The Chaser’s War on Everything: Do you Believe the Bible is True?

Priceless.

RDF TV – Vestigial Organs: The Wings of the Flightless Cormorant – Richard Dawkins

Sorry for the lazy video posts today. Numbers are way down lately. I seem to need more shots of naked Parisians.

Hippie Weirdo Yoga Farmers

Some Yoga that will give you nightmares.

Oh, man, I’m Going. That’s All There is to it.

PZ Myers is leading a group of people through the Creation Museum in Kentucky.

Should be a fun time.

Simply Sara — Wanda’s Macaroni Salad

I don’t know what to make of this video at all. It’s interesting, because where else would someone like Simply Sara be able to get this kind of publicity?

At one point, Sara pours “1 cup” of vinegar in her bowl. She fills the measuring cup all the way to the top, and I swear that’s a two cup container. We have the same one here at my house.

So can Sara REALLY be trusted to give accurate information?

Regardless, I am pretty sure these are NOT recipes that I’ll ever follow.

Biggie Gee

I like this post from Hemant Mehta. He’s been exploring syndicated columns from Billy Graham. The question he posted was a person asking what the bible says about extra terrestrial life. Graham’s response is that the bible concerns only earthly life and god’s love for said earthly life.

Mehta response, “Not that it matters what the Bible says on this issue anyway… it didn’t have anything to say about DNA or HIV, either, but science has plenty to to say on those subjects. Why not place some trust in the process that produces results?”

This is why I enjoy science. It’s relevant. It’s necessary. And it affects what’s going on now. It doesn’t try to impose 2,000 to 6,000 year old culture onto today’s zeitgeist. It uses the old culture as building blocks for today’s relevant issues.

Even if a person argues that science is a religion, which I wholeheartedly disagree with, I’d certainly enjoy a revival at a science-based event much better than a Billy Graham revival every day of the week.

Let Me Show You My Glass

I just rummaged through my lenses, because a friend of mine is buying a new camera today. She asked me what my workhorse lens was.

My favorite professional lens is a 70 to 200 mm. It’s expensive glass and it shows in images.

My second favorite is a 17 to 55 that I use on my second camera during shoots. It has a little bit of a zoom, but no noticeable wide angle bend even at 17 mm. I like it better than my 16 to 35 mm that cost a few hundred more. What I read about the 16 mm to 35 mm was that it wouldn’t bend much. Someone was lying. The outer edges on at 16 mm really distort. In low-light, images get soft the further from the center. I only used it with in well-lighted situations or when I have a flash with the spreader down.

I have an “everyday” 55 mm to 200 mm lens that I throw on when I go out in public so people don’t run for cover. It’s a pretty good lens, and apparently it’s not sold anymore. I can’t find a photo. The 70 to 200 mm described above looks like a small telescope. It’s intimidating to see in everyday situations. It looks like I can see through your underpants with it.

Otherwise, I have a fisheye, a 50 mm macro, and a LensBaby that’s fun to use. It’s not a true tiltshift, but it does okay.

LensBaby

The other essential items in my toolbox are my flashes. I have a remote sensor and can put them anywhere in a 25 foot radius (hey! r25!) of my camera and use them as fill or highlight. It’s hands-down essential to my work.

I posted twice today. Look at me.

Computers Suck

My main machine is giving me a heap-a-trouble today. It’s been giving me hints of issues for a while, but it came to a head on Friday. It seems I overwhelm the bus with too many peripherals. So I have nothing for you today, but this lousy update.

I thought of another example of  OCD that I exhibit. Every time I’m in a store that sells pens, I have to forceable stop myself from buying a pack. It’s a weird compulsion. When I’m home, there are so many pens. I still have pens that walked home with me from when I worked at The Merchandise Mart in 2001.

Go think on that for a second. Done? Great. Go back to work.

Lie on My Couch — for FREE!!

Everyone exhibits some kind of neurosis sometimes. This guy I knew growing up checked the lock on his gym locker so many times it was like he was milking a cow teat. He’d leave the locker room, and have to return or look back to make sure it was locked. Oddly enough, we went to a “christian” school. Why did we need locks in the first place? It was always a scandal when someone’s wallet was stolen. I found it incredibly ironic that locks were necessary.

One of my neurotic synapse misfires is a sort of turrets. There are triggers that make me say a phrase, like, “I love you.” I don’t know it until it’s out of my mouth. One of the triggers is a train passing, which is often, because the CTA Red and Purple lines run through my backyard. I think my subconscious has the feeling no one is listening. I’ve done it since I was little. When I mowed a lawn, the sound of the engine would sort of cover up my voice. I could say what I wanted.

I obsess over locked doors at night. I also obsess over my own heartbeat, because it scares me when I’m still. The more I think about it, the more my mind mistakes it for something ominous. It’s bizarre. It makes sleeping very difficult.

I have more, that I am unable to think of right now. I’ll add them if I think of them.

What’s your OCD or neural issue of choice?

MATT RIDLEY ON EVOLUTION, ECONOMICS, AND “IDEAS HAVING SEX”

I was trying to watch a painfully awful “debate” between YouTube sensation ThunderfOOt and Ray “BananaMan” Comfort this morning. It’s awful. Ray Comfort has years of entertainment experience and ThunderfOOt is too docile and polite to do any harm to Ray’s trump card, “God did it.”

I stumbled on this gem of an interview below, that eased the pain of the Thunder/Comfort debacle. It actually answers questions rather than features two bumbling mouths stumble over the silliness of Ray “Lead Me NOT to Think” Comfort.

More about Matt Ridley below the fold.