Issue 43

News: Flood Geology.
This following article was inspired by a re-reading of Jack T. Chick's tract "It's Coming!", a special about the "real" Noah's ark, and a mention in a Leonardo exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry wherein it is mentioned that he was one of the first people to realize that there was no evidence of a global flood. The tract itself shows Bob visiting an atheistic couple who do not believe in the "Great Flood", noting that it was a regional legend which grew as the religion did. Bob retells the story and the couple converts, as usual. As per usual for Creationist Chick Tracts, the "scientific Evidence" is presented by a "Creation Scientist" named Kent Hovind, who mixes Fundementalist Young Earth Creationism with Jurassic Park, claiming that humans not only coexisted peacefully with dinosaurs in the Garden of Eden, but still coexist today. One major problem with the idea of a global flood is that for the sea level to rise enough to cover land (over 30,000 feet), one would have to melt the polar ice caps, which would, according to the documentary, take temperatures of 10,000 degrees, which is just above the surface temperature of the Sun. Either way, if they did survive the sun-hot temperatures, there is one other point to make; The air pressure would wind up causing a person's lungs to implode (maybe i'm exaggerating, but at least the person would die without pressurized Cabins of some kind (which wouldn't be invented for milennia.) One logical point is that it is mentioned that there was put two of every species of animal on the world, and quite frankly, there is no way that the 450x75x45 structure mentioned in Genesis could fit the 20 million species of animals recognized by scientists today, or indeed even the dinosaurs Hovind claims were on the Ark (which could have been disposed of on the Ark, but Hovind won't allow so he can freely claim that he has "photos of Herman Goering riding a velociraptor like a horsie" [actually this is just to show how ridiculous many of his claims are, although he does claim to have drawings from the 15th Century showing dinosaurs performing brain surgery on people]), and one last point is that there are a significant number of aquatic animals who would doubtlessly survive with or without the help of anybody with a boat.

Band Name of the Day: I have two today. The first one is the Atomic Pizza and the second one is the Human Hamburger goes to Hawaii. Both come from the same episode of Green Acres where Oliver speaks to a high school class and a girl gets a crush on him. The two band names both come from movies mentioned.

Film Idea of the Day: It really is more of a play, but it is to be about a small class which teaches English as a second language. The First language of the students is, ironically Latin. The play goes on for 45 real-time minutes as the students go through a class and laugh at percieved double entendres in the English language.

Review of the Day: Actually, it is another TV series, but I managed to find the entire first season of the Jeff Foxworthy Show. As a big fan of Jeff Foxworthy, I was surprised to find it in a bargain bin. (I frequently search for films in the Bargain bins of stores; I once snagged The Maltese Falcon in one for $9, and Lawrence of Arabia for $8.) I decided to buy it and so far have seen the first nine episodes, and found it to be an interesting supplement to the Blue Collar Comedy Tour stuff which would manifest in his later TV series Blue Collar TV, including earlier bits which would make more sense in 1995 than in 2004, including Jeff ranting about the Olympics in Atlanta.

Quote of the Day: "Greeting's Yall! And Welcome all yuou dang foreigners from other nations.
Dear Lord please be with our guests and prepare them for the butt-whoopin'
they're about to receive"
________Jeff Foxworthy.

Link of the Day: The ultimate site about urban legends or mysterious emails.

Coming soon; The first anniversary issue about Statistics (specifically those about my blog.)

Issue 42

News: Biblical law.
Recently, I read that one of the columnists in one of my favorite magazines, Mental Floss, named A.J. Jacobs, is writing a book wherein he is supposed to live by the laws of the Bible. At this point, I got interested in what exactly that entailed, and so, I researched it more on wikipedia. I found out one major thing; At this point in life, while there are several laws that are justified (albeit mostly written down in other cultures independant from the Israelites, Like Thou Shalt not Kill), many biblical laws make little sense and would make other countries hate us even more than they do now if America follows these laws. Some examples of these laws include Death to homosexuals (Lv. 20:13, as said by friend of Fred Phelps and Christian Identity preacher Peter J. Peters), Condonement of slavery (Ex. 21:7, Lev 25:44), death for working on Saturday (Ex. 35:2), Shellfish being an abomination (L. 11:11), and Death for shaving (Lev. 19:27). One major example of the shocking nature of Biblical law is in Deutoronomy 22:23-7, If a married/engaged woman is raped in a city, she and the rapist must die. If it happens in the Country, The rapist must die. If the girl isn't engaged or married and is raped anywhere, the rapist must pay a fine equivalent to $350 to the girl's father and they must marry and not divorce (even when moses says that people married in different circumstances may divorce). One more thing is the fact that one commandment (The Second or third, depending on the version you learned), technically, is impossible to break and has been so for 2 millenia, since all we have at this point is 4 Letters in the Judeo-Christian God's name: YHVH (The first and third letters we aren't even sure of; they could be J and W instead of Y and V.)

Band name of the day: DCLXVI. Actually it's more of an abbreviation than an actual band name, per se, but at least if you make up a name around those 6 letters, you get to be put on a list of people who famously correspond to 666, including Nero and Ronald Reagan.

Film Idea of the Day: A group of short anime films based around the plot of my The Fighting 79th idea, like The Animatrix, including several which follow the formative years of several of the main characters.

Film Review of the day: Running on Empty. This 1988 film stars River Phoenix as the son of two terrorists (not entirely far off from his PeTA membership), who has lived on the run and wants to go to Juilliard. It is a surprisingly one of Lumet's best films (right up there with 12 Angry Men and Stranger among us) and also includes a Catcher mention near the end in a classroom.

Quote of the Day: You're certifiable. You're welcome!
______________Martha Plympton, as Lorna in Running on Empty.

Link of the Day: A site with a surprising number of Videos shot by members, and a staggering number of music videos also.

Isue 41

News: Smooth Jazz is a Misnomer.
One would think that in a city of 2 million there would be a single jazz station, but not in Chicago, although there is a "Smooth Jazz" channel (WNUA 95.5), and once in a blue moon there will be an actual jazz tune on the station (Saturdays from 7-9 AM), but all the other times, there will be a "Smooth jazz" song, which I believe is not truly any sort of Jazz at all, but repackaged R&B music arbitrarily called "Smooth Jazz". Many of the vocal songs can also be heard on other stations that do not call themselves "Smooth Jazz", and one song in particular, "Peg" by Steely Dan is in frequent rotation on both the "Jazz" station and Classic Rock stations. I can abide fusion, especially Miles Davis' Works with John McLaughin because it blends two genres I like, but "Smooth Jazz" is supposedly mixing Jazz and R&B, the latter genre I don't care for, but the Jazz influence is lost to me unless it is supposed to be the instrumental songs and use of the saxophone, but because it calls itself jazz with no real legitimacy, it joins the pantheon of genres of Music I don't care for.

Band Name: Mrkrgnao. James Joyce's unique onomotopaeia for a cat's meow.

Film Review: The Poseidon Adventure. With it being remade twice in 12 months, I felt it would be a good time to revisit the original movie, but first, I would like to point out that despite what many people have claimed, there was no silent version, much less one played on The Titanic. I must say that for a disaster movie (I usually prefer artsy movies), this movie was surprisingly Good. One of the more memorable scenes is where Jack Albertson (forever known as Grandpa Joe from Willy Wonka), encourages his wife (played by Lolita's Shelley Winters) to swim for her safety, as well as one scene near the end with Gene Hackman.

Film Idea: A man travels across his hometown on one day, August 1, 1981 (The first day of MTV, before it got into watered down music)

Quote: "Ha-ha! If I spoke prose, you'd all find out, I don't know what I talk about!"
_______________J. Hillary Boob, Yellow Submarine.

Link of the day: Some All your Base Songs.

Quote: