Whirlwind and more Braindroppings

Whew, what a weekend. When I got home from class (early) on Friday, my wife suggested that my daughter and I go to Disney for the weekend. Just for fun, and because I haven't really had a chance to spend a lot of time with my daughter because of deployments and such. We had a great time just hanging out and doing stuff together. it was an incredibly enjoyable weekend! Although, both of us were pissed that Space Mountain was closed until this winter. Grrr. We both also decided that if you go to Orlando for rides and stuff, the place to go is Universal. Overall it's probably a more active place than Disney. Disney is more about atmosphere really I think.

So, on my Facts, not Fantasy page, I quoted the UBS Freethinkers on a blog post, and they have decided to talk to me about that in a podcast. I think this is my first podcast ever! Kind of cool really. Hopefully I can get more traffic an information out about the site. I did see that IVAN3MAN put up a couple of news stories in the blog as I was in the land of mouse, and that was very nice of him. I still am looking for more folks to assist in this web site project. I'd like to see this become a frequently utilized resource by students and laypeople around the world. Please spread the news about Facts, not Fantasy!

Okay, all I got for today. Still catching up from playing hookie this weekend!

Obama, Oprah, Mars

Hmm, actually quite a bit to talk about today, so not really sure where to start. I will say that I had the opportunity to read the transcript of President Obama's speech at Cairo University. I would have preferred to see it since he is a great orator, but I did get to read the transcript. The content was great (even though I personally could do without all the god stuff, but hey, you gotta know your audience). I was amused that one of my favorite treatys was mentioned (Treaty of Tripoli), although not my favorite article from it (Article 11). Anyway, great speech, let's hope it starts to undo the past 8 years as well as many other long histories.

About Oprah... I was thrilled to see that Newsweek bitch slapped her a bit. I wasn't the only one glad about it. Okay, Oprah is probably a really nice lady, and she has tons of empathy, but that is no excuse for abusing her position as shepperd of the sheeple by endorsing things she has absolutely no knowledge about. I am always wondering why we listen to celebrities when they talk about stuff that they have no expertise in. If you think about it, most celebrities are actors, and acting is basically an endorsed form of lying about who you are, so these people are expert liars and manipulators in a sense. If anything, we need to make an extra effort to examine anything they say. And just for fun, click on the graph, it's so true!

And yes, it's that time of year when Mars will apparently be as big as the moon in this once in a millennium opportunity (NOT!). Please discount that you have seen this email for the past 6 years, or that it's just plain impossible, or a host of other things... Again, I suppose it's applicable to that graph! Just wait, Oprah will probably fall for it, I know my sister will.

Braindroppings

Sorry, just a busy few days trying to run out-processing checklists and the like. Although, if I have NEVER used base housing, why do I have to go to their office (clear on the other side of base) to get them to sign off on my checklist? Oops, sorry, started thinking logically there...

I found this article in Scientific American particularly humerous. Not to mention this article on dog breeds. Although the last sentence is quite insulting to all Chihuahua. Can you imagine being compared to a creationist!? How vile!

I also have to give props to my virtual friend IVAN3Man for reposting this particular write up. It really has to be some sort of mental disorder! At least in the way any type of actual thought has broken down. It's like some of the more loony conspiracy theorists.

I know my blogging is getting a bit sparse as of late. I am just so busy with the Facts, not fantasy site blogging, and then family obligations, I start to run out of things to type about. Although I am also trying to write my retirement speech. That's not going too well at the moment. I have a lot of nebulous ideas, but nothing is coming together. And I also need to be prepared to speak at my dinner. That will be difficult, mostly because the actual day of my dinner is actually my daughter's birthday, and I hate to take away from her turning into a teenager with all these activities. I will post both speeches on the appropriate day though, so you can track that here.

Also got my official photo taken today. It's for the program that will be printed on my retirement, but I also plan to update a lot of my profile pictures with it. Especially the atheist one! ;)

Without the Intertoobes

Okay, so I am finally about to depart for home. I am bouncing off the frikkin' walls! I just want to be home. Of course, while I am on the road (actually in the airplane), I will not have any internet connectivity. So I am going to be silent for a few days. I hope you don't mind, and will allow me the excitement of returning to my family.

I'll just leave you all with a few braindroppings: Should the anti-vax pro-disease nutters be held legally responsible if someone dies from a perfectly preventable disease? Hint, I think so!

More cool evolution news. Yes, I know, now there are two gaps where before there was only one... Seriously, someone will say that!

I am also still blogging daily for Facts, not Fantasy. Of course, with this trip, I'm going to have to take a pause. Although, I am having a hard time beating through all the swine flu non-sense to find relevant news about vaccines. As for the page itself, I need to probably do some maintenance on it so it actually looks the way I want it to...

See you guys in a few days!