ZayZayEM - kickin' moron ass since 2002

True location

2008-08-23T23:20:00.002+10:00

Life is a real mess right now. But real new location is:

http://www.zayzayem.wordpress.com

It's Alive!!
Still Kickin' Still Screamin'

Man on Fire Feels Your Pain

2007-11-26T16:44:00.000+10:00

Hooray free image hosting.

People may have noticed my "new site" hasn't been updating, and I haven't fulfilled any promises I made towards the internet.

Let's just say Honours has made me really miss working at Hitachi Amity. I wish I was the guy above. At least he gets to dance.

Anywaaay... once I finally finish this gene project, I'm gonna spend a while getting my shit in order, and then hopefully start up again with teh internet projects.

The goal is to stick with "It's Alive" as my main blog - it will deal with the usual shit that was here - science news, rants and the occasional video.

I'm gonna remove any Japan content from this blog, and rewrite it formally in another blog. And it will totally be retconned to sound not quite so whiny, as well as possibly a bit more and a bit less honest depending on the event.

I'm gonna make some more cool T-shirt designs. (...)

And I'm gonna make sure Dekiru actually takes off as a project, hopefully by roping in some friends. The idea is just to have some Japanese language prose written by non-native speakers. Mostly either about an interesting news event (Seal bites surfer's face!) or personal life (kangaroo sushi). It should also be aimed at improving vocabulary and language skills of other non-native speakers.

Nobody is reading this anyway. But I like typing. It's noisy. Ha. Ha.

Z Lizt

2007-06-26T22:52:00.000+10:00

Well, so I've moved...

z list

enjoy

...mind you its still under construction...

further working on a genuine science/student blog, so my rants will not be disapeared; as well as shifting で出来る over to wordpress too; and creating a myspace.

The Last Post - Alchemy Facts are Useful

2007-06-09T12:09:00.000+10:00

Don't take me too seriously on either of those statements. I'm thinking of trying to move the science-part of Kickin' Moron Ass over to NatureNetwork - which will also include some of my actual in lab exploits (my supervisor is finally getting a move on inductions and having a meeting about risk assessments, I have to write up a supply list too).

Some of the less serious aspects of KMA would be moved to a more link-list style weblog, like my first blogging idol, Lindsay's Bificurated Rivets, which will probably be interspersed with youtube vids too. That will probably be Better than a Knife in the Eye (with a new brand image).

While I'm fond of the good old Kickin' Moron Ass (since 2002) tag, I don't know if it's appropriate for Nature, so any suggestions for a biomedical wannabe mad molecular biologist with allusions of grandeur.

Anyway, this last post needs better content, so following on from some discussion in comments over at Pharyngula - The Scientist kindly dropped this slideshow in my inbox:

"Before there was chemistry there was alchemy. So before there was art about chemistry, there was art about alchemy. For previous generations of chemists, so much of how things work was a mystery, so artwork that featured animals, astronomical objects, and other aspects of nature contained significant symbolic meaning. As time went on, of course, modern experimental methods turned people away from mysticism, and alchemy became a piece of the past."

I haven't looked at it all yet, but I get really miffed when people just reject something like alchemy or astrology as outrightly wrong and as if they weren't valid forms of natural observation in their time. Like I said in the comments, what distinguishes something as anti-science is dogma - in their day most alchemists weren't stuck in absolute dogma, and were active experimenters and debaters. Small amounts of dogma existed, but the great thing about modern science is that dogma is gradually being replaced with total paradigms (paradigms are facts that are accepted as acceptable, but can be moved or shattered if something better comes along through further observation and rationality).

I love paradigms. The phrase is already overused in my thesis.

Well, it's been a fun ride kids. Thanks for the memories...

Asian Conspiracy

2007-06-01T14:24:00.000+10:00

The Power of Christ Compels You

2007-06-01T14:00:00.000+10:00

To spontaneous epilepsy?

Back when I was trying to formulate a Christian outlook - I really came to the assessment that Evangelicals of the Benny Hinn breed were the devil. You know, those false prophets that were prophesised about.

Jesus never did anything like this, and he certainly did not ask for money. Jesus did some cool party tricks, first aid, and the occasional psycho-hypnotherapy session (hey Legion!) - he didn't make people fall down and speak in tongues. The pentecostal "speaking in tongues" was not gibberish, it was understandable by everyone around - Romans heard it in Latin, Greeks heard it in Greek, Arabs in Arabic etc. that's cool. That's a mega coded BabelFish.

Anyway, now I just see they are all just pretty nuts.
It's psychological hysteria etc. The Beatles made people faint by touching them, I don't think they were Godsend.

*rock*satan*benny hinn*evangelical*hysteria*epilepsy*legion*demons*christ*

Learning Foreign Language Technique

2007-06-01T12:56:00.000+10:00

This is a useful training video I guess. It does do a bit more oversimplifying. It's pretty logical that the "putting yourself out there" and actually using your Japanese etc. but it's obviously a technique that is more suited to confident extroverts. So it is also (I'd say quite strongly) a matter of personality.

To me walking up to a strange couple on the beach with a kid is a bit creepy. Could you imagine the reaction to some strange Japanese guy wandering onto Bondi and doing the same in English? It's not just a matter of your personality, but there's as well. I personally feel worse about that kind of situation, if you are just talking/being friendly to practice your Japanese, it feels like a bit of an abuse of the relationship there.

I did like this video though. It also manages to be amusing. When the couple are talking about his shoes, it sounds and looks like they are talking about the size of a certain male body part.

*japanese*learning*ペニス*video*jafl*日本語*jet*training*personality*

Video Friday... One Night Only

2007-06-01T12:26:00.000+10:00

Okay, I going to attempt to revamp everything intarweb over the weekend. It's going to be a total makeover, and its likely going to be a whole new blog (I'll try and pull a swifty and keep the same address). Anyway, enjoy...

This Frog did NOT eat a cat. I was so disappointed. I wonder if it has got something actually wrong with it, or if it is trying to sound like that.

via Pharyngula, via greg, via dan

Almost Human: That's So Raven

2007-05-29T12:09:00.000+10:00

grrlscientist has the goss on avian intelligence.

Apparently Ravens have very logical minds, indeed too logical. While being able to work out that they could get a piece of meat dangling on a string by pulling it up, when the situation was changed so that the raven now had to pull down to get the food up it was a little bit harder.

This sort of abstract thinking is a trait, AFAIK, that really gets into what made Hominids human. While being able to logically associate things is pretty basic biology (even microbes are chemoitactic); and memory is something a lot of animals have (even goldfish, against all prejudices). Imagination and innovation is a pretty limited trait, along with self recognition.

Something that was probably included in the original SCIAM article would be what age-equivalent this level of intelligence makes the ravens. At what age to humans have the capacity to work out that you can pull down on a string and make it go up in certain situations. Such a figure would be quite subjective, avians have far superior memory skills (I keep forgetting where I put my mobile and keys, I'd starve if I had to remember 1000s of food cache locations without a map) and are also adept at deception and mistrust.

*ravens*almost human*animal*intelligence*behaviour*grrlscientist*science*logic*intuitive*memory*birds*

2007-05-25T20:40:00.001+10:00

You scored as Spiritual Atheist, Ah!
Some of the coolest people in the world
are Spiritual Atheists. Most of them weren't
brought up in an organized religion and have
very little baggage. They concentrate on
making the world a better place and
know that death is just another part of life.
What comes after, comes after.

Spiritual Atheist

75%

Apathetic Atheist

67%

Scientific Atheist

58%

Agnostic

58%

Angry Atheist

58%

Militant Atheist

50%

Theist

42%

What kind of atheist are you?
created with QuizFarm.com

History of Japanese Bashing in Queensland

2007-05-25T19:10:00.000+10:00

Today I was teased for "thinking too much", which is true, IT HURTS! This was followed up with, "How do you know all this stuff?" To which I answered "Reading". Seriously. Reading makes you learn stuff. I read it somewhere.

And it's not just wikipedia. Though I've got to admit, wiki-technology and the internet in general makes it all so much easier to access information. But I read lots of things. I've read the Bible, Shakespeare, National Geographic, Australian Geographic, Childcraft, Newton, textbooks of various kinds, Tolkein, Fiest, Rowling, Laurel K Hamilton, Mercedes Lackey, news@nature... and since about mid-way through high school I've grown into an ever increasing multimedia whore, embracing video, DVD, documentaries, mp3s, avi downloads, watching the news, Media Watch, The Glasshouse, Warcraft, The Chaser, South Park, Eat Carpet, podcasts, vodcasts, rss, technorati... really, all you have to do is get literate and pay attention: the world is your smorgassboard of information.

I love it.

And so I'm going to present a nice essay that combines some interesting facts about recent Queensland history, politics, intolerance, racism in Australia, Japan, economics and Asia-Australia relations:

Last Post for the Gold Coast: Heart of a Nation and the Japanese "Colonization" of Queensland. by Narrelle Morris

Basically, Back in the 80s, with post-WWII Japan becoming a large economic power, much investment came to tropical Queensland way. Being moderately closer, and certainly a lot larger than tiny tropical Hawaii, the Sunshine State was made all the more appealing by old-school (some might say corrupt) government under Sir Joh. Concern mounted in 1988 with "Heart of the Nation" a community concern group that was totally not-racist in its economic proposal which was simply getting all those foreign influence back where they came from. Heart of the Nation's hypocrisy in character was outed rudely when its primary proponent, Bruce Whiteside, was shown to actually be a foreign investor himself - from New Zealand. One hasty citenzenship ceremony later, and a clarification that Kiwis are Oz's little cousin, whereas Japanese are totally different, HotN continued on its merry little agenda. Media involvement didn't exactly do much to prevent excacerbation of the situation, which resulted in attacks on Japanese education in Queensland schools, misleading figures about Japanese ownership, and even the Japanese media retaliating against the Gold Coast tirades against their country. Despite several attempts to clear itself of any racist agenda, Heart of the Nation was gradually subsumed into Queensland One Nation and Pauline Hanson support to protect against the "yellow peril" of Asia.

Hooray Queensland! Seriously, this is an odd story. Particularly that the entire movement against foreign investment was stirred up by a foreign investor himself, under totally non-racist motivations.

The poor thing about all this is, while Labor Federal has been pushing for Japanese to be brought back into schools (though I don't think too many Queensland schools dropped it), as a Japanese guy I recently met mentioned to me, China is the new asia-pacific superpower. I think it's a bit sad that Japanese language missed the boat - while still fairly complex, it's nowhere near as complicated as Chinese language. I suspect Chinese (Mandarin) will become an Asia-Pacific language more so than Japanese unless the Japanese government pulls some swift manouvering. Mandarin definitely has numbers, area, and political power on its size.

さびし

*japanese*racism*australia*heart of the nation*essay*history*thinking*yellow peril*knowledge*reading*back in the 80s*lesson*china*language*economics*one nation*culture*queensland*education*foreign*bruce whiteside*pauline hanson*

Chimps dig the Hot Mammas

2007-05-22T22:04:00.000+10:00

Well, its actually pretty old news, dating back to a behavioural observation published in November 2006.

I really like how the behaviour gets so totally compared with humans: "...despite their promiscuous mating system, chimpanzee males, like humans, prefer some females over others. However, in contrast to humans, chimpanzee males prefer older, not younger, females."
And even we accept this diagnosis; far from being a demonistic paedophillic trend, youth-preference in humans has something to do with monogamy or something. I don't think there is very much evidence that humans prefer monogamous relationships, meaningful ones, maybe - but not necessarily life long, early in life or with only one partner.

*chimpanzees*primates*psychology*behaviour*milf*sex*preference*almost human*old news*science*animals*mating*

There Is No God - Part I

2007-05-21T23:15:00.000+10:00

TING is an unregistered trademark of ZayZayEM. Don't you dare steal it (or show me that someone else has used it first).

Well, I was going to take a few more days rest from the blogosphere, but I've just got a heap of newfound non-spirirituality surging inside of me that I have to share (sorry I was raised pseudo-evangelical, old habits...)

So here's a handout to some of the godless who do accidentally make it here (Pharyngula is known to boost my readership by about 300% at times)

Yesterday ABC screened the first part of Root of All Evil? and I can't say I'm particularly impressed. And I'm not talking about the title, with the question mark included, it strikes me as the perfect balance of thought provoking controversy and meaning that the documentary entails.

To me Dawkins doesn't come off as the intellectual, he just seems a hard-assed atheist with too little knowledge of actual theology and a blazing sense of naivity. I criticised his interview with Ted Haggard (if only we knew the truth back then though... oh the hilarity) where it just appeared to loggerheads involved in cock measuring contest, but Dawkins still afraid to pull down his zipper. Haggard is calling Dawkins arrogant for claiming that if only Haggard knew the science he knew and that it's totally rude, but now, if Dawkins had read the Bible as Haggard and had a deep intimately hardcore knowledge of God like Haggard, Dawkins would see his own arrogance. Haggard himself is obviously also full of himself. It's not to hard to notice, but Dawkins doesn't (at least in the documentary cut) reply. Maybe it's too obvious to point out the almost cringing hypocrisy, or maybe it's that Haggard has a point, Dawkin's does come off a little arrogant, maybe with the best intentions, but arrogant nonetheless.

He seems like a little boy who has just found out Santa Claus isn't true - but also knows he will still get presents - but has decided to make sure all the other kids at school know it. Sure he's right. But are the other kids prepared to know it? And is Dawkin's prepared enough to make his arguments?

Dawkins lack of preparation comes off most startling when he targets an American born Jewish Israeli settler who converted to Islam in an attempt to get an moderate/understanding view on the whole Middle East religious turmoil. Yousef al-Khattab, formerly Joseph Cohen is anything but moderate. Dawkins quickly, and to his own disappointment quickly realises that here is man who "has willingly handed himself over to irrational fundamentalism" (or something like that). Yousef is of the belief that one day soon Muslims will rule the Middle East, one day later the world, and Dawkins better do something about the outrageous way "his (UK?) women dress". Dawkins responds appropriately, but in a slightly stuttered way that belies his stereotypically stuffy intellectualistic British arrogant/naive outlook.

Dawkins point is overall that dogmatic, indoctrinous religious belief is a negative influence on modern society; and he rams it home with some very good points. But it just seems a bit rushed and unprepared and all to badly produced. It's just not a good engaging personality in this documentary. PZ is going to really hate me ... it might even be an issue of "framing"...

Oh... and I'm allergic to squid...

(Yes this is a part of a series)

*pharyngula*squid*religion*ting*root of all evil?*atheism*framing*personality*cock fight*british*naive*santa*haggard*arrogance*abc*richard dawkins*documentary*

There is No God - Part II

2007-05-21T23:10:00.000+10:00

Well, if Dawkins sucks (I'm planning on getting a hold of The God Delusion, Dawkins at least seems the person who actually gets better from experience), Who am I willing to bring up for atheist spokesbody?

I quite like to think satirists do a good job. Nothing could be more painful that someone quite intellectually reducing your entire silly-little-belief-system-that-gives-you-meaning-for-life to a grand joke. I'm sure any deity observing that show was just sitting back with some nachos saying "Oh, it's so funny... it's so funny 'cos it's true... oh Joe Pesci... I think I peed my pants... hahaha".

But while jokes work as good rhetoric, they don't win battles. If we rely on humour too much, it sort of gets blurred what is serious and what's not. As Dawkins drives home, the pain that religion brings to this world is anything but funny.

ABC followed up last night's dish (possibly coincidentally) with a new documentary by Andrew Denton, a popular Australian media figure, entitled "God on My Side". I couldn't get a hold of any actual clips, but here is an SBS taster. I really wish I could find his appearance on Rove[live], it might give some of the godless some hope. It certainly gave me a bit of hope. With my mother as a local chaplain, some murmurs about bring ID downunder, and letters to the editor with the insane notion that Australian money has "In God We Trust" on it (evangelical Christians seem a bit slack on plagarism, or checking the relevance of their sources for their demographic - I think its a "universal truth" thing) - it's nice to see that at least are media and it's personalities aren't totally bonkers yet.

All Denton has to do is briefly flash a bumper sticker that says "Evolution is not Science" and the entire audience of Rove McManus' talkshow is in laughter. Now, I can't imagine a similar scene on Oprah, or even Leno or Letterman. The bumpersticker was just one of the many items Denton picked up while filming "God on My Side" a fairly non-critical expose on the 63rd National Religious Broadcasters Convention in Dallas, Texas. The item he actually had to show was an allegedly realistic representation of the ark, Denton's question was "Where is all the poo?" (He says "mess" in Texas) The Christian's answer was that their were chutes hidden in the drawing, again this drew big laughs here.

"Non-critical"? What kind of expose is non-critical. Denton is pretty simple in his production. He doesn't pull too many hard hits. He just asks questions, and sometimes throws in a couple of small punchlines - some of the evangelicals get it an laugh, others don't, and a couple don't even realise it was a joke and answer in complete seriousness. The best example is when Denton is told that ancient man was pretty intelligent, after all the Bible says Adam named all the animals. Denton cheekily asks "So where did he come up with aardvark?" and the Christian is a bit taken aback, but quickly straightens up and maybe out of pride, defensiveness, or maybe he was trying to have a bit of fun too, but he sounds a bit too serious for the latter and says "Well, err, you see here. It was late in the day and Adam was... [fade to scene]" Some people need to learn to say "I don't know the answer to that one", it is not the same thing as saying you win (another thing some people could learn).

Most of the film is asking questions like that. Simple harmless questions about what these particular Christians believe, as the documentary progresses the questions get more serious. We move away from "How many people do you reach with this message?", "What do you think of the Benny Hinn image?" to more serious and doctrine exposing questions "Are we in end times?", "Should USA unequivocally support Israel?", "Does it bother you that President Bush says God tells him what to do?", "What makes you right when all you say is the Bible is the word of God, Muslims say the same about the Koran?".

Denton starts of "God on My Side" with the goal of exposing the Christian ("our side") polar opposite to modern fundemental Islam: while being a good documentary on American fundamentalism... it fails on this stated original goal. The evangelicals at NRB convention aren't effigy burning rabbles... they might ultimately come down to the same not "I'm right. You're wrong. I'd wish you change, but if you don't you are going to die and live in agony. Oh and God Loves You." Maybe that is his point.

But hey I guess you can tell, I'm not easily satisfied. And I'm not finished.

I forgot to add one bit about God on My Side. The absolute biggest cack up was an evangelical sculptor who tried to convince Denton that the sparkling on Denton's hands when he held them up to the light was not sweat, but a scientifically unidentifiable element that was shining undeniable proof of God's love for him. Someone had to have fed this guy this bullshit, noone can have enough intelligence to make that bullshit up and believe it. Denton calmly mentioned that it might be sweat, but then couldn't help giggling as this poor guy pulled out the "Scientist have tested this shiny stuff" line...

*religion*andrew denton*god on my side*abc*sbs*documentary*american*evangelical*texas*national religious broadcasters*inanity*expose*dawkins*rove*australia*satire*serious*bible*fundamentalism*

There is No God - Part III

2007-05-21T23:00:00.000+10:00

I've dissed Dawkin's for being a poor presenter. I agree with the message and his points, I'm also not a fan of pussy-footing about the issue, so his direct approach that "It's time for rational people to speak up" is great. It's just in Root he comes across as arrogant and unprepared, I really like my snotty kid learning about Santa metaphor. No matter how right you are, and how wrong your opponent is, Meta:DICK still applies.

Then I brought in Denton as a comparison. While being a better and more entertaining documentary IMHO from Denton's honed personality and tact; it still lacks the firepower of Dawkins atheist enlightenment. It also isn't helped that Denton is still a bit hung up on respecting religion, as far as I'm concerned around 40,000 years enough to expire WP:AGF.

What's my solution? Well, T.I.N.G. is far from production ready (someone buy me Flash MX and we'll see about a pilot), so I don't have one. Sort of a hollow ending. Sorry... I'm only human.

Let's look at various videos that have been dying for their own video Friday in my bookmark list for a while:

Youtube/BBC 2: The Most Hated Family In America - Youtube appears to be removing this (it had the whole series up before, it's rethchingly sobering). These are the sorts of American fundamentalists that provide an appropriate contrast to radical Islam. The Westborough Baptist Church. Notice you can still point these bunch of mindless trollops as to the fundamental difference between Jesus message of Peace, and Mohammed's message of Love, Pastor Phelp's does not condone violence. You can also witness the irrationality to instantaneously oppose them by the American public, not because they hate gays, not because they are loathesome idiots, but because they dare side against America and her troops... *sigh* dogma vs dogma

Memri TV - Muslim kindergarten abuse - I saw this before I heard about Dawkin's comments that "Catholic child" should be irreprehensible as a concept, I have to wholeheartedly agree. This is a good contrast to the above documentary which notes how Phelps' ministry has brainwashed children into hate. Here I'll explain why I'm calling Islam "Mohammed's message of Love" - the dogmatic end of love for someone is doing anything for that person - including killing, whether it be animals, bystanders, yourself, or even the object of your affection. This is not a well thought out idea, so don't hang me on that statement. I've mentioned before that I taught Sunday School at a local church. Sometimes it makes me icky to think I was a part of this brainwashing machine.

Youtube: imrational - A pretty good explanation of what skepticism really is. Some skeptics (like the Australian skeptic society) should look at this. Being a true skeptic means skeptic of the sun rising up every morning. It even means being skeptic of skepticism. It's a slight cranial exploding to focus on, but its rational and reality. It's also a good kick in the balls to snide Tripplehorn.

And finally so you don't get upset about my three page bashing of Dawkins: Here's Dawkins in his new and improved Super Sayon form commenting on the poor plight of Athiests in America. Far better prepared for questioning, and able to express his points in a better manner. I guess writing a few books and a couple of world tours does stuff to improve your public discourse skills.

There may be no god but there is hope for the world yet.

Now I gonna use my magic time bending powers to put these posts in anachronistic order. BWAHAHAHA.

*religion*dawkins*denton*documentary*video*youtube*atheism*super sayon*violence*love*peace*subtle wikipedia references*bwahahaha*ting*islam*christianity*fundamentalism*rationality*america*brainwahing*children*abuse*framing*friday*dogma*tripplehorn*

Breaking not Broken

2007-05-14T23:16:00.000+10:00

Yeah. I'm taking a break.

I did my introductory speech (113 powerpoint slides in under 35 minutes, awesome) two weeks ago, went well, got some good feedback.

So let me have some fun with my new desk, hardrive and workspace.

Here's some vids to keep you amused:

Mash Ups with Sue Teller
Ken Tanaka meets Jonathan Smith
Cain in Azeroth (for die-hard Blizzard geeks)

Oh, If you have any quoll's blood let me know.

I'm Your Goddess

2007-05-08T20:42:00.000+10:00

Hooray. Sexual ambiguity.

At least I'm psychotic and wrathful... I guess that's why I got labelled female.

Which God or Goddess are you like? Your Result: Goddess Sekhemet You are Sekhemet. You are loving and caring, but when need be, you are fierce and protective. You love the color red and you are no vegetarian. Your feirce nature makes you somewhat like a rebel, but you like it that way. Congratulations!! You are Goddess!!
Goddess Bast
Budha
Satan
The Christian God
God Zeus
You are your own God or Goddess
Jesus
Which God or Goddess are you like? Make Your Own Quiz

This test does start of with a little into of crazy though:

There are people out there who dont know how much we resemble our creaters. [sic] They go on living thinking that we just came to be. Thats not the case. We are here yes, but the gods and Goddesses who made us, also put a little of themselves in us.

I think it's sad when someone sees something special in themselves, and then has to say "Oh, it must have come from somewhere else". I know being proud can be a sin, but I don't think that self respect should be.

2007-05-07T12:31:00.001+10:00

How evil are you?

I still don't get Asian bras

2007-05-01T23:07:00.000+10:00

No, this isn't a jab at Asian women being flat chested (not that there is anything wrong with that).

They just don't seem to be understanding the correct point of a bra.

I mentioned earlier the ad campaign encouraging push-up bras because it will make you the subject of unsolicited sexual harrassment...

...now we have a bra that turns into a bag.

First I think awesome! Mostly because there is a fairly hot airbrushed girl in red lingerie on the page.

Secondly it's environmentally friendly. Now, I'm not able to read a lot on that page (I'd show it to a Japanese girl I met, but I think I'm already freaking her out), but what little I can suggests it is being touted as an ecologically sound alternative to plastics like those green bags.

But is this really practical.

I don't wear bras, so i'd be happy if those females who do visit this site contribute to the discussion - I'm only a mysoginist on Wednesdays (that's 30 minutes away, so be quick) - but I'm sure when your shopping - while your bra might be at ... erm... hand... I don't think you are going to be able to just whisk it out at the register in front of the poor gawky check out boy to put your milk and eggs in. (Aren't you glad I didn't say meat and veg...)

It's a bit like building a Gundam. Sure it's cool. And yeah it will get the job done. But it's a little impractical and I can see some serious potential for mass collateral damage and mayhem to be caused.

It's called "Bra Ranger" so don't get upset about that analogy.

On that note I am going to sleep...

*bra*japanese*asia*flat chested*gundam*ecology*environmentally friendly*shopping*bag*check out*green*

It's not easy being green...

2007-05-01T22:59:00.000+10:00

Apparently it's excrutiatingly painful.

Warning, if like me you grew up on muppets, like me, you might not want to click on that link. With Miss Piggy gone, fame and fortune seems to have abandonned the merry marionette frog. He's turned to drugs and is turning tricks it seems. And has started up a myspace... well duh... emo is the new cool.

That aside, the satire and film clips are actually pretty satisfying. I don't think image of Kermit going down on Rowlf the Dog is going to leave my mind anytime soon.

*green*nirvana*satire*muppets*heroin*kermit*sad*emo*frog*myspace*

Discrimination! Think of the Children! Yarrr!

2007-05-01T13:27:00.000+10:00

I may not be believer, but I think Pastafarians should quickly band together to aid poor Stacy Snyder.

Stacy was denied her Teaching degree from Millersville University the day before her graduation, to have it replaced with a lowly English degree (not that there is anything wrong with that). The problem with her disqualification was that it was based solely upon a single MySpace profile photo that shows Stacy in a pirate's hat drinking out of a Mr Goodbar plastic cup with the caption "drunken pirate". The faculty stated the reason for the degree change was that she was encouraging underage drinking. Stacy is a 27 year old single Mum, she was 25 at the time the photo was taken, the legal drinking age in the States is 21.

OMG. Drunk. Pirates. In the classroom? It's the endoftehwoorld!!

This is ridiculous. Noone can really expect tecahers not to drink. That would be insane and socially irresponsible (think suicide figures, I'm half serious on that). Would it be any better if she wasn't in a pirate costume? That's just silly. I don't think "drunken fairy", "drunken police woman" or "drunken suburban moll" should really gain any preference over the others.

What I can't work out is what's more ridiculous about this - that they can't actually prove she is drunk or even consuming alcohol, because its an opaque chocolate bar sipper - or - that it's a freaking myspace profile picture, is the university cyberstalking its students?

This all transpired last year. Snyder is now suing the university for about $75,000 for ruining her lifelong dream. Good on her. Dr Jane S. Bray hopefully won't be Dean of Education for much longer - unless she manages to bring some more convincing proof of professional misconduct.

Oh. And Snyder studied to be a science teacher - the United States definitely needs more of them.

*pastafarian*pirates*drunk*photo*goodbar*myspace*stacy snyder*science*news*think of the children*law*university*education*discrimination*teacher*smoking gun*america*endoftehwoorld*

Just let me bite down as you kick my head into the gutter

2007-04-26T15:46:00.000+10:00

Big Brother has started again in Australia - and actually has small hopes of vindicating reality TV. They have not gone for throwing in various mix of subcultures into the house to watch it boil and explode, there are no over-the-top gay prima donnas, just a bunch of narcisstic guys, semi-hot average girls, one mormon, and a geek. They have instead gone for superior twist pulling psychological experimentation - with a hidden couple, a blast from the past and the insanity inducing White Room. Sure it's silly and superficial still, but I think it will at least be slightly more "real" and at least entertaining.

I've recently had a different experience with another Australian reality television show - Australian Idol.

In their attempt to liven up an old genre, Aus Idol had gone to various regional centres in attempt to get more, or perhaps, new chumps for those shows. With auditions being held at Rockhampton, I thought, "Hell Yeah! Good way to spend an afternoon". Although spending around six hours in cue until 10pm though sort of pulled some fun out of the experience.

Regardless, with an audition with a vocal coach, followed by one with producers and executive producer - and I was given a ticket to Brisbane. Now in hindsight it seems, this was probably as much based on my attire than my singing talent. You'd be surprised how many people think you are trying to make some sort of political statement when you wear a T-shirt saying "Bacon is a vegetable". It's stupid. It's supposed to be stupid. That makes it funny, or ironic, or something. Get over it.

Cut a long story short: I choked. I sucked. And I copped a lot of shit from three male judges (poor Marcia I think was left speechless at the tragedy). If I find a youtube version of it I'll put it up. I still don't know if it will air on television. I am sort of hoping not. I didn't really handle cameras and TV well when focus was on me. What little talent and ego I had just was not displayed that day.

The judges did appear to be out to get me from the start, with comments about my appearance, and then questions like: "You live with your mother?" "You have a lady (ladies?) (man?) (lady?) in your life?" "Do you have human body parts in your refridgerator?" can really be off putting. The comments after the performance were worse, but at least they were deserved, my performance truly sucked, and I'm not in denial about that.

The day was definitely not a great day. There wasn't too much positive energy in a bunch of just over 50 musical performers who all felt hot, tired and just wanted to get it over, and more importantly get in. I got to know the guys who came down from Rocky (about 6 of us, plus 1 from Cairns, 1 from Bundy, and a couple of people who had driven from palces closer to Brisbane just so they could audition earlier). I think 3 Rocky auditionees went through, to top 100 including Luke Churchill - a 17 year old guitar/vocals kid who just has it all. I will be very surprised if nothing comes out of this experience for him.

Other people who got through, a couple just seemed absolute narcissists. Which can just be a little too much, but I guess its part of the successful persona you need. But seriously saying the words, "Do you want me to do that again?", to a camera after you just put on a staged performance in a reality television program makes you a jerk who is asking for a glassing.

Andrew G is a champion. Definitely kept the atmosphere going when he was around. I was able to witness one very interesting John Mayer impression while waiting for judgement.

Another disappointing part of the day was that I didn't get a free day in Brisbane. I got a free airplane trip, and a day spent at the hotel. Luckily I knew K downstairs in the bar from highschool. She thought it was great, we had done musicals together. She's actually a Performing Arts graduate. She also scored me free lunch, drinks and snacks. Inside contacts rule (that's why we are using a pseudonym). It also meant I couldn't up with K's boyfriend, another friend from high school, Or another girl I know from Yeppoon diaspora.

So that's my fun Idol experience. Let's hope it doesn't get shared anymore.

*auditions*australian idol*failure*train wreck*brisbane*luke churchill*big brother*reality tv*winner*choke*narcissist*andrew g*john mayer*rude*zayzayem*bacon is a vegetable*

Love Hate Kitty Hello

2007-04-18T14:34:00.000+10:00

I'm never buying in store T-shirts again. And if I don't get a scholarship pay out soon, I won't be buying any new clothing soon.

But, seriously, everyone keeps asking me where I got my new set of T-shirts from. They certainly weren't cheap. But I've had them since before Christmas, so they are getting a bit old stick, plus, an unintended consequence of ordering during the pre-Christmas rush meant my order was slightly botched - in that I got far too many plain black T-shirts. Now, I'm emo enough to appreciate a health dose of Black T-shirts, but I have enough mood swings to require some colour too.

I wore "Jesus Helps Me Trick People" on Easter Saturday. I rock out.

When I do get my check, I'm tossing up whether to invest in new affiliates Dirty Microbe, or the ever imaginative Goats.

I was also after a "Back off man I'm a scientist" shirt, but it appears to be a movie quote, I can probably design my own without worrying about infringements. Though I think it would match good old Dr McNinja well (plus I want the new "Ninjas can't catch you" shirt).

Speaking of designing my own, I might switch from the continually stalling cafepress (I just can't log in, it freezes my Firefox and Safari) to Printfection, the home of the range I was actualy writing about.

Keeping it simple on the pseudo-rip-off design from home start up is "Goodbye Kitty" with uber-kawaii depictations of the demise of one of Japan's cutest exports. There is:

burnt at the stake
electric chair
BDSM
roadkill
milkshake
decapitation
hanging
crucifixion
stabbed
shot
eaten by a dog

No doubt the PETA is not going to be happy with this, though I'm not sure if fictional animals come under their domain, but then again PETA has been classified as "officially nuts" by several global organisations.

What's missing is a nice collage, a la the classic (banned? discontinued?) Many Deaths of Kenny South Park T-shirt.

*goodbye*hello kitty*japan*violence*kitten*death*peta*t-shirt*clothes*promotion*mcninja*diesel sweeties*online shopping*cafepress*printfection*affiliation*

Apocamon: Left Behind Left Behind?

2007-04-15T20:30:00.000+10:00

Revelations has too be one of the best (well, most entertaining) books of the Bible.

I remember good old days back in church reading it while trying to ignore "boring" sermons (hey, I was a kid).

It really is "revealing", in that it shows some of the really kookiness that Christians actually believe, or at least should believing, or ignoring in their own private pardox or whatnot. I remember finding Terry Pratchett's opinion, that John was on Magic Mushrooms at the time, absolutely hilarious.

Left Behind was a good, and well researched, fictional version of the Armageddon. But it lacked a certain realism. Call me suspicious, but I think the authors may have had a little bit of bias - and after seeing reports about the video game, they might not be quite right in the head either.

Eschatalogy is a fun hobby, and I also like マンガ style art. So when I stumbled onto APOCAMON: THE FINAL JUDGEMENT, I was over the moon. As a pokemon-armageddon hybrid might suggest, it has a small touch of dark humour. But it is deadly serious I think. It also has good sense of pathos and tragedy in there. Exactly what is the philosophy of a benevolent God sending a legion of demonic insects to reign pain down upon his most prized creation in attempt to sway them back into his favour.

I'm gonna show two screenshots to give a taste for you guys. First, a great caricature of the evil scientific establishment that fundamentalists oppose. I love the T.I.N.G exclamation.
Secondly, just a great subtle highlighting of some peculiar intrinsic contradictions that occur in a man-written religious text. (Both are from Episode Two).

I really wonder if there are any "impartial" bible translations floating around somewhere. I think it would be a good freethinker project, complete with footnotes to contradictions in text, or semi-contradictions, such as where the devil is referred to as "the morning star" and then later on so is Jesus of Nazereth.

APOCAMON is only on the fourth episode, with quite a few more to follow. I hope it keeps on going through.

*bible*armageddon*apocalypse*jesus*left behind*apocamon*pokemon*manga*ting*god*theology*eschatology*revelations*contradictions*sacrilicious*

Statcounter touts integrity

2007-04-15T20:12:00.000+10:00

Statcounter is utilising its new blog to tout itself as a standing pillar of integrity in the seedy world of online addons.

This is great, I'm not gonna bash it as being pretentious. They aren't naming other competitors that do allow the bad practice of allowing spyware installed into there code.

Spyware is probably the most disgusting legacy of the internet, even more so than spam mail. Spam mail is visible as a pain, spyware operates behind visual, its in the code. All that invisible little html, java, php and other script that beautifies everything internet.

Some spyware tries to hide itself behind something cute and fuzzy (literally). It's just not cool. Internet users shouldn't have to live in paranoia about what they surf.

*statcounter*bonzi buddy*internet*blogosphere*integrity*spyware*spam*not cool*

Read the Fine Print

2007-04-15T19:43:00.000+10:00

John McCain's webiste was the victim of some rather primitive "hacking", that made the presidential hopeful seem like he supported lesbian marriages.

"Hacking" is a bit of an overstatement. Whoever was behind the myspace had utilised code written by web publisher Mike Davidson. The code explicitly required anybody using it to credit Davidson. Additionally the Republican was committing the most heinous of cybercrimes, bandwidth theft. In Davidson's words, "Bad McCain!"

Davidson just changed his own code so that McCain's website now said something a lot of guys (but not uptight Republican senators) might say: "Dear Supporters, today I announce that I have reversed my position and come out in full support of gay marriage... particularly marriage between two passionate females."

Classic "old school" pranking.

*homosexual*prank*mccain*lesbian*marriage*bandwidth theft*myspace*code*fine print*

Happy Easter

2007-04-08T15:03:00.000+10:00

Don't forget what today is really about.

Every year Zombie Jesus wanders the world handing out chocolate eggs, while devouring the flesh of sacrificed rabbits (in Australia, bilbies; and in South America, capybaras) while reminiscing about the good old days when he went around to rocking parties and turned water into wine and Judas wasn't such a jealous prick.

Zombie Jesus is the eternal enemy of vampires and the forces of Satan.

That Jesus is now a zombie presents an uneasy tension between Vaudan faith and contemporary Christianity. Pope Benedict XVI, when asked about the validity of Zombie Jesus mythos mentioned something about henious blasphemy and "you gotta be shitting me", but this is easily invalidated as most Christians are quite vocal in pointing out Catholics aren't real Christians anyway.

Tradition dictates followers partake in cannibalism, sadomachistic voyuerism, and a peculiar form of undirected pilgrimage. Confusion should not be made between zombies and clowns, and consequently clowns and terrorists, that's just whack...

There has also been speculation that Zombie Jesus may be a time traveller from the future. This may further explain how he is his own father.

Unrelated info: Uncyclopedia.

*easter*zombie jesus*satire*this went out of control*madness*christians*voodoo*time travel*clowns*t-shirts*forget*please don't sacrifice capybyras*cannibalism*benedict*rabbits*that's whack*no i'm not high*

Coming up next on Sick Sad World

2007-04-05T15:31:00.000+10:00

I really liked Daria.

Sick Sad World moments were just icing on the cake. Wikiquote has the entire listing of Sick Sad World voiceovers.

I would have tried to come up with my own, but I think senseless television seriously rotted my imagination.

Astute readers may notice I've been tagging (you know that multicoloured list of words under each post) with sick sad world. I'm using it to distinguish from simple wtf. SSW is for things that just go from beyond the point of bizarre to that disgusting and depressing state you get in when you just think "What has the world become for this to be considered amusing, interesting, or worst of all, normal". When the world proves to you that it can sink to a new low, that's sick and sad.

Also irl for non l33t stands for "in real life". They are posts that aren't about the news, a video, or something someone else posted on their blog. It's whats happening to me. The internet gives me a right to narcism.

*narcism*internet*technorati*tags*irl*sick sad world*wikiquote*wtf*explanation*blogosphere*daria*imagination*television*

It's Baa-baric

2007-04-04T17:03:00.000+10:00

Black Sheep. Sadly I'm not the first to come up with the baa-baric pun.

The WETA workshop are the guys behind the special effects in Peter Jackson's films, including LOTR.

This movie just looks hella awexome.

*awexome*sheep*barbaric*pun*black*new zealand*monster*horror*movie*trailer*peter jackson*lotr*wtf*

Controversy in Evolution: Is the Tree of Life on the way out?

2007-04-03T21:47:00.000+10:00

via The Evolution List

More and more details about how actual genetic information is changed and interchanged amongst organisms - even across species barriers - is confronting the commonly accepted paradigm of the tree and life.

Bacteria commonly interchange genetic data via conjugation, so its becoming apparent trying to draw a phylogenic tree and inferring that it represents a precise blueprint for common lineage is possibly pushes the data too far.

Paradigms of science being confronted isn't anything new. And best of all those confronting thsi paradigm are pointing to actual real examples and lines of evidence and providing a new real paradigm to replace it.

The sad thing is real hardcore evolutionary controversies like this get hijacked by nutjobs at places like the Intelligent Design institute as evidence that evolutionary theory is falling apart at the seems. They seriously don't understand science at all. This sort of discourse makes evolutionary theory stronger, not weaker. Trying to usurp it with superstition and animism is just plain silly, and actually interferes with this natural process of paradigm shifting.

More than evolution, this paradigm shift "attacks" (if we choose to use such volatile language) Linnean taxonomy classification. Really it is how modern molecular biology understanding (facilitated by evolution) is showing that our meagre mortal classification schemes are lacking in their understanding of the entirety of the whole. This paradigm shift will improve our understanding of evolution theory.

Get down with the entropy.

*paradigm*entropy*evolution list*shift*knowledge*attacks*quote mining*conjugation*

All is Right with the World

2007-04-03T14:12:00.000+10:00

Your results:
You are Malcolm Reynolds (Captain)

Malcolm Reynolds (Captain)		70%
Derrial Book (Shepherd)		70%
River (Stowaway)		65%
Kaylee Frye (Ship Mechanic)		55%
Alliance		55%
Dr. Simon Tam (Ship Medic)		55%
A Reaver (Cannibal)		45%
Wash (Ship Pilot)		45%
Jayne Cobb (Mercenary)		40%
Zoe Washburne (Second-in-command)		35%
Inara Serra (Companion)		25%

Honest and a defender of the innocent.
You sometimes make mistakes in judgment
but you are generally good and
would protect your crew from harm.

Click here to take the Serenity Personality Quiz

Exciting Day: Tsunami, Bioanalysis and a Free Lunch

2007-04-02T20:28:00.000+10:00

I think the title sums it up really.

There was an overblown Tsunami warning for the entire east coast today. Thankfully Keppel Bay is sheltered by an island chain and reef so I wasn't really worried. But the university did have a staff system wide alert of some kind I heard.

Anyway, unphased by impending watery doom, I had my first genuine wet lab session in what must be over two years, and everything went Ace! Well, we were just doing a routine test/familiarise with a bioanalyser. But we got awesome results in analysing some HeLa cells for RNA content and purity. The biggest dramas was misplacing a "ladder" reagent and standard printer woes. Man, biomedical research has ways of making you feel old and outdated quickly, toys like the Agilent 2100 were science fiction back in my day (okay, they were the fancy expensive toys we wished our university could afford and waste on undergrads).

And to top it all off there was a free lunch to welcome the new professor. I was faculty enough to get in the door, but not faculty enough to have to talk long. Ah, this is what post-grad studies are all about...

*tsunami*australia*university life*irl*biomedical research*keppel bay*ace*free lunch*bioanalyser*

Nova Teacher stalked and murdered: Killer still at large

2007-04-02T19:56:00.000+10:00

The story of Lindsay Ann Hawker sucks (Japan Today story).

Hawker worked at NOVA, and was allegedly tricked by a student (28-year old Tatsuya Ichihashi) into going back to his house, then her naked body was found buried in a bathtub on said student's apartment verandah. That's seriously crap. People don't deserve that.

There is anectodotal evidence that Ichihashi may have been stalking the woman prior to the event (I'm not sure if this was before or after he enrolled as a student).

There are reasons why NOVA's anti-fraternization policy sometimes makes sense on the grounds of safety (for both students and teachers). But then having such a policy pushes these activities underground, meaning that possible links if such an incident occurs may not be made.

Ichihashi is still on the run, but apparently doesn't have any shoes. Let's hope he runs over some broken glass.

*nova*殺人*murder*japan*日本*lindsay hawker*リンゼイ・アン・ホーカー*ストーカー*sick sad world*英会話*stalker*eikaiwa*

Blue with Envy

2007-04-02T16:43:00.000+10:00

I really wish I had a decent digital camera.

It would make my life complete. But, no, I had to buy a useless iBook instead.

Blue Lotus is a photographic journal of "a Canadian girl eating her way around Tokyo". Lovely photos are combined with recipes (mmm strawberry liquer), advice, culural observances and even scientific identification of plant species... oooh... how can I compete... I guess I should stick to dispelling myths about those quiet japanese kids.

*blogosphere*blue lotus*japan*photoblog*eating*tokyo*recipes*beautiful*envy*camera*

Music on a Monday: Is that a drunk Poseidon?

2007-04-02T16:37:00.000+10:00

Oh those insatiable Greek gods...

Download "Tow The Line" (mp3)
from "The Undeniably Giant Squid"
by The Undeniably Giant Squid
Birdman Records

Buy at iTunes Music Store

Maybe this a joke

2007-04-01T22:11:00.000+10:00

via Right to Remain Silence
I've got agree getting a NN% Personality is weird. Plus I got identical results.

Your score on this personality test was 63%

Others see you as fresh, lively, charming, amusing, practical, and always interesting; someone who's constantly in the center of attention, but sufficiently well-balanced not to let it go to their head. They also see you as kind, considerate, and understanding; someone who'll always cheer them up and help them out.

Personality Quiz
Take More Quizzes

Trial By Google

Mao on the Moon

2007-04-01T21:39:00.000+10:00

via WAN

The all encompassing authorities of China have put a stop to a certain kind of Luna-cy.

The Lunar Embassy to China was shut down and fined 50,000 yuan for operating a Lunar Deeds scam.

Good to see that rampant capitalisit ideal of wealth creation through consumer explotation and non-existent product shilling hasn't quite taken hold yet.

*weirdasianews*china*lunacy*lunar*moon*sales*deeds*scam*bad puns*asia*

Not the fairytale you expected

2007-04-01T21:02:00.000+10:00

via WMFU

This link has some rather graphic images. It tells the story of a man in Eastern Europe who has a rare condition that causes him to have "keratin-like matter growing out of the skin on hands and feet". It is officially called Epidermodysplasia verruciformis, and may be caused by a papillomavirus (warts).

Simply put, it's not just gross, but probably very sucky for the poor man. It certainly puts paid the "growing extra nails and turning into mermaid" from Paul Jennings' short story Nails. As you can see from this picture, it doesn't cover his entire body yet, it is sort of progressing like a slow human petrification progress. Neither article mentions if its painful. I wouldn't think it would hurt any more than normal warts, it would probably be quite uncomfortable. The physical distortion also looks like his hands are practically useless. No piano for you.

*nails*warts*Epidermodysplasia verruciformis*mermaid*fairtale*expectations*eastern europe*piano*papillomavirus*gross*skin condition*paul jennings*pain*sad*freak*wmfu*wtf*

Ni How

2007-03-31T16:17:00.000+10:00

Hooray!

Kickin' Moron Ass... is available in China.

From greatfirewallofchina.org

The Chinese government has a tradition of keeping its watchful eye on all media. Since the rapid growth of the World Wide Web in the 1990s they have constantly invented new ways of censorship to control the world’s most democratic medium, the Internet, as well. Not everything on the Internet, readily available elsewhere, can be accessed from within China.

=(

(hopefully China won't ban me over an emoticon)

Sites I checked that were banned include:

*firewall*china*blocked*internet*censorship*

Rock Out

2007-03-31T14:11:00.000+10:00

You Are an Emo Rocker!

Expressive and deep, lyrics are really your thing.
That doesn't mean you don't rock out...
You just rock out with meaning.
For you, rock is more about connecting than grandstanding.

What Kind of Rocker Are You?

At least I wasn't girly. I think I'm just a "way too cool to be classified"-rocker. I liked about every band listed on the first question.

*emo*rocker*test*thing*too cool for school*

Do not mess with Mr Sulu

2007-03-30T21:52:00.000+10:00

*basketball*george takei*sweaty*gay*homophobia*tim hardaway*video*funny*

ROFLMAO

2007-03-30T21:43:00.000+10:00

Yeah not very mature.

But neither is this:

100 worst porn movie titles.
With: LET'S PLAY STAIN THE COUCH and CRACK WHORES OF AMERICA straight off the rank you know this is a list of keepers. I really want to know what is happening in WHAT'S THE LESBIAN DOING IN MY PIRATE MOVIE though, especially if its "kicking some ninja ass" or something.

*humour*lists*porn*immature*sick sad world*

Hey, That's Our Theory...

2007-03-30T21:32:00.000+10:00

via Pharyngula.

...Apart from a "thing"

*theory*evolution*comedy*intelligent design*magic man*thing*history*forcey force*

Do you want to live forever?

2007-03-30T21:22:00.000+10:00

via VHEMT

What if Cancer Cells were sentient?

It's a funny thought provoking satire, but, I don't like the GAIA device at the end. GAIA is bullshit. VHEMT isn't such a bad idea though. Anything that involves being voluntarily environmentally, socially and/or economically responsible gets three thumbs up from me.

In other news both Youth Group and Australian Idol are headed to Rockhampton this month.

*cancer*video*animation*vhemt*extinction*satire*gaia*rockhampton*forever*cells*

When the bough breaks: Civility and Creationists

2007-03-30T16:29:00.000+10:00

FACT: Creationists don't have any debating skills¥.

I'm not saying that their opponents are much better. Skeptics, rationalists, atheists and theistic evolutionists build their fair of strawmen, construct the odd fallacy based on incredulity or overgeneralisation (¥ahem, moi?), and all too easily dismiss certain valid data, but creationists just don't get it. It possibly comes down to a personal feeling of infallibility, but if I go all out and declare that, I'm commiting another fallacy myself (see how easy it is).

It's just so hard when you get people "trying" to have a debate with you and asking questions like:

"(1) Why is such name-calling so common among Darwinists? and (2) How do Darwinian mechanisms produce truly novel biological information? I've seen no good answers to question 2, and perhaps their lack of such a good answer is driving the observations behind question (1)."

(Pharyngula quoting Casey Luskin, a Discovery Institute guy). PZ rightly points out the simple inanity of this line of questioning.

It's hard to ask "Why are people calling me stupid?" and then ask "Why don't planes crash when they hit clouds?". Especially when you mention that it's because clouds are actually water vapour, and they interject "But how can water be in the sky, shouldn't gravity pull it down to Earth? When I turn on a tap I don't have clouds puffing out. Any half-witted infant could tell you clouds are white and fluffy like sheep. Has anyone checked out to see if they are made from cotton?" (Oh, before I go any further, any astute reader noticed I'm already building a straw man?) Now, you could try your darndest to deal nicely with this bright spark and explain how water actually exists as vapour, and that atmospheric pressure allows condensation to form visible bodies due to light reflection, that water in your tap is not in that part of the atmosphere - and also under pressure, that just looking like sheep doesn't make them same, and that sheep actually have wool not cotton" - but honestly, do you have the patience. I've worked with "half-witted infants" and some of them can manage better logic than creationists (wow, I combo-ed that into an ad hominem, that's the last one I'm giving you).

Scientist continually offer solutions to creationist "issues" with evolution. So much so, that all anyone really has to do is type in a few random words into Pubmed and get a few citations and point them in a creationists direction. It's so easy to find a bit of research to rebuke the most basic of creationist slander. You don't have to be mean about it either. Pointing out to someone, "Hey your wrong, and this will tell you why" while showing a credible well referenced piece of literature, isn't picking on you. It's actually a well meaning attempt to help rectify your blatant ignorance or history of brainwashing and indoctrination. Sometimes it even does the trick...

...but then again, sometimes not. Now, I would have thought providing many good sources to refute a blatantly false claim, and actually going through one source in particular to explain how it is relevant and points out the inherrent flaws and errors in the proposal would be actually pretty well taken by intelligent persons intent on serious discourse over the matter. But not for Michael Egnor, who is supposed to be a neurosurgeon (which usually requires intelligence, seriousness and generally, some level of literacy), who dismissed such a proposal as "citation chaff". A similar tactic was used at the most recent of intelligent design's attempts to creep into schools - as you'd expect, dismissing large swads of peer-reviewed scientific literature as "not good enough" did not work terribly well in their favour. It's as if the Discovery Institute is trying to have a competition to see just how ignorant they can be.

Evolution is a central unifying theory of biology. Without it, biology would be stamp collecting on the basis of religious sycophancy (oh, that must be what the DI wants). Several mechanisms for speciation are not only known, but well understood, and observed through verified repeatable experiments. Evolution does have plenty of controversies, and creationism or intelligent design don't rank anywhere near high enough to achieve the funding and noteriety they do. I would galdly sell my non-existent soul for Aquatic Ape Theory to take DI's place as a thorn in the side of all rational thinking people.

I'm gonna end with a quote showing that I don't just read Pharyngula:

"I may be kind of a jerk when I say that god isn't real and we evolved from vaguely ape-like beings and that you should just get over it, but I don't know how else to handle it. When someone tells me that "evolution is just a theory," or that we are "too complex to happen by chance," I want to punch them in their (easily) reducibly complex eye. I'm being kind by not doing so. Take that as a gesture of good will and deal with it." - sacredchao

Please don't get upset when scientists call you stupid Mr. Creationist, it's our way of showing we don't absoultely hate you just yet.

***Dedicated to those who have fallen

*creationists*debate*skills*pharyngula*discovery institute*intelligent design*trolls*evolution*fallacies*arguments*evidence*logic*breaking point*civility*morons*sheep*clouds*water*science*basics*name calling*straw man*pz myers*michael egnor*casey luskin*sacredchao*debate*rant*fallen*biology*theory*observed*speciation*

Just what is a wambenger?

2007-03-30T12:04:00.000+10:00

I've been putting off putting up an explanation of my honours project for a while because everytime I think about it, I find out something more about it's scope, techniques or just what exactly it is I'm supposed to be doing. University census date was on Tuesday. So according to stipulation of my scholarship and HECS agreement, I have gone past the point of no return.

My supervisor is keen on marsupial immunology. So it's no real surprise that I'm working with marsupials, and I'm examining genes involved in the immune system.

Genes? That makes it a molecular biology project. But I still have an immunology supervisor.

What I'm going to do is utilise some predicted cytokine gene sequences from the Opossum, Monodelphis domestica, (a highly utilised laboratory marsupial that recently had a completed genome project), and use those sequences to design degenerate primers in order to detect, amplify, clone and sequence the same genes in two Dasyurid species (carnivorous marsupials - yes, they are related to Devils); the Mulgara and Phascogale (also known as a Wambenger). Then I get lots of praise, heaps of research grant offers, gazillions of published papers, a TV show and a bit of paper with my name on it. Maybe...

...maybe not.

The trouble is that these are predicted sequences. They haven't been confirmed yet. They are the more reliable predictions, but still only predictions. Additionally marsupial immunology, especially the genetic side, has yet to reach the same level of characterisation as "normal" mammals, this makes my work a bit harder. And even harder, because the two marsupials I'm dealing with are really rare and endangered and even less characterised. Not to mention they aren't really all that close to South American Opossums phylogenically.

In the mean time I'm learning how to competently utilise all sorts of genetic alignment programs like CLUSTAL, BLAST, PRIMER3, PRETTY. I'm also trying really hard to resist the urge of gouging out my eyes after staring through 3 pages of CLUSTALW alignments, only to realise I forgot to run the mouse gene in there.

Hooray! study life! At least I have a shared office, not a cubicle farm.

*clustal*blast*molecular biology*university*honours*marsupial*immunology*genes*cytokines*point of no return*opossum*phascogale*mulgara*fun*

Pain, Teeth and Angry Sharks

2007-03-26T23:32:00.000+10:00

My wisdom teeth are teething again.

I don't really like going to the dentist. This is probably one of those crappy psychological insecurities that have been passed onto me by my mother. I know as an alleged "health professional" (at least by somewhat stretch of my training) this probably isn't a good bragging point.

Anyway, it hurts a lot. Seriously a lot. I'm not on painkillers, I don't like over medicating myself (Again crappy psychological insecurity). Pain makes you feel alive anyway.

But you know it got me thinking about sharks...

Sharks are teething all the time (see point 16). Are they in pain? Seriously? Is that why they are angry? Okay, they aren't "angry". But maybe it could be a reason why they chew on some really odd things.

Any webmonkeys or shark experts (what is a shark expert called?) who can answer that one?

*pain*teeth*angry*sharks*teething*irl*wisdom*chew*thinking*

Christ-follower vs Christian

2007-03-23T21:31:00.000+10:00

God-tube might have some stupid nonsense. But I could find some good gems. Such this series on the difference between "Christians" and someone who just tries to follow Christ's good teachings.

Part two.
Part three.
Part four.

I think a lot of "Christians" are worried about such movement. And probably rightly so (from their perspective). Once you stop calling yourself a Christian and start just following Christ. You can then move from dogmatically following the Bible to paying attention to the Good Message behind the good bits. And then you find yourself not following just Christ, you find yourself just trying to be a good open-minded person who doesn't have to live with any labels, whether it be a "Christian" or a "Christ-follower".

*christianity*belief*thought*mac*parody*video*godtube*good*dogma*

ETZ Video

2007-03-23T21:26:00.000+10:00

This is not a paid advertisement.

It just rocks.

*advertisement*etz*video*local*tv*rock*awexome*

It's a Cat in a Bucket

2007-03-23T21:19:00.000+10:00

Truth in advertising.

*cat*bucket*true*video*spin*crazy*wtf*

Cheesy Gift Ideas

2007-03-22T21:35:00.000+10:00

Apparently kate's blog was so vile I have been ordered to change the link.

I can't remember why I wasn't linking to the main blog in the first place. (Maybe it was using words like "immunocompressed" c.f sorry... I'm mean)

Take a look at some very odd gift ideas she has. Say thanks to her Mum.

Mmmmm Yeppoon

2007-03-22T21:12:00.000+10:00

Oh. The incredible excitement.

McDonald's has just lodged a development application with LSC for a location opposite the newish BP/KFC and Retravision centres.

Yep. This was masthead (story p10) news in The Morning Bulletin today. You want to know why:

"There have been many rumours spreading across the Capricorn Coast for more than a decade about McDonald's coming to town" (my emphasis)

A decade? The sad thing is that it's true.

Yep. McDonald's coming to town is shocking news for the sleepy residents of the Capricorn Coast. Other recent developments such as the new shopping complex (what we need two grocery stores?), traffic lights (traffic lights create traffic don't they?), the Strand redevelopment (it's beachfront! think of the children!) have been causing a stir. I expect plenty of nasty letters to the editor, probably by the weekend, bemoaning the invading American behemoth, junk food diets and general cause for alarm (did I mention the children!?). Hooray.

*mcdonalds*yeppoon*capricorn coast*decade*morning bulletin*development*application*excitement*

Breaking not broken

2007-03-22T20:53:00.000+10:00

Sorry for that break in usual transmission. I'll blame the ever growing enormity of what seemed such a relatively simple molecular biology project, a couple of disputes on wikipedia, internet connectivity, wanting to take a break from a computer as I know have to use one all day...

I think I'm getting RSI in my "mouse" arm. I'm already oevrtly right-handed (meaning any task requiring one hand I usually use my right one - I've mastered a certain task with my left, let's not go there). Seriously it was so bad I couldn't sleep at all last night. At 6am (yes I got to have the sun rise and birds awaken, and hear a 5am shower) I caved in and took some Ibuprofen (which I was mostly worried might trigger an asthma attack). That scored me four hours sleep.

The only other explanation I could explain is that I somehow twisted it yesterday through the course of swimming, pool volleyball, and bit of boistrous play at the resort.

Anyway hopefully I'll be able to get some sleep tonight.

*insomnia*irl*pool*arm*break*rsi*mouse*

Breast.de

2007-03-19T21:42:00.000+10:00

ooh... multilingual fun... anyway...

It's really just more Engrish.

I'm sure this shoe store was aiming for a more "heartful" phrase. 心 (kokoro) or heart, is pretty synomous for the breast (as in anatomical location).

日本語でその店の名前は「オッパイで」どいみです。

But still the relation between sneakers and hearts is still a bit of a stretch to make.

I don't see a cash register, or even a shop assistant in the store. Maybe it's some avant garde modern art. We can hope.

This shop was in Mito. Actually 180 degrees behind me when I took this laneway photo.

*engrish*英語*photo*写真*breast*オッパイ*japan*日本*mito*水戸*sneakers*店*shop*

Who is calling me paranoid?

2007-03-19T20:59:00.000+10:00

Personality Disorder Test Results

Paranoid	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	62%
Schizoid	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	50%
Schizotypal	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	50%
Antisocial	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	46%
Borderline	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	50%
Histrionic	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	58%
Narcissistic	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	42%
Avoidant	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	46%
Dependent	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	58%
Obsessive-Compulsive	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	34%

Take Free Personality Disorder Test
personality tests by similarminds.com

Baseball: Japanese-style

2007-03-14T21:39:00.000+10:00

Now this event was mentioned before. And there will be plenty of photos from my Kyoto trip coming up. I'm still not finished scanning them all, and trying to work how best to split them up.
On the first day of my holiday trip to Kyoto, I did the normal thing you do after a long journey (sigh, overnight bus). I got the hell out of there. And promptly (well after not checking into my hotel and trying to find a large enough coin locker) got on the first train to Osaka.

I was going to catch up, well actually meet for the first tim,e Ken, a half Chinese/New Zealand native born Japanese Christian guy I met on the internet. I think he's the only person I've intentionally met after first meeting them online. A little weird, but I can't say the experience put me off. Neither of us turned out to knife wielding psychos, so I think we were both glad about that.

Ken's a baseball fan. And it was time for Koshien, the national high school baseball championships that year. Free entry. Lots at stake. High tension. Good players. And as you can see, it gets packed.

I'm not a sports fan. Something I'm trying to get over (I still refuse to celebrate watching cricket, baseball seems only moderately better). But this was a cultural experience. Not only was it probably my first opportunity to watch a baseball game in person, but probably the first time I've ever been to a national level stadium sports event of any kind. And, yeah, it was entertaining, even though I did have to pester Ken about what exactly some of the terms meant.

Oh. And as usual. I can't remember who won, red or blue. Sorry...

*sports*写真*japan*koshien*日本*baseball*cricket*stadium*京都*national*championships*大阪*kyoto*osaka*photos*

Surf's Up, on Titan

2007-03-14T21:29:00.000+10:00

Titan, a moon of Saturn's, is the latest planetary body (get of my ass IAU) with noticable bodies of liquid (though, probably not water).

This is really interesting news. The presence carbon based solvents in large liquid quantities on several extra-terrestial bodies gives some cool work for theoretical exo-biologists. It's also cool for theoretical civil engineers. How would we have to adapt (in regards to tool usage and social behaviours etc) to live there? It would certainly be a no smoking environment I'd suspect.

*liquid*ethane*methane*saturn*extraterrestial*solvents*carbon*titan*surf*adapt*exobiology*

Oh, What to do with a drunken astronaut?

2007-03-14T21:08:00.000+10:00

NASA has plans. On how to deal with a man (or woman) in space case who becomes a space case in space, just in case.

It actually relates to some lady astronaut who drove across the united states with knife to kill the girlfriend of another stronaut in whom she was involved in a affair with, or some minor trivial thing like that. Seriously, I heard nothing on this here in Australia, I pretty much have between two to three different news shows on each day.

I love the little bulletted "highlights" CNN has on the NASA plan story:

NASA has a plan for dealing with a mentally unstable astronaut in space
Instructions: Bind the astronaut's wrists and ankles and tie them down
Inject the out-of-control astronaut with tranquilizers if necessary
A gun would not be used; a bullet could pierce a spaceship and kill everyone

Rightio, I don't even have to summarise it now. It's all there. They didn't even need a bullet point per page of the NASA document.

*nasa*crazy*astronaut*lisa nowak*plans*safety*space*cnn*instructions*

The Modern Buddhist

2007-03-13T22:23:00.000+10:00

One thing I noticed at a lot of temples I visited in Japan was that quite a lot were undergoing "Renewal" (rennovations). This one actually had a whole new annex-like building attached. It was part museum, part auditorium. As you can see from the picture, it's very contemporary.

The sloping cone in the centre is where the auditorium was, I think they were holding some damn-fangled chakra power rubbish speech in there the next week. Back near the entrance to the new building was some paintings, and I think some original texts (or at least original Japanese translations) of Buddhist parables and accounts of Buddha's journeys, as well as some prominent Buddhist adherent tales. I think I read through a lot of them. You can find a lot of the nice sensibilities of Christian gospels in there, along with some of their own. I do think a lot more positive would ccome out of this religious business if they stopped arguing over who was right, and started looking at what bits are right so they can stitch them alltogether.

I totally forget what temple this was. So, sorry. It was just up the road from the Kyoto station. It was either the Eastern or Western half of one of the major central temples.

*japan*buddhist*写真*contemporary architecture*寺*temple*日本*modern*comparison*chakra*京都*renewal*kyoto*photo*リーニュアル*

More evolution stuff

2007-03-13T19:29:00.000+10:00

This diagram from a Nature Letter is good. Not as good as the wikipedia one. But it's not quite the same picture.

What it shows is how divergence actually occurs. A lot of people look at Phylogenic trees, and see them as gradual splits. They see it as Primary form transforms into two (or more) secondary forms. Which is essentially right. But what they don't see the transitory period.

Here we see primary form (reptilian ancestor) split into two forms of the same primary form (still reptilian ancestor, just split), which then graduate into the modern forms (mammals and birds). The Synapsids and Diapsids are still reptilian (and as you can see from the pictures superficially similar), but they have diverged enough by the 310MYA mark that they don't intermingle anymore, and gradually they become more and more different.

Of course the diagram, like most, is incomplete. You could show the third branch of reptiles that remained reptiles, as well as the many side branches off the left and right chains. But its just there for a simple representation. And it does the job well.

*evolution*diagram*synapsid*diapsid*reptiles*mammals*birds*nature*

Darwin Demonised: Unwarranted?

2007-03-13T18:48:00.000+10:00

Creationist institutions and other detractors from evolutionary theory (or science in general) are often very vocal demonisers of Darwin. An entire fictional religious army is created of Darwinian Darwinists who support eugenics, racism, arbortions, murdering puppies and other crimes of moral indecency (such as killing God). These Darwinists have their own religion and good old Charlie is its unfallible leader and Origin it's unshakeable biblical text. It's a flight of fancy fuelled by xenophobic paranoia and self righteous ego. But does it hold any ground at all, even in the slightest?

Darwin's role in modern eugenics, racial theories and other heinous Bad Science is well documented in this nice article from Commonweal (via Philokalia Republic); but does it really affect the validity of modern evolutionary biology? Not in the slightest. Early atomic theorists (as in Greeks like Democritus and Socrates) had plenty of things wrong, and used it justify plenty of nonsense. Hippocrates was a strong supporter of Humorism, a long disproven theory of medicine (that bears no relation to Patch Adams).

So what does it affect? I'm not sure. I haven't seen any leading sources actually dismiss these claims against Darwin as outright false, just misleading. Darwin didn't found these fields, and they were already doing fine before evolution emerged, and they've long since been ditched by general science. Take a close look at PZ's response above, and this essay on the PBS website. None of it says "Darwin never said that".

Darwin was part of the club that perpetuated 20th century eugenics into the realm of science, and was undoubtably it's poster boy (whether he chose to be that mascot remains open to question). And it was a legacy carried on by buddies and relatives. This sort of information doesn't affect biology or actual science much. No more than pointing to Nazi bans against smoking really reduces the carcinogenic risk that second hand smoke poses. It does affect cultural ideas such as Darwin Day. It does affect things, such as the occasional demagogue-ification of Darwin by overzealous educators, atheists and science promoters. These people need to recognise and admit to the bad stuff Darwin did. Detractors need to get over it.

*darwin*pharyngula*demonisation*eugenics*philokalia republic*history*pbs*evolution*racism*commonweal*god*science*misinformation*reputation*smoking*creationism*

If Wikipedia can get it right...

2007-03-13T18:35:00.000+10:00

There seems to be an ever growing alarming mass of misinformation about evolutionary theory being spewed onto the internet, and into public school systems world wide... how then can such a widely criticised "knowledge by democracy" manage to get the job done so well. Just take a look on the article series on Speciation.

The diagram (taken from the speciation article series) on the left illustrates quite plainly and simply the four major known and demonstrated means by which speciation can occur.

If you feel confused about evolution, take a wander through the Speciation series at wikipedia. It's really good. Like text book good (maybe better!).

*wikipedia*evolution*speciation*knowledge*democracy*right*clear*misinformation*textbook*diagram*

Advertising in a barrel

2007-03-12T23:50:00.000+10:00

In that same Yoyogi park you can find something that looks a bit more traditional (never mind the almost 100 year old Shinto shrine dedicated to the Emperor Meiji). But despite it's naive appearance what this actually is, is an ancient form of advertising. These are sake barrels. They have been sent to the temple (pretty sure the aforementioned Meiji shrine) as an offering to bring good luck. A guide told us they were the first barrel of the batch (and thus the best). The temple then keeps them here (until they get drunken I suppose, Shinto is definitely not anti-sake). All the barrels carry the logo of their brewery very largely, decoratively and plainly. This large archaic billboard probably gets pedestrian traffic in about the hundreds each day (probably a few thousand on weekends).

No wonder it's thought to be good fortune...

(For more, take a look at Google Image Search, it's a pretty common practice)

*sake*yoyogi*advertising*お酒*写真*pedestrian*park*photo*代々木*tokyo*japan*good luck*日本*temple*shinto*東京*barrels*

Gwoemul: The Host

2007-03-12T23:46:00.000+10:00

I think I caught about 90 seconds of footage and 1/3 of a review of the new Creature Feature from South Korea: The Host. And it sounds awesome. The effects did not look cheesy one bit. Definitely gonna be looking for this one on DVD.

*gwoemul*south korea*the host*dvd*cinema*monster*

Holy Cow ... eats chickens

2007-03-12T23:14:00.000+10:00

The quest to discover which animal better represents Satan, cows or chickens, as a sacred cow reduces a towns chicken population by almost 50 through oral consumption.

"Instead of the dogs, we watched in horror as the calf, whom we had fondly named Lal, sneak to the coop and grab the little ones with the precision of a jungle cat,"

Was Lal carrying out his sacred Brahman duty by removing such demonic poultry from the countryside? Perhaps it was just a vetinary case of Pica? Ooh... zombie chickens...

....yeah I'm getting sidetracked. Sorry. I'm trying to think of episode ideas.

*cows*india*news*eating*carnivore*pica*zombie*calf*wtf*brahman*chicken*diet*animal*satan*

Music on Monday: I like Giants

2007-03-12T22:55:00.000+10:00

I heard this song on Triple J's super request about a month ago. The girl who requested it said it was just a "fun and perky" song for a ride home after work. I was driving for work at the time, and it sure cheered me up.

I don't think this is the original version that I heard on radio, I'm fairly sure its a cover, it has a lengthy spoken intro and stuff, but anyway, thanks kimy a dawson.

i like giants
(MP3@site)

when i go for a drive i like to pull off to the side
of the road, turn out the lights, get out, and look up at the sky
and i do this to remind me that i'm really really tiny
in the grand scheme of things and sometimes this terrifies me
but it's only really scary 'cause it makes me feel serene
in a way i never thought i'd be because i've never been
so grounded and so humbled and so one with everything
i am grounded, i am humbled, i am one with everything

rock and roll is fun but if you ever hear someone
say you are huge look at the moon, look at the stars, look at the sun
look at the ocean and the desert and the mountains and the sky
say i am just a speck of dust inside a giant's eye
i am just a speck of dust inside a giant's eye

when i saw geneviève i really liked it when she said
what she said about the giant and the lemmings on the cliff
she said "i like giants- especially girl giants. 'cause all girls feel
too big sometimes, regardless of their size"

when i go for a drive i like to pull off to the side
of the road and run and jump into the ocean in my clothes
and i'm smaller than a poppyseed inside a great big bowl
and the ocean is a giant that can swallow me whole
so i swim for all salvation and i swim to save my soul
but my soul is just a whisper trapped inside a tornado
so i flip to my back and i float and i sing
i am grounded, i am humbled, i am one with everything
i am grounded, i am humbled, i am one with everything

so i talked to geneviève and almost cried when she said
that the giant on the cliff wished that she was dead
and the lemmings on the cliff wished that they were dead
so the giant told the lemmings why they ought to live instead
and when she thought up all those reasons that they ought to live instead
it made her reconsider all the sad thoughts in her head
so thank you geneviève, 'cause you take what is in your head
and you make things that are so beautiful and share them with your friends

we all become important when we realize our goal
should be to figure out our role within the context of the whole
and yeah, rock and roll is fun but if you ever hear someone
say you are huge look at the moon, look at the stars, look at the sun
look at the ocean and the desert and the mountains and the sky
and say i am just a speck of dust inside a giant's eye
i am just a speck of dust inside a giant's eye
i am just a speck of dust inside a giant's eye
and i don't wanna make her cry

'cause i like giants.

They say Genevieve funny (or maybe I do).

*giants*like*genevieve*triple j*kimy a dawson*song*music*mp3*perky*driving*

Selective Mindwipes On the Horizon?

2007-03-12T13:28:00.002+10:00

via N@N
-"Wipe out a single memory
Drug can clear away one fearful memory while leaving another intact."

Treatment of a mice with a drug (U0126) while being reminded of a "scary memory" seems to be able to wipe that memory out of existence. The positive idea behind this is the treatment of things such as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and I'd think maybe things like phobias. But when you start messing with peoples minds, particularly in a permenant fashion, it tends to make those who are socially aware just a little bit apprehensive.

A far better solution to PTSD is to reduce stressful situations that people get thrown into; but sometimes people don't really have a choice about those things.

I don't think I'd be happy with mindwipe as punishment, or as a form of "security protection" (ala MIB). You just can't fuck about with people's minds against their will. It's not cool.

*science*memory*control*mind*scary*repressed*post traumatic stress disorder*drug*therapy*psychology*not cool*

For All The Little Girls: Welcome to Different Space

2007-03-11T21:55:00.000+10:00

All hope is not lost in the world.

From a novelty store on the ground floor of Ito-Yokado in Hitachi City, Ibaraki-ken, Japan.

Caramel Pom

This store was built in order to have a girl to be glad. I am pleased, if a dear article is seen and I have you become happy. Welcome to different space.

Awwww...

*pink*写真*caramel pom*japan*hitachi*glad*日立市*dear article*ミス*engrish*different space*language*英語*photo*日本*happy*

Reality Fatigue

2007-03-11T21:44:00.000+10:00

I don't what else I can add to this brilliant (if long) piece at Daily Pulse.

Sometimes you just look at the blatant hypocrisy, lies, abuse, stupidity, delusion and just plain open evilness that goes on in the power of today, and you just can't think of anyway to make light of it. It's depressing. It's absolutely soul destroying.

It needs to be stopped.

Why did they kill Captain America?

I'm gonna go collapse in my room now.

*evilness*satire*reality*fatigue*collapse*soul destroying*hypocrisy*captain america*stupidity*stop*enough*

Comparative Religion was one of the best classes I had in high school

2007-03-11T21:12:00.000+10:00

I'm gonna sound a bit egotistical. But, I'm smart.

Throughout primary school, and most of high school I was one of those kids who was "smarter than the system". This wasn't a good thing. It made me lazy and loathe to actually think. Before I started Study of Religion, grudgingly so (Catholic school), I'd rarely done any classes that made me think. I took easy subjects that I could easily understand and were based mostly on BIOS (basic in and out), science, maths, languages and basic English, as well as Religious Education. Nothing with a real social or philosophical ramifications of thought built in. The closest may have been a unit of Africa, where we spent a lot of time being taught by a young female idealist about apartheid era South Africa.

In R.E. it was still BIOS. You memorised gospel stories, you learnt prayers, you learnt Christian theological systems of hierachy etc. SOR was a big change. Being asked to compare philosphical ramifications, historical takes and a "purpose" for religion (what religion is a tool?) was a big change in learning how to think and look at the world. The two years of study started with learning about Creation myths, went through how ethics are derived from religion and how religion can be drived by society, and ended with us "creating" our own religion for assessment.

I didn't notice any of the students fearing the blasphemy involved. I don't think any nasty letters were written home. It exposed us to a lot of culture we wouldn't otherwise have directly pursued information on. And yes, I do think it probably directly affected a few (if not a lot) of students belief systems, whether strengthing, shattering, or just lightly altering.

Now let's see what happens when a similar course is given in an American public school.

The teacher gets sued. And is accused of putting religion down and catering to atheism... wtf? Discussing religions in an equal light is putting religion down and catering to atheims. I agree with PZ, this sort of course affirms and supports the powerful role of religion in society.
Conservatives in America deplore that morality and religion is being shut out of school, and then get upset when they make moves to put it back. They should be applauding the presence of such classes.

This student is insulting Iroquois mythology by suggesting comparing Christianity with it is dismissive and insulting to Chrsitian doctrine. These sorts of comparitive classes play an important role in combatting such indoctrinated dismissiveness that people who have never had to face questions to their faith seem to possess. Even Jesus was tempted three times.

*christianity*america*sick sad world*indoctrination*study of religion*class*high school*think*jesus*morality*comparative*bios*education*pharyngula*sor*

Chimps Gone Wild

2007-03-09T20:47:00.000+10:00

Update from this story.

Here is a video of spear hunting by female chimps, via Primatology.org (nice information on this behaviour here)

*chimps*video*hunting*spear*tool*almost human*chimpanzee*female*bush baby*carnivore*gone wild*

Dystopia-topia

2007-03-09T20:34:00.000+10:00

Yet another slightly off video Friday post. It's a little Film Ed 101. Take a wander over to ReelPop and get educated on one of favourite genres Dystopian Film. I haven't caught Children of Men yet, but looks like I'll have to try as soon as it comes out on DVD.

I totally agree with GATTACA being number one; and being a totally alarmingly all to easily to be true scenario. I didn't actually catch the pun of Ethan Hawke's character being called Eugene. Oh the irony.

I've gotta confess I haven't seen Blade Runner yet.

THX 1138 sounds like a good idea for a movie, but watching that clip I was just soooooo uninterested. Sorry, I come from a low attention span generation. Dialogue, or at least snappy music is needed to maintain it.

*movies*dystopia*top ten*reelpop*children of men*eugenics*dvd*friday*

Barbeque in the Sun

2007-03-08T20:34:00.000+10:00

This was just an awesome Summer day. Nice sun. Bugs (which is good and fun for kids).　Beer and Chu-hai. And a Barbeque (Japanese-style Korean-style).

This was also a fun language experience for me. Even though I did find out the young hotties I was hitting on were 32 and 33, and I hadn't yet learned that lying about my age might be a clever idea. I had nice discussion about whether the girls' skin was yellow or white. Seriously to me, it looked snow/anemic white. Maybe she wanted to be yellow because that's what Asians are meant to be.

The park where we went was really cool. I think I may have posted about the original event when it happened. But I can't find it in my archives.
It was a fun day. Nice. Peaceful and out in nature. Real nature.

*barbeque*夏*japan*nature*bugs*日本*asians*summer*焼き肉*reminisce*写真*photos*age*beer*

I could just eat the waitresses up...

2007-03-08T19:47:00.000+10:00

via Weird Asia News
Taking eating off the bodies of naked asian girls to a new level, Japan now lets you eat the body. Okay, settle down, it's not cannibalism per se, it's an edible recreation, organs, blood, pubic hair and all.

The girl in centers expression amuses me a lot.

Weird Asia News has an update on the organ eating fetish.

In other news, I just learned that Soylent Green is that movie.

I don't have a problem with cannibalism. I'd support Soylent Green, as long as it was consensual and clearly marked, and not shady. I wouldn't be too impressed if it involved money. And the euthanasia aspect is a bit off too. But if properly prepared and tested, human is just another meat.

*cannibalism*wtf*japan*asia*news*weird*soylent green*organ*naked*bleed*pubic hair*food*edible*nyotamori*

Send me to Germany, please

2007-03-08T19:21:00.000+10:00

Mich nach Deutschland bitte schicken....

There is a cool Biotech Law/Ethics/Business summer study program going on there in July/August (at Justus Liebig University Giessen, Germany). It may be European, but it still sounds cool. Everything course-wise is English, but they also include a multi-level German language course (which is in German). All I need is 1,900 Euro...

...which translates into about $3,200 AUD, so given my scholarship is only $3,000, and I've spent most of that in my mind already, and plane fares are on top of that cost, I won't be going on this little trip. Sigh.

"The Law and Economics of Biotechnology in Europe" is a four-week intensive course based on the assumption that biotechnology-derived products have the potential to positively change our society – from improving health care and increasing agricultural production to contributing to a more sustainable environment. Students with a career interest in this field should be equally acquainted with the pertinent scientific, commercial, and regulatory background, including ethical considerations.

But it still sounds cool. I remember going on Biofutures 2000 all the way in Brisbane. I think we were only superceded in distance by a lass from Townsville.

On another note seeing things, like I went on Biofutures 2000, its now 2006 (heading to 2007?), plus undergrad first years saying things like "You finished high school the same year I finished primary school", it's making me feel old. It's totally not cool.

Anyway, I could maybe afford this trip if you bought like 1000 t-shirts or something. Or I could buy a Wii...

*biofutures*2000*germany*justus liebig university giessen*summer*study*students*old*plane*

Artificial Evolution

2007-03-08T19:08:00.000+10:00

"Loyalty, teamwork, cruel deception: welcome to robot evolution" via The Loom

I was trying to think of something snappier to write. But I couldn't. Damn these real scientists with real PhD's.

It's really cool to see a model of "random" change in process coding acted on by selection resulting in increased fitness. The various modelling of kinship realtionships on social behaviours in these robots was pretty eye-opening too.

Really it does bring up a whole heap of possibilities for evolutionary modelling.I think a very nice modification to the experiment would be to add either an environmental toxin "base" akin to the food one (except perhaps destabilising the robot for a few moments, which means less food points), or a predator robot population that counts the other robots as "food" (but perhaps restricted in mode of action - ooh "If you don't move they can't see you"). Bringing other robot populations (with different goals) I think would definitely be the most interesting step.

*evolution*robot*artificial*random process*loyalty*teamwork*deception*the loom*kinship*food*reward*fitness*

It's a Shopping Trolley on Steroids

2007-03-08T12:54:00.000+10:00

Okay, it's a compact "stackable" environmentally friendly automobile developed by MIT, but you can see where the analogy comes from. It does hold view to being a form of "common transport" ina similar system to say trolleys at the airport. Come along, take the first compact off the line, and park at the end of the line when you return. I saw it in some dystopian film, sure they turned out to be evil Nazi wannabes, but environmentally friendly ones.

*nazis*environmentally friendly*new*car*automobile*mit*airport*trolley*steroids*

Harajuku

2007-03-06T22:03:00.000+10:00

Harajuku: you've probably heard of the style. I have to confess, before I went, I hadn't quite heard about it. I knew you could find some crazy styles in Japan. But I guess I wasn't thinking about high school kids dressed in kawaii-goth mutoe fashionista.

Outside Yoyogi park (a very nice park in the western side of Tokyo, easily accessed from Harajuku station on Yamonote line) at the southern entrance (just next to the station) on Sunday you can find literally hordes of girls, and boys, and some in the fine gap between (nothing like two mid 20s giant japanese guys in pink petticoats to hit you back at feeling conspicuous) dressed in all manner of outfits, whose numbers are probably only matched by the numbers of onlookers from far and near.

The park itself attracts quite a big crowd of amatuer sporting enthusiasts, drama and music performers, cheer squads, couples, families, elvis impersonaters, tourists (it houses a few important temples and art galleries), especially on a mid summers day like the day we chose. Plus lots of avid shoppers to the surrounding mall areas.

The white things across some of the girls faces are those masks you often see worn by people during SARS epidemics and the like. Tough kids ヤンキ (Yanki, said like Youngki, but from Yankee), especially young girls, wear these (but as sort of chin strap things, not necesserally over the mouth. I don't know why, but it's meant to be scary. Ooh, you might cough on me.

The girl with blue hair is showing quite a lot of leg, but seriously I loved the respirator outfit. It's totally hardcore. On closer observation (yeah, I'm an objectifying voyeur) I noticed the girl wearing it was quite likely a white european-decent girl, maybe she was hiding this fact by wearing an obscuring costume.

The last photo gives you a little peak at the extreme just zany attention whoring that can go out at an event like this. Some of the girls don't like to get their photo taken. I always asked first, or took one like the top one where the girls (or boys) were quite clearly posing for another happy snapper. Some of the girls are a bit rude, and are quite clearly culture alt snobs just out there to compare with what their friends (and the competition) are wearing.

There were some people in bunny suits, giant swords, insanely big hair (this is Japan, insanely big hair means insanely big hair).
And there was this old guy. Seriously. Clashing colours for a start. That's a dress. Flowers. Pinwheels. How do those dolls stay on that hat. And... dude... what is that orange thing inside your hat? A goldfish! And yes, it was alive.

So if you are in Tokyo for a weekend. Have a busting hangover from Saturday night. Head on down to Harajuku. Okay, it might be a bit noisy, but you might find some nice たこ焼き or other random fried mollusc store around the place as well.

*harajuku*tokyo*かわいい*travel*trip*原宿*photos*東京*japan*style*写真*fashion*ヤンキ*freaks*kawaii*日本*goth*respirator*スタイル*goldfish*park*yoyogi*やまのて*yamanote*

That was surprising

2007-03-06T19:10:00.000+10:00

You are:
a Cowboy
You scored 6 Honor, 4 Justice, 7 Adventure, and 6 Individuality!

Well pardner, the thing that drives you is a sense of adventure. You're willing to play by the rules, but only so long as you've got open territory to cover and new frontiers to explore. You don't need much and you don't ask much.
Strap on your six gun and wear your Stetson proud. I think you'll do just fine

My test tracked 4 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender:

You scored higher than 99% on Ninjinuity
You scored higher than 99% on Knightlyness
You scored higher than 99% on Cowboiosity
You scored higher than 99% on Piratical Bent

Link: The Cowboy-Ninja-Pirate-Knight Test written by fluffy71 on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test

So when are we starting space colonies? I could take on those wussy ghosts from Mars...

忍者じゃないさ...

*cowboy*ninja*pirate*knight*test*quiz*space*忍者じゃない*colony*individuality*

Scenes from Mito

2007-03-05T23:23:00.000+10:00

Mito, Ibaraki is the prefecture's capital. It is famous for natto, plum blossoms, Tokugawa legacy and Confucian scholarship. Anyway it was the nearest next-biggest city to where I was, so it was a good place to go for shopping, video games, a walk in the park or just trying to find something more intersting to do.

The band is playing on the intersection of pedestrian overpasses connecting Mito station with nearby stores and the other side of the road. The band name is Carry Smile. We were pretty sure they were not busking, but possibly doing promotional single sales (or at least advertising by the looks of their small signs). Occasionally, especially on the weekend, you'd see a performer or two on this area. Near the evening you'd almost always see a few beakdancers, and a few "window dancers" (the peculiar activity of using a shop windows reflective properties as a dance mirror) busting moves while the homeless moved their cardboard beds in.

This alley is just up the road from the station. I just feel this picture epitomises the urban feel I got in a lot of regional Japan. It has signage, writing on the road, vehicles on the side, some splashes of grafitti and not enough room. It also has the most ubiquitous feature of any photograph in an urban Japanese setting, overhead powerlines. Seriously they were everywhere. You can't even take photos of quaint old-style houses without getting a nice black horizontal across it. They must have a special photoshop technique to remove it, mustn't they? Another thing to note is there is no litter at all. It's certainly not clean, but it's still a bit tidy. There is no soda can, no paper trash. I found that the urban you went the less crap you saw about. Walking on a mountain highway near hitachi you'd find soda cans, newspaper, porn and even an entire guys record collection stashed inside a broken refridgerator. But maybe this urban/country trash appearance problem isn't exactly a Japanese problem. I guess I'm used to living in a regional urban center, and thus litter.

The last pic is from a small shrine, still just up the road from the train station. This is a cool juxtaposition of just the serenity of the calm temple grounds, and then popping out of the background a vibrant loud (western) commercial reminder that this is still in the middle of downtown.

*mito*ibaraki*japan*scenes*日本*train station*reminisce*vodafone*水戸*carry smile*写真*band*茨城*alley*street*shrine*dancing*litter*

So this is research

2007-03-05T22:11:00.000+10:00

I swear, today, I did more work than I am generally making out to people. But it still doesn't seem like a whole lot. I checked some basic immunology terms, made some notes on the cytokines I'm meant to be studying, and read a whole two pages (the editorial introduction) of the comparative immunology journal special on marsupials. (and updated the wiki article on the Gray Short-tailed Opossum).

I also found I can't log into the computer in the shared honours students' office because I don't have the correct level of access, I hadn't brought my laptop up because I knew the office had computers... hooray. But I have discovered a secret about my key... oh, very secret.

And they aren't letting me get free Morning Bulletins anymore until I sign some forms and get my new studnet ID... I probably can't get a diary or calender either, but that's okay, I don't want one.

*wikipedia*student*honours*university*irl*research*cytokines*school*marsupials*

バーテゴ

2007-03-03T18:46:00.000+10:00

Vertigo? (Bartego - that sounds like a bar I used to go to). 眩暈?

Anyway here are some pictures from Tokyo Tower.

I really don't like heights. But it still feels cool to be right up there and see how small and insignificant the big wide scary world can be.

Tokyo Tower is ultra commercialised, with a mega hello kitty store, plus McDonalds among other glitzy stuff like an optical illusion museum and a hologram scene. CN tower has laser tag though...

Oh and panda rides. They have panda rides. Isn't that pimping?

*tokyo*tower*japan*bardega*panda*眩暈*photos*vertigo*heights*commercialised*

More guts like this please

2007-03-03T18:34:00.000+10:00

Serious "humour" like this is risky. Craig pulls it off excellently. I wonder if anyone is really paying attention.

*humour*craig ferguson*cbs*attention*alcoholicism*britney spears*serious*

Making Science Cool

2007-03-03T18:22:00.000+10:00

It's just like the movies. Which means it's full of shit. But it's entertaining and snazzy.

Enjoy more from the boys at Nobody's Watching. I recommend 10 Seasons of Friends in 90 seconds.

*tv*science*video*cool*nobodys watching*friends*mentos*coke*fantasy*

It's Saturday, That Makes it Friday

2007-03-03T18:03:00.000+10:00

I'm sure that's some sort of meme that's been doing rounds. I'm not quite sure what it means. I think it was actually about Tuesday being Sunday, but that's just crazy talk.

Apologies. Life has returned for me. I've spent today relearning how to remap genomes. And I still have to work out how to fill out my "I can't believe it's not Austudy" forms. And then I have housewarming this evening. I totally forgot yesterday was video Friday. I was so low on links and ideas for posting, I actually saw the videos I had saved, and went, oh better save them for video Friday.

Gosh don't I feel stupid.

But at least I'm not ashamed to admit it.

Let's fix that with a music video by the hip MC Lars, Scientology = WTF. Party down with L. Ron:

I knew those Sasquatches were involved somehow, but I thought the Easter Bunny would have known better.

I know some theists laugh when people point out that maybe world religions like Judaism (and extent, Christianity), Buddhism, Islam etc. were just made up one day, by ordinary people with big vision, possibly good will, and hope, possibly not; no divine intervention necessary; they say such an idea is incredulous you can't make something up so reassuring and complete. If L. Ron did, in the 20th century no less, do you really think it would have been any harder back in 10000 B.C.E. Africa?

*religion*saturday*friday*crazy talk*scientology*video*music*rap*world*life*stupid*wtf*sick sad world*sasquatch*history*l ron*days of the week*theism*

Maybe I should quit drinking...

2007-03-03T12:53:00.000+10:00

You'll die from a Drug or Alcohol accident.

Let's face it - when you get drunk/high you lose all control and do stupid stuff. Unfortunately in your case those propaganda anti-escapism commercials prove true.

'How will you die?' at QuizGalaxy.com

*quiz*drugs*alcohol*death*

I Wanna Be a TV Scientist

2007-03-02T23:21:00.000+10:00

Seriously... I do.

Hopefully my credentials aren't too respectable for them.

via Terra Sigillata (who knew scienceblogs had other blogs)

Abel Pharmboy takes a look at the credentials of a TV scientist. Wow. Among other things, he finds that Dr Bond's degree comes from a diploma mill lacking sufficient accreditation standards and at his website offers individual nutritional consultations by telephone at $60/30 min. That's pretty expensive to listen to a duck's quacking...

Two things I can see needing to happen is:

1) Shut down, or at least more effort done to "name and shame" diploma mills
2) Less stigma, or even encouragement, be given to actual scientist who engage in media relations

Media science people :Hooray Dr. Karl!!!

*terra sigillata*karl*diploma mill*ward bond*media*science*quack*scienceblogs*tv*

Almost Human: Armed Chimps

2007-03-02T23:04:00.000+10:00

Seriously, chimps are HUNTING WITH SPEARS. Is noone scared. We've all seen where this can lead. It will be a sad world if Mark Wahlberg can say "I told you so".

Okay, seriously this time, speciest alarmism aside, this is totally freaking cool. These are, as far as we can tell, totally new behaviors. We are witnessing a whole new intelligent society forming amongst chimpanzees. This is there Tool Age. If we follow a Civ Tech Tree we should be seeing inventions like Ceremonial Burial, Alphabet, and Agriculture. Why isn't this getting more news?

What status do chimpanzees have to reach to be accorded similar rights to humans? Yet we still continue to hunt them, keep them captive and destroy their habitat. That sucks.

*chimpanzees*apes*spears*hunting*social development*almost human*news*civ*tech tree*tools*planet of the apes*mark wahlberg*intelligence*agriculture*chimps*

Flashback

2007-03-02T22:34:00.000+10:00

I have my scanner up and running. Which is bonus for me, and it's bonus for you. You get even better photos. Right now I'm going through my albums from Japan and scanning in the best of best. So I'm going try my darndest (that's as close to a guarantee you get, especially with uni restarting on Monday) to update one photo/photoset a day until I'm done.

Today you are getting what I reckon is my first photo of what I expected in Japan. These girls were tea gatherers in Okayama's Korakouen during a certain festival (sorry, I don't remember what).

This was my second day in Japan. Well, seeing as I arrived at about 4pm the day before, and was shuttled by train to accomodations and fell unconscious fairly shortly after that.

It was a nice day spent walking about in the Sun, which unlike my North American colleagues I found pretty awesome. Korakouen is one of the famous 3 gardens of Japan, and also holds Okayama-jo (castle) which is also pretty cool. You can see some of the pavillions of the festival in the background. It also rained that day (it sort of looks cloudy in the background), which made the crowds thin a bit for the time which I took this photo.

Hope you enjoy the photos. I don't use any fancy equipment. Any photos are generally released as Creative Commons - make sure you accredit me for any usage (and also don't accredit me for other pictures I haven't taken - that has actually happened).

*photos*japan*tea gatherers*korakouen*creative commons*okayama*flashback*reminisce*

Fast Food Ice Bonus

2007-02-27T22:18:00.000+10:00

Bonus... E. coli !

This was a clever school project. However, the main facts to realise is that toilet water is very very clean (the article even states this) and E. coli gets everywhere. Seriously. Your own teeth (or at least your toothbrush) more than likely have more E. coli then toilet water from a clean receptecle.

I think people should be so happy that fast food toilet bowls are getting such a thourough sanitisation.

*science*fast food*toilet*ice*e coli*santisation*school project*bonus*water*health*

Noisy Cow Cycles

2007-02-27T21:59:00.000+10:00

via The Cow Whisperer, The Scientist

Peter-Christian Schön from Germany, is devoloping a new method for determining when cows are receptive insemination.

Cows don't produce milk unless they are pregnant. So a lot of work is done to try and get milk cows pregnant. Given the cost of artificial insemination, it pays to do it at the right time, and trying to get a handle on a cow's menstrual cycle can be a bit troublesome.

Schön has been paying attention to the sounds cows make, and noticed they seem to fluctuate with hormone levels. Apparently cows stop making a pleasing "mooo" and shift to a heavy hard "brrrrr" sound when they are in heat. They also ramp up the amount of noise they make when receptive, mooing 84% more of the time.

So if you at are bar next to a really noisy disharmonic fat chick who won't shuttup, you can make reference to her similarities to a dairy cow, and cop a heavy handed slap to face. My work in the world will have been done.

*science*cows*moo*menstruation*farming*germany*cow whisperer*milk*dairy*noises*

The Internet Never Dies

2007-02-27T21:28:00.000+10:00

Here's a relic: Bubblegun Top Ten lists. For when you are really bored.

*shudder*

Some are just creepy...

Self Reference

2007-02-27T20:48:00.000+10:00

Hey you know you can buy the Shuriken Keychain that almost helped me pick up girls on the train.

I tried to look if "J" had any other cool things to buy, but I'm also not sure of how family-safe J-box actually is. The top "new" item is this. Ah, memories...

*reminisce*japan*j-list*j-box*shuriken keychain*

You are not cool

2007-02-23T13:26:00.000+10:00

Oh so not cool:

*not cool*our little fire*retarded*morons*petrol bombs*molotov cocktails*bonfire*safety*

Warcraft Addiction Videos

2007-02-23T13:15:00.000+10:00

Hooray for Today Tonight with this story:

While it does highlight a problem... it doesn't seem to offer any solutions there. Or go to the sources. Warcraft requires an internet subscription and a blizzard subscription, I'm curious as to was paying both those bills in this occasion (and who bought the computer, games, headsets etc.). Instead it focuses on some silly stuff, like a teenage boy swearing, going through a personality change and picking up an American accent - because those sort of things never hapened before...

Here's a better piece of research:

I'm pretty happy with China's alleged restriction on XP game rewards etc. Blizzard does address these in some way, but maybe more steps could be made.

*blizzard*videos*today tonight*addiction*computer games*xp*internet*online gaming*teenage boys*research*china*

A typical 13 year old with a Podcast (and a couch)

2007-02-23T12:57:00.000+10:00

(wootdawgs, I think the latest Pharyngula link has puched me over 10,000 hits - should I celebrate with something.... stay tuned)

Dylan's Couch, while I'm sure is more authentic than lonelygirl15, does seem to the have the hallmarks of more-than-totally-amatuer production. However, that does mean it doesn't look like total shit and can be entertaining at times. The show does admit that it doesn't use real stories, Dylan and a writer make them up.

It's still not quite good enough for me to think I have enough spare time to view any podcasts if I subscribed. But it makes good enough for occasional youtube viewing.

*video*podcast*dylan's couch*lonelygirl15*writer*authenticity*amatuer*youtube*entertainment*pharyngula*10k*

Getting the complete picture

2007-02-21T21:50:00.000+10:00

via Sisters of Blood

You know, watching this long process makes me realise why I always pretty crap at art that wasn't cartoony or pattern based (not that I was much better at them): I'd always try to make the finished product right away. I hated erasing, and I don't think I ever cottoned on that erasing, blurring and overpenning were actually art techniques. My early teachers were pretty non-teaching in there teaching style (here's pens, paints and paper, go for it) - and when it got to high school they thought I should know about this crap already.

This video was pretty cool and educational as to how art can be made.

Anyone who liked it might also like to check out this tool, but I find it's interface a bit lacking (at least demo mode).

*video*art*sketching*vampire*portrait*shadow*computer*cgi*sisters of blood*picture*

Spot the difference

2007-02-21T21:38:00.000+10:00

Go on try it.

*difference*loonies*christians*crazy*cartoon*i drew this*aliens*jesus*superhero*implants*

There's a Riot in Belgium

2007-02-21T15:02:00.000+10:00

fooled ya!

It's a band (Riot in Belgium) who don't have anything remotely interesting so I can't link to them.

Anyway, people do tend to be upset about riot police a lot. While, riot police are there to hit people with sticks, it does seem more and more that the reason that riot police are there just so they can hit people with sticks...

I think that I might be confusing people. Riot police generally have batons, asps, tear gas, capsicum spray and occasional high speed projectile devices (errr... guns, cannons and other firearms) so if the need absolutely arises they can tame an angry mob. Sometimes you can't help but wonder if some people sign up just because they really really want to tame angry mobs for a living, and even go so far as to create angry mobs to tame.

This neat little Yahoo Q.A. top pick answers what I think is just tops:

If you were a riot police officer would you take well to people throwing stuff at you? Please explian...
(Asker's Pick)
It's what you signed up for. Riot officers are there to control/stop riots with the least ammount of incidents. And that means keeping calm and in control of their own actions. If it were me, I'd hold my riot shield out and continue my job until the crowd/situation dispersed. Police work is not to be taken "personally". Otherwise, no one would/could do it.... (Don't get me wrong, I'd most likely make fun of and/or mother "f" the idiots back at the station, but that's as far as it'd go)

It's a good line: "It's what you signed up for". And it's true. If you become a riot officer, you should expect to be involved in riots, and above all, be expected to keep your head.

That said, throwing rocks at riot police, no matter how stupid they are, is, well, stupid.

*yahoo*riot police*throw rocks*toothpaste for tea*riot in belgium*fool*stupid*

What's Scary? : Organised Religion

2007-02-21T14:38:00.000+10:00

I spent a good part of last week reading up about Scientology and Xenu crap. I found this documentary: Panorama's 1998 - The Road To Total Freedom, which gives a good look at Scientology when it was much more of a scary cult in the public's view. (It's still a big scary cult, just like the Vatican).

Organised Religion really scares me.

It's designed on secrets, misinformation and circumventing people's thinking all in the name of a greater good. Isn't that the same as godless communism?

Secret writings are not the work of organisation based on truth.

The video does offer some interesting information about the social psychology of scientologists - why they are very quick to abuse detractors, and why they act so deadpan in the face of any abuse/criticism. I wonder if various Intelligence agencies utilise the "yell at inanimate objects" drill to train operatives.

While we're on religion, let's have a flashback to a remix (slightly biased, it removes all the intelligent things said by ESPN spokesguy) of CNN's crappy dish on atheists panel.

*scientology*organised religion*road to total freedom*panorama*psychology*scary*xenu*