No More Free Passes

Russ from Wired GeekDad: I Revoke Your Geek Card.

ldpm — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 01:48:22 +0000

My problem with this recent Wired GeekDad post is not about whether Russ and his family get vaccinated against seasonal flu or H1N1, but about HPV:

First, my disclaimers - I’m not an anti-vaccination advocate, and all of my children have been vaccinated per school requirements. However, we have not vaccinated our daughters against HPV (Gardasil) and have no plans to.

No, Sorry, Russ, if you’re not willing to get your daughters (and soon, your sons) vaccinated against HPV, even in the face of factual information you yourself link to, then you’re an anti-vaccination advocate. And that’s not a good thing for a geek to be. If you want to make a case-by-case decision about each individual vaccination based on risk and efficacy, that’s cool. But if you’re doing that, the decision to get the HPV vaccine should be a no-brainer. Therefore, your decision must be based on some other factor, and whatever that factor is, it is almost definitely anti-geek.

On Which Factor in the Following Crime will the Newspaper Focus?

ldpm — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 21:49:54 +0000

A Utah man apparently broke into his friends’ apartment and beat them with a hammer. Can you guess which of the following three factors related to the motive the Salt Lake Tribune picked up on?

The attacker had taken sleeping pills prior to the attack.
The attacker and one of the victims had argued the day before when the attacker learned that the victim had been dating a girl they had both agreed not to date.
The attacker played Dungeons & Dragons with the victims the day before.

All three are true. Did you guess correctly?

“The Debate” in New Mexico

ldpm — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 20:41:34 +0000

The Alamogordo Daily News posted an op-ed in favor of teaching “both of the scientific theories” of human origin. A day later, the comments are dominated by polite, well-reasoned rebuttles to the argument. At least, for the first, like, half-dozen or so. And then someone attempts to defend the article, as someone always does, essentially arguing that willful ignorance is a valid point of view (”I am a Christian… I refused to participate in that kind of ’science’…”). And then the comments, as they always do, go a bit downhill. Good times.

Actually, I Rather Like the Idea of a Death Panel

ldpm — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 18:08:58 +0000

Is there some kind of super-awesome health insurance company out there I don’t know about providing free policies for everyone who wants one? Or are the town-hall health care protesters all simply idiots? (more…)

Fundies Say The Darndest Things

ldpm — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 15:26:39 +0000

A dramatic reading of a number of Christian Fundamentalist Forum posts, in whacky Canadian accents that make them sound even more absurd (via BoingBoing): (more…)

Today, I am a New Mexican

ldpm — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 06:18:05 +0000

Governor Bill Richardson signed legislation today repealing New Mexico’s death penalty and replacing it with life without parole. I want to thank Governor Richardson, as well as the New Mexico State Legislature, for this brave and correct move. (more…)

First 100 Hours, More Or Less

ldpm — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 15:58:26 +0000

So I’m a bit late writing about how happy I am with the Obama administration. But here are the most notable accomplishments of Mr. Obama’s first 4 days in office, or thereabouts:

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Why Didn’t Anyone Tell Me About This?

ldpm — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 16:53:51 +0000

So, apparently, Apple rejected an iPhone app that made good (and dare I say, obvious) use of its motion sensitivity: iBoobs. This is exactly the problem with Apple’s theory that people want to be protected from dangerous, unapproved apps; I cannot imagine anyone at all, man, woman, or child, not wanting to have an accurate boob jiggle simulator on their iPhone. Nothing I’ve seen, by the way, suggests that the boobs would be unclothed, and every kid with a game console already has at least a half-dozen games with life-like or hyperbolic jiggle physics, so I don’t really buy any hypothetical “won’t somebody please think of the children” argument (not that anyone’s made one).

Boo Apple! Hooray Boobs!

Roger Ebert’s Unofficial Review of “Expelled”

ldpm — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 17:39:34 +0000

…Can be found here. I’m referring to it as “unofficial” because Mr. Ebert posted it on his blog, not the more usual site for his reviews. I have written previously about evolution, Intelligent Design, and the movie “Expelled”.

Mr. Ebert posted this particular blog entry on December 3rd; there are now over 1000 comments. It’s a very good read.

On Trust, Fairness, and the Auto Industry Bailout

ldpm — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 22:36:58 +0000

The proposed bailout for the big three domestic auto makers upsets me. Nobody is rushing to the aid of workers in the not-for-profit sector, despite the fact that a) there are many of us, and b) the economic slowdown isn’t our fault, either. Other auto makers who manufacture and sell cars in the United States aren’t asking for handouts. So why does an industry that has been run terribly inefficiently deserve a bailout? (more…)