Proof of Overwhelming Evidence’s efficacy…lol

Overwhelming Evidence is a site that supposedly taps into the excitement and coolness of MySpace, Facebook, etc to get teenagers to see the light of Inteligent Design “theory”. One of the many brainchildren of Discovery Institute Fellow, William Dembski (author, very expensive public speaker, and trial dodger), Overwhelming is supposed to um, overwhelm the Darwinian, materialistic establishment and get the teeny-boppers all in line with Inteligent Design and Fundamentalist Christianity. (Of course, most of the posters AFAIK are older than me: troutmac and oleary–two of the most active users–are definitely not of the target demographic.) Now, they’ll say they’re all about science, but go read some if you want: Overwhelming and especially the very funny Uncommon Descent. Make your own call as to what they’re all about.

Granted, at nearly 6 or 7 comments on some days, it will take a while for the truth to become clear to the rest of us morons, but here’s what an actual college student has to say to another Fellow of the Discovery Institute, Jonathan Wells.

Aaron Ring, in the Yale Daily News. A tip of the jester’s cap to Tara Smith at Aetiology (see the sidebar).

Blipey gets lucky and wins cool stuff

We spent the weekend in Chicago which is very cool no matter what; I love Chicago. As we were walking through the theatre district we decided to stop in at Borders and enter the drawing for Wicked tickets. The show was sold out, but 2 hours before every show they draw names for 20 tickets. Well, my name was the next to last one called! I never win anything like that, but we got 2 tickets in row B for $50. These seats would normally have cost us $170.

In which the hometown gets some props

Kansas City’s a nice place with some nice folk and some very cool things to do. But, it is also a city with an identity crisis and an inferiority complex–not a great combo. Things are getting better: Sprint Center finished this year, KC LIVE entertainment district finished early next, population of downtown growing every year. Still, we can’t help but shoot ourselves in the foot when things start looking too bright: a no-vote on downtown baseball, complete bungling of light-rail and public transport, the wooing of the NFL to put a Super Bowl at Arrowhead (that would be a public relations nightmare for the city that we could never outlive) if we put a potato chip lid on it. All in all, though, I like KC and I’ll probably always have family or property or something there.

That’s why it’s nice to see KC and Kansas Citians get noticed every once in a while. Now, if we can only parlay that recognition into feeling good about ourselves on a daily basis. The USA Today (that’s right, the colorful bastion of everthing blurb-y and veneer-like in the news) did a little story on places to eat and drink when travelling and not one, but two KC places were mentioned.

On the Nature of Tragedy

I’m a sucker for a good tragedy. Or a dark comedy, the darker and sadder, the better. And who knew I’d get a fix by watching last week’s Grey’s Anatomy? The show’s pretty decent about drama, which is diferent than tragedy in ways I’ll get to in a bit. But this past week, the major subplot was classic, totally devastating, Greek tragedy.

Small towns: not what you think they are

Here we are in Watseka, IL. I know, I know, a booming metropolis if ever you saw one. Population: 5,700 (as of the year 2000). It’s not particularly close to the Chicagoland megalopolis, on US 24 and IL 1. My mom lives in a small town of 6,200 in the suburbs of Kansas City, MO. You mght think these towns would be similar. Well, here’s the thing.

Who (or where) are your neighbors?

I found this migration study very interesting. My home state of Missouri continues to lose people at a trickle. However, my home town of Kansas City continues a recent swing of slow population increase (woohoo). Are people fleeing to or from your state? Why?

Second Semester Kicks off with Good Theatre

After enduring a number of really awful shows last year (only a couple of them ours), January finds us seeing good theatre right off the bat. We just saw a production of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark by Nevermore Theatre Company in Milwaukee. It was a very solid production and served as a reminder of just how simple good theatre can be.

Misplaced Discipline?

California, land of dreams and golden highways, gives us an example of what our elected officials should really be doing with their time (and our money). State assemblywoman Sally Lieber has introduced a bill to outlaw spanking.

Wow, she’d better love you a lot!!!

All I’ve got to say is that your relationship has to be in a very, VERY good spot to allow you to do this:

This is a real Kenosha, WI sign. Who the hell takes their date to White Castle on Valentine’s Day? Little, I mean really tiny, meat patties on biscuits don’t scream lasting relationship to me, but I could be wrong. I suppose White Castle could be the glue that holds traditional marriage together when all around it is crumbling beyond repair…. Or not.

Can anyone name a worse place to go? I’m straining to think of one, but coming up blank (at least on the comical locations).

Ah, Winter ’tis here!

We’re in Wisconsin this week (and part of last) and I get to see winter! I don’t see much winter anymore; I’m from Kansas City. Kansas City used to have winter, but now we just get ice. Ice is different than winter. Winter is snow and sledding, fires and hot chocolate, frost on the windows, and chill nights that wrap the world in silence. Ice is pretty, but heavy and damaging, power-line destroying, and undrivable.

So, I’m happy to say it’s chilly AND snowing here from Green Bay to Fond du Lac. I love it.