Bangkok, January 2009

Thanks to my friend, Dan, from Shanghai and Taipei we have the Husbands of 2008 awards.

Husband of the Year Awards

The 1st Place goes to China

The honorable mention goes to: The United Kingdom

...Followed closely by The United States of America

and then ................. Poland

3rd Place must go to ........Greece

it was very very close but the runner up prize was awarded to.............. Serbia

& The winner of the husband/partner of the year ...... is ......... Ireland! Ya gotta love the Irish.

PS: Our New Years Eve dinner was soi food and it was eaten at home ... the first time that we have done this in 9 years.

To make partial amends for the food slight this morning I paid a visit to The Oriental to watch the Brunch.

Friday, January 2, 2009

Saturday, January 3, 2009

Now that we live very close to Lumpini Park (about 1 kilometer away), I am going to spend more time there. It is quite a large park and it offers many activities, from various sports to paddle boating. Today I spent a couple of hours walking around a section of it named "Floating Island".

Sunday, January 4, 2009

Monday, January 5, 2009

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Wednesday, January 7, 2008

Why do scientists hate freedom so much?

Oh, maybe cause 'academic freedom' is the ~~post 9/11 jingoist~~ new buzzword radical Christians are using to squirt warm, salty Creationism, Global Warming Denialism, and pro-life arguments into public schools.

YAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!

Via NCSE:

The State Board of Education, district boards of education, district superintendents and administrators, and public school principals and administrators shall endeavor to create an environment within public elementary and secondary schools that encourages students to explore scientific questions, learn about scientific evidence, develop critical thinking skills, and respond appropriately and respectfully to differences of opinion about controversial issues.

In a SCIENCE classroom, the SCIENCE behind evilution, global warming, and stem cells is NON CONTROVERSIAL. It is what it is.

Populations of organisms change over time.
The Earth is getting warmer because of human generated carbon emissions.
Embryonic stem cells are totipotent, ie they can develop into any kind of cell.

Fantastic.

These issues only become 'controversial' when ANTI-SCIENCE is brought into the mix.

The Christian god created the universe 6000 years ago.
We dont need to stop global warming because Jesus is coming back tomorrow.
Our lord and savior Jesus Christ made embryonic stem cells totipotent to make babies to trap souls, not to cure paralysis.

Kids dont need to learn to be 'respectful' of anti-science in science class.

They need to learn about science.

Toward this end, teachers shall be permitted to help students understand, analyze, critique, and review in an objective manner the scientific strengths and scientific weaknesses of existing scientific theories pertinent to the course being taught.

'Scientific strengths and scientific weaknesses of scientific theories'... When does this shit come up in class anyway, outside of Creationism?

In which fourth grade class do they learn about the pros/cons of stem cell research? When do they debate whether B-cells can revert to a pluripotent state to redevelop into macrophages?

Are there really that many high school seniors losing sleep because they think sometimes non-adaptive alleles can become fixed in a population by chance alone, while their teacher is a staunch adaptionist?

Really??

If you are really concerned about students and teachers free speech rights in the classroom, contact your local ACLU to volunteer.

If you are just a Creationist trying to give Creationist teachers and brainwashed children a free pass, grow a fucking pair of balls. Have the courage of your convictions. Call your bullshit what it is-- CREATIONISM-- and be proud of it, just like Jesus wants. Hiding behind vague legislation, calling it 'Academic Freedom' so your radical religious views are more palatable to the general public? You are pathetic.

A little light of reason shines in Indiana

Posted: 07 Jan 2009 12:58 PM CST

The Indianapolis Star has been running a pointless little prayer on page A2 of the newspaper for years. Not any more; the editor has decided to discontinue it. It isn't because it has suddenly become a mouthpiece for militant atheism, though:

We appreciate that this has been a long tradition in The Star. But we are re-evaluating our mission and all that we do. I believe that prayer is a very personal thing and that offering prayers is something for individuals and their churches. We are a newspaper, not a church.

Also, we do live in a society in which there are many, many different beliefs. We respect all religions, and the prayer was written only from the Christian perspective.

Because of those issues, we have decided to drop the prayer. I'm confident that people will continue to offer their own prayers reflecting their own lives and faith needs.

Good for the Star! As you might guess, this decision has triggered lots of complaints. Here's one that I thought was very funny.