wow

It's been an incredibly long time since I posted. I've been spending a lot of time on facebook lately. I guess I could post both places, but I get more feedback from FB so it's more fun. I also would like to keep this separate from my real name for some reason, which is probably why I don't get any feedback here. Let's see if I can't do both.

Animals have morals too!!

Animals can tell right from wrong from Telegraph.co.uk:

Until recently, humans were thought to be the only species to experience complex emotions and have a sense of morality. But Prof Marc Bekoff, an ecologist at University of Colorado, Boulder, believes that morals are "hard-wired" into the brains of all mammals and provide the "social glue" that allow often aggressive and competitive animals to live together in groups.

How fantastic is that??

Confessions of Non-Shopper

So Robbie's mother has brain cancer. It's awful and terrible and she's doing really well. It's made everyone pretty motivated to do things we've put off. Like me for instance.

I'm not a big shopper. Shopping for me is not recreation. If I need something, I go and get it, I don't generally spend hours at the mall looking for bargains. Robbie's mom? Ho-ly shit she is the QUEEN of bargains and before she got sick she would be in the stores 5 nights out of 7. She would always come home with piles of things for us having literally spent pennies. For Christmas 5 years running she'd get me an entire wardrobe off the bargain racks, and she has excellent taste. There was on open invitation for me to go with her, but I hardly ever did. I figured we could shop any old time, but now I know we can't.

She called me earlier in the week to ask if I wanted to hit the malls and I nearly fell out of my chair. I think she was afraid I'd say no, but I couldn't have even if I didn't want to go. Losing her independence has been really hard on her and I could tell she just wanted to get out without her husband. He takes she out and about, but he won't tolerate her marathon sessions. We went Saturday and it was fun! She drove, which wasn't as crazy as I thought it would be. She seems more decisive since the brain surgery, which is no small thing. Of course she wouldn't let me pay for a single item and bought me lunch and a very adorable colorful shirt for our upcoming vacation.

We've made plans to go again a couple of times before Disney and I'm looking forward to it. I'm also stupid for not taking her up on her invitations before, but it's no use crying over spilled potion.

ugh

I get really fucking annoyed at people who see one of my tattoos and ask, "What does it mean?" Maybe I don't care to tell you what it means. Maybe I don't think it's any of your goddamn business what it means. Maybe it doesn't mean a single thing and I got it because I think it's pretty. Stop asking me.

I think I'm going to start answering that they don't mean anything and I just liked the design.

My New Favorite Atheist Quote

Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?
~Douglas Adams

(we can imagine them tho with no penalty, right?)

How do they do it?

I like to read P.Z. Meyer's blog Pharyngula, mostly for the religion bashing but also for the scientific information and discussion I wouldn't get in my real life. He has a lot of posters and probably 300 times as many readers. I'm supremely jealous.

Is it bad form to poach topics? I don't imagine that writing about the same things he does is plagiarism, it's nothing like taking what he's written and passing it on as my own, I'd just be commenting on some of his immensely interesting articles and observations. It'll help me write more often, because I'm doing a bad job of staying motivated.

Syalr is a mad mad serial killer

Okay that was a pretty good episode. I hope HRG isn't fooled into believing that Sylar is dead.

more heroes

I like to watch the show and post about it at TVIV, but it's hard to both watch and post. I'm posting in two places. I'm so good at multitasking.

Heroes

Okay Heroes is on tonight. My favorite show. Basically the only show on TV that I watch. I cannot believe tho that they made Micah Rebel. Why in the world would they make the hero a kid? Not a good move, imo. More to come as the show goes on.

hrumph

I didn't post yesterday. Obviously. I haven't got anything to say, so instead I'll post this very funny cartoon.

daily

So, two days in a row I'm posting. It's nearly a tradition now.

Me and the SO were talking about quitting smoking today. We figured that we could save $400 a month by quitting. That's not an insignificant amount. That's a car payment. A good car. A nice car. A new car.

It's hard to think about quitting. My father quit smoking one day apparently out of the blue, just took his pack, crumpled it up and threw it in the trash. He didn't smoke for 5 years after that, but he did go back. I think I could do it cold turkey like that, but if I quit I'll never go back to them. Listen to me...if I quit? I have to quit eventually because if I don't I'll probably die of lung cancer or heart disease.

.....

It's been a while since I've posted. Haven't got any readers so it's not like I'm letting anyone down. I haven't really got too much to say. Work is cool, SO's happy, cat's fed...life is okay. I suppose I don't need to wait until something monumental happens to write, but my daily life is pretty routine and blase so I kind of avoid posting. I'm going to write daily now, or at least every other daily.

I'd like to write a fantasy novel, honestly, so this blog seems like small potatoes. Unfortunately you need a story to write a book, and I haven't got one. I have ideas, I've thought about writing about a family of cat people who have a blood feud with a family of werewolves. It's a very vague idea, and certainly not a story, and nearly a rehash of Twilight. Meh.

Where does a plot come from? I cannot imagine where writers get their ideas! Like J.K. Rowling, for instance. I read that she came up with the idea for Harry Potter while riding on a train. What an 'a-ha' moment that must have been. It gets worse when I remember that J.K. (we're on a first name basis, didn't you know?) only really had the one story, writers like Stephen King and Piers Anthony have hundreds between them. My head spins.

to protect and distract from a world of doubt

Rest In Peace George

Oh how I love this cat!!

This is a Norwegian Forest cat. I'm trying to convince my SO that we need one. So far it is not working. We already have a Ragdoll, who we love very much. I think he should have a brother. Everyone knows that only children are a bit off, I have my own mother as evidence.

Another Awesome Atheist Quote

The way to deal with superstition is not to be polite to it, but to tackle it with all arms, and so rout it, cripple it, and make it forever infamous and ridiculous. Is it, perchance, cherished by persons who should know better? Then their folly should be brought out into the light of day, and exhibited there in all its hideousness until they flee from it, hiding their heads in shame.

True enough, even a superstitious man has certain inalienable rights. He has a right to harbor and indulge his imbecilities as long as he pleases, provided only he does not try to inflict them upon other men by force. He has a right to argue for them as eloquently as he can, in season and out of season. He has a right to teach them to his children. But certainly he has no right to be protected against the free criticism of those who do not hold them. He has no right to demand that they be treated as sacred. He has no right to preach them without challenge. Did Darrow, in the course of his dreadful bombardment of Bryan, drop a few shells, incidentally, into measurably cleaner camps? Then let the garrisons of those camps look to their defenses. They are free to shoot back. But they can't disarm their enemy.
-- H L Mencken

they called him "astro adam".

The Infidel Guy Show

Awesome Atheist Quotes

What gods are there, what gods have there ever been, that were not from man's imagination?
-- Joseph Campbell

People say that what we are all seeking is a meaning for life. I don't think that's what we're really seeking. I think that what we're seeking is an experience of being alive, so that our life experiences on the purely physical plane will have resonances within our own innermost being and reality, so that we actually feel the rapture of being alive.
-- Joseph Campbell

Since the order of the world is shaped by death, mightn't it be better for God if we refuse to believe in Him, and struggle with all our might against death without raising our eyes towards the heaven where He sits in silence?
-- Albert Camus,The Plague

Has it ever occurred to you how lucky you are to be alive? More than 99 percent of all the creatures that have ever lived have died without progeny, but not a single one of your ancestors falls into that group!
Not a single one of your ancestors, all the way back to the bacteria, succumbed to predation before reproducing, or lost out in the competition for a mate.
-- Daniel Dennett

The most dangerous madmen are those created by religion, and ... people whose aim is to disrupt society always know how to make good use of them on occasion.
-- Denis Diderot

I have never seen the slightest scientific proof of the religious theories of heaven and hell, of future life for individuals, or of a personal God.
-- Thomas Edison

When the soul is just liberated from the wretched giant's bed of dogmas on which it has been racked and stretched ever since it began to think, there is a feeling of exultation and strong hope.
-- George Eliot

Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Why should I fear death? If I am, death is not. If death is, I am not. Why should I fear that which cannot exist when I do?
-- Epicurus

Millions long for immortality who don't know what to do on a rainy afternoon.
-- Susan Ertz

Spore Creature Creator

I've just started messing around with the Spore Creature Creator. Here's a link to the free download. Unfortunately that version only allows access to 25% of the parts available. If you're willing to spend $9.95 USD for a demo you can order it online at the EA store. I'm spoiled, so I downloaded the full version.

I am loving this thing. I think this is my best work so far, the Crested Robberly.



He's rather fast, but he's a terrible singer. Here's some info about Spore taken from Spore.com:

"How will you create the universe?

With Spore you can nurture your creature through five stages of evolution: Cell, Creature, Tribe, Civilization, and Space. Or if you prefer, spend as much time as you like making creatures, vehicles, buildings and spaceships with Spore’s unique Creator tools.

CREATE Your Universe from Microscopic to Macrocosmic - From tide pool amoebas to thriving civilizations to intergalactic starships, everything is in your hands.

EVOLVE Your Creature through Five Stages - It’s survival of the funnest as your choices reverberate through generations and ultimately decide the fate of your civilization.

EXPLORE your world and beyond - Will you rule, or will your beloved planet be blasted to smithereens by a superior alien race?

SHARE with the World - Everything you make is shared with other players and vice versa, providing tons of cool creatures to meet and new places to visit.

While Spore is a single player game, your creations and other players’ creations are automatically shared between your galaxy and theirs, providing a limitless number of worlds to explore and play within."

I am really excited about this game. It is being produced by Will Wright, the man behind The Sims.

This is a Garnabus. He's an excellent singer and will eat your face if you get too close to him.


This is a Snouted Puffcine. Good dancer, pretty quick, carnivore.




I know I sound like a shill, but this is good stuff. It'll be out for the PC, the DS, the Wii and mobile phones. Good thing I have all four.

Told you I was spoiled.

What has God to do with the New World Order?

I'm a conspiracy theorist. I believe that 911 was a false flag operation to enable passage of and establish wide support for the Patriot Act. I also believe that our representative government is influenced by and beholden to corporations, and that these corporations are influenced by and beholden to a few international banking families whose sole purpose for the last 200 years has been to institute a one world government-- the proverbial New World Order.

It's pretty scary stuff, and if I were the paranoid type it would probably drive me to psychosis. I'm just a normal chick, though, so I have to go on with my life and support myself and my SO; I can't spend my days attending rallies or bullhorning on street corners. I'll talk to people about these things and the NWO in the same way I talk about atheism, when there's an opportunity. Most people think the idea of a global control grid is absurd and the conversation generally ends in the question, "Are you crazy?" so I'm relegated to getting discussion on this topic via the internet.

The online anti-globalist community isn't too bad. It's very elitist in most circles, it takes forever to break into a forum, and of course there are the inevitable regular circle-jerkers, but for the most part there is some really good discussion and a ton of information. Often, however, I lose interest in most forums and newsgroups because the discussion turns to God.

Inevitably people start to talk about how we (the anti-globalists) are right because our freedoms are given to us by God, and that God is behind the movement and how we need to pray for the protesters and that the power elite are going to burn in Hell and all the rest of the god-loving bullshit. I can never understand what in the fuck God has to do with any of it because presumably, if God wanted to stop the globalists taking over the planet, he would.

Why can't we just believe that freedom is an inherent Human right, that people deserve to be free and self-determining just because they are alive?

Heaven has fallen

As the world is aware, all nations are united behind the necessity of tackling the problem of God's might before it is too late. This, despite the fact that until recently many nations, for various reasons, have preferred not to confront Him. Some have claimed that notwithstanding His terrible wrath and well-documented history of visiting vengeance upon mankind, He is a force for good in the world. Some countries - in fact, at the latest count, at least half the nations of the world - have at some time even claimed to be His Chosen People.

Yet despite countless appeals to Him, not only over the last few years, but over many centuries, to bring peace to the world, He has blatantly failed to deliver us from evil. We now know that He even harbours terrorists. At least, if they do not come from heaven, we know that heaven is where they go afterwards, as they are only too willing to admit.

Ladies and gentlemen, we have waited long enough. We have given God every chance, but our patience is at an end. I put it to you, can a being who chooses to be known under the guise of a number of different aliases ever be trusted? The time has come for regime change in heaven. (interruption) I'm sorry? Excuse me a moment.

Ladies and gentlemen, I have just been informed that our mission has been successful. The forces of the people are now in control of all key targets. Overcoming determined resistance ... (interruption) ... Excuse me, little resistance ... (interruption) ... I'm sorry, apparently no resistance at all, our forces battled ... (interruption) er, strolled into ... what appears to be a deserted realm.

(To aide: "What, no angels? No seraphim, no cherubim? No hosts of heavenly choirs? No ... souls of the eternally blessed? I was hoping to meet my mother again ..." Aide: "There's no evidence of anything, Mr President.")

(Speaker takes sip of water.)

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you victory. Today marks the triumph of mankind. Heaven has fallen.

And may God save us all.

read the whole thing here: Robert Ritchie at guardian.co.uk

The Corporation

What kind of people would major American corporations be?

Just worship them all!

Insane

Our society is run by insane people for insane objectives. I think we're being run by maniacs for maniacal ends and I think I'm liable to be put away as insane for expressing that. That's what's insane about it.
-John Lennon

Dance Monkeys, Dance

This is some pretty good stuff.

Pray-in at S.F. gas station asks God to lower prices

I will never understand this. Why are these people praying about gas prices that presumably god *wants* to be this high? Honestly, if god wanted to lower gas prices, he would.

Is prayer like a poll? Does god have a leader board of requests? Most popular prayer for the month of April is lower gas prices, so down they go.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/04/25/BUCN10C1KR.DTL

Rocky Twyman has a radical solution for surging gasoline prices: prayer.

Twyman - a community organizer, church choir director and public relations consultant from the Washington, D.C., suburbs - staged a pray-in at a San Francisco Chevron station on Friday, asking God for cheaper gas. He did the same thing in the nation's Capitol on Wednesday, with volunteers from a soup kitchen joining in. Today he will lead members of an Oakland church in prayer.

Yes, it's come to that.

"God is the only one we can turn to at this point," said Twyman, 59. "Our leaders don't seem to be able to do anything about it. The prices keep soaring and soaring."

Gas prices have been driven relentlessly higher this year by the bull market for crude oil, gasoline's main ingredient. A gallon of regular now costs $3.89, on average, in California, while the national average has hit $3.58.

To solve the problem, Twyman isn't begging the Lord for any specific act of intervention. He is not asking God to make OPEC pump more oil. Nor is he praying for all the speculative investors to be purged from the New York Mercantile Exchange, where crude oil is traded.

Instead, he says anyone who wants to follow his example should keep it simple.

"God, deliver us from these high gas prices," Twyman said. "That's all they have to say."

Rational thought vs. supernatural thinking

"Science can destroy religion by ignoring it as well as by disproving its tenets. No one ever demonstrated, so far as I am aware, the non-existence of Zeus or Thor - but they have few followers now."- Arthur C. Clarke

The Global Incident Map

This site is awesome. It's exactly what it says it is, a "global display of terrorism and other suspicious events". Each icon displayed is a link to a news article describing the incident. The map includes icons for disasters such as chemical attacks, abductions, eco-terrorism and radiation incidents to name a few, and it reloads every 310 seconds. Great for news hounds, not so great for paranoids. Enjoy.

The Global Incident Map

*edit
As of July 16, 2008 this is a pay site. Apparently it's now 99 USD per year. While this IS an excellent site, it is nowhere near worth 99 bucks. Sorry people.

KEEP OUT

In January, 2008, the Hempstead Village Police Department in conjunction with the Nassau County District Attorney's Office began the second phase of their "comprehensive crime reduction initiative". This phase of the initiative resulted in the arrest of 13 people for attempting to purchase drugs. That's really not hard to believe; if you want to buy drugs on Long Island, Hempstead is a place you can find them with very little effort. The town has an obvious problem with drugs, gangs and crime and thus its residents are understandably supportive of increased law enforcement activity in the area. But along with those 13 arrests were an additional 84 cars that were "identified" driving the streets. These cars were observed 'on the streets' of Hempstead, apparently doing nothing but driving in a town in which they did not live.

Police identified the cars through the use of a License Plate Recognition system. These systems, or LPRs, use lights, cameras and the reflectivity of license plates to take a picture of the plate. Its attendant software processes the images and often has data collection applications. It can have legitimate uses such as access control and parking, but a tool like this was bound to be abused.

During the police department's drug sweep of Hempstead, LPRs were employed to catalog vehicles driving around the neighborhood. Eighty four of those vehicles were identified as registered to people not living in Hempstead. The registered owners of these vehicles were sent letters from the Hempstead Village Police Department notifying them of the drug activity in the area and subsequent investigation. It also notified the owners of the department's "knowledge of their automobile's presence" in the town.

Read the press release: Nassau County New York Office of the District Attorney

Predictably, District Attorney Kathleen Rice used the 'keep kids off drugs' angle and stated that the action was aimed primarily at parents who may not have known that their children were using the family car to purchase drugs. A noble intention, to be sure, no one with any sense believes that kids should be buying or using drugs. But neither Ms. Rice, nor any member of the police department involved in the investigation had or has any knowledge of what these cars were doing there. It's obvious that the occupants of these vehicles were not committing any crimes or violating any traffic laws, they would have been arrested or ticketed otherwise. Their only 'crime' was to be in a neighborhood in which the police didn't think they belonged. For that they're harassed and intimidated and cataloged.

Have these people been put on some sort of watch list? Will their other movements and activities be monitored? Is this an isolated incident or is this happening all over the county? Will other towns in Nassau be determined to be off limits? These questions will likely never be answered by Kathleen Rice or the Hempstead Village Police Department, but it's not hard to draw conclusions.

It's interesting to note that the overtime pay received by police officers involved in the action came from the District Attorney's forfeiture fund. Theses funds are recovered from defendants convicted of crimes.