Go F*ck Yourselves Now

You've probably heard about Muhammad being represented in a South Park episode. You've probably heard about it being censored by Comedy Central because some assholes (ie. Revolution Islam) said that Matt Stone and Trey Parker would "probably wind up like Theo Van Gogh for airing this show". You may have even heard that the website for Revolution Islam now bears several images "offensive" to Islam, including one of the famous Jyllands-Posten cartoons drawn by Kurt Westergaard. But now you've seen what must be considered the best response to the whole mess: Jon Stewart's Go F*ck Yourselves Choir.

In summary, I'll leave you with the immortal words of Camus:

"Nothing is more despicable than respect based on fear."

Getting Warmer by the Numbers

This video is an interesting look at the back and forth of the climate change debate. Today, the Associated Press released an article by their science writer, Seth Borenstein, detailing the results of a new analysis on climate data.

"The AP sent expert statisticians NOAA's year-to-year ground temperature changes over 130 years and the 30 years of satellite-measured temperatures preferred by skeptics and gathered by scientists at the University of Alabama in Huntsville."

"Statisticians who analyzed the data found a distinct decades-long upward trend in the numbers, but could not find a significant drop in the past 10 years in either data set. The ups and downs during the last decade repeat random variability in data as far back as 1880."

American Imperialism

Whatever the History channel is broadcasting right now isn't as important as Howard Zinn's History of American Imperialism. Doesn't hurt that Viggo Mortensen is narrating.

Parts Per Million

It's no secret, people love cold hard facts. Scientists can huff and puff about global warming all they want, but it's hard for other people to care about something on such a vast scale if they have nothing for comparison. We can't all go to Antarctica or Greenland and see the ice melting for ourselves. Even if we could, many of us probably wouldn't fully understand, while others would chock it up to a natural phase of weather (ie. interglacial).

Unfortunately for all of us, we've already exceeded the recommended 350 Carbon dioxide parts per million (ppm) that all the experts are getting excited about. Right now, we're hovering around 387 ppm. 350.org seems to be running a successful multimedia campaign to raise awareness, centered around a Global Day of Climate Action on October 24th.

I think it's a great idea to get people organized in their communities. I just have a nagging question in the back of my mind... If 350 is the upper limit, shouldn't we be aiming for something below that?

Hell, I'm moving further inland soon. You coastal people can deal with it.

Mixed Signals: Creation vs. Evolution

Opposite Day! Creation as technobabble and Evolution as melodramatic sermon... it's not just a brilliant switcharoo, it's also remarkably well done. You can watch them side by side on Vimeo.

Off-topic (but not if you're Pat Robertson):
So you've probably heard about Ida by now, but did you know it's also an impending hurricane? Do you think the World Meteological Organization and The Paleontological Society have a secret rivalry over names? You know, like the Anchorman news team street fight.

Mustaches bristling! Barometer slings launching projectiles into a crowd of prehistoric graverobbers! Picks and chisels bringing down the front lines of the weather soothsayers! Ida-the-hurricane-of-dead-lemurs!

Anyway, that's how I want to imagine it. We now return to your regularly scheduled program...

Muslim Demographics or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Laugh at Fearmongers

I love how the video stops just short of announcing a brand new crusade.

"As with the Christian religion, the worst advertisement for Socialism is its adherents." George Orwell