Things that make you go "WTF?"

A little buzz among bloggers was kicked off this week by Podnosh (and picked up by Bad Science) around a report published by the Charity Commission stating that (to paraphrase) "wikis and blogs have no educational value".  I'm not going to go into a detailed stance here (I'll let the discussion on Podnosh and Bad Science do that for me, they're doing a wonderful job), but I am going to make one observation:  What does this mean for the BBC?  Let me explain.

If you take a look at who makes up the Charity Commission, you'll find Sharmila Nebhrajani is one of the commissioners.  Sharmila is also COO of BBC Future Media & Technology, and this is where I get confused.  The commission has a member who runs the BBC department that handles its digital content, website, and (I would assume) blogs and podcasts.  The commission doesn't see blogs as educational, yet the BBC continues to support Sharmila's department in spite of a £36 million overspend.

Did I forget to mention that Sharmila also has a Facebook account?

Does this strike anyone as mildly ... well ... odd?

What a Trip!

Albert Hofmann, "the father of LSD", died yesterday ... at the age of 102! That's one hundred two years old. Makes me wonder about these health nuts and what they espouse. However, that's not the main reason I'm writing.

Think about this: It's a common belief that, as you're "crossing over" you review the events of your life ... they "flash before your eyes". In essence, you have a life-encompassing "flashback" as you leave this plane of existence. The ultimate trip, eh?

Now try this: One side effect of LSD use is the possibility that you will continue to have occasional flashbacks throughout your life, even long after you'd stopped taking the drug. Good trips, bad trips, didn't matter. I had a friend who described his flashbacks as, "I'd be driving along and all of a sudden the sky would turn green, the grass in the median neon blue, and the highway a hot red. I'd be like ... 'cool ... let's see where this goes ...'". Anyway, you get the picture.

Now, here's the final point to ponder: If your life of flashbacks flashes before your eyes as you pass, wouldn't that set up an infinite recursion that would either:

• Send you back in time, or
  
• Make you immortal (since you wouldn't finish passing until the recursion collapsed)

???

Technorati Tags: lsd

Yep, I'm older ... like a fine wine

Today's birthday number 45. Well, if 50's the new 30, then I'm still in my 20's. I've got that going for me. I've received several eCards today from co-workers. Many of us are rigged up on Plaxo, making the process of remembering someone's birthday ridiculously easy:

1. You receive an email from Plaxo, reminding you of the upcoming event
2. You click on a link to send a card
3. You select the card to send, change the default text (if you really want to)
4. Hit a button and you're good to go

I love it, I use it, it works. Now ... I'm not certain what to make of this, but every eCard I got today was the same template (and I mean EVERY card):

Should I be concerned?

MN politics in action takes my breath away

Yep, they're at it again. That wacky, madcap band of senators and reps in St. Paul are out to extend our 2nd Amendment rights, and finally give the sellers of ammunition a break (by increasing sales).


I've only one question: I thought it was illegal to discharge a firearm in the city limits. Does this legislation trump that, or do I still get charged with a misdemeanor after killing the frightening clown who was trying to give me a balloon animal?

It seems like we're focusing on the wrong problem

In his book "When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops?", George Carlin explains that "suicide bombers" aren't really committing suicide: suicide is the result of someone believing their life is worthless, while these bombers believe the act of ending their lives matters especially if they can take someone with them (preferably an infidel or two). In reality, they're more "homicide bombers" that get caught up in their own act of mass murder. (If you have an Audible account, get the audiobook version, as it's read by Carlin himself and his delivery, as always, is hilarious).

Maybe we're all looking in the wrong place, or in the wrong direction. In the past week, we've have 5 different incidents of "suicide shootings" within our borders ... in our own schools. Ohio, Louisiana, Tennessee, California, and just yesterday in Illinois. The latest trend in school shootings is to shoot a video, go kill a bunch of people, then kill yourself. If that isn't "suicide terrorism" I don't know what is.

We're so preoccupied with keeping people outside the country from coming in ... are we completely losing perspective on what's happening at home?