“I do write about death a lot. I don’t like to over use that whole
‘seize the day’ thing, but I think, you know, the fact that we’re
going to die is a pretty good reason to stop complaining.”
— Dave Matthews; CBS Sunday Morning, 5/31/09
Too bad…
…they canceled Joan of Arcadia after only 2 seasons…
Joan: “It was a total disaster.”
God: “Nothing of value comes without a little struggle. Some of the most beautiful flowers in the world only grow after a forest fire. Literally out of the ashes they blanket the ground with color.”
Joan: “Yeah, but if you made that happen without the fire, people would like you more.”
God: “They’d just find something else to blame me for.”
God: “You can’t control everything, Joan. Turmoil, conflict, chaos; they’re just part of life. Look at any playground. The screaming, the laughter, the tears. Out of that mayhem comes relationships, love, and the simple joy of being surprised by life.”
Joan: “So, more surprises?”
God: “Oh yeah, there’s always more surprises.”
Oba-mania?
“The reason that this is important, again, is that Senator Clinton, I think fairly, has claimed that she’s got the experience on ‘day 1’ and part of the argument that I’m making in this campaign is that it is important to be right on ‘day 1’ and that the judgment that I’ve presented on this issue [Iraq] and some other issues is relevant to how we’re gonna make decisions in the future. It’s not just a function of looking backwards, it’s a function of looking forwards, and how are we going to be able to make serious decisions in a dangerous world?”
— Barack Obama; Democratic Primary Debate, Hollywood, CA; Jan 31, 2008
So, I’m honestly not sure I’m even registered for the Primary, and still not completely sure which way I’d swing. I mean, I’m voting for a Democrat regardless of who the nominee, but I think I’d still lean Obama, were I to actually vote on Feb 5th. Listening to tonight’s “debate” on CNN tonight, they really agreed on nearly every issue except for a few relatively slight differences. The entire debate was more of a “conversation,” as there weren’t all that many barbs exchanged (with the possible exception of the quote above, which I kinda liked…).
At this point, I’m thinking more strategically for who I want to win the nomination. If Mitt Romney is the nominee for the Republicans, then either Obama or Clinton will win (providing there aren’t any major screw-ups by their respective campaigns). If McCain is the nominee, however, I think Obama would have a better chance competing against him – and if it came down to McCain vs Clinton, I really don’t think I’d mind him winning as much as I minded Bush winning in 2000/2004. McCain and Clinton both voted for the same war, come from the same generation, and arguably have comparable experience – but Obama represents a much clearer distinction between the two potential Presidential candidates. I think Romney would get hammered, but McCain would stand a fighting, if not good, chance to go all the way.
So, this raises two questions: (1) Would I rather have McCain win the nomination and have a tougher time getting a Democrat in to the White House, or would I rather risk having Romney be the nominee and have the Democrats screw up this election like 2004, perhaps actually having Romney win?, and (2) As with the first question, do I rather have Obama get the nomination, but perhaps not hold his own against McCain’s “experience,” or have Clinton go against the Republicans and energize the Christian Right to come back to the polls?
It’s a complicated election year, and it’s proving to be fascinating.
I’m just glad “A Daily Show” and “The ColberT ReporT” are back… 😛
Edit: My voter registration card arrived. I get to vote in the Primary. 🙂
“The dog?!”
“I have very fond memories of that dog” — Henry Jones, Jr.
Scifi.com has released a few images from the upcoming “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,” set to be released May 22, 2008. I’ve posted two of them here, mostly because Shia LaBeouf is in one and the other has Harrison Ford looking all badass (and old)…
Certainly looking forward to it!
(P.S. Name the movie where the above quote came from, and the circumstance, and you won’t win a prize…but maybe an inkling more respect from me… :-P)
"The dog?!"
“I have very fond memories of that dog” — Henry Jones, Jr.
Scifi.com has released a few images from the upcoming “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,” set to be released May 22, 2008. I’ve posted two of them here, mostly because Shia LaBeouf is in one and the other has Harrison Ford looking all badass (and old)…
Certainly looking forward to it!
(P.S. Name the movie where the above quote came from, and the circumstance, and you won’t win a prize…but maybe an inkling more respect from me… :-P)
Quotes and Links…
On my iGoogle page this morning, the following was my link of the day…and I enjoyed it:
“Equations are the devil’s sentences.”
– Stephen Colbert
On another note, Zachary Quinto will be playing Spock in the new “Star Trek” movie that J.J. Abrams is producing/writing/directing… Honestly, I’m not sure how I feel about this. I mean, I think the guy, with the proper hair, could look the part, and I know he can do “unemotional acting,” but the character he plays in “Heroes” is Sylar…and that guy is evil. There are certain actors that just seem to play good “bad guys,” and it’s hard to imagine their transition to a “good guy” role. I’ve heard they’re envisioning a trilogy for these “Star Trek” movies, assuming this one does well enough, meaning that this guy could be playing Spock for years to come, but still…I just dunno…
In other news, my boss is still out of town, so I’ll be going home early today…maybe play some “Super Mario World” and “Resident Evil 4,” but I also need to get started writing my Prelim. This document will be a 25-page grant that I have to defend in order to “officially enter the doctoral program” here at SLU, so it’s kinda a big deal. I generally know what I’m writing it on, but it’s a little hard getting the ball rolling. I hope to defend in November/December, so I’ve still got time – that, and I don’t have classes to take anymore, so there isn’t much getting in the way of the writing…
…I just need to get started…that’s all…
The Varieties of Scientific Experience
So, I know it’s crazy, but I’m reading a book: The Varieties of Scientific Experience, by Carl Sagan. The book is edited by his wife, Ann Druyan, who ran across the transcripts of some lectures he gave in 1985 in Scotland (he passed away in December, 1996). The subtitle to the book is “A personal view of the search for God,” which is what drew me to reading it… There have been plenty of books out there trying to reconcile or compare “science” and “God,” but I figured that Carl Sagan, of all people, would yield an interesting take on the ideas.
I’m already half-way through and I wanted to quote a few excerpts from the book here.
On the origins of life on Earth:
“They say it is no more likely that the origin of life could occur spontaneously by molecular interaction in the primitive ocean than that a Boeing 747 would be spontaneously assembled when a whirlwind passed over a junkyard. That’s a vivid image. It’s also a very useful image, because, of course, the Boeing 747 did not spring full-blown into the world of aviation; it is the end product of a long evolutionary sequence, which, as you know, goes back to the DC-3 and so on until you get to the Wright bi-plane. Now, the Wright biplane does look as if it were spontaneously assembled by a whirlwind in a junkyard. And while I don’t mean to criticize the brilliant achievement of the Wright brothers, as long as you remember that there is this evolutionary history, it’s a lot easier to understand the origin of the first example.”
On science in general:
“My deeply held belief is that if a god of anything like the traditional sort exists, then our curiosity and intelligence are provided by such a god. We would be unappreciative of those gifts if we suppressed our passion to explore the universe and ourselves. On the other hand, if such a traditional god does not exist, then our curiosity and our intelligence are the essential tools for managing our survival in an extremely dangerous time. In either case, the enterprise of knowledge is consistent surely with science; it should be with religion, and it is essential for the welfare of the human species.”
Indeed…
Heckuvajob, Rummy…
In honor of our fallen comrade:
“There are known knowns. There are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we don’t know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don?t know that we don’t know.”
— Donald Rumsfeld, trying to clarify the war on terrorism
Still Here
Yes, I’m still here, I just haven’t had much to say that Andy hasn’t already! Of course, this is from the PHC website:
“John the farmer was in the fertilized egg business. He had several hundred young layers (hens), called “pullets”, and ten roosters, whose job it was to fertilize the eggs (for you city folks). The farmer kept records and any rooster that didn’t perform went into the soup pot and was replaced. That took an awful lot of his time, so he bought a set of tiny bells and attached them to his roosters. Each bell had a different tone so John could tell from a distance, which rooster was performing. Now he could sit on the porch and fill out an efficiency report simply by listening to the bells.
The farmer’s favorite rooster was old Butch, and a very fine specimen he was, too. But on this particular morning John noticed old Butch’s bell hadn’t rung at all! John went to investigate. The other roosters were chasing pullets, bells-a-ringing. The pullets, hearing the roosters coming, would run for cover. But to Farmer John’s amazement, old Butch had his bell in his beak, so it couldn’t ring. He’d sneak up on a pullet, do his job and walk on to the next one. John was so proud of old Butch, he entered him in the Renfrew County Fair and he became an overnight sensation among the judges.
The result… The judges not only awarded old Butch the No Bell Piece Prize but they also awarded him the Pulletsurprise as well. Clearly old Butch was a politician in the making: who else but a politician could figure out how to win two of the most highly coveted awards on our planet by being the best at sneaking up on the populace and screwing them when they weren’t paying attention.”
Fooling around…
“We’re like the Cleavers…except we’re religious…and we like to fool around.”
Rev. Eric Camden; “7th Heaven”
Yes…that kind of “fool around”… What a show… I certainly never thought it’d last 11 seasons…and I certainly never thought I’d hear a pastor say such things…
Keep in mind, he was also in “Star Trek: The Motion Picture” and became a non-corporeal life form…