December 31, 2007

Women get away with it

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December 30, 2007

Literacy and political affiliation linked

According to this, Kerry supporters in the last American election were more literate than Bush boosters. I wonder if there is any kind of relationship between federalists and separatists in Quebec.

Posted by JonasParker at 3:20 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

December 29, 2007

Leaving comments

I know it's a pain, but I can't figure out how to leave a form to leave comments without having you register. It's not like the other blog. Sorry about this, but it only takes a second to register, then you can leave all the comments you wish.

Posted by JonasParker at 10:55 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

December 28, 2007

Superiority complex

I'd like to direct you to the comments sections here and here. What the hell am I supposed to say to this guy? This is how I responded:

I am not sure how I am supposed to respond to this. There are plenty of black people like me, not at all like me and everything else in between. Just like with white or Jewish people. By your tone it seems as though you believe yourself superior to black people, but that I am the exception. Almost as though I go against "human nature". Would that be accurate? What makes this so?

Does this sound like a bit of a racist to you? He's basically saying that black people are particularly inarticulate and somehow generally "less" than other people. I think that this is proof that racism is not over. I'd hate to think that some of the people around me see me as the exception rather than the rule. The "good one", he's "like us".

Posted by JonasParker at 9:51 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

December 27, 2007

Best Buy uses online pricing to get you in store

and then nails you with a different price once you are there. I wonder if Future Shop does the same thing.

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Real Guitar Hero

This kid is incredible. So why are there so many haters in the comments section?


9 Year Old Beats Hardest Guitar Hero Level - Watch more free videos

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December 20, 2007

Instant death

Imagine a world where instead of aging and dying the way we do, we age slowly, don't get the diseases associated with aging and then one day, without any explanation, we just drop dead. Imagine that there wasn't any warning time, any real decline, just off you go at age 106. This is what is happening to lab mice right now that are taking anti-aging drugs.

If that were to happen to us, would death be a lot more casual?

"Why isn't Bob at this meeting?"
"Well, he just died a couple of hours ago."
"Really, geez. I needed him to give us those results. Too bad. All right, next on the agenda. I'll notify HR about Bob."

Because this type of death would not be preceded by pain and suffering, or expectation. Just a long, healthy life and then, you're done. I wonder if that's the way I would like to go.

The odd thing about these mice is that you can almost never say exactly what it was that killed them. It's not obvious, as in regular mice. They just die. Has a book been written about this?

Posted by JonasParker at 2:16 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

December 10, 2007

Deniers

Did any of you watch this 60 Minutes segment from last year? It's about the American government's attempts to rewrite science to fit the Christian Right Intelligent Design agenda. Scientists are forced to delete and alter their findings about what they know about the creation of the earth, global warming (saying that it may not actually be happening) and other things.

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December 9, 2007

Giant Tetris played on building

From geekologie:

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December 4, 2007

Muslims let teacher go

Remember the recent controversy about the Teddy Bear Teacher in Sudan? If you don't, let me summarize: a British schoolteacher in Sudan brought a teddy bear to her class and decided to let the children name the thing. They decided that Muhammad was a good name. It was blasphemy, according to the locals, and she received 15 days in prison followed by deportation. Technically, she should have been killed, and I suspect she wasn't because she was white or from England, or both. She's back in England now. Mobs in Sudan were calling for her death for this blasphemy. I like the way the Archibishop of Canterbury described it as an "absurdly disproportionate response" to a "minor cultural faux pas".

Not all Muslim authorities even agree that toys can't bear the name. Some think that you get a free ticket to heaven if you name your boy Muhammad. Some children name their toys after the Prophet, and they aren't killed, nor are their parents for allowing it. I wonder if there will be an uproar over the CAIR bears*.

I've had it. What kind of people would kill you for something like this? What kind of ridiculously insecure people could want this sort of thing to happen? Muslims in Sudan, apparently. And probably anywhere and everywhere there are people with these types of extreme beliefs. Anywhere where the chief religion effectively tells you to kill. Even if this type of thing is not in the Koran, it's close enough to be considered Islam as far as I am concerned. I find it even ridiculous that you can even go to jail for something like this. It is clear that the toy was not meant to be used as any representation of the Prophet, so even in a country where religion is never mocked in any way, shape or form, you can't say that she was doing that. But even so, what the hell?

No, my tolerance for this religion has decreased quite a bit.

*-CAIR = Council on American-Islamic Relations

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