Ants in My Pants
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Godzilla it ain't
Poor little monitor lizard caught on Long Island. We get these all the time on the beaches in Thailand. The big ones are impressive, 8 feet long and chunky. But the article states it was only 1.5 feet long...and look at the picture. Shoot, little one like that would probably get killed by a dog long before it could "grow to more than 8 feet long and weigh more than 75 pounds". I found this quote "They are considered extremely aggressive, and if it bites a human, it will take flesh," Gross said. "... It not only can consume a pet, it can consume a child. They're extremely, extremely dangerous." a bit of an exaggeration...they usually run away if you startle them...even the 4 or 6 foot ones. Found one in the toilets a few months ago...the guy walking to the toilets ahead of me stopped outside the stall, I could hear this ruckus, he was just looking in and said to me "das is an alligator?" and I peeked in and saw a 4 footer splashing around in the water basin. Then it ran out past me and up into the rocks where it lived. Certainly wasn't aggressive, didn't try to bite me or anything.
Thursday, July 27, 2006
Have I Been Asleep or Something??
Nah...just been overseas, and too lazy to write. But I've got a few minutes to kill at the moment, so, to sum up:
I went to Thailand in December. Stayed on the beach, for the most part, til late May. Then I spent 2 weeks in Bangkok, before flying to Russia. Spent 2 weeks in Russia, and then back to New York. I'll probably write a bit about Thailand and Russia, eventually. But, briefly...New York? Feels about the same as always. Funny how as soon as I get back to the States, my agita level with the government goes right back up!
The latest story to piss me off: the military discharging a soldier, who speaks Arabic, because he got outed. http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-gays-military,0,6016072.story?coll=sns-ap-nationworld-headlines
Hmph...and they wonder why we've yet to win the war on terror...
The whole stem cell issue. Well, the fact that this is Bush's first veto proves to me that his religious views are getting in the way of progress. I don't understand how he considers using extra embryos from fertility clinics for stem cell research to be murder...but he's raising no objections to the existence of those clinics, when obviously all these extra embryos will just get destroyed. It's not like anyone's out there looking to adopt an embryo, or to have one implanted in themself just to avoid it being discarded. This country is going to fall so far behind in scientific advances, because of the religious zealots in charge...going to be a big impact on the economy.
..and that's just the beginning...sheesh, no wonder I want to be back overseas already...any cute European girls out there want to marry me and take me away from this? Where's that "Marry an American" website when I need it?
Friday, December 09, 2005
Incompetent Design
A link, and also a cut and paste of the link, in case it gets archived...
Don Wise, professor emeritus of geosciences at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, is the nation's foremost proponent of ID. No, Wise isn't getting ready to testify on behalf of the school board in Dover, PA. Rather, he advocates for a different version of the acronym: "incompetent design."
Wise cites serious flaws in the systems of the human body as evidence that design in the universe exhibits not an obvious source of, but a sore lack of, intelligence. Seed asked him to chat about his theory, reactions he's received to it, and the anthem he penned to rally people to his cause.
Q: Regarding incompetent design, why is the creator not intelligent? A: I didn't say that! We don't get into religion. The last thing we want to do is get into arguments of religion, a creator and so on. We're just: "Is there, or is there not, intelligence in the design?"
Q: So is there intelligence in the design? A: Yes! No, no there isn't. The thing that perhaps is closest to all of us is our own skeleton, and there are certainly all kinds of stupidity in our design. No self-respecting engineering student would make the kinds of dumb mistakes that are built into us. All of our pelvises slope forward for convenient knuckle-dragging, like all the other great apes. And the only reason you stand erect is because of this incredible sharp bend at the base of your spine, which is either evolution's way of modifying something or else it's just a design that would flunk a first-year engineering student. Look at the teeth in your mouth. Basically, most of us have too many teeth for the size of our mouth. Well, is this evolution flattening a mammalian muzzle and jamming it into a face or is it a design that couldn't count accurately above 20? Look at the bones in your face. They're the same as the other mammals' but they're just squashed and contorted by jamming the jaw into a face with your brain expanding over it, so the potential drainage system in there is so convoluted that no plumber would admit to having done it! So is this evolution or is this plain stupid design?
Q: You must have received some serious criticism of your somewhat jestful theory? A: Well, I got one, which I showed at the Geological Society of America (GSA) meetings. An envelope postmarked Minneapolis, with monkeys all over it and inside it, with a great big blue ribbon, a note saying I had been awarded the "Moron of the Month" award, that I was a dork, an idiot, that only someone who thought their ancestors were monkeys would be dumb enough to say what I had, asking me if I wanted to debate it. It left an email address at "darwinistsaredumb@hotmail.com." These are the kind of things you NEVER really answer, but I couldn't resist. So I used the H.L. Menken approach:
Dear Sir, You should be aware that some idiot is writing absolute nonsense and signing your e-mail address to it. You should take action on this before your reputation is further sullied!
But most of the things I've gotten have been positive.
Q: If you were to redesign things, how would you make design intelligent? A: Well, for one thing I would put fewer teeth in our mouths. I would put fewer bones in our face, so that it could drain properly. I would straighten up the pelvis so we wouldn't have to have that bend. I would certainly take out the appendix so we don't have that problem and the tonsils, too. And I did have one other. Some guy from Texas listed a number of things with this and he said, "Actually I would write more, but I have to go pee in Morse code, because some idiot designed my aging prostate." Intelligent designers and, in fact, everybody from the creationists and so on back to the beginning of the last century used to talk about the wonderful design of the eye—which somehow has all your receptor cells behind a membrane curtain! I mean, evolutionarily all of these things make sense but in terms of a reasonable, intelligent design? They're idiocy. So, the argument is there is no intelligence there in a lot of these things.
Q: Some people argue that the system of evolution itself is some sort of intelligent design. Do you have any response to that?A: Again, you're dealing with the supernatural, and this is something that's not science. Basically we operate with questions that are answerable by evidence. Once you get into the supernatural there is no evidence. Anything can go one way or the other. So, I think it is just kind of nonsense to suggest otherwise, that there is no way you can prove it one way or another.
Q: The song you wrote is wonderful. (Download a video of the song here.)
(Here are the lyrics, sung to the tune of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic")
My bones proclaim a story of incompetent design.
My back still hurts, my sinus clogs, my teeth just won’t align.
If I had drawn the blueprint, I would cer-tain-ly resign.
Incompetent Design!
Evo-Evo-Evo-lution!
Design is but a mere illusion.
Darwin sparked our revolution.
Science SHALL prevail!
A: The singers were all perfectly off-key. Oh, they're terrible!But I still had an audience of about 300 singing that lustily at the end of the GSA meeting in, I would think, at least four different keys and out of sync. Oh, it was gloriously terrible.
Wednesday, November 16, 2005
Important Tip for my next trip to Thailand
Symptoms of the BIRD FLU...The Center for Disease Control has released a list of symptoms of bird flu. If you experience any of the following, please seek medical treatment immediately:
1. High fever
2. Congestion
3. Nausea
4. Fatigue
5. Aching in the joints
6. An irresistible urge to crap on someone's windshield.
Tuesday, November 08, 2005
Ha ha ha...a funny one forwarded to me
President Bush started an ill-timed and disastrous war under false pretences by lying to the American people and to the Congress. He has run a budget surplus into a severe deficit; he has consistently and unconscionably favoured the wealthy and corporations over the rights and needs of the general population. He has destroyed trust and confidence in, and good will toward, the United States around the globe. He has ignored global warming, to the world's detriment; he has wantonly broken our treaty obligations; he has condoned the torture of prisoners; he has attempted to create a theocracy in the United States; he has appointed incompetent cronies to positions of vital national importance...
....Would someone please give him a blow job so we can impeach him?
Tuesday, September 13, 2005
A little Moore...because sometimes it's good to hear a little Moore about things that are pissing me off...
Sunday, September 11th, 2005
A Letter to All Who Voted for George W. Bush from Michael Moore
To All My Fellow Americans Who Voted for George W. Bush:
On this, the fourth anniversary of 9/11, I'm just curious, how does it feel?
How does it feel to know that the man you elected to lead us after we were attacked went ahead and put a guy in charge of FEMA whose main qualification was that he ran horse shows?
That's right. Horse shows.
I really want to know -- and I ask you this in all sincerity and with all due respect -- how do you feel about the utter contempt Mr. Bush has shown for your safety? C'mon, give me just a moment of honesty. Don't start ranting on about how this disaster in New Orleans was the fault of one of the poorest cities in America. Put aside your hatred of Democrats and liberals and anyone with the last name of Clinton. Just look me in the eye and tell me our President did the right thing after 9/11 by naming a horse show runner as the top man to protect us in case of an emergency or catastrophe.
I want you to put aside your self-affixed label of Republican/conservative/born-again/capitalist/ditto-head/right-winger and just talk to me as an American, on the common ground we both call America.
Are we safer now than before 9/11? When you learn that behind the horse show runner, the #2 and #3 men in charge of emergency preparedness have zero experience in emergency preparedness, do you think we are safer?
When you look at Michael Chertoff, the head of Homeland Security, a man with little experience in national security, do you feel secure?
When men who never served in the military and have never seen young men die in battle send our young people off to war, do you think they know how to conduct a war? Do they know what it means to have your legs blown off for a threat that was never there?
Do you really believe that turning over important government services to private corporations has resulted in better services for the people?
Why do you hate our federal government so much? You have voted for politicians for the past 25 years whose main goal has been to de-fund the federal government. Do you think that cutting federal programs like FEMA and the Army Corps of Engineers has been good or bad for America? GOOD OR BAD?
With the nation's debt at an all-time high, do you think tax cuts for the rich are still a good idea? Will you give yours back so hundreds of thousands of homeless in New Orleans can have a home?
Do you believe in Jesus? Really? Didn't he say that we would be judged by how we treat the least among us? Hurricane Katrina came in and blew off the facade that we were a nation with liberty and justice for all. The wind howled and the water rose and what was revealed was that the poor in America shall be left to suffer and die while the President of the United States fiddles and tells them to eat cake.
That's not a joke. The day the hurricane hit and the levees broke, Mr. Bush, John McCain and their rich pals were stuffing themselves with cake. A full day after the levees broke (the same levees whose repair funding he had cut), Mr. Bush was playing a guitar some country singer gave him. All this while New Orleans sank under water.
It would take ANOTHER day before the President would do a flyover in his jumbo jet, peeking out the window at the misery 2500 feet below him as he flew back to his second home in DC. It would then be TWO MORE DAYS before a trickle of federal aid and troops would arrive. This was no seven minutes in a sitting trance while children read "My Pet Goat" to him. This was FOUR DAYS of doing nothing other than saying "Brownie (FEMA director Michael Brown), you're doing a heck of a job!"
My Republican friends, does it bother you that we are the laughing stock of the world?
And on this sacred day of remembrance, do you think we honor or shame those who died on 9/11/01? If we learned nothing and find ourselves today every bit as vulnerable and unprepared as we were on that bright sunny morning, then did the 3,000 die in vain?
Our vulnerability is not just about dealing with terrorists or natural disasters. We are vulnerable and unsafe because we allow one in eight Americans to live in horrible poverty. We accept an education system where one in six children never graduate and most of those who do can't string a coherent sentence together. The middle class can't pay the mortgage or the hospital bills and 45 million have no health coverage whatsoever.
Are we safe? Do you really feel safe? You can only move so far out and build so many gated communities before the fruit of what you've sown will be crashing through your walls and demanding retribution. Do you really want to wait until that happens? Or is it your hope that if they are left alone long enough to soil themselves and shoot themselves and drown in the filth that fills the street that maybe the problem will somehow go away?
I know you know better. You gave the country and the world a man who wasn't up for the job and all he does is hire people who aren't up for the job. You did this to us, to the world, to the people of New Orleans. Please fix it. Bush is yours. And you know, for our peace and safety and security, this has to be fixed. What do you propose?
I have an idea, and it isn't a horse show.
Yours,
Michael Moore
www.michaelmoore.com
mmflint@aol.com
The Daily Show
I went to a taping of the Daily Show last night. It was a lot of fun, it's pretty interesting to be there right in the studio watching. This week's special theme is "Evolution Schmevolution" and looks to be quite entertaining. We actually got to watch them tape a segment for Wednesday night's show, a panel discussion involving a pro-evolution scientist, an Intelligent Design proponent, and some freaky-deaky lady who must've been on acid, talking about golden curves, Phi, holy geometry...some such nonsense. Jon Stewart did make one very good observation about the Intelligent Design guy, which was that when you start using too many metaphors to back up your argument, the argument must be kind of weak. What annoyed me about the guy was how he was trying to use something in a book by Richard Dawkins to back him up, when I know full well (see an earlier post of mine) what Dawkins thinks of I.D. Watching that weird lady though...it was hard...we were all laughing while she was speaking, feeling bad about laughing while she was explaining her views, but unable to stifle the chortling. Even Jon Stewart and the scientist guy had looks on their faces that were priceless.
I did also like Jon Stewart's story on the blame game around the Katrina Disaster..."Meet the F**kers"
The not-so-daily blog
And what still annoys me: I was in the elevator last week, maybe Wed. or Thurs., and one of the little news blurbs on the display was "Louisiana National Guard returns home from Iraq" This being, what, 10 days after the hurricane? And again, how one little sentence can just irk me so much: if it weren't for Shrub's silly little war, so much more could have been done to prevent the magnitude of the disaster here at home. Money that could have been spent, rescue equipment, field hospitals, National Guardsmen...all of it, all being wasted out in the sands of Iraq.
Wednesday, September 07, 2005
Coldplay
Went to see Coldplay in concert last night at Madison Square Garden in NYC. It was pretty fun, I don't know all of their songs, but enough that it was enjoyable, and they gave a good show. My friend Ashley would be pleased to know that not only did they play one song in honor of Johnny Cash, but they even did a little "Ring of Fire" in there too. I often like live performances less than recorded, for some reason, but there were a couple of songs that really were better live, so that was cool.
Jonathan and Jennifer
My friends Jonathan and Jennifer got married Sunday night. Jonathan is one of my oldest friends, and it was great to see him meet someone who is such a good partner in life for him. The wedding itself was fantastic, I got a chance to catch up with some S.F. friends I haven't seen in a couple years plus the NY crowd I've known since we were all little kids.
Monday, August 22, 2005
Too funny
Check out this open letter to the Kansas School Board, regarding another alternative theory that should be taught in schools.
Wednesday, August 10, 2005
Book Recommendation...possibly of the decade
I read Jared Diamond's new book last week, called "Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed" Like his book "Guns, Germs and Steel" it is fairly easy to read even if you aren't a scientist type. Collapase uses various case studies of past and present societies, and discusses the various factors that determined their ability to succeed...or not. I guess you could say he uses a combination of history, archaeology, environmental science, biology/chemistry, politics and so on, as evidence of his arguments. It's nice to know he doesn't think we're totally doomed, but he does agree with me that we really need to re-evaluate our current state of affairs.
If you have any interest in seeing our current world civilization surviving past the next 50 years, you really should read this book.
Thursday, July 21, 2005
Der Ameisenlöwe
In English, that's The Antlion. I chose German in honor of my friend Simone who was with me during an experimental time of my life. Experimenting with antlions, that is, not with Simone.
See, for years, I always wondered about those little pits of sand under lots of bungalows on the beach. I had a few different theories: rain water dripping through cracks, chickens pecking, some other bird. And then, finally, one day this March, it dawned on me: antlions! I remembered reading about them as a kid (I think in the Charlie Brown's Book of Questions and Answers) but I don't think I'd ever seen one before in real life. So I decided to do an experiment. I found a little termite, on a termite trail, picked it up, and dropped it in one of these pits beneath my hut. Lo! and behold, it was instantaneously snatched up (well, down) and devoured. Cool! When I told my friend Simone, she knew exactly what I was talking about, her grandmother had taught her about them. Simone and I did a few tests with them: digging them up, seeing how big an ant they could get (they could sometimes get a big red tree ant, but these ones were able to escape the pits most easily so we had to help the antlions), how often they could feed (didn't really wait around long enough to find out that answer). And I've been meaning to write about them for 4 months now, kept on forgetting to. If you google antlion, there's a lot of websites about them. In this one, you can even buy pet antlions!
