Why We Are Here

A great, Lovecraftian parody of the infamous "Chick tract," a kind of booklet which way-out-there sorts of Christians used to hand off to unsuspecting normals, can be found in the Cthulhu Tract.

Bwahaha! Come on, monkey-boy! Admit you're a semi-evolved ape thing that is mercifully ignorant of the soul-blasting truths of the Cosmos! Iä! Iä! Cthulhu Fhtagn!

QotD for 7 Jan., 2010

There is no technology that would be harmful in the hands of an individual that can’t be made more so – on an epic scale – in the hands of an entrenched bureaucracy. ---Sarah A. Hoyt, author

Bono's got it all wrong

Jesus Diaz over at Gizmodo posts a righteous rant on the U2 lead singer's boneheaded opinions RE: file sharing and the music biz.

This is about two groups of fat cats fighting for money. First, you're rich and your pals at the music industry are rich. Second, those are rich service providers. In the middle, getting sandwiched between your throbbing shameless practices and thick hypocrisy, is the people. I can't speak for the rest of us, but I'm sick of you both.

Preach it.

QotD for 4 Jan., 2010

Despite fearful rhetoric to the contrary, terrorism is not a transcendent threat. A terrorist attack cannot possibly destroy a country’s way of life; it’s only our reaction to that attack that can do that kind of damage. The more we undermine our own laws, the more we convert our buildings into fortresses, the more we reduce the freedoms and liberties at the foundation of our societies, the more we’re doing the terrorists’ job for them. ---Bruce Schneier, American cryptographer, computer security specialist, and writer

QotD for 15 Dec., 2009

On the occasion of the birthday of the creator of Esperanto...

"I am profoundly convinced that every nationalism offers humanity only the greatest unhappiness... It is true that the nationalism of oppressed peoples -- as a natural self-defensive reaction -- is much more excusable than the nationalism of peoples who oppress; but, if the nationalism of the strong is ignoble, the nationalism of the weak is imprudent; both give birth to and support each other..." ---L. L. Zamenhof

QotD for 11 Dec., 2009

"XML is like violence - if it doesn’t solve your problems, you are not using enough of it." --- quote from the Nokogiri XML parser documentation

[tip o' the hat to Graham Glass]

QotD for 8 Dec., 2009

With all the furor from the Archbishop of Canterbury concerning the recent election of a certain suffragan bishop in the Dio. of Los Angeles fresh on our minds, I couldn't help but recall a famous quotation:

"I wouldn't go to Lambeth if Jesus himself was there handing out $1,000 bills. I went once before, and if assholes had wings Lambeth would be an airport!" --- the Rt. Rev. Barbara Harris, first female bishop in the Anglican Communion