Tuesday Share (late) for July 21, 2009

Collection of links to stories and odd things I enjoyed over the last week.

I need to get the hang of writing postsbeforehand andscheduling them for later release so they don’t all tumble out at once and then the site goes dead for awhile until I’m able to update again.  I have a lot of great links.  I’m thinking these linking posts are getting boring.  Does anyone who reads the blog find any of the stories I put up here interesting?  Would a themed post be better, or should I simply eliminate them? 

Ok, let the random linking begin!

I’m a sucker for video games and pixel art and this post combines both so it showing up here was almost guaranteed.  Darkstalkers was one of numerous SF2 clones that Capcom made, the games only claim to fame was basing all the fighters on horror staples like Frankenstein, Dracula, the Wolfman, etc…

Follow this link to see the Penn and Teller Bullshit episode on video game violence.  Penn and Teller are libertarians and I don’t agree with some of the things they say but it is always interesting.

It appears this post already has a theme: video games, and this next link fits in with it as well.  Microsoft is rebooting the Mechwarrior franchise and part of the marketing campaign they’ll be releasing Mechwarrior 4 and its expansions, for free, to begin promoting.

I was going to post a link to the story of the US soldier who doesn’t think President Obama is a citizen of the United States of America and so doesn’t have to take orders from him, but these “birthers” are getting way too much attention form the media which only legitimizes they’re special brand of insane, so I won’t be linking to it and no one else should either.  They people should be shunned and humiliated not giving the spotlight.

A short interesting piece on climate warming and the arguments made against the United States enacting any law or provision that might reduce the use of fuels that contribute to it.  The gist of it is if the USA is worried about other countries not following in our footsteps by simply refusing to provide funding for dirty power plants.  Obviously this issue is more complicated than that but the post is a good jumping off point.

There are too many myths about the Star Spangled Banner (which are in good company with the scores of other myths and distortions about the birth of the United States)  all of which are busted by Ed Darrell from Millard Fillmore’s Bathtub.

Mediums get busted on this BBC show, I don’t know anything about it I just found the “mediums” so bad and transparant, and the dupe so funny.

Again, let me know if this is part of the blog you’d like to see continue or if you don’t bother reading them.

I’m still Alive

And I promise to post something! I’m just been adjusting to my new job at the Capitol! Keep your eyes on that RSS feed for something worth reading!

Sorry I’ve neglected you!

Random What Have Yous

As the title suggests this is just a little hodge-podge of going-ons, funny things I’ve found and, you know, random stuff…

First – I’ve completed my review for Contra 4, it can be found here

Next – I’ve been a Ron Paul supporter for awhile now but doing looking closer at the man’s platform has changed my mind. As much as I like libertarian ideals and ideas, it’s not practical or realistic in the world today. Tony Long does a great job explaining why here,  he said a lot of what I was feeling in a much more understandable and shorter way. Please read!

Third – This funny comic by political cartoonist Matt Davies. It started with Edwards then Obama took it, now every candidate in both parties is talking about “change” in Washington D.C. as a new thing. Politicians have been promising the American voter change for the last 200 years, somehow though they’ve yet to deliver… strange…

Lastly – I promise real content soon! Um, I’m working on something… Yeah, that’s the ticket! Seriously though I’ve fallen way behind on my own work, I need to rectify that, it’s going into the list of resolutions (speaking of which still not biting my nails!).  I have a few ideas for good postings, I hope they show up here soon!

That’s it for now!

P.S. Kisses Diana!

On Whaling

Please go over and read the commentary on Japan’s decision to resume whaling over here at Wired, especially pay attention to the enlightened comments at the end the ones by “Rawhead” and “DarkMirage” are exceptional.  Then reflect back on that logic class you had take your second year in undergrad and try to point out as many fallacies as you can!  Just off the top of my head I noticed straw man, ad hominem, appeal to ridicule, and personal attack.

To the article, killing animals is barbaric, whether it’s a whale, cow, pig or chicken.  The Japanese should at least be honest enough to admit to what they’re actually doing with the whales. If you disagree with their policies you absolutely should boycott Japanese products and let companies know why.  If enough people did, the Japanese government would feel the pressure real quick,  the country depends on its exports. There is no cultural excuse for anything and anytime you hear someone appeal to their culture to defend some ethically dubious practice they are exercising another logical fallacy: appeal to common practice. Just because humans everywhere butchers all sorts of domesticated animals, doesn’t justify Japan slaughtering whales, but no one wants to be ethical first. Mostly because no one in politics, the general populous understands game theory. Oh, well I guess I could mention that there’s no good reason to kill those free roaming whales when we have those billions of plants and animals in food factories, but I wonder if they’d follow the logic!

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