(no subject)

Battleground God

Can your beliefs about religion make it across our intellectual battleground?

In this activity you’ll be asked a series of 17 questions about God and religion. In each case, apart from Question 1, you need to answer True or False. The aim of the activity is not to judge whether these answers are correct or not. Our battleground is that of rational consistency. This means to get across without taking any hits, you’ll need to answer in a way which is rationally consistent. What this means is you need to avoid choosing answers which contradict each other. If you answer in a way which is rationally consistent but which has strange or unpalatable implications, you’ll be forced to bite a bullet.

One hit (the non-evidence bit, explained in the FAQ), two bullets.

9/11, Advent, CCTV, IR

With only one or two exceptions, every post on my friends page today regarding the events of 9/11/01 have been along the lines of "Let's stop rehashing the past, reliving the pain, spurring false patriotism, let those lost rest in peace and let the living heal." (Admittedly, they were far more eloquent than I've just been.) Today at work, we had a moment of silence at 0846, and that was more meaningful to me than a day of media-blitz-recaps and elaborate remembrance ceremonies could possibly be.

---

Angie and I then finished the practical test on the Advent alarm system--including the realization that one perceived problem was actually normal behavior--and later took the written test. I was the third to finish the 20-question test--for which we were given 100 minutes, and took no more than 30--and got the high score of 100! :D (I'll admit that one response was a reasonable guess, but I still got it right! :) In our remaining time, we got an overview of CCTV, which can do a lot more than I realized, and the presentation was a rather slipshod combination of generalities (good) and specific details that mean little without the hands-on work that will start tomorrow. Then we watched a couple of advertising videos for CCTV equipment, including the 'Amber' portable IR camera system from Raytheon, sensitive enough to clearly depict a sea rescue from 2.5 miles, a spacecraft in orbit from 2,000+ miles, the heat residue from a split-second touch of the finger, and the heat emission of a person's breath in the air. (We don't use this camera, as far as I know, but it's pretty cool. I'm told some of our B&W cameras can pick up IR, though. :)

And now, some errands. :)

Food for thought

Wish Bush dead? No.
Yesterday a friend asked me if I wished Bush et al. dead.

No, I don't. It wouldn't be satisfying. It wouldn't do much good. It wouldn't be enough for justice.
I wish Bush...

Amen.

---

Ah, Springfield Mall, how convenient are thee.. :)
However, ye featured one birthday card which displeased me. On the outside: A bearded dragon, which looks nothing like an iguana. Iguanas are -green-, for crying out loud. On the inside: "Iguana wish you a happy birthday!" Now, seriously--how hard is it to find a photo of an iguana for the card? :P

I get a Melody tomorrow evening! :D!

---

Two links!
Badger badger badger badger
...You say it, and I swear to God, I'll kill you.