Evolution and Hippies
We all know that arguing evolution and intelligent design (creationism) is pointless, because people who believe in intelligent design are, well, let's just say they are "confused." But I thought this article in today's Post does a very nice job of showing just why they are wrong. It is a bit long, but a good read. It is also a nice refresher on high school biology, so you can be armed with science in the event that you need to argue evolution with a nut job. Even though, as I said before, that is probably pointless. Let's face it, if these people don't believe in the Flying Spaghetti Monster, there is no hope for them.
This weekend the little lady took me to the Small Print Expo in Bethesda. I didn't know what to expect, but it was actually pretty cool. There were a lot of comic book kids, which scared me, but also some very neat art. The guys from Diesel Sweeties were there too, which was awesome. I love that (web)comic.
That night we went downtown to the protest/concert on the Mall. Now, I have always been very anti-Iraq-war, but mostly I just wanted to see Ted Leo rocking out. Unfortunately we were a bit too late to catch his set. By the time we got there, in fact, the "protest" had taken on the look and feel of the HFStival. And therein was the problem, for me at least - the place was swarming with hippies. I hate hippies. Onstage there were fat white "belly dancers" doing some stupid hippy peace dance, and I was frankly embarrassed. Why do democrat/libereal/protest events frequently devolve into such circuses? To be fair, any free concert is going to attract hippies, but it really burns me that with such a serious subject matter, kids are walking around wasted and stoned and having drum circles and shit. That is why Republicans are so good at convincing people of their point of view... when they get together for anything they dress nice and act respectable. Now, I'm a blue-blooded liberal through and through, don't get me wrong. And I will drink you under the table. But there is a time and a place for everything.
I will say that Cindy Sheehan's Camp Casey was impressive. 1,900 crosses are quite an impressive number when you actually see them all lined up. Too bad Bush wasn't home to take a look for himself.
Did anyone else go to the protest? Agree or disagree with my hippie rant?
Also of note, Nirvana has a new CD coming out... it is a "best of the box set." Should be cool.
UPDATE: I swear I don't want this to be a political blog, so I won't comment on this any more than by saying that you seriously can't make this stuff up..
Dead people here and there.
Whew, that was quite a weekend. Thanks to the boys from the Double One Tweezy for coming by and getting me drunk (and trashing my apartment).
After recovering from my hangover Saturday morning, I set out for the Metro to go meet my bandmates. On the way there I passed an alley, where a couple of people were standing and looking at something on the ground. One girl was on her cellphone and looked like she was very distressed, so I got the feeling that whatever was there wasn't good... but I couldn't see it until I got up close. Yeah, it was a dead guy. Some homeless guy, lying on the ground in a very unnatural position, head to the wall and still clutching an empty bottle. Oh, and he was purple. Gross. And depressing. And definitely not what you want to see right after a long night of drinking. I heard sirens in the distance coming our way, so I guess those people called the police. I was gonna barf, though, so I rolled out.
This coming Saturday there is a big anti-war rally downtown. I usually avoid these things because I hate hippies, but there are some good bands playing so I'm gonna go check it out. Here is the press on it:
"International recording stars Thievery Corporation are bringing together several notable musical acts such as Ted Leo and The Pharmacists, Le Tigre, Bouncing Souls, country music recording artist Steve Earle, socially conscious hip hop groups like The Coup, the rock 'n soul group The Bellrays, along with progressive activists/performers Head-Roc, Jello Biafra, Wayne Kramer of the MC5 and many others for a free concert on the Washington Monument grounds."
Should be a good time, plus you get to be put on a government watch list! Yeah. Anyone else want to go?
Also, this is one of my favorite new blogs.
Video Ipods coming soon?
There has long been speculation that Apple would introduce a video Ipod, and also a video download service for ITunes. At this point I think it is pretty much inevitable that at least one of those two things will happen. And now it appears that Itunes has quietly introduced support for video podcasts (or vodcasts). Of course you can't put them on your Ipod... yet. Frankly I'm not that excited about the idea of a video Ipod (let's face it, the screen is too small and I don't want to sit there and stare at my pod while I'm trying to navigate the Metro), but I think I would love a video download service built into ITunes so I could collect my favorite videos. What do you think?
Any new posts yet?
How bored am I right now? I just checked my own blog to see if it had been updated.
Some good news amid all the bad
I just read this morning that Fats Domino, one of the pioneers of Rock n' Roll and one of our greatest musicians, has been found alive in New Orleans! Thank goodness. I have been a huge Fats Domino fan ever since my freshman year at UMD. I don't know if you kids remember, but there used to be an old fashioned jukebox in the Ellicott dining hall, and of course it had a few cuts from Fats. I have very fond memories of sitting around Ellicott, half asleep, eating grits and listening to "Blueberry Hill." My roomate in college loved Fats and used to put his songs on whenever we went into the dining hall. Plus he had the Fats Domino Greatest Hits album on CD. So I guess Mr. Domino could be considered the official soundtrack to my college life. If any of you are interested, you can grab his greatest hits album off of the Pirate Bay.
If you haven't yet, please donate to the Red Cross to help with the relief efforts in New Orleans. Things just keep getting worse there, and our bumbling government seems unable to even get food and water out to people. Does this bother anyone else? I mean, what is the difference between the destruction caused by this hurricane and the destruction caused by a terrorist attack? Other than the fact that in this case, we got 2 days warning? Is this how we plan on responding to a nuclear or biological attack? Let everyone fend for themselves? It is pretty sad and disturbing that this is the best we can do.
Ok, rant over. I'll get back to fun stuff soon, I promise.
