Nail This on Your Door

Martin Luther wrote a little book that is known as the basis for Western Anti-Semitism. I'm not 100% sure on how this jibes with the Golden Rule. And I'm sure some will be to point out that the Luthern churches have repudiated the statement, the first were in the 80s and the others in the 90s but still all in all anyone who professes the "goodness" of religion doesn't have to look far at all to see the hate that it inspires.

Credit Card Companies

Dear Credit Card Company,

I try to the extent humanly possible to use your online facilities to manage my account, mostly because it is the easiest way for me to get things done. You should encourage this behavior as well as it saves you money because I don't have to talk to your customer services representatives which is an expensive transaction for you compared to me using the site.
Today I made a request for my rewards cheque to be cut via your website. This was denied with the following explanation.
"We are unable to process your request at this time. Either your total accumulated cash back rebate balance does not qualify for a check, or your request cannot be completed online. If you have any questions, please call the Cash Back Redemption Line at 1-8xx-xxx-xxxx" I'm not exactly sure why this is the case, but I wanted the cheque so I called the toll free number put in the requested info and happily didn't have to wait more than thirty seconds to talk to a person, who then verified more information and said the cheque would be processed but before the confirmation, she started the hard sell on credit card protection, I stopped her about one minute into the spiel and declined only to be met with ANOTHER offer for credit report monitoring service, this time I cut her off about thirty seconds into the spiel. Finally I was confirmed and was informed that the cheque would soon be in the mail.
Why am I writing to you, you may ask? It is because when I call to get my account serviced because of inadequacies of your website, I'm already perturbed to add on top of this your representatives trying to sell me a product that I'm well aware of, as it is all over your website and included in pretty much everything you mail me, adds insult to injury. Please mark my account as "not interested" and no longer do this.

Thanks,
Dan

Elevators

So I'm in the elevator going up to my office and a woman gets on and says you look a lot like that guy from American Idol. So I punched her square in jaw and said I AM Taylor Hicks bitch.

It's a Good Start

Arresting religious fundamentalist leaders is a good start.

Compiling for Christ.

There is a Christian version of Ubuntu
I wonder if it includes "features" wherein Christian "values" are used. For example does Conway's Game of Life not show evolution but instead the cells just appear as is? Does xearth show the planet as flat? Does the computer not work on Sundays? Will it not let two members of the same sex network and member of the opposite sex network only if they are married?

Porn is Good for America

Porn Up, Rape Down
Abstract:
The incidence of rape in the United States has declined 85% in the past 25 years while access to pornography has become freely available to teenagers and adults. The Nixon and Reagan Commissions tried to show that exposure to pornographic materials produced social violence. The reverse may be true: that pornography has reduced social violence.

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Another reason that the conservatives should stop fucking with porn.

Water on a Plane

My brother is coming out to visit me and reminded him not bring any liquids on the plane, he said this may be a problem for him as he is human and the human body is usually at least 50% water.

The Vote of the Planets

Cyborg Gray
Originally uploaded by litmuse.

Pluto Lost it's Planet Status The Grays are gerrymandering the solar system.

Few Questions

Scott Feldstein has a great post with a list of questions that need answering.

Everybody's Working for the Weekend

I updated the links so that they now work.

Thank you for weekends from my prayer a day RSS feed.
I would be neglectful to not point you to these facts out to you, note the one about stoning for working on the Sabbath (via the Wikipedia)

• It is the first holy day mentioned in the Bible, and God was the first one to observe it with the cessation of Creation. (Genesis 2:1-3).


• Jewish liturgy treats the Sabbath as a "bride" and "queen".


• The Sefer Torah is read during the Torah reading which is part of the Saturday morning services, with a longer reading than during the week. The Torah is read over a yearly cycle of 54 parshiot, one for each Shabbat (sometimes they are doubled). On Shabbat the reading is divided into seven sections, more than on any other holy day, including Yom Kippur. Then, the Haftarah reading from the Hebrew prophets is read.


• A tradition states that the Jewish Messiah will come if every Jew properly observes two consecutive Sabbaths (Talmud, tractate Shabbat 118).


• The punishment given in ancient times for desecrating Shabbat (stoning) is the most severe punishment within Jewish law.

Bush Daughters

I know it's been asked before, but why aren't the Bush twins fighting? The country is at war and the Army, is running low on troops and their father believes strongly enough in the to risk the lives of others, why isn't it worth the risk to members of the first family. Why does Bush family hate America so much?

Waste of Time

Conservatives ask FBI to investigate hotel porn
As I've mentioned time and time again don't mess with porn. Shouldn't the FBI be working on better things like investigating corruption or hunting down pedophiles?

I'd feel much better about my taxes being spent on things like that than seeing them investigating hotel porn, in fact hotel porn probably prevents other unsafe behavior. Take this example, a business woman is traveling to a major American city, she comes back to her room after a long day and the office and wants to entertain herself, if porn isn't available she'll have to trawl the streets for a prostitute and then risk all of the problems that go along with said activity, potential of being robbed, spread of disease, unwanted pregnancy and not to mention that the money she spends will not have taxes properly assessed. Where as if she orders pay per view porn she can avoid many of the dangers mentioned, participate in a relieving and low risk activity (especially if she puts the do not disturb sign on the door) and her spending will be properly taxed.

That being said if the FBI is going to spend time watching porn, I'd like an application...

Move Evidence of Idiot's Ruling

What’s happened [in Iraq] is nothing short of a miracle.”
–Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK), Tulsa World, 8/22/06

Because I Can't Let Sleeping Dogs Lie*

Lot's Seduction (by his daughters)
Originally uploaded by dcdan.

Dear God would you please let me show my submission to you by putting me in the same situation as Lot as my nameless wife is a pain in the ass and now that my daughters are in college they pretty hot. Praise God, amen.


*I feel it should be lay, but Google says I'm wrong.

Back in Kitchen Where You Belong

I'm supposed to tolerate believers why?
Sunday school teacher dumped for being female

Article via The TEAM

I had an old boss that said you can always rely the stupidity of the American public evidence below

Why doesn't America Believe in Evolution

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Miller thinks more genetics should be on the syllabus to reinforce the idea of evolution. American adults may be harder to reach: nearly two-thirds don't agree that more than half of human genes are common to chimpanzees. How would these people respond when told that humans and chimps share 99 per cent of their genes?

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Coal Miner's Daughter

Bottle tests positive for explosives

Imagine that, a woman from a state known for mining has traces of explosives on her water bottle, miners use explosives a fair amount. And yes explosive residue is something suspect and warrants further investigation and I have no problem with that. Why this headline got my attention is that they evacuated the airport because of it, yet earlier when they announced that liquids were no longer allowed on flights they were dumping liquids into garbage cans at the passenger gates, shouldn't they have been testing it all and evacuating if they found something and maybe making an attempt to track down dangerous people?
All of this fear inducing stuff is simply security theater and makes you feel afraid and cling to "daddy" to so that you don't see the real threat, which is daddy himself.

My Phone is Officially Fucked

If you want to talk to me I guess you've got to use email or IM.

Mobile Phone Comapnies and the Man

This is an open letter to the mobile phone carriers and handset makers.

I am your target market, I have shit loads of disposable income that I'm not afraid to spend (as evidenced here) I'm an early adopter, I'm pretty sure I was one of the first to pay full on for hotspot access and the mobile web, I'll also go out of my way and pay for things that I can't get in the US and I'll even write up instructions to help people out who want the tech but can't figure it out. You want to help me out, really you do. So this is my current dilemma and the problem that you could solve by doing a couple of press releases and five web pages.
My K750i is on it's last leg. Which I had to go out of band to acquire. It wasn't problem free, the joystick sucked the phone was kind of slow and pretty much fell apart, but all in all it was a great phone and had a lot of cool features and I enjoyed it a lot.
As such I am the market for a new phone. Three of them are appealing to me. They are all Sony Ericssons the k810i the K800 or K790. They all aren't cheap but I'm willing to spend for it if I knew what the fuck to do.
I live in DC and I use T-Mobile and here are my issues with which one to buy.
The w810 and k790 support EDGE.
The k800 supports UTMS.
This is the first problem, I haven't a clue as to what the hell networks exists in my area and what the future plan is. If I get an EDGE phone now will I regret it in six months? Does UTMS exist where I am? Do I even need the EDGE stepping stone?
If UTMS is supported than the k800 is the way to go, it has the front camera and I can actually buy it now.
If only EDGE is supported on T-Mobile then there is another problem the first is that w810 is actually out and according to the SonyEricsson website says the K790 is out, but you can't find it anywhere. The w810 has the advantage of using the same memory that I have for my PSP (again with the disposable income) and what is currently in my k750i so I'd have a 2GB card off the bat. But the camera doesn't have nearly the same amount of features or resolution as the not to be found k790. So do I wait in the hope that I can find a k790 in near future or get the w810 and be done with it reusing memory and having it now. Or is the k800 the way to go, the fuck if I know because none of the companies give me a way to buy what I want or an idea of where it is going to go.

One Mythology for Another

Dungeon & Dragons Peeps
Originally uploaded by Zesmerelda.

The dangers of Dungeons and Dragons seem pretty damn tame compared to the dangers of Christianity because nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition
UPDATE: don't for this Death Toll of God vs Satan

The Only Thing We Have to Fear

Greg Palast has a great analysis of the War on Terror

Crime Does Pay

Wal-Mart boss sentenced for theft
From this I've learned that if I'm worth millions and steal I get a fine that is pretty small compared to my wealth and that I don't have to go to jail. Why is it that when big business is involved things like "mandatory minimum sentences" don't apply?

If the Terror Plot Was Foiled?

If the terror plot was foiled, then wouldn't that mean the threat has been averted?
If that is the case why are there now new restrictions?

Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy

Coinstar
Originally uploaded by dcdan.

With my Amazon loot, I ordered ALL of the Ren and Stimpy DVDs that are out and had some left over to get the 2nd and 3rd seasons of the Simpsons. Rejoice!

In God We Trust, Inc.

In God We Trust, Inc.
Originally uploaded by dcdan.

This album changed my life. Thank you Jello Biafra and The Dead Kennedys

Smile

I saw as man with an East Capitol Reunion t-shirt today and that made me smile.

Official Declairation

I officially declare the Ken Burns effect the Comic Sans of presentations and lobby for it's limited use

Second Level Bayesian Filter

I've noticed lately that Mail.app's Bayesian filter has been letting some emails through that it shouldn't, though the spammers seemed to have figure out that putting something from the day's news headlines in the email seems help push messages through, but I digress.
As second level bayesian filter I would like to be able to mark things like reminders for list serve passwords not as spam, but as "not as important" and it would go into a folder that wouldn't clog my inbox.