From Now On…

Dear persons of faith,

Last week, I expressed that I was done with listening to you. I am not asking that your systems of faith be outlawed, you are allowed to believe whatever you like. I am, however, tired of your thousands-of-years-old books supposedly having something valid to say about matters of policy and procedure. So please, allow me to explain to you the way things are now.

From now on, the only people I want to hear from when it comes to the end of the world are scientists who have valid reason to raise alarms. Any person of faith who claims to know when the end of times is coming should be assumed by the masses to be suffering from some form of brain chemistry problem, and must be treated accordingly. It is grossly immoral for you to promote your end-of-days crap, terrifying people and leading the faithful to kill themselves to satisfy your nonsensical beliefs.

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What Happened To Our Economy

You know, I have been really lucky. I’ve been isolated from the economy for the past decade with a primary client who pays me a decent rate. I am, for those who were unaware, a consultant, and I get paid fairly well. I also am worth that money and have worked hard to earn it. My efforts, when utilized properly, can save companies real money, and well more than enough to justify what I charge.

I know the economy hit the toilet a little while ago, and I get that we’re in the rebuilding phase, but things are getting silly. I keep getting these messages from head hunters telling me that they want me to work in a senior BA position or a senior developer position, but they want to pay me about ten to fifteen dollars an hour less than I currently make.

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So Many Conservatives

Well, we had us an election up here in Canada this week, and the Conservatives won. I cannot say that surprises me in the least. The general clamor of people was that if the Liberals won, the entire country would be forced to pay every cent of their money in taxes, and we would be forced to eat babies and drink our own pee. Of course, that’s ludicrous, but what does a Conservative victory really mean?

The Conservatives, unlike the previous electoral term, have a majority government. Majority governments are not really a good thing. They hold 167 seats, and the other parties put together hold 141. That means that, assuming party whip and loyal voting amongst the parliamentarians, any decisions that the Conservatives want to put through have to go through. Well, not really. They still have to get their laws approved by the Senate and not vetoed by the Governor General, so it isn’t like they have a death grip on all decisions put forward. However, it’s safe to say that they do have the ability to railroad Parliament.

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SpaceDad.org

Meddling Kid regular Boy Infidel has shifted his focus a bit of late, and wanted to start his own blog about his passion. The end result is SpaceDad.org, a sister-site to Meddling Kids that will be focusing on Marc’s love of astronomy. I thought I’d make mention of it here and hopefully send some of our readers with similar interests his way.

So enjoy SpaceDad.org!

Jim

Can We Evaluate Art With Rationality?

When I was a wee lad, my mother was busy getting a degree in Music and Education. One of the stranger things I saw her go through in this time was preparing for a test wherein the professor would play a ten second sample of any song (presumably within a given time frame or some other parameters) and require the students to identify the composer, period, piece, and goodness knows what all else. I felt it was a stupid task, one that did not assess whether she was a good musician or a good teacher, and thereby thought it a waste of her time. I can assume today that there were larger reasons for the endeavor, much like why students of programming wonder why they need to learn pointers and linked lists when the odds are they will never need to use them.

I just read an article that reminded me very much of that, but in a different way. In today’s eSkeptic article, Scientific Evaluation of Charles Dickens, Mikhail Simkin presents his findings comparing segments of Charles Dickens and Edward Bulwer-Lytton, who some consider the worst author ever. The article is prefaced by a lengthy warning from Michael Shermer explaining why he chose to publish it, what he thought of the research, and what others had to say on the subject. I think this is an important inclusion, because I personally thought the concept of the article very cool, but ultimately not really well thought out.

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The UN Are Neat

Maybe it’s me. Maybe I don’t get it. I always assumed that the United Nations were big on the idea of protecting the rights of everybody. However, I have recently been made aware of this article that makes me think otherwise. I haven’t researched this further to see if it’s correct or not, but if it is then the UN General Council just removed sexual orientation from a resolution that condemns arbitrary killings.

I can’t imagine a single reason on earth why anyone could justify removing anyone from this list. What group of people is it actually acceptable to arbitrarily kill? Well, it sounds like them gaylords and queerios. That just makes me sad.

Let it be for the record that this is bullshit. Why you would even make a list of people who shouldn’t be arbitrarily killed is ludicrous, come to think of it. NOBODY should be arbitrarily killed. It’s just bad form. But when you have a list like that and you remove people from it, you’re essentially telling the world that arbitrarily killing those people is A-OK with you.

That’s more than wrong.

Jim

Rebutting The Rebuttal

Once upon a time, I was a young lad in college. One of my fellow students was Steve. He was a good guy, and while we haven’t exactly stayed BFFs forever, he’s definitely someone whom I hold in respect. Steve is highly intelligent and a Christian, something I consider unfortunately uncommon. Obviously he and I differ in opinions on things, but the conversations we have generally are respectful and fun.

Recently, Steve wrote a rebuttal on his blog to my post here, God, Evidence, And Other Silly Crap. So I thought I’d provide my comments on his comments on my comments.

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Foot Massages – Not Just For Scoring With Babes

Feet are interesting. They smell weird sometimes, creepy people get all wuggy about them on fetish sites, they walk, and they often poke out of the bottom of the bed. But it turns out that they do so much more. Reflexologists tell us that they control absolutely every aspect of our bodies and our minds. If we put our feet in foot ionizers, all the toxins come flooding out. And if we massage oil of oregano into our feet, it will cure every disease on earth.

Or maybe not.

I’m curious to know what’s so special about feet. I’ve heard about putting homeopathic remedies on the feet and massaging various oils into the feet for medicinal value, but I’m not sure what the flingers of woo are thinking will happen here. Don’t get me wrong, I loves me a good foot rub, but medicinal value? Really?

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CONGRATULATIONS!

I just wanted to take a second to say a heartfelt congratulations to Boy Infidel and his lovely lady, who are now the proud owners of a bouncing baby girl! Baby Infidel took nine months to deliver. Don’t you just hate ordering online?

I couldn’t be happier for you two, and I look forward to meeting her. Love you guys!

Jim

Dishonest Marketing And An Alt-Med Example

Alzhemed. Man, it could have been a huge thing. The data looked good. The tests looked good. The company’s stock was rising. Their drug was showing real promise as a means to fix Alzheimers. Everything was perfect. But unfortunately, the good times couldn’t last forever.

Essentially, what they were looking at was a drug that would prevent amyloid plaque buildup in the brain. They began testing a chemical called homotaurine which occurs naturally in seaweed with the intention of getting FDA approval for what they would call Alzhemed. You can read the abstract from their paper A Potential Treatment For Alzheimers Disease to get a more complete picture of what their hopes were. And really, their hopes were based on sound medical work.

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