Saturday, January 29, 2005
Oooops
The tin ear for foreign diplomacy continues unabated, with Dick Cheney attending a ceremony to remember the victims of the holocaust dressed like Elmer Fudd.
Be vewwwwy vewwwwy qwuiet...
The tin ear for foreign diplomacy continues unabated, with Dick Cheney attending a ceremony to remember the victims of the holocaust dressed like Elmer Fudd.
Be vewwwwy vewwwwy qwuiet...
Thursday, January 27, 2005
Whither the methane?
Scientists don't know where where all the methane on Saturn's moon Titan comes from. I think they are missing the most obvious source: invisible cows.
Okay, I have absolutely, positively nothing usefell to talk about today. Right now, I'm listening to the Vines "Winning Days." It's funny how certain bands kind of sneak up on your interest. When I first heard Soundgarden back in the 90s (in 1990, on a train to Salzburg, Austria, I think, from a couple of Seattle residents who were involved in some kind of freaky love triangle with a third person I never met), they were interesting, but I didn't rush out to buy the album. I then decided to buy it on a lark, and they became my favorite band of the 90s, initiating a collection binge that involved hard to find prints of music nobody had ever heard before.
I heard the Vines a couple of years ago, and for whatever reason (maybe I was in a bad mood), they didn't appeal to me. Now they do, in a big way, and I'll probably go on another buying binge of hard to find Vines music.
Scientists don't know where where all the methane on Saturn's moon Titan comes from. I think they are missing the most obvious source: invisible cows.
Okay, I have absolutely, positively nothing usefell to talk about today. Right now, I'm listening to the Vines "Winning Days." It's funny how certain bands kind of sneak up on your interest. When I first heard Soundgarden back in the 90s (in 1990, on a train to Salzburg, Austria, I think, from a couple of Seattle residents who were involved in some kind of freaky love triangle with a third person I never met), they were interesting, but I didn't rush out to buy the album. I then decided to buy it on a lark, and they became my favorite band of the 90s, initiating a collection binge that involved hard to find prints of music nobody had ever heard before.
I heard the Vines a couple of years ago, and for whatever reason (maybe I was in a bad mood), they didn't appeal to me. Now they do, in a big way, and I'll probably go on another buying binge of hard to find Vines music.
Wednesday, January 26, 2005
This is so wrong
I don't smoke. I don't for a number of reasons, among them the freedom to hike moderate-sized hills without feeling like I'm on the moon.
The fact that I don't smoke, however, doesn't mean I condone companies who choose to fire employees who smoke AT ALL, whether at work or at home.
The company's founder said that "I don’t want to pay for the results of smoking." What about fat people? What about people who hang out and bars and screw five or six different people every weekend? What about people who live in lower-income locales and are more likely to get robbed and/or killed because of it? What about people who enjoy risky sports, such as rock climbing or hang gliding?
This kind of nonsense is possible because we ALREADY think it's okay to make professionals urinate into little plastic cups to prove they aren't sneaking into the alleyway to have a joint. That's massively invasive, but people justify that because smoking marijuana is illegal.
Hey, French people smoke like chimneys, yet live longer than the typical American. They aren't fat, though, have long vacations, and lead lives relatively free of typical American stresses. Sounds to me like WEYCO's founder is jumping on the politically correct anti-smoking bandwagon, lumping the world's problems into a little white roll of paper filled with a common American weed.
Chill out, people. We pump gallons and gallons of carbon monoxide into the air because of our devotion to gasoline-powered automobiles, and consume enough chemicals in the foods we eat to keep our bodies preserved well into the next millenium. Smoking is the least of our problems.
I don't smoke. I don't for a number of reasons, among them the freedom to hike moderate-sized hills without feeling like I'm on the moon.
The fact that I don't smoke, however, doesn't mean I condone companies who choose to fire employees who smoke AT ALL, whether at work or at home.
The company's founder said that "I don’t want to pay for the results of smoking." What about fat people? What about people who hang out and bars and screw five or six different people every weekend? What about people who live in lower-income locales and are more likely to get robbed and/or killed because of it? What about people who enjoy risky sports, such as rock climbing or hang gliding?
This kind of nonsense is possible because we ALREADY think it's okay to make professionals urinate into little plastic cups to prove they aren't sneaking into the alleyway to have a joint. That's massively invasive, but people justify that because smoking marijuana is illegal.
Hey, French people smoke like chimneys, yet live longer than the typical American. They aren't fat, though, have long vacations, and lead lives relatively free of typical American stresses. Sounds to me like WEYCO's founder is jumping on the politically correct anti-smoking bandwagon, lumping the world's problems into a little white roll of paper filled with a common American weed.
Chill out, people. We pump gallons and gallons of carbon monoxide into the air because of our devotion to gasoline-powered automobiles, and consume enough chemicals in the foods we eat to keep our bodies preserved well into the next millenium. Smoking is the least of our problems.
Catholic Weirdness
Apparently, the South African Catholic Church is slamming the promotion of condoms as a means to prevent the transmission of AIDS.
Said Cardinal Wilfred Napier in a phone interview, "Can you show me one example where condoms have stopped the spread of AIDS?," Damn, I KNEW they shouln't have removed those 6" x 6" by 6" inch virus detection factories attached to the ends of condoms sold in South Africa. If only they'd left them on, then we'd know ABSOLUTELY FOR CERTAIN that condoms had stopped the transmission of AIDS.
The cardinal noted that condoms have a failure rate. Parachutes have failure rates, too. That doesn't mean that I'm going to reject the use of parachutes when jumping out of airplanes.
We tell kids not to put forks into power outlets. Abstinence is certainly the safest policy. That doesn't mean that parents shouldn't put stoppers onto outlets when young children are around.
I have no problem with promoting both abstinence and informing people of the utility of condoms in preventing AIDS (incontrovertible fact that is reduces the risk, even if its not perfect). I really get annoyed, though, when a bunch of dogmatic (and celibate) priests feel perfectly justified in placing at risk billions of sexually active non-priests because of some bizarre notion of the sanctity of the sexual act.
Apparently, the South African Catholic Church is slamming the promotion of condoms as a means to prevent the transmission of AIDS.
Said Cardinal Wilfred Napier in a phone interview, "Can you show me one example where condoms have stopped the spread of AIDS?," Damn, I KNEW they shouln't have removed those 6" x 6" by 6" inch virus detection factories attached to the ends of condoms sold in South Africa. If only they'd left them on, then we'd know ABSOLUTELY FOR CERTAIN that condoms had stopped the transmission of AIDS.
The cardinal noted that condoms have a failure rate. Parachutes have failure rates, too. That doesn't mean that I'm going to reject the use of parachutes when jumping out of airplanes.
We tell kids not to put forks into power outlets. Abstinence is certainly the safest policy. That doesn't mean that parents shouldn't put stoppers onto outlets when young children are around.
I have no problem with promoting both abstinence and informing people of the utility of condoms in preventing AIDS (incontrovertible fact that is reduces the risk, even if its not perfect). I really get annoyed, though, when a bunch of dogmatic (and celibate) priests feel perfectly justified in placing at risk billions of sexually active non-priests because of some bizarre notion of the sanctity of the sexual act.
