What's YOUR name?

Here's my married name:

My Holy name given by the Order of the Flying Spaghetti Monster is Prego Belinda de Conchigliette.
Take Flying Spaghetti Monster Name Generator today!
Created with Rum and Monkey's Name Generator Generator.

Inevitably, my maiden name is this:

My Holy name given by the Order of the Flying Spaghetti Monster is Prego Belinda de Tortellini.
Take Flying Spaghetti Monster Name Generator today!
Created with Rum and Monkey's Name Generator Generator.

I think I could have guessed that one.

I have found the TRUTH...

Fair warning, this is going to offend some of you, but I feel so strongly about the push to teach creationism in the public schools. Turns out I'm not the only person out there that feels this way. Bobby Henderson submitted an open letter to the Kansas Board of Education and others about if they are going to include ID in science class, then they need to teach other creation theories right alongside of it. The letter has rung a chord with many people around the world. Here's the original letter for you all to enjoy (note: this is not a true religion or anything remotely like it, it does not intend to make fun of Christianity or it's followers, just tries to point out the ridiculousness is attempting to teach it in science class):
http://www.venganza.org.

If you read this, hopefully, you all see the truth in it. It is absolutely wrong to teach faith in science and have to redefine the very nature of science itself to do it. The term "ID" is nothing more than a Halloween mask for the Christian right to try to play off creationism as a science. It is not a science. It will never be a science. It is no different from other's cultures of the "myth" of creation and should be content to be taught in philosophy class and religion courses. If you want your publicly taught child to learn this, the home is the proper place for it and, alternatively, there are schools available that will follow your teachings.

People who firmly believe that ID is a real alternative to the scientific theory of evolution have no understanding of science and how it works. Period. They consistently point out the "holes" in the theory of evolution. Well, of course there are holes. Unfortunately, we don't know everything there is to know because that is the nature of science. We ask a question, we get evidence that either supports the theory or disproves it. There is no point that a hypothesis is ever locked in and unquestionable. EVER. Remember not too long ago, it was thought that the sun revolved around a flat earth! Not everyone believed this, but some truly did and people died for this belief. Would you today throw out everything we've learned about the universe because we don't know every single answer to every single question? Not too long ago, a cancer or AIDS diagnosis was an absolute death sentence. Not today, we've LEARNED more and more about how to treat these diseases. Have we cured them? Not by a long shot. But would you discount the treatments now available because we haven't all the answers. We're still not sure how a cell becomes cancerous, but we're getting closer. But that's a "hole" in the theory. So, better throw it all out.

If you believe in God and believe in the creation myth purported by the Bible, then that's fine. But don't parade it as science. Where's the scientific evidence? How do you support that hypothesis? You can't, except by faith. And faith is a fine and wonderful thing that allows many people to feel they are closer to their God and gives them comfort in a sometimes scary world. I do not begrudge anyone their personal beliefs as long as they lead a life full of love and kindness for others. But the audacity of the right-wing fundamental Christians in believing that not only are THEY worshipping the "right" god, but they are the only ones who matter and in trying to push their personal beliefs on others! In the immortal words of George Carlin, "Keep thy religion to yourself." And for that, I say, long live the Flying Spaghetti Monster!!





Love,
B

DVDs and other stuff

I haven't forgotten about getting you all a copy of the DVD from Mom and Dad's anniversary party. I went and bought a whole bunch of DVDs and mailing envelopes a long time ago, but when I sat down to burn them, I had some problems. My DVD won't recognize the format, so I'm going to have to spend some time figuring it out. Sorry about that. I promise I will keep you all updated on it, but I haven't had a chance recently to work it out.

Oh, I found some great political cartoons and will share the best that I found. All are from http://www.politicalcartoons.com.

So, what's everyone doing for New Year's? Paul is working on the 31st, but they're supposed to close at 7 pm. We'll see though. I have a feeling there's a possibility I may be sitting at home going, "Wooooo.....wooooo....Happy New Year's to ME!! Wooo."

Hehe. Christmas was good although I was not feeling up to snuff completely. My big owie came back to haunt me and I luckily got into the doc last Friday. Got me on more antibiotics, which made me really, really sickly and tired. Missed work completely on Monday and only worked 7 hours on Tues.

We're starting to sell stuff on eBay again, especially since I've been buying so much. But I got some great gifts off there, for others and myself :)

Here's some fun cartoons:





Wish this weren't true...but my friend Eric sent me this link, check it out, it's pretty sad: http://www.edexcellence.net/foundation/publication/publication.cfm?id=352&pubsubid=1178


Wish I would've found this one before, it's so perfect!!












Oh, say it ain't so!!!!

Remember

Remember me when I am gone away,
Gone far away into the silent land:
When you can no more hold me by the hand,
Nor I half turn to go yet turning stay.
Remember me when no more day by day
You tell me of our future that you planned:
Only remember me; you understand
It will be late to counsel then or pray.
Yet if you should forget me for a while
And afterwards remember, do not grieve:
For if the darkness and corruption leave
A vestige of the thoughts that once I had,
Better by far you should forget and smile
Than that you should remember and be sad.

Christina Rossetti 1830-1894

Ho Ho Ho!!

Once again, it's that time of year of spending entirely too much money, spending even more money, then taking out a small loan so you can eat in the new year. Merry Flippin' Christmas to all! Hehe. Here's some Christmas humor to get you all through the days ahead!!




Love,
B

One more down...hopefully

Well, sorry I haven't updated recently, but I had a nutty week of trying to get final presentations done, a paper written and study for a final. But got it all done. Got a couple of grades back, (finally!!), after we took the final. Got a 97% on the take-home, but that's not too difficult if you just read a little bit. Got an 85% on the stalking paper, which I wasn't too happy about. I asked them to explain where the points were taken off and they really couldn't give a satisfying answer. So, no clue. I shouldn't be bummed about it I guess, but I think if they're going to take points off, they should be able to explain where they went and why they took it off. I know one of his complaints was "there were way too many citations here." Hunh. Well, as I was going through statistics, I thought I probably should cite. Anyway, done whining.

Presentation went okay, but my group went over by 3 min apparently. Well, we had a lot of information and two of my group members are really monotone, slow talkers. I about fell asleep listening to them, haha. We're hoping to do much better on this presentation paper than we did on the last one.

Got most of the shopping done for everyone that we're going to either see on X-Mas eve or not see at all (Mom T., Dad T., Dad P., Marty, Renee, Laura and Al). Tonight is for wrapping presents and getting two packages to mail to Al and Laura and my parents.




Well, seeing as how I'm at work, I should probably get back to it. Here's a little X-Mas commentary for ya'll too.



Love,
B


This little gem came from: http://www.politicalcartoons.com/

X-mas is creeping up...

It's another glorious Saturday here in the wilds of K.C. The temp is around 40 degrees today so we have massive melting and hugemongous icicles on the house. There's one in the back that is larger than me. I was going to take a picture of it, but my psychotic cat made a kamikaze run onto my computer desk, knocking my camera to the floor. When I tried to turn it on, it now says "change battery pack." I'm pretty sure the battery is okay, but can't find the charger to verify. I'm hoping he didn't knock something loose in there...damn him. I love my animals, but there are days I want to strangle them. This is one of those days with Max. He also dug out about a cup of soil out of one of our plants, throwing it around on the floor. Such a little shit he is.

I've gotten most of the presentations from my other group members, but one is just text with no pictures at all and the other doesn't cover 2/3 of her victims. Ack. Try to motivate these people and they give you crap. So, I'll be working on getting that all together. Got my part of the paper to one of the other members on Wed., but he emailed me saying he'd made some changes. I sorta freaked out and emailed him back telling him to send it to me and that it wasn't okay to be making changes to someone else's work without their permission. He apologized for making me think it was big changes, but he claims that it was nothing more than some "editorial" type changes. I still want to see it and told him so. Still haven't gotten it yet. Maybe I'm just over-reacting, but you never make changes to another person's content without their explicit approval.

Going to write another paper today on expert witness testimony, mainly focusing on the Frye (the original test) and Daubert (the current one). I'm going at it from a serology/DNA point of view since that has the most bearing on my life. The stuff I've read so far, it's pretty interesting how they decide whether your testimony falls under Daubert or not.

Next week is going to be awfully busy. My X-Mas party for work is Wed., and Paul's is Sunday. Of the two, Paul's should be a lot of fun, since it's at Dave & Buster's. When we lived near St. Louis, we used to go there all the time. We'll get to check out the new one here now. Mine is usually a bit stuffy, but free food and alcohol, so woohoo. And it's always entertaining to see your old professors get snockered and dance.

Since we've pretty much decided to have my family's X-Mas in January, we're only going to go buy Paul's side tomorrow. A little easier on the ol' pocketbook anyway to split up the purchasing. I haven't seen my great-nieces in forever and just haven't had a chance when I've been home recently. My niece is always working on my weekends there, so can't wait to see how big Macy has gotten. And, Mom, I'll try to take some pictures assuming my camera starts working again! Damn that cat.

Here's a little Christmas humor for ya'll that I got in the email the other day. Considered making it my cards this year, but we went with a pic of us instead. It was a tough decision, lol.


Naughty, naughty Santa!!

Love,
B

P.S. Forgot to mention that we ended up with a little over 12" of snow!! Holy moly on a sleigh.

Are we in Kansas City??

This here is for all you people who don't get to see this sort of thing. We're in the middle of a snow storm, so thought I'd share. Made the drive home from work a little hellish, but made it home okay. In this part of the country (well, Kansas City, really), they don't believe in shoveling the highways. The plows are apparently nothing more than pretty decorations. They're trying to sand and salt this stuff, not plow. Maybe it really IS rocket science!! We're expected to see anywhere from 8-10" but we're already at around 9" and still have hours of snowfall left. It's been snowing for 16 hours now and has about another 8-9 hours left. The last time we had this kind of snow with the temps was in 1978! Take a look at the pics and enjoy!! I know you're all jealous. Seriously, it's very pretty unless you have to be out driving in it. My toes are cold anyway so no going out for me!! (Hint, hint, Laura).


Yeah...that's a ruler...and that's 9"!!


Paul definately got the short stick when he went out to measure. I got to stand in the doorway to take the pic. Notice the dead sexy hat.


Yep. That's our porch. The seat looks nice and fluffy enough to sit in. Fun times scooping!

Funnies

Here's a little something to make all us geeks laugh!
From: http://www.geekculture.com/joyoftech/

How many days til X-Mas? Crap.

Well, it's definately December for those who might be wondering. We've been righteously spoiled with very good weather and now we're getting the cold stuff. Not much snow, but cold. But you can always find somewhere colder which makes me tolerate it better, oddly enough. Lincoln, NE, forecast for today was "bitterly cold" on weather.com. And Paul said it was -33 in Montana near where we used to live! I'm not entirely sure if humans are supposed to live that far north of the equator.

Got my stalking paper done and we managed to figure it out literally in the 11th hour. Our last two questions got us our man, at least a very likely suspect. Other groups, who aren't quite as stupid as we were, got it by their 1st question and were able to definately nail the same guy. Felt a whole lot better once we got that dude's name. The "source" was feeling sorry for us and piled a ton of info into the last couple of questions, so yay for pity.

Class consisted of talking about fantasy development and rapists for 9 hours. Always entertaining. We're winding that class down and only have final presentations, two papers and the final due next class. Ack! And me with no X-Mas shopping done yet. But Paul and I did put the tree up (which is pre-lighted), no decorations yet. It looks pretty nice and due to time, may stay that way. Also, got our X-Mas cards yesterday which I addressed and have mostly done.

Got to spend some more quality time with the Pomeranian on Thurs./Fri. Turned out she adopted him to a family in Lincoln so I offered to taxi him up there. Paul picked him up on Thurs. and for once, all the animals were getting along. Pretty rare. The little guy was laying on Paul's chest when I got home. Traveled so well, slept most of the time, although for the first hour or so of the trip, he did it in my lap, which was interesting. Got him to another temp home on his trip to his final destination. The new owner, unfortunately, named him Herbie Husker. Tracy got to see him too and fell in love, although the dog wanted to bark and bark at the cats, who didn't have a clue what to make of this little furball who was about 1/3 of their weight.

Saturday night we went out for Nicole's (brother's girlfriend) birthday. Then went back to the house, where we played poker and shot darts until almost 4 a.m. I slept until nearly noon and now my sleeping schedule is all funky. It was fun, especially since I got to use my brother's money since he got up and I sat in for him and ended up winning the first couple of hands, so he let me stay there. Just got him his original money back in the end.

So, this week is mainly for getting papers/presentations all done and the weekend for X-Mas shopping, but we'll see how it goes. It doesn't matter a whole lot since we can't do my family's Christmas at all this year until Jan. Paul has to close on X-Mas Eve which is supposed to be at 4 p.m., but we won't know until that day when he'll be home. He didn't work last year, but knows they sold 6 cars. I told my family that we wouldn't be there X-Mas Eve, but we're going to try to go to Junction, unfortunately, it puts everyone in limbo until that day. If everything works out perfectly, we'll try to go to Lincoln, X-Mas Day, but who knows. Weather is also a consideration of course.

Time to go to work since I'm late as it is.

Love,
B