The theme for today is "accidental humor." In that category, we have a potential television entry later on today, a product that gives new meaning to "invigorating showers," the Kremlin trying to prove that they've got less of a grasp on reality than we do, the President upping the ante on the Kremlin twice in two questions, and an Uncommon Descent speculation on meaninglessness. Oh, and in the unfunny category we've got some helpful suggestions on how to manage pdf files.
Must-See Fox TV:
Later tonight (8 pm EST), Richard Dawkins will be appearing on Bill O'Reilly's Spin Zone show. PZ's right - there's no way to guess how this one is going to turn out, but the potential for some accidental humor is definitely high.
That Shower Really Perked Me Up:
A new personal hygiene product is being offered that could definitely help perk up that morning shower experience - caffeinated soap. For as little as 3.79 per bar (plus shipping and handling), you can purchase four-ounce, peppermint-scented bars of soap, each of which contains about 200 mg/shower of caffeine in a form that can be absorbed through the skin. The manufacturers estimate that you can get about twelve showers out of a bar, which brings the price per dose down to a very reasonable 31 cents - try getting 200 mg of caffeine for that at Starbucks. Just make sure that you don't use one of those bars to wash your kid's mouth out with the next time he swears.
No, of course I'm not serious about this - but the manufacturers sure are.
Fair and Balanced:
Jake reports (I'm having a really hard time believing this one) that the new, Kremlin-tied management staff at Russia's largest news agency are mandating that the news take a more fair and balanced approach in their reporting - at least half the coverage must be of "positive" news.
No comment - there's really nothing to add to that one.
Diving Deeper into the Well of Stupidity:
Today, President Bush met with the US commander of forces in Iraq, Gen Petraeus. Reporters were in there to take some pictures, and the President took two questions. The two questions were reasonable and rational - one was on the Iraq funding bill, and the other on the Attorney General's hysterical Senate hearing. The President's responses, on the other hand, were ... were ... hell, I'm going to spin this into another post as soon as I'm done with this one.
Accountability and Reality:
Over at Uncommon Descent, GilDodgen writes:
An obvious question remains: What might motivate this denial of the obvious? I believe that the answer is obvious, and it has to do with accountability.
He's clearly trying to hint at one of the arguments that gets made about atheists a lot - people who don't believe in God are motivated by a desire to escape from being held accountable for their actions. Here's a news flash for you, Gil: if people who don't believe in God really thought that a lack of accountability is a good thing, you'd really expect to see a lot more atheists supporting this President.
But seriously, folks:
If you're an academic who reads journal articles, you've probably got a lot of pdfs saved on your computer. Two articles at Scienceblogs today present suggestions for how to manage pdf collections. Alex links to a blog article that provides instructions on how to use iTunes to manage pdfs. For those who use Macs (and aren't cheap or broke), Josh suggests a commercial application.
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