Doctor Recommended
100% All Natural

I’ve got some good news and some bad news. The bad news is I don’t have much wit to fill your heads with, the good news is I just saved a bunch of money on my auto insurance (yea, that was my opening line in my classes).

Top Ten List With Napoleon Dynamite, everyone’s favorite nerd visits David Letterman — with the finese of Rex Kwon Do might I add.

I have a theory based on a random sampling of friends, family, students, bathroom graffiti artists, Zamboni drivers and NIELSEN households, that the more geeky and less popular you were in school, the more you enjoyed the film. In fact, on the first day of classes I had all of my students introduce themselves by quoting their favorite part of the film, invariably the least popular students* stood apart from the rest.

*As measured by the lack owning Abercrombie clothing.

Via Libertarian Jackass.

“I now realize that I have made a fool of myself by believing that there were no presentable theories of the development of inanimate matter up to the first living creature capable of reproduction.” - Anthony Flew to Richard Carrier

A month ago I posted a story regarding Anthony Flew, a “famous atheist” who apparently was stepping back from his fallacious ways.

It has become apparent however, that a number of his statements were made based upon misunderstandings and ignorance, as Richard Carrier discusses (scroll down to the January update for more).

And I should note, that I am primarily following this issue because a number of my friends and family read this blog and are Creationists in one flavor or the other. And for the record, his conclusion is how I would accurately describe myself.

Via Jacob Grier.

Early mammal snacked on dinos:

The first fossil, the size of a large cat and dubbed Repenomamus robustus, was found to have the remains of a young parrot-faced dinosaur, a psittacosaur, in its stomach. This is the first direct evidence that early mammals ate small vertebrates.

The other find is arguably even more impressive - a relative of R. robustus called Repenomamus gigantus: a dog-sized mammal more than a metre long and probably weighing 14 to 15kg.

“A full-grown Repenomamus gigantus… could hold its own against small dinosaurs,” says the American Museum of Natural History, whose curator of palaeontology, Meng Jin, led the Chinese-US expedition.

Don’t forget this modern day ROUS, the Capybara.

As a follow-up to my post regarding tax-subsidized stadiums, Radley Balko has an interesting anecdote regarding the Indiana Pacers and their arena shenanigans.

Many modern athletic compounds are like castles of yore, both are funded through coercion and neither has much utility outside their ultra-specific modes of existence:

Listen, lad. I built this kingdom up from nothing. When I started here, all there was was swamp. Other kings said I was daft to build a castle on a swamp, but I built it all the same, just to show ‘em. It sank into the swamp. So, I built a second one. That sank into the swamp. So, I built a third one. That burned down, fell over, then sank into the swamp, but the fourth one… stayed up! And that’s what you’re gonna get, lad: the strongest castle in these islands. -Monty Python’s: The Holy Grail

Most of these links are simply for my own future reference though most of you would probably like them. Also, I hardly have any spare time as it is, so let me know if you think this girl is worth arguing with.

- Ivan Illich & Deschooling (check out the John Gatto article)
- On Atheism, Agnosticism, and Faith (pithy and poignant points)
- How to lose weight (the concept addressed is one that I promote)
- 100 Things We Learned This Year
- Greg Ferrando, You’re an Assface
- And If You Could Find Some Bodies, Too…

Drum roll please:

A woman hears from her doctor that she has only half a year to live. The doctor advises her to marry an economist and to live in South Dakota. The woman asks: will this cure my illness? Answer of the doctor: No, but the half year will seem pretty long.

Via Jeremy Hobelgobelsteinowitz.

Moved back down to A&M early because I have to prep for teaching four sections (yes, the University for some reason is letting me become Mister Professor Instructor Sir).

The computer lab is closing so all I can say is check out the follow-up to this Mises.org post, Gates’ Commie quote inspires the masses.

I mentioned last year that I joined a group called “One Army.” At Texas A&M, there is a rich tradition of disliking Greek organizations like Fraternities, so in their place we have non-Greek Frats (pretty sophisticated, eh). At its current stage in development, One Army has many of the same trappings as a typical frat, sans a house and lots of bling bling. We participate in numerous philanthropic and charity events, hold crush and date parties and work together with various sororities in whatever national save-the-world event they promote (Kick-The-Hell Out of Cancer, Anchor Splash, Songfest, etc.).

Anyways, a small group of us had the bright idea of partying in downtown Dallas (Lava Room on lower Greenville) on New Years Eve — and then set up a tailgate the next morning at around 5. And tailgate we did. Taquitos, beer, washer-throw, football toss, loud music. What more do obnoxious Texans need in order to live? Some desert came in the form of a college football game, which former University of Texas quarterback Major Applewhite, summed up as follows:

Football’s so important in Texas. On the West Coast, it’s a social. On the East Coast, it’s a culture. Here, it’s a religion.

The Texas Aggies were to play the visigoths of Tennessee in what was supposed to be a close game (a high-powered offense at A&M versus a smash-mouth defense from the Vols), but it was a blowout.

Tennessee 38, Texas A&M 7.

At least we won the half-time show.

In the olden days, the Chromosaur was the most feared herbivore alive although it was known primarily for its ability to attract dust and scratches.

Exhibit B, a group of happy-go-lucky (and somewhat inebriated) Aggies that have no clue what is about to happen to their football team.

Our Graceland. We have only won 4-of-11 attempts here, with the last victory in 1987 versus Notre Dame.

Giant robots in the backyard:

In the back of Carlos Owens’ southern Alaska yard, an 18-foot-tall steel robot is taking shape in the dim light of the winter afternoons.

The 26-year-old Owens is an Anchorage-area steelworker by day. In his own time, he’s hoping to become the creator of a true “mecha”–not a robot, exactly, but a gigantic exoskeleton that can transform its wearer’s motions into eight-foot strides and the devastating sweep of a steel fist.

Sure, it sounds like a cartoon or sci-fi fantasy–but so were moon landings 50 years ago. Owens’ mecha project is well on its way to completion, its horned red head and pincher hands towering above its creator under a few inches of snow. He’s hoping to finish it in time for a test spin at the local drag racetrack next summer, demolishing a few cars to show off its capabilities.

Does this remind anyone else of the movie Robot Jox?

If not, well check out what this homemade tank can do.

Via Engadget and Slashdot.