Seriously Goofy!

Oh where to begin? People ask me why I don’t want to have kids. That would make there be more people like me, and I would think that was reason enough. But here’s the real reason. If I had one, it’d look like this.

I just started reading a blog that has some very good stuff, Dispaches From the Culture Wars. Ed Brayton came across some just plain bizarre news about cultural tension and gave it a very good write-up here.

Well. We’ve got dark matter. How ’bout that? Actually this is really cool because this is the first time direct observation has been accomplished! (more…)

Perhaps the most news savvy post I’ve made yet! Here I commented on the IAU meeting to try to settle on the definition of a planet. Well I’ve got good news. Those blokes finally saw the light that opening the door to having thousands of planets in the solar system is, generally speaking, a bad idea.

Over here I talked about a design challenge posed by Dave Thomas of Panda’s Thumb regarding Steiner problems and solutions generated by genetic algorithms (GA). The main purpose of the challenge was to demonstrate the criticisms offered by intelligent design (ID) advocates were baseless. Well the results are in, folks! How did the ID folks do? How did yours truly do? Venture forth past the fold to find out! (more…)

I’m going to see if I can get that “ontological leap” post up this weekend. So, in the meantime, here are some time killers for you.

You’ve probably heard about the IAU proposing a “standard” definition of a planet. These bozos want to define it such that we will have 12 planets, instead of nine. And that’s not the worst part. By their definition every Kuiper object the size of Pluto (and there may be thousands of them) will also have to be considered a planet! This nonsense will be voted on next Thursday, I’ll follow up then.

Anyway, why do I bring this up? Now you know the background for this great clip of Steven Colbert interviewing astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson.
And completely unrelated, one of my favorite internet personalities, Phil Plait the Bad Astronomer, linked to something unexpected: The Meuseum of Bad Art. I don’t get art, so bad art is a good place to start! Be warned ye of easily-offendedness. There are nudes in some of that art, so be careful what you click on!

One last thing. I just stumbled upon this guy at You Tube.  He’s a 79 year old veteran from England that just got into YouTube a couple of weeks ago.  If you have half an hour to kill I’d recommend checking his stuff out!   It’s almost surreal (apologies, Krime).  The mixture of honesty, pathos, humor make Peter’s video blogs really special.  Plus he’s a motorcycle fiend, so you gotta love him.

I’m not a geek. You know that, right? I don’t spend every waking moment thinking about Star Trek or Star Wars or Babylon 5. Seriously. The beer and the XBox have to fit in there somewhere. But if you want to retain your delusions that I spend all day philosophizing and studying science for fun then, for crying out loud, don’t click past the fold! (more…)

My wife and I just had our ninth anniversary. And, true to form, she comes through. She really is great!

For Valentine’s day, when some wives get their husbands some combination of flowers, balloons and/or chocolates, she gets me a crazy stuffed frog, a six-pack of beer, and roses (so there’s some tradition there). And she sets it all up at work! Boy, were all the other guys jealous. And note that wasn’t just any beer, but North Coast Brewing‘s Old Stock Ale, 2005. What a treat that stuff is!

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For those of you into programming, here’s an interesting discussion. It’s in regards to genetic algorithms, a programming technique based on biological evolutionary principles (mutation, selection, reproduction, etc). They were developed to help researchers explore and explain biological evolutionary questions, but were later carried into general computer science.

The techniques are so powerful and innovative that these “organic” programs can often develop solutions to real world problems on par with human designers, and sometime exceed human performance. Some examples of this are here and here. (more…)

I just wanted to give people a quick digest of some interesting developments of the Mars Exploration Rovers and the Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn.   First the rovers: Opportunity is continuing its trek towards Victoria Crater, and is currently observing Beagle Crater. You can track their progress here. From that you can get an idea of just how big Victoria will be once Opportunity gets there! (more…)

So I’m back from another big weekend. It was a three day jaunt that took us to Joseph, OR for the Blues and Brews festival, then back to Boise. There were 28 people on 18 motorcycles and one driving the chase truck. So I thought I’d share some pictures of the trip. (more…)

So for those of you who are home theater geeks, you have to see this. I’m sure you’re curious about the latest version of “VHS vs. BetaMax”. Yes, the next-gen DVD battle: BluRay vs. HD DVD.

Here’s an interesting site that catalogs the public’s response (sort of) by tracking sales at Amazon.com. I think the website programming is as interesting as the war. It does historical trending of Amazon sales and updates it real-time. Yes, friends, check out the DVD Wars!

Also, an interesting battle is going to heat up in next-gen DLP players. LED vs Laser DLP. Personally I think a solid-state TV would just rock!

Hey, all. Tonight I’m scramblin’ to get ready for a weekend ride to Joseph, OR for their annual Blues and Brews festival. Should be a good motorcycle tour of Easter OR. There’s probably going to be 15 bikes in the pack! So, since I don’t have time to post for real, this stuff will have to do.

Is this a legitimate awareness campaign? Or just a bunch of freaks? You be the judge.
Just click the video link.

Tip o’ the hat to Rick for sending this to me.

How can you go wrong when you mix Star Trek and Monty Python?

You are commanded to watch this!

I’ve made it back, safe and sound, from Goat Lake (in the Pioneer Mountains). Highest mountain lake in Idaho at about 10,500 ft. What a trip! A huge thanks goes out to my bud Trevor who dragged this city slicker in the great outdoors! (more…)

Just thought I’d toot my own horn, cuz who else will? A certain finely-crafted blog is outperforming MTV on Google.

But no one tell them that or I’ll have to put a disclaimer on my blog.*

*not affiliated with Seriously Goofy Awards from MTV

This blog constantly deals with challenges to what may be described as “Modern Western Institutionalized Protestant Evangelical Christianity”.  I listed some helpful books on this subject here.

So what’s the point of all this?  Why am I doing this?  Motivations are critical so I’d like to be plain about mine.  For a long time I did not fit in with the ‘church’ I described above, though I attended one all my life.  I never understood the point to going to church.  All I could see was the hypocrisy most ‘Christians’ lived in.  All I could see was church seemed a live version of watching TV;  I went, I sat down, I listened, I thought “That was nice” and I left. (more…)