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Doesn't Sally Sound a Lot Like This?

Frequent readers (both of you) may have spent some time (and some more time and even some more time) reading through what Sally has to say around here. It sort of reminds me of:


posted by corsair the rational pirate at 13:04

I Think I Have Been Spammed

Who the hell gets spammed in Russian? At least I think it is a spam.



Anyone know what this means?
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 21:09

I Can't Believe I Watched the Whole Thing!

Some freak somewhere acutally spent time putting this together. And when it was finished he pronounced it "good" and released it to the world.

Don't all run out and join up once you watch this, ya hear?!
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 15:30

Stupid, Evil, Deluded Bitch

If someone claims they speak to god and learn all kinds of cool stuff from him/her/it, then people call that person spiritual and send them money or put Saint in front of their names. If they claim to talk to god and do all kind of icky, nasty things they call them insane and try to get them off. The one exception to this seems to be that Abraham guy in Genesis 22

22:1 And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am.

22:2 And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.

Now, we all know that this was a practical joke that god was playing on Abraham. He never really meant for the crazy old coot to actually gut his son and burn him to ashes... Right?

22:7 And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?

22:8 And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.

22:9 And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood.

22:10 And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.

22:11 And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I.

22:12 And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.

First the guy is a baldfaced liar. He told the kid that they'd find a lamb later to kill and burn up. Yeah, a lamb by the name of Isaac! Then Abraham tied him up and started swinging a big knife over his son (sort of disgustingly phallic, don't ya think?) Probably had sweat on his brow, spittle on his lips as he intoned about god's orders to kill the poor, terrified little kid, and a wild look of religious fervor in his bugged-out eyes... Not a pretty picture, huh? (Another thing, how many kids did that randy old Abraham have, anyway? Genesis 16:15 Says: And Hagar bare Abram a son: and Abram called his son's name, which Hagar bare, Ishmael. Was there another son? Or is Isaac short for Ishamael?)

So anyway, no one outside of rationaly thinking adults thinks Abraham is a loon. They praise his devotion... to god if not to his son (I'd a told the holy spook to shove off if he thinks I was gutting my only son).

This lady did pretty much the same thing and they call her nuts! Where is the justice in that!

Laney's court-appointed attorney, F.R. "Buck" Files, presented his case for an insanity defense during his opening statement.

"You will hear that she was a sick person on a quest to be closer to her Lord," Files said. "The only explanation which any of the witnesses can offer for her conduct ... is that Deanna Laney was legally insane."

Files said Laney believed that God had told her the world was going to end and "she had to get her house in order," which included killing her children.

"The dilemma she faced is a terrible one for a mother," Files said. "Does she follow what she believes to be God's will, or does she turn her back on God?"

Files said he would present witnesses who would corroborate Laney's love of her children as well as her belief "that the word of God was infallible."

Hanging's too good for this fundy, crazy bitch! Yes you turn your back on any sort of god that would have you kill your kids! Is that really all that hard to figure out? Does she not think that the 'splody Muslims over there in the Gaza Strip are acting irrationally and not under the instructions of their crazy god? So how is the actions of her almighty wacko any different?

You know what she did to her kids?

(CNN) -- In opening statements Monday, a Texas prosecutor described how a mother smashed the head of her infant son with a rock and then led her two older boys outside and did the same to them, killing the two oldest boys.

Now, the youngest one survived (probably to the cries of "It was the lord's mercy!" from the fundy onlookers) but the oldest two are fertilizer because this woman, who lived her whole life not knowing what was real and was a lie, acted like the lies that she had been told all her life to believe were the real thing. Shouldn't she be a saint? Does she not "fear" her rapacious, bloody lord and bend to his every will and whim? Aren't the two kiddies right now frolicing in the the big playground that is heaven (albeit with the last memory of earth being a shot of mom, face contorted with the majesty of the lord dropping a rock on their heads... Should make it hard to get to sleep at night).

This woman is not more insane than any other fundy "god's word is truth" loon who ever made any other decision based on prayer and "a message in my heart". Get it in writing next time, murdering hag and maybe you can avoid the needle (which I would be more than happy to inject into her).

Now where was that story about the wierdo who killed in the name of atheism?
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 14:47

Infantile Obsession... Continues

Grace Park getting it done and winning her first big ole golfing tournament. As well as showing off her:



Belly button!
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 09:40

Sands of Iwo Jima

Just finished watching John Wayne's The Sands of Iwo Jima. Considered a classic by many, considered kinda lame by this intrepid reviewer. Cliches to the left of us, cliches to the right, here I am. There was the tough-as-nails sergeant with a heart of gold. There was an oily Italian guy alwasy looking for an angle. There was the "almost 18" newbie that you know was headed straight to Start Trek red shirt time. There was a couple of country bumpkin brothers always rasslin' with each other. Another guy who married a New Zealand local girl due to love at first sight and ended up with a baby boy due to pregnancy at first poke.

There was plenty of stock war footage of what appeared to be real marines doing real marine stuff. This was intercut shots of our of our boys flinging themselves to the ground every six seconds to avoid the "Nips". There were plenty of guys calling each other "Mac". Do you personally call strangers "mac" to get there attention? Whatever happened to that quaint custom? Think I will try and get it started up again.

I have been adding things willy nilly (and whatever happened to that word?) to my queue on Netflix and this one just popped up recently. I wanted some John Wayne. I wanted some WWII. Since I already have The Longest Day with John Wayne I decided to get something from the other theatre of war.

I also managed to watch The Flying Deuces with Laurel and Hardy and it still makes me laugh. Although I would have to disagree with the title since they only spent a couple of minutes at the end of the film doing any flying. I am not sure why they emphasized that?!

All in all a bit of a letdown from the Duke. I just added The Searchers to my queue so maybe that will be a little bit more to my liking.

Corsair, out!
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 23:18

Oh My!

Freakishly funny album covers with reviews!

Damn, who knew there were such freaks in the world!
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 12:46

Almost Too Topical

Tom Meyer covers a lot of ground on this one:


posted by corsair the rational pirate at 11:51

WWOFFS (What Would Our Founding Fathers Say)?

Michael Newdow, as most of you know went before the Supreme Court a couple of days ago to argue for removing "under god" from the Pledge of Allegiance. Oh the caterwauling and lamenting that went up from the religiods! "It's not a prayer!" they said so it should stay in (well, if it is not a prayer then you shouldn't have any problem with taking it out). "We are a christian nation!" they said so it should stay in (so it is a prayer, since you are so christian?). "The founding fathers created this country and they were all religious so they would be spinning in their graves if they knew about this!" (if they weren't a pile of moldering bones, you mean?).

Well, I am going to quote something longer than I usually do so I don't lose it. If the founding fathers were such religious zealots how come none of the documents that they used to create this "christian nation" every really mentions god or jeebus or allah or buddha or anyone invested with "transcendent" powers? If Pat Robertson were writing the Constitution and the Bill of Rights today do you think he would forget to quote jeebus 46 times throughout the document? If Billy Graham were in charge of putting together the Bill of Rights next week, you think he wouldn't find a way to make christianity the official religion of the US somehow?

Well, what about those founding fathers?

But the founders were also children of the great intellectual ferment known as the Enlightenment. In the debate over the place of God in public America, few framers are cited more often than Ben Franklin. In the summer of 1787, with the Constitutional Convention haggling over the nation's fate, Franklin proposed opening the day's meetings with a prayer, a proposal often cited by public-prayer advocates. But these advocates leave out the rest of the story.

After Franklin's motion, Alexander Hamilton argued that if people knew that the delegates were resorting to prayer, it would be seen as an act of desperation. Then Hugh Williamson of North Carolina pointed out that the convention lacked the money to pay for a chaplain, and there the proposition died. Franklin later noted, "The convention, except three or four persons, thought prayers unnecessary."

Alongside Franklin's doomed proposal, George Washington's religious fervor is often cited. The father of our country was a regular churchgoer, but what's left out of the story is that he usually left services before Communion. He was a deist who called on Providence, an amorphous power he referred to as "it." Nominally Episcopalian, Washington was also a Freemason, along with many other founders. A semisecret society, Organized Freemasonry was formed in London in 1717 by a group of anticlerical free thinkers dedicated to the ideals of charity, equality, morality and service to the Great Architect of the Universe.

Then there is Jefferson, who inveighed against "every form of tyranny over the mind of man," by which he meant organized religion. In 1786, his Statute for Religious Freedom was approved by the Virginia Legislature through the efforts of James Madison, a chief architect of the Constitution and later an opponent of the practice of paying a Congressional chaplain. This statute guaranteed every Virginian the freedom to worship in the church of his choice and ended state support of the Anglican Church.

They may have been religious men, but they do not appear to be good role models for the right wing religiod wackoes that regularly try to ride their coattails.
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 10:01

Ahh Spring and Infantile Obsessions!

Flowers bloom, trees bud, birds and bees get their freak on and golf arrives to give us nice views of:



Belly buttons!
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 09:13

"Teenagers?!"


Former President Clinton got all speechy yesterday at the "Unity Day" for democrats dinner thingy. The Dems, of course love him and wanted to give him knobbers right there on stage but he said "No, I only do that in the White House" or something like that.

What he did say was just as silly, however:

"They love power. They know how to get it and they know how to keep it," Clinton said, adding at another point, "They've always got white shirts and ties. They're the "mature party," they're the "Daddy party." They remind me of teenagers that got their inheritance too soon and couldn't wait to blow it."

Couple of things wrong with this. "They love power" coming from a man who did anything to get and keep his power. "They've always got white shirts and ties" coming from a man wearing a white shirt and a tie. In fact he was on a stage with a whole bunch of donkeys wearing white shirts and ties. Is it a bad thing when Repubs do it but not Dems?

And how about the allusion to "teenagers"?! Who the hell was the one playing with cigars and receiving cunninglingus while working the phones in the Oval Office? Sounds like teenager-ish behavior to me!

Wow, he really is a politician to beat all politicians. Look how much bullshit he can cram into just one paragraph!
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 08:30

Alright. This Guy Gets It

One of the stupidest arguments put forth by the religious when questioned about their, in many cases evil and bloody history is the "Yeah, well atheists killed even more people in (Russia, Cambodia, China, take your pick)". I have always responded that no one has ever killed anyone in the name of atheism! Atheists have killed but it was usually for other reasons, power, megalomania, money, and all the other sins of the world. Nowhere have you seen an atheist flag, or coat of arms, or rallying cry! "Kill the believers in the name of Atheism!" Nope, never happened.

You have seen that sort of thing over and over and over in the history of mankind and it continues today. Some religions grow out of it, some do not but when you have the absolute truth and have been commanded by your god to spread that truth, those who get in your way deserve to die.

This guy says the same thing:

Faulty assertion #3: Religion might have resulted in the deaths of many people, but the leaders of godless communist regimes have killed many more.

Undoubtedly, humans can be a nasty bunch. People tend to fight and kill for a number of reasons: greed, power, lust, jealously, etc. Human foibles are at the root of many horrors, however, organized religion is a preventable addition to the list.

How many people have been killed in the name of atheism? Probably zero. Atheism is not a belief; it's a lack of belief. The word atheism is "a" (without) and "theism" (belief in a god). People don't kill in the name of a nonbelief.

Communist regimes also lacked belief in the existence of leprechauns, unicorns and a number of other possibilities. Atrocities committed by such regimes were no more performed in the name of atheism than they were in the name of a-leprechaunism.

Wow, a non-moron. You don't see many of them these days.

He also has a lot of other good points. RTWT.
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 10:52

And Again!

The Intraweb is just overflowing with Korean-hotty goodness these days. Today's entry includes... Korean Indians?


posted by corsair the rational pirate at 08:37

Stupid, Brainwashed, Religoid Parrot

The human brain is a wonderful thing. No moving parts. No direct interaction with the outside world. Lives in a dark, dank shell. Yet it creates the most wonderful music and art and science, if given half the chance. Then there are those who are in the thralls of religion who turn off the parts of the brain which make is special. An example of this is the thinking of this woman:

Kuala Lumpur (AsiaNews/Agencies) The opposition Islamic Malaysian party (PAS) says it will enforce the wearing of headscarves and prohibit non-Muslim women from wearing miniskirts should it win control of the northern state of Kedah. Election polls will open tomorrow, March 21.

Wan Tom Wan Mohamad Noor, head of the women's wing of the PAS party in Kedah, believes that such laws, if applied, will help root out certain crimes committed against women, like rape and incest. Muslim women will have to cover their heads with headscarves or shawls and their bodies with long flowing dresses. Non-Muslim women will be exempt from wearing headscarves, but should avoid wearing low-necked and tight-fitting clothes.

"should avoid" is Muslim-speak for "if you wear low-necked or tight-fitting clothes we will beat you senseless in the road and leave you for the dogs to urinate on". Lovely people, these.

According to Wan Tom, the way in which women are dressed in public may prove provocative to men and lead them to satisfy their sexual instincts. She says it is a determining factor in the cause of sexual violence against women. This explains why even women who dress decently and wear 'tudungs' (headscarves) are victims of rape and homicide, she said.

OK, so women who dress "provocatively" deserve to be raped and beaten. That I can understand. But women who mumu themselves all up and cover every inch get raped and beaten because some other women are all gussied up? Huh? What is this woman smoking? Ohhh. The kuran! And Islamic tradition! What a wonderful place Islamic society must be. And nice taking one for the men's team there, bitch! You got no compassion for your fellow females? Blame the victim and all that?!

And how about addressing the need for men in Islamic society to rape and beat women at the merest hint of an ankle or wrist? It is obvious that Muslim men can't keep their drawers on and maybe should be medicated if they want to join a in a civilized society. How come I see the Islamics down at the mall all the time not raping and beating despite the overwhelming (to even my jaded eyes) amount of young, female flesh? If they are able to live in this country, why can't they act less like barbarians in their own country?

Brainwashing is alive and well in Islam. Stay away from it!

(side note: why did my spellchecker try to replace "headscarves" with "woodcarver"?)
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 10:25

Now, That is Just Wrong

In a country where you can walk down the street in MiARi Texas and see women all gussied up in the windows waiting for you to step on in and sample the merchandise, where hotties on motor scooters will nip 'round with some tea "services", where barbershops whack off more than just a little off the top, this story is just a little bit silly:

SEOUL, South Korea, March 21 (UPI) -- South Korea will no longer offer the spectacle of beauty-pageant contestants parading in identical swimsuits.

"We decided to accept criticism by women's groups and get rid of the swimsuit contest from this year's beauty pageant, scheduled to be held in June," an official of Hankook Ilbo newspaper, the main organizer of the Miss Korea pageant, told the Korea Times.

But the swimsuit competition itself isn't being eliminated. The judges will still be privy to the sight of the swimsuit-clad cuties in private proceedings held just before the main portion of the pageant.

Oh, so I can't see Miss Korea in her almost-altogethers, but the dirty old men who run the competition can get a free peep show in a back room? Where is the justice in that?
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 09:23

Return of Infantile Obsession!

For all those clamoring for the return of Infantile Obsession, I show you:



Korean Lady Golfers Bellybutton! You love it, you know you do!

How's that for a fetish?
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 08:34

I'm Not Sure What It Means

But is is cool interesting odd anyway.
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 08:19

Belmont Club Nails It

As always, Belmont Club sees the future and it ain't pretty for Europe.

The Serbs will flee and the UN with them. The US offensive in Pakistan and Afghanistan, unrest among Syrian Kurds and continued resistance to the Mullahs in Iran against which the Islamists can mount no military riposte has naturally reduced them to attacking civilian targets wherever they can -- attacks which the press represents as great victories -- and there are no softer targets than those in Europe. The dreadful strokes which will now descend upon the Old Continent will not, as some imagine, bring down the New. They will simply smite the Old, passing easily through their Maginot Line of treaties and accords with the same ease as an icepick through a sheet of paper.

posted by corsair the rational pirate at 11:41

Watch Where You Put That Sword!

Dayum, there is just something so hot about a girl in uniform... with a purple elephant-bird-thing on her hat!



March over this way, a ga shi!
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 11:41

Brainy And Talented

If by "talented" you mean that you are able to stand around looking good in bathing suit. Seems that Miss Korea 2002 is going to be heading up to MIT to enlarge her... Brains!

The winner of the Miss Korea 2002 pageant, Keum Na-na (21), has received a letter of acceptance from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) on Monday. The letter from MIT stated that Ms. Keum is an outstanding student with a great deal of potential and possesses both beauty and intelligence.
Considering the fact that MIT also nominated her for a scholarship, Ms. Keum no doubt obtained acceptance from the prestigious university thanks to her high marks in academics.

Keum first attracted public attention when she won the Miss Korea beauty pageant. She graduated from Gyeongbuk Science High School, and went to Kyungpook National University to study Medicine.

Although she may look perfect, there are obviously issues lurknig in that pretty little body:

After winning the Miss Korea title, Keum caused a stir when she admitted that she had lost 5 lbs. before the pageant.

That's it? No heroin use? No botched abortion? No grand theft auto? What is wrong with kids today?
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 13:27

Great Googaly Moogaly!

You know, when I was in Korea I would often partake in a cup or two of pleasing libations. In order to do so I was forced to frequent alcoholic dispensing shops. Along the walls on those shops were usually hung calendars, posters, and other marketing materials intended to get me and my compatriots to consume more beverage. Usually these marketing materials included pictures of Paekdoosan or hanbok-wearing beauties from and age or two before.

Much like the following:



(Makes ya want to run right out and order a tall cool one, right?) or



Would you drink with her?

Apparently, things have changed! Now we get the following:



Dayum! Sign me up for some more Korean Grog!

Oh, and I managed to scoop the Marmot on this story. He's so wrapped up with the impeachment thing, he ain't got time for pretty girls. I hearby volunteer to take over that assignment until such time as he can return to his regularly scheduled duties!
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 14:38

Oddly Enough, I Just Watched High Noon Last Night

Being the Netflix groupie that I am, I got High Noon in the mail the other day and managed to stay up long enough last night to watch it all. The story, for those who haven't watched it is about the Marshall (Gary Cooper) of a small town in the middle of nowhere (they specifically do not mention exactly where it is so as to add to the "every town" mystique, I think) who, on his last day as Marshall and the day of his marriage gets word that the evil doer he put away five years ago has been freed and is headed to his town on the noon train to take revenge.

The Marshall decides to postpone the honeymoon with the babealicious wife (Grace Kelly) and confront the ex-con and his buddies (who are now waiting at the train station for their leader to arrive). He goes from the saloon to the church to friend's and neighbor's houses in a vain attempt to secure some help in stopping the encroaching evil. The church goers, while scared of their town descending into chaos, decide that the would rather live with that than with the possibility of getting hurt. The saloon is full of friends of the criminals who are expecting a return to the bad old days of yesteryear where the booze flowed and the fun was had. And the friends either hid in the homes and forced their wives to lie for them or flat out said that nothing they do matters and evil always returns.

Our hero decides to fight on alone and, with some timely help from his newlywed bride vanquishes the foes before dropping his star in the dirt and riding off into his new life.

And then I see that the Spanish have decided to turn out their current government in favor of those who might be more accommodating to the demands of terrorists. Seems the terrorists claim the latest bombing in Madrid was a direct result of Spanish support for Bush in Iraq, Afghanistan and the WoT. The people in Spain, seemingly taking lessons from their neighbors the French, have decided that it was their government that brought this tragedy upon the train riders and if they turn the present regime out, maybe the terrorists will recognize their surrender and leave them alone.

I don't fault them for being scared when they are forced to witness the evil that is present in the world today on their own soil, but I do question their capitulation to the forces of darkness. Did America hide its head in the sand when it came time to confront evil in Afghanistan and Iraq? No, we bore down and did the work that needed to be done, spending our blood and treasure to make the world a better place. The terrorists have learned that they have unleashed a terrible fighter who will stop at nothing to eradicate them. You will notice that the US has not been hit by any terrorist attacks since we took the fight to them. As in Iraq, the bad guys now are concentrating their fire upon our less stalwart allies in the hopes of breaking their spirit since they know now that the US will never waver in our cause.

Unfortunately it seems to be working in Spain. The people there obviously have not seen High Noon. I wish they would and then rethink what they need to do.

UPDATE: The House of David says that Aznar (who, until yesterday I would have thought was realted to Ed Asner) lost the election because he was "manipulating a tragedy for political advantage" by blaming ETA immediatly after the attack. What some people seem to be saying is that Aznar's party didn't want it to be Al Qaeda attacking due to his support for Bush. He would rather it was homegrown ETA which wasn't connected to Iraq. I initially looked at it another way. As soon as they cameout saying it was ETA and not Al Qaeda, I assumed they were covering for the Muslims. Remember Bush and his "Islam is a religion of peace" nonsense in the White House days after our own attacks? In our case it was to keep the natives peaceful and not go running down to the local 7-11 and attack Apu. In Spain's case it appeared to me to be more French-style appeasement. "Don't say bad things about the Islamics or they might get all 'splody on us and start killing more."

Didn't work out too well for Aznar either way since he is now on the unemployment line. But all the scenes on BBC news of young Spanish people blaming Aznar for getting them into this "Bush War For Oil and look what has happened to us now" is not very encouraging.
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 19:16

*SLAP* Thanks! I Needed That!

All these years of proclaiming myself a rational, thinking individual interested only in whatever truth is available through evidence and direct observation may have been wrong. Silly Sally takes it upon herself to analyze my type and we learn the following about us:

In 2001 Space Odyssey the dreaded "culture shock" is analogous to the threat a personal God would inflict on an atheist: hard-won defense mechanisms protecting self-esteem would collapse -- reducing the atheist to being not only a mere creature -- but worst of all -- a "normal person". The atheist is quite proud of his lonely "grim task".

David Koresh became a self-proclaimed Seventh Day Adventist prophet after visiting Israel as a tourist: he succumbed to the "Jerusalem Syndrome": inner-conflicts suddenly became resolved by a delusion one is Christ. Just like a mystic, he declared the divine-consciousness indwelt him.

The atheist does the same: to him the world threatens his self-esteem, he must survive by his own wits; hence, he limits the scope of his worldview to a manageable size, then self-exhalts himself as a pagan hero ( stronger than his enemies - which is life, itself.)

Nothing more comical than a working-serf atheist with delusions of elitist grandeur.

Lets have a look at Sally's arguments, shall we? (This is a classic case of someone projecting their own ideas onto their opponents).

Should god walk up to me one day and proclaim himself creator of all time and space, master of the cosmos, and slightly betwigged lunatic whose one major publishing attempt is a mishmash of conflicting nonsense, I would shake his hand and ask for a little proof. Were he able to give me such proof (and it wouldn't involve card tricks, making my credit card debt magically disappear, or conjuring my dear departed aunt to tell me to water her plants) I would then say something to the equivalent of "Cool. Guess you don't need anything from me then, you being the big creator of all." Would I immediately drop to my knees and proclaim him the best thing since sliced bread? Would I denounce my former self and run to the desert to become a hermit intent on contemplating my wicked ways? Would I do anything different than what I am doing today? Probably not. I might mention that I saw god walking down the street (hope I have my camera with me so I can get some proof) to some friends. I don't think it would change me in the least. I think I would have a couple of questions for him about all the people who do such awful things in his name. Then I would ask him about the appendix and wisdom teeth.

As for thinking of myself as a "mere creature" that is the essence of being an atheist! We are all mere creatures who are really not special in the great cosmic sense of things. Look at the picture below and imagine the hundreds of billions of planets circling the hundreds of billions of stars and all the things that are happening on all those planets. Do you and I matter in the least in all of that?! Of course not! There is nothing special about me or Silly Sally! We are all "normal people"! And there is nothing wrong with that.

And, Sally, the world doesn't threaten my self esteem. The world is what it is and I do what I do. I am part of it but not a really special part. I accept that. I think water and oxygen are more important than I am in the grand scheme of things. I was born, I plan to live a long and happy life as determined by the amount of joy and happiness I bring to others. Then I plan to leave this world a better place than when I found it (I hope) and end my time here and leave it for others to carry on. Nothing wrong with any of that. If god, whether he bothers to reveal his presence to me or not, has some other plan for my afterwards he will have to deal with what he made when he designed me in the first place. If he cares and if he is at least as good as I am, I assume there won't be any problems.
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 08:46

Here is Where People Should Look For God

Instead of sitting around contemplating dusty old books written by infallible, often barely literate morons from centuries ago, why don't the folks who feel the need for something transcendent take a look at what NASA is putting out today:

Astronomers at the Space Telescope Science Institute today unveiled the deepest portrait of the visible universe ever achieved by humankind. Called the Hubble Ultra Deep Field (HUDF), the million-second-long exposure reveals the first galaxies to emerge from the so-called dark ages, the time shortly after the big bang when the first stars reheated the cold, dark universe.

[...]

The HUDF field contains an estimated 10,000 galaxies in a patch of sky in the constellation Fornax, a region just below the constellation Orion, that appears in an area of the sky that appears largely empty if observed by ground-based instruments. The image is about one-tenth the diameter of the full moon and took Hubble one million seconds to take. To cover the entire sky with such detail would take the HST one million years, astronomers said.

The beauty and wonder of the universe far outshines all the words and ideas expressed on behalf of all the religions over the years. And, even better, there it is! It doesn't take any interpretation or priests or churches or anything other than stepping outside on a clear night, raising your face to the wonders of space and taking it all in . What could be more pure and exciting than that? How can you beat being part of a universe where billions of gallaxies containing uncounted billions of stars exist. Each with its own story of birth and development. What wonders and oddities exist out there that you can't even begin to imagine. If it doesn't take your breath away you have my sympathy.
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 12:55

We Ain't Got any Money, But Would You Like a Tank?

Now why didn't I loan a couple of bucks to Russia after the breakup of the Soviet Union? I might not have gotten my principal and interest back, but I coulda scored some happening hardware, just like South Korea. Proud owners of some junky Russian tank crap that the US routinely blows up in cool and pyrotechnically interesting ways:

South Korea will deploy some of the latest types of Russian tanks and infantry combat vehicles near the heavily fortified border separating the two Koreas by the end of this year, military officials said on Tuesday.

``We�ve decided to deploy some thirty T-80U tanks and another thirty BMP-3 infantry combat vehicles in frontline units located in central and eastern sections of the border in Kangwon Province,�� a Defense Ministry official said.

They are part of the Russian weapons that Seoul purchased to offset some of the $1.47-billion loan, which was extended to the former Soviet Union in 1991.

OK, so maybe I didn't have $1.4 billion laying around but I could have scraped together a couple of thousand. Wonder what I would have gotten for that?

I think the best idea for the South Koreans would be to give the tanks to the NoKos, since they don't have any spare parts or diesel fuel for them and watch them not use them. The US will turn them into decorative doorstops during any future conflict anyway and do the SoKo really want to be stuck with this junk?
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 09:45

It's A Conspiracy!

Remember when debit cards first came out? For those of you not "in the know" debit cards are like credit cards but they remove money directly from your checking account without the month end bill thingy. I have been using debit cards for years since they are so handy and they make me limit my spending to whatever I happen to have in my account at the time. You can't spend more than you have, unlike a credit card.

Debit cards were great in the beginning but they were limited to places that accepted debit cards (which wasn't everywhere but did tend to get my business if they did). The banks recognized this problem this problem and came up with the Check Card. The Check Card came branded with the Visa or Mastercard logo and was accepted everywhere that traditional credit cards were taken, which is pretty much everywhere on the planet. This vastly increased the ability to use your Check Card and made them much more prevalent.

Stores set up those little "swipe your card" boxes with buttons on the front that allowed you to pick either a debit or credit transaction. With a debit transaction you entered your secret code, chose whether to get some cash back, accepted the total and you were done. Credit transaction don't allow you to get cash back and forced you to sign a silly little slip of paper. All of it was up front and direct and left it up to the customer to pick which card he wanted to use (you can select either method with a check card). Initially Check Card transactions were free. Some years ago some banks began charging for the right to use a Check Card but not for using the same card as a credit transaction. The amount wasn't much, usually 25 cents but it was an extra charge nonetheless. I, for one began using my Check Card more as a credit card at that point and less as a debit card. Why should I have to pay someone money to use my money? And that was OK.

Some changes have happened relatively recently that makes this sort of transaction more of a pain in the butt. It seems that stores pay to have the ability to accept credit cards and pass the transaction off to the credit company. Debit card transactions, for whatever reason are cheaper to process (maybe because the debit card user is paying more up front?) than credit transactions so stores use subtle ways in which to deter you from using your credit card. Safeway and Giant (to name just two) now default to a screen on their little card swipe machine that asks for your debit card PIN and not which card you want to use (like they used to). They are hoping people will just put the PIN in, pay the 25 cents, and move on. In order to use the credit side of your card they force you to hit cancel, then select another option and then maybe allow you to use your credit card. All the while hopping on one foot and reciting the Pledge of Allegiance backwards! All to save a couple of bucks.

Well this is one Pirate who refuses to play their game. I always work my way through the menus and buttons to reach the promised land of credit transaction and I urge both of my readers to do the same! If you want more money out of me raise your prices and don't try and sneak it out of my pocket though some underhanded programming approved by the same store psychologists who tell them to put the milk in the back corner forcing you to walk all through the store to buy it while at the same time picking up a few high-profit impulse buys on the way!

Don't play their games!
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 14:05

Followup!
Despite my milisecond long attention span, I did manage to catch this story and remember that I had written something about it sometime in the past.

Three 12-year-old girls who falsely accused a homeless man of attacking them in a park were sentenced to time in juvenile detention and will be on probation for nine years.

Eric Nordmark, who was jailed for eight months because of the allegations, criticized the punishments, saying police, not the girls, were to blame for his incarceration.

The girls were sentenced during a closed-door hearing in Orange County Juvenile Court after admitting to a charge of conspiracy. One of the girls also admitted to perjury.

Two girls received 45-day terms and one received a month of detention. Each received credit for 25 days already spent in custody.

Hah! Shows them right! Maybe the little creeps will learn something.
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 11:26

Now Here's A Market With a Lot of Potential!

Poor old North Korea gets all in trouble when it makes a few nuclear weapons and tries to pawn them on the open market. They say they need the foreign exchange and since they don't have agriculture or industry to provide goods to export they have to send what they got.

Well hold on there a bit, Mister! Turns out NoKo does have something that others are clamoring for (no, not KJ lapel pins), they got sand!

The South will buy sand from North Korea from next week to ease shortages in Seoul and nearby satellite cities.

[...]

The county will collect 16 million cubic meters of sand this year, which is the average annual amount gathered since 1995. A total of 152 million cubic meters have been collected from the region.

How many cubic meters of sand do you think they have in NoKo? Maybe I should get some for the backyard sandbox. You think Home Depot carries it?
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 09:28

Ewww. Walmart!

Had to go to Walmart. Yuck what an icky place. Saw more white trash there than in a garbage bin in the back of Macy's after their Annual White Sale!

Ewww.
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 14:11

Everything is All the US' Fault

I have come to the conclusion that everything that goes wrong in the world it the fault of the US. I cut my finger the other day whilst trimming my tree out back, US' fault. The upstairs toilet was wasting water so i was forced to replace it innards, US's fault. I just washed my car on Sunday and today it rained, US' fault (see how easy it is?).

Now we hear that Sunni muslims are shooting and blowing up Shia muslims. First off, ain't they got any rules against killnig your fellow muslims? Must be similar to the whole Protestants killing Catholics nonsense that infected Europe all those centuries. Just today, in fact we had not one but two instances of muslim on muslim mass killing. The first was in Pakistan:

At least 20 people have been killed and over 40 wounded in an attack on Shia Muslims in the Pakistani city of Quetta, hospital officials say.
An explosion was followed by intensive gunfire as a Shia procession passed through the business district.

Doctors say the condition of many of the injured is critical. The city is under an indefinite curfew.

The attacks came as Shia Muslims held ceremonies to mark the slaying of the Prophet Mohammed's grandson.

And the second was in a couple of places in Iraq:

More than 140 people have been killed in blasts targeting Iraqi Shias as they celebrated the climax of a holy ritual in the cities of Karbala and Baghdad.
US military officials say 400 were hurt in the near-simultaneous attacks of the bloodiest day since the war began.

The reaction on the BBC's website was very instructive, however. It seems that the blasts in Iraq were all the US' fault:

Until all the coalition forces leave Iraq to the capable hands of the Iraqis and not interfere in their lives they will never get peace. Leave them alone! They are made to feel incapable and therefore the problem is only made worse!
David Hilton, Hudds, UK

Bring the UN in. Send the US and UK home. Give the Iraqi people self-rule. Many of those who protested against the war saw this coming. I can't believe the government didn't. It was clearly likely to happen. I'm just sad that we were right.
Christian, Liverpool, UK

What hope for peace? None whatsoever, I'm afraid. What's happening in Iraq now is a direct result of American intervention. If they hadn't invaded, this wouldn't be happening.
Anonymous, Liverpool, UK

And on and on and on. Although I will admit that there were a few sane individuals posting who endorsed the war and occupation by the US.

What these slack-jawed yokels don't mention is why the attacks are just as bad in Pakistan as they are in Iraq. Last I checked we hadn't invaded Pakistan (although they just might need it) and yet they are killing themselves with abandon there as well as in Iraq. Is that the fault of the US? We have left them alone and yet they kill. I wonder if there is a common thread that connects both Pakistan and Iraq. Falafels? Hummus? The Prophet Mohammed? Arab Cola? Wait, what was that third one? I know, maybe it is muslims! It seems that they hate each other and with or without an American presence they are more that willing to kill each other in large numbers!

I am willing to bet that every American in the world could return home, we could build a fence to keep people in and out, shut down all the airports and sea ports, and sit back and watch what would happen and we would still see idiotic religious morons killing each other in the name of their blood thirsty gods. They did it before we got there and they will continue doing it long after we leave them to their hells on earth.

Bah on the whole lot of them.
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 11:32

You Can't Fire Me! I Quit... I Think

Here is an oddly titled story on the Korea Times today:

1,000 Samsung Card Workers Quit

Samsung Card on Tuesday said it would reduce its workforce by more than 20 percent, or around 1,000 employees, this month.
The layoffs already have been expected, after the credit card issuer's merger with its affiliate, Samsung Capital last month.

Samsung Card said 700 employees have applied for the voluntary retirement program. The volume of applications suggests unionized workers will not strike.

So were they laid off, or did they quit? And did they quit with a severance package? In which case it wasn't quitting it was being downsized.

And how does the volume of applications relate to striking? I guess there won't be enough left after they all "quit" to strike?

Korean logic escapes me.
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 09:08

Think of the Potential Market!!

I remember being in business school back in the '90s when every Tom, Dick, and Chan was clamoring to get into China due to the billion consumers just sitting there waiting to spend money on his product. Of course, most of these early adopters probably lost their shirts when it turned out that the Chinese didn't yet have the legal infrastructure to support trade. No copyright laws, no contract laws, no law against stealing all your money.

The world is now sitting out there ripe for the picking if only they would swing on by the blogosphere! I got in early and am still here despite my many detractors.

NEW YORK (AP) -- Despite the potential of turning every Internet user into a publisher, relatively few have created Web journals called blogs and even fewer do so with regularity, a new study finds.

Some bloggers indeed update their journals often, in some cases several times a day. But it's clearly a minority who are taking advantage of the blog and its potential to steer the online discourse with personal musings about news events and daily life.

The Pew Internet and American Life Project, in a study released Sunday, found that somewhere between 2 percent and 7 percent of adult Internet users in the United States actually keep their own blogs.

Only 2 to 7 percent? But at least the rest of the world is reading what we write, right?

About 11 percent of Internet users report visiting blogs written by others. Most often, they were for blogs written by friends. But blog readers are more likely to go to journals kept by strangers rather than by family members.

WHAT?! Only 11 percent on users read what we highly influential bloggers have to say?

[Glass half full] Think of all the new people out there just searching for something to read! I better blog about my bowl of cheerios this morning lest someone feels let down.

[Glass half empty] Only 11 percent? Maybe we don't write anything that anyone wants to read.

So get out those keyboards, folks. Think of all the people who have yet to stop by the site and have their lives enrichened by what we write!

So in Corsair the Rational Pirate's case that would be 6,351,564,642 (world pop) - 11 (total readers) = 6,351,564,631 (people who haven't read the site)!

6.3 billion? Maybe I better set up a tip jar and ask for a buck from everyone...
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 12:43