We were asked to care for a bunny for a week. Now we’ve been asked to keep the rabbit, whose name is Ruffalo. He’s a dwarf bunny and much cuter in life than the scowl […]
I Like to Look
I just whiled away part of the evening as the voyeur, looking in on the blogs over at MSN Spaces. By default, each Space includes a sidebar module containing recently “Updated Spaces”. I navigated from blog to blog, seeing what I would find. I’m a studier of people, so the look inside people’s lives is fascinating.
I observed a few things.
This is Your Brain on Politics
Last night I fumed on about closed-minded evolutionists and creationists, neither of which is probably right but both think their position is absolute truth. Maybe science has an explanation for them in their good friends the politicians.
LiveScience.com today reports on a new study to be released about how politicians think. Researchers from Emory University MRI-scanned politicians’ brains while presenting them information about the “their preferred candidate prior to the 2004 Presidential election”. The results were surprising, or maybe not, depending on pre-conceptions about politicians.
Theory Isn’t Fact
I find the ongoing debate about evolution versus creationism to be quite exhausting. Neither perspective really makes any sense, but strong philosophical and cultural biases play to favor one position or the other. The creationist’s biases are clear:
The Biblical seven-day account of the world’s creation; there are writings, supposedly inspired by God, which by their divine inspiration are indisputable. Evolutionists offer plenty evidence of dispute, such as the universe being more than 6,000 years old (I don’t doubt a much longer period of existence).
More Battles Than Stars
From the critics corner: “Battlestar Galactica.” To recap, the last half-season concluded with some wicked female violence and an attempted rape (all in the name of killing the evil Cylons). Two weeks ago, the show opened with more violence against women and the young male fantasy catfight, where one woman (OK, robot) shoots the other woman (and evil authority figure) in the head. Maybe the presumably young-male audience appreciates the the show’s assault on women.
This week’s episode, “Epiphanies,” took position on some of the most fiercely-debated philosophical and moral issues dividing U.S. liberals and conservatives.
Hey, America, You’re Your Illiterate
American Institutes for Research issued a nice, tidy little study today: “The Literacy of America’s College Students” by Justin Baer, Andrea Cook, and Stephané Baldi. Apparently many college students nearing graduation lack basic skills to properly function. Nothing more important than the ability to balance a checkbook or, uh, read.
Speaking of literacy, why is the study’s title in lower case on the cover page? Here’s a good gift book for the report’s editors.
Stone Trek
My wife never thought much of William Shatner’s acting. Me, I’ve had a soft spot for the original “Star Trek“, regardless of acting skills. But I must say that Shatner’s most recent act, of selling […]
IM Art
My 11-year old daughter loves to doodle, and since getting back on Windows XP she will doodle in Windows Live Messenger and send her art as instant messages to me. It’s her way of interacting with dad when he’s working late, as I did tonight. Probably she wants to make some point about working late, too.
The Buck Stops Sales Here
Today may be a holiday, but my daughter has her first Japanese class. We’ve opened our home to other homeschoolers and the wonderful Japanese teacher.
This morning I followed a haircut at the local barber shop with a trip to the local CVS for some last-minute munchies for the Japanese students. One of my pet peeves: People using credit cards to buy stuff at stores like CVS or Rite Aid. Oh, how I just love to stand behind three or four people, each one buying a few dollars in items using a credit card. C`mon, who doesn’t or shouldn’t have five bucks in the wallet or purse—more purse, as most of the credit card purchasers do appear to be women. Is there some cultural or gender factor at work?
’24’
Jack’s back, and I’m waiting for my daughter to turn over the Windows Media Center PC. I watched 17 nail-biting minutes of “24” before relinquishing the Media Center so that she could watch (again) movie “Castle in the Sky“, which I recorded the other night on Turner Movie Classics. I’ve got to say that a Xbox 360 would come in handy right about now to stream her movie to the TV in her bedroom.
Best running commentary on “24” episodes goes to Dave Barry. And his humor is sharp as tacks tonight as in real time he pokes at every nail-biting twist and turn. I highly recommend Dave’s blog. By the way, Internet Explorer 7’s security features warn that Dave Barry’s blog is a “Suspicious Website”. Ha. How true!
It’s Not NOT
Tonight, my wife pointed out that the picture I posted of the IKEA NOT lamp is not the lamp I bought. Maybe IKEA needs to get its website catalog in order. The lamp I purchased […]
In the Year 2125
My recent return to Windows, for testing Office 12 and Windows Vista, took another step forward this evening. I picked up a Cingular 2125 Windows Mobile Smartphone. My first reaction is favorable. I got a data plan […]