Geek Drivel

I answer a soft knock on the front door a few minutes ago, still in my houserobe because the recent blizzard has driven me into semi-hibernation, to find two soft-spoken and well-dressed men at the door. One is in his late twenties, the other maybe forty, and each carries a handful of literature and a book with the suspiciously self-righteous look of a cheap but well-thumbed Bible, bristling with bookmarks. Even half-asleep, I have a good idea that they aren’t Fuller Brush salesmen.

“Good morning, sir,” twenty-something begins. “I hope we didn’t get you out of bed.” I mentally grant him minor points for noticing my attire. “Do you have a minute?”

“Not really.”

“Oh.” They seem taken aback by this. “Well, if we could just leave something for you to read. My name is Greg, by the way, I didn’t get yours…?” as he tries to urge a Watchtower on me.

“And you’re not going to either. Good day,” as I close the door.

You know, there’s a good reason why door-to-door salesmen have all but vanished. People don’t like having things pushed on them uninvited. But apparently certain groups haven’t quite gotten that. And I’m willing to bet they never will, too.

This “Virgin Mary USB Flash drive” is just ridiculous. “Plug her in and ’she comes to life, her red LED heart starts to beat – in passive state slowly, quicker whilst connecting or saving data’ [...]”

Thanks, but I’ll take a USB Rocket Launcher instead. (Oh darn, it looks like it’s Windows-only.)

Abduction and brain-washing by a Satanic cult… it’s all just too eighties for me.

On the Dilbert Blog today, Scott Adams mentioned a fascinating New York Times article about why people vote. It’s worth reading in it’s entirety, but the executive summary is that many people seem to vote in order to be seen voting, not because they think their vote will make any difference whatsoever.

The more observant among you will notice that I’ve filed this entry under “Religions” as well as “Amusing, Interesting, or Appalling.” That was deliberate, because I’ve noticed the exact same behavior from some of the people that I know who regularly attend churches. They do it to be seen there by their children and the people in their community, not because (as I originally thought) they think that it helps them be better people, or because they believe that their Deity is keeping track of it. These are also people who spend a lot of time and money in “keeping up with the Joneses.”

I knew that this kind of thing went on in the past. In the intolerant groups that came to the New World in search of the freedom to practice their particular brands of religion, it was often the only way to protect yourselves from accusations of heresy or immorality by your neighbors, which could result in being executed, or at least thrown out of the colony to starve in the wilderness. But until I met these people, I didn’t realize that anyone still indulged in this sort of behavior.

It might explain a lot about humanity.

Be careful when visiting Iowa. This fellow was arrested there… for throwing an onion at his wife.

While you’re at it, be careful endorsing unpopular thoughts there too.

Un-frickin’-believable.

There’s something I’ve never understood about people: how some (most?) people will adopt a specific position about a subject, and thereafter simply won’t be able to comprehend any argument to the contrary.
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Maybe you heard about the recent flap over a lawsuit that Nebraska State Senator Ernie Chambers filed against God last week? Apparently God just answered.

I can’t tell whether this is true or someone’s idea of a joke at Reuters. If it’s true, maybe they should put shrines to Akash Bhairab in our airports, instead of continually adding more human security people.

It seems that religion always stands in the way of making money. Unless, of course, you’re a televangelist.

…the flap over the recent film of a shadowy possibly-living-thing in Loch Ness is more interesting for what it says about people than the possible existence of the Loch Ness Monster.

Like Bigfoot and captured aliens from Roswell, the Loch Ness Monster may actually exist — after all, scientists didn’t think that rogue waves really existed until they were proven in 1995, despite dozens of documented encounters with them throughout history. But some people will hear a story and, with little or no further evidence, simply believe it. And not just the it’s-probably-true belief either — they’ll have an unshakable and completely irrational belief in it. They’ll believe it so thoroughly that even if you could prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that it doesn’t exist, they’ll assume that you or your methods are wrong, or that the thing could turn invisible or something, rather than admit that it might not.

Anyone who claims that people are rational needs to have his head examined.