The 40 Plot Holes That Weren't (continued)

This is old news now, but I hate to leave things unfinished.

Original annoying article: 40 Unforgivable Plot Holes in 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens'
Part one of my response: The 40 Plot Holes That Weren't

Click through for the rest.

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Defending the Castle

This isn't exactly the same Castle as in my previous post, as this is a new character, but my defensive setup is largely the same. I let the Institute know that I was not going to be joining them. They didn't take the news well. They can bring it; I've been preparing for this day.

Share My Pain: Zombeavers

I was bored at home on a Saturday night, therefore bad movie. How bad? "Zombeavers" bad. Behold the trailer...

I live-commented on Facebook, and I have copied the transcript below the fold.

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Building Up the Castle

If you follow me on Facebook, you may know that my current gaming obsession is Fallout 4. One of the features in the latest version of Fallout is settlement-building. You need to set up radio beacons to attract settlers, then make sure to satisfy needs like food, water, and beds for the people who show up. You also need to prepare for attacks on your settlement by various factions that want to steal your resources or just destroy for fun.

Settlement building seems to be one of the most popular aspects of the new game. Lots of YouTubers have uploaded videos of their settlements, and some have published detailed how-to videos. My own entry is not very elaborate, but FO4 has given me the opportunity to mess around with the video capture features of my PlayStation 4. I therefore present my own Fallout 4 settlement video.

The 40 Plot Holes That Weren't

Nena showed me an article called 40 Unforgivable Plot Holes in 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' by Seth Abramson of the University of New Hampshire. She agrees with me that most of them don't qualify as either. It looks to me like Seth wasn't paying attention half the time.

I can be an argumentative jerk, so I'm going to dissect his article item-by-item.

This is your spoiler warning.

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The Force Awakens

I have now seen the movie twice. I was a bit disgruntled the first time, as I had avoided spoilers until mere hours before I actually got to see it, which put me in a somewhat negative mood.

I was past the negative feelings this time, so I think I can safely say that I do, in fact, like Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

I agree that it is highly derivative of previous Star Wars movies (I will not say which above the fold), but that doesn't really hurt it. This movie has the character development and dialogue that we truly love from the episodes IV-VI. It has action, but not pointless action.

Don't get me wrong: it could be better. The plot doesn't have blatant plot holes, but there are certainly plenty of open questions (which is okay if sequels fill them seamlessly).

Spoiler free, I am not disappointed that I payed to see it in theaters twice. I may even do it again. If you still haven't seen it, go away.

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Just a Rifle

Yet again, there's a dubious photo meme going around on Facebook.

Just a Rifle

I'm not going to try to make a case that you should not be allowed to purchase an AR-15 rifle like the one at the bottom of the image. I just want to point out that this whole "just a rifle" argument is disingenous. Rifles have different designs for different purposes, and terminology has adapted to describe those purposes. Not all rifles are made equal.

According to the Encyclopedia Brittanica, an "assault rifle" is a "military firearm that is chambered for ammunition of reduced size or propellant charge and that has the capacity to switch between semiautomatic and fully automatic fire." By design, they are easy to carry, have a high rate of fire, carry a large amount of ammunition in the magazine, and reload quickly by changing the mazagine. The only distinction that the civilian model at the bottom has from a military weapon is that the civilian weapon is not capable of fully automatic fire.

The first (top) rifle in the image is a lever-action rifle. Today, they are designed mostly for hunting at moderate range. Looking at online advertisements, they are available in a wide range of calibers. The magazine typically seems to hold about 10 rounds of ammunition, which would have to be loaded into the weapon individually. The weapon must be cocked by lowering and raising the lever before every shot, which will limit its rate of fire, but if you went on a crazy shooting spree with this weapon, you could probably shoot ten people before you had to stop and reload, allowing potential victims to either escape or attack you.

The second is a bolt-action rifle, also typically used for hunting these days, although military sniper rifles are also frequently bolt-action rifles. Generally used with a scope, they are accurate at long ranges. The World War 2 era rifle that I own myself holds 5 rounds in the magazine; these can be loaded individually or loaded all at once using a "stripper clip" that holds all five rounds together in the right orientation for loading. These rifles typically use a powerful cartridge like the .30-06 round (7.62 mm). The bolt-action must be manually worked before every shot. If this was your weapon on a shooting spree, you could potentially hit from a large distance, but you would still probably only be able to hit a few people before your victims scrambled for cover.

And finally, the third weapon, which is also "just a rifle". The design is military, although the fully automatic fire capability is removed for the civilian market. For the military, it is intended to fire a lot of bullets in a short time at moderate range. As far as I know, civilians typically buy such weapons for home defense, plus just liking the idea of owning such a weapon. The AR-15 fires .223 caliber ammunition (5.56 mm): a small but fast bullet. The civilian model is semi-automatic, loading a fresh round into the chamber after every shot, allowing you to fire as quickly as you can aim and pull the trigger. I found online ads for AR-15 magazines holding anywhere from 10 to 40 rounds of ammunition. By design, the magazine can be detached when empty and quickly replaced with a full one. If this was your weapon on a shooting spree, and you had practiced with it, you could reasonably expect to shoot dozens of people.

I am not against gun ownership. As I said, I have a rifle myself. In it's time, my Mosin-Nagant was a military combat rifle.

I am against bad arguments for anything. Pretending that there is no difference between the three rifles in that picture is dishonest. You don't need 40 rounds of .223 semi-automatic fire for deer hunting; a weapon like the AR-15 is meant to kill people.

Sure, "assault" is an action, but it is also a design specification.

A Gun for Home Defense

A popular argument against gun regulation is that "good guys with guns stop bad guys with guns" and "we need guns to protect our homes".

According to a study conducted by Emory University, a gun in the house is over 20 times more likely to be used to harm a resident than to fight off an intruder.

Not Exactly Gumbo

This one consists of onions and garlic sauteed in olive oil, sausage, shrimp, cheese tortellini, additional pasta, and chicken broth.

One chopped onion goes into the pan first, along with some salt, pepper, dried thyme, basil, and oregano.  They cook over medium heat until the onions are translucent, then a chopped clove of garlic goes in for a bit.

The sausage is half a link of a spicy sausage I got at the European Market & Deli, diced up and added to the pan for another few minutes.

The shrimp were frozen, so I put them in the pan, covered it, and let it cook for a couple of minutes to thoroughly thaw them.

Finally, I added frozen tortellini and a couple of shaped pastas, then added about a quart of chicken broth to cover everything. I brought up the heat to high until it was boiling, then dropped to low and covered it for ten minutes.

Turned out really good.

Death Star Conspiracy

A new conspiracy theory has emerged on Facebook.


Like conspiracy theories typically are, this one is full of holes:

• Darth Vader was not in command of the Death Star; Grand Moff Tarkin was.
• Darth Vader didn't build R2-D2; that droid was built before he was born.
• There is no record of Darth Vader having children.
• The exhaust port was not two feet wide: it was two meters wide; there are kids on Tatooine who can hit a target that size from a skyhopper.

These conspiracy nuts clearly don't want to acknowledge the very simple failures that lead to the loss of the Death Star.

• If the Imperial intelligence services had been doing their jobs properly, the schematics for the station would never have fallen into rebel hands in the first place.
• If every single gun turret on the station hadn't been designed to shoot at cruisers with no regard to the possible threat of fighters, the rebel attack would have been quickly repelled.
• If the exhaust port had been fully shielded instead of just ray-shielded, there would have been no rebel attack at all.

This is yet another smear campaign aimed at Darth Vader simply because he was the sole survivor of the Death Star, when logs of the battle show that he was the only one who took action when it became apparent that the station's gun turrets could not rotate quickly enough to target starfighters. He ordered his squadron of fighters to repel the attack, placing himself at risk to lead the defense.

We should be glad he survived instead of trying to blame the Death Star fiasco on him.

Classics, of course

The Wolf Man

Psycho

And there are always flying monkeys to worry about.

Dracula



White Zombie, in its entirety.

Better Shoot Straight

I'm Not Going Into That Cavity

Once More With Feeling

Porcelain

A short piece made by an SCA friend of mine.


And I'm adding this bit of disturbia that I found on Facebook this morning.

Posted by Secretcha Phet Cha on Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Shelob

And something less likely to creep out the arachnophobes.

Hall of Mirrors

Quite possibly the most ridiculous fight scene ever. Certainly a contender.

Big Hero 6

Of course, it could have been so much simpler.

Know Who to Call

Alien Invasion!

Night, Night, Nancy

The Hidden

Classic sci-fi horror from the 80's. Plus Claudia Christian!

Exiting the Asylum

Amy's Torch

Selfies

Okay, no more selfies for me.. Trending NowTag your friend that takes too many selfies!
Posted by Trending Now on Wednesday, September 16, 2015

Slimed

White Apes

I think John Carter was underrated.

Walk in the Park

Age of Tinman

That was too short to be the only post of the day.


And as long as we're on the Avengers.

Predator: Dark Ages

Nicely done short film.

Cookie Rage!

This one is probably more gruesome than you're expecting. Also uses adult language.

Fancy Dancing

Force vs Magic

We've had Star Wars. We've had Harry Potter. Time for both at once!

Black Magic

This situation really could have been avoided.


The worst ones tell you that you deserve it.

TIE Fighter

Rewarded for Rocking the Boat

As you may have heard, two scientists received the Nobel Prize in Physics for showing that a widely accepted theory had some flaws.

I bring this up because some climate change deniers or evolution deniers say scientists are just following the party line on things like climate and biology. You don't get a Nobel Prize for following the party line: you get a Nobel Prize for making an important discovery.

According to the widely accepted Standard Model of particle physics, neutrinos are mass-less particles, like photons. Despite the predictions of this well-established model, Takaaki Kajita and Arthur B. McDonald -- working independently -- were able to show that neutrinos behaved in ways that were only possible if they did have mass. They showed that the Standard Model was not entirely correct (although it certainly still does work in most cases).

So the idea that scientists can't get funded or published if their claims contradict the establishment is absurd. Contradicting the establishment is exactly what gets a scientist recognition. The thing is, they have to produce the evidence to show that their contradictory claim is correct.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled Halloween videos.

Voila! The ZF-1!

Til Death Do Us Part

A suggestion from Brandy.

If you're not a country music fan...

Time of the Great Pumpkin

Lights Out

A suggestion from Nena.

Bad to the "Bone"

Today's theme is music.

And I suppose I should have at least one shark-themed video this year, so...

Physics

This one seems to take a surprisingly long time to queue up, but it's funny.


A Tale of Momentum & Inertia from HouseSpecial on Vimeo.

Pro Life

Donating bone marrow is something that most people can do to save lives. The procedure is done in a hospital and requires the donor to be placed under general anesthesia. Needles are inserted through both sides of the back of the pelvic bone to extract liquid marrow. This liquid is then sent to the patient who requires it. Common side effects include back or hip pain, fatigue, throat pain, muscle pain, insomnia, headache, dizziness, loss of appetite, and nausea. They are generally gone within two days of the procedure. The median time to full recovery for a marrow donation is 20 days, although it can take up to a year. Due to the life-saving benefits and minimal risks of the procedure, donation is mandatory. Effective immediately, all adults shall be required to donate bone marrow as often as possible, unless they have a medical exemption.

Platelet donation is a procedure that can be performed in the offices of a blood donation organization such as the Red Cross. Platelets are often needed for patients undergoing chemotherapy or organ transplants. During the procedure, blood is extracted from the donor, platelets are separated from the other blood components, and the rest of the blood (with some supplementary fluid) is returned to the patient. An anticoagulant is also administered to aid in the collection process. The procedure typically takes about two hours, after which the donor can typically resume normal activity, although they should avoid heavy lifting for the rest of the day. Effective immediately, all adults are required to donate platelets as often as possible unless they are making other tissue donations that would prohibit platelet donations or are medically ineligible to donate.

Effective immediately, all citizens are organ and tissue donors. Upon death, all viable organs and tissues will be collected and sent to waiting patients. Everyone will need to be pretested for organ matching to expedite the process, which will help save people in need of life-saving donations. Participation is mandatory.

When everyone is okay with all of these pro-life policies, we can talk about outlawing abortion. If we are going to require women to donate nine months of their lives to save a fetus while taking the risks associated with pregnancy and childbirth, everyone can take lesser risks to make donations that will save the lives of people who have already been born.

Cracked Facts

I'm now pretty sure that the lists of "facts" that go up on Cracked.com and get shared all over Facebook and other social media are not checked to be sure they're factual. Case in point:

I find that hard to believe, since Harrison Ford starred in American Graffiti, a successful George Lucas movie that came out four years before Star Wars.

In other news, lately I seem to be especially snarky about (dis)information shared over social media.

No License Required

At least that's what "Todd Foster" (if that's his real name) claims.

I'm more than a little dubious about his claim. He bases his argument mostly on legal statements that go back to the mid-nineteenth century, well before motorized vehicles were commonplace. If you can't come up with a precedent from the age of automobiles, I don't think you have much of a case.

He says there's no law against driving without a license for personal, non-commercial travel, but I took the liberty of looking up Tennessee law on the subject and found the following:

TN Code section 55-50-301: No person, except those expressly exempted in this section, shall drive any motor vehicle upon a highway in this state unless the person has a valid driver license under the provisions of this chapter for the type or class of vehicle being driven.

So it would appear that it is at least illegal to drive without a license on a "highway".

Foster's video strikes me as the sort of thing which is likely to get some gullible citizen arrested or fined (or killed, given recent police excesses) because they unquestioningly accept his claim. It's libertarian nonsense, based on quote mines of case law that probably isn't applicable or has at least been superseded by subsequent law and court precedent.

Of course, I'm not a legal expert, so I can't say with certainty that his claims are complete BS, but I don't think I'm the one making an extraordinary claim here. Besides, he can prove his claims quite easily.

He can let his license expire (assuming he has one, which I bet he does), and then publicly announce that he is going to go on a cross-country drive (or even just a long intrastate drive, like Miami to Pensacola in his home state of Florida). In the announcement, dare the state police to arrest him for driving without a license, giving them his plate number, vehicle description, planned route, and date(s) of travel. When they do, all he needs to do is use his cited precedents to challenge the arrest in court and win.

Until then, I'll keep my license current.

Circulating Nonsense

The disinformation super-highway has done it again.

People are circulating an article with the headline "Civil War museum closed, Confederate artifacts burned" in complete seriousness. The first line of the article, visible in the Facebook post, is:

"On the heels of the Confederate flag controversy, the City Council of Harrisburg voted to permanently close the doors of the Civil War Museum last week."

Some of the comments from the thread on Facebook where I saw it include the following:

• "And all those other times when people decided to burn / erase history and artifacts from the past: How did that turn out? Did it ever turn out good?"
• "In the tradition of the Taliban, ISIS, Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union and the Red Chinese Cultural Revolution to just go back 90 years or so... and just to name a few... statists are insane."
• "Rewriting history is classic Soviet behavior."
• "Go authoritarian fascism"

When I looked at the headline, I immediately suspected that the article was a hoax. Do people really swallow such an absurd headline with no checking at all?

It took me less than ten seconds to find the website of the The National Civil War Museum in Harrisburg, PA. Apparently the article has been getting shared a lot, because they had this statement on the home page.

In light of the situation in the current press, The National Civil War Museum has issued the following statement:
The Board of Directors of The National Civil War Museum have no intentions of closing the museum and we will be conducting business as usual.

The post links to a site called "The People's Cube" which looks like a troll site. Seriously, just look at it for a second and it's obvious.

How foolish have we become that we accept such a blatant troll article at face value?

To the Rescue!

This showed up in my office email:

Greetings to you, how are you doing today and i hope you are up and strong, am very sorry to write you at this moment cos its late to tell you that i made an urgent successful trip to Phillipines MANILA with my fam. On the way coming back, got mugged at gun point and all fund and valuable items including all our phones. The worst scenario is that, i am owing the hotel right now and i must pay all bills to get out of here. $ 2,750 USD is urgently needed right now to pay the hotel bills, promise to pay back ASAP we made it home.

Kindly get back to me ASAP you receive this mail, cos i hope on you.

Sincerely, [Friend's name]

The "From" address is my friend's Yahoo email address. I have no reason to suspect that this friend is anywhere near Manila, so I'm quite sure that it's a trick to get some money. I did notify them via Facebook that I think their Yahoo account has been hacked.

Sharktopus!

Sharktopus Poster

I found a source of cheap DVDs in my area. I picked up Sharktopus for $0.99. I live-commented about it on Facebook, and I have copied the transcript here so you can share my pain.

You may want to view the trailer before you start reading.

My live commentary begins after the jump.

Also, see my review at Badmovies.org.

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Job Offer

I got two copies of this email to the same corporate email address within 14 minutes.

Hi... We Have a PT/job. we pay $250 per job and we want you to participate. Your job is only to act as a regular customer and conduct normal business, Customer service is valuable.Please complete contact information below Full Name: Address: City: State: Zip/Postal Code: Alternate E-mail: Cell Phone Number Home Phone Number ALT Email Address AGe Present occupation AVAILABILITY Days/Hours Available Hours Available: from _______ to ______ We await your urgent response.

 My guess is that it's an identity theft scam.

More Phishy Email

This one is just some jackass trying to get a foot in the door of the corporate network.

As usual, the horrible grammar gives it away, although the signature kind of gives an excuse for that. On the other hand, we have no reason to be doing business with a Chinese food distributor, so that's a fail of its own.

A good phisher should know the waters and have the right kind of bait. This phisher is apparently just throwing out as many lines as possible: quantity over quality.

UN Holding My Money

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

The Adventures of EmoMage

As I may have mentioned, when I started playing Dragon Age: Inquisition, I decided to make the most emo-looking character I could. Since then, I've been experimenting with the video capture feature of my PS4 and Adobe Premier editing.

The result is a series of short videos of EmoMage in action. I'm editing out the gameplay and just showing the cut scenes so she's shown in all of her emo glory. These will include some spoilers, so don't watch if you are concerned about that possibility.

Malibu Shark Attack (2009)

"Malibu Shark Attack" on Hulu. This is a 2009 killer shark movie from Insight Film Studios, which appears to work out of Australia.

IMDB summary: When a tsunami floods Malibu, it brings with it a hunting pack of deep-water, prehistoric goblin sharks that go after the lifeguards in their half-submerged station on stilts and a team of construction workers stranded in a flooded house.

Here’s the trailer.

I shared my experience live on Facebook. The transcript is below the fold.

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Werewolf: The Beast Among Us

I watched Werewolf: The Beast Among Us on Netflix last night. I'm not sure if this was produced by the Asylum or originally run on Syfy, but it's got better production values than the usual B-movies. This one was not at all hard to watch.

Transcript of my moment-by-moment Facebook commentary below the fold.

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Classics

What is it, Timmy?

Here's a nice dose of adult fear for you.

It isn't real.

Miss Meg

I hope I haven't used these exact clips from Legend before, but it's a movie that just begs to be remembered at Halloween.

And of course I love Mia Sara, so we don't want to miss her.

Defend Yourself

People either love or hate Sucker Punch. I rather like it.

As long as we're dealing with pretty girls in terrible situations...

Never F#@& with the King

Tarantino is also a king.

Sergeant Pugsley

And now for a little more Britishism.

Conan Gets a Psychic Reading

I remember my father's words when we first saw this scene and things started to get interesting.

"Aww... he's having to pay the price."

That was before she started trying to eat his face, of course.

While we're on bad witches (language warning).

Bunnies!

For some reason, people assume that because Watership Down is an animated movie, it should be good for little kids.

Are you out of your freaking minds? This is the stuff of nightmares!

Let's chase that with something a little less disturbing.

How have I not yet seen the full episode?

Who Goes There?

How about a little nightmare fuel?

Dear God: Please send a badass ghost to avenge my dog. Amen.

Bane

And how about a little more Batman action.

Might as well keep it going.

Dragonfight

The mind is the most powerful weapon.


That means "shoot first".

Mario Has Had Enough!

Language alert.

Too short to carry the day, though. Therefore: Invader Zim!

We started going to trivia nights for a while soon after seeing this episode. Our team name is "Peanuts and Soap".

I See Fire

There's no real connection here, but it's still an amusing video.

Martial Arts Mayhem

Robot Rampage

And now for an interesting remix...

Birthday

Be disturbed. Be VERY disturbed.

I'll just be bleaching my brain. A Mass Effect video always helps with that.

Evil Understands

If only he knew about cell phones.

Swimming

And a little something from the same era.

Uses the wrong version of the Greedo clip, though.

Tango!

Lurch dances, too.

Kaiju!

Maybe not the ones you were expecting, though.

Perhaps this is closer?

Junk Mail

What if all of the junk emails were true? NOTE: Adult content warning!

Anything you have to say to me about that? Say to him first.

Boolesque!

I was sad to miss this last year.

Music City Burlesque - 6th Annual "BOO-lesque"! from Cake Or Death Productions on Vimeo.

Here's a little more sexiness.

Look Behind You

I'll never look at tally marks the same way again.

For even more explody carnage, I give you the effects of chain-shot.

Shwarma!

And toast!

Re: Your Brains

Not what you were expecting?

In the "just weird" category...

The Little Witch

Where's the monster?

It can be tough to argue with enigmatic alien superpowers.

Bothemian Rhapsody

But more is needed.

Groovy

Fan videos are often a combination of cheese and genius.

Beware of deadite trickery.

Talking Monkeys

Would you ever really want to meet an angel? Have you noticed that when they show up, lots of people tend to get killed?

In keeping with the "fallen angel" theme...

Steppin' Up

Of course, in the comics, Dick Grayson did go off to fight crime on his own, using the name Nightwing. Also, an adult in that Robin costume comes off looking as silly as Burt Ward did.

On a vaguely related note, how could we get through Halloween without Robot Chicken? (NSFW)

You Haven't Seen This Before

I still don't like Ben Stiller, though. Best to remove that bad taste.

Soon, soon...

It's almost that time of year...

Arguing With Bad Numbers

There's now a Libertarian image floating around the internet that claims Wal-Mart would go out of business if it paid its hourly employees a living wage. It's too bad they use crappy math to make their case. Let's have a look, shall we?

Employees	2,000,000
Avg hourly wage	$8.81
New minimum	$15.00
Raise	$6.19
Increase/hour	$12,380,000
Increase/day	$99,040,000
Increase/year	$36,149,600,000
Prior Annual Profit	$16,800,000,000
Modified Profit	-$19,349,600,000

The argument assumes that all 2 million employees get the full $6.19/hr raise, not just those already making less than $15/hour. It also assumes every employee works an 8-hour day, 365 days per year -- every single person.

Does anyone think that's realistic? I hope not. But you have to dig into the calculations to see what bad assumptions and methods are being used.

What happens if you do the math again, but with more realistic numbers? What if we use a more likely $12/hour rate and only make them work 40 hours per week?

Employees	2,000,000
Avg hourly wage	$8.81
New minimum	$12.00
Raise	$3.19
Increase/hour	$6,380,000
Increase/day	$51,040,000
Increase/year	$13,270,400,000
Prior Annual Profit	$16,800,000,000
Modified Profit	$3,529,600,000

With just a couple of tweaks, Wal-Mart is suddenly back in the black again, profiting $3.5 billion per year.

The claims of Wal-Mart's dire situation only get more ridiculous if you use the $10.10 per hour wage that Obama imposed on Federal contractors, account for the fact that many Wal-Mart employees are part-time, and realize that not all of those two million employees are going to get the raise (since some of them will already be getting more than $10.10 per hour).

Take a few of those issues into account, and Wal-Mart could easily be profiting over $12.5 billion per year without raising any prices.

If there's a case for keeping the minimum wage where it is, this isn't it. The real story is far more complicated, and people with far more expertise have examined the impact of increasing wages at Wal-Mart.

Healthcare Costs

Just putting this out there.



Follow Your Passion?

Mike Rowe's take on finding the job you love.

I think it's an important message. I actually do enjoy my work, but maybe I enjoy it because I've embraced it as a "calling". Writing documentation for computer systems isn't glamorous, but it is necessary and valuable.

I don't know which of my friends read this, but I know some are looking for a job they can be passionate about. Mike's advice is to find a job you can do well and use to support yourself and your family. Let it support your passions.

Solomon Kane

I'm watching Solomon Kane tonight. It has a good Netflix rating.



This is a movie with a very Christian premise. I am looking forward to seeing how it unfolds. Some of you who know me may think that strange, but I am willing to suspend disbelief and see how the makers of this movie interpret the concepts of redemption. As I type at this moment, the plot is just getting started. I will be "live blogging" after a fashion -- pausing to add my thoughts as the movie progresses. We shall see how my opinion shifts over time. Spoilers after the break.

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Click Bait

Click-bait posts like the one to the right seem to be all over social media these days. The sources on a lot of the ones I've seen on Facebook lately seem to be radio stations.

I assume that the likes, comments, and shares on these posts somehow translate into advertising revenue for the originator. They can claim to have hundreds or thousands or more interested eyeballs on their pages because of all the activity on their posts.

Some of them encourage you to try some simple keyboard trick that causes an image to be displayed (like entering "(^^^)" in Facebook, which displays a shark icon).

But more often they issue some painfully easy challenge like the one in this post, and you get to congratulate yourself for being one of the "smart" people. Come on, internet users -- anyone can come up with a movie name without a "T" in it! They just want you to promote them on your preferred social media site.

WIT's "Scientific Proof"

A friend of mine shared an article on Facebook recently: First Scientific Proof Of God Found. I've seen fundamentalists claim to have "scientific proof" of God many times, so I naturally approached this article with some grains of salt ready.

This one claims that geneticists at the Wyoming Institute of Technology (WIT) examining the human genome discovered patterns in the "junk DNA" that looked like some kind of alphabet. They consulted with linguists at Bob Jones University, who determined that the patterns translate into Aramaic words that make the phrase “At first break of day, God formed sky and land.”

My first clue that the site was a parody was the phrase "Bob Jones University, long noted for its intellectual rigor." Bob Jones University may be known for many things, but intellectual rigor is definitely not one of them.

Other articles on the site include such gems as:

• “Selfies” Linked To Brain Cancer, Experts Say
• New Chemical Makes Bacon Good For You
• Keep Pets Their Same Size Forever With Adoraberil® ; Anti-Aging, Anti-Growing Wonder Drug
• Autism Linked To Eating Organic Foods
• Obesity Impacting Earthquakes in US, Experts Say

It seems that some people are willing to believe anything or anyone if it supports their own position.

Edit: An anonymous commenter called me out for saying BJU isn't known for intellectual rigor. I went to college close enough that their student proselytizers would show up on our campus to street preach. I know from personal experience that BJU is not known for intellectual rigor. Their reputation is fundamentalism, creationism, and racism, if anything. Supporting links in the comments.

Curse of the Dragon Slayer

This has shown up on Neflix recently.

It was apparently funded by a Kickstarter campaign. I wasn't really expecting much from it when I decided to watch it. I watch plenty of bad movies, so I can be entertained by the badness itself.

This was better than I was expecting, though. The production value turns out to be decent, the acting is largely acceptable, the direction and editing mostly work, and the costuming is downright impressive (with one very obvious exception at about the 45 minute mark).

The fight choreography, on the other hand, was extremely disappointing. The establishing scenes for the leads don't make them look badass: they make them look incompetent.

The plot also has gigantic holes, of course, and when it comes to keeping the villains from obtaining the resources they need to complete their nefarious plan, the heroes do everything wrong, requiring something of a deus ex machina to save the world. That's a bit lame, but the film-makers obviously wanted to have a big special effects ending, so the villainous plan pretty much had to succeed and then be reversed.

Ken Has a Dinosaur Skeleton

Ken Ham has managed to get his hands on what appears to be a genuine allosaurus skeleton for his creation museum. Based on some of the weakest evidence I've ever heard, he claims that it is only 4500 years old and therefore disproves an old Earth.

Serious research could be done on these remains, but instead they're going to gather dust in Ken's museum as he uses them to spread creationist misinformation. I weep for the real paleontologists who won't get to examine this find.

Tuna Fallout

I'm seeing another round of Fukushima panic posts going around on Facebook. Apparently every fish in the Pacific Ocean (and probably the world) is contaminated with radiation from the melted-down Fukushima nuclear reactor.

Radioactive material certainly did reach the ocean from the Fukushima meltdown. As I understand it, the amount of contaminated water from the reactor that reached the ocean would fill a large swimming pool or two.

In the vastness of the Pacific Ocean, that doesn't amount to much. Given some time to disperse (like a couple of years), the radioactivity of ocean water contaminated with water from Fukushima is indistinguishable from normal background radiation. Furthermore, the "hottest" radioactive isotopes decay pretty quickly. Iodine-131, for example, has a half-life of eight days; there isn't even a word for the tininess of the fraction of iodine-131 remaining from that incident. It's effectively gone.

There are more persistent isotopes, of course. There are cesium isotopes from the meltdown with half-lives of years, but the danger is still negligible. Information I'm seeing tells me that you would have to eat twenty tuna steaks to take in the amount of radiation you would get from one typical banana.

This is paranoia based on lack of understanding. Don't worry about radioactive tuna.

Solar Roadway

Now there's a clever idea.

You might want to check out the IndieGogo page.

UPDATE: I'm going to revisit this, since some loud YouTube people have been defecating on the notion.

I don't believe for a second that this technology can live up to all of the hype that has been made about it on YouTube, but I do believe that it is worth investigating. It's certainly not cost effective at its current scale (the individual bricks cost thousands of dollars using current methods), but its potential can't be determined if it isn't tested on larger scales.

This project exceeded its expectations on IndieGogo, and there are vocal critics who think that is wasted money. I am glad it met its goal. I want to see if it really can be a cost-effective and useful alternative to current road technology. Existing asphalt roads need to be replaced or repaired every few years. I want to know if this alternative is competitive.

Financial Help!

An amusing new message appeared in one of my email boxes.

Subject: I will help you financially!!!

HELLO MY NAME IS JENNIFER CLINTON I AM A UNITED STATES CITIZEN USA BUT I HAVE MY COMPANY., I LOST MY HUSBAND AND THREE KIDS IN FATAL ACCIDENT IN 2005. SINCE THEN I COULD NOT GAIN MYSELF. HOWEVER, I WILL LOVE TO HELP PEOPLE IN NEED AND THE BUSINESS MAN AND WOMAN WHO NEED LOAN AND ALSO NEED MONEY FOR BUSINESS. IF YOU NEED MY HELP PLEASE CONTACT ME I WILL HELP YOU FINANCIALLY.

MAY GOD BLESS YOU

My email: [redacted]

jennifer

Gee-whiz, what a helpful, generous sounding person. I would never suspect this of being some kind of scam.

I'm not fooling anyone, am I? Of course it's some kind of scam! The "from" address on the message doesn't even match the email that "jennifer" provided. It's tempting to respond to see just how "jennifer" would try to finagle money from me.

Obsolescence

I find myself wondering what we'll do as a society when we've automated every job that currently requires a human. Hearing reports that computers are now able to write clean essays and papers is somewhat discouraging for me, personally, and brought this question into my head.

Sooner or later, computers will be designing objects, and then assembling them via robots, with little or no human intervention. Assuming there is no machine revolution, what will people do in a world where there are no jobs because machines do all of the work.

What happens when all vehicles on land, in the sea, and in the air have automatic pilots?

What happens when a computer can diagnose a medical condition more quickly, more accurately, and more reliably than a human doctor? When it can prescribe the best medications and control a robot to perform the best procedures?

What happens when all manufacturing is done by robots?

What happens when humans are no longer needed for anything?

I can only imagine that the wealth disparity that exists now will become far worse. It seems likely that the owners of the machines (and therefore all of the wealth and resources) will represent a tiny portion of the population. What will become of everyone else?

A machine revolution might not even be necessary for a vast depopulation event.

Coriander Chutney Wings

I get jars of coriander chutney from the international market at the Nashville Farmers' Market. It's good as a condiment, but I've discovered that it makes a terrific wing sauce.

I typically cook the wings in a cast iron pan in the oven at 350 for about half an hour. It doesn't get much easier than that.

The sauce isn't difficult, either.

• One heaping tablespoon of coriander chutney.
• A teaspoon or more of Ole Jamaican-style hot sauce.
• Enough olive oil to allow the chutney to coat the chicken.
• Salt and pepper to taste.
• Additional red pepper flakes if you need more heat.

That makes enough to coat about ten wings.

22 Messages from Creationists

These messages are ostensibly to Bill Nye at the debate he had with Ken Ham. Just hearing Ken's non-answers to Bill's questions was painful enough, but some of these really burn my brain cells. They show a complete lack of understanding of the Theory of Evolution and science in general, which I think is tragic.

Still, I can give my answers/responses to these questions. I am going to try to suppress my usual snark.

1) Are you influencing the minds of children in a positive way?
Yes. Bill is trying to teach children how science is really done.

2) Are you scared of a divine creator?
I dare say that Bill is not.

3) Is it completely illogical that the earth was created mature (i.e. trees created with rings, Adam created as an adult,...)?
The problem with such a belief is that it requires colossal deception on the part of the creator. Light from distant stars has to be created "en route" so we can see it today; hundreds of thousands of extra layers of snow ice must be formed; millions of rock layers must be formed; pre-decayed nuclear materials must be planted; fossils must be distributed in layers that indicate progressive evolution. The creator would have to have taken a lot of trouble to make the Earth and universe look much older than they are. If the universe were created by such a huge deceiver, why would we expect the Bible to be true?

4) Does not the Second Law of Thermodynamics disprove Evolution?
No, it does not. If thermodynamics disproved evolution, physicists would have laughed it out of universities ages ago.

5) How do you explain a sunset if there is no God?
I don't know if I can answer this without sounding condescending. The Earth rotates. From our perspective, the Sun dips below the horizon. The light scattering from particles in the atmosphere gives us the brilliant colors.

6) If the Big Bang Theory is true and taught as science along with evolution, why do the laws of thermodynamics debunk said theories?
As I said, the laws of thermodynamics don't debunk Evolution or the Big Bang.

7) What about Noetics?
I'm not familiar with Noetics. A quick search tells me that Noetics is a "branch of metaphysical philosophy concerned with the study of mind and intellect". I don't really see how this field of philosophy is supposed to relate to the question of Evolution and Creationism.

8) Where do you derive objective meaning in life?
I don't really understand the question. I don't think that deriving your meaning of life from the Bible is objective. "Meaning" is something you find for yourself: it's never objective.

9) If God did not create everything, how did the first single-celled organism originate? By chance?
Pretty much by chance, yes. Abiogenesis is the particular field of study of the early origins of life. It relates to how organic chemistry on the ancient Earth could have generated simple compounds and "cells" that replicated themselves, starting the process of life. No one has managed to generate simple, replicating cells in a lab yet, but this work is ongoing.

10) I believe in the Big Bang Theory... God said it and BANG it happened!
Thanks for making it clear that you're not interested in talking about this like an adult.

11) Why do evolutionists/secularists/humanists/non-God-believing people reject the idea of there being a creator God but embrace the concept of intelligent design from aliens or other extra-terrestrial sources?
By and large (in my experience, at least), non-creationists do not embrace the concept of alien intervention, either.

12) There is no in between... the only one found has been Lucy, and there are only a few pieces of the hundreds necessary for an "official proof".
This seems to be a simple case of misinformation. "Lucy" is only one example of the australopithecine fossils. There are at least nine significant finds of this genus, and "Lucy" is 40% complete, not just "a few pieces".

13) Does metamorphosis help support evolution?
I really like this question. The answer is no. Metamorphosis is something that happens to an individual organism during its lifetime. Evolution happens to a population of organisms over successive generations. They are separate phenomena.

14) If Evolution is a Theory (like creationism or the Bible), why then is Evolution taught as fact.
Misuse of the word "theory" is a common problem when discussing controversial science topics. To a scientist, a theory is a coherent group of tested propositions that can be used to explain a set of observations or facts. In other words, it is not a guess or an untested claim. A theory must undergo rigorous testing and peer review before becoming widely accepted.

15) Because science by definition is a "theory" -- not testable, observable, nor repeatable, why do you object to creationism or intelligent design being taught in school?
This is another clear case of misinformation. "Science" is an organized effort to understand the universe. A "theory" is an explanation for observed phenomena that is testable, observable, and repeatable. Creationism and intelligent design do not meet that standard: evolution does.

16) What mechanism has science discovered that evidences an increase of genetic information seen in any genetic mutation or evolutionary process.
One of the simplest is "gene duplication". An error in replication produces an extra copy of an existing gene. The duplicate is free to change in subsequent generations, allowing new content to enter the species' genetic code without losing the original gene.

17) What purpose do you think you are here for if you do not believe in salvation?
As I believe I said earlier, finding purpose in life is something everyone does for himself or herself. There are plenty of ways to find fulfillment in life.

18) Why have we found only 1 "Lucy", when we have found more than 1 of everything else?
As noted before, there are actually several australopithecine fossils, and more examples of other early human ancestors.

19) Can you believe in "the big bang" without "faith"?
There is observable evidence for the Big Bang, so faith is not required.

20) How can you look at the world and not believe someone created/thought of it? It's amazing!!!
It is amazing, but that does not require it to be the creation of a deity (let alone just six thousand years ago despite all of the evidence that the Earth is much older).

21) Relating to the big bang theory... where did the exploding star come from?
There are many questions to which scientists are still seeking answers. We can observe that the universe is expanding from a central point, but we still don't know exactly what happened there. The tools available to us now can't tell us exactly what "exploded" or what was going on before the "explosion". Scientists, however, see that as an opportunity for study, not a mystery to leave unsolved.

22) If we come from monkeys, then why are there still monkeys?
Okay, I was trying to suppress my snark, but this is such an old and absurd question that I'm pretty sure the guy holding up the card is just trolling. There is nothing in the Theory of Evolution that says that monkeys have to go extinct for apes and humans to evolve from them.