1. I find this vaguely...disturbing.

Maybe it's the tiny green cowboy hats. I didn't even know those existed.

Maybe it's the fact that the ducks look like they're being choked by their own collars.

Maybe it's the manic, hungry glint in that dog's eye.

2. If Michael Crichton were still alive, I'd suggest he re-write Sphere with one of these things included.

3. Heh. I doubt I'll get an opportunity to use this, but it sounds like fun.

4. Oh shit. Here we go again. I can't really say it any better than this.

Though I do disagree that all segregation is automatically bad. We segregate school children by age. We segregate high school sports players by skill level. The segregation only teaches kids the wrong lesson if they misunderstand its purpose. That's why you explain it to them.

I haven't thought this through as thoroughly as I could, so I might be wrong. But that's where I stand at the moment.

5. Hey. I feel threatened. I think I'll pick up a smaller animal and wave it around to scare away the bad guys.

Or I could try wearing a velcro bodysuit.

1. College is the perfect time to expand your mind and challenge your own views. You can’t do that if you’re constantly surrounded by people who agree with you.

I have to agree. That's the main reason I didn't go to a smaller liberal arts college. I might have fit in too well.

2. Sad. Sad sad sad sad sad. And more sad.

Also, Eureka Springs! Yay.

3. A decent article on atheists. Nothing earth-shattering or new, but one of the better pieces I've read in awhile.

Kansas City FreeThinkers hold monthly walks in a dog park and weekly coffee-house meet-ups, advertised online.

Sweet. I'll have to remember that for when I move back.

Some Christians find the billboards deeply offensive, especially at this time of year. In recent weeks, press releases from the religious right have accused atheists of "mocking" and "insulting" Christmas.

Okay. I'm personally not offended by Christmas stuff, even the fairly religious stuff, simply because I realize that a majority of the population celebrates it. But all you have to do is reverse the above position and it's identical to how atheists/non-believers could feel about any religious expression. And do we complain? Occasionally, and only recently. I think such complaints are justified when concrete issues of church-state separation are at stake. Otherwise, both sides can just suck it up and learn to live with disagreeing viewpoints.

Remember, children: expression of disagreement does not equal oppression.

4. First, this url amuses me. www.pbs.org/pastafarians? www.pbs.org/nihilists?

Second, it's a pretty good documentary about a fascinating cultural phenomenon. I thought it struck a decent balance between proponents and critics of the religion itself.

5. Missouri finally made up its mind, and I'm sad. Amazed at how close the vote was, but sad.

1. Today I rode a horse named after a chicken.

Okay, okay, named after a John Wayne character. But the chicken is more amusing.

2. A good paleontology documentary, notable mostly (for me) due to one interviewee's statement that a chimpanzee with a popsicle stick could perform basic excavation.

(I've wasted the last several days watching the majority of those online Nova episodes.)

3. W.W.B.n.D.?

(What Would Bush not Do?)

4. Dinosaurs used as weapons during the Civil War?

...Sure. I'll go along with that. Whatever you say.

5. A sadly unsurprising look at yet another way the federal government is still screwing Native Americans.

1. And now we have an American version of the bus ad. I like it better than the British version, but it could still be (mis?)interpreted as being a bit combative/condescending. I like that it addresses the morality-without-religion issue, though.

I have no objection to this, however.

Seriously. Well done. There's no way critics can call that offensive without looking like defensive idiots.

2. Everybody raise their hand who's surprised that Haggard is blaming someone else for his behavior.

Anyone?

Bueller?

3. In a brilliant and tactful move, a government official has unwittingly compared all non-Christian beliefs to despotism. Discussing a (non-Christian) religious group's request to place a monument beside the Ten Commandments:

"You have a Statute of Liberty, do we have to have a statue of despotism?" said Chief Justice John Roberts.

4. How do conservative talking heads do it? Just like you'd think they do it -- by playing on people's fears and their desire to be thought of as oppressed underdogs.

5. Kick-ass Aztec costume/make-up. I'm confused by the Aryan-blue eyes, though.

Overheard at work:

Tutor: [Explains what the vocabulary word "masochism" means.]

Student: You mean like emo kids?

1. The Jewish group isn't alone.

Long story short: Mormons are giving long-dead (Jewish) Holocaust victims baptisms-by-proxy.

In an example of breathtaking hypocrisy, a Mormon Elder said:

We don't think any faith group has the right to ask another to change its doctrines[.]

This was said in defense of this particular Mormon group's practice of proxy Baptism -- anyone stopping them would be asking the Mormons to change their doctrines. Forced, post-mortem conversion, however imaginary...sorry, "by proxy," isn't perhaps a little bit similar to "[asking] another to change [his/her] doctrines"?

2. For some reason this looks really delicious. I think I skipped dinner....

3. Any theories on what exactly this lobster does with its weird-ass claw during "skirmishes with other crustaceans"? It doesn't look like it, or its little teeth, could withstand much force or pressure.

4. Found a review and photos from the Sigur Ros concert in Portland last month.

During one of the quieter, more introspective songs (yeah, I know...which one), they had just two or three of these giant Chinese-type lanterns illuminated -- the ones in the back and to one side. It was an incredibly simple but evocative effect. The perfect amount of pretension. I mean that in an entirely positive way. I fucking love this band.

After the Great Fog Machine Debacle of October 2008, this picture just makes me nervous....

The confetti! I didn't notice the rainbow lights at the time. Suppose I was too busy running to the front of the aisle.

So far no recordings have surfaced of this particular night. Oh well. Next time.

5. I read the paper on secularism and its correlation with societal "health." It's a good, mercifully short read. I know correlation doesn't prove causation, but it soundly disproves the idea that secularism => the decline/collapse of civilization. Some highlights:

In general, higher rates of belief in and worship of a creator correlate with higher rates of homicide, juvenile and early adult mortality, STD infection rates, teen pregnancy, and abortion in the prosperous democracies[.]

No democracy is known to have combined strong religiosity and popular denial of evolution with high rates of societal health. Higher rates of non-theism and acceptance of human evolution usually correlate with lower rates of dysfunction, and the least theistic nations are usually the least dysfunctional. None of the strongly secularized, pro-evolution democracies is experiencing high levels of measurable dysfunction.

There is evidence that within the U.S. strong disparities in religious belief versus acceptance of evolution are correlated with similarly varying rates of societal dysfunction, the strongly theistic, anti-evolution south and mid-west having markedly worse homicide, mortality, STD, youth pregnancy, marital and related problems than the northeast where societal conditions, secularization, and acceptance of evolution approach European norms[.]

And be sure to check out Figures 2 (homicide rate), 5 (life expectancy), 8 (teen abortion rate), and 9 (teen pregnancy rate).

1. Baby hippos are slimy.

2. Complicated and dangerous issue, here.

3. I need to read this when I have time. Which will be sometime in the 2020s.

4. The intent is good, but isn't this just begging for the anti-atheists to cry moral irresponsibility? "Stop worrying and enjoy your life" is pretty easy to mis-translate into "do whatever you want without regard to consequences."

5. Silent Hill in North Korea.

1. Michael Crichton died. He was responsible for most of the books I read as an 11-year-old. 'Congo' is still one of my favorite brainless reads (and one of my favorite terrible movies). Maybe now I'll get around to reading 'Next'....

2. Anyone wanna buy me a house? It's for a good cause....

3. Yay.

Even better:

Barack Obama and Joe Biden will also work to change IDEA’s definition of “autism” to Autism Spectrum Disorders to ensure that all children diagnosed with ASD disorders receive the support they need.

Hopefully he continues to tap whatever knowledgeable resources he used to come up with that policy.

4. I need to actually read through all of this at some point. Lord knows I need to assign myself some more homework.

5. Wtf, Missouri?! When will you make up your mind?

1. Need gift ideas for loved ones? The answer is here.

2. "This model is a three speed so you can really tear it up."

3. "I bought this bike for 300 dollars from a retired mercenary that fought in both World War 1 and World War 2 and had his right arm bitten off by a shark in the Phillipines while stationed there as a shark handler."

4. Collaboration between Radiohead and Sigur Ros? Check. Performative uncertainty? Check. Modern dance? Check. My excuse for not being there? Disappointingly absent.

5. I doubt I will ever see a more pissed-off looking horse in all my days.

Thank. Fucking. God.