Sound Advice.

Simon Pegg has some good points to make. For the record, I've yet to see this show, but I'm reliably informed that it's winging it's way towards me.

Take All The Precautions You Want.

Looking through a PowerPoint presentation for a product we're selling this morning, I came across something that was genuinely alarming. A little background: this is a product for shrill Daily Mail-reading parents who think their kids are going to be sodomised by Bebo, right through the screen. It was full of facts and figures designed to alarm, amongst which was this:

Everything She Says Is A Punchline.

It's been obvious for as long as she's been on the national scene that Sarah Palin is a buffoon, a cretin with little to no plausibility as an upright-walking human being, let alone a candidate for vice president. Now there's this little gem.



Firstly, one very obvious point. The scientific community is international, it's work is peer-reviewed and made available to other scientists the world over, so for the most part where research is taking place is irrelevant. The second more crucial point is this.

The common fruit fly, Drosphila Melanogaster is probably the single most important model of genetics currently available to researchers. So much of what we know about gene expression as a whole comes from research on this tiny insect, and it is vitally important work that underpins research on any species. Our knowledge of Hox genes, large groupings of genes that control development of large strctures such as body segments, comes from research on fruit flies. Even prior to the discovery of DNA, it was research on Drosophila that showed decisively that chromosomes were a vector of heredity, work that won the Nobel Prize.

As for the idea that this work does not serve the public good, that's plain wrong. We share many of these genetic traits, because we (whisper it) have a shared genetic heritage with every other creature on the fucking planet. You want advances in medicine? Make nice with the Drosophila.

This woman revels in her ignorance, positively basks in her fundamental lack of awareness of the world. Worse than that, she is representative of a strain of people, certainly not limited to America, for whom a lack of any sort of intellectual curiosity in their public servants is seen as a boon.

Sorry, Al.

In light of the news that Alan Greenspan himself has given up and said that the Neocon free market philosophy has failed, it seems churlish of me to point out that he has a face like eighteen scrotums nailed to a monkey's skull.

Incentive.

Just as an aside to all the ranting, some comedy genius. Stick with it. I promise it's worth it. Apparently literal takes on videos are what the kids are doing these days. I can live with just this one.

Slandering Epidexipteryx.

Yet another of those non-transitional forms that creationists keep talking about. A feathered lizard is always 'too lizard' or 'too birdlike' to be 'truly transitional' if you're batshit crazy.

I wonder if this one is either too much like a bird or too much like a sauropod? I wonder if confusion between sauropods and tetrapods will cause another one of those 'little misunderstandings' that passes for an answer from creationists?

I wonder if the fact that it has feathers but no wings will be seen as significant?

I wonder if the fact that it has both a beak and teeth will be seen as significant?

I wonder if the fact that it demonstrates sexually-selected characteristics in it's exaggerated tailfeathers (so very common in modern birds) will be seen as significant?

I wonder if the fact that it has the tree-climbing claws, as you would expect from the arboreal precursors to creatures with powered flight, will be seen as significant?

I suspect that, just as before, anyone capable of rational thought will see this as a wondrous example of the many splendid things evolution has thrown at our feet. And I suspect that there will be a small fringe element in flyover country flinging out their usual crap as to what constitutes a transitional species. I'm sure there are more than enough people who will claim to be 'experts', and weigh in.

Furthermore, I am certain that these people have enough money and enough followers to drag this out for years. But all that provides them is an opportunity to spend their money on nothing whatsoever, and anyone with half a brain the persistent joy in knowing that these people take such fierce pride in being demonstrably, totally and utterly wrong.

Still, There's Always John.

And Another One.

InJesus.com (No Sniggering At The Back).

Why haven't you been posting anything you (well, three of you) cry? Here's why. Too scared. Cannot come out from behind sofa.

That these people are able to breathe, let alone type is nothing short of miraculous. Fear teh witchez!

Justifying The License Fee.

Not an actual video, just a screen grab of the second thing to make me throw up in my mouth a little today.

Probably Too Far This Time.

Sometimes people at work send me some fairly dreadful pictures. And sometimes I make them worse. Here, for your education, edification, and most probably consternation:

Sorry, Could You Repeat That Please?

So there are some pretty shitty politicians in Britain.



And there are some pretty shitty politicians in America:



But really, nothing beats the sheer shittiness of Australia's politicians. Be sure to read the whole article. The quotes from the witnesses are priceless.

Wrong, In A Splendid Way.

Right. So. This thing.

I'm not sure if it's the greatest thing mankind has ever done, or a sure sign of the end times. Comments please.

What's That Under The Bridge?

They're up to 700 comments. People still don't get it. Suddenly support for McCain starts to make sense.

And God Said Unto Man:

Never gonna give you up.

I was taken in by the antispore site. We all were. But it turns out that the site's creator is, in fact, a DCL.

The true purpose of the site has been revealed. And it is glorious. Poe's law, otherwise known as 'spending 6 months convincing Andy Schafly you're as mad as he is' in all it's genuinely infallible wonder.

Addendum: Even though the author put in a full verse of Rick Astley's classic 'Never Gonna Give You Up' and referenced Poe's law, i feel it necessary to direct you to the post in question. Look at the comments. Post fifty is yet another attack on the author, starting with the phrase "First of all, are you serious?".

Let me answer that one. No.

Scroll down through the comments. It goes on for a while. No-one seems to be getting it. Maybe the rickroll is just too subtle. But really, this is another prime example of John Gabriel's Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory (a theory as accurate as Poe's law):



Post 111 (to get to which you must scroll past the phrase 'Rickroll' about 50 times) starts: "First off, are you really that stupid?" And so it goes on. Enjoy.

And On The Eighth Day, God Facepalmed And Yelled 'Crap! Irony!'

Clicky.



Apparently there are people out there who know how to build a website with no idea of how Google Ads works. Ah well.

And if you want to read a man rail against a game in which an omnipotent creator makes life from nothing and claim it is 'anti-Christian' with apparently no irony whatsoever, you can see it here.

I Promise To Stop Soon.

As an infrequent blogger with four (I think) female readers, I find this profoundly disturbing.



If you don't have five minutes to spare, skip to 2:58 and listen to the nice lady. But I'd suggest watching the whole thing, as The Daily Show is probably the sanest perspective on the world currently available.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Gusset.

Clickthrough. Read the text. Glow softly with pure joy.

Snigger.

Cursory.

Right. A couple of things.

1. Sarah Palin. Someone who thinks the world is only 6000 years old pressing to drill for more fossil fuels is the funniest thing I've heard in a long, long time.

2. It would be wrong of me not to direct you to the sweet zombie action to be found here. It's the trailer you want.