Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in Al Petterson's LiveJournal:

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Monday, November 23rd, 2009
8:41 am	Ps 109 I was going to paraphrase this, but I'm not sure I have much to add. I keep coming round to the idea that the leaders of the Republicans who come up with this stuff are really liberals punking their movement. I had thought it was obnoxious, but now it's just funny. Using Ps 109:8 as a threat to the president is exactly as bad a misrepresentation of the entire psalm as claiming "There is no God" is a bible quote. I am again stunned by the illiteracy of these people with whom I am supposed to be sharing a country. (Comment on this)
Saturday, November 21st, 2009
10:02 am	Classification I attempted a taxonomy of Republicans on Balloon Juice as my explanation for what makes them think they can profit from making a state, or country, ungovernable. Republicans probably shouldn't read this. ( Read more... ) (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, November 13th, 2009
11:44 am	It is impossible to parody... RedState has to be a parody. There's simply no way this could be real. Today Barack Obama is going to announce that the terrorist mastermind of September 11th, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, will be sent to New York City for a criminal trial in a civilian court. In that trial, the terrorist will get all the rights afforded an American citizen in a criminal trial, including the right to a fair trial, the right to a taxpayer funded attorney, the right to review all the evidence against him, potentially including classified intelligence matters, the right to exclude evidence against him including, potentially, any confession obtained through enhanced interrogation techniques, etc. At best, this will be a show trial fit not for the American Republic, but a third world kleptocratic totalitarian regime... Can anyone find anyone willing to defend that point of view? That the right to a fair trial, the right to an attorney, the right to review evidence against the accused, and the right to exclude evidence obtained through torture, add up to "a show trial fit not for the American Republic, but a third world kleptocratic totalitarian regime"? What the hell planet are these people on? I cannot believe the level of self-parody to which they've descended. Are there people who in real life believe this? (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, November 10th, 2009
11:22 am	Awesomeness Almost as good as the Star Trek / Rocky Horror video mashup last year. Lyrics: ( Read more... ) (Comment on this)
Monday, November 2nd, 2009
12:38 pm	War bulletin (Comment on this)
Tuesday, October 27th, 2009
11:13 am	Top 10 Internet Laws The UK Telegraph had a list of the most important laws of the Internet. I didn't know most of these, but I have no difficulty whatsoever in endorsing all of them wholeheartedly. In inverse order: 10. Law of Exclamation: The more exclamation points (or all-caps) used, the more likely it is a complete lie. 9. Cohen's Law: Whoever resorts to the argument that "whoever resorts to the argument that... has automatically lost the debate" has automatically lost the debate. 8. DeMyer's 2nd Law: Anyone who posts an argument on the internet which is largely quotations can be very safely ignored, and is deemed to have lost the argument before it has begun. 7. Pommer's Law: A person's mind can be changed by reading information on the internet. The nature of this change will be from having no opinion to having a wrong opinion. 6. Danth's Law: If you have to insist that you've won an internet argument, you've lost badly. (Corollary: "the lurkers support me in email.") 5. Scopie's Law: In any discussion involving science or medicine, citing Whale.to as a credible source loses the argument immediately, and gets you laughed out of the room. [Corollaries include answersingenesis, huffingtonpost, etc.] 4. Skitt's Law: Any correction of another's grammar, punctuation, or spelling will contain at least one eror. 3. Rule 34: If it exists, there is porn of it. 2. Poe's Law: Without a winking smiley or other blatant display of humour, it is impossible to create a parody of fundamentalism that someone won't mistake for the real thing. 1. Godwin's Law: As a discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches 1. (Comment on this)
Thursday, October 15th, 2009
1:36 pm	Hah. I will see Kit's Earth/Jupiter and raise her some Martian sand art. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, October 9th, 2009
9:21 am	And for those who think it's undeserved, or "out of nowhere"... “What’s really remarkable is that in all my years studying national reputation, I have never seen any country experience such a dramatic change in its standing as we see for the United States in 2009...” If "the bar" is being better than your predecessor, Obama cleared the bar by an enormous margin... of course the bar was very, very low. But when I heard, a year ago, about the Central African nation where all the posters of bin Laden had been torn down and posters of Obama put up in their place, this has been something to behold. Europe has a bit of discomfort about race these days, and seeing America elect a minority as president did shame them more than a little. Like it or not, wingnuts, this is not just about Obama but also about the fact that the US elected him. And, um, people should get a grip. It's not an American prize. That Obama is only liked by some 55% of Americans is not representative of the whole world. Most of the world does not have the benefit of Fawkes News brainwashing. He's much more popular everywhere else. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
9:07 am	I could say a lot more, but I will keep it short. My amusement and admiration is tempered by two things. 1. He is not in very good company. 2. The favorite for the Econ prize (to be awarded Monday) is one of the people most responsible for the dereg fever that led to the current economic meltdown. That said, there's more than a little schadenfreude when I see headlines like Obama Wins Nobel Prize Criticism of decision from Hamas, Taliban, Republicans Tell me. How does it feel to be listed alongside the enemies of America? Please do tell us all about how unfair you feel that is. (Comment on this)
Wednesday, October 7th, 2009
5:40 pm	That Oklahoma civics test You recall that OK citizenship test. Was all the rage last month. Oh, our poor stupid teens. We are doomed. Our schools are failing. Learn Mandarin. I wanted to get the links down here, so I can reference it later, but there is compelling evidence that it was a fake -- and a fake that took in most major media outlets. A Kos diary about it. Nate Silver delivers the math smackdown. If this isn't enough, consider this suspiciously similar thing from two years ago. The most compelling red flag of forgery? That out of the pathetically huge number of wrong answers to "What is the supreme law of the land?" not a single Oklahoma teen, out of these 1000 supposedly benighted folk, answered "The Bible". Nate Silver, being on the scent, finds that these are not the only shenanigans pulled by this pollster. We have a crime syndicate posing as a polling organization. Now, if only news organizations could DTFJs and report on the fraud, instead of just reporting uncritically on the absurd data. (Comment on this)
Friday, October 2nd, 2009
9:08 am	Seeing trailers for 2012, I am reminded again of how much we owe to Dennis the Short for his miscalculation -- how much more panic would have ensued had Hyakutake and Hale-Bopp appeared in 1999-2000? And for that matter what if we'd had 4 fewer years to hack code around Y2K? So it makes me happy 2012 is coming to our theaters in 2009, because it gives me reason to reflect on Dionysius Exiguus, and on cool astronomy. 2012 will also feature what is likely to be the final Venus transit of my lifetime, unless we make some significant breakthroughs in either life extension or space travel. (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, September 26th, 2009
4:53 pm	After two weeks, the cumulative points for/against the six teams in the league were: Alphas 13-0 Betas 6-0 Gammas 6-6 Deltas 3-8 Epsilons 1-10 Zetas 0-5 Each team has played two other teams, for a total of six games over two weeks. In one game, the Zetas played the Deltas. What were the scores of all six games? (Real life question, since this is Kate's soccer league. I'm pleased that there's enough information to solve it.) (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009
1:35 pm	Thought for the day: "Selfishness" is not, as commonly used, defined as "acting in accordance with one's own desires", since with broad definition of "desire" this becomes a tautological definition of all human choice. A better definition of selfishness is "acting without regard for others' desires." Those who use the first definition to justify the second need to be beaten with sticks. (Comment on this)
Thursday, September 17th, 2009
9:35 am	It occurs to me that neither silkiemom nor I have yet journaled our Alaska trip. I will have to rectify this soon -- I have notes (and oodles of photos) but before the memory fades further I should get more details down to share. (Comment on this)
Tuesday, September 8th, 2009
4:54 pm	This was a truly memorable moment. The picture doesn't quite capture the full coolness of it, where this young chimp was squatting in front of a gaggle of young boys, each of whom had a hand pressed up against the glass, and fist-bumping one hand after another right down the line. Josh's fist is at the bottom of the picture. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, September 7th, 2009
9:00 am	(4 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, August 31st, 2009
10:34 am	Successful squicking of my D&D players (Not the kids, I mean Jason/Wendy/Silkie.) Slightly gross stuff involving undead, and spoilers (up to the point where my campaign has reached) for City of the Spider Queen, if anyone should care about this seven-year-old module.( Read more... ) (3 Comments |Comment on this)
7:44 am	Last night we saw the Smallville and Supernatural season finales. Finally, we're basically caught up on almost all our TV - only Heroes and Lost are still to be watched (the former for half the season, the latter for the full season). We may yet finish watching everything before we get behind on the new season... (Comment on this)
Sunday, August 30th, 2009
1:12 am	3.5e question You are a powerful evil wizard or cleric. Your valued minion was just slain by perfidious PCs. The paladin then summoned his warhorse, picked up the corpse of your minion, threw him across the back of his warhorse, and dismissed it. True Resurrection is still a touch-range spell. It "works even if the body has been destroyed", but what if it hasn't? If the body still exists, you need the body, as I read the rules. So if you need the body, how do you get it? Discern Location might tell you "in the holding area where extraplanar mounts go when dismissed", but is it possible to reach that location? (7 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, August 26th, 2009
10:36 am	Among the many reasons I love our schools: the junior high principal made all the teachers watch this video, and some of the core-class teachers (including Robert's) showed it to the parents during back-to-school night: And they bragged more than a little about the school -- justifiably. Standard scores going up seven straight years, with a big jump right after they instituted the discipline policy the principal clearly considers his signature achievement. Huge percentages - >80% - scoring proficient or advanced in both English and math. Of the 8th graders who took geometry last year, 97% scored proficient or advanced in geometry. Promethean boards in every single classroom, and teachers who know how to use them in every single classroom - even the english/history teachers who pretty much brag about being tech and number illiterate are able to use them effectively. Every teacher showed us their website, each showing how you check assignments, find makeup work if you're sick, find the textbook online with its supplemental study material, see the progress of your kid's grades and check their attendance. Our schools rock. (1 Comment |Comment on this)