Thank you! Lincoln your not so bad either;) Well Done.
Daily Show on Sarah Palin
You May have seen this but Jon Stewart had something to add to the Palin VP nomination
Science Does What Only Ancient Gods Were Able Too
Make a Paralyzed man walk again… Israeli scientists have developed a Human exoskeleton that allows a person to walk again. The Device is called Rewalk invented by Israeli engineer Amit Goffer who is the head of a Argo Medical Technologies.
This is simply amazing, this is a technology is in its infancy and it can only help those who are paralyzed from the waist below, you do need use of your arms to make this work. It does offer hope to those people who may have never thought they could walk again or too look a person eye to eye in conversation, but don’t take my word for it.
“I never dreamed I would walk again. After I was wounded, I forgot what it’s like,” said Kaiof, who was injured while serving in the Israeli military in 1988.
“Only when standing up can I feel how tall I really am and speak to people eye to eye, not from below.”
Its not just the restoration of a person ability to walk but article also point out the additional health benefits for a paralyzed person to be able to stand up and walk again.
Kate Parkin, director of physical and occupational therapy at NYU Medical Centre, said it has the potential to improve a user’s health in two ways.
“Physically, the body works differently when upright. You can challenge different muscles and allow full expansion of the lungs,” Parkin said. “Psychologically, it lets people live at the upright level and make eye contact.”
Iuly Treger, deputy director of Israel’s Loewenstein Rehabilitation Centre, said: “It may be a burdensome device, but it will be very helpful and important for those who choose to use it.”
Wait, what’s that Iuly it is a burdensome device?
The system, which requires crutches to help with balance, consists of motorized leg supports, body sensors and a back pack containing a computerized control box and rechargeable batteries.
Sure the suit is bulky at this point and requires specific control to make maneuvering easier, but to make a person walk again means the technology is here, Iron Man cannot be too far behind. This technology will be further developed and you can be sure it will be made smaller, lighter, and more user friendly.
Science Amazing!
Brett Favre is a JET
I could not be happier about this, to have Brett Farve as the QB for the JETS this season is really going to make for a better season for the JETS and give them a legitimate chance at making a playoff run. Chad Pennington was our boy for years and he was a great guy… but the truth is Farve is better and Pennington was on his way out anyway… he was in competition at training camp for the QB job.
The only issue now is the JETS online store is down, I assume due to the massive amount of JETS fans who like myself are trying to order their Farve Jersey!
Also go over to ESPN when was the last time all anyone talked about was the JETS!
Welcome Brett…
Favre Jerseys Now Available!!!!!
UPDATE: I was totally right about the jersey sales… Hell Yeah!
Late to the Dance
Wow, I am super late to the Dance on this one, but yesterday I was able to catch the Dr. Horrible Sing along blog while it was posted for free. It now only available on itunes. I have purchased it, its from Josh Whedon creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayera show I have previously written about as well as Angel & the short lived show Firefly go on to IMDB if you want his resume… I enjoyed this show immensely and highly recommend it, so go forth and buy it support we need more like it.
I was going to give you a write up and review and that’s been done by every other blogger and their dead ancestors so how about just a block quote from the Dr. Horrible site instead? Sound good…
Why, Joss? Why? Why now, why free, why us?
Once upon a time, all the writers in the forest got very mad with the Forest Kings and declared a work-stoppage. The forest creatures were all sad; the mushrooms did not dance, the elderberries gave no juice for the festival wines, and the Teamsters were kinda pissed. (They were very polite about it, though.) During this work-stoppage, many writers tried to form partnerships for outside funding to create new work that circumvented the Forest King system.
Frustrated with the lack of movement on that front, I finally decided to do something very ambitious, very exciting, very mid-life-crisisy. Aided only by everyone I had worked with, was related to or had ever met, I single-handedly created this unique little epic. A supervillain musical, of which, as we all know, there are far too few.
The idea was to make it on the fly, on the cheap – but to make it. To turn out a really thrilling, professionalish piece of entertainment specifically for the internet. To show how much could be done with very little. To show the world there is another way. To give the public (and in particular you guys) something for all your support and patience. And to make a lot of silly jokes. Actually, that sentence probably should have come first.
Amen brother Amen
Update: Anyone know where you can get a post graduate degree in horribleness or Mad Science?
Starbucks is Ruining 90’s Pop Culter
I was never a huge fan of Starbucks coffee, but now they have gone too far… they are ruining 90’s Pop Culture. How are they doing this? By closing 600 stores in the next year. This just does not conform to the idea of Starbucks being this behemoth monster of a company bent on expansion like Germany in the 1930’s. This is the company that never needed to do conventional advertising to drive customers and growth.
The classic example is from the Simpson’s, where Bart enters a mall to get his ear pierced and is told to hurry up as the store is slated to become a Starbucks, cut to Bart ear pierced exiting with a Starbucks coffee and in the background the entire mall has been turned in to all Starbucks.
Then Starbucks was unstoppable and they were popping up all over…I guess the times are pretty rough when Starbucks over estimated its growth and has now gone in to contraction mode. Is this to be part of 00’s Pop culture? Well, Starbucks that does not fit with in my American delusion so get off your bottom and let’s get building and maybe you have to throw a few ad bucks around, but stop ruining my teenage pop culture.
What’s next are we going to find out the USA is not the happiest nation in the world?
Was Jesus a Liar?
Cal Thomas has a post over on the FOX Forum titled Do They Think Jesus was a LiarThere is a lively comment thread over there as well, most of it people saying how you will burn if you do not accept Christ as your savior. What Cal is commenting on is a recent Pew Forum survey.
I am shocked and appalled over a newly published survey by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life. It finds most Americans believe there are many ways to salvation besides their own faith. Most disturbing of all is the majority of self-identified evangelical Christians who believe this.
Apparently they must think Jesus was a liar, or mistaken, when he said: “I am the way, the truth and the life; no man comes to the Father but by me.” Look it up.
What I think Cal is referring too is the gospel of John 14:6
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
The Questions was do they think Jesus was a liar and I have included myself in the they, and considering I don’t think Jesus “said” anything…. makes this difficult. The reference is in relation to what Jesus reportedly said… we have no idea of what Jesus may or may not of actually said since he left no actual writings behind. Technically at best what we have here is a case of hearsay… which would not even be allowed in court room testimony… so who was John and are we certain he was in the presence of Jesus when he supposedly said he is the only way to salvation, or in his presence for any of the quotes attributed to Jesus? No one knows really… and we are just supposed to take his word for it, based on faith alone? Also consider the issue that the gospel was written anytime between 30 -110 years after Jesus died.
This like most things with religion seems all to silly to me and just shows how divisive religion can be, b/c as Cal points
If there are many paths to heaven, Jesus suffered and died for nothing. He could have stayed in heaven, sent down a book of sayings and avoided crucifixion. Orthodox Christians have always believed – and their Bible teaches them — there is only one path to heaven and it is through Jesus Christ and him alone. One can believe whatever one wishes, but you can’t be considered a Christian without believing in this fundamental doctrine.
Its my way or the highway that is the true center of religion, it is all about we are right you’re wrong our book is really true yours is not. It’s about group think and conformity, which is increasingly challenged in our current multicultural society, no religion has any true special claim to truth or authority. When it comes right down to it there is no way to tell if it was just made up or not, except in the cases where it is demonstrably false.
So before we can determine if Jesus was or is a liar we need to determine a few other things.
- Was Jesus even a real person?
- What did he actually say? (Remember Jesus wrote nothing, there is nothing directly from him)
- Did the new testament writers ever meet him?
- Why is the bible more accurate than a Koran or any other religious text claim to authority and salvation?
- Has anyone ever been to Heaven?
- Is there life after death?
- Why do the supposedly good people in heaven happily go along with the suffering and damnation of billions of people in hell?
The only real certainty is death and I understand people fear it and you should because since there is no evidence to the contrary it is likely the end of everything you know… but then you wouldn’t really know that you would, you would just be dead. Enjoy life while you can.
Annulment Let’s All Play Pretend
One of the concepts I find most ludicrous is the annulment of marriage. Where by a person can have their marriage annulled and we all say it never happened… shhhhh. We show our complete and total mastery over time and space and just wipe those moments clean from history… they be come annulled. Well actually they don’t… we just pretend they do and allow life to go on as it always does and everybody kind of agrees to just forget about it.
What’s really interesting to me is how an annulment can only be granted under certain circumstances. The wikipedia page on annulments list the following as reasons for a marriage to be annulled;
Grounds for a marriage being voidable or void ab initio vary in different legal jurisdictions, but are typically limited to fraud, bigamy, and mental incompetence including the following:
Either spouse was already married to someone else at the time of the marriage in question;
Either spouse was too young to be married, or too young without required court or parental consent. (In some cases, such a marriage is still valid if it continues well beyond the younger spouse’s reaching marriageable age.)
Either spouse was under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time of the marriage;
Either spouse was mentally incompetent at the time of the marriage;
If the consent to the marriage was based on fraud or force;
Either spouse was physically incapable to be married (typically, chronically unable to have sexual intercourse) at the time of the marriage;
The marriage is prohibited by law due to the relationship between the parties. This is the “prohibited degree of consanguinity”, or blood relationship between the parties. The most common legal relationship is 2nd cousins; the legality of such relationship between 1st cousins varies around the world.
Prisoners sentenced to a term of life imprisonment may not marry.
Concealment (e.g. one of the parties concealed a drug addiction, prior criminal record or having a sexually transmitted disease)
These all seem perfectly reasonable reasons (well maybe not being drunk, alot of people are candidates for annulment then… but hey I think annulments are silly) to want to get out of a marriage noticeably missing is you changed your mind, fallen out of love, and grew apart… well its really b/c all religions needed to create an out for proof of fruad that this is not the person you intended to marry and so long as that reason is not that you made a mistake in judgement or related to free will and is related to some awful kind of deception or incest then it is ok…that is what annulment is, it is divorce with out calling it that I.E. a religious loop whole… this why religion doesn’t make sense to me. Divorce bad… but we can wipe the marriage out so it never existed… um yeah only if we play pretend you can. Marriage the social contract religion is to sanctify can be undone… I don’t know about you but from the weddings I have been to there is usually the line “What God has Joined today let no man tear asunder” so instead the out is “One side lied about who they were or their past or were drunk at the time so lets pretend this didn’t take place” It not just that “contract” of marriage was found to be invalid due to fraud or whatever the reason… what I am talking about it how we are supposed to play pretend and go along with the idea that it never existed. It did exist it happened someone witnessed it and I understand there is some reason the marriage contract could or should be made invalid, but there is paperwork still filed to dissolve that invalid contract… so to me this is a divorce*.
*- Divorce was due to fraud at time of marriage
I like the divorce terminology b/c is treats everyone equally in that you can get divorced for any reason or no reason really… and it doesn’t require playing pretend.
That’s it, it happened… annulments will only be really possible when time travel is.
My Little Predators
I have two cats and like most pet owners I enjoy them for their company and petting them is extremely relaxing. However one of the other great aspects of owning a dog or a cat is deep down they are still predators and I love to watch that instinct come out in them.
The other night my girlfriend and I are sitting around our apartment watching TV, when she suddenly notices our female cat acting strange… and then my girlfriend sees it a big old NYC cockroach and the cat is tracking it. She freaks, I freak and the cat is still tracking it… it doesn’t care that its a bug it got that hunters look in her eyes… the roach quickly scrambles under the sofa and gone… the female cat has lost the trail, but now with the bug under the sofa we can not sit comfortably wanting not to be startled by the sudden reappearance of the roach.
We move the sofa and try to cause a little commotion in an attempt to draw out the roach… it didn’t work but it got our male cat curious enough to get up and see why we are making a fuss and then he sees it crawling under the sofa… and with a look of determination he has now joined the hunt. The female then returns and the two of them create a perimeter around the sofa… this roach is now on a death clock the cats are locked in and seem to be enjoying this rarely used aspect of their lives… hunting… the male cat patiently stalks the bug flushes it out from under the sofa chases it under a chair and ultimately in to a corner under a table… he’s got it!
Unfortunately for the cat this where we as owners come back in to finish the job… after all its a NYC roach filthy and disgusting and I don’t want the cat to begin toying with it and I certainly do not want either of them to eat it… We finish off the roach and the cats get treats for being good little predators.
When you read about the history of cats and dogs and how they became our companions one of the top reasons universally given is pest control and still to this day its a service my cats are happy to perform.
