You are currently browsing the monthly archive for January 2010.
Thanks to Jake Tapper from abc’s blog Political Punch for the story.
Pat Robertson on Haiti:
“And you know, Kristi, something happened a long time ago in Haiti, and people might not want to talk about it.
“They were under the heel of the French, uh, you know Napoleon the 3rd and whatever, and they got together and swore a pact to the Devil.
“They said, ‘We will serve you if you’ll get us free from the French.’
“True story.
“And so the Devil said, ‘Okay, it’s a deal.’
Wow, way to minimize a natural disaster. The Haitians deserved it for consorting with the devil.
Look no further for an explanation as to why Religion needs to be relegated to the dustbin of history.
Robertson’s handlers issued a ‘clarification’ later:
“[…] His comments were based on the widely-discussed 1791 slave rebellion led by Boukman Dutty at Bois Caiman, where the slaves allegedly made a famous pact with the devil in exchange for victory over the French. This history, combined with the horrible state of the country, has led countless scholars and religious figures over the centuries to believe the country is cursed. Dr. Robertson never stated that the earthquake was God’s wrath. […]”
Whoa..good save.
I do like looking at the CBC technology and science section, every once and awhile they have some neat off the wall type articles like this one.
“Biologists at the University of Cincinnati used a laser ablation technique to remove part or all of the millimetre-long spines, which are too small to remove using a scalpel.
They then allowed the shaved males to mate to see what role the spines played in copulation.”
Apparently, male fruit flies need sharp protrusions on their reproductive organs to make coupling more successful. This is not particularly outlandish ( ducks rank high) and the whole process is called ‘traumatic insemination‘. Looks squicky, but it gets the job done.
“Those that got the full laser treatment, however, had only a 20 per cent chance of successfully mating with a female. When in competition with unshaven males for available females, the shaven males almost always lost.”
So now you know. :)
Good fortune smiles on the prairies as of late. Warm weather, yes folks, a mighty +5 degrees centigrade with similar temperatures for a whole week! It has led to a snow condition when driving which we like to refer to as ‘soupy oatmeal’. So as opposed to sliding around on ice, now we slid around on a mushy glorpy mess of snow, salt and dirt. Oh how lovely it all is!
Sadly, I actually mean it. Oatmeal snow is one of the first signs of spring here in the great white north. It is nothing but a fools hope though as it is January, and I can guarantee that we will return to Olde Man Winter’s icy embrace before the upcoming week is done (-30 is so refreshing after unseasonably warm weather).
I mention the warm weather because it also brings about another winter activity that brings me much joy. Namely, the removal of the packed down snow and ice that has been accumulating over the winter. It has been warm enough that the snow in the front service lane is coming up in satisfyingly big chunks. Over the last couple of days I have managed to clean out the all of the service lane in front of our house. There is something inherently pleasing about clearing away all that mess and see the bare concrete underneath.
It is a truth of urban dwelling, bare concrete = spring. Clearing the packed snow has made me much more happy that it should, but what the heck, it is good exercise and maybe even a little community minded as no one will get stuck in front of my house (at least until it starts snowing again).
Debating the Deluded, but funny. :) Full marks for another great video NonStampCollector. :)
Apparently, shelling out for a new game is not enough these days. Gearbox has just announced the second expansion pack for the PC. It adds useful features to the GUI of the game including a place to keep your accumulated loot.
My question is why did I pay for a game that has functionality purposefully stripped out of it? It is only 10 dollars per expansion pack, but coupled with draconian DRM, it is not worth one’s time or money.
So, I will consider the downloadable content when it is available in non buggered DRM free format.
“Two more churches and a Catholic convent school in Malaysia have been targeted by arsonists, amid a row over the use of the word “Allah” by non-Muslims.” – reports Al Jazeera.
Yet another example of the extremes people will embrace to protect their magic men and silly books.
“Four churches in the Kuala Lumpur area have been hit by firebombs since Friday, leaving one badly damaged with its ground floor gutted, and prompting Najib Razak, the prime minister, to promise to crack down on race crime.”
All this for the horrible crime of using the word ‘Allah’. Like it has some sort of special meaning. Well, I guess it does if you are religiously deluded.
People wonder why I take such a strident anti-religious position. A good deal of my animosity springs from incidents such as this. When simply using word can get your church firebombed. This is not rational behaviour.
Human beings have trouble thinking rationally at the best of times. Religion adds fuel to ignorance and rigidity of thinking making incidents like what happened in Malaysia possible.
bleatmop
Mystro
The Arbourist
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