Hush. Daddy's here.

"The Bible never says anything about dinosaurs. You can't say there were dinosaurs when you never saw them. Someone actually saw Adam and Eve. No one ever saw a Tyrannosaurus rex."

Fossils = Satan's bag o trickz

Note: this post exists because I - being a n00b bl0gg3rz - can't make links, and the comment section cut off my link.
Alyssa, your entire argument is refuted by the beliefs of the new prophet: Carl Everett.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/features/cover/news/2000/07/19/everett_flashback/
Picture of the New Lord:
http://imagesource.allposters.com/images/pic/PHO/AAGP113~Carl-Everett-2005-Studio-Plus-Posters.jpg

Freedom of Hurricanes

I was thinking, in between my bouts of obsessive hurricane viewing and trawling conservapedia for gems of 'wisdom'¹, about freedom.

Now we all know that America loves freedom. And we know that nasty people with beards don't love freedom. Neither do people who blow up aeroplanes, or say that global warming is happening, or suggest that science alone be taught in science lessons. Richard Dawkins almost definitely hates freedom, and so does Gillian McKeith².

The problem is this. And don't go expecting me to come up with any kind of argument or conclusion here because I'm just spouting crap to avoid having to go and write my hurricane essay.

Throughout time, there have been a lot of people who were not very intelligent, or easily misguided. The saving grace of the situation was the few such people (village idiots, that kind of thing) whos views were actually dangerous³ tended not to be born very often, and rarely get together to have a big think about the meaning of things. The views of the public and the views of the media moderated each other, with a good help of Government policy, finished with a hint of Patriotic bias. Then along came the internet.

It is a great thing, I believe, that through the internet information has become more readily available. The problem being that it is entirely unmoderated, and anyone can use it as a platform for their views. The climate of misinformation is merely a product of the climate of information freedom, and I for one do not believe it to be something that can be stopped.

I just wish they'd come up with something better than the Hurricane Katrina entry in Conservapedia.

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1. And in one extreme case, typing in "hurricane" to conservapedia to see what came up. Unfortunately, all I got was Katrina. Conservapedia has a little way to go before people actually start to use it as a source for reference in my opinion.
2. Freedom hates Gillian McKeith.
3. Of course, this is entirely subjective. I think someone who thinks relativity has 'nothing to do with physics' is a hopeless, dribbling moron of epic proportions, but they are of little danger to me because if they ever come near me, I'll hit them with an SR textbook. However, if I told them that I do not believe that fossils are put there to fool unbelievers, to them I am the antichrist.

Hurricanes

This is all I think about at the moment. I eat, sleep and dream hurricanes. In all fairness, it's pretty cool.

I've started to quantify everyday things in terms of classification of hurricanes. For example, if something is good then it's a factor 5.

622 days and counting...

OK, I was thinking about this during the last week (trying to avoid the broohaha about Anna Nicole Smith {did you know that CNN had an hour and a half of uninterrupted coverage when they discovered it? As The Daily Show pointed out, that makes it more important than a State of the Union, but less than 9/11}), and I was looking through the list of Presidential Candidates (announced and tipped) and compiled reasons why I won't be voting for them.

Mitt Romney; He's pandering to the Republican base on abortion and gay marriage (and quite possibly stem cell research, but he hasn't flipped his stance on this one, so you never know...). This turns me off. A lot. I don't like panderers. And I won't vote for someone who changes their convictions based on the base. Damn populists.

John Edwards, Hillary Clinton; They're pandering to the base on the war in Iraq. I'm not liking this either. I know that some of you (read all of you) will have a different opinion to the war than me, but I don't like it when people pull their support when it becomes unpopular (unlike Obama, who I respect and admire for opposing the war). Also I don't feel that we should just let a civil war happen and huge Iraqi casualties. An American life is not worth more than an Iraqi one. We just need a new President. And Vice President.

Barack Obama; I just don't like his views on a lot of issues. Like his voting record to make pharmacists supply the morning after pill. Or Catholic doctors perform abortion. I respect him, and think he's Presidential material, but I don't like his policies. Sorry. And it's not like he'd lose Illinois, anyway.

Sam Brownback; As Julian Mansfield put it, the Christian Coalition likes him. I don't. One Evangelical in the White House this century was enough.

Newt Gingrich Ha!

Tom Vilsack; He quit today, just two months after entering, and 11 months before the first caucus (in his own state). Wow, that's fast.

People who I'd consider voting for, conditionally;

John McCain; Stop pandering to the religious right. Stop it, or you lose my vote. And don't authorize torture. DON'T.

Rudy Guiliani; I like your federalist views, especially on gay marriage and abortion. But I don't like your civil rights history. Convince me I'm wrong.

Al Gore; I'm liking you more and more, especially on the environment. Persuade me.

Bill Richardson, Mike Huckabee; I don't know enough about these guys, but what I've heard I like. And they were governors.

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And for you out there who don't get a vote in the election, a nice fact about the biases of America. As far as I can tell, the homosexual and the Atheist are the only two not running for President. But it looks good for me, if I were to run.

I have nothing bad to say about February

With St. Valentine's Day as the only exception (I realize that it is a contentious subject for some people), isn't February a great month? You've got all the perks of winter - snow, pleasantly chilly weather, sliding around on solid ground, and wearing long sleeve shirts under short sleeve shirts - without the brutal cold of January, the hectic Christmas season, the rain of spring, or the foul humidity of summer. And my thesis isn't due for another month and a half. I love you, February.

February brought me something else: The History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides. When this appeared on the reading list for one of my courses, I cringed in horror - 600 page books about ancient Greece? Does anyone like this besides Trevor the Plutocrat? But after reading the first two books, I realized my mistake. This is a must-read for anyone that enjoys epic, glory-obsessed military/political history. One of Pericles' speeches (intended to rally the Athenians) gave me the elusive non-sexual tingly-feeling - more than 2000 years later. The democratic prewar deliberations on both sides and the events leading up to the ultimate conflict are incredibly interesting.

I'm writing this from a weightroom in a sophomore dormitory - my other job. If I make the horrible mistake of not blasting music when people come in, they immediately turn on the radio. Today was CLASSIC ROCK RADIO, one of my least favorite things. When I was in middle school, I thought that classic rock was great...before I realized that classic rock stations played THE SAME SONGS OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN. NO MORE STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN l;aksdjf alw;erja;lksdfjal;skjliawejflkasdjflawerhfiasdjglaksjsgl;waieejtlasngljjsdnfa.

The Reformation was stupid anyhow

One of the things I like about living inthe Old World is the opportunity to chance of seeing archaic language on the front page of my newspapers. Case in point: "schism".

I kind of hope this schism does happen, though mostly because I'm curious. After you've separated from the fundamentalists and Anglo-Catholics from the Church of England, what will be left?