Iron Man Fridge Logic

Didn't we learn in the first movie that Tony Stark's armored suits are powered by the miniature arc reactor that he wears in his chest to power the gizmo that keeps his heart beating? This would include the second suit he built, the Mark II armor, in particular.

So how was James Rhodes able to operate the Mark II suit in Iron Man 2? If Tony wasn't wearing it, it wouldn't have a power supply.

My geek-fu is still strong.

Review: Iron Man 2

I got to see Iron Man 2 over the weekend, and I was quite pleased. They conveniently avoided the "hero has an extra disadvantage" cliche in this one, which is particularly refreshing, since they already used that one in the first installment. I was also pleased to see that the writers appreciated continuity, as a surprise weapon from the first film was reused in this one, albeit with different results. Also, when this movie's new surprise weapon was only used once, there was a good explanation. Clearly the writing staff had enough geeks to dodge many of my usual criticisms. The armored suits even sustain reasonable amounts of battle damage regardless of who wins.

Performance quality didn't drop in this film, either. Robert Downey Jr. continues to play a character who is an ass on many levels, but likeable all the same. The various people around him are still strained by his selfish eccentricity, and their behavior stays believable.

I wasn't thrilled by the choice of villain when I saw previews for IM2. I'm a bit of a comics buff, and I collected pretty heavily for a while. In the comics, Whiplash is at best a second-tier villain, probably just third. Still, they managed to make him into a threat without straining my sensibilities. I don't want to spoil things by saying how his first encounter with Iron Man went, but I wasn't actually displeased.

So this is definitely a "go see". The writers doing Marvel movies these days seem to be on the ball. They haven't really fumbled since Spiderman 3.

Note: There is an easter egg after the credits, but you have to be a Marvel Comics buff to appreciate it.

While the town was flooded...

In case you didn't notice, it rained last weekend in Nashville. It rained a lot. It rained so much that the river crested some sixteen feet above flood stage. I live a bit outside Nashville, and my house fortunately did not flood (and I'm now pretty sure it never will).

There is, however, a low spot in the road to my house. When I got home from the Crown List event (Maximillian won... again) on Sunday, the river was lapping at the edge of the road. Overnight, it overflowed the road to a depth of five feet.

Needless to say, I stayed home Monday. I didn't miss much; the office where I work closed due to threat of the nearby levy failing and all the surrounding roads being flooded. It was still closed today (Wednesday), and I'm not all that sure about tomorrow. At least I was able to work remotely some today.

So, I did get a little bit of cleaning done, and I finally got the opportunity to see Dead Snow. I saw it in Norwegian with English subtitles via Netflix on-demand. That was a fun little zombie movie, although the zombies were a little non-traditional (you could apparently kill them with damage that would kill a living person, which is atypical for zombie flicks). It turned out to be a little unpredictable, which is good. It was also somewhat tongue-in-cheek, which can vary. Campy worked well for Zombieland, while serious worked well for Night of the Living Dead (for which I actually prefer the 1990 remake, but that's as much because of Patricia Tallman as anything). I give it about a three out of four if you have my bizarre taste in movies (I watch Syfy original movies, after all, even if it's mostly to laugh at their badness).

Hopefully the office will be open tomorrow. I'm totally losing track of my days. For a while, I thought today was Sunday.

Movie Review: Clash of the Titans

Ah, Hollywood, how they love to butcher history and mythology. If you haven’t been bothering to keep up, Hollywood decided to pillage their own vaults for ideas again and came up with a remake of Clash of the Titans, a movie produced in 1981 that tells the story of the ancient Greek hero Perseus… badly. Well, for a simple action-fantasy movie it wasn’t all that bad, but it certainly didn’t strain too hard to follow the mythological story accurately, and the modern remake doesn’t try any harder. In fact, the modern remake makes exactly the same mythological errors as the original, and then adds some more. The movie also has a rather muddled message, so it’s really not all that impressive for anything but its special effects, and even those aren’t exactly ground-breaking.

The spoilers are about to start flowing, so now would be the time turn away if that matters to you.

The original Clash of the Titans, if you don’t already know, involves the goddess Thetis taking offense when Queen Cassiopeia brags that her daughter, Princess Andromeda, is even more lovely than the goddess. As the Greek gods were wont to do, Thetis takes offense and informs the people of Argos that she’s sending the Kraken – the hit-beast of the gods – to destroy Argos, a fate they can avoid by chaining Andromeda out on the beach as a sacrifice to it.

The remake takes divine petulance a step further by having the gods behave so irresponsibly that all of humanity is rebelling against them and destroying their temples – which is a problem, since the gods derive much of their power from human worship. The exception is Hades – the god of the underworld – who has learned to thrive on human fear instead. Seeing the human rebellion as an opportunity to overthrow Zeus, he manipulates the situation for his own benefit. When the insolent people of Argos proclaim the beauty of Andromeda, he announces – in Zeus’s name – that she must be sacrificed to the Kraken or the city will be destroyed. In so doing, he expects the human lack of respect to turn into full-blown hatred (which will deprive Zeus of power) and outright terror (which will increase his own power).

With the plot thus set, the sequence of events of the two movies begins to converge. Perseus goes on a quest to behead the gorgon Medusa so he can use her petrifying gaze to defeat the Kraken. Motives and details vary (and I won’t go into them at length), but the gist is much the same. The main difference is in the muddled message of the remake.

The original didn’t really have a message; it was just a wacky adventure to slay a monster. The sequel tries to introduce a theme revolving around human independence and immortal accountability, which is potentially interesting if you’re following the religion-versus-secularism conflict in modern culture, but the movie can’t seem to make up its mind whether to follow through on that plot and have Perseus succeed purely on his mortal merits or go through a “character arc” in which Perseus learns to accept his godly heritage. In the end, he doesn’t really do either, which makes me wonder why the writers introduced this personal conflict in the first place.

As for the butchering of mythology, the actual myth of Perseus goes something like this:

• Danae, the mother of Perseus, was the daughter of King Acrisius, not his wife. Acrisius had them sent out to sea to die in an effort to avoid a prophecy that his grandson would eventually kill him (that never works, by the way). Both Perseus and Danae survived the sea journey to end up in Seriphus.
• Seriphus had its own problems, as the king there – Polydectes – had his lecherous eye on Danae. Perseus was a master c*@#-blocker, though, so Polydectes tricked Perseus into promising to kill Medusa, which he figured would be a sure way to get the youth killed.
• Seeing his son in a trap, Zeus took steps to make sure Perseus had the means to accomplish the quest. He arranged for him to have a sword and shield (with a mirror-polished inside surface), a pair of winged sandals, a helmet that turned him invisible (provided by Hades, incidentally – see below), and a bag suitable for toting around a severed monster head.
• Guided by the advice of the Graeae (the oracles with only one eye among the three of them), Perseus found Medusa’s lair and ambushed her in her sleep (sorry, no epic battle, folks).
• On his way home he happened to see Andromeda chained to the rocks as a sacrifice to the Kraken. The offense that got her there, incidentally, was being reckoned more beautiful than the Nereids, vain sea nymphs who complained to Poseidon when the word got round. Perseus – after extracting a promise from Andromeda's father that he could marry her – intervened to save her. That’s right: the Kraken was just a target of opportunity, not the object of Perseus’s quest.

Other bits of mythological ignorance:

• Hades was somber, not evil, and he actually liked ruling the underworld. As I recall, he chose the underworld as his domain (he, Zeus, and Poseidon drew lots to see who would get first choice).
• Drops of Medusa’s blood spilled by Perseus during his post-beheading travels caused poisonous snakes to develop in various parts of the world. Not exactly giant scorpions, but far worse raping of mythology occurs in these movies.
• Pegasus belongs in the story of Bellerophon, not the story of Perseus.
• There is no story from Greek mythology that involves “jinn” in any way whatsoever.

Final verdict: It’s fun to watch the pretty pictures, but you might want to turn your brain off when you see the title screen.

Gulf Wars XIX Open A&S Performing Arts

The Pregnant Farmer


La Chanson de Roland


The Counting of the Twenty and One

I'm not at all sure why I thought it was "The Counting of the Thirteen and One" when I first captioned it. I need to fix that.

Overdue Gulf Wars XIX Post

Sunday
After staying overnight in Jackson with Shimofuri on Saturday, we caravanned down to the site on Sunday to help set up camp. We arrived in the early afternoon, and I immediately joined in the raising of the kitchen/dining tent. Here I received my first injury of the war. The roof frame is made of fitted pipe sections, and I asked someone to push on the other end of one of the pipes as I was getting it fitted. The push came a bit sooner than I expected and my hand got pinched, so I went through the war with a bandage on the web of my right hand next to the thumb. Fortunately I was up to fencing by Wednesday.

Monday
Monday I found a very nice merchant who provided me with some tape to properly secure the bandage on my hand. That served me most of the day, and I obtained a small roll of tape from the chirurgeons to keep me going through the rest of the war. On top of that, Her Excellency Katherine got me some bactine, more bandages, and more tape. I was being positively doted on, but that suits me very well.

In the early afternoon, I went to the dance hall (Bede Hall) to help teach a dance class. This was simple 15th Century Italian dances: Amoroso, Petits Riens, and Anello. Since the planned teacher was unable to attend the war, Lady Sibyl was teaching, and I happily assisted. It's always nice to have some ringers when you're teaching a dance class.

Following the dance class, I ventured down to the Fort for the Verona Street Brawl. I wasn't up to fighting yet – just trying to hold a rapier hurt my hand – so I volunteered as a marshal. I don't think that brawls were quite as amusing as they were two years ago, when I last attended the war. The attempts to frame the other family were rather hamfisted, and the Governors were shamefully oblivious to the bloodbaths in the streets.

That evening I hosted the Beginners’ Ball. I planned it with lots of common, easy dances. Basically, if you didn't already know the dance, any ringer on the floor could drag you through it with minimal coaching. The list worked out quite well, if I do say so myself, as we worked our way through the dances at a steady pace and had plenty of time for requests before we had to close down the ball.

Tuesday
Early Tuesday afternoon I taught my dance class. This year I taught two variations of the Contrapasso. The standard variation is for a couples, and the Contrapasso Nuovo variation is for a set of three couples. Contrapasso itself is not really very difficult and the students learned it with plenty of time to spare. Contrapasso Nuovo is similar, but there are definitely some tricky maneuvers, and it has l5ess repetition, making it more difficult to remember. Fortunately Lady Ginevra assisted by providing live music; you can ask a musician to play just a particular section of the music, a request that recording just can’t seem to accommodate.

Wednesday
On Wednesday morning,I was up to fighting, and the Green Dragon Inn hosted a Tavern Brawl. Nothing rocks quite like a tavern brawl in an authentic tavern. Don Mateo organized several different scenarios, some involving just staying alive, others requiring an effort to loot the place. Some of the survival scenarios were real meat grinders.

In the afternoon, I competed in the Everyman Tourney. I didn't make it past my first round robin group, but it was a near thing. Three of us tied for second place, and we had to fight another mini round robin to see which two would progress. I had some really good fights in this tourney.

Thursday
Thursday morning was the Ladies of the Rose Rapier Tournament, and I again fought on behalf of Duchess Katrina. I don’t exactly have a stunning track record at the Rose tourney, but it’s always a fun time. The tourney had 110 entrants this year, which is a new record. I drew Don Iago for my first bout, and I actually dispatched him with surprising speed. I’m thinking of adding a white ribbon to my outfit every time I win a tournament match with a Don, now.

My second draw was Warder Sibyl Sevenoke, and I couldn’t have asked for a better second draw. Make no mistake: Sibyl is better than me at this game, but that makes the fight all the more fun. I am especially pleased by the fact that when she disabled my left hand with a cut to my thumb, she did not put down her own dagger; I like for my opponent to continue to treat me as a threat even after scoring a significant blow. She got my other arm a bit later, putting me out of the fight in a way that Joseph Swetnam – the historical fencing master I study – would definitely have appreciated (i.e., no one “died”).

I drew Lord Silvani for my final fight, and he’s definitely been keeping in better practice than I, too. I managed to stretch it out for a while, though, before being legged and then finally eliminated.

The schedulers moved the Rapier Field Battle up from Saturday to Thursday afternoon this year, and I turned out for it. We were fighting with Trimaris this year, and the first battle of the two-out-of-three contest was something of a cluster-fail. Meridies was positioned at the left end of the Trimarin line, facing the Hellhounds from Northshield. When the battle started, our front line ran out to make contact with the enemy while the rear ranks (consisting of some people who don’t move very fast due to knee troubles and such) closed at a slower pace. It’s not a good idea to take on the Hellhounds piecemeal; each little unit gets cut to shreds as it arrives. It would have been better to all march up at an even pace and make contact at full strength. Yes, I died pretty quick in that battle.

I’m not sure what the plan was in the second battle. After changing sides of the field, Meridies was on the right end of the Trimarin line, next to the Atlantians. When the battle started, the Atlantians quickly moved out and crossed in front of us to engage the Hellhounds while we looked for a place to reinforce. Our commander pointed out a thin spot for us to fill and I stepped into place to engage some Trimarins and Midrealmers. I soon noticed that our line was still pretty thin to the right of me; then it was also thin to the left of me; then I realized I was on my own against about six opponents. Well, I managed to keep them busy for a while and I got three of them, so I think I did my part pretty well in the second battle, but it was still an overall loss.

With the war point settled, round three was a “friendship battle” which my side won (due in no small part to the Hellhounds defecting to our side, I suspect).

Friday
Friday morning I took my camcorder down to Bede Hall, where the open A&S competition was taking place. I recorded the performing arts entries, and one of them is already posted to YouTube. Hopefully I'll get the others up shortly.

Later in the day there was a Ribbon Tourney, and I assisted as a marshal, as I was saving my energy for the Ravine Battle.

Like the Field Battle, the Ravine Battle was pretty lop-sided. I also couldn't seem to get any cooperation from my allies. On the way to the line, I'd ask the fighters on either side of me if they would take shots if I blocked blades, but when I knocked blades down, the shots didn't materialize. I eventually gave up on that and decided to just cause a bit of havoc, and I actually did get into the enemy backfield once, killing several of their fighters in the process. Moments like that make the whole tiresome business worth while.

Saturday
Rain was threatening Saturday, and I really didn't want to pack a wet tent, so I broke camp early in the day, did some final shopping, and for the first time at Gulf Wars, I actually left site early.

Gulf Wars XIX

Yes, I did return from Gulf Wars... I am being slack about posting. Please be patient.

More Unscientific Idiocy

Ray Comfort responded to a comment from one of his critical readers, and the response is just amazingly dumb. The original comment was...

Ray you don't know the first thing about science. You're the guy who thought falling violated Gravity.

And Ray's response...

Physics.about.com says: "Newton's law of gravity defines the attractive force between all objects that possess mass. Understanding the law of gravity, one of the fundamental forces of physics, offers profound insights into the way our universe functions." So, I’m not the only one who believes that there is such a thing as "the law of gravity," and if it's a law, it can be violated.

If you hit the ground at 120 mph from 1,000 feet, you will suffer the consequences of violating what physics.about.com calls the law of gravity. If you will remember the context in which I called gravity a law--I said that if you break the law of gravity, you will suffer the consequences...."

I've discussed scientific laws and theories before, and I think I was actually a little off the mark then. I've since been told that a "law" describes a mathematical relationship. The "Law of Gravity" is a mathematical formula that you can use to calculate exactly how quickly two massive objects will accelerate toward each other. The "Theory of Gravity" is an effort explain how and why that acceleration occurs. There is no denying that acceleration due to gravity occurs, but physicists are still working out the mechanism. Similarly, the Theory of Evolution is an effort to explain the how and why of the process of evolution. That evolution occurs is only doubted by science denialists like Ray Comfort.

Make no mistake, though. You can not violate the law of gravity. If you fall from 1,000 feet, you will not suffer the consequences of violating the law of gravity: you will suffer the consequences of obeying the law of gravity.

Ray goes on to try to turn it into a sort of parable, but it's a parable built on a false premise, so it falls flat.

Because I like Symphony of Science

Black Gryphon 2010

Just a few pictures from the event. Many wonderful classes were enjoyed by all, I think.

Do Cats Play With Their Food?

Why yes... yes... they do.


For those who never heard the tale, we got Mauser to dispose of mice in the barn. She is a cat picked specifically to be "a hunter who isn't too social with people."

When first released in the barn, she immediately ran off, and we wondered if we'd ever see her again. She didn't seem to be eating cat food left for her at the barn, but the mouse population did seem to be in decline. We later decided she was using it as bait.

Eventually she reappeared when some of our friends were over helping us build a bonfire. Since then, she's been a surprisingly social cat. She doesn't like to be picked up, but she will run in front of you and lay down for you to rub her belly.

And she's death on a stick to field rats, rabbits, birds, lizards, and just about anything else she can catch.

Incidentally, this is my first real success at video editing. Go me.

Dubious Email

What a surprise! I apparently won some kind of contest that I didn't even enter!

NOTICE.

You have receive this notification because this email account (address@server.net ) was enter as a bonified winner in the Euro Million online promotion draw with a prize benefit of (€510.250 Euros). If you are the owner of this email (address@server.net) and you wish to claim this prize, please contact Mr. Phillip Sillas for more information to claim your Euro Million Prize.

You are to present these Coupon Numbers: EU/3544-2100-10SP for identification along with your Name, Age, Sex, Occupation, address and phone number.

Sincerely,
Mr. Phillip Sillas,
E-mail: imperiosp@aol.com
(Public Information Officer)
mutuals.sp@gmail.com
Central Promotion Dept.

No. I don't believe this for a second. This is either an identity theft scheme or an advance fee fraud or both. Tipoffs include...

• No branding of any sort on the email. While corporate logos and such don't guarantee legitimacy, lack of them is a pretty solid indicator of a scam. If there were really a half-million Euro prize, someone would have to be bankrolling it, and they wouldn't do it without recognition.
• No web link. A link is no guarantee of legitimacy either, but at least it would be something that could be investigated. Practically every modern company with an email address also has a web page, so this is super suspicious.
• The email addresses of the contacts are all generic services. An outfit with a half-million Euros to spend on a contest can afford its own domain name and use it in its correspondence. The source address of the email doesn't even match the contact addresses in any way.
• Shoddy spelling and grammar. You'd think scammers would have learned to use spell-check by now.

So, this is obviously a fraud of some sort. It will get no response from me (except weblog ridicule).

Tortellini Pulpo

Okay, I'm mixing terms from different languages that may not go together, but they're the labels on the ingredients, so we'll just deal with them.


This is my second go at making a dish with Vigo brand Spanish octopus ("pulpo" in the Spanish portion of the label). The ingredients here are pretty simple.

• 1 can of Vigo Spanish octopus
• 1 can of diced tomatoes with Italian herbs
• one quarter of a yellow onion, diced
• about a tablespoon of olive oil
• about a teaspoon of minced garlic
• extra basil, salt, and pepper to taste

I started by sauteeing the onions in garlic in olive oil over medium heat. When the onion was translucent, I added the octopus, salt, and basil for a quick saute. Next, the tomatoes and tortellini went into the pan, which I covered to allow the (frozen) tortellini to thoroughly defrost and heat up.

Custom Hand Phaser

It's interesting, but I don't think I'd want anyone to point it at me. In the construction tutorial, the maker explains that getting shot in the eye with the beam or a reflection would be bad.



Heck, if you can pop balloons with it, I don't even think I want that dot on my skin, let alone my eye.

Debating Creationists

Ever wonder why scientists are reluctant to debate creationists?


That's a pretty good representation. I don't think the creationist playbook has changed in my lifetime.

Zero Emissions?

I don't really want to knock Nissan for trying to develop an efficient, low-pollution vehicle, but I think their advertising campaign is overstating things just a little bit. I copied the image to the right and the following claim from their FaceBook fan page for the LEAF:

Nissan LEAF is our first zero-emissions electric car. Don't confuse it with a hybrid or any other type of gas-powered, eco-friendly vehicle. This is electric - 100%. That means it burns zero gas and produces zero emissions. But this is no golf-cart. Off the line, Nissan LEAF performs like a V6. Plus, there's room for five, and it comes with all the quality, reliability and versatility you've come to expect from Nissan cars.

- Zero tailpipe emissions
- 100% electric -- no gas required
- Competitively priced
- Speeds up to 90 mph
- 5 passengers, 5 doors
- Advanced airbags, premium audio, Nissan navigation system, and more

I emphasized the claims that really interest me here. While the statements are technically true, they're also misleading. The LEAF, as stated, is a fully electric automobile. While that means that it doesn't burn gasoline or diesel fuel, it doesn't mean that operating the car results in no pollution. Apart from the manufacturing process (which may or may not be less polluting than building a gas automobile, I really don't know), this car could easily have a larger "carbon footprint" than a gas-powered car.

The reason, of course, is that you have to recharge the LEAF's battery, and the car's true "emission" level is going to depend on what kind of power source you use to charge it. If you happen to be getting your electricity from a solar, wind, or hydroelectric generator, then the LEAF really does have essentially zero emissions. On the other hand, if your electricity comes from a coal-fired power plant, then operating the LEAF will probably be at least as polluting as an efficient gas automobile.

I'm actually a big fan of this kind of technology, but I'm not a fan of tricky advertising. Electric cars have great potential for reducing pollution, but the power infrastructure has to support that effort. I happen to also be a big fan of nuclear energy, so I don't think it would be that hard to change the grid to support a less polluting vehicle "fleet" in the US. Of course, electric vehicles can also reduce America's need for imported oil, which is another good argument for them. I just wish the claims in Nissan's advertising were a little less grandiose. Not that they're alone in such statements; I've heard similar claims about the hydrogen fuel cell technology that's in development (from the mouth of George W. Bush, no less), and they have exactly the same issues.

Sarge's Shack

This is somewhat overdue, but William, Juliana, and I stopped at a little roadhouse called Sarge's Shack both going to and returning from Magna Faire.



Sarge's serves a pretty standard "roadhouse" menu of steaks, chicken, and fish dishes with southern country sides. The beauty is that it's all good. On the way down, I ordered a pretty small steak medium rare, and when I first saw it I was worried that -- being on the thin side -- it would be overdone. Nope, it was a perfect medium rare. The cooks at Sarge's absolutely know what they're doing. If you're traveling between Nashville, TN, and Huntsville, AL, Sarge's Shack is an excellent place to stop for lunch or dinner.

I took pictures on our second stop, on the way back from Magna Faire for Sunday lunch, so -- unfortunately -- no steak pictures.

Dickens Festival

Franklin, Tennessee has a Dickens festival every year. Last year I drifted in by accident because I wanted to have lunch at McCreary's Pub. This year, I actually planned to attend (and dressed warmly enough). Like most street festivals, this one has food vendors, art and craft stands, and street performers, like this handbell choir...



In addition to the video, I took some ordinary pictures of the festival, too. Didn't seem as crowded this year; possibly a combination of the gloomy overcast and it being Sunday instead of Saturday.

A Brief Moment of Idiocy from Ray Comfort

Much like Allecto, Ray Comfort is a train wreck that I can’t help watching. Unlike her, he produces a steady stream of nonsense, so I don’t really have to wait very long for him to say something absurd and irrational. I’ve found it mostly pointless to post responses on his weblog, since he almost never bothers to address any of the points people make, so I'll contribute to my blog instead of his.

The Religion of Evolution

I was asked recently during an interview if I thought that the Theory of Evolution was a religion. I said that I think it is.

Cue Ray projecting like a movie theatre.

If evolution is responsible for everything that has evolved--everything, then it is worthy of praise. What it did was miraculous, and time is the miracle-method it used. Its prophet was Charles Darwin (the faithful can pay homage to his facial hair in the Natural History Museum, in London), and Richard Dawkins is the sitting pope.

Worthy of praise? No one who accepts the Theory of Evolution thinks it's worthy of “praise”. It’s worthy of recognition for its accuracy, which means that it has earned its place in classrooms. You could call that “praise”, I suppose, but it's not what Ray's talking about.

Charles Darwin was not a prophet; he was an ordinary naturalist who made an observation and happened to publish his discovery before anyone else. He didn’t ask people to believe him on faith, he showed them the evidence he had collected and explained the conclusions he’d drawn from it.

Richard Dawkins is not a religious figure; he’s an advocate for scientific thinking. As far as I can tell, Ray has ever experienced scientific thinking, which might explain his endless misunderstandings of the thought process.

According to his decree, if you disagree with the canon of evolution you are "wicked." So those who don't believe, should therefore be excommunicated from the realm of science.

Dawkins does not make “decrees” that people are wicked for disagreeing with evolution, but he’s not shy about criticizing people who lie about evolution, as many creationists routinely do.

The "Bible" of the Darwinian believer is On the Origin of Species. If you write a mere Introduction that disagrees with its sacred contents, it is tantamount to blasphemy. Be prepared for an inquisition from believers and threats of book burnings.

There is no more a “Bible of Evolution” than there’s a “Bible of Newtonian Physics”. The Origin of Species just describes the theory as Darwin developed it, and evolution theory has changed over time as new information has become available. It’s historically important for being the first published description of the theory, but it's not some kind of unchangeable scripture. If you write an introduction that disagrees with it, that’s your business, but if your introduction is full of misinformation and long-refuted claims about the theory and about science in general, people are going to call you out on it.

So, if you believe in evolution, don’t question dating methods, or the credibility of revered paleontologists, or the learned priestly professors.

Actually, if you believe in evolution, feel free to question any of these things (although you’ll be hard pressed to find a “priestly professor” outside of a theology department), but actually learn what the theory says before you start criticizing it. If you question seriously and actually do the science, you’ll come to the same basic conclusion: the Theory of Evolution accurately describes how the diversity of life on Earth developed from a common origin.

Just believe.

That’s what you do, Ray.

Magna Faire 2009

Well, I have a day off today, so I suppose it's high time I at least posted some pictures from Magna Faire. Magna Faire was essentially an all-dance event for me, as I didn't think I'd have time to get in and out of armor around performance times.



Yes, we had live music for the ball. Very good for three musicians who had never played a note together before, if you ask me.

I have video my entry with Juliana, but I'm waiting to do a little editing before I post it.