Hanging of the Crepe

I'm trying to catch up on my blog reading tonight.  Ee gad, people have been busy!  I'll try to stay more in the loop.   I'll even make an effort to charge my phones! 

It's not often I start off a blog entry with a declarative sentence on my personal ideology, but since I've started it with explaining this isn't standard practice I feel a bit better now since I'm not starting off with a declarative sentence about my personal ideology. 

I'm an atheist. I always have been and not for the lack of trying on the part of my family and the Methodist, Baptist, Catholic, Mormon, and Church of Signs and Wonders faiths. I'm fascinate by religion and by true believers. Honestly, even those who just go through the motions are very interesting. But, and I want to stress this, I'm not interested in their religions as they pertain to me, but only in how it pertains to those people and their culture and their world. I'm not looking for a new faith or an old one for that matter. Yes, you can tell me all about your personal experience with Jehovah and how that affects your views on blood transfusions. I don't agree with your beliefs, but as long as you respect that we can have a lovely chat. We all believe in patently bizarre things and it would make for a really difficult day if people constantly questioned your personally constructed reality paradigm even if it is ridiculous. For instance, at the moment I'm typing this, I believe, no matter how improbably, that I'm in a bakery/cafe/soup emporium in Canton, OH. Clearly an absurd notion, but there you have it. We all believe silly things from time to time. I think that is part of the fundamental nature of being human. I don't have a religious belief and if I pretended I did I think that just debases us both.

I mention this because I went to see Ben Stein's new documentary “Expelled” today and it made me mad. It should make lots of people mad for all kinds of reasons. Darwinist will be upset at being compared to Nazis. Intelligent Designist will be upset that they are too firmly linked to Creationist. Creationist always seem a tad upset so I'm sure they will find something to make them bristle. My particular impetus for outrage is the lack of debate in the debate.

The Darwinist really come across as a group of bullies in the film, but I can't say I'm surprised. Turning Darwin into a deity doesn't really help their argument. I am surprised to hear Richard Dawkins say Intelligent Design might fit into evolution by way of extraterrestrials who designed life on Earth, but who were themselves products of evolution and natural selection making them undesigned. Yes, a lot of it has to do with what happens in the editing suite, but how many episode of Star Trek Next Gen do you have to watch before you forget it's science fiction? I couldn't help but think of Douglas Adams, Deep Thought, and designing the fjords.

The intelligent design group sounded a bit whiny. Being a martyr doesn't mean being a wimp. It was a weak attempt to separate themselves from the religious aspect. I would have liked a Creationist to chime in on the subject of being persecuted for their ideas, but they are probably hard to find these days. (Although there is that delightful man I met in South Dakota with the manic episode inspired chalk board time-line explaining how the fossils he sells fit into his Creationist views of the Bible. I'm sure he'd love to be interviewed.)  The Darwinist and ID groups could bond over their common enemy - the non-evolutionist!  Nothing brings groups together like ridiculing and excluding another group.

I don't believe in intelligent design. I believe in random design punctuated by necessity. I don't believe Darwin got it all right. I don't believe being a modern day Darwinist is a slippery slope into Nazism. I believe accepting Darwinism as an ideology rather than a scientific hypothesis is as ridiculous as treating Creationism as a scientific hypothesis instead of an ideology. I don't believe calling somebody an idiot is an acceptable debate tactic. I believe that most “eloquent solutions” to scientific questions are heavy on the eloquence and light on the solution. I also believe that having to back pedal in the face of modern molecular biology should have taught some Darwinist a lesson about making absolute propositions in science. Instead we have ego and hubris interfering with intellectual debate which only proves the politics of science haven't evolved since Darwin's time.

 

I was just telling Zal about the Obama/Nostradamus/AntiChrist silliness and I was going to send her the email I got on it, but I can't find it. It had these crazy "Rules of Nostradamus Anagrams" and Gov. Mabus either is or is friends with the anti-christ - it was hee-haw funny!

If you are the person who sent it to me I hope you didn't take it too seriously and please resend it because it was a brilliant example of pseudo-logic run amuck!

So while I can't find that bit of quirky faux fortune telling in my inbox I did find this lovely bit of fluff. It features an astrologer in a goofy outfit, James Randi, Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie.



Isn't that fun?? I think I had that same hat in the 80's...

I'm planning my trip to Vegas for the Brandice/Jim nuptials.  I'll be staying at the Rio.  Yeah!  I've always wanted to stay there.  It has absolutely nothing to do with their nightlife or Carnivale atmosphere...  Good times!

And, yes, Vegas in June is going to be a little too hot for me.  Don't worry - I'll stay hydrated by asking for extra ice in my cocktails.  See?  I can be responsible!

Well, that posted very nicely and quite quickly with only one complaint.  I'll have to go to the posted entry to change the my pic and add moods, but that isn't too bad especially since it asks me if I want to go to the blog post once it's posted. 

So will I keep Flocking?  Well, the built-in web mail viewer clinched it.  I might even use it to, ee gad!, start using Twitter...

If you haven't tried it, give it a chance. 

So I'm trying out the Flock browser for the first time.  So far I like the big, chunky look, but I'm not sure if I'll like it for regular use.  Right now I'm testing the "Post to My Blog" option.  I might actually blog more often if it works as conveniently as advertised! 

In theory I should be able to just click the Publish button and this post will go straight to my LJ blog.  Here goes!

Sorry I haven't been online much lately. I should be more available now.
And as a person notorious for not using the telephone - I have a new car with a telephone built into it so I can no longer misplace it or forget to charge it, but I will still be able to ignore the ring although I'm not sure how to turn it off altogether...

Writer's Strike - If you haven't seen enough video of writers picketing, here's one more. This one includes David Shore and Paul Haggis, two really nice guys (despite being from Canada). Lisa Edelstein and Hugh Laurie join them near the end. 

Most importantly, if you haven't seen it and even if you have it deserves re-viewing - a brilliant photo from the NaNoWriMo TGIO.  Yes, now that you mention it that is an acronym heavy sentence.


 

Words escape me.  I...the...what...bayah...

I often joke that I take pills at night to keep me from killing myself and pills in the morning to keep me from killing other people.  I believe I will be doubling up on the morning pills for the rest of the month. 

AND to the NanoWriMo-er who expects me to reply in private - I think the word you are looking for is "pretensious", but I'm really more of an elitist.  I'm not "acting" like I'm better than you.  I AM better than you.  I'll be at CF Panera this afternoon if you'd like to stop by and discuss this further. 

Since I haven’t been blogging lately I haven’t done my fangirl bit so Frank Whaley is on House tonight!  SQUEEE!!!  I am totally psyched.  Frank Whaley is, as you may recall from previous blog entries, one of my favorite actors - brilliant as the fed up assistant in “Swimming with Sharks”, heart-breaking as the crippled guitar player in “Swing Kids”, and creepy in “Vacancy”.  Of course, he was also in “Chelsea Walls” which, as I might have mentioned before, I have no memory of.  I mean I remember going to Cedar Lee to see it.  I believe I tried the Australian wine-in-a-can that evening.  Karen S. was with me.  Then there is like a two hour gap in my memory – perhaps caused by the wine-in-a-can.  I do recall feeling disappointed and something about too little D’onofrio and too much Kris Kristofferson.  That might be completely inaccurate, BUT the point is he’s on House tonight 9 pm EST on Fox. 

 

Fox 8 in Cleveland is making a list of the best things in Cleveland and Uncle Scratch's Gospel Revival has been nominated as best band.  Go to http://myfoxcleveland.cityvoter.com/details.aspx?business=56851
and vote for them.  Don't know them?  Well check them out!  You know how I love those cheesy signs the religos put in front of their churches?  Uncle Scratch found this one.  Brilliant!  I'm particularly fond of their songs "I Banged a Sinner", "I Can't Bang You on a Sunday" and "Johnny, Jesus, & Me".  They're playing Cleveland, Detroit and Altoona this month so let me know if anybody wants to see them.  (That's right - I'd go to Altoona to help support them!)

 I hate iTunes.  If you know me, you've probably heard me rant about it before.  Now I'm really pissed off.  I sent a song to a ton of people as a gift last night.  I'd been trying to for days without success.  Finally they made me uninstall and reinstall.  Fine.  Then it almost worked.   Based on emails, only half the people I sent it to got the email and of them only 2 or 3 actually got the song.  It was abruptly pulled from iTunes.  So in my attempt to not circumvent any laws I legally purchased copies of a song only to be slapped in the face by the evil iTunes.  AAAGGH!!!

Ok, so if you come to one of the pre-NaNo events I will have a completely illegal CD for you.  Way to force me to break the law Apple!

Because it was fun filling it out for misfitmonkey...   e-me the answers if you don't want to post them here.  Tell me if you post this and I'll fill it out for you!  If I don't really know you, I'll still fill it out, but with bizarre answers that make assumptions that could be completely untrue.

I'd like to know 27 things about you. Justcopy and hit reply and paste in the comments section withanswers.Thanks! You'll be surprised how much you didn't know about your friends after this! Then copy the meme and see if anyone answers you.


1. Do you have a tattoo?
2. How old are you?
3. Are you single or taken?
4. Fish?
5. Do you dream in color?
6. Ever seen a corpse?
7. Hipsters or Hillbillies?
8. How did we meet?
9. What's your philosophy on life and death?
10. If you could do anything with me, and have no one know, what would it be?
11. Do you trust the police?
12. Do you like musicals?
13. What is your fondest memory of me?
14. If you could change anything about yourself what would it be?
15. Would you cheat ?
16. What are you wearing?
17. Have you ever peed in a pool?
18. Would you hide evidence for me if I asked you to?
19. If I only had one day to live, what would we do together?
20. Which do you prefer - short or long hair?
21. What's your favorite day of the week?
22. What's your favorite color?
23. If you could bring back anyone that has passed, who would it be?
24. Tell me one interesting/odd fact about you?
25. What was your first impression of me?
26. Have you ever done drugs?
27. Will you post this so I can fill it out for you?

Sorry for the low profile of late, but I will make it up to anybody who wants to come over to my house on Sunday for a picnic/desk moving! 

I did post two new videos on Viddler even though I still haven't fixed the audio. 
How I Spent My Lunch or The Miraculous Healing Powers of the Partridge Family
and
New Music Tuesday or Why I Love Packaging

I whined about the House soundtrack - no more than I did about the House DVDs.  They just need to add a dash of panache.  It's so bare bones it has to be a calculated decision.  Well, it didn't stop me from buying so I suppose it worked.  There isn't even a new pic of Hugh Laurie although I hadn't seen the pic of Robert Sean Leonard inside, but I suspect a die-hard fan like JJ has.  (I can hear him now going on and on about Leonard's soulful eyes.  haha - wait, I've got to call him!  Not answering.  Darn.)

BUT then I logged on to MySpace, a miracle in and of itself, and I see a message from the Band from TV space.  I click and WHOA-HEY!!!  MINNIE THE MOOCHER!!!  It's a brilliant arrangement of one of my favorite songs and Lester Holt, if I can use the parlance of the street, is the mezz!  Go - listen to the song!  Now!

 

The webcam arrived! If I can figure out how to record directly to Viddler I'll be as happy as a person with a newly acquired WebCam with the ability to record directly to Viddler.

  So I got a sweet deal on the webcam I wanted.  I had to order it via Amazon last weekend to get the rebate.  Fine.  It shipped the 3rd.  Sweet!  It's scheduled to arrive...September 21st.  WTF?  How exactly is it being shipped that it will take 3 weeks to get here?  
Theory:
The manufacturer ships direct.
Wrapping the webcam in bubble wrap, they carefully place the webcam in the into the lagoon and wait for the wind and tide to take the package out to sea.  The premise is simple:  If coconuts can float to the next island, surely a webcam can make it to North America.
Once arriving in a small port village in Mexico, Jose Calban, not his real name, collects the wet packages and dries them in the sun for several days.  He then hands them over to "an associate" along with 8 kilos of cocaine and 7 pounds of cashews - DO NOT ASK.  
His "associate" is stopped at the Mexican-American border and uses the webcam package as a bribe.  It's a nice camera and it works.
The border guard is arrested for corruption.  The webcam is taken into evidence. 
Due to inefficient bureacracy, the webcam is put up for public auction.
Sam Jefferson of 29 Alvara Way, El Paso, TX buys the webcam and brings it home.
His wife, angry at another manic auction purchasing spree, throws the webcam away.
A conscientious garbage man finds the webcam and puts it in a mailbox.
The mailman, finding the package suspicious, refuses to deliver it.
The package arrives at FBI headquarters.
Agent Gilbert Frost realizes it isn't a dangerous package, opens it, and begins making videos for Viddler.
I go to Best Buy and buy a new webcam.

Oh Happy Day!!!   One of my all time favorite shows is "Good vs Evil" - originally called "G vsE" and now it's on the Chiller Channel!  Yeah!!!!  This show was brilliant.  Clayton Rohner (Yum!) played Chandler Smythe - a newspaper reporter who gets killed and becomes a member of "The Corps" - a group of people who try to stop "the Morlocks" from making Faustian deals and taking souls.  Richard Brooks played Henry McNeil, Chandler's partner.  He died back in the 70's and still has the 'fro to prove it.  Ohmigosh - the fun we had when they revealed Henry was from Cleveland!  Googy Gress played their boss and his sidekick was played by Marshall Bell.  If you've only seen them in commercials you are so missing out!  OH!  And Deacon Jones was the narrator and head of the Corps!  He even did these bits about how to kill Morlocks.  

Brooks, Gess, Rohner, and Bell

It has one of the best title sequences in TV history!  "A man torn from his family, murdered in his prime, only to return to Earth, resurrected as an agent of the Almighty Corps. With no magic, no special powers, forbidden from intimate contact, unrecognizable to those from their past lives, Chandler Smythe and Henry McNeil now fight to save lost souls against the minions of darkness. It is a battle of Good versus Evil. G vs E, that's what it is!"  

 
Brought to us by the genius Pate twins - Jonas and Josh!

I had planned to do a video everyday on Viddler for September.  Yeah, I didn't.  I have a new web cam on order, but it hasn't arrived yet.  Of course, it would help if I had something to film.  I thought I'd just hold up a book or DVD and give it a five word review if nothing else.  Yeah - tooooo lazy.

Speaking of being boring,  my new job is pretty well in that category.  I think that's just a temporary state though.  There's a lot of waiting right now.  I've spent most of that looking at competitor's websites.  Two of our competitor's are in Dubai at a trade show this week.  Wish I was!  Not really.  Dubai is too hot this time of year.  A different competitor is going to be there at a different trade show in March.  That's much nicer.   The trade show biz must be booming in the U.A.E.!

Long weekend - I didn't accomplish anything I wanted to.  Well, let me re-phrase that.  I didn't accomplish anything I should have.   Maybe this weekend I'll finally get the chain saw out....

I've been groggy all day so I'm going to go treat myself to a nap now.  I guess that means I'll get nothing done tonight!

I had a lot of fun at Charlie Con - my friend Charlie's annual Labor Day game party. I'm sure the Harry Potter geeks enjoyed the live action game more than I did, but I did enjoy throwing things at people.

Oh yeah - that is a real tank!

The new issue of Connected Photographer is out a wee bit early.  My article this month is about creating a very basic animation in Adobe Photoshop CS3.  The editor let me use creating a banner for the Muckrakers as an example.  Now to settle on a topic for this month!  By coincidence, the editor recommended a tutorial on movie posters and I just created one recently and posted it on this very blog!  If anybody has any suggestions for future articles let me know.  I'll get around to that Rule of Thirds article someday...