Well worth the time to see the photo comments and the essay.

Apparently God is an Average Student

Hey, it's not me. Look at this report card! It's all "Cs"! Sure, he could probably do better if he applied himself, but then why should he? When you're already omnipotent and all-knowing, you don't exactly have to make the extra effort, now, do you? That said, I'm personally holding out for an Eternal Plan that's all As. It's not too much to ask for some quality work from one's creator.

A Thorny Problem

Follow the "logic" here.

International Brotherhood of Ark Builders, Local 122 Takes its Contractually Provided 15-Minute Break

Yes, they know Noah's in a rush. But it's in the contract.
Don't worry. God dealt with them. Yes, He was the world's first union-buster.

The Names of the Two Biggest Rock Bands in the Immediate Post-Flood Era

I have all their albums.

A Visit to the Creation Museum, 11/10/07 - a photoset on Flickr

"Brick walls are there for a reason. They let us prove how badly we want things."

A Beloved Professor Delivers The Lecture of a Lifetime

Imagine you could make fuel out of poor people. The only downside is that the poor people have to be converted to a combustible liquid in the process. Imagine that although there are many alternatives to using poor people as fuel, those alternatives cost way more. In fact, the alternatives are so much more expensive, widespread use would impact your standard of living by about twenty percent.

Obviously using humans for fuel would be wrong and you wouldn’t do it. But I’m not done confusing your moral compass.

Now let’s say the people who are used as fuel are volunteers, of a sort. For every twenty people who volunteer to become SUV fuel, only one will be randomly selected. The other nineteen get a host of benefits including pensions and paid educations. Let’s say human fuel is so economical that one human converted to fuel pays for the benefits to the other nineteen. And the one poor person fuels an entire town’s energy needs for a year.

In this scenario, you’d be powering your car with liquefied poor people, but your conscience would be cleared by the knowledge they all volunteered. It’s a free country. They took the chance of being one of the nineteen lucky ones, but it didn’t work out. Some volunteered because they thought it was their best chance for upward mobility. Some thought it was their patriotic duty. But it was their decision. No one forced them.

Let’s say the politicians argue that in the long run, this policy of using poor people for fuel will save lives. The thinking is that we’ll eventually develop other fuel sources, but for now we need the strong economy to pay for health care and a strong national defense against terrorists and whatnot. All of the volunteers are hailed as heroes.

Under those conditions would you use poor people to fuel your car?

Bonus question: Are you already doing something close to that?

Be all that you can be.

ow

Scott Adams: Fuel

Worldmapper is a collection of world maps, where territories are re-sized on each map according to the subject of interest.

366 maps and PDF posters will be finished by February 2007. Use the menu above or click on a thumbnail image below to view a map.

Update: for a tour of this dataset, see P.J. O'Rourke's article in the latest Atlantic Monthly (subscription required), as reprinted in the Sydney Morning Herald.

Worldmapper: The world as you've never seen it before

Q Yes, but Cheney has gone to the Senate and asked for an exemption on --

MR. McCLELLAN: No, he has not. Are you claiming he's asked for an exemption on torture? No, that's --

Q He did not ask for that?

MR. McCLELLAN: -- that is inaccurate.

Editor & Publisher is often good for a giggle.

I don't giggle, it scares me, really scares me. I feel so out of place in this America, I feel terribly pessimistic about the country my kids will face as adults.

How low can our standards for truth in communication go?

White House Briefing: McClellan Deflects Questions on Torture Exemption A Couple Dozen Times

] 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

Inspired by Elonka and Rattle, I'll offer my feelings on this evening.

I've had several friends comment that they felt trepidation on the eve of this election... That excitement you once felt as you watched the polls close and the results pour in has been replaced with a sinking feeling in your stomach.

My friends blame 2000. They say they're worried about whether this election will be resolved simply and legitimately.

I think it goes deeper then that. We are a deeply divided nation. Whatever the results of this election, they will be terribly bad for a large number of people who live here. Zogby says that most people won't accept the legitimacy of their opponent's government if their side looses. That worry isn't just about the outcome. Its about what happens afterward.

If Kerry wins the Reds will howl. They'll scream and kick. They'll hate him. More then they hated Clinton. More then the leftists hate Bush. They'll hate him absolutely and they will rail against every decision that he makes. They'll also hate the crazy "do whatever" liberals who put him in office. You'll have about a third of the country acting toward the President with about the level of rational objectivity shown by those who think Bush knew about 9/11 and attacked Afghanistan to build an oil pipeline. A third of the country will act like the "Swift Boat Veterans" all the time.

But they'll have the Congress, and they'll get what they want most of the time, and that may temper them.

If Bush wins cleanly the Blues will be forced to stop pretending that his Presidency is illegitimate. They'll be completely marginalized, loosing control of the Presidency, both houses of Congress, and the Supreme Court. The Democrats with have absolutely no power in the federal government. They will loose much of their middle ground interests and the Reds will be able to successfully pursue some of their more radical interests. Ultimately, the Blues will have to come to terms with the fact that their problem is not with one man nor one election, but with a majority of the American electoral power if not the majority of the American people.

How will they react? Will they attack the electoral college? Will they attack the Senate? The distribution of seats in the House? Will the cities see brain drain as their elite split for warmer pastures in more liberal countries? How will the Blues reformulate their strategy when faced not with a single person to focus their energies on, but with an entire nation?

If Bush wins cleanly the Democrats will find themselves in a very, very deep strategic hole which will probably take years and years to dig out of.

If Bush wins controversially, the Blues will find themselves just as marginalized, and yet still not fully comprehending why, and even more furious about their position, thinking it unfair and illegal. The result will be explosive protest.

None of these scenarios is comforting... The political future of this country promises to continue to be very intense.

You are about to be punched in the stomach. That sinking feeling is your heart wondering which direction the swing is going to come from.

Fear

"Each of us knows very little, really, about the companies we invest in—certainly not how they're going to perform in the future. Yet our collective buying and selling often sends stunningly accurate signals about a company's prospects, which are reflected in the stock price. "When our imperfect judgments are aggregated in the right way," Jim concludes, "our collective intelligence is often excellent." Well, okay, not in the middle of a bubble—that's the madness of crowds—but most other times."

I wonder what line differentiates wisdom and madness in collective knowledge.

The Wisdom of Crowds

"Imagine doing a Google search for a phone number, weather report or sports score. The results page would be filled with links to various sources of information. But what if someone typed in keywords and no results came back?

That's the scenario critics are painting of a new bill wending its way through Congress that would let certain companies own facts, and exact a fee to access them."

"The House Judiciary Committee approved the bill and the commerce committee is expected to review it on Thursday."

I want my infomation, fast, free and complete.

Wired News: Hands Off! That Fact Is Mine

Here you can see the last statements of people executed in Texas:

I deserve this. Tell everyone I said goodbye.

I wish everybody a good life. Everything is O.K.

I would like to point out that I have written a statement and the Warden will give you a copy. I still proclaim I am innocent, and that’s all I have to say.

I just ask everybody I ever hurt or done anything wrong to, to just forgive me for whatever wrongs I done to them.

Let’s do it, man. Lock and load. Ain’t life a [expletive deleted]?

I’m an African warrior, born to breathe, and born to die.

I love you, Mom. Goodbye.

Executed Offenders - Last Statements