Making an argument based on ignoring evidence is called being an asshole

Robert Jordan died, in case anyone cares. I read all those books. They were decent enough. Far too much description, far too short on advancing the plot, and far too many plots and characters. The series should have ended after about 6 books. Now, I guess we'll never know. Oh well...that's why you shouldn't write horrifically long sets of books.

Two more days before I leave for Paris. I've heard everything from how great it is to how awful it is. I guess I'll have to go find out for myself. I'll try to post some pictures while I'm there, since I haven't bothered to post any yet. If anyone knows a good way to upload pictures to something approximating an album on the blog, I'll post pictures of my various travels. I could look myself but I'm being lazy right now. But science is great. World travel on tax payer dollars.

One more thought. What's with the cherry picking? Everyone does it to varying degrees. But it's most notable in religion, politics, and economics, where it's often used to the detriment of others. If you believe the Bible is the word of God, then how can you cherry pick parts that you follow and parts you don't? I actually heard someone say, out loud, that other gospels to Bible (and there are eighty some odd) have to be carefully picked over to find the ones that should be followed and the ones that are not true and should not be believed. Really? Do you not see the idiocy in your own words? When did you become sole expert on who gets to write about Jesus and who doesn't? All you're doing is lying to yourselves and giving the impression that you're unwilling to examine the evidence and possibilities right in front of you. And to politicians: Really? Because the last time I read the second amendment, the right of the people to bear arms was necessary in a well regulated militia. When did we forget the militia part? The last militia we had in this country was busy patrolling the border with Mexico and spouting imperialistic dogma and incredibly misleading statistics. These people should definitely not have guns. So let's all agree that it's bullshit. Whether you want to keep doing it or not, let's at least agree on that. You can't make intelligent people follow you by claiming you've made your choice based on good evidence when other good evidence directly contradicts yours. You can only do that to the stupid ones. Which I guess is enough, since it seems to be working.

I leave you with this, the greatest site in the internets that I've found besides my favorite comic sites. The motto is the greatest thing I've heard lately:Fighting to free humanity from the mind disorder known as theism. It's just antipodean creationism. But it's nice to know there are people fighting excesses with equally crazy excesses. At least they're not killing each other, just tossing words and lawsuits back and forth.

More poems and angry rants on perceived ridiculousness to come before I leave Saturday. Most likely a rant on how America likes to publicize and eradicate "cults" but runs the military using proven cult leadership techniques. So check back. I've also got a good piece brewing based on a question Adam asked: do I think I am a typical American and what characteristics make me think that?