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Saturday, January 13, 2007

Yokels Yank School District Over 'Inconvenient Truth'

Federal Way schools restrict Gore film
'Inconvenient Truth' called too controversial

This week in Federal Way schools, it got a lot more inconvenient to show one of the top-grossing documentaries in U.S. history, the global-warming alert "An Inconvenient Truth."

After a parent who supports the teaching of creationism and opposes sex education complained about the film, the Federal Way School Board on Tuesday placed what it labeled a moratorium on showing the film. The movie consists largely of a computer presentation by former Vice President Al Gore recounting scientists' findings.

Paramount Classics

Al Gore's documentary about global warming may not be shown unless the teacher also presents an "opposing view."

"Condoms don't belong in school, and neither does Al Gore. He's not a schoolteacher," said Frosty Hardison, a parent of seven who also said that he believes the Earth is 14,000 years old. "The information that's being presented is a very cockeyed view of what the truth is. ... The Bible says that in the end times everything will burn up, but that perspective isn't in the DVD."

Condoms don't belong in school and neither does Al Gore? This from a yokel who can't follow the reasoning of basic science and logical reasoning because he simply refuses to believe it?! Pithy, I guess, but what a nitwit. And what kind of yokel did Federal Way put on its school board who'd think a guy like that made SENSE?!

Here's a gem I can't let slip by, though you should go read that whole article:

...teachers who want to show the movie must ensure that a "credible, legitimate opposing view will be presented,"

So, if there is no credible opposing view, then that pretty much just makes it a... a... a whatchamacallit... "AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH", doesn't it? Inconvenient is not the same as controversial! It's like comparing apples and whackjobs sucking at the poison teat of willful ignorance... they're not the same thing! Apples are sweet and yummy, while whackjobs sucking at the poison teat of willful ignorance are... not. On so many levels, they are not sweet and yummy.

Where was this fucking yokel when they let the Theory of Gravity slip into schools unchallenged? Where was Mr. Yokel when the Theory of Relativity, "It's only a theory," as Yokel says, flattened the fuck out of Hiroshima and 120,000 people?

posted by Charlie # 1/13/2007 12:12:00 AM 1 Comments

Friday, January 12, 2007

Paint.net Rocks

I just think this is the coolest thing since Honda. This metaphor may not fly very far, but it does to Photoshop what Honda did to Cadillac (if the Honda had been free). For the day-to-day image editing that I do (resizing, scribbling, a little layering, I guess) my little Paint.net zips me around my tasks like a cute little Honda.

Grabbed this off their website:

It supports layers, unlimited undo, special effects, and a wide variety of useful and powerful tools.

It started development as an undergraduate college senior design project mentored by Microsoft, and is currently being maintained by some of the alumni that originally worked on it. Originally intended as a free replacement for the MS Paint software that comes with Windows, it has grown into a powerful yet simple tool for photo and image editing.

A nice, manageable feature list that doesn't try to do too much. Me diggy.

posted by Charlie # 1/12/2007 11:11:00 PM 0 Comments