The beginning of his self-description: "I'm a witty fucker, a base and vile brabbler; I never know when to quit, I'm a terrier. The conscience of the people, a gob in the eye of convention,an equal opportunities offender."
Matt was the student who busted that fundy teacher preaching in History class about how dinosaurs were on the ark, and if a student didn't believe in Jesus, she deserved to go to Hell. She's a Muslim.
Alas, poor Matt is catching crap from the majority of townsfolk, and the teacher is still teaching, and the superintendant has done nothing.
This quote from Matt seems to sum up the situation:
Matthew LaClair said he reproached the school superintendent, Robert Mooney, saying "I thought when I gave this information to you, it would be handled by an adult, I guess I was wrong."
So I just took a test. "What's your secuction style?"
Results below the fold.
Then it says "You need the Sinner Guide". Hell, I wrote it.
Anyways, clicking on that brings up some pictures in the handbook, each with a caption...
A Pentagram - "Place on front door, bedpost, forehead, anywhere that you want to say 'Hey, I'm evil'."
A flask - "Lighten the mood or dull the shame. Real hedonists keep a steady supply of booze on their person at all times."
Handcuffs - "Use these to exercise restraint, or as a conversation piece on your desk at work. Coworkers love it when you rattle these and wink at them."
Naked Photos of Self - "Give these to people you might want to have sex with. Slutty is the new black."
Scissors - "Oh the uses are manifold. Make sure to run with them because you're bad."
Extra set of keys - "Place in fishbowl. Wait for stranger to retrieve them."
For all both of you on earth who may not be familiar with Carmen Sandiego, or the late, great, Lynne Thigpen.
Sorry I couldn't find a better copy of the final title theme, but hey, it's better than nuthin'.
And a pretty cool video featuring Lost's Kate Austin and Rockappella's Carmen theme song.
And if you want to sing along (and how could you NOT?), here's the lyrics...
Well she sneaks around the world from Kiev to Carolina, She's a sticky-fingered filcher from Berlin down to Belize, She'll take you for a ride on a slow boat to China, Tell me where in the world is Carmen Sandiego?
Steal their Seoul in South Korea, make Antarctica cry Uncle, From the Red Sea to Greenland they'll be singing the blues, Well they never Arkansas her steal the Mekong from the jungle, Tell me where in the world is Carmen Sandiego?
She go from Nashville to Norway, Bonaire to Zimbabwe, Chicago to Czechoslovakia and back!
Well she'll ransack Pakistan and run a scam in Scandinavia, Then she'll stick 'em up Down Under and go pick-pocket Perth, She put the Miss in misdemeanor when she stole the beans from Lima, Tell me where in the world is Carmen Sandiego? Oh tell me where in the world is... Oh tell me where can she be?
Ooh, Botswana to Thailand, Milan via Amsterdam, Mali to Bali, Ohio, Oahu...!
Well she glides around the globe and she'll flimflam every nation, She's a double-dealing diva with a taste for thievery, Her itinerary's loaded up with moving violations, Tell me where in the world is Carmen Sandiego?
Now, Tara is often busy with actual work, and doesn't post every single day. Lord knows there are lots of cows out there who need their butts explored. Umm... that didn't come out exactly right.
Anything else I say about that is just going to make it worse, so for the full story on that, maybe you should just check out Tara's post.
Anyway, back to the topic at hand. Aunt Tara, as I've come to think of her, last posted on the 19th. She did mention that she would be visiting family for the week, without good web access, and that the University was not having classes for the following week. Ok, so we have to go without our Aetiology fix for a week. Tough, but we can do it.
It's now Tuesday of the week following the following week, and still no word from Aunt Tara. I'm sure she's fine, and I can live an extra few days without my fix, but I'm just an eeensy weensy bit concerned.
[SECOND EDIT - The portions crossed out are now missing from the current version of the NSTA's response...]
[EDIT: Via a comment made anonymously from Ft. Worth, Texas, I am including the NSTA's official response first, which can be found in their pressroom. -
NSTA Press Release NSTA Statement on November 26 Washington Post Op-ed "Science à la Joe Camel" Nov 28 2006
On November 26, the Washington Post printed an opinion piece from environmental activist Laurie David, a producer of the film "An Inconvenient Truth." In her op-ed Ms. David reports that NSTA rejected the opportunity to distribute 50,000 copies of the DVD to NSTA members.
NSTA policy states that the association cannot endorse any outside organization's products and/or messages to its members. Therefore, we do not send any such products and/or messages directly to our members, regardless of the source.
What was not mentioned in the op-ed is the fact that during conversations with Ms. David's representative we suggested making the DVD available via alternative means of distribution (e.g. by providing a mailing list of our members to producers, announcing its availability in our publications, etc.). It appears that these alternative distribution mechanisms were unsatisfactory.
It was not the intent of the NSTA to restrict "An Inconvenient Truth" from its members and we are currently pursuing options to make the DVD available to teachers.
In the op-ed Ms. David goes on to characterize NSTA as a willing corporate America partner that eagerly pushes corporate messages about the environment.
This is not true.
The perception created by the op-ed that NSTA has a conflict of interest in dealing with corporate America is misleading. This is a very serious issue to NSTA and science education. Like many organizations, NSTA does receive support from corporate America and other organizations (in FY06 total corporate support received by NSTA was 16.4% and total support from energy companies was 3.77%). Before we accept any funds from outside groups (corporate or otherwise), and as a condition of any support, we make it clear that NSTA is solely responsible for developing, directing, and implementing the programs we offer to teachers.
Let me specifically address the programs outlined in the op-ed: ExxonMobil has been a long-time sponsor of the national network we call Building a Presence for Science. In this project we have identified a "point of contact" for science in over 40,000 school buildings. Originally conceived to provide a copy of the National Science Education Standards to each school, NSTA now regularly sends these points of contact useful information on science education that they share with teachers in their buildings. Not once has ExxonMobil asked to use this network for their own purposes.
The Shell Oil Company funds national research science experts to present at our national conference, where they speak directly to science teachers about their field of research. NSTA chooses the scientists, invites the scientists, and hosts the scientists at these conferences. In addition, the Shell Oil Company sponsors the Shell Science Teaching award for K-12 science teachers who have had a positive impact on his or her students, school, and community through exemplary classroom teaching. This award program is administered by NSTA and the recipients are chosen by science teachers selected by NSTA.
The partnership with API, which ended 5 years ago, led to the creation of a simulation, done entirely by NSTA, on energy usage. The video in question, "You Can't Be Cool Without Fuel" was not on our website. The only record of NSTA distributing it to members we found was from 1999, prior to the current endorsement policy.
Global warming is a very important science/societal issue. NSTA has always supported sound environmental science education. We regret this current controversy surrounding our decision not to mass distribute the DVD to our members, and we are working to promote the availability of the film.
In response to an October 2005 report titled Rising Above the Gathering Storm, a strong consensus is emerging in the business, education, and scientific communities that our nation's future competitiveness in the global marketplace is directly tied to the ability of our schools to better prepare children in mathematics and the sciences. We should be discussing positive ways of how we can work together to strengthen the science education we provide to our nation's students.
The mission of the NSTA is to promote excellence and innovation in science teaching and learning for all, and for over 50 years NSTA has been a staunch supporter of quality science education. We are very proud of the work we do on behalf of science education.
Dr. Gerald Wheeler Executive Director National Science Teachers Association
Thank you for that, anonymous. It certainly sheds a different light on things. Please do come back and accept my thanks for that.]
It appears as though the National Science Teachers Association has abandoned its search for truth and is now looking for a good sugar daddy.
Laurie David, one of the producers of An Inconvenient Truth, wrote a piece for today's Washington Post describing her efforts to make 50,000 DVD copies of that movie available to America's science teachers through NSTA.
They said no. And, more weirdly, they explained why. First, they said, they were afraid that if they started taking information from "special interests" like David, they'd have to take them from other groups, too. As though a private organization is obligated to accept and distribute any fool thing the Flat Earth Society may send them? As though they're not scientists, capable of sussing out the factual truth and relative educational value of any given piece of would-be curriculum? As though (as David points out) An Inconvenient Truth isn't already part of the required science curriculum in other countries, including Sweden and Norway?
Setting up my new computer, actually. Kate braved the insanity on Friday to pick me up a new computer. She rocks my world!
So here's where I've ended up computationally speaking...
Since my old desktop was sort of pieced together from scratch, what I had was a 1.2 ghz processor, 120 g hard drive, a DVD RW drive, a monster 17" monitor, etc. etc.
Grabbing the best of my old computer and jamming it into my new computer, I now have 200 gigs of hard drive space, a 3.2 ghz processor, a flat LCD monitor (only 15", but still way better than the huge ass monster that used to occupy most of my desk) and a DVD rom/ CDRW in addition to the DVD writer from the old beast.
The internal fans are much quiter, too. The XP Media Center Edition came preloaded, and I get a free upgrade to Vista when it eventually comes out. I don't know if I'll switch my OS right away, though, given Microsoft's penchant for beta testing its crap on an unsuspecting world. We'll see.
I'm still re-installing software that I have loaded on the old hard drive, since a bunch of it won't run now that the old hard drive is the F drive and not the C drive.
I'm keeping the old keyboard. I've been using the new one, but I don't like it, and neither does Kate.
I think I'll pick up a little hard drive and a copy of XP Home to load on it, and give the old dinosaur to Aunt Helen. She's been after Cousin Bob for a while to get her set up with a computer, but he's stuck on the idea of getting her the latest, greatest, biggest, baddest system on the market. She's nearly 70, and just wants to be able to email and scan pictures and stuff. She doesn't need to spend 3K on a computer.
I'll be the favorite for a very long time, I think. Of course, that means I volunteer to be tech support, which I'm not so thrilled with, but for Aunt Helen, I'll do it.
Aunt Helen rocks.
Oh, and I've also been reading "The Selfish Gene" in my spare time. I'm on like page 3. (I'm a busy girl, whattdya want?)
So on an early morning errand this morning, I was listening in my car to Morning Edition, on NPR. The Prez is in Estonia, and is of course getting peppered with questions about Iraq like so many pellets from Dick Cheney's 12 gauge.
The response in question is below the fold to protect the innocent and those with less than industrial strength irony meters...
This is quoted from memory once I got back to the house, so it may not be perfect, but it's pretty close.
"If Iran is going to be involved in Iraq, they should be involved in a constructive way, working for peace." - Dubya
Crap. Do you know how expensive an in-dash irony meter with auto-updated overload protection, Dolby 5.1 surround sound and digital LCD equalizer is? That sucker even had TIVO and XM satellite radio built in.
Wherein The Disembodied Telic Entity really tries to wreck the holiday, but Aunt Helen subdues the Evil One.
So I mentioned that Thanksgiving wasn't going well for us. My Grand-Aunt saved the day, but it was nearly a disaster.
[Cue wavy video with descending audio scale transition to flashback to Thanksgiving Eve....]
First, I baked the first apple pie, and then threw the turkey in, thinking I'd bake the splenda pie when the turkey was done. Forgetting, of course, that the turkey was an all night, right-up-til-dinner thing.
No prob, I'd have the pie ready and waiting to go in as soon as the turkey was done, and it could bake while everyone was eating (it takes 50 minutes).
In the morning, Kate says to me, "Hey, did you know your pie is hard as a rock?"
Sure enough, I poke the crust and it's like steel. Break-your-teeth-on-it kind of hard.
Crap.
Forgot to butter the crust before it went in the oven. I'm a little rusty, since I really haven't been doing any baking in several months.
Ok, no prob, I'll toss it and make two pies and bake them both while everyone is eating.
Just then, BANG!
There's some kind of small explosion in the oven. Big enough that the oven door blew open a little.
WTF?
I look in, and the lid to the turkey pan, which is pyrex and was made to be and has been used in the oven half a dozen times before, is nothing but the metal frame. The fracking thing had shattered. All over the turkey.
I'm in tears, just hysterical. Now we had planned to go to Aunt Helen's anyway because her dinner was going to be around 1, but we were going to have our own big dinner later because it's our first since we bought the house, and we wanted to have our first Thanksgiving in OUR house, y'know?
Problem with just going to Aunt Helen's is that there is a young Marine fella living next door whose wife is bi-polar and just left him to go back to her family in Seattle, and he's left here all alone with his two year old daughter. The guy's helpless. He can barely cook a hot-dog. We had invited him to have Thanksgiving with us, because we feel so bad for him. He's a little off, and like I said, helpless, but he's a good kid.
Aunt Helen's met him a few times at our cook-outs, but we could hardly just invite him over to someone else's house.
Fortunately, Aunt Helen has a soft-spot for Marines, having been one herself back in the late 50's. (She was discharged after about 6 months because she got pregnant. They really used to do that!)
Kate drove over to talk to her about it, and of course I'm further upset because I'm feeling like she bailed on me in my hour of need.
Anyway, Aunt Helen says it's OK, and she would have invited him anyway if we weren't having our own dinner, and eventually I calm down and all is well. We had made so much stuff, that we had to take my car over with Dave (the neighbor), his daughter, and me, while Kate took her car, loaded down with food.
Of course, Aunt Helen has her three kids, their spouses, and her two grandsons and one grand-spouse, along with Uncle Luis (Aunt Helen's ex-husband) and has more than enough food to feed us all without our food. I think we could have fed an entire batallion of Marines with just the left-overs.
It's all good now, but it was quite the mess at the time.
Who the hell knew about this and didn't tell me? Which one of you thought this was the Bush Administration, and decided that reality should never reach my ears? Whoever you are, you're fired.
(AP) Sugar growers and consumer groups want the government to investigate advertising claims by the makers of the sugar substitute Splenda.
They say the slogan "Made from Sugar" is misleading. The head of the Center for Science in the Public Interest says "made from chlorinated hydrocarbons" would be more accurate. Michael Jacobson says McNeil Nutritionals -- part of Johnson and Johnson -- is trying to confuse consumers into thinking they're using an all-natural sweetener.
The president of the Sugar Association says Splenda is nothing more than a "highly processed chemical compound made in a factory."
But a McNeil spokeswoman says sugar is indeed used to make one of the ingredients in Splenda. And she says Splenda's manufacturer has filed court papers against the Sugar Association itself -- for claims it's made against Splenda.
CRAP CRAP CRAP.
I hate aspartame, I hate saccharin. They both really crap up a recipe. My Greand Aunt Helen is diabetic, so when I discovered sucralose, and found out how much easier it is to mask the switch, I was tickled.
WHO THE HELL GAVE THEM THE RIGHT TO MISLEAD ME ABOUT WHAT IT REALLY IS, THOUGH?
Anyways, Splenda won a dismissal hearing just a few weeks ago in the lawsuit that they had brought against the sugar manufacturers.....
Article Date: 23 Oct 2006 - 0:00am (PST)
The U.S. District Court (Central District) of California yesterday denied the Sugar Association's motion to dismiss the lawsuit brought by McNeil Nutritionals, LLC, on behalf of its SPLENDA® (sucralose) Sweeteners products.
The lawsuit, which will be heard by the District Court, charges the Sugar Association and several of its member companies with false advertising designed to mislead consumers about the safety and taste of SPLENDA® Sweeteners. According to the suit, the Sugar Association has been seeking to boost sales of sugar by spreading false and misleading information about SPLENDA® Sweeteners via the internet and through other public relations channels.
The lawsuit states the multi-million dollar competitive campaign by the Sugar Association on behalf the Sugar Companies intends to cause material commercial injury to SPLENDA® Sweeteners.
SPLENDA® Brand Sweetener (sucralose), the sweetening ingredient in all SPLENDA® Sweeteners, is made through a patented, multi-step process that starts with sugar and converts it to a no calorie, non-carbohydrate sweetener. The result is an exceptionally stable sweetener that tastes like sugar, but without sugar's calories. Recent clinical data suggests that SPLENDA® No Calorie Sweetener can be a helpful tool for children and families to use as part of a program to reduce calories and increase physical activity, in order to prevent additional weight gain in overweight children.
SPLENDA® Sweeteners have been used safely by millions of consumers in all population groups worldwide, including pregnant women, children and individuals with diabetes. SPLENDA® Brand Sweetener (sucralose) was first sold more than 13 years ago and is now permitted for use in over 80 countries.
About SPLENDA® Brand Sweetener
SPLENDA® Sweeteners are marketed by McNeil Nutritionals, LLC. SPLENDA® Brand Sweetener is used in more than 4,000 products of major food brands worldwide. You can find out more about SPLENDA® Sweeteners or get recipes and tips on cooking and baking with the brand by logging on to http://www.splenda.com.
About McNeil Nutritionals, LLC
McNeil Nutritionals, LLC, is a marketer of innovative nutritional products. The company's mission is to give people the ability to actively manage their own health. McNeil Nutritionals, LLC, markets SPLENDA® No Calorie Sweetener, SPLENDA® Sugar Blend, SPLENDA® Brown Sugar Blend, VIACTIV® Calcium Soft Chews, VIACTIV® Multi-Vitamin Soft Chews, LACTAID® Milk and Dietary Supplements and BENECOL® Spreads. McNeil Nutritionals, LLC, is headquartered in Fort Washington, PA.
There is apparently a great deal of suit/countersuit, which will take a while to unravel. It's Thanksgiving, so I've got other things to do. Maybe tomorrow...
The oven, that is. And it'll probably not stop until January 2nd or 3rd. I've done a peanut butter pie, the coleslaw (neither of which require the oven, of course), and just pulled the first apple pie out of the oven. The turkey goes in next.
Oh, and by the way. I am the Goddess of pie. My pie is to die for.
Oh, and I bake, too.
HAHAHAHAHA!
My apple pie really IS to die for. It's home made from scratch - including the crust. And I even do a Splenda varient for my diabetic Grand Aunt, and usually it gets scarfed just as fast as the regular one, because nobody can tell which is which.
Ok, so I was stripping the blog down to try to get Wordpress to import my blog over there (BECAUSE BLOGGER IS DOWN ALL THE DAMNED TIME) and I republished several times trying to get it to work (BECAUSE EVERY TIME I TURN AROUND BLOGGER IS DOWN AGAIN) and apparently I tripped some sort of filter trying to catch spam blogs.
So now I have to do the word verification thing until somebody at Blogger (WHICH SUCKS ASS BECAUSE IT'S DOWN ALL THE DAMNED TIME) comes to personally review my blog (WHICH IS ON BLOGGER, WHICH IS ALWAYS CRASHING) to determine if my blog is a spam blog.
So this little note is for you, mister review guy.
BLOGGER IS DOWN ALL THE GODDAMNED TIME, WHICH IS WHY I'M LEAVING BLOGGER, WHICH IS WHY I WAS WORKING ON MY BLOG, WHICH IS WHY I HAD TO KEEP REPUBLISHING MY BLOG.
Just so y'know.
[UPDATE: I got an email from Blogger - it's below the fold.]
Hello,
Your blog has been reviewed, verified, and cleared for regular use so that it will no longer appear as potential spam. If you sign out of Blogger and sign back in again, you should be able to post as normal. Thanks for your patience, and we apologize for any inconvenience this has caused.
Well, today we got our 10,000th visit here at UDoJ. Unfortunately, I couldn’t post about it because Blogger was down AGAIN. That’s it, I’ve had it, we’re done, we’re moving. It won’t be today, and this may not be the final address (we may choose to get our own domain or something), but the decision to ditch Blogger is final.
Blogger sucks ass, and we’re gone.
Thanks for all 10,000. Let's go for 10,000 MORE!
Oh, but here’s our 10,000th visitor, from Philly (which is kinda cool since that’s where The Boy grew up).
UDreamOfJanie Who’s On? > Visit Detail Visit 10,000 IP Address xx.xx.xxx.# Location Continent : North America Country : United States (Facts) State : Pennsylvania City : Philadelphia Lat/Long : 39.9968, -75.1485 (Map) Operating System Microsoft WinXP Javascript version 1.5 Resolution : 1280 x 1024 Color Depth : 32 bits
Over at Dispatches, Ed writes eloquently about the history of separation of church and state. Along the way, he mentions a fella by the name of Roger Williams, one of the founders of Rhode Island.
Allow me to quote Ed...
Notice how he pretends that the situation for Roger Williams was only that the government was violating his religious freedom; he does so because folks like him like to pretend that separation of church and state only means the church is protected from state intervention. But the reality, as demonstrated perfectly by the Roger Williams situation, is that separation requires both. The reason why Williams' religious freedom was restricted by the Massachusetts Bay Colony was because that colony was controlled by the Puritans, who rejected any notion of separation of church and state.
The Mass Bay Colony was a theocracy, ruled by Puritans. They used the Mosaic law as the civil and criminal law for the colony and they were ruled over by religious leaders. Anyone preaching anything contrary to their narrow theology was imprisoned, deported or killed. Williams was about to be deported when he fled the colony and settled in what is now Rhode Island, starting the Providence Colony. He was not alone. Quakers, Baptists and other non-Puritan Christians also found themselves jailed in Massachusetts for having the wrong theological interpretations of the Bible.
Williams clearly understood that religious freedom demanded both freedom OF religion and freedom FROM religion - that is, from the imposition of someone else's religion. So in contrast to the false impllcation here, Williams' case demonstrates perfectly the necessity of keeping the church from controlling the state and destroying the religious freedom of all who are not members of that church.
What does this have to do with me? I'll tell you below the fold.
Williams was not alone in his founding of the new colony. There were 53 other proprietors who first settled Rhode Island, and among them was William Arnold, both father of the three time governor of Rhode Island, Benedict Arnold, and Great Great Grandfather of the now imfamous traitor to the American Revolution Benedict Arnold. (Note: The story of General Arnold is not quite as cut and dry as American children are led to believe and though he was definitely in the wrong, the full story is worth your consideration. It is in fact, the story of how one of the greatest patriots of the Revolution could be driven to treason, by the deaf ears of the Continental Congress, out of concern for his men, and for the love of his young bride. It's a tale of heroism, romance, suspense, deception, treason and tragedy worthy of the pen of The Bard.)
But William also had amongst his children a daughter, Elizabeth Peake Arnold, who married the Reverend William Carpenter. Turns out that William and Elizabeth (Arnold) Carpenter were my 12th Great Grandparents, and William Arnold my 13th Great Grandfather.
In my family there is a strong tradition of belief in keeping the state out of the affairs of the church, and the church out of the affairs of the state. I hope and believe that we do my forefathers proud.
So I made a comment over at Cocktail Party Physics, which sounded like a really good ending for a poem. I thought about writing one myself, and then I thought I'd like to see what you guys could do.
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is below the fold.
Ok all you regular Dreamers, I guess I can disclose my patron's name...
Ed Brayton, whose idea I ran with on the Priceless video, has very kindly posted it at Dispatches from the Culture Wars, and even gave us a plug!
Ed thought up the video, with the backdrop of the Mastercard commercial, and the script. I just stuck some images and sound to it. It's really his baby.
I'll have to discuss the whole credit thing with The Boy (For those of you who don't know, that's Lou). He apparently forgets who's in charge around here sometimes...
:)
It was a group effort though, so we'll let The Boy (Lou) slide on this one. But just because he's in charge of the body, doesn't mean he's in charge of the brain.
Honors for This Video: #94 - Top Rated (Today) - Science & Technology - All #41 - Most Viewed (Today) - Science & Technology - All #88 - Top Favorites (Today) - Science & Technology - All
Honors for This Video: #96 - Top Rated (Today) - Science & Technology - All #25 - Most Viewed (Today) - Science & Technology - All #17 - Most Viewed (Today) - Science & Technology - English #88 - Top Favorites (Today) - Science & Technology - All
]
[UPDATE as of 9:30PM:
Honors for This Video: #67 - Top Rated (Today) - Science & Technology - All #20 - Most Viewed (Today) - Science & Technology - All #16 - Most Viewed (Today) - Science & Technology - English #79 - Top Favorites (Today) - Science & Technology - All
Not that that's earth shattering, but it's still kinda cool.
Of course, we have Ed to thank for the wider dissemination of this video.
OOOO! She has a fictional companion, too! But hey, she's trying to horn in on my prey! Eh, we like her anyway.
Jennifer's bio, from her About page is below the fold:
"Biography
I'm a former English major turned science writer, through serendipitous accident: I stumbled into writing about physics, drifted further and further into the field, then woke up one day and exclaimed, "Hey! I'm a science writer!" It was a life-changing epiphany. You know how people look for love by making a list of everything they desire in a mate, and then fall for someone who has NONE of those traits? That's my career in a nutshell. Sometimes there's a disconnnect between what we think we want, and what we actually need to be fulfilled. Science writing turned out to be the perfect gig for me, and I've been avidly exploring my inner geek ever since.
Over the years, I've built up some respectable "street cred," having written extensively for the science trade press, and, increasingly, for the general public in such venues as Discover magazine and Salon. I've covered the acoustics of Mayan pyramids and NYC subways, the physics of foam, optics and art, and the precarious pitfalls of pseudoscience, among other colorful topics.
I'm also the proud author of two books for the general public: Black Bodies and Quantum Cats: Tales from the Annals of Physics (published in January 2006) and the forthcoming (and self-explanatory) The Physics of the Buffyverse (due out January 2007), both through Penguin. Check out my official Web site for more information.
Because I came to science writing through the backdoor, I learned about physics via firsthand experience and interactions with the scientists themselves. So for me, the entire profession is a very human endeavor, with a rich history filled with colorfully quirky personalities.
I relish the challenge of sharing the continually unfolding story of physics with those like my former physics-phobic self, who quail at the first sight of a mathematical equation and prefer, say, Stephen King to Stephen Hawking. If I can make it fun, funky, unconventional, and blur the lines between traditional disciplines -- both within the sciences themselves, and science and the arts/pop culture -- so much the better. We need fewer barriers and more bridges in this world.
After many years in New York City, I'm now based in Washington DC, sharing my modest space with a small tabby cat named Clio. I share my blog space with avatar/alter-ego (some might say Evil Twin) Jen-Luc Piquant, the tres chic hostess who presides over Cocktail Party Physics with a suitably jaundiced eye and cool panache. For those brave enough to join the party, we salute you!"
Yep, we got him in September, and he was like 12 pounds. Now he's 34. He got his last distemper/parvo vaccine for a year, and we made an appointment for January to uh.... y'know.
(He's reading over my shoulder so I don't want to mention the whole N-U-T-L-E-S-S thing. Good thing he can't spell.)
President Bush, in Vietnam, said today that the United States' unsuccessful war there three decades ago offered lessons for the American-led struggle in Iraq. "We'll succeed unless we quit," Bush said shortly after arriving in the one-time war capital, Hanoi.
Ironic, no? The Vietnam war may offer lessons, but apparently he didn't bother learning them. At least he was paying attention... sort of.
"Laura and I were talking about how amazing it is that we're here in Vietnam," the president said.
The rest of us still find it amazing that you're there in the White House.
The American people "want to know if we have a plan for success. I assured John that any reposition of troops -- if that's what we do -- will be done with John and his government. But I assured him, we're not leaving until this job is done, until Iraq can sustain and defend itself."
Wait. Last I heard, we never had a policy of "Stay The Course". Who the hell is in charge of getting out the memos? How am I supposed to remember if we're at war with Oceana, IF I CAN'T GET THE MEMOS?????
So I just had the pup out, but he wasn't happy about coming back in the house from the back yard. I hollered at him a few times, because it was raining, and eventually I gave up and just watched him from inside the storm door. After a minute or two, the rain really picked up, and started raining really really hard. Shakespeare's only been out in the rain a time or two, and only once in a good downpour. He was wiggin' out, hopping around, trying to snap at whatever it was that was getting him all wet. Truly funny stuff.
Finally, he gave up. He suddenly did this incredible speed lap around the whole outside of the back yard, then bolted for all he was worth for the door. I was a little afraid I wouldn't get the door open in time, but I just barely got it open before he would have crashed into it. So through the door he comes like a bat out of hell.
Our back door is from the patio to the garage. The garage has a smooth concrete floor. Dog paws aren't great brakes on smooth concrete floors.
Shakespeare has dog paws.
Way too funny to even express to you all without video.
With a Bible in his hand and looking haggard from two nights behind bars, Rep. Mark Olson, R-Big Lake, walked out of the Sherburne County jail Tuesday seeking forgiveness from his wife, the public and God after being charged with two misdemeanor counts of domestic assault after an incident Sunday at his home.
Olson, 51, who was just elected to his eighth term in the Legislature, stopped short of acknowledging guilt for the charges.
"I have failed terribly in my family affairs. I'm grateful for my wife's strength to speak up. First of all I need God's forgiveness and I need my wife's forgiveness and my family's. Then I need the public's forgiveness and all other officials I've done harm to." Olson was released without bail. He was ordered to stay away from his wife and children and from their home.
(I just wanted to highlight that particular turn of phrase...)
If I weren't so attached to the look and feel of my blog just as it is, I'd bail.
Every damned time I turn around, Blogger's down again. And it always does it when I'm on a roll and generating some traffic. Which of course stops traffic dead. And worse, most of the other Blogs I read are also on Blogger, so I can't even bide my time at those blogs.
It just pisses me off.
There are people out there that actually want to read the Goddamned crap I write, but they can't because Blogger goes down all the freakin' time.
But after watching about 30 seconds of this video, [Warning, turn down your speakers a bit] I gotta tell ya': They ain't so funny anymore. This kind of religion is just plain insanity. And I'll go one step further: pushing it on kids like this should end in arrest for child abuse.
That poor child doesn't stand a chance of being normal or mentally healthy.
Pro-Homosexual Democrats To Push Anti-Christian ‘Hate Crime’ Legislation By Rev. Louis P. Sheldon Chairman, Traditional Values Coalition
November 14, 2006 - With the Democrats taking control of both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives this January, we can expect the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) and its pro-homosexual surrogates newly elected to Congress, to begin an aggressive push for passage of a “hate crimes” bill designed to provide federally protected status to the behavior of homosexuality. This hate crimes bill is likely to be a re-engineered version of the old Local Law Enforcement Enhancement Act (LLEEA). The pro-homosexual, anti-Christian Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) is another bill that will be revived as part of the homosexual agenda.
Yes, it's definitely discriminatory to not allow Christians to lynch the homos. America should be ashamed. I mean, REALLY! What's this country coming to when a group of honest, white hooded Chistians can't go out on a Saturday night and snatch up some unsuspecting homo or negro or jew, or camel jockey, and provide their family with a little pinata type entertainment????
Sheesh.
The Sodomy Squadron was first exposed by Joe Murray, of Agape Press. Damn him and his spies!
...If one digs deeper into the cultural psyche of America, he will find that Christianity no longer sets the standard for proper human behavior. The Sodomy Squadron has been flying high, for the Supreme Court has deemed sodomy a fundamental right, the Federal Marriage Amendment was DOA, and Massachusetts strong-armed the Catholic Church into ceasing its adoption program when it demanded that a Catholic agency allow same-sex couples to adopt children under the care of the Roman Catholic Church.
In the political sphere, traditionalists have been hit even harder. Despite the fact that the GOP has control of Congress and the White House, this year's "America's Values Agenda" has failed to spread its wings. While the Flag Burning Amendment was only narrowly defeated, the bill to protected the words "one nation under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance became a political Hindenburg. As reported by Associated Press, "Republicans could not muster a simple majority on the issue in a committee where they outnumber Democrats by six."
And the final nail in America's cultural coffin? The American public. In a poll recently conducted by Gallup, just 48 percent of Americans believe that the federal government should "be involved in promoting moral values." Another 48 percent believe the feds should mind its own business. Thus, we have become a nation home to two different peoples, and we Christians constitute the counter-culture.
(my bold)
(Oh, and here marks the first appearance of The Sodomy Squadron at Pammy's place.)
I swear, you just can't make these nutjobs up.
Know what else? It's a goddisembodiedtelicentitydamned shame when some little barely-out-of-Aparteid country has more sense than the world's "only remaining superpower".
CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) -- Gays in South Africa can be joined in matrimony under new legislation passed by parliament -- an unprecedented move on a continent where homosexuality is taboo.
Traditionalists said they were saddened, and gay activists said the bill, passed Tuesday, did not go far enough. Veterans of the governing African National Congress hailed the Civil Union Bill for extending basic freedoms to everyone under the spirit of the country's first post-apartheid constitution, adopted a decade ago by framers determined to make discrimination a thing of the past.
"When we attained our democracy, we sought to distinguish ourselves from an unjust painful past, by declaring that never again shall it be that any South African will be discriminated against on the basis of color, creed, culture and sex," Home Affairs Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula declared.
Kudos, Big F'ing Kudos, to South Africa for approving equal marriage rights!
Hey Fundies, shut up! – It’s for your own good. Let’s assume that you are actually on the right path and there is a god and all that, why go and spoil it all by being such bad adverts for your cause?
If I saw a subset of society that was loving, caring, smart, a joy to be around, tolerant of others and who lead by example I might think, “Gosh! What’s their secret?” I’d be all over that like it had blue cheese on it.
Similarly, If I see a group of intolerant, bigoted, science denying lying braggarts, I’m likely to think,”Gods people? Bwahahahahah!”
Here’s my WEDGIE strategy for you.
Focus on being nice, not shit. Let people convert themselves without help, because you club is SOOO kewl. If reality doesn’t fit with your creation story, just move on. Don’t start a thousand year disinformation campaign. Try to be inclusive, not exclusive. The creator probably doesn’t like to be misrepresented… Your ‘inerrant book’ is not a logical argument, nor a font of fact.
It’s a big world, with room for everyone. I understand the unknown is scary and mortality sucks. We are all both noble and wretched together. There is no one above my fellow man on my list, in all candor, you can’t say the same.
Matt, our friend from Pooflingers Anonymous, just sent us the tweak to remove the "Read the rest of my thought" link from posts that don't actually have a "rest of my thought".
It's been a minor annoyance for a while, but I'm glad it's fixed.
Becky Fischer's Kids on Fire Camp—the subject of the controversial new documentary Jesus Camp—has announced that it will be shutting its doors in the wake of vandalism and negative public response.
Fisher's camp—located in Devil's Lake, North Dakota—has been the subject of much attention since the film's release, with many critics and moviegoers denouncing the camp's methods as militant and inappropriate. Upon the film's release, the Kids on Fire camp site and the local Assemblies of God church were both vandalized, with damages at the camp totaling $1,500. Says Fischer about her decision to close down her camp: "I have a responsibility to keep the children safe."
We agree, Becky. It's about time you stopped f'ing them up.
We should probably do this every now and again. Go ahead, say whatever you want (just go easy on the f bomb, if you would). Blog whore, post funny links, spout off, whatever.
Best blog name of a Thumber, blahablahablahablahablahablahablaha (I actually bumped into this blog using the random Next Blog button up top - kinda kool!).
Any blog run by two girls who call themselves Harlot and Vicious Trollop, is ok by us. Go check out The Book Bitches. "Two very opinionated bitches talk about books and bitch about other stuff too."
------------
Cuzin Bob who lives in Knightdale called us up at the last minute yesterday. He always gets 4 season tickets to all the NCState football and basketball games, and then he and Lisa take friends or family or whatever. Yesterday there was a last minute opening to go see the basketball game and wanted to know if we wanted to go. We had great seats to watch the Pack come from 9 pts down at the half to win in the last few seconds. Very exciting.
------------
Shakespeare is gettin' big in a hurry. He's gone from like 12 pounds when we got him at 2 months old, to every bit of 30 pounds now. He lost one of his teeth, though. One of those right up front on the top, too! Is that unusual, or do dogs have two sets of teeth, too? I'll have to ask the vet this Friday when we go in for our appointment.
Whilst making a bit of conversation over at Robyn's blog (see the previous post), something pleasant and unexpected happened. We named you.
Heretofore, we've sort of referred to y'all rather generically. "Readers" "Fans" etc. We never really thought about it before, but you guys (and girls) are all really special to us, and you deserve to be recognized as such.
Well, now you're "Dreamers". What do ya' think? Hope you like it.
(Who wants to be in charge of making up the secret handshake?)
Ok, so following a link I found on a blog, the link to which I found on another blog and so on and so on... (Commonly referred to as blog-hopping.)
Where was I? Oh yeah. I was Skinny Dipping with the President. Anyways, back in mid August (about the time I was toolin' 'round London way), R (the author of this gloriously pink blog) took a moment to drop a few comments about Motherhood that I really appreciated at this ungodly hour of the morning.
When I pictured motherhood, I pictured myself hanging out around the blow up pool, colored drink in hand, reading a fabulously trashy novel. Occasionally I'd give her a cupcake and then run to the mall before she figured out I was gone. She would have tons of dolls, and about three books. I would arrange playdates with the "cool mothers" and we would discuss the wild boys of our college days and the merits of various recreational drugs. I'd play Depeche Mode and dance in the yard with her little friends.
I'm sooooo down with that picture, 'cept a whole crapload of books.
Alas and alack, apparently someone somewhere along the line decided to go around and wreck all that for us future mothers. I'm blaming the Republicans.
Anyways, R's post and her observations about her two year old tickled my fancy, and I'm sure it will tickle yours. Go read the rest of it.
Hey, we have our own channel on YouTube! It's called "Channel UDoJ", conveniently enough. You can click the link below or the logo at the top of the right sidebar.
DENVER (AP) -- There will be prayer, and perhaps the laying on of hands. There will be counseling and a confession. And there will be advice, confrontation and rebuke from "godly men" appointed to oversee the spiritual "restoration" of the Rev. Ted Haggard.
After tumbling from the pinnacle of the American evangelical movement amid allegations he snorted meth and cavorted with a male prostitute, Haggard has agreed to a rehabilitation process that could last three to five years.
"I see success approximately 50 percent of the time," said H.B. London, vice president for church and clergy at Focus on the Family, the conservative Christian ministry in Colorado Springs. "Guys just wear out and they can no longer subject themselves to the process."
Those who fail "end up selling cars or shoes or something, and being miserable and angry the rest of their lives," London said.
Oh yeah. If you refuse to go straight (I kill me), you'll be miserable and turn into a dirty car salesman!
Sounds to me like this "restoration" really F's a person up. All the dirty car and shoe salesman of the world should sue their asses.
"From the Christian perspective, we think in terms of prayer, we think in terms of what we call godly counsel, where godly men who are clean themselves insert themselves in the life of the one who is struggling," London said.
The symbolic laying on of hands may also be a part of the recovery, London said.
OOOO. Teddy's gonna LOVE this! He's gonna get hands, and laying, and insertion! It'll be a warm-up for when he goes to jail on the meth charges.
Wait, I thought they were trying to make him straight?
[UPDATE:Speaking of complete IDiots, Kristine at Amused Muse talks a little about her ongoing soap opera... Current episodes include MorphoDyke, DaveTard, and DAJ. Check it out when you're finished reading the rest of this little gem below the fold.]
"The original sin between Adam and Eve was that they consumned each others own sexual fluids. The tree of the knowledge of good and bad was Adam's penis. If you use a digital camera to take a picture of your erect penis on the side you see when looking down at it and put the picture into your computer you can fit an equilateral triangle around the head of it. This is the Christmas tree. Anamita Muscaria mushrooms (magic mushrooms) grow under evergreen trees and are psychoactive. The Christmas tree is the tree of the knowledge of good and bad which is a symbol for Adam's penis ... The original sin altered man's mind and caused man to think in abstract ways and gave them the proclivity and drive to invent and construct things and delve into science that has resulted in all technology we see today. The pursuit of science is destroying the Earth as everything man does is destroying the very planet we live on. This knowledge from Satan the Serpent was a poison knowledge.
The serpent was also Adam's penis. The medical symbol the Caduceus is a pole with a pine cone on top with two serpents wrapped around it. The two serpents are male and female and they are the double helix of DNA and they also represent the Hindu rise of the first (anus) and second (sexual organs) chakras up the spinal column untill they reach the 6th chakra the pineal gland in the center of the brain the seat of imagination, spiritual insight and awareness."
(The long-time and well known Photoshop hoax of Marines praying...)
or
"Well yes, I DID use my magic marker to add all those data points, but if they WERE on that graph, then the earth might be 6000 years old, so that proves my point! -AFDt"
(First AFDave posts a graph...)
(Then AFDave expounds upon his point...)
(JohnF very kindly posts the original graph...)
(Steve Story expounds upon AFDave...)
In the spirit of election day, we should have a vote for "King of Falsified Evidence".
Over at the Amused Muse, DaveScot said "I was just following google hits to "davescot" around. No conspiracy. Just narcissism." Well this got me to chuckling, and wondering, just what ARE people around the web saying about UD's version of Howard Stern? At the risk of feeding the ego, the google results are below the fold.
Ok, first up, we of course have a link to UD. It's to the "Global Cooling" post Dave made on November 2nd. We're interested in what is being said about Dave, not by Dave, so we'll move on.
The first page of Technorati links consist of a link to CommonDescent, a blog purporting to be a "place for non moderated Comments and Discussions about Intelligent Design and Co. And Nobody will edit your comment" (according to its header), a link to the same UD post as above, and six hits to Comments on ID and Creationism.
First CommonDescent, a "place for non moderated Comments and Discussions about Intelligent Design and Co. And Nobody will edit your comment". Strangely enough, though, each post has an editor listed... lessee.... DaveScot, Denyse O'Leary, PaV, oh..... Looks like the blog just mirrors UD, Telic Thoughts, Post-Darwinist, etc. Strangely enough, no comments on the posts. Now, I don't mean "only a few comments", and I don't mean "most of the posts". I'm talking ZERO comments on ANY of the posts. Funny that, given its header.
So we can't see anyone saying anything about Dave here, either. We have to move on.
As for Comments On ID and Creationism, it's most relevent page on Dave is found here. Not terribly flattering, Daveyboy. Better luck with the next hit.
Pharyngula::Don't post, just watch Two people that I did evict a while back are John Davison and DaveScot. ... The best part: near the end, Davison and DaveScot start bickering with each ... pharyngula.org/index/weblog/comments/dont_post_just_watch/ - 35k -
Well, I think we can all guess what PZ thinks of Dave. We can keep going, I think.
The Austringer » Censorship at PT? I Don’t Think So. But there are some behaviors that shouldn’t be tolerated anywhere, and both “Evolving Apeman” and “DaveScot” violated a clearly stated rule at PT. ... austringer.net/wp/?p=112 - 38k -
Ditto Wes.
Clever Beyond Measure: Prodigious genius DaveScot turns out to be ... DaveScot, who is William Dembski's alpha-lapdog at Uncommon Descent, seems to have ... Nonetheless, here DaveScot shares some info regarding his prodigious ... jswynne.typepad.com/gropes/2006/07/prodigious_geni.html - 40k -
Ditto Jim. Anyone else seeing a pattern here?
Feed Yourself To The Moss.: DaveScot is Not a Laughing Matter I am talking about DaveScot. He is a man I cynically laughed at, ...DaveScot is clearly not the man whose clear religiosity and lack of science training ... schmittvandean.blogspot.com/2006/01/davescot-is-not-laughing-matter_31.html - 22k -
Well here's one we're not familiar with...
At first glance, Reverend Schmitt seems supportive!
I have done a great disservice to a scientist, a singular man in the evolution-Intelligent Design debate, whose unique and fresh look at the discussion deserves far more limelight from both sides.
I am talking about DaveScot. He is a man I cynically laughed at, denigrated and abused when I found he would be blogging at Uncommon Descent, the antievolution blog of Discovery Institute fellow William Dembski. As usual when reality counters my pessimism I am proud to announce that I was wrong and that I am truly sorry. I should have known better. The signs were there.
Huh. Oh wait. My sarcasm meter might need adjusting...
As an agnostic DaveScot rejects the theism so common to his brothers-in-arms - he is living proof that supporters of Intelligent Design are not necessarily motivated by religion. He states his agnosticism thus: 'The game was rigged for life to win. Anyone who argues with that is either uninformed or in denial.' As an agnostic myself I can only admire the conviction he holds - so lacking in other agnostics - that the universe was crafted by some sort of intelligent entity with Godlike abilities. DaveScot is clearly not the man whose clear religiosity and lack of science training caused me to place Uncommon Descent in the 'religion' section of my blogroll.
Well.
My apologies, I am getting off track. My point is this: I am truly sorry for suggesting that it would be hilarious if DaveScot was made a blogger at Uncommon Descent. There is absolutely nothing funny going on over there, and DaveScot is a profoundly sciencey addition to the entire enterprise.
Update: the last link in this post no longer works, as it appears William Dembski deleted DaveScot's rant. Oh, DaveScot, had you only been faster with the ol' banning stick. Now religion will forever be a part of Uncommon Descent. This is a sad day for opponents to the Darwinian hegemony.
-The Rev. Schmitt.
Ouch. Well it seemed like there might be some hope for some positive review of Dave. Guess not.
Creation Bits: DaveScot is Destroying Dembski's Blog [Updated, not ... It seems that DaveScot is trying his best to alienate everyone who disagrees with ...DaveScot is essentially the new Commander-in-Chief of Dembski's blog, ... crevobits.blogspot.com/2006/01/davescot-is-destroying-dembskis-blog.html - 50k -
Ooblog » Blog Archive » DaveScot Scores an Own Goal DaveScot strikes again ! « Comments on ID and creationism Says: ...DaveScot Scores an Own Goal Over at chez Dembski, the craniorectally inverted DaveScott ... www.ooblick.com/weblog/2006/06/11/davescot-scores-an-own-goal/ - 17k -
“DaveScot” is a Fucking Moron « Superlicious And Christian Fundamentalist idiot, as evidenced by these three comments all in the same thread. Christ on a hot tin. pianoman.wordpress.com/2005/11/01/davescot/ - 14k -
Positive Liberty » Blog Archive » Why DaveScot Should Stop Playing ... DaveScot is an especially belligerent idiot who was happily adopted as a co-blogger by ... Why DaveScot Should Stop Playing Lawyer DaveScot is an especially ... positiveliberty.com/2006/07/why-davescot-should-stop-playing-lawyer.html - 28k -
From guthrie, over at AtBC, we get this very interesting take on our little blog. The g-man has been one of our favoritest posters, so his thoughts intrigue us...
Are you not heading towards the idea that Dembski is doing street theatres?
The internet offers great potential for experiential art (I dont know, I'm just calling it that because I dont know any different, ok) by interaction. The aim would be to broaden and entertain the participants whilst calling into doubt their world model.
Or something like that.
Think of UDoJ as an example.
Wow. In all honesty, I have to say that I never really thought of this blog as serious art. I like his term "experiential art", though. Really, he may be on to something. Are blogs like this one, or blogs in general really, "experiential art"? Do we broaden and entertain you participants? I certainly hope so. Do we make you think? I hope we do that, too. We certainly broaden and entertain ourselves. We cause ourselves to think about things we otherwise wouldn't.
Wow, if we serve to broaden, entertain, and cause you to think too, then I guess there aren't many better compliments that could be paid to us.
Sometimes we aim for one, sometimes the other. On occasion we even attempt to do all three. It is our collective hope that we succeed as often as possible.
In the lastest bit of fundy fun, Ted "I Art No Homo" Haggard says he did buy the meth, but didn't use it, and only got in touch with the male prostitute for a massage.
umm... yeah. CNN's headline reads thus:
Pastor admits buying meth
A top evangelical leader who is accused of paying a male prostitute for sex admitted today he contacted his accuser "for a massage" and purchased methamphetamine from him. But the Rev. Ted Haggard said he never had sex with Mike Jones and threw away the drugs.
We need to be honest here: Iraq is not worth one more dead American.
People on the right and left want some deus ex machina to save Iraq, but we have., collectively, come to a simple conclusion:
Iraq is not worth dying for. Not for the warmongers on the right or the liberal hawks on the left.
It's bad the soldiers are trapped there, but we have made it their problem, No one is willingly going to join them, and 5,000 have deserted so far.
When you ask liberal hawks to enlist, they are offended by the question.
When you ask conservatives to enlist, they are offended by the question.
And America's parents are NOT sending their kids to die in Iraq if they can, at all, help it. No one blows up IED's at Wal Mart.
We have a volunteer army with fewer and fewer volunteers, and people reenlisting only to save their friends. There is a time limit to their ability to be in combat. They cannot serve forever. They will have to be replaced. And fewer and fewer are willing to replace them,
What I want people to do is be honest.
If you will not serve in Iraq, and no one you know will serve, stop expecting someone else to do what you will not.
Therefore, it is time to stop calling for more troops, or the US to make Iraq safe. We cannot do this and even Americans are refusing to join the fight. It is time to look at your actions and realize, that despite your ideals, you oppose continuing this war. In practical terms, you have decided that this war is not worth your life or anyone you know. And million of Americans have joined you in this decision.
So, with this fact evident, it is time to call for US troops to withdraw from Iraq. Not save it, not add more boots on the ground. You have already voted by your actions. It is time that you match it with your words.
We agree. Iraq is NOT WORTH ONE MORE DEAD AMERICAN. It never was worth a dead American. It was a lie from the beginning, and had nothing to do with a "War on Terror". Nothing to do with WMDs, nothing to do with OBL. Next Tuesday, vote. Vote for candidates who will bring our people home NOW. And when those annoying little Christo-fascist theocrat Repugnantcans bother you, ask them why they aren't in Iraq.
Videos from The Boy's Honeymoon DVD I made last year. I'm just getting around to translating them into wmv format for the web. There's a bunch o' parts, so they'll go up as I finish them. There's even end credits (which will be put up rather early in the process... Deal with it).
Once they're all uploaded, I'll sort them into the order in which they appear on the DVD, just for coherence...
[EDIT - All done!]
Our Hotel
Around London
Buckingham Palace
Windsor Castle
Bath, and the Roman Baths
Stonehenge
Badger, the Aussie Bus Driver
Ben, Parliament, and The Abbey
St. Paul's Cathedral
Royal Horse Guards (and surrounding area)
Kensington Palace
The British Museum
The Eye and the Bridge
Natural History Museum, Part 1
Natural History Museum, Part 2
Tower Bridge
Princess Diana Memorial Fountain
Victoria and Albert Museum
Trafalgar Square
Tower of London
Wellington Square
Raphael, Our Concierge
End Credits (they came out like crapola on the web, sorry.)
On the AP wire, Fundy-Anti-gay Ted "I Art no homo!" Haggard gets busted paying for sex with a man. Too f'ing funny.
[Pam, at Pam's House Blend, gives her report. Well worth a read, and a great blog, btw! OOOOO!! OOOOO!!! THERE'S EVEN AUDIO OF THE VOICEMAILS HE LEFT FOR JONES AND THEY'VE BEEN VOICE MATCHED TO HAGGARD!!! GOT TO LOVE PAM!!!]
[UPDATE FROM CNN - "The church official who temporarily has assumed Haggard's post said late Thursday that there has been "some admission of guilt," but not to all of the allegations. He did not give any more details."
"The allegations were made Tuesday and Wednesday on Denver radio station KHOW by Mike Jones, who said he was a male prostitute and had a three-year sexual relationship with Haggard, with the last tryst occurring in August. He also said Haggard used methamphetamine during their encounters."
"Jones said the relationship began about three years ago, when a man identifying himself as "Art" -- who said he was a married man from Kansas City, Missouri -- sought his services. Jones said he advertised at the time as a male prostitute on the Internet and in newspapers serving the gay community.
The two saw each other about once a month, with Art visiting Jones in Denver and paying him $200 in cash "for no more than an hour," Jones said.
"It was not emotional. It was physical, just strictly physical," he said.
Jones said he learned Art's identity when he saw him on television four months ago. Jones said he became upset when he learned that Haggard's church supported the proposed state constitutional amendment.
Asked whether he has proof to support his claims, Jones told KHOW that he kept several voice mails from Haggard on his telephone answering machine and an envelope containing two $100 bills from him."]
The Rev. Ted Haggard resigned as president of the influential National Association of Evangelicals on Thursday after being accused of paying for sex with a man. Haggard - who has been a leading opponent of the drive for same-sex marriage - also stepped aside as head of his 14,000-member New Life Church while a church panel investigates, saying he could "not continue to minister under the cloud created by the accusations." (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
