This one's for the ladies

Sorry guys. I'll think of something creative to post for you tomorrow.

Underworld: Evolution starts January 20. I stumbled across the soundtrack for the first movie last weekend. It has put me in a gothy mood.

The leading boy was pretty enough. But Kraven here has me looking forward to the new movie.

Yum, yum!

Woot!

The 'Hawks qualify for a football bowl! And the 'Cats don't! Who woulda thunk it?


At least we will have that euphoria to carry us through the weekend. Because the Chiefs play the Patriots today. It should be a shellackin'.

I am MOST grateful for the Goddess Camille!

'Cause she sends me awesome funnies!

Knowing is half the battle

I stole this off The Cringing Goblin weblog: http://cringinggoblin.blogspot.com. Though in my defense, they said this had been making the rounds via e-mail. So I'm not necessarily a thief, merely the messenger. Enjoy!

A DEBATE: Intellegent Design vs. Science

Moderator: We're here today to debate the hot new topic, evolution versus Intelligent Des---

(Scientist pulls out baseball bat.)

Moderator: Hey, what are you doing?

(Scientist breaks Intelligent Design advocate's kneecap.)

Intelligent Design advocate: YEAAARRRRGGGHHHH! YOU BROKE MY KNEECAP!

Scientist: Perhaps it only appears that I broke your kneecap. Certainly, all the evidence points to the hypothesis I broke your kneecap. For example, your kneecap is broken; it appears to be a fresh wound; and I am holding a baseball bat, which is spattered with your blood. However, a mere preponderance of evidence doesn't mean anything. Perhaps your kneecap was designed that way. Certainly, there are some features of the current situation that are inexplicable according to the "naturalistic" explanation you have just advanced, such as the exact contours of the excruciating pain that you are experiencing right now.

Intelligent Design advocate: AAAAH! THE PAIN!

Scientist: Frankly, I personally find it completely implausible that the random actions of a scientist such as myself could cause pain of this particular kind. I have no precise explanation for why I find this hypothesis implausible --- it just is. Your knee must have been designed that way!

Intelligent Design advocate: YOU BASTARD! YOU KNOW YOU DID IT!

Scientist: I surely do not. How can we know anything for certain? Frankly, I think we should expose people to all points of view. Furthermore, you should really re-examine whether your hypothesis is scientific at all: the breaking of your kneecap happened in the past, so we can't rewind and run it over again, like a laboratory experiment. Even if we could, it wouldn't prove that I broke your kneecap the previous time. Plus, let's not even get into the fact that the entire universe might have just popped into existence right before I said this sentence, with all the evidence of my alleged kneecap-breaking already pre-formed.

Intelligent Design advocate: That's a load of bullshit sophistry! Get me a doctor and a lawyer, not necessarily in that order, and we'll see how that plays in court!

Scientist: (turning to audience) And so we see, ladies and gentlemen, when push comes to shove, advocates of Intelligent Design do not actually believe any of the arguments that they profess to believe. When it comes to matters that hit home, they prefer evidence, the scientific method, testable hypotheses, and naturalistic explanations. In fact, they strongly privilege naturalistic explanations over supernatural hocus-pocus or metaphysical wankery. It is only within the reality-distortion field of their ideological crusade that they give credence to the flimsy, ridiculous arguments which we so commonly see on display. I must confess, it kind of felt good, for once, to be the one spouting free-form bullshit; it's so terribly easy and relaxing, compared to marshaling rigorous arguments backed up by empirical evidence. But I fear that if I were to continue, then it would be habit-forming, and bad for my soul. Therefore, I bid you adieu.


HA!

In the spirit of Thanksgiving...

Superficial things I am grateful for:

Diet Coke. Don’t talk to me about Coke Zero. That is the equivalent of the second, trophy, wife. The original is the one that has stood by you for years, still tastes good, and will still be there when CZ ages a bit.

A tie between Snickers candy bars and Reese’s peanut butter cups. If you can’t decide between them, eat both.

A boyfriend that takes care of me. Since this is a family blog, I’ll let ya’ll draw your own conclusions from that statement. He would rate even higher, if it weren’t for female restrictions that make me rely on the comfort of Diet Coke and candy for one week of the month.

Coffee. Life is always better when you have something hot, dark, and rich.

Terra vegetable chips. Maybe not terribly low in fat, they aren’t too bad with the sodium and cholesterol. Dang, those things are good! I’m pissed that Dillon’s has apparently discontinued stock. Now I’ll have to pay $5.00 a bag at the health food store for them. Curses! PS: The Terra veggie stix are even better.

Music. A song can always say those things you can’t. And there’s always a song to go along with my mood. It is not always easy to make a 30+-year old fat girl feel attractive. But I can always feel like La Femme Nikita after listening to the soundtrack.

My son, the developing geek. Since I’m keeping this list on the superficial, I’ll highlight only the humor of my gratitude. I’m grateful that I can take E into the comics section of the bookstore and he’ll keep himself busy while I read. Ditto on the fact that I can take him to the new movies!

Hollywood running out of ideas. At least some good comic stories are getting made into movies! There’s some good stories that have also been made into not-so-good movies. But I can’t wait for Watchmen to come out!

Celebrities, as hounded by the overly zealous media. Thank you for making me appreciate my monotonous Midwest life. It’s a relief to not always feel like the most damaged car in the train wreck!

And finally, you, my friends and family. If it weren’t for your words of wisdom, wit, and support, I’d have no material to steal. Thanks!

PS: I’m just joking with the sarcasm. I love ya’ll. The list of important things I am grateful for would be much shorter. Just my family and my friends. You are always all I ever need. Thanks for putting up with me!

PPS: Have a good holiday.

PPPS: Go Hawks! They play Arizona tonight. In Maui. I hope the network cameras have filters on them. The collective glare from all the pasty white skin may be enough to blind viewers at home.

PPPPS: Last PS, I promise. In good taste, I can’t even gloat about the Chiefs win. It was against the Texans, after all.

Bond-a-thon

D wanted to see The Spy Who Loved Me.

In a fit of over-achievingness, 'cause c'mon ya'll, it is Bond we're talking about, I went and rented five Bond movies. All of which I had not seen yet.

Last night we watched TSWLM and Diamonds are Forever. Tonight I watched Die Another Day just in time to switch to the season ender of Rome. How sad!

They killed off Caesar, and Lucius' wife killed herself once he knew the truth about the grandson. Where are they going to go from here? It will be interesting to see. But knowing HBO, we'll have to wait six more months for new episodes. Curses!

The Chiefs are actually having their way with the Houston Texans. Let's hope they don't get too comfortable.

There is a God... and he loves KU!

After hopes for a bowl bid were dashed on Saturday, coach Bill Snyder decided to call it a career.
Article from Yahoo! here: clicky

The good news? He could probably go to Nebraska and get a job. Ha!

PS: Jayhawk basketball looks ok to start. But not so good that we can start strutting, yet. It's only been Emporia and Pitt State, fer crying out loud.

PPS: Sasha Kahn is going to be my age-inappropriate crush for the season. He's a cutie.

Well, isn't THAT a relief?

I'm happy Igor is feeling cheerier again. I received a taunting e-mail before the bodies could even cool from the Chiefs-Bills game.

Kansas might be a word synonymous with inconsistent. Just like an abusive boyfriend, we keep loving them. They break our heart on a regular basis. Yet we continue to hold out hope.

It would almost be easier if either team were just consistently bad. Then we could root for an underdog upset. They're good enough... smart enough... and darn it, people like them!

My only shining light is K-State did get beat by Nebraska. Whom KU spanked last week!

And I'm getting loads of scrap book pages done. At least 150 pages in the last month. As Evan would say... Booyah!

"American Gaw-awds, get away from me-e"

I picked up Neil Gaiman's American Gods on Saturday. Finished it Monday night. Have been thinking about it off and on the rest of the week. When I'm not freaking out about my truck. That story will come later.

I first knew of Neil Gaiman from the Sandman comics. Interesting, surreal, thought-provoking stuff. And that was just the art. The stories were pretty transcendental as well. I was also 20 and had lots of disposable income. So I could afford to appreciate a lot of unconventional art. PS: Bill Sienkiewicz's art got me to collect Black Orchid, before I realized it was a Gaiman project. And Stray Toasters? That was some weird stuff, man.

As for the book... it was interesting. The premise is the storm brewing between the old and the new American gods. Presumably whomever won, would dictate the direction the country was headed. For where the country beliefs lie, so determines their future intention.

The old gods were those higher being beliefs immigrants brought over from older lands. Idols and gods revered by the Hindu, African, Nordic, and so on. These idols then assumed humanoid form, interacting with citizens. They were either eternally young, or aged at such a rate to make Vulcans jealous. They are charactered as grifters, more provincal or less corporate members of society.

The new gods were those things most worshipped and feared in current society; credit, digital, media, Internet (Internets, for you Farkers). Rockstar gods born and throw to the side in an instant in search of the next big thing. The new gods are characterized as the "poser mobile" posse. More than once I heard "fees, shorty, fees!" in my head.

There was also the plotline of one man's reckoning; the stoic and solid Shadow. Shadow is coerced by the head old god to work for him, protecting him from the new gods.

All in all, I enjoyed the book. But there were still sections I had a hard time grasping. Part of it was Gaiman's writing style. Writing is hard stuff, no doubt. Especially to write a book of that size. In some ways, it showed.

Some of the difficulty was the ebb and flow from the "real" world, and the "god" world. Time and spatial planes did not always move in time easily recognized. There was also the almost too-stoic-to-be-believed hero, Shadow. It would be nice to be that good. Understandably, the hero was trying to make up for some bad decisions. But still.

Donna's reading Stardust. So I'll check out another book, and we'll see. I did see the new graphic novel Gaiman has out with Alice Cooper. A nice, cheery, tale based on Cooper's "Showman" persona.

Yeah, baby, we're a red state

Proponents of intelligent design win out:

News article

Bring on the national and worldwide ridicule.

Way to go, Kansas Board of Education...NOT!

If they aren't worried about much other than pushing a religious agenda, I'm not worried too much about my grammar.

How you like Kansas now?

Jayhawk may be Oklahoman for roadkill, but we are some happy citizens right now.

1. KU beat Nebraska. Granted Nebraska has fallen far from the halcyon days of Osborne. And Kansas finally has some defense. But we are enjoying the win all the same.

I'm even more happy (because I'm a spiteful bitch) that NU's athletic director has to eat it. He ran the coach after Osborne out of town on a rail. A winning season wasn't good enough for the Cornhuskers. They should be the all-dominating force in NCAA football, yanno. Which makes the following all the more sweet...

2. The Chiefs beat the Oakland Raiders. We hate those guys. Yeah, Nebraska's AD thought he'd be the hero for bringing Bill Callahan in from the Raiders. Guess we know how that's working out for both clubs. Bwah!

3. K-State lost. Ha ha! And to Iowa State. Nobody for KU to take lightly. But KSU had won against ISU without challenge for several years straight. Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Tee hee!

A tip of the (danger) hat

I have been outgeeked. The funny Danger Hat girl and her husband will be celebrating the 50th anniversary of the flux capacitor. From the Back to the Future movies. With cake!

See for yourself

I'm letting my geekness slide with old age. The young ones have much more energy, and disposable income. I think an afternoon camped out at the bookstore will make me feel better.

Hello, Moto

Not only do I love my sleek eurodesign Motorola cell phone... But I changed my blog skin to "Ms. Moto."

And I love this skin. Mainly because it put my sidebar stuff back where it belongs! I still have no idea what I did to break the other.

But for now, my junk is where it needs to be, and works. Which is a relief in itself. 'Cause at this age, your junk starts to move on you. And sometimes it don't work. Which is just sad.