Happy Holidays Pappa Bear!

Fuck Bill O'Reilly.

With Christmas coming up soon I'm going to have to spend some quality time with the social-conservative side of my family.

Bleh.

Every now and then I end up having to just sit there quietly grinding my teeth while someone rants about how the evil liberals and atheists..... do whatever it is we apparently do.

It won't actually be that bad; they're good people and are fun to hang out with.

So yeah; all in the way of saying "Happy Holidays!" to everyone who reads this post.

And, if applicable, I want to wish you a Merry Christmas!

WikiLeaks

Just a thought: the way that my government has responded to the WikiLeaks fiasco pisses me off. WTF happened to freedom of speech?

I've decided to torrent the Iraq and Afghanistan documents. Even if they take out Julian Assange with a bullet or drone strike or that bullshit (*UPDATE* [this should be a link to a different post]) rape allegation I want to make sure that as many people as possible can access this information.

Regardless of how you feel about the way this information reached the public sphere I hope you can agree that people have a right to share the truth once they have access to it; ESPECIALLY if that information is dangerous and controversial. I despise Glenn Beck and consider him a prime example of a dangerously naive proto-fascist; people still have a right to know what he has to say.

Perhaps there is a lack of parity between those examples. So be it. The point is that I believe in freedom of speech, government accountability, and hope that the future will have a distinct lack of Pinochets.

Running those torrents takes almost zero of my time and resources. I urge you to help out too.

*updates* - WikiLeaks has been suffering from a lot of Denial of Service attacks lately. I've decided (after trying a few things) to make a 'page' that has a list of all of the current mirrors. There should be a link to that page on the right-hand side of the this page.

Also; I was fucking around with the html coding trying to figure out how to implement an 'after the jump' feature. Blogger's help guides are NO HELP AT ALL so if anyone is having trouble with the blog now because of the html coding (or if anyone knows how to implement that feature) please let me know!

In addition.

Yeah, I'm not going to do the 'song of the week' thing anymore. In retrospect that was really dumb. Oh well!

I've been playing a lot of Mass Effect in my free time lately. Other than that I've been too busy with work to think much. So instead of anything meaningful I'm just going to post this link.

I'll post more next week though!

Regarding Kanye and Bush

I'm declaring the song for the last two weeks to be Cyberwaste by Fear Factory; one week each for Kanye West and George Bush. Not a perfect fit since neither is a blogger, but it's close enough.

NOTHING!

YOU SAY!

MATTERS!

TO US!

I noticed something disturbing while watching the various Matt Lauer clips; Bush and West have the exact same problem. They both seem to be reasonably intelligent. At the same time they are completely and utterly oblivious to so many things. It's like they're mild psychopaths [warning: wikipedia]. I don't mean that in the stereotypical sense of the raving lunatic archetype; sometimes they just don't understand how they affect other people.

Feingold 2016! (Updated)

Okay, so Feingold is probably never going to run again. He was an amazing senator who I deeply respect; I think the nation is weaker now that he has lost the election.

I want to thank him for his service and wish him the best of luck in whatever comes next in his life.

Hopefully Ron Johnson will prove to be capable of living up to Feingold's legacy.

And maybe hyenas will learn to play Homeworld.

*UPDATE* : For the record, my quip at the end isn't quite as petty as it probably sounds. Hyenas are probably some of the coolest animals ever in my opinion; if hyenas could sing I'd definitely be in a Khanate tribute band with some of them.

All in the way of saying that it's not meant as an insult. It's intended as pure pessimism about something that would be cool.

Randomized Dissonant Cognitions (or..uh, something)

I was planning on writing a bunch of posts about the election; I guess I've simply become too burned out when it comes to politics. Writing about video games and music is much more fun than politics or social issues lately.

This is only the second major election I'll get to vote in. Maybe I just wasn't paying close enough attention in the past, but I honestly never thought I'd see the type of insanity that is consuming the elections this year. During the 2004 election I thought it was ridiculous that Howard Dean was discounted as unelectable because of his 'yee-hah' moment.

I wish we could go back to that type of thinking.

One candidate I'm particularly displeased with is Ron Johnson. It's probably unfair for me to single him out. Nonetheless there is plenty to be disgusted with.

Check out the video on the "Meet Ron Johnson" page. It's all of the nauseating rhetoric you could possibly hope for from conservative talk radio, neatly repackaged as a political... something. It's not a bio, it's not an endorsement; the video gives me a creepy 'propaganda' vibe.

*updated again (4/7/11)* See this post for important information about the next section!

Especially distasteful is what Charlie SYKES [sic] has to say at the 2:20 mark. Actually, it's a little after that, but 2:20 is where you should start.

I always felt that my personal freedom would be protected. I could trust that our constitutional checks and balances would work. But then a not-so-funny thing happened on the way to the 2008 election.

You'll miss the reference if you're not familiar with Sue Williams's well known "A Funny Thing Happened" [MASSIVE trigger warning].

I don't see how there can be any doubt that Mr. SYKES was alluding to that drawing. The wording of what he said fits perfectly and is too awkward to simply be something he'd say in that context. Is he saying that the 2008 election was as bad as rape? Probably, it's well documented that many conservative media figures like to use rape metaphors to describe liberals and progressives.

I doubt that Ron Johnson even knows enough about feminist artwork to understand the reference. I find it harder to believe that nobody in his campaign caught that while they were reviewing content to use in the video. But even if they're all cheerfully oblivious I'm still disgusted that they would seriously consider SYKES to be a good person to go with.

Also worrying is the "Preserving Wisconsin Values" section on his site, which reads thusly:

“I’m a pretty traditional guy. I believe in a culture of life, and I believe marriage is between one man and one woman.” – Ron Johnson

Ron is pro-life, pro-family, and believes that freedom of religion doesn’t mean freedom from religion. Ron will take these principles with him to Washington and will stand up to those who would attack these cherished traditional values.

Ron is an avid fisherman and outdoorsman who believes strongly in maintaining a clean and healthy environment. He believes Wisconsin’s sporting traditions and the Constitution’s 2nd Amendment should be protected.

Ron and Jane have been married for 32 years and together they have three children.

Hey Ron, Utah is that way.

Also, what the fuck does "freedom of religion doesn't mean freedom from religion" even mean? How can you have one without the other? And this man has a good chance of being my senator *shudders*

A few Random Final Notes. I've been rereading Orwell's 1984 and listening to Meshuggah's Obzen (the link is to the album's lyrics) and generally have been thinking about cognitive dissonance a lot lately.

I love violent videogames, books, movies, and music. I deplore the casual use or acceptance of actual violence. I spend a lot of time analyzing the rhetoric people use and absolutely despise hypocrites.

I'm not sure what to think about all of that. After I've had more time to think I want to write something much more in-depth on the topic. For now I'm just going to presume the power to dedicate Meshuggah's song "Combustion" (off of the afore-mentioned album) to this year's conservatives. And possibly to myself o_O

Also, what's up with drinking bleach? I thought that was just a funny Metalocalypse sketch.

*updated* : originally wrote that Johnson was running for governor; actually should have read senator.

Song of the Week: "Black Night"

My previous post inspired me to declare this week's song to be Black Night. Of course I'm not referring to Deep Purple's classic single; I'm talking about Deicide's cover of Deep Purple's classic single. And I'm assuming the authority to dedicate that song to none other than the Legendary Yukio Futatsugi himself (I'd link to a better interview but I'm too lazy to find one right now, I'll probably update that link later).

Why am I picking this song and that Legendary Figure? Partly because both are amazing; partly because the original Black Night was written in a drunken stupor when Deep Purple's record company demanded something to be released as a single and Yukio Futatsugi's last game at Microsoft Game Studios (Phantom Dust) received equally callous treatment.

Mostly though it's because things just don't feel right when Yukio isn't crafting his masterpieces. Fortunately there is always hope; sometimes we all we have to do is be patient.

Too Little Too Late

I really enjoyed playing the first Assassin's Creed. The gameplay certainly wasn't very refined, but the game was, nonetheless, much more interesting than most of the other releases that year.

I still haven't played the sequel due to the fact that I've somehow accumulated quite the pile of books and video games that I intend to get around to someday. Assuming that the second one is any good I suppose I'll eventually get around to playing the upcoming Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood too. So when I saw some of commercials such as this one that show off the exclusive character you receive if you pre-order the game from GameStop it suddenly became very tempting to do just that.

The trailer in the above link isn't very good but the Harlequin character that it showcases is completely dementedly violent. And that's awesome.

Here is the problem though: it pisses me off that not everyone is going to get to play that character. Feel free to call me old-fashioned but I think that a video-game should be like a book or a movie; the core experience should be the same no matter which copy you have access to. I don't have a problem with receiving bonuses along with the game if you buy a special version; the 'journal' for Dr. Halsey that came with my copy of Halo Reach is, to put it delicately, fucking awesome.

When they start cutting up the game and packaging small parts of it so that they can only ever be obtained by specific customers who do business with the correct corporation at the correct time my bullshit meter freaks out though. Yes, they have every right to do that. Yes, it's not going to stop any time soon if ever.

I still refuse to play along with it though. So I'm not going to pre-order the game from GameStop or anywhere else that runs this same scheme.

Unless it's a new Panzer Dragoon game. I loves me my Panzer Dragoon.

So it was slightly delayed.

Only a few random things today.

On the right there should be a picture. Did you find it? Very good!

In the rather classy 'lounge lizard' mug is my morning coffee. Since I don't have access to an espresso machine right now I've been experimenting with a few different ways of making things interesting. A lot of the time I'll just drink my coffee black; lately though I've been mixing in some cocoa, cane sugar, cinnamon, whole milk, and ginger with REALLY strong coffee. It doesn't really matter what order or in what ratio you mix those things, it's pretty hard to go wrong with those ingredients.

On the right is my music player with a lovely snippet of the album cover from Anaal Nathrakh's excellent "In the Constellation of the Black Widow." And with that I will now rather tactfully make a smooth transition to the next segment of this post....

I've decided that just for fun I'm gonna start doing a 'Song of the Week' segment where I take it upon myself to dedicate a song to someone; this will also give me a reason to make sure I post at least one thing every week.

This week's song is the pleasantly titled Between Shit and Piss We Are Born. I know that most people are not going to like that type of extreme metal; that's okay, we're not going to judge you too harshly :P

Because of the song's refrain ("Are you satisfied it's unto shit that you return? / are you happy that it is in piss that you drown?") I'm dedicating that song to the members of this fraternity at Yale. If you want to revel in your own filth that's fine, but who the fuck do you think you're impressing*?

And that's all for now! gl hf

update: *Well; at least I'm self-conscious about it.

Beyond the End

Btw: NNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

I've known about that for a while now; slipped my mind to post something. Red Harvest was an amazing band and I wish its members the best of luck with the rest of their lives.

I guess that means I should stop using their songs as a source of ideas for post titles...

update: If you are into extreme/progressive metal then you need to watch this video.

This one is also cool; audio isn't great but I believe it shows their last performance ever.

Wait.... what?

Yeah, so my last post was on the 6th and then I started a new job on the 8th. I've been working 8 to 10-and-a-half hour days ever since and don't get a break until this weekend. I probably won't be posting anything of substance until then because I am too burned out to do much of anything by the time I get home.

Can't complain though, I need the money :P

Anyways check back later this week since I have plenty of inane insanity to rant about; seriously, it'll be fun!

Regarding Race Issues

I'm a bit amused by the differences between the 'Issues' categories on the respective websites for Scott Walker (R) and Tom Barrett (D). Both are running for governor of Wisconsin this year.

The list on Walker's is:

- Agriculture

- Education

- Goverment Spending - Reform

- Healthcare

- Jobs

- Natural Resources & Sportsmen

- Protecting Life

- Second Amendment

- Standing up for Wisconsin Families

Tom Barrett:

- Agriculture

- Creating Jobs

- Education

- Energy and our Enviroment

- Healthcare

- Fiscal Responsibility

- Senior Citizens

- Transportation

- Veterans

- Women's Issues

I'll update this post later with a more in-depth look at what information is actually contained within those various categories. For now I'm just going to say that it's rather telling that the republican gave entire categories to the rights of embryos and gun owners while the democrat included a 'Women's Issues' category.

How copy? Over.

Change of Venue (updated)

I'm making a 'new' blog and copying all of my posts to over there.

Fuck robots.txt

I can't figure out why google refuses to index anything. This is my attempt to fix that.

Update: No, I'm not doing that after all. This is still going to be the blog. Sorry for the drama.

'Mechanized' is a second profile I've created. I'll mostly be using that profile from now on.

Only Korans? - Part 2

[04/16/2012] - I feel like I've learned a lot since I wrote this, and it now no longer 100% represents my views on the subject; they aren't enraged because we burned some books.


Funny story; my internet died about an hour after I posted last time.

I really am starting to hate Charter Communications with the type of passionate dislike that I usually reserve for classmates who, upon buying hot chocolate, proclaim that it tastes, "Too much like coffee."

Anyways....

I guess what I was trying to say before is that burning the Koran = bad

Threating to kill people over burning the Koran = Worse

I hate to boil it down to a doltish formula like that, but over the last week I realized that I really don't care. I much prefer drawing the Prophet; rather than destroying something Islamic you are creating an image so as to express yourself. And when I see how upset the global Islamic community becomes over petty insults I honestly believe that the only reasonable response is to continue the petty insults in the most benign way possible.

The fact that Molly Norris has had to go into hiding is an absolute travesty. I don't care that most Muslims are great people. I don't care that they will be insulted too. And it doesn't make sense to say that we should all treat Muslims with respect rather than insult them. Until the Islamic faith and community can be freely mocked or critiqued without fear of death it is impossible to truly communicate with them in a respectful way. Politeness at the point of a gun is a survival mechanism, not respectful dialog.

So I say that drawing the Prophet Muhammad is a good thing. It's a peaceful way of saying, "Welcome to the civilized world. You will be mocked. You will be insulted. And until you learn to deal with it in a civilized way nobody will have any respect for you at all."

Nobody should be exempt from that either. Freedom of speech is not a promise not to be insulted.

More importantly Halo: Reach is a quality product that I readily endorse :D

I'm going to go play it now.

Only Korans?

[04/16/2012] - I feel like I've learned a lot since I wrote this, and it now no longer 100% represents my views on the subject; they aren't enraged because we burned some books.

*******
Original:

FROGBLAST THE VENTCORE!!!!!

Now that I have your attention; I have a very serious addiction to Bungie's games and am ultra amped up for the release of Halo: Reach tomorrow. The joy is slightly bitter-sweet* though since I'm certain that all future Halo games will just be cheap knockoffs now that Bungie is moving on to bigger and better things.

I just spotted something shiny; I'm gonna change the subject now.

Regarding the
Ground Zero Death of the Infidel Victory Monument
Manhattan community center I can't stress enough how much I absolutely don't care about it being built. What angers me is how agitated people are getting about it. I'm much more pissed at our support of Saudi Arabia.

The Florida Koran Burning League that you've probably heard about in the news; it took me a long time to sort out my thoughts on that whole fiasco. At first I was very conflicted. The burning of those Korans is reckless, offensive, and immature. That type of behavior is perfectly acceptable if you're a little know-nothing blogger in an obscure corner of the internet; I believe, however, that a prominent a community leader must be held to a higher standard of social conduct.

I have more to say, but my brain just shut down (caffeine crash I'm sure) so i'll update this post later today to finish my rant : )

Good to know I'm not paranoid.

Haven't made a post in a while because I haven't been able to think of anything particularly interesting to say. However, I feel that it would be a case of gross negligence if I didn't take a moment to ask, "What the fuck?"

Micro-update: Beck sounds like he's talking about a Disney-style theme park.

Both links are to clips from mediamatters.com's coverage of Glenn Beck's big evangelism stunt today.

Classy

The official website for the Texas GOP is pretty amusing. The front page contains all of the dignity of a tabloid; a huge picture of Bill White (I assume, I don't live in Texas) accompanied with "Keeping up with LIBERAL BILL!"

Also of good comedic value are the comment sections [update - 07/22/2012: removed a link here, they deleted the page it went to] on all of their posts. Every single one has "0 comments" listed. I don't know if it's always been that way, but I'm going to assume that they locked and deleted everything shortly after experiencing the horror of what happens the "t3h 1nterwebz!" speaks its mind.

The best part though is their party platform. There isn't one. They had it up earlier today and you can still find where people have mirrored it. However, at the moment their website remains mysteriously platform-less.

I've been a little heavy on the name-calling so far with this blog and some day I intend to force myself to stop that. Until then may I suggest, however, that the Texas GOP is a bunch of cowards. They spew hatred and intolerance, preaching homophobia and misogyny with pride.

And then they cry and lock the comments when people respond with what's on their minds.

At least they deleted that diseased manifesto they were calling their platform. Otherwise they'd be worse than cowards. If they didn't allow comments because they didn't want people using obscene language and left their platform up for all to read they would be hypocrites .


Edit/Update: Apparently the big banner on their front page is randomly selected every time you load, so you may not experience the delight of viewing the 'LIBERAL BILL' thing until you refresh the page a few times.

Update 2: I was stupid, my original post had a link to Theocracy Watch's analysis of the 2004 Texas GOP platform. My bad.

Yay!

Ok, I'm not going to link to Pharyngula all the time; I just felt like after my last post I should be a wuss and point out some positive things in the world. This is a post which suggests that warfare is a relatively recent phenomenon in human history and isn't something that we're hardwired for.

And also this "Slayer Goes To Church" video, makes me very happy.

It's Here Already

Allow me the pleasure of introducing you to Mankind 2.0, courtesy of the wonderful blog Pharyngula.

My reaction can be best summed up using the infinitely wise words of Our Glorious Leader, Ofu Kahn of the band Red Harvest:

(From the song 'Teknocrate')

It's here already
It's after all of us...
you're fucking next
Tekno-logical domiNation
Create or modify TeknoLogical Productions
A constructed pre-defined community

You are programmed to believe
That this is what you want

All things are coded
It's just a matter of construction
Our eyes are changing By (our) Trans-Mutation
...and life keeps slipping away...
Anti-humanized nature
Anti-life Cyborgian conditions
What was human anyway?

(We are) bio computers
Re-Configure yourself
The Teknocrates have spoken

Okay, so I may be a little quick to cry "Dystopia!" on issues like this. It's just that I get paranoid about the possibilities for the future when I start thinking about what will happen when we as a species have the ability to completely reshape what we are. Can you imagine anything more terrifying than a corporation like Unilever or one of the major religions being able to actually create their ideal human being?

Books like 1984 and A Brave New World suddenly seem so tepid and uninspired compared to what I think the human race is actually going to be capable of.

I just wish it didn't sound so paranoid. I wish that my first instinct wasn't always to curl up in a ball and listen to Sic Transit Gloria Mundi a few times.

I feel better after writing this though. I think that blogging is like secular prayer; you don't actually do anything but you feel like you took some kind of action.

Anyways, I want to finish with a couple of side notes. First of all, if you haven't noticed, I really love the music of Red Harvest.

More importantly though I am really addicted to Machinarium (careful, there's music on that webpage) right now. If you're into indie gaming and immersive adventure games, you should at least try the free demo.

Thanks for reading! Over and out.

Gears of Mortal Reach

Since everyone else in the universe is doing it I figured I'd waste your time with my thoughts on that corporate hypefest known as E3 so far.

I'm not a huge Gears of War fan; the chainsaw kills are just barely awesome enough to make me ignore the brain-dead narrative. The new trailer for GoW 3 is pretty cool though. I mention it though because I think it's hilarious that they ended the trailer with "Brothers To the End" and this also happens to be the trailer where they show the first* female soldier in the series.

Also awesome is the new Mortal Kombat they're showing off. I have a friend who's obsessed with the franchise; I hope this game is good if only because that will get him to stop whining about how awful MK vs DC was. Well, that and because Fatalities are fucking awesome.

And finally, if you're a Halo fan this speaks for itself.

That's all, later!

*There's actually a female medic in GoW 2. When you first enter get into the locust tunnels using the drilling pods you can find her down by where all of the cogs are engaged in combat. She has the exact same "A. Carmine" model as the rest of the soldiers and you can only tell by her voice.

Speaking of Rape Apologists.....

I'm not a fan of Glenn Beck. I used to try to stay up to date on his conspiracy theories simply because so many of the male college students I know are fans of him. I gave up a long time ago though and have mostly been living in blissful ignorance for the last few months.

Then I heard that Beck has a novel coming out and instantly I became intrigued. For whatever reason I have an obsession with paranoid literature and apocalyptic rhetoric; so while I'm sure it'll have more in common with the so-awful-it's-hilarious The Turner Diaries than it will with Orwell's masterpiece 1984 I'm certain that The Overton Window will be a thoroughly entertaining read.

Media Matters obtained a review copy, and has already posted aTop Ten List of what they claim are the most blatantly awful parts.

I'll spare you all the details, but I do want to discuss their #1 pick. Quoting from the above link, Media Matters posted (emphasis in the original):

1. Rule number one is: "Don't tease the panther"

Noah and Molly [the protagonists] find themselves in bed together early in the book after a harrowing experience at a Founders' Keepers rally. They agree to sleep in bed together because Molly is too scared to sleep at home, but Molly insists that nothing sexual will take place. Noah agrees, on the condition that she "not do anything sexy." She presses her cold feet against his legs, and Noah responds:

"Suit yourself, lady. I'm telling you right now, you made the rules, but you're playing with fire here. I've got some rules, too, and rule number one is, don't tease the panther."

First of all; That's just fucking hilarious. I'm pretty sure that "DON'T TEASE THE PANTHER!" is going to be my official battle cry from now on whenever I feel like being a jackass in an online game. As far as awful dialogue goes that has to be tied with.... well that has to be tied with pretty much anything that George Bush or Sarah Palin has ever said.

More importantly though I want to take this opportunity to decry to tired notion that females are responsible for any sexual arousal that males experience. I'm not sure which is more insulting, the idea that males are incapable of stopping themselves from fucking the nearest hole when they get hard or that it's female's fault for naively tempting fate simply by existing and seeming fuckable. Either way I'm sick and tired of this bullshit paradigm going relatively unchallenged within our culture, and for that reason I'm adding Glenn Beck to my list of people who officially bear the title of Disgrace To the Entire Human Race (D.T.E.H.R.).

As a side note; how can anyone take The Turner Diaries seriously? The prose is awful, the story lacks drama, and its theory that all Jews and so-called "negroids" are working to overthrow the so-called "white race" is (just like every other racist theory out there) patently false to the point of being laughably absurd. And people have died because of this fucking book.

Know what William Luther Pierce? I'm giving you a D.T.E.H.R. badge too. Wear it with pride asshole.

A Pun About 'Change'

I'm going to be messing with the formatting of the blog over the next week or two until I find a look that I like. Feel free to let me know what you think!

Brillo Pad to the Brain

In the spirit of the "scrape my brain clean" metaphor I used in my previous post I went and watched a few of my favorite videos on youtube. Then it occurred to me that not everyone in the world has seen these videos. And that makes me a sad panda. So here they are!

Death Metal Rooster
Cat Death Metal
Nine Inch Snails. As a rabid NIN fan I declare this the best NIN parody ever.

Disclaimer to avoid confusion: None of those videos are mine.

Dead Men Don't Rape

Trying to read the posts on Glenn Sacks' website is an exercise in intellectual masochism. The goal of overcoming cultural and legal systems that are harmful to males is admirable and necessary. To claim that struggle is anywhere near being as important as feminism is absurd.

Basically the entire so-called "Men's Rights" movement needs to collectively quit their pathetic whining. By essentially taking a stand against feminism they not only encourage direct harm against half of our species, they also create a cry-wolf scenario that prevents productive discussion on important issues.

Are rapes by female aggressors much more common than reported?

The answer: NOBODY GIVES A SHIT BECAUSE YOU WON'T SHUT THE FUCK UP! We get it. You're losing your precious patriarchy. It hurts any time you lose power. But you're just embarrassing yourselves with your crazy ranting*.

Especially when they start talking about false rape reporting. That link leads to an article by the above mentioned Mr. Sacks where he states;

The 2% claim originated with Susan Brownmiller in her book Against Our Will which was published in 1974. Where'd she get the figure? As Sherlock Holmes would say, "The game is afoot!" In other words, that's where the mystery lies. But solving it is like feeling in the dark. All who have tried - and there are more than just Greer - come away with empty hands.


Fuck you. According to the this 2007 report on rape in the US 18% of american women have been raped at least once and only 16% of rapes are ever reported. As far as I can tell every credible study in the US and UK has found that false reporting for rapes is at the same level for other violent felonies, around 2%. That number rises to 8% if you look at cases that are considered "unfounded", meaning that cases where the victim drops charges or refuses to cooperate with in investigation are included.

In that light any attempt to discredit or call into question the testimony of Rape victims is utterly contemptible. Glenn Sacks is a disgrace to the entire human race.

Thanks a lot Sacks. Now I'm going to have to listen to "Dead Men Don't Rape" a few times to scrape my brain clean of this insanity. (I'm mostly talking about Red Harvest's cover of the G.G.F.H. song, but 7 Year Bitch also has a song by that name that's pretty good.)

That's all I have to say right now, so adios!

*Yes. I am familiar with irony.

Update: Originally said that it was an FBI study, it isn't. It was funded by the Dept. of Justice and published by the NCJRS.

Oh. Shit.

I was checking out random things on the Harris Poll website's 'Vault' and I found this breakdown of what Americans believe. According to their 2009 polling 32% of americans believe in UFOs, 26% believe in astrology, and 23% believe in witches. Meanwhile only a measly 45% think that evolution is a real phenomenon.

Think about it. We have the most powerful conventional military in the world. We also have a metric shit-ton of WMDs. And a quarter of our population still believes in witches.

I wonder if this has anything to do with that. With the elections coming up I'm already hearing the conservatives hollering about needing to cut school funding and fire teachers. Every few years in the town where I grew up they try to get their hands on millions of dollars to build a field-house for the sports teams; meanwhile the liberal arts have been slowly butchered so they can pay for maintaining the football field.

Fuck. It's not like I have anything I can say on this subject that hasn't been repeated elsewhere a million times before. For the record though; I just want to say that my instincts tell my that a well educated nation is a nation better prepared to wage war.... so it blows my fucking mind that so many of the people I know who are extremely vocal in their contempt for public education are also the same people who have "Nuke their ass/Take their gas!" bumper-stickers. There is no zero-sum game going on between supporting the military and educating our population.

But that's another rant to be ranted another time. Thanks for reading, and feel free to let me know what you think. Unless you happen to actually believe in any of that pseudoscience crap. Then you can go google "James Randi" instead.

Screaming into the void.

What's up?

Welcome to my first blog! I'm creating Sic Transit Gloria Coffea for two main purposes.

First, lately I've been under a lot of stress and just want a space where I can shout out my crazy conspiracy theories in relative anonymity. I'll try to keep it entertaining!

Second, I write a lot of short stories and figure this is as good a place as any to inflict them upon the unsuspecting public.

Oh, and about the name. As far as I can figure out it's latin for "such was the glory of the coffee"; I reserve the right to be hilariously wrong about that translation.

That's all for now, talk to you later.