An Interesting Description of Religion

"Twisty Faster", in her blog "I Blame the Patriarchy", while discussing gay marriage put forth this description of religion:

Bizarre as it may seem, many Americans mistake for truth certain fanciful narratives the central figure of which is an invisible, immortal male superdude who lives in a cloud palace and who is as obsessed with human reproductive material as he is with smiting infidels. Quite a large chunk of the populus are so besotted by this fantasy, they think the invisible superdude is actually real. They chit-chat with him, bargain with him, build fancy castles for him, use special gang signs with him, seek to appease his wrath, cajole him into intervening on their personal behalf, sacrifice the lives of the less fortunate in exchange for such filthy lucre as he sees fit to confer upon them, announce to the world that they believe in him so their peers won’t mistake them for amoral atheists, and reinterpret his myths in whatever manner will most benefit their own status in this super-fubar set-up.

NASA: "It IS rocket science!"

NASA Administrator Michael Griffin, speaking at EAA's AirVenture Oshkosh 2008:
"This is rocket science. If we knew how to do it, it wouldn't be exploration."

http://www.aero-news.net/

Safari "Carpet Bomb" Vulnerability

An excellent description of the Safari Carpet Bomb vulnerability.

Chinese Etiquette: Key Concepts, Being Polite, Cultural Differences

And now for the Chinese version:

10 Japanese Customs You Must Know Before a Trip to Japan

Interesting blog post here.

XP SP3 problems on AMD-based HP/CompaQ systems

See this blog: http://msinfluentials.com/blogs/jesper/archive/2008/05/08/does-your-amd-based-computer-boot-after-installing-xp-sp3.aspx

Reverse Colonialism

I found this essay on a cartoon website. I like the way the author thinks.

I have always been of the mind that when you visit a foreign country you're the one that should make the effort to communicate with the locals. Speaking your birth tongue slower and louder doesn't make yourself any more understandable, it just makes you look like a jackass. The onus to learn the local language is even heavier if you're an immigrant. After all, you're the one asking for the privilege of becoming a part of someone else's community. That means you can bloody well learn the language; you don't even have to succeed, you just have to show that you're willing to try.

And trying is the attitude that counts! I recognize that a lot of older folks immigrate to Canada, and it's a little tough for an 80-year old Mongolian granddad to become even quasi-fluent in English. But if he smiles and can say "hello" and "goodbye" and "thank-you" at least I'll know that he cares about his adoptive community enough to make the effort, which is what I expect from an immigrant.

Hopefully a day will come when my wife and I can buy property in the Dominican Republic. They speak Spanish there, and as a result I will learn Spanish! The first phrase I learned was Lo siento, no comprende. Habla ingles? Most of the time the local will say no, but will happily work with me to figure out a way to communicate with each other. He knows I want to try, and that his language is the one that rightfully takes precedence in his country.

Those immigrants who refuse to learn the local language are in effect attempting to carve out an enclave, or colony, for themselves in their new country, an enclave where they can ignore all of the locals and in fact reject the community in which they live. I abhor this behaviour, as it serves only to erect walls within the community, and in this age of globalization that can't possibly end well. Make no mistake, if you're an immigrant to a nation that speaks a language other than your own, and you're so arrogant as to refuse to try to learn the local tongue, you should turn around and go home. We don't want you here, wherever "here" may be. And you can take your colonial arrogance home with you.

Mac Sounds as Musical Instruments

Someone has composed a song using (apparently) GarageBand and Mac alert sounds as instruments. Kinda cool.

Book Banning in Loudoun Schools

A story in Dvorak's blog about a book banned by the Loudoun Schools Superintendent (Hatrick).

Update: The blog entry references a story at WTOP.

A Cure for the "Free Public WiFi" viral SSID

"Description of the Wireless Client Update for Windows XP with Service Pack 2"

From show notes for Security Now Episode #82 . Also see the show notes for Episode #81 under "Disabling XP's default connection to AdHoc WiFi nodes", which requires the above update.

Freeze Frame

Public performance art in Grand Central Station.
Very cool!