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Is That Really a Word?

I was reading a story this morning in the WaPo about the Stryker troop carrier and all of its problems in Iraq when I came across the following:

Asked about the report, Army officials who direct the Stryker program said they are working to fix some flaws; they also said they were unaware of some of the defects identified in the critique. "We're very proud of the Stryker team," said Lt. Col. Frederick J. Gellert, chief of the Army's Stryker Brigade Combat Team Integration Branch in Washington, but "it hasn't been something that's problem-divorced."

Huh? What gives this guy the right to make up words like "problem-divorced"? How about using "trouble free" or "without issues" or something aproximating English?

Silly man.
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 13:07

Commenting is Commented Out

Seems to be a commenting problem today. So I turned them off.
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 08:16

Is That...?

It almost looks like a belly button to me!



I wished they would quit teasing me like this!
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 05:49

NoKo Soccer Hooligans!

Turns out those robots in North Korea have emotions after all:

North Korean soldiers and riot police had to step in after violence erupted when the home side lost a World Cup qualifying match to Iran, say reports.
Bottles, stones and chairs were thrown on to the pitch in Pyongyang after a North Korean player was sent off

And check out the flags in this pic, are they not feeding them enough? You can see right through them!

Welcome to 21st century soccer, NoKo!
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 16:14

Damn, I was Gonna Do This One

I had some thoughts on this case, but Andy beat me to it:

For the moment, let's overlook the fact that these individuals willingly gave up their ability to think for themselves, and instead turned to a book written by ignorant, ancient peoples who thought that it was just groovy to kill homosexuals and that virgins made fine spoils of war (but put the men and boys to the sword, ye faithful).

OK, so we've overlooking that.

Right. There is one book and one book only that these morons should be referencing when making a determination as to someone's criminal status in the state of Colorado. That would be what ever they call their big book o' penal statues. The criteria here is pretty easy, actually. Did said justly convicted perpetrator meet the criteria spelled out in the states statutes for the death penalty? Where there any extenuating circumstances? That is pretty much it.

If rapist murderer guy did the crime and was convicted of it and gets check marks in all the right places, off to the gas chamber for him. If not, off to prison for the loser. The big book o' bible fairy tales can not add to that in any way. There is no moral ambiguity seen throughout the bible here. No conflicting stories and parables. No contradictory sets of commandments, statements, or laws. There is one law (unless someone can show otherwise in which case that law should be changed) and there is punishment for contravening that law. There may be, as I stated, extenuating circumstances that the jury has every right to take into account. But some pronouncement written down 2,000 years ago has absolutely no relevance.

They might as well have whipped out the code from Star Trek's United Federation to see what they have to say about the case.

It is amazing how dumb people can be when religion gets all in their heads.
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 13:13

Slam! Biff! Kazamo!

Christopher Hitchens pulls no punches in his latest article:

Meanwhile, the rest of us also have lives to live. And I hope and believe that we shall say, as politely and compassionately as we can, that we do not intend to pass our remaining days listening to any hysteria from the morbid and the superstitious. It is an abuse of our courts and our Constitution to have judges and congressmen and governors bullied by those who believe in resurrection but not in physical death. Which post-terminal patient could not now be employed, regardless of his or her expressed wish, to convene a midnight court or assemble a hasty nocturnal presidency? Not content with telling us that we once used to share the earth with dinosaurs and that we should grimly instruct our children in this falsehood, religious fanatics now present their cult of death as if it were a joyous celebration of the only life we have. They have gone too far, and they should be made to regret it most bitterly.

Read it and weep, religious fanatics (shaaa, as if any of them are regular visitors to this lowly site).
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 12:12

My Trip to the Air and Space Museum

I guess you could call this Museum Photo Blogging. If you haven't gotten to the Udvar-Hazy Air and Space Museum in Virginia, you are really missing out.

Some pics to make you wish you were here.

Don't you just wish you had one of these	The Good Guys!
The Bad Guys!	Whisk? Vaccum cleaner part? Egg beater?
Lights!	Ribbed for your enjoyment
Beige computers suck	The Corsair Cave Command Center (C4)
Alien? Disco lights? Map?	You need one of these in church
Too much Information	More Bad Guys
Bad Guy Killers	Beam Me Up!
Really Bad Bad Guys

Come on out to Ole Virginny and see the greatest airplane museum in the world!
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 23:09

View From the Inside

Corsair the Hell-bound Sinner attended Christian's biggest day last Sunday when I sat through the yearly weep-a-thon that is Easter. Not only did we have the requisite bad "rock" music and Preacherman giving us homilies and feel-goods, we also got acting! Three folks dressed up as characters from Monty Python's Life of Brian and intoned how much their lives were changed when they met up with Jesus and saw him get all killed and all.

This weeks sermon started rather oddly (I thought). Preacherman began by claiming that Jeebus was god because he and only he had risen from the dead. Not like those publicity hogging pikers Bhudda, Mohammed, and Abraham. Of course, he didn't go add that none of them actually claimed to be a "god". Merely an actualized person, a prophet for god and the first king of the Jews. What made jeebus special was his status of returning from the land of the croaked and letting 500 people know about over a 40 day period.

Of course, Preacherman sort of picked and chose which of the many resurrection stories present in the bible to assemble his story. Oddly, he never mentioned zombies accosting the living (Mathew 27:52-53) or whether Jeesus appeared in Galillee, Emaus, or Jerusalem (different stories claim different things). In fact he didn't address any of the issues brought up be many people over the years about the inconsistencies found in the resurrection story. Read Dan Barker's account to see why.

And as for folk who rose from the dead, I seem to remember other folks in the bible (even discounting the many saints that ate the brains of those in Jerusalem) being raised from the dead like in Mt 9:24-25 (I know, this story is contradicted in Mark 5:23 and Luke 8:42... But that is what I am saying, this book isn't very consistent), or Luke 7:12. So which is it? Was Jeebus really the only one to rise from the dead or not? One site I found claims that the story is consistent since Jeesus is the only one not to die again and this answers ahttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifll the claims. Hah! So where is he? Which long haired, hippy dude toking up at the Dead concert I went to was really the 2,000 year old Jesus?

And anyway gods coming back from the dead was a pretty tired story back in the day, and Mithra had already been there and done that.

Preacherman ended by saying that we could all be renewed if only we were to accept Jeebus and our Lord and yadda yadda yadda... I started tuning out the boilerplate at this point. All in all another hour of my life I can't get back. If these messages are so important, we don't the faithful seek them out themselves. They all have the textbook and the message is so simple and direct (I am not sure where it is in all those pages, must be like a puzzle or something) it ought to be easy to do from home. Why they think going to a place and hearing someone else tell them what they already know is a good thing continues to baffle me.

Corsair out!
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 20:58

Bastards

I was watching The Hot Rock with Robert Redford the other night. There was one scene where they were flying over New York on in a helicopter on their way to a heist at a police station.

I noticed the following:



and



Stupid ass bastards took them away from us for no better reason than some seventh century asshole's delusional rantings.

Yeah, keep thinking we are not in a war for our very lives. Then go and look at the big hole in future New York movies and grieve for what we have lost. Pricks.
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 23:57

Alllllmost

Been quite the drought of Korean Women Golfers Belly Buttons...

We get close to one here:



*sigh* The LPGA can't get started fast enough.
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 16:25

Nice Facility You Got There

Talk about being blase about the whole thing:

Police are searching for two men who escaped earlier this morning from a sex offender treatment program in St. Peter, Minn.

Alexander Martinelli, 31, and Rodger Robb, 55, left the facility between 1 and 2 a.m, said St. Peter Police Chief Matt Peters. Both men have a history of sexual offenses and had been committed for treatment.

The men climbed down sheets from a second story window and then took apart a section of chain link fence that surrounds the facility, Peters said.

"This escape was a little more unusual because they did leave from a second story window," he said. "People that have escaped in the past usually walk out the front and somebody picks them up."

Does this happen often enough that this appears to be no big thing? Don't they have locks on the doors and windows? These guy are juvenile sex offenders, not shoplifters!

Shouldn't they be in chains at the bottom of a deep well where people can throw their refuse and dead cats on them? What? They don't do that anymore? Huh? They never did that? What country was I thinking of?

Anyway, I think the suspiciously named "police chief" "Peters" of St. Peter needs further looking into!
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 13:34

He Ain't in the Supermarket Either

Delusional showoff runs around the country putting up crosses whenever there is a school shooting. The reason:

Zanis said he puts up the crosses at the scenes of school shootings because he believes they happen because God is excluded from schools, so kids don't learn the difference between right and wrong.

"We need to tell them there is a God," he said.

And I suppose when that whacko offed all those people in the church a couple of weeks ago it was because god was excluded from there too? Oh, wait. Isn't a church his house? Shouldn't he be home there if not anywhere else?

And even if we don't turn schools into churches, I thought god was everywhere directing everything in this cosmic symphony. Couldn't he have dropped a plague of frogs or something down on that kids head and stopped him from shooting up his classmates?

Oh, I forgot. He is not that powerful anymore. Must be getting old.
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 13:26

Fun With Blogger

I did this one before and thought I would bring it back to you tonight! The object of blogspotting it to randomly throw words in front of blogspot.com and see what you can find. Then of course you make funny comments so that people reading shoot Coke through their noses onto their keyboards!

Shall we begin? (That was actually rhetorical):

First shall take a trip over to something we all hold near and dear to our backsides: the car:

Best Cars: What are your coolest cars

Saturday, May 18, 2002

Hello
posted by Jonathan Fung at 1:59 AM

Hello
posted by Jonathan Fung at 1:59 AM

Hello
posted by Jonathan Fung at 1:58 AM

Welcome to best Cars
posted by Jonathan Fung at 1:53 AM

It seems that Jonny boy here couldn't seem to figure out which car was his coolest and after 6 whole minutes, he gave up! Maybe he ran himself over with one of his many cool cars and now is no longer able to post.

Not a car afficionado? How's about trains?

Saturday, March 15, 2003

Testdddddd
posted by Willem 7:16 AM

test
posted by Willem 6:36 AM

Effe checken of het wel wil werken

eerste pagina geblogd
:-)
posted by Willem 6:36 AM

It seems Willem here geblogd his last blog... a mere 40 minutes after he geblogd his first blog. That is what you get for writing your blog whilst sitting on the train tracks.

Keeping with our transportation theme, it is on to the Plane:

Welcome to our virtual plane. We already have wings, a propeller (no-one said it was a fancy schmancy jet), body (lots of that), two seats, a steering wheel, a tail and two part time navigators. We've never been actually off the ground, but our ideas come tantalizingly close to making it happen. We just get distracted and allow life to interrupt our dreams. If we'd concentrate long enough, and hold fast to those dreams in spite of everything, we could soar into the sky and fly with the rainbows. We've committed ourselves to the ideas and dreams......and the plane is still on the runway.......all we need is the fuel that's inside each of us.

Let's make our plane fly into the clouds, into a world of our own creation.....
posted by Suze M 12:36 AM

Ahhh! Look! hippies with computers! Of course, you knew it couldn't last. This is the one and only post by Suze M.. I guess the drugs soon wore off and she couldn't remember what they hell she did last night but it must have been some kind of party!

The plural of Plane is Planes!

5.10.2004Und da brauche ich noch ein Foto

Contwise manage.everything.everywhere
Posted by: Model / 11:18 AM
Das ist eine sehr interessante Seite
Contwise manage.everything.everywhere
Posted by: Model / 11:05 AM

The plural one one post is two posts!

Need a little more leisure take on transportation? How about the skateboard?! (You didn't really think a skateboard blog was going to work, did you?) But not just any skateboard, a stoked skateboard!

Sunday, February 17, 2002

Stoked Skateboards

Welcome to Stoked Skateboards!
When I first started skateboarding, I had no idea how to do tricks, where
to go or what things like a 'switch backside melon' were. This site was
created for those people who have just stepped into the vast world of skateboarding,
and provide answers to the above. I hope you find it very useful, and don't
forget, that you are supposed to enjoy skateboarding!

posted by Joe Whitehouse at 3:25 PM

And when Joe started using blogger, he had no idea how to post... That is why he has the same post up three times. That must have taken a lot out of him since he never posted again.

But we know someone interested in surfing will have a great site, right? Nahhhh!

Sunday, May 16, 2004
Mark is so C()()!
I'm to sexy for my shirt

posted by pimp at 2:10 PM

1 Comments:
pimp said...
i love u man!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2:12 PM

Not only did "pimp" post a load of shit, he commented on his own load of shit! You can't make this shit up.

And finally, the best and cheapest form of transportaion, Feet! Of course, this was put together by another hippie freakjob but at least she is young:

a totally crazy happin blog about feet and more by a 11 year old womyn

Tuesday, June 26, 2001
pink feet are yellow rainbows over a sun of lemon pie.
posted by Kathleen Costello at 6:36 PM

Or she was young. She is coming up on 16 years old now and let us just hope she got that "womyn" shit out of her head and quit with the Beatles Yellow Submarine impersonations. If not, I weep for the future.
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 21:07

Wow!

That is all I can say to the response that a lucianne poster gave to this article:

Terri Schiavo's mother Mary Schindler is like another Mary -- forced to watch her child die, a spiritual adviser to the Schindler family said on Tuesday.

Brother Paul O'Donnell spoke on Tuesday after a federal judge refused an emergency request to reinsert Terri's feeding and hydration tube.

"During this week, as we look to Good Friday, all Mary the mother of Christ could do was stand at her child's side. He was condemned by unjust courts, the same way Terri Schaivo is being condemned to die by court order.

"We pray that this modern-day crucifixion will not happen and we have faith that Terri will be liberated, and we are not giving up hope," O'Donnell added.

After reading that (silly enough in its own right) the poster typed this:

Reply 5 - Posted by: chessycat8, 3/22/2005 1:22:18 PM

This is no stretch. It is profound. If you believe in Christ at all, then you realize He is within each of us. ''Whatever you do to the least of my brothers you do unto me.'' Remember that

Also of note, that building with the miraculous image of Mary is 13 minute from Terri, in Clearwater. Clearwater. Water is life, and she is being denied it. This link shows Our Lady of Guadalupe image transposed over top.
http://www.visionsofjesuschrist.com/weeping13.htm

Terri is half way between Clearwater and St. Petersburg. St. Peter, the first Pope. Our dear current pope, JPII, is also suffering immensely. Like Terri, he is a victim soul, suffering for our sins.

Terri is in Pinellas Park. Pinellas means ''Point of Pines.'' Pine trees point to Christ, which is why we use them for Christmas trees. Mary at Garabandal promised a miracle at ''the pines.'' I am praying for one.

Call me crazy, but I do believe these things have great meaning.

So she is 13 minutes from some vague window nonsense in Clearwater. Did you know that 13 is a bad luck number because Christ was crucified on Friday and the number of guests at the party of the Last Supper was 13, with the 13th guest being Judas, the traitor. So Terri is destined for crucifiction, I guess.

This whole Clearwater thing would make more sense if it was called Clearfeedingtube. Then I would agree that there is a miraculous content to all of this.

As for the Pope "suffering for our sins", screw him. I never asked him to. He actually appears to be suffering from being an old man. Happens to most people who get old if I remember correctly. You know, at some point relatively soon, I do believe he will probably give up the ghost and kick it. Nothing miraculous about that.

And then this crazy woman (she said I could call her that) says that "Pine trees point to Christ, which is why we use them for Christmas trees." I think we use them because there are not a lot of elm trees that look good in the middle of frigging winter! Pines happen to be green while most other trees look dead! Should we honor your delusions with a nice dead tree in the middle of the living room each year?

Speaking of delusional, this woman actually quotes from Garabandal! Want to know what "Mary" actually said about pines?

A GREAT MIRACLE
The Miracle will take place at the grove of pine trees on a bluff overlooking the village of Garabandal. It will occur on a Thursday evening at 8:30 on or between the eighth and the sixteenth of March, April or May. (Visionary Conchita (Gonzalez) Keena knows the date and will announce it eight days in advance.) It will be on the feast day of a martyr of the Eucharist and coincide with and event in the Church. All those either in the village or on the surrounding mountains will see it. The sick who are present will be cured, sinners converted and the incredulous will believe. As a result of the Miracle, Russia will be converted.

Gee, nowhere in that statement do I see mention of Terri or Florida or even anything resembling sense!

This woman and her wacky beliefs are why a lot of people take the time and energy to fight stupidity and ignorance. Do you think this woman would support separation of church and state? Teaching evolution in schools? A woman's right to choose? No, this woman does whatever he church tells her to do and is happy to do it because she hasn't got a rational cell in brain. That is what is frightening about religion being in power. Notice, I didn't say religious people. As long as their exists a way to separate the stone-cold crazies from normal people (like an election, hopefully) then at least the country stands a chance of not falling.
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 13:40

Why All The Attention

So you have 10 people dead in a school shooting in Minnesota and only one person (already pretty much dead) involved in this Schiavo case in Florida and which story takes up all the space on a variety of news websites around the intarweb like CNN.com? Which story is leading on nytimes.com? What is more important to the washingontimes.com page? Where does the washingtonpost.com site think we should be placing our interest? Does the uberliberal sfgate.com show anything different? What is important to foxnews.com?

The dead Florida woman, that's what. Why is that? The other story has schools and grandparents and killings and Indians and the Midwest. The Florida thing (and who really cares what happens in Florida anymore? They are like little kids trying to get attention, after awhile you just start to tune them out) has one nearly-dead woman, a bunch of pandering politicians, and a family vs. husband feud. Boring!

Doens't anyone remember the wall to wall news coverage of the Colorado killings a few years ago? Shouldn't it be big news when teachers and students get cut down in the prime of their lives? I read somewhere on the internet today that the news these days had the feeling of pre-9/11 when all anyone was interested in was shark attacks. I am sure whatever those Florida people are going through is awful and painful and difficult. But truthfully, I don't care. It is (or should be) a private, family matter best left up to them to work out.

The school killings in Minnesota, on the other hand should be big news. I guess the ten of them aren't as important as the one Florida woman. Shame really.
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 13:15

Great Googally Moogally!

Talk about Davey and Goriath:



According to this, Mr. Choi Hong-man is 7 foot 2 inches and 353 pounds! Hardly seems fair when they put that little Thai guy in there with him.
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 20:22

Ahhhh! Kimchi!!

Remember how I was saying how kimchi will cure all disease?

Watch the following and see why!



Ahhh!!! No more kimchi before bed...
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 21:27

Ever Notice

How convenient religion is when it wants to be?

We are taught that Islam gave women rights more than 1,400 years ago that made them the envy of women in Europe's Dark Ages. When European women were mere chattel, Muslim women gained the right to inherit and own property.

But now the descendants of those women who envied Muslim women in the seventh century have moved far ahead. Where is that spirit of the early days of Islam?

One of my favorite stories from Islamic history -- apocryphal or not -- goes like this: Women at the time of the prophet Muhammad complained that the revelations he had received so far addressed "believing men." What about us, they asked? Soon after, the prophet began receiving revelations that addressed both "believing men" and "believing women."

If God included us in the narrative, who has kept us out?

Nothing about chicks comes from the prophet until they start asking about it. You would think an all powerful god would know that the ladies want some recognition and would have made sure to include them in his messages from the beginning. Instead you get "catch up" god who has to be reminded that half the people he created are not men. D'oh!

Of course, none of this is obvious to the faithful since they just take this Muhammad guy's word that he is talking to god and he jus tnow got around to mentioning the dames.

Shaaa.
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 08:01

He's Been Busy Lately

(wrote this a couple of days ago and forgot about it)

Remember that horrific train crash in LA about six weeks ago? Seems that god, like Superman, was there saving the injured and stupid. I guess he didn't see the god signal on the clouds before the train crashed killing 11 and injuring 180 others.

Well, it appears that god got there in time to save the stupid son of a bitch who caused the crash in the first place:

And that is the version of the wreck that Juan Alvarez's family still believes.

"He was there, and out of nowhere he basically saw a light," says Carmelita Alvarez, who has visited her husband in jail. "Not the light from the train. He said he felt like there was a presence from God telling him to get away."

Sitting next to her, Beto Alvarez, Juan's cousin, adds, "It was telling him to get out. . . . He felt like somebody physically pulled him away."

Carmelita: "He tried to move the car. But his car had a lot of mechanical problems. It got caught and wouldn't move."

But investigators now think differently.

And he was able to help out one dude who had to ask for it though:

Amid the suffering of families who lost husbands and sons, wives and daughters, there was at least one inspiring tale. John Phipps, who wrote the bloody message of love to his wife, Leslie, and children, survived the crash and a full hour in the wreckage. Doctors initially thought Phipps, an aerospace engineer, had suffered a fractured pelvis, brain damage and internal bleeding. By the next day, however, doctors revised that to four broken teeth, a groin injury and a gash to his head that required 25 stitches. He spent two days in the hospital. "I chalk it up to the power of prayer," he said yesterday.

So the message we can take from this story is that god can't help you stop bad things from happening (must be too busy aligning the spheres or something) but once bad things do happen, he is able to help some of the people (the most deserving, I suppose. The 11 that died must not have prayed hard enough or been good enough Christians, I guess).

And while he was able to help the poor sod stuck in the train, he wasn't able to help any of the folks that were actually in his house (or, rather the hotel converted into his house) that got gunned down by the crazy man the other day:

Terry Ratzmann shot and killed seven church members before killing himself. Ratzmann was a member of the Living Church of God that met at a Sheraton Hotel. He walked in to the church service on Saturday, yelled something and then opened fire on the congregation of men, women and children.

Witness Chandra Frazier said, "It was mayhem.”

[snip]

Director of business operations for the church, J. D. Crockett III, commented, "It's beyond comprehension that someone would take anyone's life in that way. Particularly at a church service. Particularly under those circumstances. I simply cannot answer it."
Now the victims' relatives and church members are looking for answers in the only place they know to find it, in prayer.

Yeah, that'll help. If they weren't safe in church to begin with how is prayer going to help them now. Oh, yeah, god never shows up ahead of time, he is only there to pick up the pieces (as we saw in the crash).

It must be nice to be able to find meaning in random, chaotic life when there really isn't any. Sometimes some good things happen, sometimes some bad things happen and the rest of time life pretty much just happens. You can influence things one or the other with some of your choices and actions, but if a crazy man guns you down in church, no amount of prayer was going to help that.

Just go out and live life. Be nice to others, don't kick your dog, help out in your community in some way, live to a ripe old age and know that you left the world a better place. Really, what more is there?
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 08:01

I'm Sorry, Which Book?

Which book is this guy talking about? His or Dan Brown's:

Carlo Arcolao told the BBC's News website that it had been the cardinal's own decision to make a public statement about the book.

Mr Arcolao confirmed that the cardinal told an Italian newspaper: "It astonishes and worries me that so many people believe these lies."

The archbishop told Il Giornale: "The book is everywhere. There is a very real risk that many people who read it will believe that the fables it contains are true."

Like Adam and Eve, talking snakes, boats full of animals, pillars of salt, 800-year old men... Oh, that wasn't in Dan Brown's book (which I still haven't read yet. After this endorsement I suppose I must!) it was in that other little vanity publication, the bible.

Again, muddying the waters for the less swift of us in the audience:

On Wednesday, Cardinal Bertone will host a seminar called Storia Senza Storia (Story Without History) to rebut the claims.

He said he wanted "to unmask the lies" so readers could see how "shameful and unfounded" the book was.

Can't tell the players without a scorecard around here.
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 11:15

Stupid, Little Toad

Platform shoes don't help all that much when you sti down, do they, troll? Maybe you shold get a platform ass before the next shoot.



Look at that! He is shorter even than the dumpy blonde on his right! Not to mention Lurch on his left.
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 20:52

Kim Chi Cures Cancer!

Well, they haven't found the cancer/kim chi link, but I have it on good authority that it does clear up pimples, revives you from the vapors, eats gout for lunch, removes unwanted head appendages, fixes that problem that your Uncle Billy has... you know the one... fixes that right up, revives you after you suffer Death By Fan, cures the common cold, and chases bird flu from the room.

OK, I lied. It won't fix Uncle Billy's problem. Nothing but major surgery and a big case of vitamins might do that. But it will cure you if you get the Bird Flu:

South Korea's spicy fermented cabbage dish, kimchi, could help to cure bird flu, according to researchers.

Scientists at Seoul National University say they fed an extract of kimchi to 13 infected chickens - and a week later 11 of them had started recovering.

Of course, the other two dies of kimchi poisoning.

Love it or loathe it, once you have eaten it, you will never forget it.

And neither will your elevator companions.

Kimchi was reported to have helped to prevent Sars. The claim was never scientifically proven, but according to some Koreans, people in other countries followed their example and started eating kimchi.

"After the Sars outbreak, I went to China and I noticed that the Korean restaurants there sold most of the kimchi they'd made that day," a Korean man said.

So one of Korea's national specialities may soon find a much bigger market. Whether it really is an effective remedy, only time and more research will tell.

Uh, yeah, the dirt from my backyard, when rubbed into your hair, eliminates the need for glasses, clears up bad breath, and puts a little extra lead in your pencil (if you know what I mean). Keep buying it from me while I have it tested. It could take five or more years to figure out if why it really works but in the meantime you will be paying for my kids cottage. Can't be too careful, don't you know.

UPDATE: Removed the link to the two-headed baby. It seems to be caught in some kind of loop...
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 12:53

Religious Windbag Alert

The local county weekly had a letter in it today full of... well, here is some of it (sorry it is not online):

(talking about homosexuality) Obviously nature is no reference for how society should operate, if it were, we could not punish murderers, rapists, child molesters and other criminals. Animals eat each other and have no sexual boundaries; many indiscriminately have sex with as many partners they can get their paws on. The concept of "natural law" offers no consistent foundation for a healthy society

What?! Is that all this toe-jam can think about when he sees nature, "murderers, rapists, child molesters and other criminals?" I would posit that there is a whole hell of a lot less of that in nature than there is right here in our own "civilized" species.

And about that animals eating each other argument, that hamburger from Five Guys was delicious the other day. And just because this clown never got any as a youth doesn't mean that there weren't plenty of other healthy young thangs who "indiscriminately have sex with as many partners they can get their paws on."

Now we get to the nitty gritty:

Proper behavior is only reliably defined by the Judeo-Christian worldview. Even those who will not believe in God borrow from the the Christian intellectual capital every day. They will agree that stealing, lying, incest or other behavior are wrong and that concepts like free elections, private ownership and equality are good, but natural law (evolution), humanism, socialism, atheism and other worldviews offer no foundation for these beliefs. It is only be appealing to God of the Bible that we can make sense out of what behaviors are right or wrong or which concepts are virtuous.

What an amazing lack of intelligence that one twisted individual can posses. And have the courage to show his neighbors! Let us to dissect: "Proper behavior is only reliably defined by the Judeo-Christian worldview." Ah, these are the same behaviors that tolerated the Inquisition, the Crusades, the many religious wars for hundreds of years in Europe, the Salem witch trials, slavery in the New World, and on and on. It seems to me that this Judeo-Christian thing has been around for a long time yet only relatively recently became the half-way decent (excepting this crack head, of course) morality guide that it is today.

And how about "They will agree that stealing, lying, incest or other behavior are wrong and that concepts like free elections, private ownership and equality are good". Because until the bible came along stealing, lying, and incest were all anyone ever did. And even today there are places where the bible has not taken hold (looks like I am not in one of them) and all you hear about is stealing, lying, and incest. And wherever man holds a bible in his hand you will not find the merest mention of stealing, lying, and incest. Right? Except in the Catholic church.

And if I was a Bhuddist or a Hindu or any other religion, I might just loose the lions when I hear that so-called Christian still believe shit like "It is only be appealing to God of the Bible that we can make sense out of what behaviors are right or wrong or which concepts are virtuous." Really, it isn't all that hard. Follow along. Anything you want to do to yourself or with consenting, adult, non-crazy others is pretty much alright. Anything that even minimally impacts others in even the smallest negative way are not alright. Done. Pretty easy, huh? I won't steal from you or kill you or even give you the finger despite you really needing it the way you drive because that would be negatively impacting you. I might think bad thoughts about you but that then becomes my problem.

Why can't Christians figure this out without a book?

Now it is on to strawmen and the Christian dunces who love them (but not in that kind of way, you pervert):

But those who promote homosexuality speak of it as if it were a minority group and use terms like "equal treatment" and "rights" or "tolerance". This is deliberate, they understand that race is a morally neutral characteristic and criticizing someone for skin color is unfounded. What if pedophiles were portrayed as a minority of "intergenerational lovers" who claimed that the disapproval they experienced was actually discrimination, and demanded that their "lifestyle" be acknowledged by all as normal and positively portrayed throughout society?"

See, I thought we covered this. Anything that negatively impacts others is bad and children do not have the mental capacity and experience to engage in relationships with older people. Therefore pedophilia is always bad. Homosexuality, when practiced between two consenting adults hurts no one any more than heterosexuality does between other consenting adults.

And really, who would you rather have living next to you and your family? Brian or this complete loser who probably spends all day in the basement cutting up copies of People magazine taking out the pictures of Ellen and her girlfriend?

And now we bring in government:

(democracy) was not designed for those who do not respect morality, it was established with an understanding that there is an authority that is greater than democracy itself which even Kings are subject to.

Duh! In a democracy, all politicians (but not Kings, idiot, we don't have those) are subject to the highest authority: the will of the people. Not divine intervention or astrology or jeesus faces in windows. The people and the people alone get to choose their leaders who are subject to review at periodic intervals. Were someone installed by god given fiat (as was the custom for much of Christiandom's time in the saddle) then you would have to go back to the big man to get a replacement (either that or a quick knife up the gobbet).

He then ends with:

The behaviors that Weintraub promotes will fair much better where there is no law, or where morality is only defined by those in power, as in an anarchy or tyranny

He misspelled it, he should have typed "t-h-e-o-c-r-a-c-y".

OK, jtb, time to tell me that this guy really isn't a "good Christian" or that he is twisting Jesus's words or something. Of course he sounds like a meddlesome busybody with too much time and too little self control. We can only hope god sees a need for him soon in heaven and calls him back sooner rather than later.
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 20:54

A Slight Detour

I was trying to read Ringworld by Larry Niven when I managed to misplace it. So I took down the next one in the "new" pile and it turned out to be The Wall Of Night by Grant Blackwood.

I wasn't expecting much (I did the spy/international intrigue genre to death years ago when it was the KGB we were fighting) but was pretty much hooked from the beginning and couldn't put the damn thing down but to go to sleep. Of course it had the obligatory Dirk Pitt, superman spy guy who can't be stabbed, shot, dropped off a train, or clubbed to death.

He is a major part of the story, of course (the sub title is "A Briggs Tanner Novel" like that is supposed to sell something), but there is plenty more Chinese intrigue, Russian goofiness, and all around military hardball to go around.

If you see it lying around a USO or the dentist's office, go ahead and pick it up and give it a try. Don't, however pay $7.99 for it.
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 19:06

I am Not Sure Who Is Stupider

Now, don't get me wrong. I like the whole Ikea thing. Gets my viking blood moving when I see that Swedes are not just good at... whatever they are good at, but also good at selling cheap furniture that requires me to shed blood, sweat and tears when I have to put it together. And they make me buy things like Blark tables, Flungk chairs, and Grotunnq bathroom fixtures (sure, I made those up, but they are not far off). But when people start complainging about their instruction manuals, I am not sure who is the world class idiot in this case, a company that says:

Verdens Gang quoted an IKEA spokeswoman as saying: "We have to take account of cultural factors. In Muslim countries it's problematic to use women in instruction manuals."

Or stupid Norwegian tools who like to say things like:

"This isn't good enough," Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik was quoted Thursday as telling the daily Verdens Gang. "It's important to promote attitudes for sexual equality, not least in Muslim nations."

And...

Bondevik added: "I myself have great problems with screwing together such furniture."

Just because this guy is having masculine problems (he probably also sits down to pee and asks for directions when driving) is no reason Ikea has to put chicks in their instructions manuals.

Ikea, on the other hand sells furniture, the furniture requires instructions in order to put it together, they could use men, women, and Marvin the Martian if they wanted. It shouldn't matter. if Muslims have a problem with that, I would tell them to pound sand. If they can't stand to look at chicks without getting all in a dither and having heart palpitations, screw 'em and tell them to grow up.
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 08:22

Attack the What?

Cool movie you should all check out, Attack the Gas Station!

Skip the English dubbing and watch it in Korean with subtitles, much more enjoyable.

This was the first movie (I saw it a couple of years ago in addition to last night) made in Korea that I actually enjoyed and which had Hollywood-level production values. The sound didn't stink. There were no melodramatic, slo-mo scenes with lots of crying and downcast eyes, and plenty of believable action. Sure, it was silly in places, but what movie isn't?

Try and get it today!
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 15:32

Pulp Fiction

Word out of the Middle East is that they are getting their own line of comic books. Nothing else (besides the US Military) has worked over there so why not?

Justifications, however are a bit suspect:

"I believe that having superheroes, or superhuman beings, is an essential need - just like God," the AK Comics' managing editor Marwan Nashar told BBC World Service's Outlook programme.

"We need to believe in a higher being that will be there for help, and can affect change on his own. There is a global and human need for that."

And, of course comic book heroes (like Bouncing Lad and the Human Tree Frog) and god are about just as effective. But sitting around waiting for either to get anything done usually ends up being a waste of time (the odd tornado, flood, tsunami or other "act of god" not with standing).
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 13:28

Church SITREP 2

Another Sunday spent wishing I owned a cotton gin. That way I would be assured of a steady supply of cotton wadding to stuff in my ears with Mr. Computer Desktop Support Weenie whips out the guitar and begins assaulting the audience with his "expurgate your name" and "bough down before you" crap. I used to wonder why taste in the US ran to lite jazz, American Idol, and Budweiser. Now I know where they dulling begins. If church "rock" isn't the most inane, vanilla, unlistenable noise pollution on the planet, I don't know what is. At least the black folk have the cool gospel stuff to listen to when they grovel before the almighty... Hmm, maybe I should change... Nah.

Anyway, after the sonic drivel it was back "over to you, Pastorman" (who could be quite the comedian if he put his mind to it and not waste it on this god stuff) and a return to Joshua for more "Life on the River's Edge" (this river thing is some kinda running story at this church). Turns out there is more to this Joshua stuff than what he quoted last week. Damn, someone put out a Cliff Notes for this bible book thing!

1:6 Be strong and of a good courage: for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give them.
1:7 Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper withersoever thou goest.
1:8 This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.
1:9 Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.

Now you notice that Joshua appears to be a little thick. In last week's episode he had to be reminded that Moses was dead. In this one, god spends an inordinate amount of time ordering Josh to grow a pair. He has to repeat himself three times to get the message through Josh's thick skull, I guess.

Pastorman took this to mean that we should have courage in our convictions and get out there and do what we need to do. Not out of some sense that it was the right thing to do or the best thing for each and every one of us, only that god had commanded it and so do it. And since god demanded that of us, whatever happened afterward (good or bad, I assume) is just what we deserve.

He then brought up something I found interesting. He talked about fear in your life. If you have too much fear your sense of self esteem will fall and that is a bad thing. But, it occurred to me, what is the bigger smasher of self esteem, fear or the the church? Doesn't the church tell us over and over again that we are all miserable sinners with no hope of redemption except through the actions of another (jeebus)? Doesn't the church inculcate in its members the worst fear they can imagine, going to hell if they don't measure up?

Living with church and religion means immediately removing a layer of fear from your life they that does you no good anyway. Live for yourself and your loved ones, not some amorphous sky being who's words have created more strife and discord in the world than any other cause. Why are there so many different kinds of churches? Because no one can agree on what the supposed "word of god" means! So chuck all that dogma and live the best life you can by making those around you feel happy, safe and successful.

Oh, yeah. He might be on to me. He spent a couple of sentences saying that there might even be someone in the audience who was wavering on whether he should have a person relationship with jeebus and that he should have the courage to accept him as his blah blah blah. I guess my theatrical sighing and rolling of eyes might be giving me away. Guess I will have to lay low for awhile.
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 20:27

Return of Infantile Obsession

It isn't much, but I am going to call this the first of the season. Take a gander at the first KWG of 2005:



You have to look real close, but I think you can see a belly button.
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 16:12

If You Are Not Watching Battlestar Galactica...

You're nuts.



Check out the hottie! Grace Park has it all going on! Although I think she is a robot or Cylon or something.

So now, folks, let us recap. You should be watching Lost and you should be downloading or watching Battlestar Galactica.
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 22:25

And Who Wouldn't Want Freedom for These Girls

Other than the evil Syrians and all sorts of repressed Islamonazis:



How can you say "no" to freedom loving, cute chicks?



The freedom loving people of the world should put together a special squad of cute chicks who will parachute into these repressed dictatorships to lead the good fight! I am thinking along the lines of the Swedish Bikini Team mixed with Japanese schoolgirls.
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 09:52

And Speaking of Cute Chicks Who Can Kick Your Ass

Managed to get through most of House of Flying Daggers last night (finishing up tonight) and was once again struck but they almost ethereal beauty of Zhang Ziyi:



Dayum is that girl hot!

And the movie is almost painful to watch. It has to do with a blind girl assassin, the special police type guy helping her out, and a journey through the forest and plains pursued by the "Generals" soldiers. Let me tell you, tension fills the room whenever the soldiers get close enough to start a'fightin'.

Sure, it is all wires and special effects. But it works in this case. Why not have the ability to fly from one bamboo shoot to the next throwing inexhaustible supplies of bamboo spears? Why not? Is it any more unbelievable than a Terminator arriving from the future to kill Sarah Conner? Ignore the obvious break with reality and immerse yourself in this wonderful movie!

Now, damnit!
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 20:51

Fang?

Do you imagine this when you hear the name "Fang":



Yeah, so did I.

What I didn't imagine was something like this:

Popular Chinese actress cum singer Fang Bingbing performs at an anti-piracy concert in Beijing which featured more than 100 performers from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea (news - web sites) and Southeast Asia. China has expressed doubts over its ability to stamp out rampant piracy of intellectual property despite increased efforts to do so(AFP)

She can BingBing me anyday!
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 20:41

Now That Was More Like It!

Just finished up David Brin's original Uplift Series and let me tell you, it loses nothing with age. This is a highly entertaining two-book series with plenty of twists and turns and politics and fighting and everything else that go into making a good book/series.



As someone commented here on an earlier post, the Sundiver book is not really part of the series, just set in the same universe and much less entertaining. Startide Rising and The Uplift War are where the meat gets thrown to the wolves. Clever, technical with being too scientific, and a real fun to read, hard to put down couple of books.

I thought I had the next series of three to take place in the same universe but it turns out I am missing one. Oh, well, one more excuse to go to the used book store.

In the meantime I will be linking up with an old favorite who I haven't paid any attention to in many a long year:



Larry Niven's Ringworld and its companion books.
posted by corsair the rational pirate at 20:29