It's beisbol time!

Here we are mere days away from the new year and I am going to some baseball games! I will trek down to see the Aguilas de Mexicali right across the border. They play in the Mexican Pacific League which kicks up when the US league winds down.

There are usually a few players peppered throughout the league who also play in MLB but for the most part it is basically like a US AAA game. The main diffences from a ballgame stateside are the really cheap tickets and really cheap beer. Oh right and they have chearleaders in the Mexican league.

I haven't deciced what I will do for New Year's Eve yet but I am sure it will not have anything to do with this town. So there will be another break on skepticklish until at least the weekend. Have a happy, enlightened, new year!

My night with the Diabolos!

So fair enough I will give you a story about my most recent trip before I head out on my next one to Mexico on Tuesday. The highlight of my quick trip to Vegas was in fact the juggling show that I previewed a few weeks ago.

The show was the final event in a weeklong juggling convention/competition. I felt a bit like a fly on the wall. When one of the performers asked the audience, “Are there any non-jugglers here tonight?” I was one of about five people who raised their hand. He then went on to explain for us laypeople what a Diabolo was. Having infiltrated the juggling masses it is my job to now explain what this thing with the cool sounding name is to the rest of you.

A Diabolo is basically a little round plastic splayed yo-yo shaped thing that jugglers manipulate on a string. That’s it. The guy at the event added lasers to his Diabolo and threw in a fog machine and with the lights turned out we were all able to experience a psychedelic light show together. I was so drawn into the passion and excitement of the Diabolo that I was looking to buy one after the show but alas the trade tables were closed at that point.

The real highlight of the juggling show was the act put on by a duo called The Passing Zone. They juggled chainsaws to the music of Blue Danube while wearing tutus and ballet slippers. Aside from them there were numerous folks who blew me away by juggling 6 . . .7 . . . 8 balls and/or clubs but got little applause from the jaded audience of professional jugglers.

Penn Jillette closed the evening with his broken bottle juggling routine. His patter was completely different than the other 4 times I have seen him do his show though. It was modified for the unique audience, spending most of the warm-up threatening any of the jugglers who might even think of trying to juggle broken bottles themselves. Then when he was in the middle of juggling the three broken liquor bottles somebody shouted out, “Under the leg!” Penn then started cracking up and completely lost his concentration and ended up dropping one of the bottles. It smashed at his feet and he started cursing out the heckler.

After the show was over I congratulated Penn on his recent wedding and asked him about the subjects for the forthcoming season of Bullshit. He told me that a circumcision show was going to be one of the highlights. Another one of the writers of the BS show was also there and we had a nice discussion about fostering critical thinking with young people.

Penn recently sold his pink Bronco on Ebay to benefit the JREF. Shame I couldn't afford it, I would have loved to have seen the looks on people's face here in town if I drove that thing back from Vegas.

The only Jesus I know is one of my students

Oh right, I know I am supposed to be nice today right? Respectful of this major christian holiday and take a day off. Well sorry, but I didn't start this site to play it safe. In a nutshell, my position is that christianity is a cult that has been blown up way out of proportion, and I wish they would keep their silly little day to themselves.

I am not for a secular version of christmas that many Atheists seem to be for, but I say the more religious the celebration the better. Go ahead put up your crosses and your nativity scenes in your yard, that way there will be no doubt in anybody's mind what the holiday represents. Consequently we can then leave the holiday only to the hardcore christian cultmembers. (Otherwise known as evangelicals) In this red state they seem to at least be getting that part of it right.

I have marked 2004 as the year the USA took a big step back from the Enlightenment and on this the most unenlightened of days, I will continue to preach for the future of science and reason in this country.

For some more approved reading here is a fine example of the xmas spirit and this is a review of the year that has been. Thank goodness we are only a week away from 2005.

What happens in Vegas . . . happens on skepticklish

So I had an up and down time on my quick trip. My computer broke . . . then I fixed it, I won some money . . . then lost it. I talked with Penn again . . . he brushed me off as usual. I went out dancing . . . but couldn't find many partners, I had some good food . . . but ate too much.

There are plenty of details I could share I suppose when the spirit moves me. Just in a bit of a funk tonight as I am back home. Hope you had a nice week and watch for more tomorrow.

Never tell me the odds!

Most people gambling in Las Vegas don't really want to know what the odds are. I will sum them up in one sentence. There isn't a single game played in sin city where the odds favor the player. So basically Vegas is a city built up on people who are bad at math.

That is not to say that there are some games that have a small house advantage and with a bit of luck you can buck the odds. Playing basic strategy in blackjack will move the house advantage to under 1%, the same goes for playing double odds(or more) in craps, and a full-pay video poker machine. Other than that however, the odds against you in the rest of the games are high enough to combat even against the best luck.

Now to me, I just consider Vegas a relatively close city to where I live with very cheap hotel rates and lots to do. I spend more time getting errands done there than gambling. I usually try to catch a magic show, go dancing and just relax. There are a few spots I have found that have Craps table with $1 minimums and 10x odds and if I have the urge to do any gambling thats where I will be.

So since my hotel doesn't have a free internet connection, and I make no money for this page, you will just have to wait until next weekend when I get back for my next post. In the mean time have a happy solstice.

Letting go of Pat

Julia Sweeney is best known perhaps for her role as the androgynous Pat on Saturday Night Live. It was a funny bit the first few times, but like everything else on SNL they ran it into the ground. You may know Sweeney did have some success a few years ago with a monologue called God said, 'HA!' She has now followed that up with another one-woman show which is now a minor success at a small theatre in Hollywood. It is called, Letting go of God.

The show is about Sweeney's journey from Catholicism to Atheism. I saw her do excerpts from it last January at the James Randi meeting in Vegas. (A DVD collection of the event was just released and for sale here) It was both hilarious and thought-provoking. The image I had of her completely changed following that event. All the guys in the hall instantly fell in love with her and Randi asked her if she would be willing to auction off a "Night with Julia" at the next meeting to raise money for the JREF. Ian Rowland got Julia's phone number at the event and threatened to auction it off!

James Randi Meeting Panel Discussion "Skepticism and the Entertainment Industry" Featuring from left to right: Penn Jillette, Andrew Harter, Julia Sweeney, Jamy Ian Swiss and Ian Rowland

At the meeting Julia talked about how she is trying to get an afternoon talk show and her agent told her to play down her Atheism. Not suprising I suppose since in a gallup poll asking what type of person you would discriminate against when voting for president, Atheists were number one, even scoring below homosexuals. So even though America has now embraced Ellen Degeneres, it might take a while for Atheist Afternoon with Julia Sweeney! to take hold.

The search for a good buffet in Vegas

A few years ago I heard about a Thai restaurant in Las Vegas that was rated by Gourmet magazine as the best of its kind in North America. I finally got a chance to go to Lotus of Siam this past June and found that the review was not an exaggeration. It is far from the strip and hard to find, but well worth the trip. It is just one of many things I am planning for my trip up there next week.

Before I go any further I should say that my favorite Thai restaurant in the USA is Sivilaya in Portland Oregon. The food is not as good as Lotus but still great and the customer service and value is unbelievable. Tell the owner Jose you know me and you will get spring rolls, bottomless ice tea and mango with sticky rice on the house.

Back to Vegas. In a city famous for its buffets, the one offered at Lotus is half the price and head and shoulders above all of the ones offered at the hotels. I figured with all I had heard about this place, how hard could it really be to find? This past June after I drove past where I thought it must be I parked in front of some grocery store. I figured everybody around there must know where "the best Thai restaurant in North America" is. People probably ask them that all the time right? Well after getting several people tell me they had no clue, one guy thought it might be in this one sort of mall area a block away where he remembered seeing an Asian restaurant.

I headed into this huge area just away from the street which was a giant parking lot ringed by all sorts of businesses. I walked around the place and did see several restaurants, but no Lotus of Siam. It was a very healthy walk in the hot sun, it must have been a mile lap walking around this whole place. Along the way I asked several folks I saw if they had heard of Lotus, none of them had any idea. After a while I just gave up and headed back to my car.

I figured I would give it one more shot since I really wanted good Thai food. I pulled back into the place with my car and did a loop and finally spotted the place. I had walked right by it! I parked and went inside only to find they were just wrapping up the buffet for the day. So needless to say the next day I was able to make a beeline for the joint at the right time and gorged out on the finest Thai food I have ever tasted.

So next time you are in Sin City you can either go to the Circus Circus buffet and consequently be laid out for the rest of your trip or have an adventure trying to find this little jewel.

skepticklish in the news!

Today is a crazy day, with a big school evening assembly and lots of work to do on our school paper so hang on until tomorrow for another insightful post. In the mean time read up on my sister in the news!

Bend it like Beckham

A nativity scene at Madame Tussaud’s London wax museum was attacked yesterday. After waiting for hours to get into the #1 tourist attraction in London somebody punched the replica of the soccer star in the face. Apparently he was upset that celebrities were standing in for the biblical characters. I personally am also a bit upset that George Bush and Tony Blair were represented as “wise men” but I think the shepherd played by Samuel Jackson was great casting.

Jackson probably looks a lot more like a typical North African of that time than 95% of the people and figures used in nativity scenes across the western world. So they can’t complain about this Posh Spice display being more inaccurate than any other. Also there is no mention in the bible anywhere about how many wise men there actually were. (While you are at it, why not read up on all sorts of xmas myths.)

What is most upsetting of all, is that in this day and age people still line up in record numbers to see a bunch of mannequins. Las Vegas even has a Madame Tussaud’s where you can pose with the likes of Jerry Springer, Don King and even play poker with Ben Affleck! Looks like I am just going to have to stay an extra day in Vegas in order to squeeze it into my vacation next week.

Wow, I guess I have been wrong all this time!

A hot AP story this past weekend that has been all over the papers and TV is that a famous atheist now believes in god. Never mind that I never heard of this guy before this "big news" story came out and that this conversion is exaggerated, it seems that this philosophy professor's key piece of scientific evidence is that life is just too complex to not have a deliberate creator. The news story does not bother to address the fallacy of his argument and mention that in science a lack of evidence for one theory doesn't directly provide any evidence for a competing theory.

You often hear these "god of the gaps" theories. Whatever science still can't explain, well thats where god steps in. One day there won't be any gaps left. While we don't have all of the evidence for the origins of life yet, we do have an awful lot. For a list of all the evidence ever gathered that god created life, go to this page.

People change their minds about this sort of thing all the time and it is hardly news. This guy was 81 years old to boot. (Remember my posting Looking for loopholes?) It would be nice if all the new scientific discoveries every year supporting evolution got played up in the news as much as non-stories like this.

So we will keep waiting for a real news story that cites actual evidence of god. Don't worry, you will read that huge scoop first right here on skepticklish.

Secrets revealed in the tea leaves

Today I got quite a shock as I made myself a nice hot cup of tea. It was quite a pleasant suprise actually. It got me thinking that the best gifts may be ones that hold secrets which reveal themselves down the road. The story started because all of the mugs in my house were dirty.

The only clean mug I had around was one from a fancy Japanese restaurant in Seattle called Nikko. It has since closed and I have never eaten there but about ten years back I knew the manager of the place and he gave me a mug from the restaurant as a gift. It has no handle and for that reason I never once used it for tea or coffee. It served as a pencil holder for many years. Today however I put some water in it and heated it up in the microwave.

When I went to pull out the water to put in the teabag at first glance it appeared that something had gone horribly wrong! The cup wasn't the same one I had put in a minute before! The cup I put in and that I had used for ten years had a sort of big black rectangle with the word Nikko in the middle of it, the new cup which had taken its place had pictures of sushi all over it! I thought I must still be asleep or my microwave was posessed!

After I came to my senses I realised that there was some sort of heat sensitive material on the mug which had been covering up the sushi pictures all this time. My friend never mentioned this when he gave it to me, perhaps knowing that one day in the future I would discover it for myself. I doubt however, he imagined it would cheer me up when I most needed it, during a depressing weekend stuck out in the desert.

The faboulous talking Teller!

Teller just doesn't get enough respect. I think he deserves his own post as well. Sorry I won't spend an hour on him like I did on the Penn page earlier this week but at least he will join the few who are honored with their own skepticklish post.

When Teller does open his mouth you find he has a nice speaking voice and lots to say. At the James Randi meeting he managed to get a few words in edgewise in the panel discussion and Q&A session during the rare few moments when Penn wasn't dominating the discussion.

He is also outspoken on skepticism and atheism, he just doesn't yell and scream about it in Penn's brash manner. The most interesting thing he talked about was the standoff between the old magician's code of never revealing your tricks and many magicians' goals of trying to promote skepticism and critical thinking. He feels revealing how tricks are done can be an important part of that message and wrestles with the idea that keeping secrets can sometimes hurt those goals.

He does an amazing bit with a rose in the P&T show which has to be seen to be believed. To describe it would not do it justice. I can guess at the trick behind this illusion, but I am not 100% sure and I would like to keep it that way. If we had all the answers in life today, what would we have to keep ourselves busy with tomorrow.

What's next, Spam resorts in the Carribean?

The Producers was a big hit so now they are making a broadway musical out of another classic film comedy. Something just doesn't seem right to me about Spamalot, it is a musical based on Monty Python's Holy Grail that will soon be heading to Chicago and New York.

The problem is that the only Python involved is Eric Idle. So it seems a bit like Beatlemania to me. Python were specific guys doing funny stuff at a specific time. The musical features Tim Curry, Hank Azaria and David Hyde Pierce, all funny guys in their own right who now find themselves doing somebody else's act. It's a bit like Chris Rock coming out today and doing verbatim a Richard Pryor classic standup act.

It is also strange that the once-cutting-edge Python boys are now considered so mainstream that Spam is sponsoring them. They don't seem to get that the original joke was on them. Hormel can also thank Python for making their disgusting product part of the language as a negative term for junk email. Now this "meat" is the theme for new hip cafes in the Philippines. For those of you worldwide who haven't had the Spam experience yet, don't be fooled, there is absolutely nothing trendy or cool about it!

Your second chance to vote.

Now that the New Hampshire test-case recount has come and gone and shown no serious irregularities with the Deibold voting machines and the forthcoming Ohio recount will probably reveal only minor problems, most of us are finally admitting that the critical thinkers of this country are just plain outnumbered.

There is always impeachment of course and that could be fun, but in the mean time you get another chance to vote this weekend! No not for the president again but for the People's Choice Awards! Fahrenheit 9/11 is one of the five top choices for people's favorite movie of the year. (Interestingly enough Passion of the Christ isn't up there) You can vote at this site and send the first post-election message to the redneck right that we aren't going to be quiet for the next four years.

You don't have to be a registered voter or even a citizen of the USA to vote for the film. The voting ends on Monday and if you miss your chance now to make a statement you will just have to wait until American Idol in January.

It's Jewish Christmas time!

You might want to mark this date down, skepticklish is agreeing with the evangelicals.

As you probably know, we are somewhere in the middle of hannukah. You only know this however because it is not politically correct to admit that the only major holiday celebrated in the West in December is christmas. Hannukah is actually a very minor holiday in the jewish calendar but because it happens to fall near xmas time we have to act PC and worldy and recognize it as an alternative. I am not even going to mention kwanzaa since I thinkI am even older than that holiday. These editorials from an Arkansas pepperpot, a christian libertarian, and a Canadian pastor don't mince words about their holiday and their religion and for that they have my utmost respect. To use euphemisms only cheapens your major holiday and religious beliefs, however backward I may personally think they are.

What is the point of a red and green sign in a storefront, decorated with holly and perhaps santa that says, "Happy Holidays!" The stores make money because of christmas, the schools take time off because of christmas, there is a federal holiday because of christmas. Who is this PC greeting for anyway? It's certainly not for me. I would rather have somebody say, "Merry Christmas!" to me, to which I can then respond, "I don't celebrate xmas. but hope you have a nice one." then to have to respond to, "Happy Holidays." with "Take care." or something tiresome like that.

Now admittedly christmas does completely annoy me and I wish the whole thing would get snuffed out. But I am a realist and as long as I am not forced to celebrate or pay for that humbug then I invite everybody else to drink eggnogg to their heart's content.

You need to bleed for your audience!

The final event of the World Juggling Federation Convention which I will be attending will feature Penn Jillette. Penn of course is the boistorous talkative 1/2 of Penn and Teller. He is very outspoken about his viewpoints on skepticism/atheism and libertarianism on the Showtime program Bullshit. He has a love/hate relationship with the artform of juggling, read about it in this interview. He has a wacky house in Vegas and for only $1000 or so you too can have a tour of it. Most suprisingly he just got married a few weeks ago.

If I were to bet on it, I would predict he will be performing his brilliant broken bottle juggling routine at the event in a few weeks. I have seen it several times live as part of the Penn and Teller show most recently this past January. Basically he comes on the stage juggling flaming torches and gets big applause. He goes on to debunk how easy juggling torches really is and the real difficult thing to do is juggle broken bottles. Then after building it up for like 15 minutes he gets big applause for something that doesn't look nearly as impressive at first glance as juggling torches.

This most recent time I saw the bit was actually the most interesting. In the beginning of the act he accidentally dropped one of the flaming torches, which many thought was part of the show. Then at a later part where he intentionally grabs the wrong end of one flaming torch and then drops the rest of them, one of them was perhaps a foot away from rolling off the stage and into the lap of somebody in the first row. A stage hand rushed down the aisle in case somebody in the audience was about to get a souvenir he didn't want. In a comment in the James Randi forum one of his friends said that he often leaves the theatre bleeding with cuts all over his hands from the bottles after a show. Penn himself wrote about the most eventful time he performed this act here.

I have had the chance to talk with Penn on several occasions. A few times when he was contorted into a small barrel on stage. If you paid a quarter to Teller you could go up on stage during the break in the show to take a peak at how the nearly 7 ft Jilette managed to get inside it and talk with him. I told him he needed to see the Thai dubbed version of Fantasia 2000 since the Thai guy who did his voice sounded exactly like him, spot on. When I saw the film at the Imax theatre in Bangkok I couldn't stop laughing about it, and all the Thais around me didn't get the joke.

Then this year I seem to be running into the guy everywhere I go. In January at the James Randi Conference I had the chance to talk with him about how I use P&T material in the classroom to teach critical thinking and found him to be a real nice guy.

However he did get a lot of people pissed off at that event when he dominated a panel discussion and shouted out how "fucking retarded" theists are. (Jump forward to his response here) Then in June I ran into him on the street in Vegas coming out of Fahrenheit 9/11 which I was going in to see. He was with a bunch of folks and I just talked to him for a minute about the Randi conference. Interestingly enough Penn is featured in the film Michael Moore Hates America complaining about the editing techniques he uses. (I disagree with his and other's viewpoint on this and addressed it already here.)

P&T will be featured on the West Wing sitcom tomorrow/wednesday night and I of course highly recommend their Showtime show, available on DVD. They don't tour anymore so you have to come to Vegas to see their live show these days, it will probably be the highlight of your trip.

Do you want to go see a juggling show tonight?

Most of you have probably lived your whole lives without ever having this question put to you on a weekend. There is a certain "night out pecking order" as it were. Usually top of the list would be a concert of some sort, then comes dancing, the theatre, a fancy dinner, a movie, then on down the list of desirable events.

Las Vegas which is supposedly the entertainment capital of the world interestingly enough seems to be populated with many of the lower-rung entertainment choices. Big in sin city these days are: magic shows, ventriloquist acts, hypnotists, impersonators, acrobats, fire-eaters, stilt-walkers, contortionists and jugglers. These type of acts only work when the performers transcend their medium and give you something truly unique. (Well ok, hypnotists shows can never be any good period)

If it weren't for Las Vegas a lot of these people would find themselves out of work. I do really enjoy a good magic show and it is what I usually find myself going to when I am in Vegas. As I have been to Vegas now five times in the past two years I have seen pretty much all of the ones I am interested in by now though. The ones I tend to skip involve tigers and Germans and things.

So in planning out my forthcoming Vegas trip I spied something that looked like a nice change of pace. The World Juggling Federation Convention! I have booked tickets for a few of the events including one featuring Penn Jillette. (More on him tomorrow) It turns out this event will be televised on ESPN2 in January, you know probably right after the hours of poker tournament coverage.

Since each show only costs $15 it will cost me less than a typical 7-out at the craps table. I am betting I will enjoy it more than the $125 Celine Dion show at Caesar's Palace.

Salvation can be had at Target!

If you must shop at a big box store this solstice season then Target is the place for you! Target (pronounced Tar-zhay by all the hipsters) has made the gutsy decision to ban Salvation Army bell ringers from their stores. They are getting a lot of flack about it from the evangelicals and we should support the giant retailer and tell them they have made the right choice.

You can read the news or read the Salvation Army’s own site to see what they stand for. They are the folks that provide a nice free lunch so long as you sit there and listen to a sermon. If you are looking for a charity to support this season how about The United Way? The evangelicals hate them! Because of Bush’s policies we need charities now more than ever. Let’s support the ones that don’t have ulterior motives.

P.S. - Just more evidence that skepticklish is ahead of the curve once again. Here is a link to an editorial published yesterday that seems to match closely with what we had to say on November 17th.

The landscape out here

There isn't too much exciting to see out your window while driving through my part of the state. So most folks will find their eyes attracted to the odd billboard that pops up on the horizon. This site has been nice enough to put them all in one place so you can avoid taking the long drives yourself to hunt them down.

The "stay focused" one I pass everytime I drive to Phoenix. The gem pictured above is from Clear Channel, when they can't sell the space they use the billboards to put their own "reminders" up for those of us who have forgotten. You know, the same texas-based Clear Channel who is helping censor our airwaves, the same Clear Channel who has helped bankroll Bush, the same Clear Channel who screwed up my mom's billboard artwork.

The news today shows that we are probably not too far from a draft and in a way I am all for it. Using an honest draft would prevent the status quo of poor kids fighting a rich man's war. You will see the support for unnescessary wars go way down when you have to put your own kids in harms way. Let's hope the Bush girls will be the first names pulled out of the barrel.

Funky Tut

That Egyptian superstar is back! Last time he toured the USA he started a dance craze. I can clearly recall going to see the last King Tut exhibit back in 1978 at the Seattle Center Pavilion when I was in the second grade.

I saw it about six times or so actually, a few times with my family, once with my school, and a few times with folks visiting from out of town. It really was huge, the wait to get tickets could be hours long. I think I was more interested in getting postcards in the giftshop at the end of the exhibit than at looking at the shiny gold trinkets over and over again.

It opens in LA about a 4 1/2 hour drive to the west of me in June 2005. Doesn't appear to be a Seattle date listed just yet. Drop by the official site for more information.

Move over Sony!

There was one more thing I managed to accomplish while I was up in Flagstaff last weekend. I know you were all concerned about my recent DVD problem. Being a single guy stuck out in the desert with no DVD player is not a pretty site. I was forced to watch broadcast TV for a few days actually!

Last Friday on the supposed busiest shopping day of the tour, I passed by a mall on route 66 on my way back into Flagstaff after my exciting trip to the meteor crater and Walnut Canyon. I figured I might find an electronics store of some type to get a replacement DVD player for the one that blinked out last week so I dropped in.

I stumbled into a Radio Shack, not expecting to find much. They had a special one-day sale for a Chinese DVD player by a company named Desay for only $20. My only other venture into Chinese electronics was a Chinese walkman I bought in Newcastle England in 1991 that worked horribly. But I figured for twenty dollars how could I go wrong!

Well this new machine works better than my old one. DVDs look better, the interface for MP3 discs is great, you can even use it to look at jpegs on your CDRs. The only thing it fails in is that the VCD playback is not that hot. I have another VCD player though that I bought in Thailand a few years ago I can always use for that.

So for less than the cost of a single Criterion DVD I have a whole new player. A big shout-out goes to the Chinese who look like they will be putting their neighbors in the land of the rising sun out of the electronics business in the very near future.

The perfect gift

All your shopping stress is over this solstice season. Every kid, teen or adult on your list would love to get a telescope! True they might not get as much use out of it if they don't live far from city lights and pollution like me but it will be a special treat for them whenever they go camping.

The Jr. Astronomy kit should include: a decent telescope and/or great binoculars; a planesphere, and a red flashlight. Get them all set up to stargaze and you will find it is the gift that keeps on giving.

If you find the rare kid that isn't turned on by astronomy, perhaps you can just put a Spongebob or other trendy sticker on the side of the telescope and claim it is officially licensed by his/her hero and you might get a new convert.

Looking for loopholes

Apparently WC Fields had never picked up a bible his whole life and then gained a sudden interest in it on his deathbed. When a friend asked him about his new found faith, he replied that he was a bit nervous about death and was now looking for any loophole in the book that could help him out.

If you do read the bible carefully you will find it is full of many contradictions and inevitably some rule or another that you have broken in your life. Evangelicals love to point out Leviticus 18:22 a quick blurb about homosexuality, but never seem to harp on the three passages that say anybody who works on the sabbath must be killed: Exodus 31:14-15 & 35:3 & Numbers 15:32-36. I haven't seen them picketing outside Walmart on Sundays and killing the greeter. Nor have I ever seen them firebombing lobster boats in Maine. Since they all have read their bibles so closely they should have read the bit a few chapters before the anti-gay stuff mentioning that it is forbidden to eat clams, oysters, crabs, shrimp and lobsters, Leviticus 11:10-12. (Here's a loophole I could actually use!)

I could go on nearly forever. For more info consult the Skeptics Bible. You can't pick and choose which rules you want to follow and which you don't. Since our president and his supporters are a big fan of the book they will get to all of the rules eventually. So now is probably not a good time to invest in Long John Silver's or Red Lobster restaurants.

Don't bury science and history just yet!

Back from my exciting trip to Flagstaff. I am happy to report that despite reports to the contrary the Enlightenment hasn't been rolled back quite yet. I went to several scientific and archaeological sites during the travelling off-season and had to stand in line and battle hundreds of other tourists to get access to them.

I fixed the links that were busted in my last post today, so you can check back there for info on the spots where I went. Also in the following narrative are links to photos I took on my trip:

On Thanksgiving day most of the day was spent driving up to Flagstaff. My first stop was the unique little town of Jerome built on the side of a hill! There is something like 150 curves in the road in the 12 miles going up and down the hill to get to the spot. Some unique sights in the town were the firehouse, the hotel, the old cinema, mine and ghost town.

Sedona was next up on the road there. It is a beautiful place but regrettably now famous for all the NewAge (should be pronounced like sewage) nonsense that has taken hold here.

I finally arrived at my hotel in Flagstaff right on historic Route 66. It was right next to a roadside attraction from the grand old highway, The Museum Club. Now home to country line dancing every night.

The next day I set off to see the Meteor Crater. It was everything I expected and I recommend it to anybody who is in the area. After getting to touch a big hunk of the 50,000 year old meteorite I went on an educational walking tour with a guide around the rim of the crater.

Later in the day I dropped by Walnut Canyon where I was able to walk 900 years back in history to see the dwellings of the Sinagua Indians who once called this place home. The walk up and down the cliffs at this high evolution was quite a workout. You can read more about Walnut Canyon at the National Park site here.

I finished the day off by looking through one of the historic telescopes at the Lowell Observatory at the full moon. Unfortunately it was a bit of a dissapointment since the moon was so bright and washed out and there was no light filter to fit this old telescope. I went back again the next day to Lowell to get the full daytime tour which included seeing Percival Lowell's Mausoleum and the telescope that discovered Jupiter.

Lastly on my way back home I battled with the tourists to drop by one more cliff home and see some more ruins. Montezuma's Castle is a five story Sinagua residence that is right off the interstate and worth a peak. Here is the official site.

Now I am back in the desert and back to work. Only three weeks until my trip to Vegas!

Just another roadside attraction

Perhaps it sounds like some joke. Travelling three and a half hours to see some big hole in the ground. However, that is exactly what I am going to do with my Thanksgiving tomorrow. Not too far from Flagstaff AZ is the most accessible meteor impact crater in the world. It was created by an impact about 50,000 years ago and is almost a mile across. Unlike the other famous roadside attraction in our state "The Thing," This one is worth stopping for.

It is much more than a hole actually. It is direct evidence that the planet is flying around in a rather perilous position and it might be a good idea to keep an eye out for what might be in the way. On this short trip I also plan to see the Lowell Observatory where Jupiter was first spotted and check out a few of the national monuments and such in the area.

I doubt I will get a chance to post during my trip so have a nice long weekend and check in again Monday for a full report.

The Disposable Society

Now you have probably all heard about the latest attempt to sell disposable movies instead of rent them. Apparently somebody is convinced that we find it such a pain to return movies to the rental store that we want to buy a DVD that self-destructs in 48 hours. The disposable DVD costs $5 or so and can be sold in vending machines at gas stations/supermarkets and such.

My first question about this product is: If they can sell a self-destructing DVD for $5, can't they also sell a non-destructing one for that same price? There is probably a market for this since the large majority of movies people rent aren't worth one viewing let alone deserving of a spot in a home movie library. So disposable art is just the latest thing our culture will now throw on the trash heap.

I bring this up because last night my DVD player blinked out and I didn't bat an eye. I was a bit suprised I suppose when I heard a big pop sound coming from my living room followed by a strange thumping sound. However after I got out of bed and went to investigate and then discovered that my DVD player was shot, the only thing that crossed my mind was how I was going to get the disc that was in the machine out. As I bought the player almost 4 years ago for $100 what more could I expect? DVD Players, just like everything else that plugs into an outlet, are disposable these days.

So being as I don't think there is even such thing as a DVD repairman I am forced to throw it out. I wasn't even careful with the thing in trying to retrieve the disc I had recently been watching. I unscrewed the top and then broke what I had to break in order to get Robert Wise's classic film noir "The Set-up" from the dying machine's grasp.

In the past year my VCR, TV and toaster oven have suffered similar fates. The only electric thing I have that has lasted over ten years is my microwave oven. I am nervous to even turn that on in fear that it will blow up in my face any day.

More Red vs. Blue

Kind of a crazy day today, so just thought I would point you to a few more Red vs. Blue links to keep you occupied until I come up with my next witty posting.

Red States love Playboy, Ted Rall Cartoon, Red vs Blue Federal Spending

Now the democrats seem to want to appeal to the red-staters to win next time and move towards their way of thinking. Making a move in that direction would be a great loss no matter what the election results.

Did you ever wonder what Andy Rooney's religious views are?

In a recent interview he wasn't shy about talking about them.

"I am an atheist. I don't understand religion at all. I'm sure I'll offend a lot of people by saying this, but I think it's all nonsense."

He isn't the only one who is brave enough to talk about his non-belief. Here is a list of other notable people who also aren't timid about their lack of need for a supernatural being. For you red-staters who don't care about those hollywood types and scientists, how about Bishop John Shelby Spong or Preacher Dan Barker.

My point is not to convert folks to atheism but that none of us should be shy about talking about it openly. With Bush believing he has an anti-science mandate we need to speak up now more than ever.

Only six months more to wait!

No, this is not referring to the time until the end of the school year! This is about something much more important. After twenty five years in development hell the Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy film adaptation will finally be released on May 6th 2005. I was younger then the students I now teach when the film was first proposed.

The recent third installment of the Hitchhiker's radio show has come and gone attracting one million on-line listeners and showed that Douglas Adam's legacy is stronger than ever. The fourth radio series will air in the same spot this coming spring.

The official site for the film is now up and running with a teaser trailer you can watch, Marvin the Paranoid Android wallpaper to download, and production news and information. It should help you get through the long cold winter. The film will open two weeks before the final installment of Star Wars, so it looks like Disney pushed it up so it won't go head-to-head with that juggernaut. I have a feeling though that after they have seen the revolutionary Hitchhiker's film people will be saying "Star What?"

Duck Droppings

My Oregon Ducks have not had their best season on record. They still could be heading to a bowl game near me if they manage to pull off a win tomorrow in the "Civil War" game against Oregon State. The Beavers want the exact same thing however. If the Ducks lose, their streak of 11 straight bowl game appearances will be broken. (OK so we really shouldn't count the Seattle Bowl two years ago)

If they win it looks like they will go to either the Las Vegas Bowl or the Phoenix Insight Bowl which are both within driving distance for me. So I would definitely have to make an appearance to show my support. However I don't exactly bring good luck for the Ducks when I get a chance to see them in person.

I have been to three Duck bowl game appearances: The Rose Bowl 1995, The Seattle Bowl 2003, and The Sun Bowl 2004. They lost all three of those games. At regular season games things haven't faired much better either. In fact in the twenty or so times in my life I have seen the football team play live I can only remember them winning twice. Both times were against UW at Husky Stadium. I was actually a UW student at the time, sitting in their student section rooting for the ducks.

The game tomorrow will be at the Beaver's stadium in Corvallis at 4pm Pacific time and I won't be there so they have a great chance of winning!

The Mt. Rushmore of Stupidity

Today Clinton opened up his library in Arkansas and all of the living presidents dropped by for photo opportunities. When Clinton was in office I had many problems with him and badmouthed him at every chance I could get. However, when I look at the picture taken below from 1991 at the Reagan library opening I realise that him and Bush Jr. aren't all that much worse then our last half dozen presidents or so.

In my lifetime I can't look back to any glory days of the presidency, so why should I be shocked that America has chosen yet another dissapointing candidate. Some look back to Clinton as some sort of golden age now but we forget all the phony "family values" rhetoric he spouted and yes he did have sex with that woman and did lie about it.

Thank goodness Bush isn't allowed to run again in 2008 but if the trend continues I would not bet on any dramatic improvement in the management around here.

A capitalistic or moralistic country? Make your choice.

So Bush says he is now going to use his political capital from the "moralistic victory" he recently scored. On November 2nd it seems people voted against those permissive liberals who have spoiled this country ever since the sexual revolution. They have put smut on our airwaves and in our theatres and it seems about time somebody said enough is enough.

So are these moralists against our capitalistic system as well? After all that's what drives the kind of movies and TV that reaches us. If smut only appealed to the "unmoralistic minority" then the peddlers would have gone into the bible business by now. Softcore pay-per-view in hotel rooms is a huge business. Who is buying that? Republican businessmen is my first guess. It was also interesting that they had to fly in extra prostitutes to New York City last summer during the republican convention to meet the demand.

The FCC has been allowed to censor radio and tv broadcasts over the years because the airwaves were considered to be a scarce resource. Print media and cable have always done a pretty good job of censoring themselves but for some reason the FCC feels the airwaves are their business. It has gotten particularly out of hand since Janet Jackson's Superbowl stunt and today they are going after another liberal bastion, Monday Night Football.

So I say enough hypocrisy and I want to see an anti-capitalist agenda as part of the republican platform from here on out. They can get Jessica Simpson and Britney Spears, two famous republicans, to spread the moral majority's message.

You're listening to KISS FM Alpha Centauri!

Today the news is that a new public research grid is emerging so people can donate their computer time for a greater good. This new idea owes a lot to a project that SETI has had in place for several years now. If you have seen the film Contact you know a bit about SETI. It is a scientific group that is betting we will find out about extra-terrestrial life through listening to the radio waves that hit the earth. All the radio/tv broadcasts on earth not only fan out across the surface of our planet, they also shoot off into space. So therefore if there is any intelligent life in other solar systems who are broadcasting or deliberately sending radio waves out we will be able to pick them up.

Now we are bombarded with tons of radio waves and SETI collects their signals in a big dish in Puerto Rico, the Arecibo Observatory. The amount of data is a bit overwhelming though and SETI only has so many resources for sifting through the data. This is where you come in. Instead of a screensaver on your computer of flying toasters you can be part of the search and let SETI use your computer when you aren't. SETI at home is a screensaver you can download which will kick in when you aren't using your computer to download a packet of information from Arecibo, sort through it, and then send it back to them.

If your computer is the one that finds the first evidence ever of extra-terrestrial life then you will be listed as one of the discoverers and who knows maybe they will name the planet after you. Good luck with the search.

Is anybody out there?

For many years I was a host on the radio and I always wondered about that question. Since every now and then people told me they heard me on the air I guessed that there probably were a few listeners. However whenever we did fundraisers and I actually asked them to call and help out with the station the phones would stay deadly silent.

So this new project skepticklish I have really just considered as a form of therapy to get me through my time here out in the desert. I have wondered though how many folks are actually reading my ramblings.

I have done a bit of investigating to find out just that. My site now tells me how many people are visiting, where they are from and what sort of system/browser they are using. Above is the pie chart showing where my last 100 visitors have come from. USA is at the top, followed by the unknown and the Philippines. The rest of the countries just have one or two visitors each.

Because of my diversity of readers I put that cool little babelfish translator on my page. Which although not a perfect translator will help spread the skepticklish message worldwide. I wonder what that guy from Kuwait thinks of my page. I would have thought we would have been banned there by now.

Your troubles will just float away

Last night I took part in a traditional Thai festival called Loy Kratong at a Thai temple near Phoenix. In Thai, loy means float and a kratong is a little circular boat thing made out of the circumference of a banana tree decorated with leaves, flowers and other goodies. After you have painstakenly constructed your kratong you pitch it into a river or lake and with it you pitch away the bad karma you may have accrued over the past year. Now of course I don't subscribe to that supernatural side of it but I have always thought it was fun to make a kratong and enjoy at least a bit of the symbolism.

I have partaken in the activity twice in Thailand and unfortunately the Phoenix event didn't quite stand up. There was lots of great Thai food to be had and that was great. However, they did not have materials available to make proper kratongs! OK I suppose it is a bit cost prohibitive to import banana trees to the desert just for this custom but there is just something not right about kratongs made out of styrofoam! Also the custom says the kratong needs to be floated in a natural body of water. At his event here in the desert we just had a kiddie pool!

But jokes aside, to me what is special about the USA is that interesting customs like this from all around the world are going on here all the time (even in the red states) and we are a better place for it.

Help Mr. Gruff take a bite out of blasphemy

We all know how effective it is to get your messages off to the kids with fuzzy animals. Most famous are Woodsy the Owl, Smokey Bear and McGruff the crime fighting dog. Well its time for them to move over for Mr. Gruff the atheist goat! Kids can learn all about him on the Objective: Christian Ministries site.

I will admit this guy looks a bit like me at about 7:00 in the morning. Well except for the horns. Scroll down on their page and click on his face and coffee mug for all sorts of insight into atheist life. What do these folks have against coffee anyway? God must be the one who put caffeine on the earth afterall. My favorite line from their page is, "Atheists are often very grumpy and bitter and will lash out at children." You can download a pdf here to printout then cut and fold to make your own Mr. Gruff.

Further down on the page is Professor Giraffenstein, the creation scientist. Click on him enough and he will spew out great scientific facts like, "Neanderthals were humans with abnormal bone growth due to very advanced age and flood-cloud-related rickets." Now I know why they call themselves Creation Scientists, they just create their "science" out of thin air.

If you want to buy Mr. Gruff products or are an evangelical that wants to send me some goodies to try and save my soul there are a whole line of items available here. I particularly like the Mr. Gruff Boxers. I wear a size large.

Sorry but I have to bring it up

Yes I am afraid voter fraud is a felony and worth mentioning. The reason I bring it up is not to try to reverse the results of the election but to ask some questions that need asking before next time and to throw any guilty parties in jail. Interestingly enough the Democrat's #1 enemy Ralph Nader is the one leading this fight.

The only evidence so far that is worth mentioning seems to center around Diebold, the voting machine manufacturers who were big Bush contributers. Their machines have major bugs, are unreliable, and don't jive with registration records or past results in several Florida counties. There are all sorts of conspiracy theories on the net. Even a cristian conservative site seems to be getting in on the action. The mainstream media is ignoring it for the most part but you can watch a report online that Keith Oberman did on MSNBC here. Click on "Ohio Vote Fallout" in the video links.

They used Diebold optical reader machines like those in Florida here in my town and I actually had a few minutes on Election day to talk with the pollworkers about how they worked. When the ballot is fed into the machine it reads it right away and stores the info in its memory. At the end of the day they hook the machine up to a phoneline and it sends its information to county election headquarters.

If a recount needs to be done there are still the paper ballots locked up in the machine. These machines do have a paper trail and a recount would tell us if there were more votes recorded in the machine for a candidate then there were supposed to be. The election workers I talked with said that at the beginning of the day they have to make sure to clear out the machine to make sure it is set at zero for everything. If that simple action isn't done, or somebody hacks into it somehow when it calls home, fraud could easily happen.

I was able to get the election results for my town and they seem to mirror the country as a whole interestingly enough. 96 people voted in my precinct, 50 of them voted for Bush, 46 for Kerry. So now I just need to find out who the other 45 sensible people are here in town and I will throw a chili cook-off party for them at my place.

Dirty Laundry

Getting my clothes washed out here in the desert has taken on a new significance for me lately. I generally go to the local little laudromat every other Sunday. All of the signs posted in there are in Spanish and you would be hard pressed to find any other Whites in there. I actually kind of like it in there since it makes me feel like I am in another country. Well I have had to wait for a machine on occasion in the past but recently my little chore has turned into a nightmare. About half the machines are broken now and the place seems to be packed everytime I drop by.

Last Sunday I went in there and there must have been 20 guys hanging out in the little room all with laundry in their hands waiting their turn. It was a rainy day so I assumed they weren't able to work in the fields and were taking this rare time off to get chores done. Well needless to say I didn't really want to wait around. So I figured I had enough clothes to make it to Veterans day and I would try again.

This morning I woke up early and headed over there. All the machines were being used again! There was only one guy waiting this time but that was one too many as far as I was concerned. I had heard about another laundromat in another town about five miles away so I decided to take a drive. I headed down the highway until I saw a market that had a big sign on the side reading "Landermat." Bad English on signs is also something I can never get enough of.

I walked into this never-before explored laudromat and I found it empty except for a little old snowbird couple! Seing them was quite shocking for me so early in the morning. They were quite friendly of course, they said they were just finishing up and the machines would be free in a second. I loaded the machine with my grubby clothes and sat down to read a book while I waited. The place started filling up with migrant workers and it was good to know that I had beat the rush on this particular day.

It felt nice to get out of town to see how the rest of the world lives, even if it was only for an hour or so. Then as I was heading out of the parking lot after finishing my laundry, I spied a drifter with his thumb out. He needed a ride in the direction of my town. I let him jump in my car and he told me about his troubles during the 4 minute trip. I let him out by the gas station here and perhaps by the time you read this he has made it to Phoenix. Now that skepticklish is such a success I suppose I could always buy a washer and dryer but then I would miss out on all the fun.

Speaking of bad English I just had to point you to a column about the intelligence of Bush and his supporters that I wish I would have written myself. However to be fair, unlike some in our camp, I doubt any Bush supporters are stupid enough to pay $5 for a cup of coffee, drive 20 miles out of their way for gourmet olive oil, or waste four years of their life on an English degree.

The dish on Dawkins

Richard Dawkins is the Professor of the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University. He is currently on Tour in the USA and in the Northwest in particular. I would recommend to all my friends and family up there to go see him speak if you have the chance. He will be headlining the James Randi conference in January in Vegas which regrettably my district is not going to help pay for me to attend this year. After going to it last year I thought it was the most useful educational event I have ever attended.

Dawkins has written a series of books on evolution. I have only managed to make it through "The Blind Watchmaker" which could be called his introductory text to the subject. Douglas Adams said it was the book that changed his life and that one hasn't fully understood evolution until it turns your brain inside out thinking about it. It was Dawkins lament and eulogy for the late Douglas Adams that also started to jumpstart my interests in science.

Dawkins was featured on public radio here in the USA yesterday in a 1/2 hour interview about his latest book "The Ancestor's Tale: A Pilgrimage to the Dawn of Evolution." You can listen to that great interview here. After you have read Dawkins work your eyes will also be opened and you too can join the ranks of the rational logical minority.

Who would jesus vote for?

So it is a week after the main event and the world is still turning and things are starting to settle down. There are those who are still crying foul but the upshot is that the Evangelicals were just simply able to energize their base more than the Humanists. NPR did a radio show on it today you can listen to here.

We should have been able to forecast this result by looking at the Box Office totals this year - The Passion of the Christ = $370,274,604, Fahrenheit 9/11 = $119,200,329

There are two basic ways of thinking in the world: Orthodox and Progressive. In the USA at the moment Orthodox is winning 51% to 49%. You could argue that isn't much of a lead but I feel the trend in this country is going their way.

In the past the saying in elections was always, "It's the economy stupid!" well now it has changed to, "It's religion stupid!" Most of this country seems to have forgetten about the ugly history of mixing politics and religion and are in favor of a theocracy. It soon won't be safe for atheists to walk the streets of this country. You need to look real hard on this scary map to find one of the few remaining places that you can call home.

Cut off from civilization.

OK my condolences to our 15 or so daily readers that I had no new posts up this weekend. I have a feeling skepticklish may have been sabotaged by some wacko environmentalists because of my last post. Well actually there is a simple explanation.

I woke up Saturday morning about 8 or so and stumbled into my bathroom. When I flipped on the light it didn't seem to turn on. I wasn't awake enough to become alarmed. Then when I flushed the toilet it just sat there. I started to notice that something wasn't quite right.

Well as it turned out, early in the morning Saturday somebody drove into a utility pole here in town, knocking it over, getting themselves seriously injured, and knocking out the electricity for our whole town. A helicopter came to get them to a hospital in Phoenix and APS came out to put up a new metal pole and hook everything back up.

So we survived until about 3 or so in the afternoon when the power came back on. It was a blessing in disguise actually since I managed to clean up my house that morning. Well then when I went to use the internet later in the day it was still knocked out. Apparently the power surge knocked out a $2000 switch here on our network. I was facing the unimaginable, a weekend stuck out here with no internet!

So as it turns out today, the switch was still under warranty and it will be replaced. There is a bandaid holding things together for the next few weeks until it arrives. So the upshot is that we are back now stronger than ever here at skepticklish like it or not. You can knock us down but we always get up again.

Stop Recycling!

I hope I got your attention with that title. I feel I need to combat the expectation of readers who want to pigeonhole me as some tie-dyed liberal after reading my posts leading up to the election.

Sorry, but the simple truth is that for the most part recycling is a complete waste of time and not helpful to the environment at all. In short, the process of recycling pollutes just as if you were making new materials and even has its own waste products. Outside of New York City, landfill space is not really an issue at all. Old growth forests are not used for paper, tree farms are. Aside from recycling aluminum cans which pay for themselves, the recycling industry is a great waste of money and resources that could be used in far more effective ways if helping the environment is the goal. Read this article for all the gory details.

Everybody says they want to take care of the planet but do you really want to do the things that will make a real difference? If you want to do something relatively simple which will actually help out the environment think about how and what you drive and the food you eat.

London Bridge is falling down

Now I remember why I stay away from politics. They never seem to go my way and I just get too upset. So I will return this site to its glory days and there will be no more politics. (Well not for at least a day or two)

Last Friday I had to go to a seminar about technology grant money up in Lake Havasu which is a couple hours NW from where I am. Now Lake Havasu does have a nice lake and outdoor recreation opportunities but it is most famous for the London Bridge. Yes thats correct, its the spot where they brought the bridge piece by piece from its old home over the River Thames. It is the second biggest tourist attaction in this state after the Grand Canyon.

Well way back when I lived in London the locals always made a joke about the USA that we were so clueless we paid money for the London Bridge thinking we were actually getting the Tower Bridge. I have yet to find any evidence to support their ribbing, but that aside it always intrigued me for some reason that somebody would move a bridge across the globe like that. So I looked for it on a map, about 15 years ago now, and saw that is was a very remote spot, miles away from anywhere that I expected to be in my lifetime. So I decided back then, that if I ever was in Lake Havasu I would make sure to drive or walk over the bridge.

Well in the past two years I have been in Havasu five times now and each time I have to make sure I stop and drive or walk over the bridge. It wouldn't be a complete trip if I didn't. I never get enough of the place, so anybody who is in the area let me know if you need a tour.

Civil War 2004

Well I think that now 140 years later most people can see that the South has finally won the war. You always hope that there are enough reasoning, critical-minded people out there who don't vote against their own self interests to overshadow everybody else but today you can see what kind of country this really is. So USA you have got what you deserved, a president to match your mindset. This is obviously a country dominated by the evangelicals and if there is enough of them who want to turn us into a third-world country there is not much you can do in a democracy.

Meanwhile I will just continue to struggle in my little corner of this red state and red country to spead a little bit of logic and common sense as best I can. In the long run the thinkers or this world will ultimately win and the country who elects them will be the new superpower.

November Surprise

Since we are just a few hours away from the election I am finally willing to admit that the only October surprise this year was Boston winning the World Series. I know a lot of you have been stressing about it the past few weeks. Just waiting for the news that Osama Bin Laden had turned up dead or in handcuffs. Some of us even suspected that Bush would call a state of emergency and postpone the election or something if it was looking too close.

Well even if something popped up here on the last day, because of absentee ballotting and early voting about 16% of the electorate has already voted. So the only thing to do now is just go out and vote. If they claim you can't vote Tuesday talk to somebody about getting a provisional ballot. If you don't want to vote on the new computer systems you can ask for a paper ballot as well. So the only thing left now is just to do it. I will see you on the other side. If you are still not convinced here are some well-written words to send you on your way to the polls. Wednesday will be a bright sunny morning for all of us.

A scary Halloween story

There are few tales I could tell you about ghosts, goblins or witches that would scare you more than George Bush's record as president over the past few years. Here he is photographed in his Halloween costume this year. So be afraid, be very afraid of what the next four years have in store for you. Whether it will be a trick or a treat for the USA on Tuesday is all up to us.

I am well aware there are dozens of major newspapers who have already given Kerry their endorsement but I know the campaign has been waiting for just one more key media outlet to back them and put them over the edge. The wait is over, today skepticklish is giving John Kerry our heartfelt endorsement for President of the United States. We are aware that four years ago we endorsed Nader and are asking you to make a bit of a switch. There are however many other prestigious names who have made this flip-flop.

In the comments section of this post we are asking all of our readers who also endorse Kerry to add your vote of support to our endorsement.

Let the clocks run free!

Today is one of two days every year that I feel great to live in Arizona. For all her faults, this state does not persist in all that Daylight Savings nonsense. While the rest of the country feels a need to mess around with their clocks twice a year we here in the Grand Canyon State can just sit back and relax and have a proper nights sleep. Check out End Daylight Savings Time for more information and their proposal for a better plan.

Speaking of the Grand Canyon. It is just a few hours up the road from me and quite amazing if you ever want to drop by and see it. Well its age and creation are not the subject of any serious debate among geologists. However recently the Bush regime supported the sale of a book at the national park that claims the Grand Canyon was carved by a quick big flood, the same one in which Noah somehow managed to save millions of species from all over the world.

I don't just mind that endorsing one religion over another at a federally-funded park is contrary to the first amendment. What scares me is that our president actually believes this nonsense. So, if you can't think of any other reason to vote for Kerry on Tuesday, just think about how casting your vote for Kerry will be like casting a vote for the future of critical thinking, logic and reasoning in the USA and the world.

Just the Facts Maam'

You all remember footnotes? Those things on the bottom of the page in books that refer the reader to the original source material or point to evidence that support the author's claim? Yes I know we never really read them because it was a pain to check people's references back in the print age.

Things are a lot easier now with digital text. For example, if you don't believe me that Bush ignored an August 2001 memo titled, "Bin Laden Determined to Attack America" and continued his long vacation at the time then you can get the facts for yourself here. Wow, clicking on that was really easy wasn't it?

So I love it when people respond to my posts and continue the discussion with their own comments. If nothing else it shows me that people are reading my site. I am well aware that many of my viewpoints are in the minority and millions of people are out there who would like to challenge them. However, I only have one rule. You are completely wasting the reader's time if you don't provide facts and references (in the form of links preferably) to support any claims you make.

Being a skeptic I am a strong supporter of the scientific method and evidence. I also have a degree in Editorial Journalism so I know a bit about legitimate sources. However, unlike the large majority of "journalists" in the mainstream media, I actually ask follow-up questions here on skepticklish. I will hold your feet to the fire until you give me the proof.

Halloween, we hardly knew yah - R.I.P.

Oh yes the good old days, when kids could go out trick or treating freely. When they could go to dozens of strangers homes and come back with bags of loot. Well its just a sign of the times I suppose, those hundreds of nuts just had to go and spoil everything by giving out poison candy! Now kids can only go to houses of people they know and then must go to the local hospital to Xray their haul of free candy.

Well not so fast. This is just the line we have all heard for years. The local news do stories on it every Halloween and all the stepford wives chat about it as they workout at Curves. Well the truth is that only a few kids have been poisoned in the history of trick or treating in the USA and they were all given the candy by relatives. It is just another example of people being afraid of the wrong things and destroying a great holiday in the process. (By the way if anybody out there has any tape of local tv news stories on poisoned candy or xraying send it my way as I would like to use it as part of a documentary I am making)

Lastly, to all my young readers who are actually allowed out on Halloween to trick or treat I will share with you a great idea that came to me via a friend of my Mom. He got on the news for doing this stunt as a kid! You have to tie in Tuesday's election to your trick or treating. Whatever your costume it doesn't matter. You just bring two bags with you for candy. Label one bag "Kerry" and one bag "Bush." Then as you go to the houses tell the people to put the candy in the bag with the name of the person they are voting for.

Believe me you will get twice as much candy this way simply because the people who really support one candidate over another will dump a whole bunch of goodies in the bag with their man's name on it.

So whoever said this site wasn't educational for the kiddies?

My Civic Duty

This site may seem a bit on the political side lately. Not to worry, come next Tuesday we will be back to all the important things in life like movies, baseball, skepticism and desert living. However if the unthinkable happens on Tuesday I don't want to wake up the next day regretting how I could have done more to get that imbecile out of the oval office.

I really have no interest at this point in persuading right-wing nutjobs to change their vote. They have their own strong opinions, however idiotic, and I respect them for that. The important thing at this point is to convince progressives like myself that you need to get your ass to the polls and vote for Kerry. If all of us show up, those clowns don't stand a chance.

In 1992 I happily voted for Clinton and was quite excited when he got into office. However right away he disappointed me. When the right-wingers started attacking Surgeon General Jocelyn Elders for some of her comments he quickly succumbed to pressure and canned her. That was the day that he lost my vote. I didn't vote for him in 1996 and also didn't vote for Gore in 2000 because he seemed to be lacking a backbone as well.

So here we are in 2004. I have known for quite a long time I was going to vote for Kerry simply because he was "Anybody But Bush" and not for who he was. However, I recently saw a film about Kerry that convinced me he does have a progressive spirit in him somewhere that just might not have been totally killed by all his years in politics. You can watch the film yourself at thekerrymovie.com and perhaps it may also convince you that a vote for Kerry on Tuesday is more than just a vote against Bush and you won't have to hold your nose as you go to the polls.

Ignorance is Bush

I always knew it was no coincidence that Seattle, which always ranks near the top of the list of the most literate cities in the USA, then also subsequently ranks at the bottom of the list of the most religious cities in the nation.

Well these type of statistics are also showing up in the election this year. The less education you have the more likely you are voting for Bush and the more religious you are the more likely you are also voting for that dope. The numbers don't lie friends. So ask yourself on Tuesday which group would you like to be associated with?