I met my fiance 15 years ago today. It was a last minute blind date; her sister was going to the movies and she didn’t have anyone to go with. We saw Candyman.

143. 2 Peas Kombie.

[ From a Forwarded Email ]

School, 1967 vs. 2007

Scenario: Jack goes quail hunting before school, pulls into school parking lot with shotgun in gun rack.
1967 - Vice principal comes over to look at Jack’s shotgun. He goes to his car and gets his shotgun to show Jack.
2007 - School goes into lock down, and FBI is called. Jack is hauled off to jail and never sees his truck or gun again. Counselors called in for traumatized students and teachers.

Scenario: Johnny and Mark get into a fistfight after school.
1967 - Crowd gathers. Mark wins. Johnny and Mark shake hands and end up best friends.
2007 - Police called. SWAT team arrives. Johnny and Mark are arrested and charged with assault. Both are expelled even though Johnny started it.

Scenario: Jeffrey won’t be still in class, disrupts other students.
1967 - Jeffrey sent to office and given a good paddling by the principal. He returns to class, sits still, and does not disrupt class again.
2007 - Jeffrey is diagnosed with ADD and given huge doses of Ritalin; becomes a zombie. School gets extra money from state because Jeffrey has a learning disability.

Scenario: Billy breaks a window in his neighbor’s car and his Dad gives him a whipping with his belt.
1967 - Billy is more careful next time, grows up normal, goes to college, and becomes a successful businessman.
2007 - Billy’s dad is arrested for child abuse. Billy is placed in foster care and joins a gang. State psychologist convinces Billy’s sister that she remembers being abused herself, and their dad goes to prison. Billy’s mom has affair with psychologist.

Scenario: Mark gets a headache and takes some aspirin to school.
1967 - Mark shares aspirin with principal out on the smoking dock.
2007 - Police called. Mark is expelled from school for drug violations. Car is searched for drugs and weapons.

Scenario: Pedro fails high school English.
1967 - Pedro goes to summer school, passes English, goes to college, and graduates.
2007 - Pedro’s cause is taken up by state. Newspaper articles appear nationally explaining that teaching English as a requirement for graduation is racist. ACLU files class action lawsuit against state school system and Pedro’s English teacher. English banned from core curriculum. Pedro is given a diploma anyway but ends up mowing lawns for a living because he cannot speak English.

Scenario: Johnny takes apart leftover firecrackers from 4th of July, puts them in a model airplane paint bottle, and blows up a red ant bed.
1967 - Ants die.
2007 - Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, Homeland Security, and FBI called. Johnny is charged with domestic terrorism. The FBI investigates parents; siblings are removed from home; computers confiscated. Johnny’s dad goes on a terror watch list and is never allowed to fly again.

Scenario: Johnny falls while running during recess and scrapes his knee. He is found crying by his teacher, Heather. Heather hugs him to comfort him.
1967 - In a short time, Johnny feels better and goes on playing.
2007 - Heather is accused of being a sexual predator and loses her job. She faces three years in state prison. Johnny undergoes five years of therapy.

Give a man a fish, and you’ll feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and he’ll buy a funny hat. Talk to a hungry man about fish, and you’re a consultant. — Scott Adams

Well I finally have Quicksilver partially working. I’ve taken my plugins from a backup drive image and put them in my Library –> Application Support –> Quicksilver directory. Thanks to Robby Colvin for showing me this site that reminded me I could do this.

I now at least have my quick searches and a few other critical pieces of functionality. I guess this’ll have to do until blacktree.com finds its way back.

I won’t touch the correlation/causation elephant, but here’s what I’m seeing from this new pew publication that looks at a how secular beliefs in the United States have changed over the last 10 years. First an opinion/observation:

1. Republicans are the least open-minded (they consider it a plus).
2. Democrats are more open, but still are bound to a label.
3. Independents have the fewest barriers to free-thinking.

And here’s how the trend breaks down:

So basically, the trend towards secular beliefs goes right down the same exact lines. The expected result.

Here’s an idea: let’s have a world news subreddit that doesn’t make you want to shoot yourself in the face. Reddit these days can turn just about anyone into a nihilist in under 15 minutes; it’s fucking depressing.

Enter happy.reddit.com.

Other name options:

• noshootingspree.reddit.com
• istillcare.reddit.com
• notanihilist.reddit.com
• showmeitsworthit.reddit.com

I suppose the downside is that there wouldn’t be any content.

[ Why French Women Don't Get Fat ]

It appears that the site that hosts Quicksilver (blacktree.com) has fallen over. Since upgrading to Leopard I’ve been most enthused about getting Quicksilver [PBUH] up and running.

But I can’t. Because the site’s down you currently can’t update whatever version you have, and more importantly you can’t pull down plugins.

grrr.

If anyone knows anything about this I’d sure like to hear about it.

I’ve long held that the more secular (non-traditionally-religious) a culture is the more healthy it is. It appears we might finally have some solid evidence of this. A new Pew poll report shows a very strong link between a country’s religion and wealth ().

Africa on one side, Europe on the other. In my experience you’ll rarely meet someone more religious and/or superstitious than an African. Conversely, try and find a Swede who believes in ghosts or a Biblical God. It is my belief these differences do affect a culture’s ability to thrive.

From the study:

The survey finds a strong relationship between a country’s religiosity and its economic status. In poorer nations, religion remains central to the lives of individuals, while secular perspectives are more common in richer nations. This relationship generally is consistent across regions and countries, although there are some exceptions, including most notably the United States, which is a much more religious country than its level of prosperity would indicate. Other nations deviate from the pattern as well, including the oil-rich, predominantly Muslim — and very religious — kingdom of Kuwait.

[yoda] Religion leads to superstition. Superstition leads to fear. Fear leads to suffering… [/yoda]