I just went to see this exhibit, based on this thread.

First off, thought the museum is located on scuzzy Hollywood Blvd next to Ripley's and the Guiness World's Records Oddities it was pretty museum-like in content. This special project was quite interesting, though it only took up one poster in one room.

There was a very cool display of the creepy Real Dolls, the female exposed down to steel armature on one side. A small theatre showed a 20 minute loop of very silly digital animation porn and gives "Uncanny Valley" a new meaning.

It was yet another interesting memestreams find.

Celebrating the Body Beautiful

Arthur Ganson

MACHINES

Incredible. The Machine with Abandoned Doll is eerie.

Arthur Ganson's Machines / Kinetic Sculpture

An artist charts his life, and potential lives, using different outcomes at critical points.

Who hasn't wondered this?

What If...

This is so cool!

The Periodic Table like you have NEVER seen

] Many major medical groups support the use of emergency
] contraception, and the American College of Obstetricians
] and Gynecologists recommends that it be offered to all
] sexual assault victims who are at risk of pregnancy. But
] many conservative groups contend that use of emergency
] contraception can be a form of abortion in cases where
] fertilization has already occurred.

Justice Rape Document Blasted for Omission

These take my breath away

Tsunami - Receding waters, Kalutara Beach, Sri Lanka

"Federal V.I.P Penn - 11/13/02
Last Thursday I was flying to LA on the Midnight flight. I went through security my usual sour stuff. I beeped, of course, and was shuttled to the "toss-em" line. A security guy came over. I assumed the position. I had a button up shirt on that was untucked. He reached around while he was behind me and grabbed around my front pocket. I guess he was going for my flashlight, but the area could have loosely been called "crotch." I said, "You have to ask me before you touch me or it's assault."

He said, "Once you cross that line, I can do whatever I want."

Follow the story.

Penn Jillette Stands up to TSA - Old but Good

] Americans do not believe that humans evolved, and the
] vast majority says that even if they evolved, God guided
] the process. Just 13 percent say that God was not
] involved. But most would not substitute the teaching of
] creationism for the teaching of evolution in public
] schools.

CBS News | Poll: Creationism Trumps Evolution | November 23, 2004 21:02:35

Imagine two people standing about 500 feet from a car that is against wall around a bend. One is holding binoculars, the other a piece of paper. One looks through his binoculars at the car and says, "Someone was driving that car too fast, skidded out, and slammed into the wall."

The other person says, "I don't believe that, the police report says that it was placed there by God."

"I know that the report says that, but I can pretty clearly see skid marks on the road, the car is smashed, the windows shattered, and there is broken glass on the road."

"I don't necessarily agree. I see what you mean about the marks, but they don't look that clear to me. I am also not sure that the stuff on the road is glass. To me it looks like it could be water. Besides, I believe Officer Joe, he is a good man."

"I know that Officer Joe is honest, but I think he is mistaken. Through my binoculars it looks pretty clear that the car was driven into the wall. It looks like a man drove it there, the skid marks are clear, that is definitely say that the stuff on the road is broken glass and not water. I also think I see the man's head leaning against the steering column. It looks to me like an accident."

"That is fine. It is just your opinion though. I believe the report that God put it there. You know, binoculars often produce optical distortions, there is no such thing as a perfectly accurate lens. In addition, you aren't entirely sure about the man's head, it may not be that there is a man in the car, you said that you aren't sure. If there is not a man in the car, then how could it have gotten there? The police report says it was placed there by God, and if no one was driving it..."

"Ok, ok, I know about distortions and all, but I use these binoculars all the time and I know what is and is not a distortion. Besides, to say that the car was put there by God just sounds a little..."

"A little what?"

"I mean, come on. The car was driven into the wall. This is a stupid argument. I can see that..."

"Can you see the driver?"

"Well I can sort of make out..."

"No, you can't say for sure. But you are calling me stupid. Why can't you admit that you have your opinion and that I have mine?"

------------------------------

If you are a scientist, this is what the creationist argument looks like. The scientist isn't smarter or better than the other person, he just has a set of mathematical and instrumental tools, the binoculars, that he is skilled at using with knowledge of their limitations.

With the techniques of modern biology, the evolution argument is about that obvious. The scientist sees an incredible amount of evidence that people descended from primates. Just like in the metaphor, the creationist seems to be lacking binoculars. The only difference is that in reality the toolset is differential equations, statistics, technology, chemistry, and complex instrumentation. Unfortunately, this i... [ Read More (0.1k in body) ]

Evolution in Education

"Some of us — hopefully most of us — are trying to understand and appreciate the effect our recent election will have on you, the citizens of the rest of the world. As our so-called leaders redouble their efforts to screw you over, please remember that some of us — hopefully most of us — are truly, truly sorry. And we'll say we're sorry, even on the behalf of the ones who aren't."

Heartfelt Apologies