Saturday, December 17, 2005

Oppose the war on white people!

Brad Templeton has a very funny post. I'm quoting the whole thing -- but don't let that stop you from checking out Brad's blog, which really is reliably full of really interesting stuff.
Major retail chains Target, Wal-Mart and others announced today they will end the so-called war on white people that had resulted in most stores posting signs welcoming “shoppers” or “customers” instead of “white patrons”, even though white people represented a considerable majority of their business. “I’m white, and I’m here shopping for gifts for my white friends, and I’m offended that the store has been pressured into making some generic greeting that doesn’t reflect me.” said William O’ Reilly, a concerned caucasian shopper. “If they’re not going to welcome me and my race, I am going to take my business somewhere else.” O’Reilly’s complaint, echoed by dozens, perhaps scores of other shoppers, has led the chains to alter their policies. Signs declaring “Look good with today’s colors” will be replaced next year with “Look good in colors designed for white skin.” The “Happy holidays” sign, recently changed to “Merry Christmas” will be further changed to “Merry Christmas for White America” to reflect the ethnicity and religion of 80% of the shoppers in the stores.

Wednesday, December 14, 2005

President Bush

Brian Williams asked the President about Iraq.
Williams: A lot of people have seen in this series of speeches you're giving on Iraq, a movement in your position. They call it an acknowledgement that perhaps the mission has not gone as it was originally planned — three points: That the U.S. would be welcomed as liberators, that General Shinsecki, when he said this would take hundreds of thousands of troops in his farewell speech, might have been right. And third, that it wasn't a self-sustaining war in terms of the oil revenue. Do you concede those three points might not have gone as planned? President Bush: Review them with me again. Williams: Number one — that we'd be welcomed as liberators? President Bush: I think we are welcomed. But it was not a peaceful welcome.
(link.)

Tuesday, December 13, 2005

7x7

This might be my first blogger meme ever, I'm not sure. Clayton hit me, and like Shieva, I'm procrastinating. So here I go. 1. Seven things to do before I die
  1. Run a marathon.
  2. Write my very last required term paper.
  3. Win a poker tournament.
  4. Earn a Ph.D.
  5. Get paid to sing.
  6. Live in England.
  7. Write the seminal work in imagination and epistemology.
2. Seven things I cannot do
  1. Convince people that a picture of a logical impossibility is a picture of a logical impossibility.
  2. Sing tenor roles.
  3. Instantiate triangularity in my thoughts about triangles.
  4. Win the Super Bowl three times in four years.
  5. When I have a full house, and another player in the same game has four of a kind, and neither of us folds, win.
  6. Be really dryly ironic without being taken seriously.
  7. Reliably predict whether indeterminate future-tense sentences will become true. (Damn sea-battles!!!)
3. Seven things that attract me to my spouse/best friend (I'll answer for spouse.)
  1. Her endless patience with all my little adventures and misadventures.
  2. Her comfort with polyamory.
  3. Her ability to do all -- yes, all -- of the things I can't do.
  4. The skillful and sensitive way she handles our hypothetical children.
  5. Her status as a self-actualized, independent woman, demanding of and receiving the respect and admiration of those who encounter her.
  6. Her bazoomies.
  7. Her complete and utter perfection (with the single possible exception, if being is necessary for perfection, which it probably isn't, of there being no such spouse).
4. Seven things I say most often
  1. "I think that insights from the philosophy of imagination can shed some interesting light on this issue."
  2. "Right on."
  3. "I'll raise."
  4. "It is, it is, a glorious thing to be a pirate king!" (typically sung)
  5. "I guess I worry that [insert decisive argument against the view here]."
  6. "It's cool."
  7. "Rock on, dude. Yeah!"
5. Seven books I love
  1. Yeomen of the Guard vocal score.
  2. The World of the Imagination, Eva Brann
  3. Conceivability and Possibility, Gendler & Hawthorne, eds.
  4. Santa Lives! Five Conclusive Arguments for the Existence of Santa Claus, Ellis Weiner
  5. The Butter-Battle Book, Dr. Seuss
  6. Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, Susanna Clarke
  7. The Constitution of the United States of America
6. Seven movies I would watch over and over if I had the time
  1. Beauty and the Beast
  2. The Princess Bride
  3. Topsy-Turvy
  4. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
  5. Finding Neverland
  6. Moulin Rouge
  7. Clue
7. Seven people I want to join in, too
  1. Aristotle
  2. Augustine
  3. Descartes
  4. Locke
  5. Hume
  6. Carnap
  7. Wittgenstein