representation of the zombie as a figure in horror and fantasy texts. Instruction follows an intense schedule, using critical theory and source media (literature, comics, and films) to spur discussion and exploration of the figure's many incarnations. Daily assignments focus on reflection and commentary, while final projects foster thoughtful connections between student disciplines and the figure of the zombie.

Course descriptions are stored in OASIS and are maintained by the Associate Dean for each School.
* Prerequisite Required.

For GateTree

Zombie Goodness

Dance of the Dead = You got your zombie horror-comedy in my high school prom movie! This thing was outstanding. Filmmakers clearly understand high school geekdom, fast zombies, and having fun. As much as I love "Shaun of the Dead", I might actually like this American high school version of the same story a little more. See it now. (wiki-spoilers., imdb, film school rejects)