Oh, Science, why do you do this to yourself?

First of all, cracked is a fantastic website and you all need to read it in its entirety. Even though this article about petty feuds in science is the one I'm focusing on right now. Go ahead, this will be here when you get back in a week.

Second of all, despite this article being absolutely hilarious, it's simultaneously depressing. I mean, just think about these comments for a moment:

"More depressing, though, is that John Harrison was one of history's most promising supergeniuses, and might have outshone everybody else on this list in terms of his total output of incredible discoveries, if not for the fact that the British government forced him to spend his entire life rebuilding the same clock over and over again."

"The backlash against this not-exactly-radical healthcare reform was so severe that doctors who had already practiced some form of personal hygiene stopped doing so, and went on compensating for their threatened manhood with ever longer probes. Over the next three years, childbirth mortalities almost tripled."

"Also it's commonly believed that Tesla would have received a Nobel Prize for his contributions to physics had Edison not sabotaged him at every turn."

Science, you're pretty awesome and all, and I'mma let you finish, but your pettiness is the greatest, most frustrating pettiness of all time! all time!

No matter how fantastic the logic behind the scientific method is, and no matter how beautiful the "search for the truth" may be, if scientists can't get their heads out of their asses and work together we will get nowhere.

As a somewhat sidenote, I find it interesting that I think capitalism both hinders and aids the scientific method in this regard. Competition is awesome because it motivates scientists to compete to make discoveries and inventions that will help us. But competition also promotes petty lies and thievery to win.

I'm looking at you, Watson and Crick.

J.Lo is a Supermom.

I saw this picture on Perez Hilton and I just needed to say: Holy crap. Take your eyes off of Jennifer Lopez's amazing legs, and look at the big picture. This is generally what I picture when I think of a mom doing it all. She looks great, she's getting off an airplane, presumably traveling for work, and she's caring for her kid. In heels, no less! All at once.

Supermoms take all forms, of course. Supermoms can dress in sweatpants and stay at home. And I assume most supermoms don't have the time and/or money to hire a personal trainer to help them look this fabulous. This just happens to be the image I always have in my head, and it was so cool to see it in real life. Yay celebrities that aren't always drunk and addicted to crack!

If I were J.Lo, this would be my facebook profile pic.

"Oh no, pigeons!"

Last night I found myself in a dark hole of depression after reading that the West Baptoro Church will be protesting Constance's graduation. I can't help like feel that she has been through so much in the past few months, and I'm afraid that this will be the moment that she finally breaks. I mean, I'm not even her and I feel like I broke.

So, to cheer myself up, I decided to write a post about my favorite web comic: Pictures for Sad Children! Yes! The comic that I've posted about a million of on my facebook wall! You get to read about it! Again!

It doesn't sound happy, I know. But in a way, that's kind of why it's funny. People in this universe never react the way you're expecting them too:

It's that stark contrast between what seems "normal" and what's actually going on that's so confusing you can't help but laugh.

I'm also relatively convinced that this guy actually has my brain.

This is how I feel about physics:

And this is how I feel about the stock market, and this is how I react every time I see an internet meme.

The art is minimalistic (and that's being nice) and the comics are often grotesque. You'll never make sense out of them, even if you try. Those all sound like things that add up to a bad comic, but not the way John Campbell does it. No, he gets me.

My one complaint is that the merchandise doesn't adequately summarize the hilarity of this comic. I mean, it's funny in context, so if you understand the "Oh no, pigeons" reference, you'll laugh. Otherwise it's just weird.

Or maybe I'm just weird, and even if you do get the reference you still won't laugh.

I'm not sure, but I know that this comic is funny. If you're weird like me, you'll think this comic is funny too.

Side note: You don't understand how much restraint it took for me to not post every single comic I saw. hdfakjdslf.

Think of the Children!

Have you heard of the Creation Museum? No? Probably for the best, it means you don't hang out in a crowd that believes the world is 6000 years old.

For those who don't know, in summary: The creation museum is to the creationists what The Museum of Natural History is to..well...everyone else. Frustrated that they did not have a building dedicated to their (ahem) science, the creationists took it upon themselves to build such a thing so as to "educate" the masses.

Admittedly, I shouldn't really care. The museum isn't going to convert educated adults, and the uneducated adults probably already believe all of this. The first amendment guarantees the right to say whatever they want to. If they want to use the Bible as a source of actual history, scientific or otherwise, it's not going to affect me, right?

The problem is not the adults paying money to visit this museum and learn about Adam and Eve and their pet dinosaurs, it's the adults paying money for their children to visit this museum.

Children are supposed to trust their parents, especially given that their parents are their primary source of survival. Naturally, they believe everything their parents tell them. They are telling them that scientists are liars, and are going to hell for not believing the literal interpretation of the Bible.

Where does that thought process naturally take you? If you don't trust scientists, then you won't trust doctors, you won't get vaccinated, you won't get proper medicine. If you don't trust scientists, you won't trust engineers, and you won't trust any modern technological advancements.

If you don't trust scientists, you only have religious leaders to believe, the ones that say condoms do not prevent the spread of AIDs, and immodestly dressed women cause earthquakes. You believe that treating your child through prayer and not accepted medical practices is okay. You believe that treating some people differently than others is okay.

But is this enough evidence to step in and say enough? Undoubtedly for some families these fundamental religious indoctrinations become harmful not just mentally but physically, and that's not okay. Once we draw that line though, we enter a dangerous territory where attacking one set of religious beliefs becomes attacking all religious beliefs. We start forcing people to believe in evolution as opposed to allowing free thought and freedom of speech. Children are being hurt, and growing into adults that will continue the cycle, but how can we stop it without becoming them?

This post by Jen at Blaghag.com and her review of the Creation Museum, specifically this post, is what got me started on this.

go go gadget BLOG.

So. I'm starting a blog. I hate the word blog, it makes everyone who says it sound stupid and trendy (I'd link to maddox here but I guess his site is still on April Fool's mode?). But that's what this is! A blog!

Do I have a whole lot of things to say? I think so. I have lots of ideas like everyone else, and I find sometimes that my ideas are not expressed well by other people (read: Glenn Beck, angry feminists, religious sympathizers). I also think that I have a (somewhat) unique combination of beliefs, and my perspective may be interesting to, at the very least, people who are friends with me on facebook! You all like commenting on my statuses, and don't lie, I know some of you stalk but don't comment!

All those comments have led me to believe I'm interesting. Or at least that I link to interesting things on the internet.

Ultimately, this will give me an opportunity to express my opinions with more than a few sentences, and I like that. It's also a great outlet to get feedback on my opinions, and I like that too. It also might stop the spamming that I tend to do some days, which you will like.

Except the Kanye West quotes. Those will still be posted on facebook. Because he is super lulzy and I need everyone to know it. EVERYONE.