Now charlatans will know to beware the geeks

Brit geeks rallied in defense of a writer who was sued by chiropractors for calling them out. Good on them:

Unnerved by their determination, I said to Ben Goldacre, demolisher of pseudo-science in all its fraudulent forms: "The nerds are on the march. I wouldn't like to be the one standing in their way." An uncharacteristically mystical look passed over the great debunker's face. "Yes," he said. "Strike us down, we shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine."

Guardian column.

No, We Aren't The Only Ones Who Like Black Leather, Black Leather Smash Smash Smash

A review of These Are The Damned by Joe Dante:

Not That Bad Really

So we aren't going back to the moon--which is disappointing--but we are now shooting for something much more difficult and way more scientifically interesting: an asteroid. And Mars is still a national priority.

I like Obama's program for NASA for 4 reasons:

1. It's fiscally doable, as necessity can be defended via planetary security. Bush the Younger proposed a moon mission, then poorly funded the endeavor so that the next administration could take the hit for cancelling it. Thanks Bin Laden....This mission transcends Chinese bombastics and national apathy: we Americans will provide the world with the data necessary to defend our planet from asteroids.
   
2. It, through an outer-terrestrial manned mission, sets up the engineering and national excitement for the longer, more exciting Mars mission.
3. It focuses on heavy lifting, which will be required for all of our serious robotic explorations (the overdue replacement for the Hubble, a Europa probe, etc).
4. It, through out-sourcing near-earth orbit duties to civilian and international space agencies, allows the NASA budget to be spent mostly on what it should: science.

I know that many in these parts are unhappy with the cancellation of the moon missions. But think about the international implications of our new goal:

"Go ahead and land your people on the moon China...we went there decades ago. And try not to choke on our fumes as we land people on an asteroid and collect data that could save humankind."

How much you want to bet that as we get closer to landing Americans on an asteroid, the Chinese become less interested in landing their people on the moon?

Buckaroo Banzai In The Fringe Dimension

If tonight's episode of Fringe doesn't get a Hugo nod, I quit. Peter Weller getting all sick-out Cronenberg and traveling through time...

It hurt my brain; my brain loved it so.

Olbermann At His Best...

...interviewing our heroes: the MST3K/Cinematic Titanic geniuses.

"That Woman Is An Idiot."

Sometimes, you just have to say it out loud.

Before Lady GaGa

Lady GaGa is only a modern Siouxsie and the Banshees.

Another Link Found

Marvel at your ancestor, and at the genetic and natural processes that work on we the living

Of course, The Discovery Institute provides many superstition-based excuses for embracing their obscurantisms.

Fancies and excuses are the weapons of the deluded and simple. They call their cosmic conceits "family values." To reject them is your primate, individual right. And reject them you should...

Here here

Philip Pullman: "No One Has the Right to Spend Their Life Without Being Offended."

You know who is awesome? Philip Pullman. He's the author of the marvelous His Dark Materials trilogy (The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass), a kind of anti-Christian un-Narnia series for kids who would rather have their fantasy reading unadulterated by Christianity. Excellent starter books for the tot too young for Nietzsche or Rand.

Road trip, anyone?

Cocktails Cops Can't Resist
Bartenders revive classic cocktails. The law responds by reviving classic crackdowns.

On Monday, Virginia bartender Todd Thrasher helped Team USA win the Cocktail World Cup in New Zealand. (His winning cocktail involved artichoke aperitif, lime thyme syrup, and apple bitters. Suddenly those great mojitos you make don't seem so impressive, do they?) But when the sultan of swizzle sticks returns victorious to our shores, he won't find an entirely welcoming climate for his craft in the country that invented the word cocktail.

No!!!

Godzilla remade?
I mourn and scorn Hollywood
Godzilla cries too

Clone Wars Season 2 Finale

Clone Wars has been awesome this season, and the 3-part season finale looks like a lot of fun.

If only

The Onion: U.S. Government To Save Billions By Cutting Wasteful Senator Program

For When You Get Bored Looking At Walcreatues

Teabonics

Born In Alabama

Lesbian by birth.

From her interviews, she and John Noble are great friends and have a lot of fun filming the best show on TV now.

It shows, doesn't it?