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Stuff
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Published Monday, May 31, 2010 @ 3:18 PM EDT
May 31 2010

(Warning: strong language.)

Fot the past couple weeks we've been preparing to move back to our house in South Park. The hardest part of the move? Getting rid of stuff.

And I mean a lot of stuff. Most of the house was cleared when we moved out here to Fayette City, but lots remained. Like a 24-year old, 32-inch, 250 pound non-functioning direct view CRT television, old toys, accumulated souvenirs and other debris- over 200 square feet, stacked two boxes high in some places.

For the past several days, I've been tackling the garage. We've hauled a ton and a hundred thousand of dollars worth of stuff that have accumulated over the past two decades. I'm talking original cost, of course; computer equipment depreciates like unrefrigerated milk. Roughly 20 obsolete computer systems, miles of cables, RS-232 25-pin connectors and switchboxes, and some items even I couldn't even identify. I hope the Goodwill computer center has an archaeologist on staff. I doubt any of them has ever seen an 8" hard-sectored Vydec floppy disk or a horizontal auto-loading 9-track 6250 bpi SCSI tape drive.

Getting rid of stuff is a liberating experience. Still, there were some items I just couldn't toss. My collection of DEC Professional and VAX Professional magazines. The acrylic lightbulb paperweight I've had for 37 years. Some yearbooks. Things the kids made for me when they were little.

That stuff is now tucked away in the storage compartment under the cellar steps, where someday someone will, undoubtedly, toss it into a dumpster without second thought.

Now we get to move, and fill up the garage again. Life is a circle, indeed.


Categories: George Carlin, KGB Family


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Stephen Fry: What I Wish I'd Known When I was 18
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Published Friday, May 28, 2010 @ 1:14 AM EDT
May 28 2010

STEPHEN FRY: WHAT I WISH I'D KNOWN WHEN I WAS 18 from Peter Samuelson on Vimeo.


Categories: Questions for the Ages, Video


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Quote of the day
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Published Thursday, May 27, 2010 @ 12:04 AM EDT
May 27 2010

There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old's life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs.
-John Rogers


Categories: Quotes of the day


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Quote of the day
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Published Wednesday, May 26, 2010 @ 9:09 AM EDT
May 26 2010

Dell Computers announced they're releasing a competitor for the iPad. Now it is, in fact, a great alternative for people who already have an iPad, but are fed up with it working all the time.
-Craig Ferguson


Categories: Craig Ferguson, Quotes of the day, Video


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Happy birthday, Hal
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Published Tuesday, May 25, 2010 @ 3:09 AM EDT
May 25 2010

Hal David (b. May 25, 1921) teamed with composer Burt Bacharach to write some of the most enduring standards in American popular music.

I've always felt- particularly today- that David's contribution has never received its due, especially from the general public. Writing lyrics isn't easy, especially when your musical partner's style is known for its distinctive irregular phrasing, syncopation and wild rhythm patterns- Promises, Promises changes meter 20 times, on occasion after only a single bar.

David, insightful, reflective and sophisticated, wrote lyrics that could stand on their own, even stripped of the melody. My favorite David lyric is Alfie:

What's it all about, Alfie?
Is it just for the moment we live?
What's it all about, when you sort it out, Alfie?
Are we meant to take more than we give?
Or are we meant to be kind?

And if only fools are kind, Alfie,
Then I guess it is wise to be cruel.
And if life belongs only to the strong, Alfie
What will you lend on an old Golden Rule?

As sure as I believe there's a heaven above Alfie,
I know there's something much more-
Something even non-believers can believe in.

I believe in love, Alfie-
Without true love, we just exist, Alfie-
Until you find the love you've missed, you're nothing, Alfie.
When you walk, let your heart lead the way.
And you'll find love any day-
Alfie...
Alfie...
Alfie...


Categories: Music, Video


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Headline of the day
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Published Tuesday, May 25, 2010 @ 12:35 AM EDT
May 25 2010


Categories: Headline of the day


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Truly Comcastic
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Published Monday, May 24, 2010 @ 4:16 AM EDT
May 24 2010

I never thought I'd ever hear these words coming out of my mouth, but I'm looking forward to using Comcast again when we get back to South Park.

I'm especially looking forward to getting Movies on Demand again. They have so many choices, that obviously there's no one copychecking the mini-reviews that describe the available programming.

To wit:

Night Living Dead
82 min
Available Until: 07/06/2010
 :
Sid Haig, Brianna Brown
When zombies attack, the survivors hold (sic) up in a house full of sharp, bladed farm tools. Good plan. An homage and re-imagining of the original movie, but updated with gratuitous nudity. Very good plan.


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Dear Mr. President...
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Published Monday, May 24, 2010 @ 12:46 AM EDT
May 24 2010

Dear Mr. President,

When your opponents began referring to the BP drilling disaster as "Obama's Katrina," I dismissed their criticisms as typical partisan opportunism. The record clearly shows your administration responded in a timely and pro-active manner when informed of the disaster.

That said, it has been a month since the accident, and unless immediate action is taken, the ecology and economy of the Gulf Coast will be irreparably damaged.

Please consider sealing the well using the method all agree will work: collapse the fissure with a controlled detonation of high explosives.

BP has time and time again demonstrated its only priority is making a profit. With the Alaskan pipeline leak and Texas City refinery explosion, this is the third major disaster directly attributable to the firm's cost-cutting policies in just five years.

I was disappointed when you announced your offshore drilling policy. Please don't compound the error by placing BP's financial interests ahead of the welfare of the people and the ecology of the Gulf Coast.

(Posted to www.whitehouse.gov/contact). Add your voice now!)


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Happy 52nd birthday, Drew Carey
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Published Sunday, May 23, 2010 @ 6:21 AM EDT
May 23 2010


Categories: Johnny Carson, Video


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Quote of the day
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Published Saturday, May 22, 2010 @ 12:37 PM EDT
May 22 2010

Read today that they're making a Planet of the Apes prequel. Technically speaking, isn't every film a Planet of the Apes prequel?
-The Covert Comic


Categories: Covert Comic, Quotes of the day


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You can't stop the Robot Skeleton Army
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Published Saturday, May 22, 2010 @ 10:30 AM EDT
May 22 2010

Those of us who are fans of Craig Ferguson and The Late Late Show had a rude shock this past Thursday.

Malinky Stoatir of New York has uploaded the previous evening's episode of the show to YouTube early every morning for the past year and a half, allowing those of us who can't watch it at 12:37 am to catch it over our morning coffee.

Yes, I DVR the show, but the DVR's downstairs and I'm up here in my office, and often I don't have the time to watch it. So, like thousands of other members of the Robot Skeleton Army, I depended on Malinky for my daily fix of Ferguson's stream-of-consciousness deconstructionism.

But on Thursday, clicking on the browser link brought up a notice that Malinky's account had been suspended by YouTube. No explanation- it was just gone.

It's unlikely CBS, The Late Late Show, or its production company ordered YouTube to pull the plug. All three were aware of her efforts. While technically a copyright violation, the network and all concerned appreciated the exposure. CBS posts clips a day or so after a show's broadcast, but full episodes appear a week behind their original air dates. Plus, it was the only timely way for Ferguson's international fans to see the program, which isn't aired overseas.

Undeterred, Malinky started a new YouTube channel, TV's Craig Ferguson, and is slowly restocking the shelves with videos containing the proper amount of suction. You go, girl.


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Playing chicken
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Published Friday, May 21, 2010 @ 12:28 AM EDT
May 21 2010

Rivers Casino's newest promotion includes the opportunity to play tic-tac-toe with a chicken. Like all gambling ads, the spot ends with "If you have a gambling problem..." Skippy, if you're playing tic-tac-toe with a chicken, you have a gambling problem.


Categories: KGB Opinion


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Quote of the day
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Published Thursday, May 20, 2010 @ 10:41 AM EDT
May 20 2010

If you repeat it, it's true. If you repeat it, it's true. Through repetition, something becomes true, if you repeat it enough until it becomes true. Do I need to repeat that for you?
-Stephen Colbert


Categories: Colbert Report, Quotes of the day


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The Far Side, 1994
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Published Thursday, May 20, 2010 @ 1:23 AM EDT
May 20 2010

As usual, Gary Larson was way ahead of the curve.


Categories: Cartoons


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Teabaggers won't answer direct questions, either...
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Published Thursday, May 20, 2010 @ 12:06 AM EDT
May 20 2010

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Libertarianism is like the jet pack. Exciting in theory, impossible to implement in reality.


Categories: Video


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Baby sloths
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Published Wednesday, May 19, 2010 @ 3:50 AM EDT
May 19 2010

Meet the sloths from Amphibian Avenger on Vimeo.

My wife and I want to open a sloth dude ranch. Just for the sloth drives and stampedes.


Categories: Video


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Happy Birthday, Craig Ferguson!
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Published Tuesday, May 18, 2010 @ 8:56 AM EDT
May 18 2010

(His birthday was yesterday, but since his Monday show actually airs on Tuesday...)


Categories: Craig Ferguson, Video


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Kneel before Glod!
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Published Monday, May 17, 2010 @ 10:17 AM EDT
May 17 2010


Categories: Colbert Report, Hypocrisy, Video


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Quote of the day
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Published Monday, May 17, 2010 @ 9:19 AM EDT
May 17 2010

Huey Lewis once said, "It's hip to be square." Well, maybe. But we can't allows ourselves to live in the past. And that's coming from a guy who just quoted Huey Lewis.
-Bill Maher


Categories: Quotes of the day, Video


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No. You can't drive.
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Published Saturday, May 15, 2010 @ 12:00 AM EDT
May 15 2010


Categories: Video


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Ouch.
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Published Friday, May 14, 2010 @ 12:02 AM EDT
May 14 2010


Categories: Photo of the day


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"It's 'Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon,' except there's just one degree, and Kevin Bacon is Hitler."
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Published Thursday, May 13, 2010 @ 9:12 AM EDT
May 13 2010


Categories: Daily Show, Hypocrisy, Lewis Black, Video


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PSA
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Published Thursday, May 13, 2010 @ 7:18 AM EDT
May 13 2010


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[Insert some event] is Obama's [Bush F*** Up]
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Published Wednesday, May 12, 2010 @ 1:29 AM EDT
May 12 2010

 

"Remember that terrible thing that Bush did, that we fought for eight years to convice you wasn't bad, but actually good? Well now we use those very incidents as the low-water mark for your guy!"


Categories: Daily Show, Hypocrisy, Video


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Mr. Housing Bubble!
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Published Tuesday, May 11, 2010 @ 1:27 PM EDT
May 11 2010

T-ShirtHumor.com


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A fat-fingered perfect storm of cluelessness...
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Published Tuesday, May 11, 2010 @ 8:07 AM EDT
May 11 2010


Categories: Daily Show, Video


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Photo of the day
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Published Tuesday, May 11, 2010 @ 12:02 AM EDT
May 11 2010

"Hi. Spock here, for Enterprise Car Rentals..."

(via Funny or Die)


Categories: Leonard Nimoy, Photo of the day, Star Trek


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Blarrrfengarrrhh...
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Published Monday, May 10, 2010 @ 1:29 AM EDT
May 10 2010

That's definitely a homeless guy in a fur coat...


Categories: SNL, Video


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Number one with a bullet-
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Published Monday, May 10, 2010 @ 12:28 AM EDT
May 10 2010

Bill Haley & His Comets release Rock Around The Clock on this date in 1954, which becomes the first rock & roll record to reach number one on the Billboard chart.

Note the accordion; this was primitive rock, indeed.


Categories: Classic, Music, Video


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Quote of the day
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Published Sunday, May 09, 2010 @ 11:54 AM EDT
May 09 2010

When you argue stupid, you campaign stupid. When you campaign stupid, you win stupid. And when you win stupid, you govern stupid.
-David Frum

(from "The Tea Pary Jacobins" by Mark Lilla)


Categories: History, Hypocrisy, Quotes of the day


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Intelligent design?
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Published Saturday, May 08, 2010 @ 1:32 AM EDT
May 08 2010

(Warning: contains some disturbing photos of birth defects.)

Neil deGrasse Tyson explains that the universe is out to kill us. Really.


Categories: Neil deGrasse Tyson, Video


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You know you're in trouble when Scarborough calls your position "absolutely obscene."
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Published Saturday, May 08, 2010 @ 12:42 AM EDT
May 08 2010

"Obama's Katrina," indeed.


Categories: WTF?


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WBWJR?
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Published Friday, May 07, 2010 @ 1:00 PM EDT
May 07 2010


Categories: Colbert Report, Hypocrisy, Video


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Oh Daily Show, is there anything you can't cover?
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Published Friday, May 07, 2010 @ 8:55 AM EDT
May 07 2010


Categories: Daily Show, Hypocrisy, Video


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Thank heavens I'm a Fixodent kinda guy...
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Published Friday, May 07, 2010 @ 7:56 AM EDT
May 07 2010

Woman sues over damage from Poligrip
Thursday, May 06, 2010
By Pohla Smith, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Terri Charpentier, 41, a mother of two from the Butler area, today sued GlaxoSmithKline in Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas, claiming harmful levels of zinc in Glaxo's Super Poligrip denture cream led to a nerve disorder that forced her to resign her clerical job and left her unable to drive or to walk without a walker or a cane.

Mrs. Charpentier alleges that the zinc level led to a copper deficiency, which in turn led to a neuropathy that for a while forced her to use a wheelchair.

GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare, headquartered in Moon, is one of the defendants and the reason the suit was filed here, said Robert N. Peirce, III, one of Mrs. Charpentier's attorneys. The suit also names other GlaxoSmithKline entities, Mr. Peirce said.

Similar suits have been filed across the country, and the internet shows law firms actively seeking litigants from among users of zinc-containing denture adhesives.

The link between zinc-containing denture adhesives and neuropathy has been reported in medical journals since 2008.

GlaxoSmithKline removed its product from retail shelves in February 2010 and at that issued a consumer advisory warning against "long-term, excessive use" of Super Poligrip.

("long-term, excessive use"? What the hell is that supposed to mean? Just use it until your teeth grow back?)


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BP releases the flying monkeys
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Published Thursday, May 06, 2010 @ 10:59 AM EDT
May 06 2010


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The government is telling you to pray today
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Published Thursday, May 06, 2010 @ 8:54 AM EDT
May 06 2010

"...the government can no more encourage citizens to pray than to "fast during the month of Ramadan, attend a synagogue, purify themselves in a sweat lodge or practice rune magic."

Judge who struck down Day of Prayer in spotlight


Categories: Church and State


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Performance, Feedback, Revision
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Published Thursday, May 06, 2010 @ 12:28 AM EDT
May 06 2010

The Rap Guide to Evolution

©Baba Brinkman 2009
www.babasword.com

Performance, Feedback, Revision

The first version of this rap was pretty primitive
It was like, "Yo, yo, the origin of species
Ain't no feces, dawg, believe me..."
And that's all I could think of
So then I thought, this needs to be re-written
And sometimes people ask: "How does your show get written?"
Like this: performance, feedback, revision
And how do I generally develop my lyricism?
Like this: performance, feedback, revision
And how do human beings ever learn to do anything?
Like this: performance, feedback, revision
And evolution is really an algorithm that goes
Like this: performance, feedback, revision
So the genetic code of every living creature was written
Like this: performance, feedback, revision
See, the genes are like a text with a thousand pages
And revision occurs in the random changes
That come from mutations, and when they see the light
That's the performance, that's the phenotype
And natural selection is the feedback side
That's about who survives and whose genes catch rides
In the next generation, yes, what I'm saying
Is that a rap performance like this is the best illustration
Of the way descent with modification works
'Cause the performance is necessary to change the words
To decide which have an impact and which to send back
To the drawing board, in fact I just did that
When you failed to react, 'cause any line can change
And mutations occur when I improvise on stage
'Cause up until this moment, everything I said was off the page
But… (Freestyle improvised rhyme)
And that's how my show gets written and re-written
Like this: performance, feedback, revision
And anyone can use this algorithm to learn anything
Like this: performance, feedback, revision
But remember, you get the feedback, and you make the decision
Like this: performance, feedback, revision
You wanna know about evolution? This is the definition
Like this: performance, feedback, revision


Categories: Music, Video


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Snrk
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Published Wednesday, May 05, 2010 @ 9:16 PM EDT
May 05 2010

(2" x 3" magnet from the good folks at BuzzFlash.com)


Categories: Snrk


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Ironic, but not surprising...
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Published Wednesday, May 05, 2010 @ 9:21 AM EDT
May 05 2010

...that the phrase "Miranda rights" is derived from the Supreme Court case Miranda v Arizona.


Categories: History, Supreme Court


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May 5
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Published Wednesday, May 05, 2010 @ 12:12 AM EDT
May 05 2010

Happy Cinco de Mayo, or, as we call it here in Pittsburgh, "Wednesday."


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Trust authority, and your brain shuts down...
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Published Tuesday, May 04, 2010 @ 9:48 PM EDT
May 04 2010

(from New Scientist)

WHEN we fall under the spell of a charismatic figure, areas of the brain responsible for scepticism and vigilance become less active. That's the finding of a study which looked at people's response to prayers spoken by someone purportedly possessing divine healing powers.

To identify the brain processes underlying the influence of charismatic individuals, Uffe Schjødt of Aarhus University in Denmark and colleagues turned to Pentecostal Christians, who believe that some people have divinely inspired powers of healing, wisdom and prophecy.

Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), Schjødt and his colleagues scanned the brains of 20 Pentecostalists and 20 non-believers while playing them recorded prayers. The volunteers were told that six of the prayers were read by a non-Christian, six by an ordinary Christian and six by a healer. In fact, all were read by ordinary Christians.

Only in the devout volunteers did the brain activity monitored by the researchers change in response to the prayers. Parts of the prefrontal and anterior cingulate cortices, which play key roles in vigilance and scepticism when judging the truth and importance of what people say, were deactivated when the subjects listened to a supposed healer. Activity diminished to a lesser extent when the speaker was supposedly a normal Christian (Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsq023).

Schjødt says that this explains why certain individuals can gain influence over others, and concludes that their ability to do so depends heavily on preconceived notions of their authority and trustworthiness.

It's not clear whether the results extend beyond religious leaders, but Schjødt speculates that brain regions may be deactivated in a similar way in response to doctors, parents and politicians.


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Forty years ago today
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Published Tuesday, May 04, 2010 @ 12:03 PM EDT
May 04 2010

I was in my junior year at Homestead High School. Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young's "Teach Your Children" was on the charts at the time. The quartet released "Ohio" about a month after the killings.

A grand jury indicted eight of the Guardsmen, but the charges were dismissed by a judge who deemed the case against them too weak to warrant a trial.


Categories: History, Video


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Hmmm....
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Published Tuesday, May 04, 2010 @ 11:56 AM EDT
May 04 2010

(from the "Breaking News" panel on the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette web site)


Categories: Headline of the day


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Cartoon of the day
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Published Tuesday, May 04, 2010 @ 12:06 AM EDT
May 04 2010

(by Tom Cheney in The New Yorker, 5/10/2010)


Categories: Cartoons


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I was standin' on a corner in Winslow, Arizona...
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Published Monday, May 03, 2010 @ 2:03 PM EDT
May 03 2010

...but I didn't have papers, so the cops deported me to Mexico.
(Facebook status posted by Jason Togyer, Tube City Almanac.)


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Why does this remind me of Arizona?
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Published Monday, May 03, 2010 @ 11:20 AM EDT
May 03 2010


Categories: Video


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Quote of the day
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Published Monday, May 03, 2010 @ 2:05 AM EDT
May 03 2010

I'm all for freedom, but some people should just be slapped and told to get over themselves.
-Spider Robinson


Categories: Quotes of the day


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Quote of the day
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Published Sunday, May 02, 2010 @ 10:55 AM EDT
May 02 2010

Whoever said "Grandmas are moms with lots of frosting" obviously never licked one.
-The Covert Comic


Categories: Covert Comic, Quotes of the day


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Snrk.
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Published Sunday, May 02, 2010 @ 10:20 AM EDT
May 02 2010

recursion: see recursion


Categories: Snrk


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My approval ratings are still very high in the country of my birth.
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Published Sunday, May 02, 2010 @ 7:31 AM EDT
May 02 2010

With jokes scripted by Daily Show writers, Obama knocks 'em dead at the White House Correspondents Dinner, followed by some guy named Leno.


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I'm funky. I've always been funky.
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Published Sunday, May 02, 2010 @ 12:12 AM EDT
May 02 2010


Categories: SNL


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You go, girl
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Published Saturday, May 01, 2010 @ 11:40 AM EDT
May 01 2010


Categories: SNL


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Bye Bye Blogger
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Published Saturday, May 01, 2010 @ 12:00 AM EDT
May 01 2010

Google's Blogger service discontinued its ftp publishing model today. Blogger used to let you publish your blog to your own website; now, everything must be stored in the Google cloud in their blogspot.com domain.

If history has taught us anything, it's that if you depend on a remote system operated by a third party, at some point you're going to get burned.

So, I switched to Thingamablog, an application that maintains my blog here on my home computer instead of in a server farm buried in the backwoods somewhere.

Trying to port my Blogger template over to the new software would be a major effort, so instead I'm using the switchover as an excuse to redesign things.

Please bear with me; there's lot of other stuff going on, major projects at work, the renovation of the South Park house for our June move, and the ongoing hilarity which ensues here at Casa del Furry on a daily basis. It's going to take a while to get everything debugged and all the blog posts reposted and all the other links up and running. I'm budgeting an hour a day. By the end of May, things should be back to what's laughingly referred to as "normal."


Categories: KGB Blog News


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