Wild Alaska seafood?

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This ad campaign is going to have some troubles, I suspect. It’s saying something I want to hear: they’re marketing wild seafood from Alaska, and they’re trying to convince me that it is a sustainable fishery. I have my doubts; but they are about to start a series of ads to tell me that it is, and they’re pushing salmon and king crab. Mmmmm. I want to believe. Delude me, baby, I want to taste your sweet, sweet lies.

The slogan is “Grab a fork, and eat all you want. There’s a lot more out there,” though, which I find appalling. And worse, far worse, I watched the ads. Who is mouthing that slogan? Ben Stein. I heard it, and my brain instantly clicked into full cynic mode. “He’s freakin’ lying,” my brain whispered to me, “Don’t trust a word he says.” And now I’m convinced that evil goons are chumming the North Pacific with baby seal blood and killing the fish with dynamite. So, DON’T BUY WILD ALASKA SEAFOOD. It’s evil.

Ah, the power of advertising.

For all the facts on fisheries, check out blogfish—in particular, you can find out more on the topic of Alaska at this link.

Countrywide? I’ve heard of them…

Alright, I want you people to school me real quick. I’ve been reading these stories about the Countrywide mortgage company getting mean and nasty with foreclosures, and the Countrywide CEO leeching huge personal profits from the company — Krugman even compares Countrywide to Enron.

Now normally, financial news just flies by my bleary eyes and is ignored, but the name in this case perked me up: the mortgage on my house is through Countrywide. Do I have to worry?

I wouldn’t think so. We got our mortgage at a good, low fixed rate some years ago, we haven’t had any problems keeping up on the payments (the cost of living in Morris is wonderfully low), and we don’t foresee any reason to trouble a lender in the future. But I have noticed an annoying uptick in dunning phone calls from Countrywide “offering” to renegotiate the mortgage (we neither need nor want to), and now all this chatter has me losing confidence in them.

I know there are economics wizards and smart legal minds among the readers here. Reassure me.

Drunk fish?

While I am a college student and enjoy the occasional alcoholic beverage, I have never tried to get any other species drunk. Until now. As some of my classmates may have previously stated, we have to design and implement some sort of neurobiological experiment. I will be testing the alcohol tollerace of zebra fish, testing reactions and behaviors after cronic exposure to various concentrations of alcohol. Perhaps after this experiment I will test my own reactions and behaviors after being constantly smashed for two weeks.

Migraine

Today in Neurobiology the topic of migraines and headaches was brought up. There was a question raised that wasn’t able to be answered adequately, and that question was, “Why do we experience the sensation of pain inside our skulls during a headache despite the fact that there are no nerves there?” Is there any primary research on this subject?

Anyone want to go to church with me on Sunday?

Well, lookee here … an announcement in the local Morris paper.

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 7

TOM DEROSA will be at Morris Evangelical Free Church at 6:30 p.m., to present a creationist’s perspective about evolution. DeRosa’s presentation is free and open to the public.

I don’t think I have any plans for Sunday night. Wouldn’t an evening with an old pal of D. James Kennedy and the founder of the Creation Studies Institute be buckets of fun?

You should listen to his testimonial. He claims to be an atheist who was teaching evolution in the public schools (he was teaching physics and chemistry, though — what was he doing teaching biology?), and got upset because they cut back the science curriculum from a year to half a year. So he’s talking to someone at D. James Kennedy’s private Christian school (why?), and offers to apply for a position opening up there (what?), and his wife organizes a prayer chain so that the interview will go well (what? what?), and at the interview he learns that salvation is not a consequence of works as he previously thought (what? what? what?) but faith, and takes the job and becomes a Christian. Why, He sounds just like a real atheist.

Oh, and they have a “museum”, too.

If you’d rather not come out to Morris, DeRosa is going to be scuttling about this part of the state for a whole week, so you might find him closer to home, poisoning your community’s children’s minds. Of course, the Morris event will have the advantage of a more interesting audience. Heh.

God speaks to the Idiot-in-Chief

If you’ve got a high tolerance for nonsense, you might want to check out 50 religious insights from George W. Bush. The man is a regular mullah, full of deep insights. I rather like juxtaposing these two:

I’m also mindful that man should never try to put words in God’s mouth. I mean, we should never ascribe natural disasters or anything else to God. We are in no way, shape, or form should a human being, play God. Washington, D.C., Jan. 14, 2005

I am driven with a mission from God. God would tell me, ‘George go and fight these terrorists in Afghanistan’. And I did. And then God would tell me ‘George, go and end the tyranny in Iraq’. And I did. Sharm el-Sheikh August 2003

There are 48 more. Also useful as an emetic.

I might believe god is actually talking to George, but he’s been looking in all the wrong places and getting all the wrong messages. Look to the skies, W, look to the skies! God has something to say to you!

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(Hat tip to the irregulars at After the Bar Closes, and to Denis for the appropriate photo)

Learn how not to answer science questions

This might be one of those “framing” exercises: Science Creative Quarterly wants your science questions. The catch is that they’ll be answered by Bill Hick the Science Prick (Ooo-eee, late-night Pharyngula is on an off-color roll, isn’t it?). There’s a prize, though! The humiliation and abuse might be worth it when you give the children’s book you win for it to some little boy or girl.

Just don’t tell them how you won it. You want them to look up to you, you know.