A Provocative Quote

Of one fact about professed atheists I am convinced; they may be–they usually are–fools devoid of subtlety, revilers of holy institutions, brutal speakers, and mischievous knaves, but they lie with difficulty.  If it were not so, if they had the faintest grasp of the idea of compromise, they would simply be liberal churchmen.

H. G. Wells, “A Slip Under the Microscope”

Wells is so muted a writer–though surely he is typical of his time–that I couldn’t quite tell if he were playing for a laugh here.  Nevertheless I smiled; I reckon he had one or two particular churchmen in mind.  If not for the topical prohibition I would consider using this quote for my CBT .sig for a while.

RIP Edwin Salpeter

Salpeter was the Darwin of Astrophysics; he developed the currently-accepted model for the evolution of Main Sequence stars into Red Giants, as well as the evolution of chemical elements from lighter to heavier [one model serves both].  It’s a puzzle to me that Creationists have focused their energies entirely upon Biology, when Genesis just as clearly posits special creation for the fixed stars as for the birds and beasts.  Why is there no “missing link” touted between hydrogen and yttrium?  Where is the Creationist alternative theory for cosmic ray bombardment?

If no one has developed one, perhaps I can get in on the ground floor…

More Recession, Please.

Some shoppers who had seen the stampede said they were shocked. One of them, Kimberly Cribbs of Queens, said the crowd had acted like “savages.” Shoppers behaved badly even as the store was being cleared, she recalled.

“When they were saying they had to leave, that an employee got killed, people were yelling, ‘I’ve been on line since yesterday morning,’ ” Ms. Cribbs told The Associated Press. “They kept shopping.”

Story. (NYT)

Who’s a Turkey?

An opinion: left-over turkey sandwiches make up for almost any amount of headache associated with travel and family.

Riding Dinosaurs and Teaching Stone-age Ladies to Love

I first resolved to read S. M. Stirling when I saw an Internet comment growl, “I hate his politics.”  My interest piqued, I picked up The Sky People and set to work.  The book is much more recent than it feels.  It plays like a cross between an episode each of Star Trek and Land of the Lost–the literary equivalent of watching TV all day on a Saturday in 1978.  The only things that bothered me about the book were the author’s refusal to stick to the past tense–a modern affliction forgivable in a blog entry but not a novel–and the crowding of perhaps too many sci-fi themes into one story.  Odd is that the first third of the book seems inspired by the question: “What would dinosaurs taste like?”

Sunset of Good Taste

Yesterday morning, or perhaps the day before, I chanced to catch a morning TV news show which featured an interview of the two young stars of the new Twilight movie.  The bit amounted to little more than the old lady asking the youngsters if they knew the books, which apparently are quite popular among young ninnies, and if they were prepared for stardom.  The lad gave a stammering non-answer to all her questions while the girl looked admirably bored by the whole affair.  When asked by the news-lady if she was aware of the book series, she muttered something about spending all her time in used book stores yet somehow having missed these books entirely.  Charming!

Both the actors were a touch homely and had a physiognomy I can only describe as “foreheady.”  Perhaps that’s the new look that casting directors are demanding.  Is Warner still shooting Harry Potter films?  The zeitgeist may have moved on already.

Addendum: Here’s a publicity photo.  David Edelstein at NPR notes that the actor looks more Frankenstein Monster than Vampire. –nb

Rahmbo

I know I haven’t posted in a while, but I just wanted to say that I absolutely cannot wait for the day when Rahm Emanuel starts running the show in the West Wing.  He once sent a dead fish wrapped in newspaper to a political opponent, and after the 2006 midterms he told the Republicans across the aisle that they could “go fuck themselves”. Here’s to four to eight years of foul-mouthed insanity kicking conservative asses from the office next to the Oval.

They’re on to me

LEGO has sent me three glossy catalogs in as many months.  Obviously they think that if they keep at it I’ll buy a $500 Star Wars kit soon.  I’m worried they’re right.

Prayers of the Faithless

How many millions had exactly this thought at the same moment?

It should be easy to stop reading Post Secret–one tires of reading the same thing week after week.  It’s helped convince me that we’re not unique, but cut from one of a few dozen designs, each of us dreading the same handful of things.  The real horror is that confession is superfluous: everybody already knows your secret because you’re just like everybody else, down to the wires–what Sartre meant when he said that hell is other people.  Conversely, heaven is solitude.  You never see drawings of harp-plucking angels on clouds in great crowds, do you?

Bootleg Star Trek Trailer

http://www.wwtdd.com/post.phtml?pk=15041

Can’t wait to see the CGI tribbles.  On second thought, I can wait.