Author: matthew

A very novel approach to talking about copyright and fair use:

Richard Dawkins’ book, “The God Delusion“, has become a worldwide non-fiction best-seller. He has been chastised in numerous reviews and debates for his stridency, focus on disputing claims by certain populist preachers rather than moderates, and general poo-pooing of religion as a necessary or desirable force in the world.

After months of silence, earlier this month Richard Dawkins responded. While I realize most/many/all of us have not read “The God Delusion” (it’s on my to-buy list once I finish Dawkins’ “The Ancestor’s Tale”), I think Richard’s perspective on the debate surrounding his work is helpful toward keeping the discussion centered on the real issues of faith in global politics and war rather than ad-hominem.

Some quotes:

I’m an atheist, but I wish to dissociate myself from your shrill, strident, intemperate, intolerant, ranting language.

Objectively judged, the language of The God Delusion is less shrill than we regularly hear from political commentators or from theatre, art, book or restaurant critics. The illusion of intemperance flows from the unspoken convention that faith is uniquely privileged: off limits to attack. In a criticism of religion, even clarity ceases to be a virtue and begins to sound like aggressive hostility.

“you attack crude, rabble-rousing chancers like Ted Haggard, Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson, rather than facing up to sophisticated theologians like Bonhoeffer or the Archbishop of Canterbury.”

If subtle, nuanced religion predominated, the world would be a better place and I would have written a different book. The melancholy truth is that decent, understated religion is numerically negligible. Most believers echo Robertson, Falwell or Haggard, Osama bin Laden or Ayatollah Khomeini. These are not straw men. The world needs to face them, and my book does so.

A man was driving his brand new Ferrari when he noticed a State Trooper behind him with the lights on. He decides he can outrun the squad car, so he accelerates to 80. The trooper keeps up with no problem. The man speeds up to 90, with the officer still right there with him. As he passes 100 miles per hour, he realizes how stupid this is and decides he should pull over.

The trooper walks up to the car and says “Sir, I have 15 minutes left in my shift, and then I am on vacation for 2 weeks. If you can give me a reason I have never heard before to explain your speeding, I’ll let you go.”

The man says to the officer “Well, a year ago my wife ran off with a state trooper, and I was afraid you were coming to return her to me”.

“Have a nice day, sir” says the trooper as he returns to his squad.

http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/05/18/0543217

OK. I wasn’t planning on seeing this in theaters… and now I am.

If, in your life, you have ever been to an LDS church meeting, I think you will laugh hard at this. It’s getting big play in Utah… I had tears coming out of my eyes. Apparently this traffic reporter was high on cold medicine at the time she made this broadcast:

FM 100 Radio Broadcast

Original source: http://www.dooce.com/archives/nubbin/05_16_2007.html

This is a small snippet from a radio news show here in Salt Lake City where the traffic reporter, Kristy Snow, is apparently high on cold medicine, and the result is really quite wonderful. This is what happens when you do those hard drugs!

You know, I don’t want to do this, but I just have to… Yep, I got a forward in my inbox from my girl. And it just made me want to put a ponytail on the side of my head, wear a fluorescent pink polka-dotted shirt, throw on some acid-washed Jordache jeans, and sing some Bon Jovi.

That sounded more masculine in my head, you know.

You Know You Grew Up In the 80’s if:

1. You’ve ever ended a sentence with the word SIKE.
2. You can sing the rap to the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and can do the Carlton
3. You know that “WOAH” comes from Joey on Blossom
4. If you ever watched “Fraggle Rock”
5. It was actually worth getting up early on a Saturday to watch cartoons.
6. You wore a ponytail on the side of your head.
7. You got super-excited when it was Oregon Trail day in computer class at school.
8. You made your mom buy one of those clips that would hold your shirt in a knot on the side.
9. You played the game “MASH”(Mansion, Apartment, Shelter, House)
10. You wore stonewashed Jordache jean jackets and were proud of it.
11. You know the profound meaning of ” WAX ON , WAX OFF”
12. You wanted to be a Goonie.
13. You ever wore fluorescent clothing. (some of us…head-to-toe)
14. You can remember what Michael Jackson looked like before his nose fell off and his cheeks shifted.
15. You have ever pondered why Smurfette was the only female smurf.
16. You took lunch boxes to school…and traded Garbage Pailkids in the schoolyard.
17. You remember the CRAZE, then the BANNING of slap bracelets.
18. You still get the urge to say “NOT” after every sentence.
19. You thought your childhood friends would never leave because you exchanged handmade friendship bracelets.
20. You ever owned a pair of Jelly-Shoes.
21. After you saw Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure you kept saying “I know you are, but what am I?”
22. You remember “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up”
23. You remember going to the skating rink before there were inline skates.
24. You have ever played with a Skip-It.
25. You remember boom boxes and walking around with one on your shoulder like you were all that.
26. You remember watching both Gremlins movies.
27. You thought Doogie Howser/Samantha Micelli was hot.
28. You remember Alf, the li’l furry brown alien from Melmac.
29. You remember New Kids on the Block when they were cool…and don’t even flinch when people refer to them as “NKOTB”
30. You knew all the characters names and their life stories on “Saved By The Bell,” The ORIGINAL class.
31. You know all the words to Bon Jovi – SHOT THROUGH THE HEART.
32. You just sang those words to yourself.
33. You still sing “We are the World”
34. You tight rolled your jeans.
35. You owned a banana clip.
36. You remember “Where’s the Beef?”
37. You used to (and probably still do) say “What you talkin’ ’bout Willis?”
38. You’re still singing shot through the heart in your head, aren’t you!

PASS THIS ON TO ALL OF YOUR FRIENDS WHO GREW UP IN THE 80s or Early 90s!!!

According to researchers, people with high testosterone levels find angry faces made by others to be rewarding.

I now have a little bit of insight into the thought processes of the bullies who teased me incessantly in school. I needed to either beat the living tar out of them or have no reaction at all, not stare angrily at the wall or flash them an upset look.

In the continuing spirit of noting the deaths of figures that I actually give a hoot about, here is “Jerry Falwell dead at 73“. May the news reports covering my death, if any, end up sending as many mixed signals as this one does.

The joys of the Internet. I have pretty strong spam-blocking on my mail server now, courtesy of tens of thousands of attempted mail deliveries every day to the scant dozen inboxes on my server. However, a few sneak through my filters, blacklist, greylists, and spam-traps. This is one such. The tale of one persistent offshore marketer operating under a fake name. I wonder if she’ll write back?

On Tue, May 15, 2007 13:08, Andrea Vernon wrote: Hi Matthew, This is with reference to an email, which was sent to you on May 11, 2007 (attached below). I would like to hear from you with regards to Email Marketing and Lead Generations. Please let me know your thoughts.

Thanks Andrea Vernon

—– Original Message —– From: Andrea Vernon To: matthew at barnson.org Sent: Friday, May 11, 2007 8:40 AM Subject: New Business Oppurtunities for the Quarter

Hi Matthew ,

I did some research on your website and identified couple of marketing possibilities to enhance the lead pipeline for you. Please find attached Prepacked Business Email lists released by Sixchannels on May 03nd 2007. If you are interested in more information or would like to see a few samples records, please send me an email or it would be great if you could suggest me a good time for a quick call.

If you feel I should talk to somebody else in your organization, it would be great if you can forward this email to the right person.

Thank you and I look forward to hearing from you.

Andrea Vernon SixChannels 713-893-4176 www.SixChannels.com AndreaV@SixChannels.com

Alternate Contact: Jeff Anderson

My response is this. I don’t like unsolicited commercial email (spam). I have no interest in talking with you about my web site due to your unethical, poorly-researched marketing method (spamming) and your use of off-shore bulletproof hosting in an attempt to conceal your abuse.

Regards, Matthew P. Barnson

I traced her IP address and history surrounding her murky little marketing company “Six Channels”. Yeah. “Andrea Vernon” and “Jeff Anderson” work out of an office in Mumbai, India, for a company headquartered in Ireland with strong affiliations to known spam gangs? Sounds like a legitimate business opportunity.

Now pull the other one. I really, really despise spammers. Not enough to want to kill them, but enough to want to banish them all somewhere where their only connection to humanity is other scammers on some remote island without any Internet connectivity.

Hat on: Check. Long-sleeve shirt: Check. Long pants: Check. Tight socks, good shoes: Check. Deet-based insect repellent over any exposed skin: Check. A few minutes near the lakeshore during mosquito season: Check.

I have to admit, she was the type to really give you a run for your money. She’s tiny, but she is crafty and has a full belly right now. Despite my safety precautions, despite my tightly-cinched clothing and repellent, she found a way in. She snuck down my pants, grabbed a bite, then snuck back out again unnoticed past at least half a foot of clothing and elastic.

So when you see me scratching my butt-crack vigorously this week, it is NOT because of Klingons. It’s because of one tough, patient little mosquito grabbing a snack through the tidy whities. Despite my admiration for her, I hope she choked. And that I tasted gross.