>Reading In to Harry Potter

>Yes, I read the Potter books. No, I’m not so much a fan of the Trio as of the adults around them– McGonagall is what I think my Grandmother would be if she were a magic school teacher. (Not that Grandma Alice would ever, ever EVER allow such a thing– she doesn’t even like fiction, let alone fantasy. Bad experience with tea leaves. Good Scottish name, though.) Snape reminds me so much of my favorite English teacher it’s painful. (Yes, that’s you, Kallery. Barring the whole double-agent-with-a-homicidal-muggilcidal monster. Also, you have more than a nodding acquaintance with shampoo.) Hagrid reminds me of a lot of folks, and Draco-clones tried to make my childhood difficult. (And failed miserably.) Mr. and Mrs. Weasley I adore– some bits remind me of my folks, but I suspect that’s because they obviously love their kids and each other so much, rather than any real similarities.

Maybe because the supporting characters are the reason folks read so much into the books? So far they’re Christian, they support witchcraft, they’re pro-gay, they make kids anti-social, they’re a sweet love story, they have horrible romantic writing, they make kids read more, they give kids something to talk about, they’re wish fulfillment, they show Harry his wishes aren’t what he thought, they’re too black and white, there’s too much blurring between good and evil…. Heh, guess they’re what you make of them. But it’s a rare book that isn’t….

What brings this up? Well, it’s partly Jimmy Akin’s fault, partly my mom’s fault (insisting that you try to look at *everything* from as many views as you can) and partly because of Sirius Radio’s “Patriot” station…. I got to read the new book, and I think it has a situation that fits pretty well with gun control.

I’m dancing around to make sure I don’t spoil even a little thing. ;^)

In the books, there are powerful tools, highly regulated, that that some folks have and some don’t; the folks that have them keep entire classes of folks from having access; when the bad people get power, they move to take them from even more classes of folks, and removes the primary source of these items. (There, that’s dancing enough.)

I don’t think Mrs. Rowling was doing this on purpose– but I do think it’s startlingly fitting. Makes me wonder what other things I could read in…..

>Uh, excuse me….

>

WTF is “age-appropriate sex education” for five year olds?

Wow, they found someone who may be freakier than “it takes a village” Clinton.

So… Who’s up for the government adding even more years of sex ed? As if I wasn’t already pissed that I was required to have more years of sex ed than I got of science….

Jawa, I love ya, but sometimes I really wish I didn’t know now what I didn’t know then….

>Geek time–

>This is a pretty amazing video, even if you have *no idea* what “World of Warcraft” is.

Inside of Warcraft, people can choose a lot of different races which they then play through the fantasy world. While you are playing that character, you can do what are called “emotes”. These are “commands” that cause your character to do things on the screen– tell jokes, wave, blow a kiss… or dance.

Someone looked at some of the dances for the various races, figured out what they are based on, and managed to digitally cut out characters dancing and put them in clips of the source of the dance. (I think the druid tree-form is my favorite– let’s do the twist!)

It is really, really amazing– especially since *they got nothing but satisfaction* from doing so!

Isn’t technology cool?

>Not Religiously Based-

>-but if that’s the only way you can deal with such a notion, go ahead, and please don’t waste your time– after all, I’m an ignorant religious lamb who’d never listen to your great wisdom, so why bother?

Offend the ad hominem sub-branch religion folks? Good….

I don’t believe in evolution. At least, not in the we-came-from-goo sense. I simply don’t see any *reason* to believe that everything came about randomly– I do believe in selective breeding, and I know that at various times the fossil record has shown new species showing up.

However:
folks have yet to show me the “blindingly clear” shifting from an old form to a new. The one that I use to believe, the horse evolution example, has descendants that are found only after or at the same time as their ancestors. This isn’t *proof* that it couldn’t have happened, but the lack of the ancestors being found before their descendants means that the argument is weak.

Well, fossils are based on happenstance, as best we can tell. (hey, Strata could be true!) How about the stuff that is now– like DNA? Surely the stuff we know is very old– because they are simple animals, and we’ve got fossils that show they’ve been around for a long time– will have simple DNA that’s different from what’s here now? It’s like comparing a skateboard to an SUV with all the frills, right?
Well, actually, “the genome of the sea anemone, one of the oldest living animal species on Earth, shares a surprising degree of similarity with the genome of vertebrates”.
Oldest animals “more complex than thought.” (Thank you, Mrs. O’Leary.)

Well, I did say that I had no problems with selective breeding, right? I’m from a cattle ranch, and I love cats and dogs– those three examples of selective breeding, leaving aside the amazing things we can do with plants, means I probably believe in the human/ape shared bloodlines, right?
Well… not really. Just because things look similar doesn’t mean they’re related. I tend to view the biology classes and families as a way to say “these things are similar.” I don’t *care* if they “evolved” from the same place– it’s irrelevant.
On a less science-based but more human-based point, it seems to be used by folks who are trying to make a point I dislike: that humans are “just” animals. Yeah, because there are *so* many finches trying to get other finches to eat plants that aren’t endangered… and the sharks, they have huge groups that are working to get aid to sick sharks in different oceans….
Folks keep insisting that DNA is a “blueprint of life,” then exagerate the likeness of two physically similar species to drag down one by association. This stinks of an agenda, not of real science.

Honestly, if total evolution were in a vacuum, I wouldn’t bother to post about it. So you want to believe we’re all from slime? Whatever. So you want to believe that the aliens made us? Whatever.
But this is getting folks killed.
Abortion is being used to “improve” humanity, as it has for decades, by killing off the “undesirables.”

I am always amazed how many unspeakables will tell me that death is better than life. I’ve known many folks who fit the areas that are living lives “not worth living.” Amazingly, the only folks I know who’ve killed themselves had serious mental/emotional trouble. If their lives are *really* that bad, there are thousands of ways to end it– tall buildings, cleaning supplies, kitchen knives, pills, traffic, a plastic bag….. Yet none of these folks who are cheering for pro-active evolution seem to want to let folks try life, first.

That is why I am bothering to post about a poorly-supported theory that simply doesn’t matter: because folks are taking it to logical conclusions, and it is causing damage.

>Live Earth-

>Beyond ego and cash, was there a PURPOSE to this?

A bunch of folks who scream about hypocrisy are telling everyone *else* how to live while they make massive amounts of the very stuff they claim is killing the world….

If they actually believed it, they’d stop AND buy the “carbon credits”– they wouldn’t pump years worth of CO2 out in a single day.

When someone religious is found to have fallen, I’ve got some sympathy, if they are ashamed– they KNEW they were doing wrong. These folks don’t seem to believe they’re doing wrong, only that other folks are– and that alone makes me dislike and disbelieve their sincerity.

>Why do smart folks say stupid things?

>I find the argument that the problem with immigrants is illegal immigration pretty uncompelling. First of all, it’s almost (not always) made by people who don’t want to let those people (or equivalent numbers of their more law abiding compatriots) in legally, and react against any proposal to do so with exactly the vehemence that they complain about the illegal entry of illegal immigrants.

Thank you, Mz. “Can someone explain this in terms that don’t devolve into “But the Mexicans are brown“.

The author is smart, and usually sensible. Why does this turn her into a raving bigot? (Yes, I consider those who project racism onto others to be bigots. Ditto for those who project mental disorders.)

I’m very much against letting thieves get away with breaking the law. I’m also against giving them the goods. These aren’t contradictions.

To respond directly to the accusation, I am against illegal immigration because they are breaking into my house.
The breaking of laws which shows an almost total disregard for the country they are entering is a major reason I am greatly against illegal immigration, beyond the law-abiding instincts I may have.
I wouldn’t mind having the same number of folks coming in, if they could be integrated into the existing society and if they would be useful to the country. I don’t think that those two items will be fulfilled.
Earlier waves of immigrants gave us something we needed– bodies.
They also didn’t predominantly come from a country that is right next door, and that has a historic claim to some areas. (Valid or no, there is a historic claim.)

They are not related issues, although it may seem like they should be– one I object to because those involved prove they have no interest in following the rules of the land they are invading. The second I am not for because I do not see the benefit to the country.

I really, honestly don’t know why the author has abandoned her usual thoughtful style to throw this junk out. (I honestly don’t agree with her even 1/4th of the time, but she’s good enough that I enjoy reading anyways. It’s sad that a topic that it would be enjoyable to read in her usual style instead brinks out this junk.)

>’Nuff Said.

>

You Are Guinness

You know beer well, and you’ll only drink the best beers in the world.
Watered down beers disgust you, as do the people who drink them.
When you drink, you tend to become a bit of a know it all – especially about subjects you don’t know well.
But your friends tolerate your drunken ways, because you introduce them to the best beers around.

I’m not perfect, but I’m Irish…..