All-in-One Creationist Debunking

You know I'm a big fan of Orac and PZ Meyers, who patiently explain the hard-thinky bio-science. I just got an ... er, kind of e-mail, kind of screed about how evolution makes no sense. As we must keep our science kung fu strong here, we cannot dismiss such things out of hand (although I would dearly love to.) But where does one go for one place where all the answers to ID and anti-evolutionist questions?

An Index to Creationist Claims

Spend the day. It's actually quite fascinating. Oh, and you could do worse than hanging out at Pharyngula on a regular basis.

Interstingly, one of the recurring issues ID or Creationists have is with intermediate fosils. Where are the fossils showing the steps between species. Then, when you point them at the flightless dinosaurs with feathers, they ask for an even THINNER slice of the pie for the next step up.

I don't know if most biologists are familiar with this (probably, as it's covered in the first year physics classes most must take at University) but there seems to be a parallel in math/physics argument in this vein called Zeno's Paradox. Just struck me as odd to see the same issue pop up in a different field. Too deep for me on a Friday, but feel free to chat amongst yourselves.

On a serious note, I would like to remind everyone that there's nothing about evolution which precludes belief in God, just as there's nothing in atomic theory which does either. It is simply not the job of science to discusss His Pasta Holiness in any context.

On an even more serious note: if someone at a party asks "If we're evolved from monkeys, why are there still monkeys?", you are now allowed to punch them in the throat. No, honest. It's a law.

If You're Local ...

... to Katrina's fringes or know someone who does live in Houston or up in the Mississippi evac zone, we received a suggestion from one of our reades here who's in a shelter -- check and see if any of your LOCAL shelters needs physical help. Red Cross et al are doing a wonderful job coordinating the monies, but the physical locales are often not even remotely equipped to handle the bump in business. For example, he wrote and told me that they needed help in watching all the kids while the adults went out and hunted up housing, medicine, etc. Nicely enough, the local college fraternities/sororities are stepping up to staff at his location.

Pitching essay coming tonight, so value for your dollar in transit.

Index-Fu for September

Ach, the article I was writing on pitching split itself off into two larger articles on pitching in general and then pitching the rewrite. In the interim, as I work on those, our semi-traditional month-initiating Index.

New Media Writing (Rage against the Studio Machines, Baby):

4th Generation Media

Writing:

Writing Life
Writing: Beginning
Writing: Whose Viewpoint?
Eternity Has Residuals
Writing: Adaptation (Pt.1)
Writing: Adaptation (Pt. 2)
Writing: Adaptation (Pt. 3)
TV: Corner Gas
Writing: Adaptation (Pt.4)
Writing: Software
Writing: Adaptation (Pt. 5)
Writing: Plot and Story
Writing: How Small a World?
Writing: Q&A #1
Writing: Q&A #1 Followup
Writing: You Don't Need Pg. 11
Writing: Agents & Managers

Our attempt at screenwriting academia:
TV Jargon Preservation (Pt.1)
TV Jargon Preservation (Pt. 2)
TV Jargon Preservation (Pt. 3)
TV Jargon Preservation (Pt. 4)

Global Frequency

It's a "Global" Frequency Now
Miranda is ... annoyed
One Last GF Question
GF wow
GF Reviews and E-mails
GF Update #1

The True Geek Conversations(tm)

#3892: Batman vs. Punisher
#651: Catwoman Edition
# 5643: Ju-On, Red State Version
#36679: In Which Bo & Luke Duke Kick a New York Jewish Election Worker to Death
#36679 cont'd: Sophie Mae's Choice
#436: I Love Lucy -- Issue Zero! The Origin Issue!

Politics:

The Latest Rants:

The President and Intelligent Design
I WISH Hollywood Was That Organized
Hybrids and Hypotheses
Iraq and Roll
Booming Babies Still Want Bidey (MAN did this one piss people off. yay!)
57% of Americans are Traitors
I'm All Out of Reasonable
'ellllooooo Clinton!

The Rest:

Who's Your Daddy, Broward County?
I Miss Republicans (nominated for a Koufax, spiffy!)
Spongiform Sexuality
Win Kamchatka, Win the World
Oh. Oh, Canada.
Gay Marriage
Activist Judges
Will of the People - (the inter-racial marriage/gay marriage polling stats)
I will Punch Florida in the Goddam Neck
SPOILERS! -- the Interview with God
Swearingen for Senate
You Can Know Jesus ...
Learn to Say Ain't - (for some reason, immensely popular and quoted in some serious political websites and magazine essays. Huh. Fooled 'em.)
Senate Quicksand
Learn to Say Ain't - Feedback & Criticism
That Ironic Smell
"Toxic Spiritual Nature" ...
The Groom Grinds a 360!

Comics and Geekery

Fandamentalism
The famous "Geek Hierarchy" Chart
Moral Advantage: Gamer
Comics: Year of the Bummer
Comics: Womb Crazy!
Wold Newton Universe
Zombie News/ ZOMBIE TALES
Comics: Sweet Four-Color Vengeance
SPOILERS -- the Interview with God
Zombie Tales #1 - Everybody Digs Zombies!

Fundraising

Army Emergency Fund - Total

The semi-famous LOST: You Uncurious Motherf*ckers

... and, just because it was always my favorite:

Top 10 John Wayne Titles That Could Also Be Porn Titles.

Thanks for visiting. And leave with the assurance that anything you find interesting or amusing -- that was an accident.

Phil Says Thanks

... here at Intel Dump. He's a bit too nice to me, I think, but I want to tell you people you should be incredibly proud of yourselves. You did this -- I just facilitated.

Not to Freak You Out

But ignore my previous suggestion. Now I command ye, get to the Oil Drum and also MyDD's summary of a think tank's reminder of just how much US infrastructure plows through an area which is not only no longer functioning, will not be functioning in increments of 6 months to years. Never mind the missing oil rigs. Not damaged. Missing.

Not scare tactics. But we need to understand even past the massive tragedy of what's occurred, what the ramifications are going to be for the rest of the country both economically and socially. So we can handle it as it comes, and also plan ways to avoid such problems in the future.

As I'm having tattooed on my forearm: "Hope is not a plan."

Red Cross

Looks like every blog on the planet is recommending charities -- and I must give it up for the Instapundit-affiliated humans, they're spending all day tomorrow ceasing to cry socialism and pointing people at worthwhile charities. Good on them. In the spirit of bipartisanship, I will even abandon my Presidential Vacation Watch. I ... won't ... even ask ... why he did't just ... go straight to Washington ... after yester -- ... GAHHHHH.

*pant pant pant* Okay. Ooookay. Letting it slide. We're all together in this.

I won't presume to write too much on Katrina here -- there's far more and better coverage out there than anything I can do. And we know how I feel about grief-surfing. However, I will point out that some people have suggested checking your company's donations policy for matching funds. Excellent idea.

I will continue the tradition of personally matching your donations done through the Paypal button (with all due respect, linking to a bunch of charities is one thing. We put our damn money where our mouth is here.)

Money slammed through the Kung Fu Monkey hut will be doubled. I did get an e-mail about the delay in donation to the end of the month, but I've got to say -- folks, rebuilding New Orleans and Biloxi will take YEARS. The refugee crisis alone will be at Condition Red well through 2006. This will streamline the administration of the funds here, and also allow me to give you some value for the donations.

So, as always, if you're amused by the site, drop us four quarters. If you think I'm a jerk, write a bigger check and strip me of my ill-gotten gains -- all of it going to a desperate and noble cause.

Meetings this afternoon, then a spate of writing essays for the spec-monkeys in the crowd.

Your Monkey's Kung Fu is Strong

As you know, last month I was shooting my mouth off for the Army Emergency Relief Fund. This was particularly in honor of one of the first and most informative bloggers I started reading: Phil Carter over at Intel Dump. We'll be making this donation in his name.

Let me take a moment here, before we dive into the details. Perhaps because the first military history I ever got wrapped up in was World War One, I quite frankly never understood the entire "criticize the idiots in suits, you're not supporting the troops" bullshit. WWI was characterized, to use a phrase from the time, as "lions led by donkeys." Our troops, right now, are the sublime example of this phrase. They are lions led by donkeys who were so convinced the war would go one way, when the facts didn't fit they did what all asses do: dig in their heels and bray louder.

I support the troops by asking they be properly armored, and then demanding answers when the men who were supposed to help them didn't do so. I support the troops by critically examining the plans of the people who have put them in harm's way. I welcome disagreement, but the idiotic "questioning is treason" meme can only come from the mouth of someone completely unclear on why and how this country was founded.

It is not my right to ask these questions; it is my responsibility, my side of the contract we have entered into with the men and women brave enough to put their lives on the line for us. I am not against the war. I am not against the soldiers. I am not -- in the most idiotic extension of some people's rhetoric -- pro-terrorist. Demanding we only send our troops into harm's way when we have exhausted all other options and make damn sure we properly equip them before the war; insisting on well-defined mission objectives and an exit strategy during the war; demanding proper care of the troops when they return after the war ... all that is PRO-SOLDIER.

None of this passes our EEBC. If I point out that you are sending miners into a mine without lamps, oxygen masks, or even a map of which tunnels to dig in, I am not anti-miner. I am not objectively pro-mine shaft. By asking that firefighters be properly equipped, and not sent into a burning building without back-up and a clear route out, am I somehow "pro-fire"? Of course not. Am I somehow undermining the firefighter's morale? Idiocy.

All this would be too stupid for even a moment's consideration if it weren't for a sizable minority in this country who seem to have this mental hiccup. If the world frightens you, or you are so dependent on party identification that you can not even consider the prospect that the Big Manly Washington Men who you put your faith in are not all you need them to be to feel safe ... you are not supporting the troops. You are cowards, retreating to sloganeering to compensate for either an unwillingness or a terror at confronting a complicated world.

Now, on to the happy. My personal goal was based on the Statcounter -- although a couple thousand people swing through here a day, there were, at the beginning of the month, about 500 visiting often enough to keep their browser cookie fresh. Those are the core audience here (of both admirers, and critics, I'd imagine.) If I could charm, annoy, and inform you enough to average one dollar per core reader, I'd be happy.

Well, there we are. As of tonight, the Kung Fu Monkey readers raised $566.67 US. From delight or spite I don't know, nor do I care. As promised I will match that amount. Tomorrow, my business manager will cut a check for

$1200

to help take care of the spouses and children of our fellow citizens who are currently in harm's way, thousands of miles from home. Is this an enormous amount of money? Tell you what -- it's pretty goddam fine considering it was the equivalent of a tip jar on the bar. I'm damn pround of you people. I'd rather see this steady run in every month, based on a growing readership and community, than make some huge push once a year.

I won't go into details, or release names -- but we did get a $100 donation or two balanced against a majority of $1-5 and a few $20-25 clusters. I was blown away.

I won't exhort you to do better next month -- I will only use this as a prod for myself to contribute more often, work harder, be more informative and create more value so just naturally more readers feel inclined to cough up some sofa change.

It's incumbent upon me to make this blog equivalent in information/amusement value of four quarters for the majority of you, and I will strive to do so month after month. I also, plainly, need to piss people off more who will donate to punish me with the matching funds. I was really hoping that fuckwit Apuzzo from Libertas Films would cut a check for a grand just to shove it up my ass. Ah well, too busy pimping his patriotic movies to do something in, say, actual service of other human beings. I say again: fuckwit.

Everyone who contributed should have gotten a little note from me. Thanks again, and stay tuned for more common-sense politics, archaic gaming, and in-the-trenches screenwriting advice.

Kung Fu Monkey: turning hot air into altruism, one rant at a time.

The Last Push

On the same day we wrap up last month's "pay when you're amused or annoyed", I think no one will disagree next month's "Money Where My Mouth Is" charity should be The American Red Cross as they deal with the landfall of Katrina. I assure you, there will be even more crunchy goodness, as September promises to be surgery-free.

Until tomorrow, any donations based on the articles from August will still go to The Army Emergency Relief Fund, to help families of soldiers. I'm matching all donations; the total will be posted and we'll see what we accomplished.

Thoughts and Prayers

Getting form letters from our readers who are bugging out of New Orleans and surrounding areas; I occasionally forget how widely scattered the Kung Fu Monkeys are. Stay safe, everybody, and get the hell out of Dodge RIGHT GODDAM NOW. Everyone light candles to the spiritual inspiration of their choice.

And if this isn't scary enough, do feel free to browse The Oil Drum for some further, unexpected-for-most ramifications.