Doug's Darkworld

Well, been steeling myself, but still haven’t read any comments to my more recent 9/11 Truthers posts. I’m just not nearly as inclined to argue with people any more. And I don’t want ugly Doug to come out ever again. Truthers are all good people working to fight evil in the world, and even if I don’t agree with them, at least they aren’t telling me that their imaginary friend is going to torture me forever after I die because I don’t believe he exists. Creepy frankly, like if Jimmy Stewart in Harvey was a serial killer.

I see Qaddafi loyalists captured a city in Libya. Someone asked me, why would they do this?  My response: It’s their country. That the question was even asked is a reflection of how steeped westerners are in cultural imperialism, the idea that some Libyans might not actually be happy with NATO bombing Libya back into the tribal warlord era apparently didn’t occur to him. I will be writing more on cultural imperialism, it’s really warped the world view of the west. It all ties into Christianity and the idea that Christians can “save” other peoples, but enough of that for now.

I mentioned this in the sidebar a few days ago, but for those who didn’t read it, astronomers are going to take a picture of the black hole at the centre of our galaxy. True, they can’t actually take a picture of the black hole itself, since once light crosses the event horizon, it dun come back. However, as stuff spirals into the black hole it emits all sorts of radiation near the end, and this, the “haze” around the black hole, they hope to photograph. This will require a telescope the size of the Earth, but they can fake that. Telescopes all over the world will be combined somehow (I don’t feel like looking up the details now,) essentially combining their images to make one huge telescope. If they get a good snap shot of the bad boy lurking at the centre of our galaxy, I will be sure to post it.

Obama gave his State of the Union Address. I couldn’t watch it. The man is such a talented liar, it pains me to see. When Bush spouted patriotic drivel, at least he meant it, even if he didn’t know what he was talking about. If I understood the gist of the address right, Obama has taken up the mantle of economic injustice, and is going to run with it. In English, this means he will promise to regulate Wall Street and tax the rich; then when he gets elected, he will do neither. Mark my words.

Today is the anniversary of the deaths of the Apollo One astronauts. I was ten when it happened, it was a big deal at the time. As a friend said: “There are certain risks to sitting atop a missile.” Especially one built by NASA was my response. Sadly, the Apollo One deaths, like all the astronauts who have died, were victims of American hubris, the idea that Americans can do anything from the ground up and don’t even need to look at what others have done before. “Gigantomania” a German friend called it. Again, a topic for a future post.

They passed a law in France making it a crime to deny the Armenian Holocaust. The Turkish government and many people in Turkey are really upset by this. I certainly have mixed feelings about it. Hate speech directed at Muslims = protected free speech. Hate speech directed at Armenians = go to jail. There’s something wrong with this picture, at least to my understanding so far. I’ve blogged about the Armenian genocide before, and frankly it’s not a topic I want to return to. It’s one of those topics where anything but an extremely partisan view will get one pilloried by all parties concerned. Yeah, that’s fun.

Speaking of fun, I’ll end this with a cute video. The ancient Romans loved these little guys, dessert or appetizer, didn’t matter.

 (The above painting is titled “fish.” It is so copyright protected the gentle reader shouldn’t even think about stealing it, the artist is just like the girl with the dragon tattoo, except prettier and meaner. Copyright © 1998 Christian Damian. All Rights Reserved. Kidding aside, she’s a fine artist, inquiries welcome, email Christian at: chessdryad@sbcglobal.net )