Creationist Trolls

That can mean both the flame-warmongers and the dark ages scientists, BTW.

Here's a great rebuff to a Creationist from a scientist who really-just-does-not-have-enough-time-for-this-kind-of-thing:

> Oh, I forgot, evolutionists don't have any biases! They only engage in *real* science

Oh, I have plenty of biases, all right. I'm quite biased toward depending upon what my senses and my intellect tell me about the world around me, and I'm quite biased against invoking mysterious mythical beings that other people want to claim exist but which they can offer no evidence for. I'm quite biased toward accepting the evidence I see at face value, and I'm quite biased against throwing that evidence out simply because some people with pre-conceived notions try to pretend it doesn't exist. I'm quite biased toward accepting the ideas of those who understand how science works, and who understand that everything in science is open to question and testing, and I'm quite biased against accepting the ideas of those who have no idea of how science works and who will hold onto discredited ideas no matter what the evidence against them simply because they have pre-conceived ideas of how the universe operates. I'm also biased toward the Dallas Cowboys, almost all forms of chocolate, pizzas with anchovies, and any woman who acknowledges my existence.

P-R-I-D-E (Find Out What It Means To Me)

This weekend is Pride in Toronto, and I'm looking forward to seeing my first ever parade (naked, buff men parading openly in the street? I am so there!) This great blog entry by Heather Gold is helping to get me psyched up for what promises to be 10+ hours of fun and festivities:

Just like the ���straight world,��� there are always folks who stay frozen in the politics and aesthetics of their gay youth. But there���s an overriding principle that everyone belongs because we all have one thing in common: we know what exclusion feels like. So in the world of queerdom, there is a contingent for everything.

Stand proud Gay Parcheesi Players with Hay Fever! You are not alone. Soon, you too will have a float in the parade. And a special flag. This is how we got the new acronym GLBTIQQ. We used to be the gay community. Now, we are the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transexual, intersex, queer and questioning community. If we really want to be genuinely inclusive, we should add FSP for friendly straight people. And then add some vowels, because they're feeling oppressed and excluded from the acronym. Then add T for Tired, because you're exhausted by the time you get to the end of it. GBLTIQQUOEFSPAT. This is how the Parade got so long.

No one will be left out! Except the numbers. Maybe the genderqueer folks can be the numbers. Or maybe we can just use ?. The Parade is now as long as ?. They should have a halftime break. They can have straight men come out and play football for us.

24601

Boingboing links to a page that discussed retail theft, and lists the top 50 most shoplifted items.

I laughed at the idea of stolen Visine (in trying to hide your dope habit, you get nabbed for shoplifting!) and Oil of Olay (women really don't take aging very well), but I was kind of saddened to see a lot of women's products on here. Between the Monistats, Aleeves, and pregnancy tests, it spells embarrassment or shame about their bodies on the part of the thieves.

Shameful, on the other hand, was seeing how many Similac products made the list (note that case quantities beats single can for theft attempts). People are having babies they can't afford in a country whose government is cutting the strings of the social safety net. With the moral-conservative society taking root in the US amidst a declining economy and a treasury-sapping war, I'm guessing the formula products will steadily move up the most-stolen list.

It's an interesting socio-economic indicator. They should release this list every election year.

Word of the Moment: Halo

Halo, n.

1. A circular band of colored light around a light source, as around the sun or moon, caused by the refraction and reflection of light by ice particles suspended in the intervening atmosphere, or something resembling this band.
2. A luminous ring or disk of light surrounding the heads or bodies of sacred figures, such as saints, in religious paintings; a nimbus.
3. The aura of majesty or glory surrounding a person or thing that is regarded with reverence, awe, or sentiment.

[Medieval Latin hal, from accusative of Latin hals, from Greek, threshing floor, disk of or around the sun or moon.]


I was curious as to how the halo originated and evolved into the popularly-accepted ring (usually suspended over cartoon characters by a visible supporting wire), and as usual Wikipedia provided my answer:

The use of halos to designate Christian saints presented a problem in the translation of the Hebrew Bible. When Moses came down from Mount Sinai carrying the tablets of the law, he is said in the Hebrew text (Exodus 34,29) to have a glowing or radiant face. However, this would have implied a halo, which was reserved for Christian-era saints. Jerome avoided this by translating the phrase into Latin as "cornuta esset facies sua" (his face was horned). This description was taken literally by Medieval and Renaissance artists, who depicted Moses with small horns growing from his forehead. Especially noteworthy in this respect is Michelangelo Buonarroti's statue in San Pietro in Vincoli...

The halo underwent an interesting transformation during the Renaissance. Originally, the halo represented a glow of sanctity emanating from the head. Since it was conventionally drawn as a circle, during the Renaissance, when perspective became more important in art, the halo was changed from an aura surrounding the head to a golden ring that appeared in perspective, mysteriously floating above the heads of the saints.

C[r]aptions

Some spectacular mistranslations of a Chinese Revenge of the Sith bootleg. I have an Asian Two Towers bootleg that has some "huh?" moments as well, but these are pretty funny in their total lack of precision.

Personal fave: "I was just made by the Presbyterian Church" (mistranslation of Jedi Council). Doubly funny when accompanied by the comment from a minister who stumbled upon the site:

Having been "made by the Presbyterian Church" myself, I wonder what amazing powers I haven't been exercising?

BTW, the best retort I've heard to the new Lucas video game: "Is 'Sith' an anagram?"