DBAD

Shit, xbox!

2010-05-14T13:55:00.000-07:00

What's up you handful of unsuspecting followers of a dead blog? Why haven't you been culling your RSS feeds?

Don't be a Douche must be more than calling out douchebags, if it is to be anything. At any rate, I've been unanimously criticized for unchecked negativity, and having no reply to that as well as a lack of drive in the first place, so I didn't write that anymore. Thinking of maybe doing a "where are they now" thing sometime soon, but that's it, promise.

Today, though, I want to record in this hallowed place a recent experience with customer service for Microsoft Xbox live! It begins a few days ago, when my Xbox that needs to talk to the internet in order to play media files on my local network was trying to do so, when it was revealed to me that my live account was suspended! This meant, ultimately, that the xbox itself had become useless, online or off, as I couldn't use the local user account associated with the suspended live account. Means no downloaded games (bought and play many), no saves or achievements for games I physically own, and no media files. (!!) . Used another device to watch Shutter Island, which was pretty good, came back to the problem this morning.

When I tried to login it said I was lacking a payment option, took me to choice between "new credit card" which is obvious, and "cancel" which aborted the entire login process. I use a prepaid credit card to buy 'microsoft points' for online content, and used some of those to extend my current prepaid card based live membership for 3 months on February 1. They went for the renew on May 1 and the $27 charge didn't go through. No big deal, I enter the code on my 12 month card I bought last month, expecting this to happen sometime soon.This is where it gets weird: instead of not furnishing me the service (3 more months) when they found out Mastercard would not extend me the credit, they took it upon themselves, with no permission or disturbance of service or notice that I was on a tab. They are a now holding me, my xbox,, hundreds of dollars in purchased content and my $70 prepaid card hostage for that $27 debt, which can only be paid by credit card and soon or they nuke all my shit.

So I gave them a call! 51 minutes with Kurt, call centre guy, who to the very end only said two things: "your only option is to enter a new credit card number", and "the system won't allow me to do that". This was a shock to me, expecting something more like "sorry, that was automated and I see you've paid for your next year another way". Not before getting him to admit that he could but won't fix my problem, I moved on to the next rung! Chris, call centre supervisor, was saying the same stuff in a more forceful tone. I had been marked hostile, though seriously was being really calm about everything. One hour, ten minutes with Chris, trying to explain my problem by repeating and reposing the question: "on what basis does your company presume the right to extend credit to me and enter into that kind of relationship without permission or notice, let alone solicitation?". Never attempted an answer, started referring to the Terms Of Use "cover your ass" policy where the company can do whatever they want with my shit, and told me explicitly that there was nobody in the office with the authority to override that bullshit. That was about 45 minutes, and I guess he forgot by 1:10, because it was then that he transferred me to that person, upon being asked directly this time. Got about 20 minutes of the same stuff from Dave, call centre manager before I had to go out and my phone was plugged in, so I took a number and said I'd call back.

I probably won't. I'll get back in line, put money on that card, and pay the man. I could write about this for ages though, and I'm right on this for sure, but it's $27 and they're coming in heavy!

Don't be a douche, CPAC!

2010-02-20T06:16:00.000-08:00

I could have chosen any one of the blazing douchebags who participate at the Conservative Political Action Conference (hence the communal title), but I'm choosing this one. Because he said some of the most ridiculous things, because he's got such potential to gain so much power in the near future, and because he's just a really smug little bastard.

It's Marco Rubio! He's a republican candidate for the United States Senate, and he gave the keynote speech at that wacky circle-jerk of a conference. He's a Catholic, a lawyer, and "the future of the GOP", according to many talking heads from that side of the fence. Furthermore, his keynote was a doozy: opening with (SHOCKER) an Obama/teleprompter joke I won't quote and some weather talk, here are some of my favorite parts:

"I am privileged to be a citizen of the single greatest society in all of human history. There's never been a nation like the United States, ever."

"our rights come from God, not from our government" (I love it when politicians say this, negating their entire careers)

"when was the last time that you heard news accounts about a boatload of American refugees arriving on the shores of another country?"

"the U.S. Senate already has one Arlen Specter too many."

"Americans do want leaders that will come to Washington, D.C. and work together to get things done" (What? Nobody told you GOP runs on cooperation now?)

"Let's eliminate double taxation by abolishing the taxes on capital gains, on dividends, on interest...Let's significantly lower the corporate tax rates"

"...no greater risk to this country than the risk posed by radical Islamic terrorists" (not even this one?)

"we will punish their allies, like Iran" (this one got cheers, to the point he had to ask them to stop. I don't have a quip, that's fucking terrifying)

Like I said at the beginning, most of this stuff was pretty unanimous at that show. It's Rubio with the big long keynote, Rubio who overreached and said some extra-dumb shit, and Rubio for douchebag of the day, though.

DBAD: Mark Madsen, Utah Senator

2010-02-19T00:52:00.000-08:00

This rather harmless looking daily douche is Mark Madsen. He was elected to the Utah senate for who knows what ridiculous reasons, and he's here on my blog because he's pushing a new law making Martin Luther King day also John Moses Brown day.

I'm just going to address my opinion on this move first, and then move on to a demonstration of its absurdity. This appears to me to be built on a dual foundation. Primarily, a thinly veiled sentiment against black people, in the sense that by associating MLK day with rifles in the minds of citizens of Utah, he's making sure everyone knows what happens to uppity members of minorities. Secondarily, he's engaging in the age old practice of promoting and expanding the notoriety of one's own religion. Madsen and Browning are/were both mormons, and our friend here has expressed pride in that. Obviously one of these is abhorrent and the other merely unethical from his position, but aside from that, neither of them are good enough reasons to institute a state holiday.

Check it out:

MLK:
- perhaps the most outstanding proponent of civil rights in American history
- spearheaded a unique and peaceful movement to equalize America
- awarded Congressional Gold Medal, Presidential Medal of Freedom, Nobel Peace Prize
- assassinated at 39

JMB:
- A brilliant and very successful firearm designer and manufacturer
- invented the gas-operated machine gun
- engaged in polygamy (surprisingly only 2 wives, considering his status)
- outspoken racist
- died of heart failure in his son's office, at 71

Don't be a douche, Mark Madsen. That's -ridiculous-.

(h/t Think Progress)

UPDATE: Madsen's got his tail between his legs on this one in less than 48 hours. Apparently lots of people are pissed, but he can't tell why, as he's both still convinced on the dates appropriateness, AND never cared what day JMB was honored on. Fun times.

Don't be a Douche, Henry Aubin!

2010-02-18T00:20:00.000-08:00

So I was reading some news tonight, as is my custom. I stumbled across a link to a Montreal Gazette opinion piece entitled "If Arrogant Nationalism was a Sport, Canada Would Win Gold". I don't want to reproduce the whole thing here and pick it apart, because it's really not worth the space, but just so you get the idea I'll give you the opening line, which he thought important enough to reside in it's own exclusive paragraph:

"The Olympics are supposed to be uplifting. So far, the Vancouver Olympics have been anything but."

Awesome. That's not overly general, exaggerated or inflammatory at all, is it? He goes on to accuse Canada of overspending on Olympic excellence (even this year we are underspending our competition per capita, something we're famous for), quote Coubertin (and your mom) in his "not if you win or lose, but that you play the game" speech, bash our hockey ladies for picking up 18 points against Slovakia (who happened to beat neighbor Bulgaria 82-0 in a pre-olympic exhibition.. and what about the huge ovation we gave the Slovak squad? This is not peewee hockey, people, and even those kids know to do their best every minute on the ice), and all but accuse us of cheating for not allowing US atheletes on unfinished courses and tracks in September.

Don't get me wrong. I'm all for some healthy criticism, especially when it is directed at a nation, and especially when that nation is the one I must live my life in. I know blind patriotism is toxic, I live right next to the longest shared border in the world, with the country that would really win the "gold" for that. This ridiculous piece of trash is neither healthy nor criticism. It's a bunch of incoherent babble from someone with clearly personal or political motives, but without the balls to state them. The kind of article one might suspect would have popped up no matter how hard everyone worked to make these games turn out right.

Why all the vindictive bullshit, Mr.Aubin? Am I to believe you're just really stupid, and actually believe any of this crap is founded in reason? I won't. Isn't the international press doing a good enough job being unfairly critical of us? Don't you have any of that "undying Olympic spirit" you keep accusing us of lacking for wanting medals? Get a life, man.

New Format!

2010-02-18T00:15:00.001-08:00

Ok, so I haven't been writing here in a while.. but it's been for a good reason! I wrote for a while, and even though nobody was reading, I was still embarrassed at the blogs lack of rhyme or reason, focus, regularity, and pointedness.

The website's name is "Don't be a Douche". As was roughly the original idea, from now until as long as I can manage, I'm going to be calling out one person per day. One person who, over the last week or so, has earned the title, if even just temporarily, of douchebag. More importantly, one person who has earned my advice, which shall interminably be to NOT BE that douchebag. Kapiche?

Thanks, and also please expect a visual redesign, which I would love some ideas for :)

I'ma go write the first one right now, it'll be fun.

URL Hacks!

2010-01-29T23:52:00.000-08:00

Hey, so I'm posting these here as much for my benefit as for the benefit of anyone else, but check it out! I've been getting more interested in URL hacks for various purposes as I happened across them from time to time, and know enough now that I want to drop them all in one place. A big hat tip to Lifehacker, as well as to others who linked me to some of these too long ago for me to remember specifically who.

Download Youtube Videos:

- prepend "youtube" in any URL for a youtube video with "kick" or "pwn" as in "http://www.pwnyoutube.com/watch?v=NP4mgObDeUU"

- switch out the "Y" in "Youtube" with a "3".

These 3 hacks all achieve the same thing, namely an opportunity to download any youtube video. Rad! Check them out, they each have their ups and downs, different formats available, and other features.

Use the goo.gl URL shortener without installing anything:

Go here, and just drag that bookmarklet up to your browser's toolbar. Once it's there, just hit it any time to get a goo.gl URL for wherever you are at that moment. Trust me, it's a URL hack, it's just tucked into this bookmarklet (maybe I should do one of these on bookmarklets!)

Grab and edit screen caps of websites:

- Just add "aviary.com/" in front of any URL

This one is especially new to me, and especially awesome, especially if you're into sharing stuff on the internet, especially. It pulls down the image and imports it into Aviary's totally excellent editing software, all in the cloud, so you can get exactly the image you want by the time you get to the downloading stage. FN RAD.

Break the Paywall:

- This one is a little more finicky than the others, but works for viewing articles at WSJ, Financial Times, and other sites with stank-ass paywalls. I'll just link you to Digital Inspiration because they've gone to the trouble of embedding a bunch of youtube videos that show you how, and I don't want to.
- In most cases you can just search the title of the article you want and view it through google's cache.

Search Google Images by Color:

- Append "&imgcolor=colorname" to the URL of your completed google image search, switching "colorname" with the color of your choice of course. Works like a charm.

That's it for now, but there's a ton of more nichelike, specific URL hacks out there if you're into looking for them. If I run across any more worthy of a mention here, I'll come back and edit the post.

Mom and Pop Need More Advice than Sympathy

2010-01-20T03:56:00.000-08:00

I read the news today, like many others, that Duthie Books on 4th Avenue here in Vancouver is closing its doors for the last time this year. Also like many others, I initially responded to the extremely sympathetic and non-constructive piece I read with empathy for its owners and outrage at the system in general for allowing "our" Vancouver landmark bookstore to die out completely, location by location. With media ranging in its stance from simply not coming up with any ways the businesspeople involved could have handled things differently to suggesting directly that there was no way, it seemed rather "open and shut", that there were no other ways to think about it. To further exacerbate this, papers are quick to point out that X big box retailer and Y internet market are to blame. However, after a little thought, I have come full circle, and believe that there can be no logical basis to feel sorry for this business or any other who falls victim to changing times.

The way I see it, there are two possible conclusions to come to here, both more reasonable than simply writing the issue off to evil collusion of multinational and "greed machine" government, as you see in the comments of the aforelinked Globe and Mail article. The first, and most likely, is that the charm of this mom and pop store is simply outweighed by the organizational structure and purchasing power of larger stores, and convenience of online outlets. That's not a good or bad thing, it would just indicate that it's what the people want. Sad, but true, those big round chapters discount stickers excite us more (pain in the ass as they are to get off of your new books) than the good conversation of an invested shopkeep.

The other, and more amicable of the two, for me, is that these organizations hold potential as well as standing advantages that could carry them well into the brave new world of big box books and internets, leveraged in the right ways. They could have:

- engaged in the community by promoting literacy for kids, bringing people together for events, and getting involved with local authors to really represent Vancouver

- booked sweet authors for signings and readings, and marketed those well

- inspired and mobilized the sympathy of their customers, before they had the shut-down article to do it in

- Built up their own internet business, if only for soft services: reccomendations, chatter with regulars, a healthy twitter feed and a blog, etc

- Really paid attention to their regulars, finding out why they are still coming and how to impress these reasons upon others without becoming intrusive.

- Chosen a different location than kits for their hold-out last store (this is no doubt the priciest of all of them, and the spot with the most competition)

I could go on, and maybe some of these have been tried to some extent, but that's not my point. My point is that this business was charged with having what it takes to continue to survive in the same system that allowed it to begin, and it didn't. RIP, pour out a little liquor for your bookstores that passed away, but in this economic time of change and fervor it was nobody else's fault they didn't see this one coming and do something about it. I see too many of these "oh poor me" mom and pop stories, and I'm at the point now where you might say I'm "desensitized".

Haiti needs help, not horseshit.

2010-01-14T04:43:00.000-08:00

Before I get into some self-indulgent soapbox target practice and opinion hurling on my under-read blog, let me say that it's of more importance to me to say to anyone that may come by here that my heart goes out to those suffering, and I recommend donating to the red cross or anyone else working in Haiti. There are all kinds of great campaigns going on, text-to-donate and fund drives of a more traditional vein... google it and help if you're lucky enough to be able to.

That said, Pat Robertson has outdone himself. That slimy, used car salesman, slickster waste of skin has seriously opened up the valves on his douchenozzle and let her rip. I just can NOT wrap my head around the idea that someone who imagines themselves as a "spiritual leader" and runs around telling people they preach the gospel of a god that loves people, could also make statements such as his about a tragedy such as the one recently afflicting Haitian people.

If you haven't seen, his position is that those people, Christians, non-christians, children, the elderly, the disabled, all those fucked right up by this earthquake are just getting their fair punishment. For what you ask? Well, of course, for making a deal with the devil generations ago in order to escape slavery and French minority rule. Can you imagine what must be going on in this twisted old maniacs faithbrain?! If so, then please, let me know, because I'm having what might be aptly described as a "hard time" with it.

My beef right now is not with Pat. It's with dozens of shit-eating religious "middle management" types who are distancing themselves from these comments while throwing up stupid disclaimers. PLEASE: If your horrifying dedication to some warped, violent sect of whatever religion prevents you from realizing that these people don't deserve this, then just shut the fuck up. Give the sensible people that much. Be quiet, and let people observe the Pat Robertsons for what they are. This way, maybe a few people will stop buying the snake-oil of religion and that can be our silver lining. Take this idiot who writes a whole piece discussing the theological implications of Robertsons diatribe. Or this one, who "condemns" lightly his comments, but takes up more column space apologizing for criticizing Pat Robertson. If you're a christian, or worse yet an actual contributor to this fool's campaign of hate and garbage, there is no appropriate response but a really serious gut-check. One where you ask yourself "is my uppity sense of false piety worth looking like THIS MUCH of an asshole?". Because you do. If you don't put real space between yourself and this man after this, those words may as well have come from your own mouth.

A system in which this guy can make statements like that and still roll in hot cars, beautiful custom suits on tax-free money people think is doing good in the world shouldn't exist in our "enlightened" society. Furthermore, a god that kills so many innocents for a crime committed by their ancestors under duress, but doesn't smite one man for defaming him so horribly of course does not exist.

I could write hotly and increasingly badly about this indefinitely, but I'll leave it at that.

Is freedom of religion necessary?

2010-01-02T01:08:00.000-08:00

If standard human rights documents include freedom of expression, peaceable assembly, and the non-interference in the market of ideas and opinions, why do religions always get a whole other right to themselves?

I've always thought of this as a case of simple redundancy, but in the right (or wrong) hands it can be a lot more than that. Spun the right way, it means freedom of expression in the religious sense is protected more than in any other sense. Instead of my freedom of expression vs yours, it's my freedom of expression versus your freedom of religion and expression, and that of your organization.

Uncool.

Watch your mouth, Ireland!

2010-01-02T00:34:00.000-08:00

I'm having a hard time straightening this thing out in my mind, and therefore deciding what to lay down about it. Short story: Ireland's national government has passed a law, in effect as of yesterday, Jan 1 2010, which criminalizes blasphemy. It carries a twenty five thousand pound fine, and is defined as the publication or utterance (utterance!) of any material that outrages a "substantial number" of members of any given religion.

Atheist media and pundits around the world are expressing incredulity, outrage, and laughing at the law. Atheist Ireland seems to be openly defying the law, publishing a list of 24 blasphemous quotes less than an hour after the it came into effect. That's cool, but their outward attitude and simplistic stance (freedom only) against the law may prove ineffective. I don't find it very funny, and believe there are some conceivable grounds, even. Ireland has a rich history of sectarian violence and terrorism associated with religious difference. On the surface, it stands to reason that if they give up a little freedom of expression in order to stop people pissing each other off in this arena, maybe that stuff will be slowed. While there's a scrap of logic there, is is quickly and roundly outweighed by evidence, examples, and logic pointing in the other direction.

Let's start with arguments for the new law being unjust, as that will be the easy part. Primarily I'm going with discrimination and inequality for those who do not hold anything sacred. Though the law treats everyone who does pretty equally, it leaves atheists, agnostics, humanists, and whatever else Irish atheists want to call themselves without any protection. This amounts to the state intervening in a conflict between two or more ideas by handing one (or one category) the win. If you're allowed to tell me my atheism is crazy and stupid, because it's not "sacred", why can't I tell you your bible is crazy and stupid? There are a bunch of arguments for this case, but that's my favorite one and they're all being covered to a gross extent all over the internet, so balls to that.

What I believe many opposing public people are missing, is the case for this law being completely ineffective, and possibly counterproductive. Religious violence stems from the entitlement of the pious, the societal idea that while it's great to scrutinize and assess ideas in the open marketplace, religions and their merits should be left out, because that's the nice thing to do. The wording of this legislation solidifies this, and even more frightening, gives religious groups a clear incentive to express "outrage". If the vagueness and flexibility of the law makes everything they get really, really mad about illegal why should anyone believe it will prevent them from getting really, really mad? So, if successfully enforced, it carries the promise of lots more expressed anger from organized religious groups, but can it even be successfully enforced? Are they going to start filtering the web, television, radio, and print media coming in from other countries still practicing freedom of expression in this area? How much outrage makes something illegal? How many people is "a substantial number"? It's a real mess.

In any case, I'll be watching this law and Atheist Ireland's campaign to have it repealed with great interest.

Don't Fence Me In!

2009-12-18T06:19:00.001-08:00

I come before you this fine morning to bemoan the genre! Yeah, it's reprehensible. What fits where, what justifies the creation of a new genre, and why does it matter at all?

More specifically: this time I want to bitch about the genre of books entitled "non-fiction". Amazon, Wikipedia, Metacritic, all tend to lump everything not totally made up as non-fiction. I'm aware that libraries, bookstores and other institutions have split this up out of practical necessity, but doesn't that just point further to the ineffectiveness of the convention?

No more discrimination against non-fiction books! Until I see mystery, sci-fi, romance, and horror lumped together as "subjects" under the banner genre "fiction", I'll... well, I'll just quietly resent the industry, thanks.

More fun in New Zealand

2009-12-17T04:22:00.000-08:00

The BBC says New Zealand is all aflutter about a religion-themed billboard. Believe it or not, though, it's not this atheist one, though apparently they're still also experiencing controversy about that, well behind the rest of the world which has largely embraced them.

No! This one happens to be one group of Catholics producing a billboard that OTHER Catholics think makes the whole lot of them look a little too silly. See for yourself: its caption "Poor Joseph: God was a hard act to follow" accompanied by a painting of the dejected J-man himself in bed with the famous virgin leaves no doubt that the billboard is some kind of play on the idea that God fathered a child with that human woman.

The reason I like this so much has got to boil down to the objector's position: "Our Christian tradition of 2,000 years is that Mary remains a virgin and that Jesus is the son of God, not Joseph,". That's what Lyndsay Freer for the Auckland Diocese gave the press, when asked why they so vehemently opposed this billboard, paid for by their own organization. Does not the work on the billboard make it evident that its makers were well aware of this "tradition"?

It calls to mind the fine line that religious apologists and salespeople of eternity are forced to walk in these advanced times. Try as they might to hamper the spread of knowledge, many people are much more educated than in these organizations' hey days. Many of the talking snakes, virgin births, party-trick miracles, and geological impossibilities that used to amaze people and send them flocking into church are pretty solidly refutable by science. These days, direct references to these parts of religion are largely frowned upon, especially within the organizations at higher levels, because it makes them look really, really stupid. Tough beans, guys, you picked the wrong field to impress people with your smarts.

Way to go, Redmond.

2009-12-17T00:55:00.000-08:00

Why doesn't anyone ever write about how clever the folks at Microsoft are, and how well designed their product support systems are, tailored from the hardware through the resident software, third-party applications, and networks to the warranty department?

My Xbox 360 console died last week. At 2:30AM, in the middle of some work (work for the console, play for me), the graphics processing areas of the system fought their demise proudly in a spectacular display of nonsense before ceasing to function entirely. Says xbox Live, the box was running, and announcing my being "online" to the world, to everyone but me. Google it, lots of people describing the problem perfectly along with their lengthy conversations with service techs say it's toast. It's 6 years old, bought used, no warranty -at all-, so I'm replacing. Knee Jerk: "FUK U, MIKRSFT!", but really, whatever; thing's pretty old and has had some long days.

What am I in for? I figure $200 replacement, and a bunch of time transferring licenses, setting up the new box: you know, a little digital moving day. I knew most of my stuff lived on the detachable HDD, but I figured like any other device there'd be a little work to do in a maneuvre like this. No dice. Popped the HDD out, put it in the blank slot that came with the new one (an "arcade" bundle which comes with nothing), and powered that shit on. It was my old xbox! Absolutely, to a "t", as if I had simply repaired the old one by way of some magic or other. Thanks dudes, for going to the otherwise not-profitable cost in time and money necessary to make that future process seamless.

In other news: I'm still sane, and angry about buying HDD storage at fairy tale giant sized margins, and paying a $10 tax on xbox games for living in Canada. Furthermore, my original Xbox is running fine after living two full lives as a retail console (50+ games to completion), emulator (played, a lot, man), and some years in its current iteration as a media workhorse. Don't get complacent.

Should we say "Theory"?

2009-12-09T23:17:00.000-08:00

So I was trying to go to sleep this morning, with the soothing sounds of the laminate flooring installation process serenading me, its jigsaws and hammers harmonizing in ever ascending crescendos throughout. Fortunately, I can pass out effectively in front of a movie no matter the noise levels in the area.

Today's movie, which I saw 80% of and finished when I woke up, was Randy Olson's snarky documentary about the "Intelligent Design" movement. Check it out, if you're not familiar with the tomfoolery the creation "science" clowns have been up to since dropping that title. Long story short, they're trying to inject the supernatural into grade school science textbooks and curricula across the Western world, under false pretenses of fairness and actual science. I could go on about the horrors of this movement, the insidious evangelical funding agencies, the implications for education, etc etc, and I probably will some day in another post, but I'm not angry enough for that right now.

What I do want to talk about, is an interesting point that was raised by one of the eight evolutionary biology PhDs Mr.Olson talks about ID with over a lively poker game in the film. Said point is that since liars and crooks have gotten so much mileage out of the word "theory" as it pertains to evolution science we should stop using it. The proposal is that we simply stop calling it theory, and start calling it "fact" in order to prevent this misrepresentation and wrest science back from the kooks. While attractive on the surface, I believe this idea is both dangerous to the cause and fundamentally wrong aside from its impact.

Merrian-Webster defines "theory" in the following ways:

1 : the analysis of a set of facts in their relation to one another
2 : abstract thought : speculation
3 : the general or abstract principles of a body of fact, a science, or an art
4 a : a belief, policy, or procedure proposed or followed as the basis of action b : an ideal or hypothetical set of facts, principles, or circumstances —often used in the phrase in theory
5 : a plausible or scientifically acceptable general principle or body of principles offered to explain phenomena
6 a : a hypothesis assumed for the sake of argument or investigation b : an unproved assumption : conjecture c : a body of theorems presenting a concise systematic view of a subject

All definitions considered, there's plenty of wiggle room there for both sides, enough so that one might consider it weak to anti-evolutionist arguments ending in "..just a theory". I don't believe this to be the case, because nobody's arguing that evolution fits under definition 6b, rather simply declaring that the application of the word renders the whole science shaky and unproven. In response to this, all you have to do is direct the confused party to the whole collection of definitions, at which point you're bounced back to looking at the evidence, which puts them in hot water.

Theory, in science and in education, is very often and very rightly used to describe bodies of knowledge which are flexible and subject to detailed change, but very real and applicable in general. Consider music theory, game theory, and the reference to every science class that doesn't take place in a lab as a "theory lesson". To change that for this one very specialized area could have disastrous effects, appearing as a defensive maneuver, legitimizing the representation of the science by creationists as "controversial", and throwing into question everything else referred to as theory.

Evolution science does not need to defend itself. Defense from the threat of evangelical creationist orgs undermining and destroying our educational system must be undertaken in the courts and in the public sphere, by society itself. Any action or change of course taken by the scientific community in response to their heinous actions other than pointing and laughing is a victory for their movement. Furthermore, the confusion around the word theory, as it has not arisen in any of the other similar uses (see: music, etc.), can only be assumed to be a result of direct inference by those who endeavor to create controversy and dissent. Therefore, the only appropriate solutions range from ignoring those people to intellectually condemning them.

Masked Shepherds

2009-12-09T06:08:00.000-08:00

What's up?!?!!

It has been entirely six months since I first posted here. In that inaugural post, I allude to daily updates (glad I threw that small print in there). Bi-annually, in the grandest scheme of things, and compared to only once ever, might as well be daily.

Re: this post's title: I was securing the premises at work today, around 2:30AM, and heard some crazy rummaging just on the other side of a fence I was walking along with my beastly maglite. Upon focusing said flashlight's beam on the general area and peering over the fence, I saw a couple of raccoons, seemingly dancing madly in the wood chips right up against the fence. I'm about 3 feet away and they glance up briefly before continuing. After a minute or so they go back to being normal raccoons, digging around for juicy bugs to eat. I have developed a theory as to their previous behavior, but need to lay out the scene a little more to get to it.

There's a strip of empty space between the hostel I work in and the apartment building next door. It's occupied, like so many cheaply landscaped properties in town, by a 6 inch layer of woodchips thrown onto a black plastic sheet. The raccoons were alternating between pulling back the edges of the sheet to eat the bugs underneath, and replacing the plastic before dancing around madly on it and re-covering it with wood chips. I don't really have a biological basis for this, but I can only assume these guys had the foresight to know that if they restored that unnaturally perfect gathering spot for big, soft bugs, there would be another meal there the next time they came by. So the dance is to tamp down the plastic, readying it for the attraction of more food. It's either insect husbandry or mindfulness of the building managers' intention to keep the chips as they are, either way a wicked smart move by some animals I already knew were pretty sharp.

See you in six months!

Welcome

2009-04-16T01:38:00.000-07:00

You know, I was kind of torn as to whether or not I should write some kind of "opener" post. It seems kind of cliched and awkward, but I'm going to anyways, and it's not going to include anything that would make it less cliched or typical.

This is my new blog! My old blog is at livejournal, and has not been updated in a very long time. THAT piece of work contains a whole lot of teenage drama and chronicles a few good years, but has grown stale and bitter with age. This lack of updating doesn't mean I haven't been using the internet, have had a dramatic decrease in available time, or have encountered nothing worth writing about. I just got really bored with livejournal, and moreso my blog in general. I want to be connected to social networks here, able to publish a lot of content in different ways, and able to "move out", should I decide to pick up a domain and further customize this space. So hail to the new conduit, out with the old, and all that jazz.

THINGS TO EXPECT:

- A daily* handful of links to things I've seen and would like you to see.

- personal updates as to things I deem interesting enough to record here.

- projects! One of the main intentions for this space is to document some upcoming projects I want to get into, mainly as a means to motivate myself. Hopefully I can get some readership in here, and subsequently a little feedback on this stuff :)

- I'm making a second blog, as we speak. This will be a place of opinion and commentary on current events and my pet issues. Will post a link and intro, when applicable

- Other things. Promise.

Thanks for coming by! Please subscribe to my RSS feed, and keep an eye on this space, and let me know that you saw me here and where I can hear about what YOU're doing.

(*every single day I decide to do it.)