So, the Week from hell is done and behind me. I've collected the dough from my insurance company -- dough for 'doh!' if you will -- and I am now the proud owner of a spiffy car: A 2004 Hyundai Elantra GT 4-door hatchback. (Pic below)

I think we got a good price (all told, a little under 10k). It gets excellent gas mileage and it's fun to drive -- it's a 'sport' sedan, so it's a good bit zippier than my last car. -- although it's still primarily an economy/family car). It looks nice and it has a nice, organized interior. It's a pretty big step up from my last car (a 1999 Saturn SL2).

My eldest son is particularly happy with it. This morning he insisted that I take him to school in 'the red car' and he was running around telling the other preschoolers about his 'new red car'.

One thing about leather seats -- while they may be durable, one cold-clammy connection with my ass this morning (I was wearing shorts) was all it took to inspire me to buy a seat cover and a steering wheel cover. Brrrr.

This article about Creationism, by Roger Ebert, is actually quite funny -- as long as you're savvy enough to read between the lines.

And if you're not, you should probably read this follow up article by Ebert as well. 

So last week was a real loser for me and my family -- kind of like a whole week of bad karma. Briefly:

• My wife had a (very minor) stroke.
• I got in a car accident which totaled my car.
• Work was generally busy and stressful.

Fortunately:

• My wife's stroke was very minor and had no lasting effects. We did have to go to the doctor's for various tests and such, which pretty much killed her whole evening... but overall she's fine.
• The car accident really wasn't that bad. No one was hurt. It was my fault, unfortunately (extenuating circumstances, pending some traffic court mitigation).
• Work is gradually lightening up this week, and may slow up by tomorrow.

I'm still awaiting the check for my car (which I should get today). The car accident is poorly timed, and now I'll have to spend a bunch of money I don't want to spend (I'm still shopping on the cheap, relatively speaking -- under 10k). On the other hand, my car was on its last legs anyway. (I was planning on getting rid of it next summer.)

I don't identify myself as a democrat or republican, although my general leanings are liberal democrat.

That said, I don't much care about what the media reports on various candidates for office. It is, after all, easy to misread or misinterpret facts separated from their subject. In other words, the only way to get the real, whole story is from the subject.

However, one thing I am flagrantly biased against are freakshow religions--such as Pentecostals--and (in general) all the bible-thumping-anti-evolution-fire-and-brimstone bullshit superstition that thoroughly fly their flags of ignorance in the face of common sense and science.

Sarah Palin went to a Pentecostal church (full article here). That pretty much lands her on my idiot list, regardless of anything else. Being as she's a die-hard Republican and a fan of the NRA just adds to my imagining of her as a bible-thumping-gun-toting-flaq-waving-beauty-queen-redneck hired for popular appeal and not any genuine ability to lead.

Some quotes from various folks in her political party say she 'represents America' in the sense that 'she's one of us' ('the common people' is my take on that).

I'd like to see her 'common people' ultimately supplanted by my 'common people' -- the educated, successful, and still thoroughly middle-class people. She doesn't represent 'my' America, and not the America I'd like to see decades from now.

 

The Hadron Collider gets ready to collide stuff.

It give us amazing information about the inner workings of the universe, or it might tear a hole in the time-space continuum and bring about some bizarre, inter-dimensional Cthuulu-style Armageddon.

A few facts about the collider:

• "Experts say the collider has the potential to confirm theories about questions that physicists have been working on for decades including the possible existence of extra dimensions."
• It could create tiny black holes."Although physicists acknowledge that the collider could, in theory, create small black holes, they say they do not pose any risk."
• "You're talking about such incredible power inside both the accelerator and detectors that you never really know until you turn it all on what's going to happen."

Here's an article on CNN. 

I remember this was covered on a funny Monty Python or other BBC comedy show.

Here's a screwball that actually believes this nonsense.

Today at 2:30pm | Edit Note | Delete

Ass is truly one of the greatest swear words.

It's primary advantage over other swear words: it is usually uncensored because it can refer to an animal. Other strong points include:

• It is easily mixed with words like "dumb" and "hat" to make whole new descriptors for virtually anything. It even pairs well with some partial words, such as -tacular, to make new words.
• It is generally easier to adapt to polite company, as long as it doesn't get paired with "hole" in which case it's almost universally offensive.

It is generally much funnier than most other swear words, because virtually anything that involves our backsides is generally damn funny, no matter how much we may may pretend otherwise.
It's definitely funnier than sh** and bitch, although f*** is a close call because it's so damn versatile (although it's virtually always censored).

I have no idea what came over my oldest son, but yesterday he apparently decided his TMNT costume (Raphael) was, in fact, his buddy.

So he's been carrying it around on a coat hanger. He even insisted my mom put a seatbelt on it in the car.

It's very funny, actually -- and very out of the blue. I've no idea what prompted this sudden 'imaginary friend' phase.