Category Archives: Personal

Vow of Chastity Raffle

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117323_FEMALE_CHASTITY_BELT_jpge0c4e3755c80cc379d7a5eb922979ad7To make (not much of) a living I work as a small printing press operator and as you might imagine I’ve printed all sorts of things over the years. Last year we had some raffle tickets come through the shop that amused me (I just found a copy of the tickets I had saved while straightening up my office)

The tickets were for a “Vow of Chastity Raffle Extravaganza“.

This “extravaganza” was put on by a local Christian ministry (no surprise there) to “celebrate” their “vows of celibacy”. Now I find this sort of thing to be rather odd myself and a tad amusing in and of itself, however what was  really funny, at least to me, was one of the things listed as a possible prize to be won in the raffle:

A queen sized bed (in a bag).

Is giving someone who is trying to remain celibate a portable bed really a good idea?

…

Well I thought it was funny.

A tiny intruder

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My wife (Kathy) woke me up this morning telling me there was a “baby in the bathroom”. Naturally enough I asked “baby what?”. “A lizard” she said.

Now we generally have only two types of lizards around where I live (in Southern California), the Southern Alligator Lizard (Elgaria multicarinata) and the Western Fence Lizard (Sceloporus occidentalis). Usually when I find a lizard in the house it’s an alligator lizard. They’re nasty little buggers who bite (the larger ones can draw blood), wipe feces on you and drop their tails if you breath on them too hard.

Elgaria multicarinata

So I asked my wife which kind it was. She said, rather insistently, that she didn’t know and that I should get out of bed and look for myself. Here is what I found in all its cuteness:

baby_liz

After briefly toying with the idea of keeping it (because it was so damn adorable) we decided to let it go in an area beside the house where we frequently see its relatives. We wished it best of luck and sent our tiny intruder on its way.

New Library Aquisitions

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The wife made the mistake of insisting on going to a used bookstore last weekend. The result is that my library has grown a bit larger (and my wallet a bit thinner). For those not familiar the entire contents of the Britain Research Library can be found on my personal web site at the previous link.

Anstey, Robert L. & Chase, Terry L. (1979) Environments Through Time: A laboratory manual in historical geology (2nd Edition), Burgess Publishing Company, VI +140

Brockman, John (Editor) (2006) Intelligent Thought: Science versus the intelligent design movement, Vintage Books, XIII + 256

Cherfas, Jeremy (1982) Darwin Up To Date (A New Scientists Guide), IPC Magazines Ltd, 72

Desmond, Adrian J. (1975) The Hot-Blooded Dinosaurs, The Dial Press/James Wade, 238

Skybreak, Ardea (2006) The Science of Evolution and The Myth of Creationism: Knowing what’s real and why it matters, Insight Press, VIII + 338

Von Koenigswald, G. H. R. (1962) The Evolution of Man, The University of Michigan Press, 148

Watson, James D. et al (1983) Recombinant DNA: A short course, Scientific American Books, XIII + 260

White, Michael & Gribbin, John (1995) Darwin: A life in science, Dutton, IX + 322

And from the dark side:

Latham, Antony (2005) The Naked Emperor: Darwinism exposed, Janus Publishing Company, VI + 257

I’m still here…

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Sorry for the lack of new posts but I am working on about three different things right now (and remember I have a day job ;) ). One is a big post on fossil horses, another post has to do with ICR and tunicates and lastly I am supposed to be helping on a rewrite of the Talk Origins Archive FAQ on the Lewis Overthrust (hi John).

The horse piece is dragging on a bit as it involves an ongoing correspondence with people from two major museums and a major university, and I’ve had to make two trips to the local UC library to pick up relevant papers.

So please bear with me, and hopefully it will all be worth the wait.

Sorry for the absence

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I have been working on a lengthy two part post on an Expelled related subject and unlike creationists l try and do my homework before I publish something, which takes time. I should have it ready by tonight (April 21). Sorry for the delay, and thank you for your patience.

Dinny the dinosaur, a fond childhood memory defiled

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Since at least 1975 anyone driving on Interstate 10 through the tiny truck stop of a town of Cabazon California (about 15 miles west of Palm Springs) could catch a glimpse of an amazing sight; a massive, larger even than life, concrete replica of a Jurassic dinosaur Apatosaurus (Brontosaurus) named “Dinny” the dinosaur.

Dinny was the creation of Claude Bell (1897-1988) an artist who had once worked for Knotts Berry Farm in Buena Park, CA, and later ran the Wheel Inn truck stop next door to the dinosaur. Starting in 1964 it took him eleven years to construct and reportedly cost upwards of $250 thousand dollars. It about 150 feet long and weighs in at more than 100 tons.

Dinny the dinosaur

Read on»

Off to a slow start, unfortunately…

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Well I’m off to a slower start at blogging than I had hoped due to my wife Kathy having some serious health problems which has, as you might well imagine, taken precedence.

Please check back in again later, hopefully if our luck improves I will be able to be a tad more active here (I have a few ideas rolling around in my head already).

Thanks