Guest Blogger INC?

Just a quick heads up, I am going to experiment with a guest blogger. Feel free to say hello to Britney Wilkins of http://www.onlinecourses.org/. Let's see what she has to say, and how I feel about it. Hey, it is a free country after all. Hopefully it will be worthwhile for an addition, although how many people actually come by here versus going to her site? Maybe she's fishing for some rational thinkers?

Facts Not Fantasy

Just a quick post today. I am off to see the new Harry Potter movie with my daughter, so I have to say that takes precedence over anything that I would care to write today! Anyway, I combed through some news today, and there seems to be a lot of interesting science news on the stuff that I blog on at Facts Not Fantasy. Tool using apes. Figuring out the origin of flowers. Shark sex. Vaccines for Valley Fever and Alzheimer's. Isolating and figuring out 27 more genes associated with autism. More understanding of childhood brain development even.

It was also a good day for space news. Yesterday Falcon X launched a satellite for Malaysia. The Space Shuttle also got up. Although, from reports I am hearing, there was quite a bit of tile damage with this launch. That is concerning. Will have to keep an eye out on the news for more on that. Okay, I'll check with scientists and engineers, the news isn't worth shit...

Telescopes in the Year of Astronomy

In celebration of the International Year of Astronomy, Scientific American put up this little piece (that you can get to by clicking the title of this blog post). I urge you to look at the slide show as well. All too often, when people think of telescopes, they think of just optical scopes. Well, there are a lot of different types of telescopes out there. It's amazing how much we have found out about our universe, the way it formed, what its ultimate fate is, and our place in it. And to think that at one time, we thought all of it centered around us (well, quite a few folks still think that, and hundreds of years of science won't tell them different...).

Speaking of which, a facebook "friend" of mine made a post that I really think is worth repeating, since it's like she took the words straight from my brain!

I believe that religion was a precursor to what we now rely on: science and the scientific method to make determinations regarding our natural world. Is science perfect? No. Can it be manipulated? Yes. But, the basis for scientific thinking and inquiry, is REASONING. Intelligent REASONING. I'd rather the human mind work through reason to find truth as far as the human mind has the capacity to. Many people of faith believe that scientific theory regarding say, evolution, makes more sense than not. Though, many tend to insert a "god's" hand in that process in some way. I've contended in the past several times, that religion will in fact, "die" some day. Maybe not in the near future, but it will. You can't keep the human mind from expanding beyond what is ultimately, unreasonable.

Where religion was a means to attempt understanding of the natural world before before real scientific inquiry, it has now become a means in which people of power, stay in power. Keep the masses ignorant and afraid. Keep them ignorant, and afraid. Keep them in the yoke of religious ridiculousness, and you'll have paying servants for as long as you need them.

How appropriate. I can only hope that religion will eventually die, and we can move beyond these childish superstitions (to quote another really smart and famous guy).

Autism Awareness Loses a Fierce Advocate

Well, the pro-disease nutters have driven away an autism research advocate from a position where he could do actual help. Dr. Eric London resigned from the Autism Speaks organization. You can read his letter in the link. Although, I think it's quite obvious where he stands... Sadly, this is a case where someone finally got overwhelmed by the dismal science that they would rather walk away than stain their credibility. Autism has lost a fierce advocate for understanding it better. I'd like to call out this part of his letter (emphasis mine):

The arguments which Dr. Dawson and others assert-- that the parents need even further assurances and there might be rare cases of “biologically plausible” vaccine involvement --are misleading and disingenuous. Through its website and other communications, Autism Speaks has been influential and contributory in encouraging parents’ doubts. By preferentially investing and advocating for the use of limited financial resources on the “biological plausibility” argument, the organization is adversely impacting the advancement of autism research.

Recent reports have documented significant outbreaks of measles and other infectious diseases which could have been controlled and even eradicated. The lowering of the vaccination rate has already led to deaths. If Autism Speaks’ misguided stance continues, there will be more deaths and potentially the loss of herd immunity which would result in serious outbreaks of otherwise preventable disease. I further fear that if and when herd immunity is lost, there may be a societal backlash against the autism community.

So, not only are these nutters increasing the risk of people dying, but they are hurting their own cause. How poetic. It just pisses me off that people will act that irresponsibly because some vacuous blonde with big tits thinks her baby got autism from shots. Never mind that there are mountains and mountains of evidence that says otherwise. Or the fact that this dumb bitch wouldn't recognize real science if it fucked her! Why the hell do we even listen to her when she talks? She's an actress! When you get right down to it, an actor is a professional liar! The better they are at lying, the more believable their roles are (although I would contend that Jenny McCarthy is actually a pretty bad actress, but you get the point).

Well, I'm upset that this has happened obviously, but maybe now there will be more fallout from these nutters spreading their lies (you know, aside from people DYING from preventable diseases). And we could also hope that the Swine Flu is somehow intelligent, and only kills the ones who voluntarially turned down a vaccine. Of course, that's just me being vindictive, and such a coincidence would have me questioning my atheism. ;) Sadly, what will happen is that the flu, and many other diseases will kill lots of people that didn;t have to die at all because of their stupidity and selfishness.

Bunch of Fucking Idiots....

So I have been hanging out at one of those websites where people ask questions, and you can submit answers for them (because they don't know how to google apparently). I must say, even if half of the people there are just fucking with you and asking intentionally inane questions, the other half are just frighteningly ignorant!

I blogged about this in another location, but I just have to again, since the ask place has totally deflated my opinion of humanity. I just file this one under: The American public has been dumbed down too much, and now we're doomed to be overtaken by the Chinese, Indians, and pretty much all of Europe. I found the last part of the article particularly disheartening:

According to the study, 58 percent of the general public favors government funding for stem cell research, while 93 percent of scientists favor federal backing. The majority of Americans, 69 percent, believe parents should vaccinate their children, compared to 82 percent of the scientific community.

The AAAS members did not see eye to eye with the public on other matters also, including evolution. Research found that only 32 percent of the public believes humans and other living creatures evolved naturally, compared with 87 percent of scientists.

Global warming was also a differing issue with 84 percent of scientists saying the Earth is getting warmer because of human activity, while only 32 percent of the public agreed.

And these were just "general" scientists, not ones who would be on average be qualified to speak to a specific subject. I guess that all this article shows is that most of the general public shouldn't be allowed outside without supervision (or at least a helmet and a note pinned to their chest explaining their stupidity). I really gotta wonder what type of "scientist" the 13% who didn't believe evolution were... Basket weaving scientists?

Religion is Like Masturbation

Something I just saw that amused me and deserves to be posted so I can find it again. These are the ways that religion is like masturbation:

Don't do it in public. It's annoying and embarrassing.
Don't force people to watch or join you.
Don't teach children how to do it especially if they are too young to understand what's going on.
Don't label other people's children according to the way their parents do it.
Don't change the law in order to enforce your favorite way of doing it.
And finally if you explain why you do it, please be honest. Say that you do it for personal relief and spare us pointless arguments about the laws of logic, objective morality or the bacterial flagellum.

Fucking Frightening, but NOT Surprising

If you read this blog, then I'm sure you probably saw the Rachel Maddow bit about the C Street House and a group called "The Family". Now, even if you aren't liberal, or even atheist, doesn't this group sound like a bunch of fucking crackpots!? What the fucking fuck!? Here, just have a look:

Really, are these people on the same fucking planet as the rest of us? And again, this just goes to the whole idea that religion empowers people of power to abuse that power because it's perfectly okay to do so according to their god(s). Why can't people see through that thin veneer that tries to hide how utterly ridiculous religion is? As I am fond of saying: "Science will fly you to the moon. Religion will fly you into buildings." While many folks will extol the virtues of religion, and its impact on art, music, and even philanthropic efforts, all those could easily be accomplished, and surpassed by secular efforts.

On the good news front, I finally got to see the Fareed Zakaria episode where he interviewed the British Foreign Minister, an atheist! Considering that this man is a possible leader of the Labour Party, and then even in line as a Prime Minister actually had my wife and I cheering as we watched the show. He's articulate, intelligent, well spoken, and has a balanced view of the world (even with Fareed's jab on the Kashmir region). Imagine that! The part that got me cheering was at the 18:58 point in this video.

Okay, just a quick blog for today. I am still doing the whole application of jobs and trying to ensure that me and my family are well taken care of, while still contributing to the world. While this blog is fun and all, it doesn't quite meet that mission statement. :)

125 Job Applications in 3 days!

Okay, my retirement ceremony is in the bag, I took a small vacation ad did nothing but drink, watch TV, and go fishing (hanging out with my wife's dad, and of course joking around with my daughter). I am finally back though, and I am starting to freak out about employment. Even though I turned down the Civil Service job that was a 30% paycut, I may be facing a nearly 100% paycut soon if I can't find some gainful employment!

I have a nice solid lead with general Dynamics, but that is contingent on them getting a specific contract! So, until they know, I can't really just sit on my butt and do nothing. I also have some good contacts established with Booz Allen Hamilton, L3, and a few other companies, but nothing is really moving forward at this time. So, over the past couple of days, I have been over at "The Ladders" and submitting my resume like crazy! And my plan is to go back there every day to apply for jobs that I qualify on that have been posted just that day.

Still, this whole process has got me totally freaked out! I only wish it was as easy as a PCS. Then the only concern is moving. Speaking of which; man, I am going to take a beating on the house if we do have to relocate!

Retirement (Surreal)

Well, had the retirement ceremony, so that chapter is all over with. It still seems totally surreal though. As I had said before, I didn't really WANT a ceremony, but I was pretty much ordered to have one. It was nice but in the end, maybe a little more stress than I wanted to deal with, and especially more stress than my wife wanted to deal with.

Had a couple of nice surprises though. My daughter did this very cool slide-show, and then my wife got a lady by the name of Phyllis Hasty to sing the National Anthem (she used to perform on Broadway). And my shadow box totally kicked ass! All I can say is that I am glad it's all over with.

Now to worry about finding a job in this economy... Wish me luck. Oh, I had promised to post my retirement speech. This is what I had written up before I went in to the ceremony. I didn't go too far off script, and obviously I didn't just read this, so the words may have come out a little bit different, but the gist is there:

Retirement Speech:
Thank you very much for your words Col Dantzler, and for dusting off your uniform once again to perform a retirement ceremony.

I would first like to start off by giving my most sincere and heartfelt thanks to all of you for showing up here to celebrate this transition in my life. I know this is high season for such events, and the demands on your time are many. I would especially like to thank my co-workers for putting in the time and effort to make this a memorable event. We all do important work up there in XR, and this was probably the last thing you wanted add to your plate. I’d like to thank the folks from around the base and community who are here as well. It means a lot to me to see you here. Especially those of you who traveled from far away, and had to deal with getting on the base.

I do want to make a special thank you to my wife and daughter. To my lovely wife of 17 years (although I was only home for 12 of those), Brooke. You are my best friend, and the reason I even managed to get to where I did. Words actually fail me in describing all you have done as the foundation of our family. Your service has been much more difficult than mine, since I was the one who volunteered for this life, and I dragged you along. It is for you that I am so excited about this next phase of our life.

Megan, like for mom, I just haven’t been around as much as I wanted to. I was doing what needed to be done; but now I hope we’ll be able to share more times like we did that weekend at Disney. You are smart, pretty, and just a lot of fun to hang out with, and I look forward to time that we’ll be able to spend together.

I know that we have kept you here for quite a while with all the letters, medals, Col Dantzler revealing my deep dark secrets, and the like, so I’ll try to be brief. As is normal at an occasion like this, I have reflected back on my career and am proud and humbled by this chapter in my life. Those who know me, are aware that I have aired frustrations with the Air Force’s ability to manage their rated officers, but I’d rather focus on how I served. If I had to sum it up in one phrase, I guess it would be, “Doing what needed to be done.”

Not for glory, or because it was the most strategic thing for my career, but because I felt that with my enthusiasm, skills, and personality I could have an effect on the direction of this world. Very few people want to be Protocol Officers, but it needs doing. I can’t think of a lot of people who actually wanted to be Tanker Toads, but it absolutely needs doing. Even flying C-21s, while probably a little more for me, let me do things that needed to be done, such as training younger pilots in the skills and techniques I managed to pick up in my career, allowing them to then pass those things on to others.

The last few years I’ve been involved in acquisitions. If there is any field that is far removed from war stories and glory, I would have to say this is it, but it is also the foundation of everything that the warfighter is ABLE to do. Sure, a lot of people are out there doing what needs to be done, but without this aspect, they would just be people with no tools. While the guys getting the medals and the heroes get the press coverage, and they humbly say, “I was just doing what needed to be done.” Remember that it is all of you who really make that possible. I’ve had the opportunity to work with many people from many countries and services, and while we pride ourselves in the training and education of our people, we must realize we’re all humans with the same basic skills and abilities, but the tools you all provide to the United States Armed Forces is truly and honestly what sets us apart.

And with that, I want to say that it has been my distinct honor, privilege, and most heartfelt duty to work with all of you. So, in closing, I just want to say thank you, and I hope that our paths will keep crossing so that I can keep working with all the folks who really are doing what needed to be done.

Partisan STUPIDTY

Have you ever had the pleasure to observe someone incredibly competent, thoughtful, skillful, and a leader in their field perform a job (such as brain surgery)? And then some fucking retard who hasn't the foggiest clue how to do this job criticizes ("What I'd do is cut right through that there Medulla Oblangata...")? Watching the way the Republicans are criticizing President Obama over his reaction to the Iranian Election protests is sort of like that.

Do the Republicans WANT to be a tool for the hardline government? Do they ENJOY being played like some ten cent banjo? Do they have no understanding of the history we have in that country that stretches back sixy years? When a statesman like Henry Kissinger says you are handling things correctly, don't you think the retards with an (R) after their name can listen?

I was particularly dismayed at the comparison one congresscritter had with President Reagan's "Mr. Gorbachev, that wall is none of our business." mental drivel. Does he really thing that the situations are even on the same planet of comparison? Is he so daft as to think that the history is remotely the same? Again, if the GOP wants to be a viable party, they need to find people who have IQs higher than room temperature to represent them (I'm not saying that Rebuplicans actually ARE retarded, but they are acting like it!).

Again, I urge all to support the Demonstrators in Iran, and we should hope for some sort of regime change. However, UNDERSTAND that it is not the place of the President of the United States (no matter who) to really take sides. He's screwed either way, but the sure fire way to give material support to the hardliners is to issue unequivocal support for the reformists. Read that again. Now think about it for a while, and maybe you can understand the staesmanship actualy involved here.

No matter how this turns out, also keep in mind that we have the spectre of a nuclear Iran to deal with. When the dust settles, no matter who is in power, we will still need to deal with them. Again, but interfereing or even taking sides, we potentially cut off any opportunity to tackle this issue. And the reformists are smarter than the Republicans apparently, and understand this. Iran is an intensely proud nation, and they understand that their revolution needs to come wholly at their own hands. And if we lend aid, we're just repeating the fiascos we seem to cause on a regular basis in that region.

Tell the congresscritters and talking heads that are criticizing President Obama to shut the fuck up and let the grown ups do real work, okay?