this weekend in random links
Americans feel that atheists are less trustworthy than all other groups (ABC News), and conservative christians would object to their children marrying muslims or jews substantially less than they would object to their children marrying atheists. Choice bits include:
Many of those interviewed saw atheists as cultural elitists, amoral materialists, or given to criminal behavior or drugs. She states, “Our findings seem to rest on a view of atheists as self-interested individuals who are not concerned with the common good.”
Description of a wolf-owner keeping a wolf as a pet. Interesting, I guess I really had a perception that dog and wolf behavior would be a bit more parallel than it is. The moral of the story: if you want a dog that looks like a wolf, get a huskie or another northern dog — because a wolf will be just as prone to eating your neighbors and their pets.
(BBC News) Chile and Peru both want to patent potatos. Sure, it’s a little late to do so, since they’ve been domesticated for seven millenia. But … you know, getting that 20 years of patent royalties on the original parent branches of wild potatos that nobody uses anymore (because hybrids are in every way better suited for human purposes) … I’m sure it would be useful. Who gives a damn where potatos came from?? Seriously!
Tanning may be addictive. Yep … tanning apparently stimulates endorphins in a way not entirely unlike exercise. So if you’re feeling like you need a mood booster, maybe you should hop in a tanning bed … or just go get some sun. I know _I_ should go get some sun :-p
OpenBSD finally makes ipsec easy! (securityfocus). Or at least as easy as pf and nat in bsd can be. It’s not completely abstracted away, but a lot of it is, which is damned nice. When OpenBSD 3.9 comes out (in about a month) I’m definitely going to have to put some time into poking around with it.
Damned Kids! Get Off My Lawn! (ABC News). An Ohio man killed the neighbor kid for walking on his lawn. How stupid is that? I mean … there’s letting things get to you, and then there’s REALLY letting REALLY LITTLE things get to you. Cripes!
Food Industry blamed for obesity. Yeah, in a “shocking” turn, people are electing to dodge personal responsibility yet another way, by blaming the food industry for obesity. Now, as a fat guy, it’s tempting to pawn off responsibility for my own weight on the attractive powers of delicious food. But … there’s also the big part of me that says “you know, you wouldn’t be fat if you didn’t lead a completely sedentary lifestyle and eat too much for that lifestyle”.
Now, I can blame the food industry for feeding us incredibly large quantities of corn… But … blaming the industry for making us all fat? That’s just … crap, you know?
So … they’re random! So what!