I got this left-leaning example of hyperbole but in a sign of good karma, that led to this which made me laugh hard enough to snort Thai hot sauce out my nose. . .

It's almost surreal that someone believes, writes and GETS FUCKING PAID for this kind of shit:

It will be argued that competing clandestine government organizations are struggling through proxy means to take control of ancient extraterrestrial (ET) technology that exists in Iraq, in order to prepare for an impending series of events corresponding to the 'prophesied return' of an advanced race of ETs. The Columbia Space Shuttle may well have been a high profile victim of such a proxy war intended to send a message to US based clandestine organizations over the preemptive war against Iraq.

Holy shit, just go read the rest of it. . .it's fucking amazing. . .and hey John, on the off chance you find this post, this is a guy who could really prove your thoughts on academics trending towards the left. . .or the loony. . .and someone, somewhere, gave this guy a PhD. . .I guess nothing's impossible. . .Alan Greenspan used to tag along with Ayn Rand. . .
10:42:46 PM    What do you think?  []  trackback []

Me? I take an Uncle Ben's Spicy Peanut Noodle bowl, pour 6 ounces of Thai hot sauce on it and then wonder why my nose hairs are on fire. . .and I enjoy it. . .why do people do bad things to themselves? Who knows. . .but god this tastes good. . .
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I'm writing this for two reasons. . .one, I'm hitting the ball better than I ever have. . .I'm stronger now than I ever have been. . .I start to ask what if questions. . .I always wanted to play professionally but never had the drive to do it. . .not to go out and practice for 8 hours a day with an 8-iron like Nick Price used to do. . .but now, now when I can hit the ball quite a ways with yesterday's clubs, I wonder what might have been. . .and what might be if I went out and actually practiced. . .what if I quit my job, sold my car, and took a chance. . .what would happen? Chances are that I'm too old. . .but I still wonder. . .

and two, when do you ever get over the expectations your parents put on you? To this day, I can't play golf with my dad. . .I wish I could. . .I don't mean that in a "We never get to play together because we live so far apart" or a "I just can't stand him when we're playing golf". . .in fact, just the opposite on both of those. . .I get to play with him 6 or 7 times a year and I really enjoy it. . .

But I can't "play" with him. . .I can't shoot 1 over with him. . .there's something about his presence that keeps me from playing well. . .maybe expectations was the wrong word. . .maybe it's the fact that he's always been so good at golf, that I just can't overcome that. . .maybe it's something within my own personality that when I play with people better than me, I choke. . .but I know that isn't true. . .I've had good rounds before. . .I shot 66 once with lots of money on the line. . .it's just that my dad wasn't there. . .

Why is that? I find it interesting. . .and I wish it weren't true. . .there's nothing I'd like more than to have him see me play like I did today. . .but it never works out. . .it's kind of ridiculous that my mind has that much control over my physical abilities. . .
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Those who have read this blog for very long know this is a battle I've repeatedly fought with mixed results - that is, the battle for evolution to be presented as "in our opinion, the best fit for the facts at hand" rather than "this IS the way it is, and if you disagree you're brain-dead, frothing-at-the-mouth, anti-intellectual fundamentalist god-idiot!"

and this one:

"Present evolution; leave room for some reasoned dissent."

Evolution is science in the same way that quantum mechanics is science. Micro-evolution can without a doubt be studied in the laboratory and macro-evolution has infinitely more evidence in the fossil record for rather than against it. . .we don't say "Chemistry, in our opinion, is the best fit for the facts at hand". . .we don't say "quantum mechanics in our opinion is the best fit for the facts at hand". . .so why would we say that about evolution?

Why does evolution constantly have to be attacked as a counter to religion? Religion and science operate in two completely different spheres and serve two completely different purposes. . .People who say "God created the earth in seven literal days" really are "brain-dead, frothing-at-the-mouth, anti-intellectual fundamentalist god-idiots!". . .

You can believe in a God and still see that evolution is scientific fact, as factual as scientific theories get. . .Of course, no scientist in his right mind would ever say that a theory was iron-clad. . .they aren't. . .but when they accurately portray the facts that we have at hand, I see no reason to be apologetic about them, regardless of whether they run counter to someone's deeply held religious or philosophical beliefs. . .

If you have a belief and it is the opposite of science, you either need to change your belief or realize people are probably going to laugh at you. . .(stepping down off evolutionary soapbox now). . .you really should go read what Susanna writes about diversity though. . .it's rather quite good. . .My favorite quote is:

In other words, we need common sense and sensibility, not sensitivity.

And that's exactly right. . .
9:59:11 PM    What do you think?  []  trackback []

But how good do you have to feel if you're one of the kids who've taken it ever year and failed. . .must be like a reprieve from the death chamber. . .(username: sum_dum_gai password:abcdefgh
9:32:42 PM    What do you think?  []  trackback []