I still feel dazed, and a little sore too. My sense of time and space has been warped yet again. *boggle* Yes, I have a weak constitution.

***

I got posted out of 452SAR! Muahahaha.

*does dance to Huitzilopochtli*

***

"While I openly proclaim myself a Theistic Evolutionist, i.e. one who believes in both the existence of a God and that evolution does occur, it riles me to no end when Creationists and fellow Christians resort to half-truths, occasional outright lies, withholding of valuable information, out-of-context quotes, irrelevant and illogical arguments, and already-refuted points, and much hysterical arm-waving and hollering to strengthen the case for the story of creation, which, to put it mildly in my point of view, is complete bullshit."

Interestingly, Ivan's take on Creation "Science" approximates my view of religion in general :)

***

I am told that SMU students have to do 80 hours of community work every year. Somehow, I find that to be at odds with their desired image as a modern, progressive, funky school.

Mandating that students give back to the community says nothing about their characters; doing something because you have to do it does not make you any more moral or compassionate. Of course, some would argue that sometime during those 80 hours, the students will suddenly be struck by an epiphanous revelation and realise the character and virtue building benefits of doing community service.

More likely, they will grow to resent and even loathe (if they haven't already) this monumental consumer of their time, and the grand scheme will backfire.

***

A bad-tempered buzzard that dive-bombed cyclists on an English country road has finally met its match after it swooped on a van.

The buzzard's reign of terror ended instantly when it attacked the van near the market town of Holsworthy in North Devon on Wednesday.

"It took on more than it could chew," a spokeswoman for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds said on Thursday. "It was a pure accident."

She said the buzzard was probably defending chicks in a nest near the road. The driver was a local man who was deeply upset by the accident.

The buzzard had attacked more than 20 riders, including competitors in a bike race who suffered head injuries and gouged helmets last weekend.

One cyclist who was attacked said he was upset to hear of the bird's death.

"You never like to hear about a wild bird being killed," Paul Dixon, 71, told the Daily Express. "Mind you, it will spare us all a few scratches."

***

Pavarotti rocks the boat on family holiday - "When you tip the scales at 25 stone or so, a life on the ocean wave can have its problems. Such as the boat listing at a dramatic angle when you happen-to move over to one side."

The heat's on and the Japanese can cool off with horse-flesh ice-cream - "In its mission to generate as wide an appeal as possible, Ice-Cream City is not restricting its target market to those with a sweet tooth. Basashi vanilla, for example, draws on a Fukushima region speciality and includes chunks of horse-flesh sushi. Yagi no aisu is ice-cream made with goat’s milk and goat meat, and gyu tan is cow-tongue sorbet. In the adjoining freezer, customers are offered ice-cream flavoured with real octopus, abalone, oysters, shrimp, crab and whale. The most expensive, selling for about £5 for a small tub, are shark’s fin and sea- urchin roe ice-cream."

Clinton's mentor was Mao, Chinese readers are told - "In the Mandarin version of My Life, Mr Clinton extols the wisdom of the Chairman, repeatedly quotes his most famous sayings and enthusiastically recounts a childhood conversation with an unnamed uncle about the mysteries of the Maoist Middle Kingdom."

American Idol’s William Hung Found Dead of Heroin Overdose - "The announcement of his death sent shockwaves to the tens of people who still found him funny."

Man Faces First-Degree Murder for Testing ''Knife-Proof'' Vest - "A 32-year-old man faces first-degree murder charges for allegedly killing his nephew in a demonstration of a bulletproof vest they believed could also stop knives."

Say a little prayer for me - for $5 - "With Catholic clergy in short supply in the US, Indian priests are picking up some of their work, saying Mass for special intentions, in a sacred if unusual version of outsourcing."

The secret formula for going to the moon - "Three presidents, hundreds of congressmen, and the government and private teams assigned to the project were afraid of the kind of world that would result if the United States did not succeed at the manned lunar landing. Specifically, they were not afraid of aliens, or of epidemics, or of economic depressions — they were afraid of the adjusting alignments in a world in which U.S. technology and leadership came to be thought of as second-rate, and where the United States wasn’t everyone’s partner-of-choice in business, in culture, and in security."


shadafakup: "People say I have interesting links. You must be the link Santa then, which might be a good or bad thing."