brian's blog

From MSNBC / AP, Frist voices support for ‘intelligent design’:

[Senate Majority Leader] Frist, a doctor who graduated from Harvard Medical School, said exposing children to both evolution and intelligent design "doesn't force any particular theory on anyone. I think in a pluralistic society that is the fairest way to go about education and training people for the future."

Yes. The fairest and most effective way to educate our children is to expose them to every single nutjob theory out there. Bonus points if that theory is poorly veiled religious dogma.

Well, that's not quite fair of me. I do fully support teaching kids about Flying Spaghetti Monsterism in school.

This is particularly disgusting due to Frist's credentials: a Harvard-educated medical doctor. Because of his standing, he deserves to be held to a higher standard when he speaks of science. This isn't some layman's opinion. He's expected to be reasonably educated in these sorts of matters. And he should know the weight of evidence behind evolution is overwhelming.

But this is hardly the first time Frist has ignored science in favor of politics. To support a government abstinence program, he infamously (and falsely) declared that "you can get [HIV] in tears and sweat." Then he announced that he believed Terri Schiavo was not in a persistent vegetative state despite a) not being a neurologist, and b) not having personally examined her.

And he's not the only doctor in support of creationism. From Scientific American's 15 Answers to Creationist Nonsense, almost 30% of those with postgraduate degrees agreed when queried if "God created humans in their present form within the past 10,000 years or so."

Sigh.

On Friday, we had an MSN Entertainment team morale event at Vasa Park. The highlight was the set of rented Seadoos we could ride on Lake Sammamish. Pic on the right is one I snapped of Leo before he sped off. We both went out twice.

Those suckers are fast.

I wish I took a photo of the Seadoo cops. (Yes, actual cops.) They were on green and black Seadoos, and were eyeing us all afternoon.

I (somewhat compulsively) read the home page news headlines on Yahoo several times a day. The story headline text itself is almost always bland (e.g. "Roberts disparaged states' sex-bias fight"), but once in a while an amusing or ambiguous headline slips by the editorial process.

I've kept a list of my favorites from Yahoo's editors over the years. My obsessive neurosis is your brief gain:

5) Armed gangs threaten Mexican sea turtles

Why are inner city street gangs threatening poor, defenseless sea turtles? Defenseless Mexican sea turtles?

I think the actual story explained that poacher gangs are stealing the turtles' valuable eggs. I was disappointed to learn that the turtles weren't being intimidated at knifepoint.

4) Powell: Abuse photos send horrible image

Pun intended, I'm sure.

3) Arabs want Israeli barrier destroyed

You think? Must have been a slow news day.

2) Giant mutant ant colony found in Australia

I, for one, welcome our new insect overlords. I'd like to remind them that as a trusted TV personality, I can be helpful in rounding up others to toil in their underground sugar caves.

Wait, you mean the colony is giant, and not the ants? Nevermind.

And, my favourite...

1) Lucille Ball tops list of dead celebrities

Yes, she is pretty dead. Moreso than the others, it seems.

Got my first migraine today in 10 years. Fun stuff.

Please stop clicking so loudly. I can hear it, and it hurts.

From the San Jose Mercury News, H-1B visa limits reached for '06:

Federal officials said Friday that all 65,000 of next fiscal year's H-1B visas for skilled foreign workers have been snapped up, the earliest that has ever happened.

(Again, a correction: 64,999 skilled workers, plus one who just eats free candy all day long.)

I'm very happy I was able to get one of the H-1Bs this time around, since I was hired too late in the year last time. Next step is a green card, I suppose!

The past weekend was fun. Friday we saw March of the Penguins (most watchable nature documentary ever; why do those things live down there?).

Saturday, we went to the Fremont Outdoor Cinema (hauled my office chair over and saw Teenagers from Outer Space, an awesome 50's B movie).

Sunday we rented a canoe (along with everyone else in Seattle, it seemed) and explored the Arboretum around Lake Washington. (Note to self: Crossing major motorboat highways in a tiny canoe is intimidating.)

From EGM / 1UP, Top 10 Game Cliches:

6) Imagine if every time you wanted to go down into your basement, you had to wait for a full moon, procure a statue made of precious jewels, solve a ninth-grade logic puzzle, and then push a heavy bookshelf so that it's exactly perpendicular to your couch. All you wanted was your baseball glove, sheesh.

Another one I'd add to the list: Reverse / mirror / bizarro / upside-down versions of a world you've already explored. Though maybe that's more cutting corners than a cliche.

On the weekend, Heather and I went to Teatro ZinZanni:

Teatro ZinZanni is a big night out unlike any other, a three-hour whirlwind of cirque, comedy and cabaret all served up with a five-course feast designed by celebrated Northwest chef Tom Douglas.

The dinner & show took place under a large, elaborate show "tent" (actually part of the building), with most of the action divided between a stage on one end and a circle stage (which elevated on command) in the center of the tent, surrounded by the dinner tables. It was a great show, with some top performers from Cirque de Soleil peppered throughout the jugglers, tapdancers, and singers.

And there were plenty of audience "volunteers" forcibly brought up on stage to participate in the show. I was dragged up to the center stage at one point to compete with two other guys for the title of "Caesar." (Don't ask; it really won't translate well. Let's just say I didn't win.)

A small number of pics from the weekend:

• the Microsoft Company Picnic (where I didn't take enough pictures, so use your imagination)
• a couple of sailing photos.

On the bike ride to work today, I spotted two cycles in separate locations painted completely white, with a sign reading "A cyclist was struck here." The URL on the sign led me to GhostCycle.org:

We began to use this website to collect data from cyclists in the Seattle-area who have been involved in an accident while bicycling. [...] On August 1, “ghostcycles” were placed in each of those trouble locations to make people start asking questions and direct them to our website where all of the information we collected is readily available.

I ride 3 miles each way to work every day (before taking a bus), and am very happy that most of that is on a dedicated, road-free trail. Still, it intersects roads a few times, and it's definitely useful to have visible reminders to myself that bikes aren't exactly the safest form of transportation around (meaning: slow down, and watch for crazy drivers).