libertine, heathen, hedonist

graey42 @ 2009-07-08T12:52:00

2009-07-08T18:50:53Z

http://mininova.org/tor/2657843

I can't find the son of a bitch on youtube, but that's a bittorrent link for the video of Killswitch Engage doing "Holy Diver." It's fucking awesome.

ETA:

Killswitch Engage - Holy Diver

thanks lennier

graey42 @ 2009-06-24T07:24:00

2009-06-24T13:24:21Z

Here's a wonderful story about a nine-year-old who became lost in the woods while out with his family. With nary a helmet, curfew, or child-proof cap in sight, he did not panic and took steps to facilitate his own rescue. He is now safe and sound at home.

I am so happy that June is almost over. It's getting tiresome having the sun come up before 5:00. When I'm up in the middle of the night, I do not need the sun poking its head out and making the sky bright.

I think it's fascinating that my daughter, who isn't even -2 months old, already has her ovaries and all of the eggs she'll ever have. 50% of my grand-children's genetic information has already been printed.

Michael Shermer's baloney detection kit can help you spot warning flags that you may need to think twice before accepting what you're being told.

Last week I got bored and decided to go looking for some Australian television to watch. I seem to have struck pay dirt by finding Swift & Shift Couriers and Russel Coight's All Aussie Adventures on my first two tries. The first deals with the shenanigans of a package delivery service in Sydney, and the second is a satirical look at adventure/travel shows. What other Aussie TV should I check out? How about non-Aussie TV?

graey42 @ 2009-06-18T21:43:00

2009-06-19T03:43:11Z

Finally on the 3rd ultrasound we found out we're having a girl. :)

I hope they let women in the NFL soon.

graey42 @ 2009-06-17T06:17:00

2009-06-17T12:16:47Z

http://richardwiseman.wordpress.com/2009/06/14/answer-to-the-friday-puzzle-5/

The answer to last week's puzzle is: I'm not sure, but it's definitely not 10 seconds.

graey42 @ 2009-06-12T10:27:00

2009-06-12T16:27:42Z

http://richardwiseman.wordpress.com/2009/06/11/its-the-friday-puzzle-12/

Albert has noticed that his favourite clock in the factory takes 7seconds to strike 7 o’clock. How long will the same clock take to strike 10 o’clock?

Update: [Richard] had loads of emails about this arguing that it is impossible to solve! So, here is the new question ‘Albert thinks that they answer will definitely be 10 seconds. Is he right?’ 10 points for anyone who gets the right answer to that, and 100 points for anyone who tries to work out an answer to the original question!

answer to Richard Wiseman's Friday Puzzle

2009-06-09T03:44:13Z

It was indeed the 4 being written as IIII instead of IV.

http://richardwiseman.wordpress.com/2009/06/07/answer-to-the-friday-puzzle-4/

graey42 @ 2009-06-06T08:59:00

2009-06-06T14:59:08Z

Richard Wiseman's Friday Puzzle

Albert gets a job in a clock factory. On his first day he is asked to construct a clock. He puts together the following clock…..

However, Albert has inadvertently created a clock that is different to almost every other clock of this type in the world. Can you spot why his clock is so special?

graey42 @ 2009-06-05T07:54:00

2009-06-05T13:55:05Z

In case there is interest, here is a list of the podcasts I listen to.

graey42 @ 2009-06-05T05:00:00

2009-06-05T11:00:45Z

So, we still don't know the sex of Meatwad. This is the second time we've tried to find out, and hesheit won't open hisherits legs. I grounded himherit for 3 months and said all hisherits stuff would wind up being yellow. We're going back in two weeks for another appointment. Maybe we'll find out then.

Finally someone in the mainstream gets it. Newsweek did an article on Oprah being a douche for promoting quackery and lies. I hope this isn't the last we hear of it. If someone doesn't stop her, she's likely to start advocating leeches, astrology, and homeopathy. She probably already does, actually.

We're taking the kitties in tomorrow for a checkup. No, nothing is wrong with either of them.

graey42 @ 2009-06-01T08:46:00

2009-06-01T14:46:31Z

Latest episode of "why do people laugh at creationists?" There are plenty more at youtube.

graey42 @ 2009-05-29T09:39:00

2009-05-29T15:39:42Z

So, here is a story about the Oklahoma State Patrol pulling over an ambulance and trying to ticket and arrest the driver for not pulling over immediately. Here is the video taken by the son of the woman who was being taken to the hospital at the time. So, taken at face value, assuming, you know, the guy wasn't waving his dick out the back or something, at what point are we allowed to just start killing these fuckers?

graey42 @ 2009-05-25T12:22:00

2009-05-25T18:22:19Z

http://richardwiseman.wordpress.com/2009/05/24/answer-to-the-friday-puzzle-2/

Apparently I'm not reading it the proper way. The chances are 1/3, because the issue is the odds of a family having two children who are both boys, not the odds of a given child being a given sex. I'm still not sure I agree, at least with the interpretation of the question. I fully understand the answer if taken at random from a pool of two-child families. I just seem to insist that since the sex of Albert is given, he becomes moot.

"Mrs Brown has one child and a gerbil. The gerbil is a male named Albert. What are the odds that the child is also a male?"

graey42 @ 2009-05-22T10:01:00

2009-05-22T16:01:09Z

Richard Wiseman's Friday Puzzle:

Mrs Brown has two children. One of them is a boy called Albert. What is the probability of her other child also being a boy?

I think it's simply 50%. The sex of one child, or seven of them if that is the case, has nothing to do with the sex of any of the other ones--assuming no identical twins, and I don't even know if that matters--so it's a coin flip: 50/50. I think the other commenters are trying too hard.

What do yall think?

graey42 @ 2009-05-20T01:20:00

2009-05-20T07:20:23Z

graey42 @ 2009-05-18T12:09:00

2009-05-18T18:09:17Z

Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it.
Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many.
Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books.
Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders.
Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations.
But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason
and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all,
then accept it and live up to it.

--Buddha

and on a lighter note

2009-05-06T20:22:29Z

Maine becomes the fifth state to allow same-sex marriage. The law will take effect 90 days after the end of the legislative session in June.

Go Maine!

graey42 @ 2009-05-06T13:29:00

2009-05-06T19:29:23Z

My sister in law once asked me why I thought Oprah Winfrey was a douche. I semi-explained that it was due to her promotion of pseudo-science to fill her purse. I recently read an article about Jenny McCarthy and Oprah Winfrey that reminded me of that question. Then I read this BadAstronomy post about a four-week-old child in Australia who died of whooping cough. What does this have to do with anything? Let me try to explain.

The anti-vax crowd, in which Jenny McCarthy includes herself, is convinced that vaccines cause autism. This is not true. [1], [2], [3], [4]. However, due to her celebrity status, the generally gullible population listens to her and doesn't vaccinate its children against common and easily dealt-with diseases, including whooping cough. This pretty much sucks for the children in question, since they now have a greatly increased chance of contracting the disease in question. This would be bad enough if that were the end of it. But it's not.

Herd immunity is when a population is generally protected against a disease because a certain percentage of its people are vaccinated or otherwise immune to the disease, thereby protecting the rest against infection. Some people cannot be vaccinated due to allergies or other reasons. These people rely on herd immunity to be protected from the disease. The fewer people who have their children vaccinated against certain diseases, the more likely the disease will spread to those who aren't vaccinated, and people die. Those who choose to go unvaccinated, those whose parents decide to not have them vaccinated, and those who can't be vaccinated like the four-week-old infant mentioned above.

Read again: children die because of the proven falsehoods that people like Jenny McCarthy spread.

And since Oprah, with her billions of American dollars, and her vast audience, promotes this and other pseudo-science and sham medicine, she is a douche.

graey42 @ 2009-05-01T09:14:00

2009-05-01T15:14:41Z

The more often Americans go to church, the more likely they are to support the torture of suspected terrorists

More than half of people who attend services at least once a week -- 54 percent -- said the use of torture against suspected terrorists is "often" or "sometimes" justified.

Granted, 12% isn't much in a little poll like this, but it's there and worthy of ridicule. So ridicule away!

graey42 @ 2009-05-01T03:51:00

2009-05-01T09:51:36Z

QOTD: What is a doctorate in homeopathic medicine? A blank piece of paper taped to your wall? -- PZ Myers

graey42 @ 2009-04-30T14:12:00

2009-04-30T20:12:47Z

Revolutionary Espresso Book Machine launches in London

It's not elegant and it's not sexy – it looks like a large photocopier – but the Espresso Book Machine is being billed as the biggest change for the literary world since Gutenberg invented the printing press more than 500 years ago and made the mass production of books possible. Launching today at Blackwell's Charing Cross Road branch in London, the machine prints and binds books on demand in five minutes, while customers wait.

Signaling the end, says Blackwell, to the frustration of being told by a bookseller that a title is out of print, or not in stock, the Espresso offers access to almost half a million books, from a facsimile of Lewis Carroll's original manuscript for Alice in Wonderland to Mrs Beeton's Book of Needlework. Blackwell hopes to increase this to over a million titles by the end of the summer – the equivalent of 23.6 miles of shelf space, or over 50 bookshops rolled into one. The majority of these books are currently out-of-copyright works, but Blackwell is working with publishers throughout the UK to increase access to in-copyright writings, and says the response has been overwhelmingly positive.

They Aren't Happy to See Him

A teacher at Wiley Elementary School, in Richland, Washington, asked students to put together their autobiographies. One 8-year-old boy included a photograph of his father, David Henes. The photo showed Henes, who is a member of the Army National Guard, in uniform and holding his rifle. School officials told the boy to remove that photo, saying it wasn't appropriate for the classroom.

graey42 @ 2009-04-25T11:12:00

2009-04-25T17:12:32Z

anachronisms R us

graey42 @ 2009-04-25T10:21:00

2009-04-25T16:21:03Z

Kazakhstan: Government to build UFO base and alien embassy
09 April 2009
Michael Cohen m.cohen@allnewsweb.com

The Republic of Kazakhstan in Central Asia is in the process of building the world’s first alien embassy according to some local media reports. If these reports are to be believed, the authorities have already allocated a large plot of land in the city of Almaty for this ambitious project. Facilities to be built within the complex will include a guesthouse, theatre and translation service. A purpose built UFO landing pad and checkpoint will be attached to the embassy.

Kazakhstan’s government believes open contact with aliens is imminent and by being the first nation to specifically create such facilities they are convinced they will reap enormous financial and economic rewards. The Kazakhstan Government also see this as a chance to demonstrate their nations forward thinking policies.

Currently it is generally accepted that aliens are making use of an underwater UFO base in the Caspian Sea which Kazakhstan borders. Fuad Gasimov, the head of neighbouring Azerbaijan’s national Aerospace Agency has confirmed this to be the case and has gone on record stating the old USSR constantly monitored alien spaceships regularly entering the water but kept this a military secret. Gasimov himself was involved in this secret monitoring of UFOs when a department heat at the USSR’s science academy.

In addition to this, numerous UFO sightings occur in Kazakhstan where it is believed aliens take an interest in their massive natural resources. As recently as last year a UFO was reported as having crashed into a river in Kazakhstan.

The head of Kazakhstan’s space agency, Talgat Musabayev, is said to be heavily involved in the embassy project. Musabayev is an ex-cosmonaut who has spent many hours in space and is an ex-colleague of Gasimov. It is believed that he possesses a large amount of information on the aliens currently visiting earth.

Kazakhstan’s acceptance of the reality of alien visitors to earth has won it the admiration of many ufologists, especially those in the west, who wonder when their countries will follow this example.

graey42 @ 2009-04-24T08:46:00

2009-04-24T14:46:10Z

If you ever need to feel better about yourself, just go read some random comments on youtube. Most of those people are so fucking stupid that it makes my head hurt.

Remembering The Holocaust, And Its Deniers

2009-04-21T15:03:00Z

Remembering The Holocaust, And Its Deniers, by Evan Bernstein

Tuesday, April 21 is Yom HaZikaron laShoah ve-laGvura, “Remembrance Day for the Holocaust and Heroism”. This day is observed as a day of commemoration for the approximately six million Jews who perished in the Holocaust. In Israel, it is a national memorial day.

As a boy growing up in a reformed Jewish home, Hebrew school on Wednesday nights and synagogue on Saturdays were part of my upbringing. As winter turned to spring each year, the discussions in the classroom and in the temple were that of Holocaust remembrance. Jewish children are exposed to both the horrors and history of the Holocaust at a very early age. By extension comes the learning of the broader history of Adolph Hitler, and the even broader history World War II. Eventually, these young and inquisitive minds delve, quite logically, deeper into even larger questions, such as “What was World War I”? There is practically no limit to how far you can extrapolate questions that stem from those world-altering events of the 20th century.

Hand-in-hand with Holocaust remembrance is the reminder of Holocasut denial. Holocaust denial is blend of anti-Semitism mixed with anti-history, for to deny the facts of the Holocaust is akin to denying the facts that nineteen members of Al Queda violently hijacked four passenger airplanes and flew three of them into buildings on September 11, 2001. For better or for worse, some people’s heads are too firmly buried in their hearts when they purposefully refuse to accept indisputable facts. Holocaust denial represents the worst feelings in the hearts and minds of people, and the deniers will be damned before any facts get in the way of their most cherished beliefs.

In the truest sense of the spirit of Yom HaZikaron, and as a tip-of-the-hat to the traditions of my upbringing, I would like to extrapolate the recognition of April 21 to include the other victims of Holocaust-like atrocities of the 20th century. They include, and are in no way limited to:

- The additional Polish, Romanian, Soviet, and German handicapped people (upwards of 10 million) murdered by the Nazi regime during World War II.

- The upwards of 1.5 million Armenians killed at the hands of the Ottoman Empire.

- The upwards of 1.5 million Greeks and Armenians killed at the hands of the Ottoman Empire.

- The estimated 5-10 million Ukrainians, plus 20-40 million Russians and people from other former Soviet states that perished at the hands of Josef Stalin and the Soviet Empire.

- The upwards of 300,000 victims in Nanking, China who were tortured, raped, and killed at the hands of Emperor Hirohito and the army of Imperial Japan. Japan’s occupation of China prior to and during World War II killed upwards of 30 million Chinese.

- The staggering 49 million to 78 million Chinese people that died under the rule of Mao Ze-Dong.

- Upwards of 1.5 million Iraqi people tortured, raped, and killed at the hands of Sadaam Hussein.

- Upwards of 2 million Cambodians destroyed upon the actions of Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge.

- An estimated 1.5 million Ethiopian people suffered and died from 1975-1978 under the rule of Mengistu Haile Mariam.

- Upwards of 1 million Rwandans slaughtered by the Hutu militia of that country.

- Upwards of 1.6 million (and it could be millions more) people that have died in North Korea under the rule of Kim Il-Sung and his son, Kim Jong-Il.

And there are even more (see this website). They all deserve recognition in their proper historical context. Besides the innate horror that threads all of these despicable instances of human history, another thing they all have in common is that they all have detractors and historical revisionists that dispute the facts of history concerning these attrocities.

It is unfortunate, but history denial and Holocaust denial are omnipresent. They are timeless, and they are ceaseless. They must be confronted, fought, and constantly corrected by educators, scholars, historians, scientists, politicians (especially world leaders) and by the skeptical community at large.

http://www.theskepticsguide.org/sgublog/?p=664

All spelling errors are Evan's. I know there are several.

Privatize Marriage: A simple solution to the gay-marriage debate

2009-04-14T10:41:39Z

IN THE DEBATE over whether to legalize gay marriage, both sides are missing the point. Why should the government be in the business of decreeing who can and cannot be married? Proponents of gay marriage see it as a civil-rights issue. Opponents see it as another example of minority "rights" being imposed on the majority culture. But why should anyone have — or need to have — state sanction for a private relationship? As governments around the world contemplate the privatization of everything from electricity to Social Security, why not privatize that most personal and intimate of institutions, marriage?

(rest of article)