I really do. I have the books, I have the movies. Its a remarkably well written series. The whole universe holds a special place in my heart. I do get mildly irritated when my other half calls the Sorting Hat “The hat of choosing” and blatantly makes up crap.
That said, the PPP is pretty funny..
I realize this might be slightly controversial, but what the hell.
A spate of recent stories lead me to as what the F@#$% is wrong with the English. Honestly, as Nice as the British Isles are, I don’t think I could ever live there.
Perfect example would be this
Miss Maxwell’s local council has decided that the pool - which is only 2ft deep - needs a lifeguard. The 47-year-old divorced mother of three has also been told she must have insurance before she can inflate the toy outside her house in Portsmouth.
And This:
A football fan says police ordered him to remove an England flag from his car – because it could be deemed racist.
Aaaaannnd this:
For 150 years, it has stood in splendid serenity on the village green, harming no one and pleasing many. Over the decades, the monkey puzzle tree at West Cross, near Swansea, became a much-loved local landmark. But now it is facing the chop … because, in modern Britain, the needle-like points of its leaves are deemed a danger to health and safety.
Some people may not be aware of the TV tax as well:
In the United Kingdom, citizens must pay a licence if they own a television set. That’s right, a TV tax. For Americans, the whole idea of an annual tax to own a television borders on the absurd….
And how can they tell if you have an unlicensed TV? well..
Part of the work is done in special “detector vans.” The TVLA website explains that “every TV contains a component called the ‘local oscillator’, which emits a signal when the television is switched on. It’s this signal that the equipment on our vans picks up. But, what if you live in a block of flats or a house without road access? Well if this is the case our enquiry officer can simply use one of our hand-held scanners. Measuring both direction and strength of signal, they make it easy for us to locate television sets in hard to reach places.”
Apparently the British authorities are determined to remove anything remotely offensive or dangerous from their society, usually at the expense of free speech, personal liberty and property rights. We often complain about the laws and limits placed on us by our government, but life in Brittan is quickly approaching the totalitarian society depicted in “V for Vendetta”.
I’ll be the first to admit that America has its problems as well, with our war-hawk government attempting to be the world police, poor fiscal policy, drug use and so on.. But any attempt to enact the level of control the English take for granted would result in a rebellion.
USA to Briton: Your a laughingstock to the free world. Get your head out of your colective asses and do something about it.
Although I don’t broadcast it, I am an Atheist. This comic pretty much sums it up for me.
Honestly, I have no idea what I can say about this….
Woman of the world.. You looking for the perfect man? Specifically one thats ineloquent and easily riled by things that happen on the interwebs? Well.. I have the man for you. Someone found his Craigslist add, and posted it to Gawker. Then, this douche decided to leave a love note for the Gawker folks. Listen here. Apparently, as he says, someone thinks he lives with his mommy, Judging from the decore, I would agree. But seriously.. love the ’stache.
*EDIT: I had to swap out the picture. This made me LOL. The Fark posts say it better than I ever cold…
albo: Chuck Wagon: Whats on the top shelf in the background all the way on the right
pic of jebus. and either a remote or a vibrator.
love the water pipes in the background.
If you notice, there isn’t even enough room to pull out that chair. That might be his bed on the left.
OK, heres the backstory. Jack Thompson is a conservative christian lawer who for the last several years had mad it hs personal mission to stomp out violent video games. His self defined arch nemissis is Take-Two entertainment, makers of the Grand Theft Auto and Bully sieries. Jack has been involved in a number of attempts to get families of murder victims to hold the Grand Theft Auto series accountable for the death of their loved ones.
After reading the wikkii article about Jack and his exploits, one could come to the conclusion that he is mildly unhinged. With the latest release of GTA getting Jacks undies in a twist, he has resorted to sending a message to the mother of Take-Two Chairman Strauss Zelnick. It reads in part:
The pornography and violence that your son trafficks in is the kind of stuff that most mothers would be ashamed to see their son putting into the hands of other mothers’ children, but, hey, your son Strauss has recently assured the world that he is “a Boy Scout, everybody knows that.” I’d love to see the merit badges that Scout Troop handed out. Is there a Ted Bundy merit badge? If so, your loving son deserves one now. It should be red and green, for obvious reasons.
Right wing zealot Christians are close have made it to #1 on my douche bag list, followed closely by intolerant humorless twits.
More information on Jack can be found here.
Well, interesting series of events today. On my post about the upcoming Ben stein movie, I got a comment from someone over at TheScroogeReport. It is basically nothing more than a link to their post about the movie taking a pro-Ben pro-ID stance.
Now, as I am all about free speech, I approved the comment. I also posted a comment linking back to this site. Lets see if they return the favor. From their post:
The opposition to the Intelligent Design school of thought is so strong that not only have jobs been placed in jeapordy, but censorship reigns free.
The movie’s exposition of censorship in the educational system should no longer be a stretch in anyone’s mind. Those of you that peruse the internet, blogging and chatting, should already know about the ID hate that is out there.
Fair enough. Everyone can have their opinion. Calling the pursuit of legitimate science over mythology “censorship” may be stretching the facts a bit.
I believe the word “Censorship” generates an immediate visceral reaction from most people. We have been trained to perceive it as an especially evil activity, and to fight tooth and nail against it. The use of “Censorship” in regards to ID therefore is purely inflammatory, and not a proper use of the term.
Creationism and intelligent design are not legitimate, provable scientific theories. They have no factual basis beyond the unshakable belief of their proponents. There are no supporting facts and no provable experiments or mathematical formula to support the idea. All evidence provided up to now has proven to be overly broad, vague or highly discredited.
For this reason, its not science. It does not belong in a science class. I support the teaching of ID in mythology, philosophy or any of the other format where the story is not perceived to be delivered as fact.
Not teaching ID in science class isn’t censorship anymore than not teaching it during drivers ed would be. its placing the relevant information into proper context. You can believe what you want, but do not present your unsupported beliefs as science. The fight is not against the idea of ID, its against presenting that idea as something its not.
*sigh… I used to be a fan. You were funny and apparently highly intelligent. Not so much now…
Ben has a movie coming out called “Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed” in which he states (basically) that Intelligent Design is a valid theory that is under relentless persecution in the scientific community. For those not in the know, Intelligent design is (via Wikipedia):
Intelligent design is the assertion that “certain features of the universe and of living things are best explained by an intelligent cause, not an undirected process such as natural selection.” It is a modern form of the traditional teleological argument for the existence of God, modified to avoid specifying the nature or identity of the designer as a method to avoid scrutiny from the courts. Its primary proponents, all of whom are associated with the Discovery Institute, believe the designer to be the God of Christianity. Advocates of intelligent design claim it is a scientific theory, and seek to fundamentally redefine science to accept supernatural explanations.
There is absolutely no evidence that stands up to the scientific method to support this theory. Its widely considered an effort by the Christian right get creationist theories into classrooms and pushed into the minds of our kids.
Ben’s movie has already been picked to pieces and widely discredited.
I think this DIGG comment says it all:
I have lost a lot of repsect for Ben Stein just because of this movie. It is nothing but a media attention grabber designed to stir up “controversy” and get free publicity. This movie will make huge amounts of money just because people want to see its controversial nature, even though almost everything in it has been refuted or is pure conjecture. The mere mention of Darwin causing the Holocaust is enough to make me want to punch Mr. Stein in the dick.
Well, I’ll admit I didn’t watch the democratic debate last night. Apparently I missed a Titanic-like crash and burn of journalistic ineptitude. Check the links for the amusing and sad details.
*EDIT: You will note that the video is no longer available above. The account was suspended with no notice. Read here for more details. Another copy of the video is available here.
Jason Beghe was best man at the wedding of “X-Files” star David Duchovny (his childhood pal) and actress Tea Leoni. In 1998, he starred as Demi Moore’s love interest in “G.I. Jane.” He’s been featured in numerous TV dramas such as “Criminal Minds,” “Numb3rs” and “CSI.”
Speaking of Scientology, he says: “It’s very, very dangerous for your spiritual, psychological, mental, emotional health and evolution. I think it stunts your evolution. If Scientology is real, then something’s f—ed up.”
