UA-2724735-1

Tangled Up in Blue Guy

Forget the sloppy writing. I know you know what I mean.

Now the FBI is Involved

I don’t understand why people still fall for these after all the publicity about “419″ scams.  Here is a new spam that I just got today, indicating that enough people send their money thinking that they will get Big Money from Nigeria.  This one says “The FBI approves.”

OFFICIAL LETTER FROM FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION FBI

ROBERT MUELLER III EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR FBI FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION

FBI.WASHINGTON DC.

Email: federalbureaudept112@hotmail.com

FBI SEEKING TO WIRETAP INTERNET

ATTENTION: BENEFICIARY

FROM: ROBERT MUELLER III EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR FBI FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION WASHINGTON DC. FBI SEEKING TO WIRETAP INTERNET

The federal bureau of investigation (FBI).Through our intelligence-monitoring network has discovered that the transaction that the bank contacted you previously was legal.Recentlythe fund has been legally approved to be paid via Central Bank of Nigeria.

So, we, the federal bureau of investigation (FBI) Washington Dc, in conjunction with the United Nations (UN) financial department have investigated through our monitoring network noting that your transaction with the Central Bank of Nigeria legal. You have the legitimate right to complete your transaction to claim your fund US$10.7,000,000.00 (Ten million Seven Hundred Thousand united states dollars) Because of so much scam going on in Nigeria.We the federal bureau of investigation decided to contact the FedEx Courier Service Company in Nigeria for them to give us their procedures on how to sent this money to you without any further complain or delay. We just got an information from the Central Bank of Nigeria and they have loaded your US$10.7,000,000.00 in ATM CARD and submit to the FedEx courier service company for immediate delivery to your doorstep.

You are required to choose one option, which you will be able to pay and also convenient for you, for quick delivery of your parcel containing your ATM CARD and other two original back up documents.

Service Type | Delivery Duration | Charges/Fees

—————————— —————————— —————

Premium Express (24hrs Delivery)

Mailing $200.00 00.00

Insurance $150.00 00.00

Vat $100.00 00.00

TOTAL $450.00

$450(Four Hundred and fifty US Dollars Only).

………………………… ………………………… ……….

Special Express (2 Days)

Mailing $180.00 00.00

Insurance $50.00 00.00

Vat $150.00 00.00

TOTAL $380.00 00.00

$380(Three Hundred and Eighty US Dollars Only).

………………………… ………………………… …………….

Economy Express (3Days)

Mailing $100.00 00.00

Insurance$?150.00 00.00

Vat (5%) $50.00 00.00

TOTAL $300.00 00.00

$300(Three Hundred US Dollars Only).

………………………… ………………………… ……..

You are hereby required to advice us, on your parcel delivery option by filling in the required form stated above. Please note that the deadline for claiming your fund is exactly one week after the receipt of this email. After this period, your fund will be return back to the ordering costumer. That is the instruction given to us .So take note.

We request that you reconfirm your mailing address to ensure conformity with our record for immediate dispatch of your parcel to you. Only valid residential/ Office address and postal address are certified OK.

I somehow doubt that the Director of the FBI would use a hotmail address, but perhaps I am a bit too skeptical.

 

Related articles
Enhanced by Zemanta

Get Set for Digital

Republished by Blog Post Promoter

My TVs Still Work

I only have one TV with a Comcast Digital Converter box.  I have two other lines that run straight into their respective sets.  I was worried, but Max made it all better:

Yawn. The revolution has started, and I didn’t even shed any blood.

Related articles by Zemanta
Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

Mitochondria Video

Powering the Cell

One commenter at YouTube pointed out that this video is not as helpful in education as it could be, because there is no explanation of what the video shows.  However, if you have a minimal idea of what the mitochondria are and what they do, it does help to visualize the processes mitochondria undertake in the breakdown of complex sugars into food.

Mitochondria have their own strands of DNA, and indicate that in the early evolutionary history of life they were “captured” bacteria and a vital key to understanding the development of life following abiogenesis.

We had a two-week session on mitochodria when I was in high school, and more when I was taking Biology 101, so I don’t consider myself an expert by any means.  As always, for those who would like to learn more about them Wikipedia is a good place to start.

 

Related articles
Enhanced by Zemanta

Of What Use is Half a Species?

These issues render change by micro-evolution impossible thus leaving macro-evolution as the only stand that evolutionists can take, and all the evidence clearly disputes the concept of macro-evolution.  “Micro  and Macro-Evolution Explained.”  Exchangedlife.com

I can never be certain whether creationists are liars or if they just choose to be ignorant of science and the way that it works in real life.  The linked article for the above quote contains may misstatements of fact, and the reader is welcome to peruse the articles at talkorigins.org for more information on specific claims that are made.  It is indexed for your convenience!

The big problem for creationists in separating macro-evolution from micro-evolution is that the issue is not yet settled in science.  There is still no clear definition of a species in biology, and the creationist needs to have one in order to support the claim that there is a limit to what evolution can produce in creating new attributes within species based on natural selection while finding a “genetic telobarrrier” disallowing macro-evolution.

Kevin Zelnio has a blog post at Scientific American’s EvoEcoLab blog on the history of the development of species concepts and it is a great introudction to what difficulties that philosophers of science run into when trying to develop a hard and fast rule as to what species are.

Species concepts were first defined based on morphological traits. Linneaus, being limited by technology at the time, used the “eyeball method” to study things – meaning he looked at them and described what he saw. This is formalized as the morphological or typological species concept (Cracraft, 2000; Mayr, 1996), and many biologists are just fine with this. It looks different, ergo it is and any distinguishing characters that could be observed, counted and measured were enough to define new species.

Characters are delimited by the practicing taxonomist and thus not all-inclusive of the whole organism. Morphological characters are typically those most easily observed, although the level of observation (i.e. from external features to cellular features) can have large effects on species identification and definition. For instance, Winston (1999) describes a case where closer observation of a western Atlantic species of the hermit crab hitch-hiking hydroid Hydractinia echinata, typically found off the coasts of Europe, resulted in the description of two additional species based on previously “hidden”, or non-scrutinized, morphological and ecological characters (Buss and Yund, 1989). Similar case are all too common. The closer we peer, the more we find.

The closer we peer, the more we find indeed.  John S. Wilkins has proposed that species be defined “by the middle, rather than the edges” of the differences between once species and another.  What this means is that there are many traits in common between related species and as specimens are found to blur the edges (shared traits) it is more useful to think of gradiations from one species to the other rather than think of species as discreet units of the descriptions of living things.

From the Wikipedia article

Greenish Warbler ring

One way to visualize his concept (or at least my way of visualizing it,) is illustrated in the term “ring species.”  Greenish warblers are birds used as an example of ring species.  The species overlap over a wide range of geographical areas, and their interrelatedness works in much the same manner as a light spectrum.  There are gradients of morphological differences rather than lumped characteristics that separate species.  There are shadings from one recognized warbler to the next, but it is very difficult to define points at which one becomes another.

If creationists were concerned about understanding evolution as it is, rather than as the strawman versions they create, then they would realize that the macro-micro barrier to natural selection is not a valid argument and they would stop using it.

However, that would be upsetting to their worldview and they won’t do it.

 

Related articles
Enhanced by Zemanta

I Am Supposed to Be Hungering For God

Sorry for Not Playing Along

In a blistering critique of modern atheism, we discover that we aren’t really atheist because we aren’t sad enough about it.  I think that is what we are doing wrong, anyways.  Jerry Coyne’s blog website with daily updates and postings and comments “Why Evolution is True” is what led me to a piece by a priest:

We have deeply ingrained in us a sense of the limitedness of this world that there is something more. In fact, our very wiring for God proves the existence of God. We desire something which transcends the limitations of this world means that we have within us a sort of participation in the eternal. . . Your hunger is not a sign that food is a projection, but your hunger in fact proves the existence of food—your hunger proves the reality of food. Right? It doesn’t mean that food is some kind of subjective projection or illusion. So that our desires are not misleading us: our desires order us to realities—so our desire for God.

There must be something wrong with me.  I never “hungered” for God, I believed because I was taught to believe, but I didn’t have any “need” to believe other than to try to remain in place in my society in culture.  If people knew that I didn’t feel this great desire for Communion wafers other than to have a quick snack during Mass, then perhaps they would have started looking at me funny; like I was a commie or something.

I don’t hunger for God, I don’t have a god-shaped hole in my heart.  I understand the world a great deal more and it makes more sense to me without God.  So, if we are wired for God, Father Priest then I have a defective gene and should probably be but down as a mutation.

 

 

Related articles
Enhanced by Zemanta

Common Sense

Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Lyrics by John Prine



They got mesmerized
By lullabies
And limbo danced
In pairs
Please lock that door
It don’t make much sense
That common sense
Don’t make no sense
No more

Common sense is what we rely on when we haven’t seriously examined a question to arrive at a logical answer. Joe Soucheray relies on “Garage Logic” on his radio show, and his conclusions are generally way off the mark from what they would have been had he looked at any facts.

Stephanie Zvan, on the other hand, offers up an analysis of the workings of operant conditioning in relationship to tech support answers. Are the people paid to help you more likely to give you more accurate answers than those who find internal satisfaction and reward for solving problems?

Here’s the process by which she illustrates her conclusions. Someone else was exactly wrong.

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

Racism as a Zero Sum Game?

Whites feel put upon and discriminated against, and believe that anti-white racism is a bigger problem than anti-black racism.  Because, you know, Brown v Board of Education fixed all the discrimination.  And any racism that black men encounter is due to saggin’ and hoodies, so they should just buck up and look as white as possible and go to work.

There was a survey published in 2011 that showed that whites are not happy in losing our privilege, and here is an interview with the researchers who conducted the study.  From NPR:

WISE: Well, on the one hand it’s not new. I mean the fact is claims of reverse discrimination actually go all the way back to the post-Civil War era when the Supreme Court threw out the really very minor Reconstruction Act laws that were attempting to provide a modicum of opportunity for formerly enslaved persons. Justice Joseph Bradley wrote for the court in 1883, you know, that it was time for the Negro to stop being the special favorite of the law and take his place as a mere citizen, of course, overlooking that white folks had never been mere citizens, they had been the only citizens according to federal law. So white folks have a long history frankly, we do, of exaggerating the problem.

Whenever things start to get better for people of color, whether it’s in the wake of Reconstruction and enslavement, whether it’s the civil rights era, there are these voices who assume that if it’s getting better for them it must be getting worse for us. I think the answer to it in a way, I mean, you know, you opened the piece by talking about how Colby Bohannon and this scholarship fund, you know, the very name of his organization I think gives us the psychological insight into what this is about.

Racism is a zero sum game (podcast link)

I have had white people tell me that because of Affirmative Action that the person for whom it is most difficult to get a job is a white male.

And yet, when I am at work, I see white people.  Peoples’ perceptions are tainted by their beliefs, and facts are secondary matters.  Racism is real, it exists, and it still far easier to be white, straight, Christian and male in our society than it is for any other racial or cultural group.

 

 

Related articles
Enhanced by Zemanta

Something About This Guy Bothers Me

This picture of a cute married couple gazing lovingly at each other is part of an ad campaign for the anti-gay marriage amendment to the Minnesota state constitution.  There is something about the model‘s pose that bothers me, and I can’t quite put my finger on it.  I think that I don’t like the fact that he is not looking at his beloved, and he is not looking towards the camera.  He seems to be looking….elsewhere.

We love each other

Straight Marriage Rules!

If he is all excited by his marriage, what does he see that is so dreamy? Is it the photographer, the assistant, or the soft, gentle brush of the makeup artist?

Perhaps he is more intent on the idea that he is pretending that someone who is just realizing that “OH, FUCK! I just told the whole world and the people in Church that I have to actually be this woman’s monogamous partner for the rest of my life and we will never pay off the loan for the wedding and the honeymoon!”

Maybe he is dreamy because out of the shot she is giving him a handjob.

I can’t figure it out, but I don’t think that he is as into this marriage bit as she is.

Yes, he is a model. Yes, she is a model. They are posing for a photo-shoot to promote a stupid, senseless and bigoted amendment that will make it even more illegal for gay and lesbian couples to civilly formalize their relationships because of, of what? What harm to civil society?

The female model is doing her job properly.  She is gazing lovingly at the man who has become the center of her life. The people who did this ad must have had better shots to use than this one.  If not, Mr. Man needs to find a new job, because he is not convincing.

When I see this ad, I don’t think of a happy couple.  I think of a man with a wandering eye.  It doesn’t sell marriage to me.

 

Related articles
Enhanced by Zemanta

Jabesh-Gilead

An awesome god, indeed:

Judges 21:1-25   (New International Version Absolute Literal Word of God.)

The men of Israel had taken an oath at Mizpah: “Not one of us will give his daughter in marriage to a Benjamite.” The people went to Bethel, where they sat before God until evening, raising their voices and weeping bitterly. ”O LORD, the God of Israel,” they cried, “why has this happened to Israel? Why should one tribe be missing from Israel today?” Early the next day the people built an altar and presented burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. Then the Israelites asked, “Who from all the tribes of Israel has failed to assemble before the LORD?” For they had taken a solemn oath that anyone who failed to assemble before the LORD at Mizpah should certainly be put to death.  Now the Israelites grieved for their brothers, the Benjamites. “Today one tribe is cut off from Israel,” they said. ”How can we provide wives for those who are left, since we have taken an oath by the LORD not to give them any of our daughters in marriage?” Then they asked, “Which one of the tribes of Israel failed to assemble before the LORD at Mizpah?” They discovered that no one from Jabesh Gilead had come to the camp for the assembly.  For when they counted the people, they found that none of the people of Jabesh Gilead were there.  So the assembly sent twelve thousand fighting men with instructions to go to Jabesh Gilead and put to the sword those living there, including the women and children. ”This is what you are to do,” they said. “Kill every male and every woman who is not a virgin.”  They found among the people living in Jabesh Gilead four hundred young women who had never slept with a man, and they took them to the camp at Shiloh in Canaan. Then the whole assembly sent an offer of peace to the Benjamites at the rock of Rimmon.

So the Benjamites returned at that time and were given the women of Jabesh Gilead who had been spared. But there were not enough for all of them. The people grieved for Benjamin, because the LORD had made a gap in the tribes of Israel. And the elders of the assembly said, “With the women of Benjamin destroyed, how shall we provide wives for the men who are left? The Benjamite survivors must have heirs,” they said, “so that a tribe of Israel will not be wiped out. We can’t give them our daughters as wives, since we Israelites have taken this oath: ‘Cursed be anyone who gives a wife to a Benjamite.’ But look, there is the annual festival of the LORD in Shiloh, to the north of Bethel, and east of the road that goes from Bethel to Shechem, and to the south of Lebonah.”

So they instructed the Benjamites, saying, “Go and hide in the vineyards and watch. When the girls of Shiloh come out to join in the dancing, then rush from the vineyards and each of you seize a wife from the girls of Shiloh and go to the land of Benjamin. When their fathers or brothers complain to us, we will say to them, ‘Do us a kindness by helping them, because we did not get wives for them during the war, and you are innocent, since you did not give your daughters to them.’”  So that is what the Benjamites did. While the girls were dancing, each man caught one and carried her off to be his wife. Then they returned to their inheritance and rebuilt the towns and settled in them.

At that time the Israelites left that place and went home to their tribes and clans, each to his own inheritance. In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit.

I am sure that I am missing the context.  Now, nowhere in here does it say that God ordered them to murder and rape so I guess he is blameless.  But, who the hell were these fuckers that he called his “Chosen People?”  Why didn’t he stop them and tell them that they were doing bad things in his name?

The ancestors of these guys, I think:

Since Israel began constructing its Separation/Annexation Wall in 2002, West Bank Palestinians protested against theft of their land. Villagers usually do it weekly on Fridays.

In response, Israel retaliates “with an intense campaign of violence, intimidation and arrests…” In the past two years especially, escalated viciousness has been common, including increased violence and brutality against peaceful Palestinian protesters. Al Haq knows of at least 13 deaths since 2004, as well as many other injuries and arrests.

Al-Nabi Saleh residents repeatedly lodged complaints in vain, despite Israel’s High Court 1978 ruling that land confiscation was illegal and had to be returned to their rightful Palestinian owners. Israeli authorities refused to comply. As a result, West Bank villagers lose more land, and know no other recourse than to protest.

In Al-Nabi Saleh and other villages, Israeli forces “deliberately creat(e) a hostile atmosphere” during protests. Military commanders give soldiers “vast powers to suppress (them) and imprison participants for extended periods of up to ten years.”

Residents on their own land are accused of “incitement.” As a result, they face long prison terms and large fines.

As soon as protests begin, soldier attack them with tear gas canisters, stun grenades, rubber bullets, “skunk” foul-smelling chemicals, and beatings. In response, some Palestinians throw stones. Doing so escalates retaliatory violence.

Paramedics are prevented from treating and evacuating injured residents. Instead, occupying forces arrest them. Commanders lie saying soldiers only respond to stone-throwers.

…

Residents estimate soldiers fire up to 500 tear-gas canisters during weekly protest demonstrations alone. They’re launched from mortars atop militarized jeeps in batches of 20 or more at a time.

Thick clouds of gas then spread over targeted areas. Panic and fear ensue. So does psychological trauma. Women, children, the elderly and infirm are affected. Windows are shattered firing canisters through them. Gas inhalation harms residents inside. Property damage also occurs.

Moreover, “intimidation, arbitrary arrests, beatings, and night raids” occur regularly. Children as young as 10 are affected. Some are seized at home in middle-of-the-night raids and sent to repressive detention centers for intimidating interrogations and threats of torture for not cooperating.

 

I don’t really trust God’s choice of followers.

Related articles
Enhanced by Zemanta

SEO Powered by Platinum SEO from Techblissonline

WordPress Mobile