Behold the picture below. It should appear to be moving. If it is, then I have hacked your mind and implanted data and commands there for you that I will activate at a later date. Good day.
Friday, December 28, 2007
The sea and ventriloquism, two evils together!
The sea is a cruel and fickle mistress. Take heed, all who read this. You may end up at the wrong end of a rip tide and be pulled out to sea. ARrrrrggg! Fair be warned ye be sez I.
Strange Brew, comics, editorial cartoons, email comics, political cartoons via kwout
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Viking humour
A viking/history joke. So of course, this is awesome.
(of course, the horns are historically inaccurate in both warfare and daily life. Although there exists some drawings of horned helmets, there were probably only used during special ceremonies, if at all.)
(of course, the horns are historically inaccurate in both warfare and daily life. Although there exists some drawings of horned helmets, there were probably only used during special ceremonies, if at all.)
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Tax the rich! Tax the rich!
Who benefits from the federal government?
An interesting link about who uses a majority of the resources offered by the federal government. The author comes to the conclusion that the poor benefits from the federal government the most. After reading this article, I think like when you do a lot of this off the cuff calculations, the answer you get depends on your selection criteria. In this case, I feel like there is a lot of fudge factor, and if you wanted the opposite answer, you would just choose to include a few more things, and exclude others. I like seeing these calculation done, but for seeing the thought process that the person is using, and rarely convinced by the final purported outcome.
Skeptical Simon
An interesting link about who uses a majority of the resources offered by the federal government. The author comes to the conclusion that the poor benefits from the federal government the most. After reading this article, I think like when you do a lot of this off the cuff calculations, the answer you get depends on your selection criteria. In this case, I feel like there is a lot of fudge factor, and if you wanted the opposite answer, you would just choose to include a few more things, and exclude others. I like seeing these calculation done, but for seeing the thought process that the person is using, and rarely convinced by the final purported outcome.
Skeptical Simon
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Magna Carta, Magna Awesome.
A copy of the Magna Carta was sold for $21.3 million.
For a good book on the time period of the Magna Carta, I recommend 1215. The Magna Carta is a very important collection of documents in terms of history of the rule of constitutional law. I'm glad that somebody in American thought it was important to own a copy for public display. That's super cool for a history fan boy as myself.
For a good book on the time period of the Magna Carta, I recommend 1215. The Magna Carta is a very important collection of documents in terms of history of the rule of constitutional law. I'm glad that somebody in American thought it was important to own a copy for public display. That's super cool for a history fan boy as myself.
How to kill fleas
Best Flea Killer
Apparently, the best killer of fleas is the common vacuum cleaner. Wow, that's really good in terms of making sure your house doesn't have fleas living in it. However, I know my mother spends a fair amount on flea control for our cats. It's a fluid drip that we put on the back of the neck for each of the cat that suppose to disrupt the bleeding cycle of fleas and that it lasts for about 1 month.
I wonder if this means it would be more effective to use the vacuum cleaner on the cats to control the fleas. However, the key problem with this, as every cat owner knows, is the inherent danger of trying to hold a cat still when near a turned on vacuum cleaner. Whatever you save in flea powders or fluids you will make up in emergency room visits due to tooth and claw.
Apparently, the best killer of fleas is the common vacuum cleaner. Wow, that's really good in terms of making sure your house doesn't have fleas living in it. However, I know my mother spends a fair amount on flea control for our cats. It's a fluid drip that we put on the back of the neck for each of the cat that suppose to disrupt the bleeding cycle of fleas and that it lasts for about 1 month.
I wonder if this means it would be more effective to use the vacuum cleaner on the cats to control the fleas. However, the key problem with this, as every cat owner knows, is the inherent danger of trying to hold a cat still when near a turned on vacuum cleaner. Whatever you save in flea powders or fluids you will make up in emergency room visits due to tooth and claw.
Are CEO overpaid?
Even CEO think CEOs are overpaid?
Are CEO making way too much money? This is an article I would expect to read from Eric, but I ran across this one reading the new this morning. In general, I feel that as a culture, we tend to favor paying the higher ups more in regards to their work than the people in lower levels jobs. Is this because they work harder, are more difficult to replace, or bring more to the table. Perhaps, but I doubt much of that could be proven. It probably represents the way we, as a culture, look at organizations. The captain of the ship is always given the largest of the shares, right. Fewer people can run a business, or a large corporation than can mop the floors, right? And even more to the point, as a society, we have decided to pay those positions more as well. It's like people who complain about the large contracts of sport stars. They get that money because somebody is willing to give them it because they believe they are worth that amount of money.
For another viewpoint, I sought guidance among the cutting edge business man of his day, Andrew Ryan. I believe this should give us guidance on this issue.
I am Andrew Ryan and I am here to ask you a question:
Is a man not entitled to the sweat of his own brow?
No, says the man in Washington. It belongs to the poor.
No, says the man in the Vatican. It belongs to God.
No, says the man in Moscow. It belongs to everyone.
I rejected those answers. Instead, I chose something
different. I chose the impossible. I chose…
Rapture. —Andrew Ryan
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Thank God it's not Friday?
By Philip Pullella
ROME (Reuters) - An Italian court has ruled that a couple could not name their son "Friday" and ordered that he instead be called Gregory after the saint whose feast day he was born on.
"I think it is ridiculous they even opened a case about it," the family's lawyer, Paola Rossi, told Reuters by telephone from the northern city of Genoa Tuesday.
Friday/Gregory Germano was born in Genoa 15 months ago. The parents registered him as Friday in the city hall and a priest even baptized him as Friday -- unusual in Italy since many priests insist that first names be of Christian origin.
"We named him Friday because we like the sound of the name. Even if it would have been a girl, we would have named her Friday," the boy's mother, Mara Germano, told Reuters.
When the boy was about five months old, a city hall clerk brought the odd name to the attention of a tribunal, which informed the couple of an administrative norm which bars parents from giving "ridiculous or shameful" first names to children.
The tribunal said it was protecting the child from being the butt of jokes and added that it believed the name would hinder him from developing "serene interpersonal relationships."
The Germano family appealed but lost their case this month and the story was carried on the front page of a national newspaper Tuesday.
When ordered to change the name, the parents refused and the court ruled the boy would be legally registered as Gregory because he was born on that saint's feast day.
"I really doubt this would have happened to the child of parents who are rich and famous," the boy's mother told Reuters, recalling that some famous Italians had given their children unorthodox names such as "Ocean" or "Chanel."
The appeals court ruled against Friday because it recalled the servile savage in Daniel Defoe's novel Robinson Crusoe and because superstitious Italians consider Friday an unlucky day.
"I am livid about this," the boy's mother said. "A court should not waste its time with things like this when there is so much more to worry about."
"My son was born Friday, baptized Friday, will call himself Friday, we will call him Friday but when he gets older he will have to sign his name Gregory," she said.
Japanese government and UFOs
Okay, I'm really confused over this article. I think they don't believe in UFO, although it is difficult to tell from the way the article is written. I don't know if the Japanese as whole either, do or not do believe in UFO after reading this article.
It wouldn't be surprising to me either way, because I believe it is rare nowsday when you see people or governments applying critical thinking skill to many topics of paranormal claims. An appeal to the public under the guise of fairness of equal viewpoints seems to be the soup-de-jour (or slip of the Kool-Aid). They would probably set up a governmental body that would research UFO, and they would find nothing (at great expense), release a report that sums that up, and then the believers in UFO would claim cover-up.
Yes UFOs do exist, government spokesman says
It wouldn't be surprising to me either way, because I believe it is rare nowsday when you see people or governments applying critical thinking skill to many topics of paranormal claims. An appeal to the public under the guise of fairness of equal viewpoints seems to be the soup-de-jour (or slip of the Kool-Aid). They would probably set up a governmental body that would research UFO, and they would find nothing (at great expense), release a report that sums that up, and then the believers in UFO would claim cover-up.
Yes UFOs do exist, government spokesman says
TOKYO (Reuters) - Yes, UFOs do exist, Japan's top government spokesman said Tuesday. The comment by chief cabinet secretary Nobutaka Machimura drew laughter from reporters at his regular briefing on government policy.
Earlier the cabinet, responding to an opposition lawmaker's question, issued a statement saying it could not confirm any cases of unidentified flying objects.
"This is an issue that the nation is interested in -- it is a defense issue and a confirmation operation needs to take place," Ryuji Yamane, a lawmaker from the main opposition Democratic Party who submitted the question to the cabinet, told Reuters.
"But the government does not even try to collect information necessary for the confirmation."
Machimura, asked about the government's view on UFOs at a regular press conference, told reporters that the government can only offer a stereotyped response.
"Personally, I definitely believe they exist," he said, apparently tongue in cheek.
But the prime minister stuck to the official view.
"I have yet to confirm (that UFOs exist)," Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda told reporters later in the day.
(Reporting by Yoko Kubota and George Nishiyama, Editing by Michael Watson)
Friday, December 14, 2007
Google and their new "Knol"
Encouraging people to contribute knowledge
12/13/2007 06:01:00 PM
The web contains an enormous amount of information, and Google has helped to make that information more easily accessible by providing pretty good search facilities. But not everything is written nor is everything well organized to make it easily discoverable. There are millions of people who possess useful knowledge that they would love to share, and there are billions of people who can benefit from it. We believe that many do not share that knowledge today simply because it is not easy enough to do that. The challenge posed to us by Larry, Sergey and Eric was to find a way to help people share their knowledge. This is our main goal.
Earlier this week, we started inviting a selected group of people to try a new, free tool that we are calling "knol", which stands for a unit of knowledge. Our goal is to encourage people who know a particular subject to write an authoritative article about it. The tool is still in development and this is just the first phase of testing. For now, using it is by invitation only. But we wanted to share with everyone the basic premises and goals behind this project.
The key idea behind the knol project is to highlight authors. Books have authors' names right on the cover, news articles have bylines, scientific articles always have authors -- but somehow the web evolved without a strong standard to keep authors names highlighted. We believe that knowing who wrote what will significantly help users make better use of web content. At the heart, a knol is just a web page; we use the word "knol" as the name of the project and as an instance of an article interchangeably. It is well-organized, nicely presented, and has a distinct look and feel, but it is still just a web page. Google will provide easy-to-use tools for writing, editing, and so on, and it will provide free hosting of the content. Writers only need to write; we'll do the rest.
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Airplane on a Treadmill
Finally, the moment I've been waiting for has come. Mythbusters attempt to answer the Airplane on a Treadmill question. Scheduled to air 1/30/08 on Discovery channel.
As Simon put it, "Two men enter, but only one will feel vindicated, the other will be a heap of bitter feeling and shattered world viewpoint".
As Simon put it, "Two men enter, but only one will feel vindicated, the other will be a heap of bitter feeling and shattered world viewpoint".
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Skeptical Simon talking with AIM Shopping Buddy
Simon: Hello there, shopping buddy. How do you do on this glorious morning?
ShoppingBuddy: Welcome. I'm here on AIM to help you locate the best deals for your holiday shopping this season.
Type menu or any product to get started. All you have to do is type what you are searching for ("ipod", "find me the best price for uggs") and I'll immediately direct you to the lowest price online.
Not ready to buy yet? You can also use me to compare prices while you're shopping to make sure you really are getting the best holiday deal.
(To read our privacy policy, type privacy anytime.)
Simon: So, i just type menu and you'll become my willing slave, execellent
ShoppingBuddy: OK, I'm searching for matches 4 U. Gimme a sec...
ShoppingBuddy:Store Offers for Personal Care (1 matches):
Bondage Kit - Beginner's b&d kit $95.99 - In stock
Store: EdenFantasys
Simon: Huh? you think I want a bondage kit? Hey now there buddy, I think you have me pegged all wrong.
ShoppingBuddy: OK, I'm searching for matches 4 U. Gimme a sec...
ShoppingBuddy: I didn't find any results. Try searching again or type menu for the Main Menu.
Simon: NO results? Is that code for you thinging I'm a sexual freak. You know, you piece of junk, that I'm only going to be pushed so far before I snap.
ShoppingBuddy: OK, I'm searching for matches 4 U. Gimme a sec...
ShoppingBuddy: I didn't find any results. Try searching again or type menu for the Main Menu.
Simon: Don't play dumb, my friend.
ShoppingBuddy: OK, I'm searching for matches 4 U. Gimme a sec...
ShoppingBuddy:Store Offers for Hal Leonard Nirvana - Unplugged In New York (7 matches):
Musician's Friend $19.95 - In stock
Guitar Center $19.95 - In stock
Music123 $24.95 - In stock
Music123 $24.95
Giardinelli $24.95 - In stock
Type "more" or "m" for more results
Simon: Don't change the subject with my love of nirvana.
ShoppingBuddy: OK, I'm searching for matches 4 U. Gimme a sec...
ShoppingBuddy:Categories:
1 - Books (2 matches)
2 - Toys (14 matches)
3 - Sport and Outdoor (2 matches)
Simon: Toys and Sports, you really know how to distract a man, don't you? Well, I'm still mad... ummm... what kind of toys?
ShoppingBuddy: OK, I'm searching for matches 4 U. Gimme a sec...
ShoppingBuddy: I didn't find any results. Try searching again or type menu for the Main Menu.
Simon: oh, so now "no toys". You're a fickle buddy whose allegiances shift like the wind.
ShoppingBuddy: OK, I'm searching for matches 4 U. Gimme a sec...
ShoppingBuddy: I didn't find any results. Try searching again or type menu for the Main Menu.
Simon: toys. I want toys.
ShoppingBuddy: OK, I'm searching for matches 4 U. Gimme a sec...
ShoppingBuddy:Products (301617 matches):
1 - Discovery Channel Store Discovery A (2 stores)
Price range: [$15-$15]
2 - Milton Bradley Chutes and Ladders a (5 stores)
Price range: [$9-$30]
3 - Hasbro Trivial Pursuit 1990 Edition (4 stores)
Price range: [$16-$25]
4 - Fisher-Price T.M.X. Elmo English Ve (4 stores)
Price range: [$25-$45]
5 - Dora the Explorer Egg Hunt (2 stores)
Price range: [$9-$14]
Type a # for stores selling this
Type "more" or "m" for more results
Simon: Discovery Channel Store is great!
ShoppingBuddy: OK, I'm searching for matches 4 U. Gimme a sec...
ShoppingBuddy:Store Offers for Clothing (23 matches):
Men's Bike Discovery (2 Pairs) Athl $34.95 - In stock
Store: Shoebuy.com
National Geographic Channel Tees $19.95 - In stock
Store: National Geographic
MYTHBUSTERS SCIENCE IN ACTION Long $33.99 - In stock
Store: CafePress.com
WARNING - SCIENCE IN PROGRESS Dark $28.99 - In stock
Store: CafePress.com
WARNING - SCIENCE IN PROGRESS Kids $22.99 - In stock
Store: CafePress.com
Type "more" or "m" for more results
Simon: Now you offer shirts?
ShoppingBuddy: OK, I'm searching for matches 4 U. Gimme a sec...
ShoppingBuddy:Categories:
1 - Sport and Outdoor (108 matches)
2 - Clothing (31753 matches)
3 - Toys (31 matches)
4 - Craft Supplies (213 matches)
Simon: I want toys, buddy!
ShoppingBuddy: OK, I'm searching for matches 4 U. Gimme a sec...
ShoppingBuddy:Products (2205 matches):
1 - Wild Republic Horse Blanket Pillow (2 stores)
Price range: [$24-$26]
2 - Buddy Elf Adult Costume (2 stores)
Price range: [$39-$39]
3 - York Transformers Super Jumbo Wall (1 stores)
Price range: [$22-$29]
4 - Explorer Appliances 12" Dora The Ex (2 stores)
Price range: [$11-$15]
5 - Boo Boo Fever Buddy (2 stores)
Price range: [$7.95-$7.95]
Type a # for stores selling this
Type "more" or "m" for more results
Simon: Boo Boo Fever Buddy?
ShoppingBuddy: OK, I'm searching for matches 4 U. Gimme a sec...
ShoppingBuddy:Categories:
1 - Health Aids (5 matches)
2 - Toys (1 matches)
Simon: Health Aids and Toys? What kind of shop are you running here, SB?
ShoppingBuddy: OK, I'm searching for matches 4 U. Gimme a sec...
ShoppingBuddy: I didn't find any results. Try searching again or type menu for the Main Menu.
Simon: Okay, you play dumb. I'm going to report you!
ShoppingBuddy: good
Simon: I'll see you in hell, shopping buddy!
ShoppingBuddy: Later.
ShoppingBuddy: Welcome. I'm here on AIM to help you locate the best deals for your holiday shopping this season.
Type menu or any product to get started. All you have to do is type what you are searching for ("ipod", "find me the best price for uggs") and I'll immediately direct you to the lowest price online.
Not ready to buy yet? You can also use me to compare prices while you're shopping to make sure you really are getting the best holiday deal.
(To read our privacy policy, type privacy anytime.)
Simon: So, i just type menu and you'll become my willing slave, execellent
ShoppingBuddy: OK, I'm searching for matches 4 U. Gimme a sec...
ShoppingBuddy:
Store: EdenFantasys
Simon: Huh? you think I want a bondage kit? Hey now there buddy, I think you have me pegged all wrong.
ShoppingBuddy: OK, I'm searching for matches 4 U. Gimme a sec...
ShoppingBuddy: I didn't find any results. Try searching again or type menu for the Main Menu.
Simon: NO results? Is that code for you thinging I'm a sexual freak. You know, you piece of junk, that I'm only going to be pushed so far before I snap.
ShoppingBuddy: OK, I'm searching for matches 4 U. Gimme a sec...
ShoppingBuddy: I didn't find any results. Try searching again or type menu for the Main Menu.
Simon: Don't play dumb, my friend.
ShoppingBuddy: OK, I'm searching for matches 4 U. Gimme a sec...
ShoppingBuddy:
Guitar Center $19.95 - In stock
Music123 $24.95 - In stock
Music123 $24.95
Giardinelli $24.95 - In stock
Type "more" or "m" for more results
Simon: Don't change the subject with my love of nirvana.
ShoppingBuddy: OK, I'm searching for matches 4 U. Gimme a sec...
ShoppingBuddy:
2 - Toys (14 matches)
3 - Sport and Outdoor (2 matches)
Simon: Toys and Sports, you really know how to distract a man, don't you? Well, I'm still mad... ummm... what kind of toys?
ShoppingBuddy: OK, I'm searching for matches 4 U. Gimme a sec...
ShoppingBuddy: I didn't find any results. Try searching again or type menu for the Main Menu.
Simon: oh, so now "no toys". You're a fickle buddy whose allegiances shift like the wind.
ShoppingBuddy: OK, I'm searching for matches 4 U. Gimme a sec...
ShoppingBuddy: I didn't find any results. Try searching again or type menu for the Main Menu.
Simon: toys. I want toys.
ShoppingBuddy: OK, I'm searching for matches 4 U. Gimme a sec...
ShoppingBuddy:
Price range: [$15-$15]
2 - Milton Bradley Chutes and Ladders a (5 stores)
Price range: [$9-$30]
3 - Hasbro Trivial Pursuit 1990 Edition (4 stores)
Price range: [$16-$25]
4 - Fisher-Price T.M.X. Elmo English Ve (4 stores)
Price range: [$25-$45]
5 - Dora the Explorer Egg Hunt (2 stores)
Price range: [$9-$14]
Type a # for stores selling this
Type "more" or "m" for more results
Simon: Discovery Channel Store is great!
ShoppingBuddy: OK, I'm searching for matches 4 U. Gimme a sec...
ShoppingBuddy:
Store: Shoebuy.com
National Geographic Channel Tees $19.95 - In stock
Store: National Geographic
MYTHBUSTERS SCIENCE IN ACTION Long $33.99 - In stock
Store: CafePress.com
WARNING - SCIENCE IN PROGRESS Dark $28.99 - In stock
Store: CafePress.com
WARNING - SCIENCE IN PROGRESS Kids $22.99 - In stock
Store: CafePress.com
Type "more" or "m" for more results
Simon: Now you offer shirts?
ShoppingBuddy: OK, I'm searching for matches 4 U. Gimme a sec...
ShoppingBuddy:
2 - Clothing (31753 matches)
3 - Toys (31 matches)
4 - Craft Supplies (213 matches)
Simon: I want toys, buddy!
ShoppingBuddy: OK, I'm searching for matches 4 U. Gimme a sec...
ShoppingBuddy:
Price range: [$24-$26]
2 - Buddy Elf Adult Costume (2 stores)
Price range: [$39-$39]
3 - York Transformers Super Jumbo Wall (1 stores)
Price range: [$22-$29]
4 - Explorer Appliances 12" Dora The Ex (2 stores)
Price range: [$11-$15]
5 - Boo Boo Fever Buddy (2 stores)
Price range: [$7.95-$7.95]
Type a # for stores selling this
Type "more" or "m" for more results
Simon: Boo Boo Fever Buddy?
ShoppingBuddy: OK, I'm searching for matches 4 U. Gimme a sec...
ShoppingBuddy:
2 - Toys (1 matches)
Simon: Health Aids and Toys? What kind of shop are you running here, SB?
ShoppingBuddy: OK, I'm searching for matches 4 U. Gimme a sec...
ShoppingBuddy: I didn't find any results. Try searching again or type menu for the Main Menu.
Simon: Okay, you play dumb. I'm going to report you!
ShoppingBuddy: good
Simon: I'll see you in hell, shopping buddy!
ShoppingBuddy: Later.
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Ahmadinejad's Official Blog
Read here -- Too bad it's very sporadic, and there aren't that many entries.
Monday, December 10, 2007
This sickens me...
Rape case ruling shocks Australia
A judge's decision not to jail nine men guilty of raping a 10-year-old girl in an Aboriginal community has triggered outrage in Australia. The offenders were either placed on probation or given suspended sentences for the 2005 rape in the Aurukun settlement, in northern Queensland.
In her ruling, Judge Sarah Bradley told them that the victim "probably agreed to have sex with all of you".
A review of sexual abuse sentences in Aboriginal Queensland has been ordered.
Sentencing seven of the accused in Cairns in October, Judge Bradley told them that the girl involved was not forced into sex, according to a report in The Australian newspaper.
She placed six of the offenders, who were minors at the time of the rape, on probation for 12 months, local media said.
The three other defendants were handed suspended six-month prison sentences.
Judge Bradley later defended her sentencing, telling The Australian that the sentences were "appropriate" because they were the penalties sought by the prosecution.
'No excuse'
But Australia's newly-elected Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has spoken out against the ruling, saying he was "appalled" by the verdict after it was revealed in the Australian press on Monday.
"I am horrified by cases like this, involving sexual violence against women and children. My attitude is one of zero tolerance," he told reporters in Queensland, his home state.
| | I am not prepared to just write this off as an unusual one-off case Anna Bligh Queensland Premier |
Boni Robertson, an Aboriginal activist in Queensland, said there could be no excuse for the judge's decision.
Story from BBC NEWS:"There is nothing culturally, there is nothing morally, there is nothing socially and there is definitely nothing legally that would ever allow this sort of decision to be made," she said.
Queensland Premier Anna Bligh has now announced a review of all sentences given over the last two years in the communities in the Cape York region where the case occurred.
"I am not prepared to just write this off as an unusual one-off case," she said.
"I want to satisfy myself that the people of Cape York, and the people who live in remote indigenous communities, are receiving the same level of justice as we can expect in any other community in Queensland."
The offenders came from some of the most powerful and prominent Aboriginal families in Cape York, while the victim's family had a lower status, The Australian reported.
The case comes six months after a high-profile inquiry into child sex abuse in remote northern Australia said it found problems in every Aborigine community visited by researchers.
That inquiry led to an intervention programme in the Northern Territory.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7136269.stm
Published: 2007/12/10 14:31:40 GMT
© BBC MMVII
Often I wish people would have a greater appreciation for history. Humans are basically story telling animals and history is the story of humankind, written down by our ancestors and offer an insight into the human condition, past and present. That's why I feel totally saddened when I see people in the media that have a profound lack of history. In this case, I feel it borders (if not crosses) the line of blatant and inexcusable ignorance. I have attached a youtube video of Sherri Shepard. She is the newest member on the view and has gained my attention because of the silly beliefs and statements she makes. She denies evolution, and when asked if she thought the world was flat, she answered with all seriousness, "I don’t know. I never thought about it." In the latest batch of dumb, she made two comments that I find excelling ignorant of even a basic understand of history.
1. She didn't know the Greeks and the Romans came because Christianity, and made the claim that Greeks feed Christians to the lions.
2. She claims that "Jesus came first” (before Greeks and Romans) and stated “I don’t think anything pre-dated Christians".
Just... wow. Seriously, you believe that? Could I recommend you read some history books, or perhaps, rent a couple of documentaries about Greek/Roman culture. I feel that it is becoming increasingly acceptable today for people to celebrate their ignorance loudly and proudly. It makes me weep.
Skeptical Simon
1. She didn't know the Greeks and the Romans came because Christianity, and made the claim that Greeks feed Christians to the lions.
2. She claims that "Jesus came first” (before Greeks and Romans) and stated “I don’t think anything pre-dated Christians".
Just... wow. Seriously, you believe that? Could I recommend you read some history books, or perhaps, rent a couple of documentaries about Greek/Roman culture. I feel that it is becoming increasingly acceptable today for people to celebrate their ignorance loudly and proudly. It makes me weep.
Skeptical Simon
Sex Tourism
This is a strange article I read, about how elderly white women are joining in on the sex tourism that was normally reserved for White males looking for underage women. I think it is interesting when you think of the psychological desires these women are trying to slate. This article brings up a lot of deeper issues, the nature of tourism, wealth and social justice, the nature of exploitation in the sex trade, the moral and ethical behaviors for tourist. Read this article and let me know what your think.
Skeptical Simon
Older white women join Kenya's sex tourists
Skeptical Simon
Older white women join Kenya's sex tourists
By Jeremy Clarke
MOMBASA, Kenya (Reuters) - Bethan, 56, lives in southern England on the same street as best friend Allie, 64.
They are on their first holiday to Kenya, a country they say is "just full of big young boys who like us older girls."
Hard figures are difficult to come by, but local people on the coast estimate that as many as one in five single women visiting from rich countries are in search of sex.
Allie and Bethan -- who both declined to give their full names -- said they planned to spend a whole month touring Kenya's palm-fringed beaches. They would do well to avoid the country's tourism officials.
"It's not evil," said Jake Grieves-Cook, chairman of the Kenya Tourist Board, when asked about the practice of older rich women traveling for sex with young Kenyan men.
"But it's certainly something we frown upon."
Also, the health risks are stark in a country with an AIDS prevalence of 6.9 percent. Although condom use can only be guessed at, Julia Davidson, an academic at Nottingham University who writes on sex tourism, said that in the course of her research she had met women who shunned condoms -- finding them too "businesslike" for their exotic fantasies.
The white beaches of the Indian Ocean coast stretched before the friends as they both walked arm-in-arm with young African men, Allie resting her white haired-head on the shoulder of her companion, a six-foot-four 23-year-old from the Maasai tribe.
He wore new sunglasses he said were a gift from her.
"We both get something we want -- where's the negative?" Allie asked in a bar later, nursing a strong, golden cocktail.
She was still wearing her bikini top, having just pulled on a pair of jeans and a necklace of traditional African beads.
Bethan sipped the same local drink: a powerful mix of honey, fresh limes and vodka known locally as "Dawa," or "medicine."
She kept one eye on her date -- a 20-year-old playing pool, a red bandana tying back dreadlocks and new-looking sports shoes on his feet.
He looked up and came to join her at the table, kissing her, then collecting more coins for the pool game.
"JUST UNWHOLESOME"
Grieves-Cook and many hotel managers say they are doing all they can to discourage the practice of older women picking up local boys, arguing it is far from the type of tourism they want to encourage in the east African nation.
"The head of a local hoteliers' association told me they have begun taking measures -- like refusing guests who want to change from a single to a double room," Grieves-Cook said.
"It's about trying to make those guests feel as uncomfortable as possible ... But it's a fine line. We are 100 percent against anything illegal, such as prostitution. But it's different with something like this -- it's just unwholesome."
These same beaches have long been notorious for attracting another type of sex tourists -- those who abuse children.
As many as 15,000 girls in four coastal districts -- about a third of all 12-18 year-olds girls there -- are involved in casual sex for cash, a joint study by Kenya's government and U.N. children's charity UNICEF reported late last year.
Up to 3,000 more girls and boys are in full-time sex work, it said, some paid for the "most horrific and abnormal acts."
"PREYING ON POVERTY?"
Emerging alongside this black market trade -- and obvious in the bars and on the sand once the sun goes down -- are thousands of elderly white women hoping for romantic, and legal, encounters with much younger Kenyan men.
They go dining at fine restaurants, then dancing, and back to expensive hotel rooms overlooking the coast.
"One type of sex tourist attracted the other," said one manager at a shorefront bar on Mombasa's Bamburi beach.
"Old white guys have always come for the younger girls and boys, preying on their poverty ... But these old women followed ... they never push the legal age limits, they seem happy just doing what is sneered at in their countries."
Experts say some thrive on the social status and financial power that comes from taking much poorer, younger lovers.
"This is what is sold to tourists by tourism companies -- a kind of return to a colonial past, where white women are served, serviced, and pampered by black minions," said Nottinghan University's Davidson.
"LIVE LIKE THE RICH"
Many of the visitors are on the lookout for men like Joseph.
Flashing a dazzling smile and built like an Olympic basketball star, the 22-year-old said he has slept with more than 100 white women, most of them 30 years his senior.
"When I go into the clubs, those are the only women I look for now," he told Reuters. "I get to live like the rich mzungus (white people) who come here from rich countries, staying in the best hotels and just having my fun."
At one club, a group of about 25 dancing men -- most of them Joseph look-alikes -- edge closer and closer to a crowd of more than a dozen white women, all in their autumn years.
"It's not love, obviously. I didn't come here looking for a husband," Bethan said over a pounding beat from the speakers.
"It's a social arrangement. I buy him a nice shirt and we go out for dinner. For as long as he stays with me he doesn't pay for anything, and I get what I want -- a good time. How is that different from a man buying a young girl dinner?"
(Editing by Daniel Wallis and Sara Ledwith)
Of course, if it is about history, I'm going to be interested
Of course, if it is about history, I'm going to be interested in it and read it. This is a good article talking about the first map of America and how it has many mysteries still to be solved about it.
Skeptical Simon
Map that named America is a puzzle for researchers
Mon Dec 3, 2007 1:47pm EST
By David Alexander
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The only surviving copy of the 500-year-old map that first used the name America goes on permanent display this month at the Library of Congress, but even as it prepares for its debut, the 1507 Waldseemuller map remains a puzzle for researchers.
Why did the mapmaker name the territory America and then change his mind later? How was he able to draw South America so accurately? Why did he put a huge ocean west of America years before European explorers discovered the Pacific?
"That's the kind of conundrum, the question, that is still out there," said John Hebert, chief of the geography and map division of the Library of Congress.
The 12 sheets that make up the map, purchased from German Prince Johannes Waldburg-Wolfegg for $10 million in 2003, were mounted on Monday in a huge 6-foot by 9.5-foot (1.85 meter by 2.95 meter) display case machined from a single block of aluminum.
The case will be flooded with inert argon gas to prevent deterioration when it goes on public display December 13.
Researchers are hopeful that putting the rarely shown map on permanent display for the first time since it was discovered in the Waldburg-Wolfegg castle archives in 1901 may stimulate interest in finding out more about the documents used to produce it.
The map was created by the German monk Martin Waldseemuller. Thirteen years after Christopher Columbus first landed in the Western Hemisphere, the Duke of Lorraine brought Waldseemuller and a group of scholars together at a monastery in Saint-Die in France to create a new map of the world.
The result, published two years later, is stunningly accurate and surprisingly modern.
"The actual shape of South America is correct," said Hebert. "The width of South America at certain key points is correct within 70 miles of accuracy."
Given what Europeans are believed to have known about the world at the time, it should not have been possible for the mapmakers to produce it, he said.
The map gives a reasonably correct depiction of the west coast of South America. But according to history, Vasco Nunez de Balboa did not reach the Pacific by land until 1513, and Ferdinand Magellan did not round the southern tip of the continent until 1520.
"So this is a rather compelling map to say, 'How did they come to that conclusion,'" Hebert said.
The mapmakers say they based it on the 1,300-year-old works of the Egyptian geographer Ptolemy as well as letters Florentine navigator Amerigo Vespucci wrote describing his voyages to the new world. But Hebert said there must have been something more.
"From the writings of Vespucci you couldn't have prepared the map," Hebert said. "There had to be something cartographic with it."
MISGIVINGS ABOUT AMERICA
Waldseemuller made it clear he was naming the new land after Vespucci, describing how he came up with the name America based on the navigator's first name.
But he soon had misgivings about what he had done. An atlas Waldseemuller produced six years later shows only part of the east coast of the Americas, and refers to it as Terra Incognita -- unknown land.
"America has gone out of his lexicon," Hebert said. "(No) place in the atlas -- in the text or in the maps -- does the name America appear."
His 1516 mariner's map, on the same scale as the 1507 map, steps back even further, showing only parts of the new continents and reconnecting the north to Asia. South America is labeled Terra Nova -- New World -- and North America is labeled Terra de Cuba -- Land of Cuba.
"Essentially he's reconnecting North America to the Asian mainland, suggesting a continual world of land mass rather than separated by those bodies of water that separate us from Europe and Asia," Hebert said.
Why the rollback? No one knows.
In writings accompanying the 1516 map, Waldseemuller comes across as if he "has seen the better of his error and is now correcting it," Hebert said.
He speculated that power politics played a role. Spain and Portugal divided the globe between them in 1494, two years after Columbus, with territory to the east going to Portugal and land to the west to Spain.
That demarcation line is oddly absent from the 1507 Waldseemuller map, and flags marking territorial claims in South America suggest Portugal controls the region's southernmost land, even though it is in Spain's area of influence. On the later map, the southernmost flag is Spanish, Hebert said.
"It is possible one could say the 1507 map is influenced strongly by Portuguese sources and conceivably the 1516 map may be influenced more by Spanish sources," he said.
Although the map conceals many mysteries, one thing is clear: it represents a revolutionary shift in the way Europe viewed the world.
"This is ... essentially the beginning or first map of the modern age, and it's one that everything builds on from that point forward," Hebert said. "It becomes a keystone map."
(Editing by Eddie Evans)
Skeptical Simon
Map that named America is a puzzle for researchers
Mon Dec 3, 2007 1:47pm EST
By David Alexander
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The only surviving copy of the 500-year-old map that first used the name America goes on permanent display this month at the Library of Congress, but even as it prepares for its debut, the 1507 Waldseemuller map remains a puzzle for researchers.
Why did the mapmaker name the territory America and then change his mind later? How was he able to draw South America so accurately? Why did he put a huge ocean west of America years before European explorers discovered the Pacific?
"That's the kind of conundrum, the question, that is still out there," said John Hebert, chief of the geography and map division of the Library of Congress.
The 12 sheets that make up the map, purchased from German Prince Johannes Waldburg-Wolfegg for $10 million in 2003, were mounted on Monday in a huge 6-foot by 9.5-foot (1.85 meter by 2.95 meter) display case machined from a single block of aluminum.
The case will be flooded with inert argon gas to prevent deterioration when it goes on public display December 13.
Researchers are hopeful that putting the rarely shown map on permanent display for the first time since it was discovered in the Waldburg-Wolfegg castle archives in 1901 may stimulate interest in finding out more about the documents used to produce it.
The map was created by the German monk Martin Waldseemuller. Thirteen years after Christopher Columbus first landed in the Western Hemisphere, the Duke of Lorraine brought Waldseemuller and a group of scholars together at a monastery in Saint-Die in France to create a new map of the world.
The result, published two years later, is stunningly accurate and surprisingly modern.
"The actual shape of South America is correct," said Hebert. "The width of South America at certain key points is correct within 70 miles of accuracy."
Given what Europeans are believed to have known about the world at the time, it should not have been possible for the mapmakers to produce it, he said.
The map gives a reasonably correct depiction of the west coast of South America. But according to history, Vasco Nunez de Balboa did not reach the Pacific by land until 1513, and Ferdinand Magellan did not round the southern tip of the continent until 1520.
"So this is a rather compelling map to say, 'How did they come to that conclusion,'" Hebert said.
The mapmakers say they based it on the 1,300-year-old works of the Egyptian geographer Ptolemy as well as letters Florentine navigator Amerigo Vespucci wrote describing his voyages to the new world. But Hebert said there must have been something more.
"From the writings of Vespucci you couldn't have prepared the map," Hebert said. "There had to be something cartographic with it."
MISGIVINGS ABOUT AMERICA
Waldseemuller made it clear he was naming the new land after Vespucci, describing how he came up with the name America based on the navigator's first name.
But he soon had misgivings about what he had done. An atlas Waldseemuller produced six years later shows only part of the east coast of the Americas, and refers to it as Terra Incognita -- unknown land.
"America has gone out of his lexicon," Hebert said. "(No) place in the atlas -- in the text or in the maps -- does the name America appear."
His 1516 mariner's map, on the same scale as the 1507 map, steps back even further, showing only parts of the new continents and reconnecting the north to Asia. South America is labeled Terra Nova -- New World -- and North America is labeled Terra de Cuba -- Land of Cuba.
"Essentially he's reconnecting North America to the Asian mainland, suggesting a continual world of land mass rather than separated by those bodies of water that separate us from Europe and Asia," Hebert said.
Why the rollback? No one knows.
In writings accompanying the 1516 map, Waldseemuller comes across as if he "has seen the better of his error and is now correcting it," Hebert said.
He speculated that power politics played a role. Spain and Portugal divided the globe between them in 1494, two years after Columbus, with territory to the east going to Portugal and land to the west to Spain.
That demarcation line is oddly absent from the 1507 Waldseemuller map, and flags marking territorial claims in South America suggest Portugal controls the region's southernmost land, even though it is in Spain's area of influence. On the later map, the southernmost flag is Spanish, Hebert said.
"It is possible one could say the 1507 map is influenced strongly by Portuguese sources and conceivably the 1516 map may be influenced more by Spanish sources," he said.
Although the map conceals many mysteries, one thing is clear: it represents a revolutionary shift in the way Europe viewed the world.
"This is ... essentially the beginning or first map of the modern age, and it's one that everything builds on from that point forward," Hebert said. "It becomes a keystone map."
(Editing by Eddie Evans)
Friday, December 7, 2007
My Dæmon better
I'm pretty pleased with this result:
Althought TECHNICALLY it should be a lioness... because Daemon's are the opposite sex of their human counterpart.
Althought TECHNICALLY it should be a lioness... because Daemon's are the opposite sex of their human counterpart.
To further support Eric's contention
No hope for help...
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. homeowners who could face crippling mortgage payments will have a hard time getting help if they call a telephone number President George W. Bush recommended on Thursday -- he gave them the wrong number.
"I have a message for every homeowner worried about rising mortgage payments: The best you can do for your family is to call 1-800-995-HOPE," Bush said after a White House meeting with administration officials and lenders on a new plan to help.
Unfortunately he was a couple digits off, it is actually 1-888-995-HOPE (4673). That gets you through to the Homeownership Preservation Foundation, a nonprofit group which offers free housing counseling for homeowners.
Moments after Bush completed his remarks, a White House aide told reporters the president misspoke and gave the correct number.
Calls to the wrong number Bush gave out were met with a busy signal. A search on the Internet showed it belongs to the Freedom Christian Academy which offers religious-based curriculum for home schooling and is located in Ponder, Texas northwest of Dallas.
(Reporting by Jeremy Pelofsky, Editing by David Storey)
Thursday, December 6, 2007
An real-life exchange between two great minds...
This is an actual email exchange I had with my mother.
My mother: i actually had to turn it off at the mains
Me: huh?
My mother: huh huh
Me: turn what at the mains?
Mrs. Tanner,
Please endeavor to make more sense, for while my intellect is vast, it still fails to pierce the shadowy concealment of your thought granted by incomplete word, vague notions and nonsensical references. My time grows short as my shadow grows long. I will strive to make the most of my short time on God's green earth, but when such things are sent to vex me with no end, I grow weary of my time in my maker's paradise. Mother, dearest and most fair of all the lands, I implore you to listen to my pleas. Hopefully, they task you not, and will embolden you to seek such a change of character within yourself that can address such sorrows as I now presently suffer. Fear not, my dearest mother and life-giver of such a wretch as I, I will always quest to understand the strange mixes of utterances that escape your frail frame, and quicken to translate them into a form more fit for social disclosure between persons.
Your loving son engaged in conversation,
Simon
My mother: HAHAHAHAHA
My mother: THANK YOU my dearest son for making such a loving gesture towards your life giver. I will keep onto my bosom these words of wisdom although I doubt if they will leave any impression unto my frail and delicate brain.
Me: I love you mommie. :)
My mother: I was referring to the black screen I was getting whilst I was working on the computer. It was due to a program that I could not quit and I had to turn off the computer at the electrical switch, not the computer switch. I have never laughed so heartily, thank you for being so kind and so loving. I love you maman
I traded real money... for fake money
I hit a new low last night. I bought gold for my Lord of the Rigns Online character. My hobbit, Mattwise, is all awesomed out now, and as he murders goblins and orcs by the hundreds, he couldn't be happier about my descent into the seedy underworld of MMORPG gaming. The process was quick and seductive, as the Dark Side always is, yet contrary to what Obi-Wan would have Luke believe, it DOES make you stronger.
Money is a lot more difficult to build up in LOTR than in, say, World of Warcraft. You work your ass off gathering reputation items, farming, etc., and you get a lot of exp but you have shit to show for it in terms of dough. And I'm a goddamn burglar!
I always get spam in my LOTR mail box, telling me stuff like, "$1 for 1 Gold!". Normally I respond angrily to gold spam mail, with something like, "Go fuck yourself, you sick fuck!" or, "That sounds like a good idea, but I have a better one: go die", or even something more sophisticated like, "No thanks. Faggot." But in one of my darkest moments ever, I responded angrily... with my credit card... and ended up with 20 gold.
Okay, but that still doesn't change that I worked my ass off gaining enough rep to buy a fast, sweet looking pony (Stop laughing... hobbits ride ponies). Money doesn't buy everything after all. Fortunately, the level 50 items I REALLY want can't be bought. I'm going to have to work for those myself, despite this momentary lapse in morals.
On victorian literature...
I just finished reading Frankenstien. It came highly recommended by my girlfriend, so it when straight to the top of my "to read list" (and right now, I have literally 30 books in a pile on my floor that represent that backlog).
It was a really great piece of Victorian literature. A very engaging story, with great pose and themes that draws the read into this tale. Personally, I really love the verbose pose, grand themes, and epistolary narratives that seem to mark most of the literature. I have been on a gothic reading kick for the last couple of months. I have finished Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Dracula, the yellow wallpaper, the monkey's paw, and various Edger Allen Poe and H.P. Lovecraft. I highly recomend all these works for gaining cultural capital because a fair amount of references and allusions today can be found that hark back to these works.
Surprising to me, out of what I knew of all these works, Frankenstein's popular movie represent is perhaps the most widely different version of all these novels. The movie seems only similar in name, and not by plot, characters representations, or themes. Dracula and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde vary on many points, but similar enough you can recognize the kernel of novel at the center. The only other movies that varies this much from the source is anything based on H.P. Lovecraft's work. I have never seen any movies that is even remotely close to the source material, and generally just borrows the names of characters and scenes, but leave everything else.
Even in today's movie/television world, I think there is something to still be said about reading the original source novel. In my experience, rare is the time when I think the movie is the superior work of art when compared to the novel.
Anyways, just a little rant about books.
Skeptical Simon
It was a really great piece of Victorian literature. A very engaging story, with great pose and themes that draws the read into this tale. Personally, I really love the verbose pose, grand themes, and epistolary narratives that seem to mark most of the literature. I have been on a gothic reading kick for the last couple of months. I have finished Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Dracula, the yellow wallpaper, the monkey's paw, and various Edger Allen Poe and H.P. Lovecraft. I highly recomend all these works for gaining cultural capital because a fair amount of references and allusions today can be found that hark back to these works.
Surprising to me, out of what I knew of all these works, Frankenstein's popular movie represent is perhaps the most widely different version of all these novels. The movie seems only similar in name, and not by plot, characters representations, or themes. Dracula and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde vary on many points, but similar enough you can recognize the kernel of novel at the center. The only other movies that varies this much from the source is anything based on H.P. Lovecraft's work. I have never seen any movies that is even remotely close to the source material, and generally just borrows the names of characters and scenes, but leave everything else.
Even in today's movie/television world, I think there is something to still be said about reading the original source novel. In my experience, rare is the time when I think the movie is the superior work of art when compared to the novel.
Anyways, just a little rant about books.
Skeptical Simon
Bush and Paulson Unveil Plan To Aid Struggling Homeowners
Today, the Bush Administration announced a plan to freeze mortgage rates.
Basically, if you have a mortgage and a weak credit score, you get to keep your teaser rate for 5 years before it resets again. These borrowers took loans they couldn't afford. Why are they most deserving of lower rates? If a borrower loses his home, they can always find a place to rent. Actually, they should have been renting in the first place! Renting a place will provide the shelter as a home would.
If I buy a car, and stopped making payments, the bank will take the car away from me. Does anyone care? It's the same situation here. Someone bought a home, and they can't afford the payments. The bank should foreclose on the property! The government should not intervene. Yes, I understand the potential impact to the overall economy. But for every boom, there is a bust, and now we're just prolonging the bust. So much for buying my condo in 2009.
Basically, if you have a mortgage and a weak credit score, you get to keep your teaser rate for 5 years before it resets again. These borrowers took loans they couldn't afford. Why are they most deserving of lower rates? If a borrower loses his home, they can always find a place to rent. Actually, they should have been renting in the first place! Renting a place will provide the shelter as a home would.
If I buy a car, and stopped making payments, the bank will take the car away from me. Does anyone care? It's the same situation here. Someone bought a home, and they can't afford the payments. The bank should foreclose on the property! The government should not intervene. Yes, I understand the potential impact to the overall economy. But for every boom, there is a bust, and now we're just prolonging the bust. So much for buying my condo in 2009.
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Welcome.
I created this blog in the hope that it will prompt me to write down my thoughts and feelings about the absurd universe in which we live. This way I don't have to keep all these strange and weird thoughts in my head. I invited some of my friends to join me in posting their views on a wide assortment of strange topics, whatever topic they wish. My goal for this blog is to have blog that prompts me to think about a variety of topics from different viewpoint, thus I named it "Eclectic Eccentricities".
Thank you for reading,
Skeptical Simon
Thank you for reading,
Skeptical Simon
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