And we're zany to the max

My eldest daughter now knows the theme song to Animaniacs by heart. Too bad most of the jokes will never make sense to her...

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I've heard them say a man with a beard may frighten children and dogs

I stopped shaving about a month ago. This morning my lovely wife was talking to me about the littlest baby and suddenly stopped and stared at me and said "When did you grow a beard!?!?"

This shows how little impact I have on people.

Happy Krimble to all, and have a Merry Winter Solstice.

also note that Christmas is not about Truth by Razib

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I thought that you'd give up

I've been enjoying the War on Paultards far too much. I'll be very sad when it's over. A lot of people get the wrong idea about the whole issue and think that we (those who are at war with the Paultards) hate Ron Paul and all his supporters. That might be true for some, but the vast majority of us take issue only with a small but very very vocal minority of his supporters. Call them the worst stereotypes of libertarianism.

The other day someone noted that they found Paul amusing and annoying but finding out that he was *not* an objectivist raised their low opinion of him considerably, a sentiment I concur with. But hey, they did manage to semi-successfully purchase advertising, so they are clearly a force to be reckoned with.

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Here are some things that need not be explained

Some light reading for a Friday. Larry Moran has an awesome entry on the continuing evolution of our species*. In part he was motivated by the Selection Spurred Recent Evolution article in the NYT on Tuesday. And Evolgen provides links to a bunch of commentary on the study, including some by one of the co-authors.

I read the actual study and found it fascinating, I highly recommend it. More importantly, the assorted commentaries on it reflect a *real* controversy in evolution, not the faux-troversy of "intelligent design -vs- evolution". This is actual scientists debating a point of disagreement on the process of evolution, and I agree that this sort of controversy should be taught in schools.


*this assumes that if you are reading this and comprehending it chances are you are of the species Homo Sapiens Sapiens

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With logic that's sharper than a blade of d'Artagnan's

I saw the most awesome bumper sticker on the way to work. If anyone knows where I can get it, I'd appreciate a pointer.

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Security Personnel

If you care about computer security, and I know you do, you should read two things that came out today. Pack a lunch.

SANS Top 20 Vulnerabilities of 2007

Bruce Schneier's How To Secure Your Computer

Seriously. If you use a computer you should make the time to read both of these.

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He's no Prince Charming

Yesterday I took the whole brood out on a food run. As I listened to "Something There That Wasn't There Before" or whatever the name of that song is from the Disney version of Beauty and the Beast a thought occured to me. This is the story of a woman who has grown up with no mother, just an insane inventor father. She is an outcast in her town, ridiculed by all. And this is what I realized: She is so unstable that she reaches the conclusion that her only hope for love is inter-species relations.

Don't think about this too long, it's disturbing.

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We're an American Band

I really don't get why Next Great American Band isn't more popular. The contestants are all more talented than 90% of the contestants on American Idol and 100% of the contestants on those karoake shows. More importantly the judges are the real highlight of the show. Instead of shallow hip catchphrases, drug addled adulation, and snarkiness each week they offer up insightful constructive criticism. I think American Idol would be improved greatly if they canned the current panel of judges and replaced them with John Rzeznick, Sheila E, and Dicko.

It is clear that Fox didn't think the show would be a hit, they didn't even bother building a website for the show...

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