October 6, 2008

Late morning at the Talk to Strangers Café.

DSC_0245

Come on, talk. I'll meet up with you later. I'm going to go listen to Ilya Shapiro of the Cato Institute talk about what sort of judges we might expect a President Obama/McCain to appoint. The event is down the hall from my office, and I'm hoping for lots of good discussion from UW lawprofs and students. If anyone says something truly interesting, I'll have my laptop and I may live-blog it.

But this post isn't about McCain, Obama, or the Supreme Court in particular. This is a café post, which means you're on your own. Talk about anything.

118 comments:

Trooper York said...

I'm scared. I want to hear what the hall monitors want us to talk about. I don't want to get in trouble.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Melissa said...

I'll start: What can McCain do to turn things around? Is there anything that he can do to turn things around? What might an Obama presidency look like that we aren't necessarily expecting?

Hoosier Daddy said...

I'm scared. I want to hear what the hall monitors want us to talk about. I don't want to get in trouble.

Oh nonsense Trooper.

Lady Astor: Mr. Churchill you're drunk!
Churchill: Yes I am but you're a twat. Tomorrow I'll be sober but you'll still be a twat.

Host with the Most said...

This is a post where we are not talking about the campaigns.

Is that right, thread sheriffs?

chickelit said...

Talk thorns, not hair.

Unknown said...

Yesterday I was listening to my XM radio and heard Martha Stewart trying to sell me on the new "Best of Sirius" package: a collection of Sirius channels that you can get on XM now with an extra subscription fee.

Hearing her promote her own station seemed reasonable enough. But it was quite funny to hear her talk about "All NASCAR, all the time" and the NFL network.

Ernesto Ariel Suárez said...

Hoosier Daddy said...
I'm scared. I want to hear what the hall monitors want us to talk about. I don't want to get in trouble.

Oh nonsense Trooper.

Lady Astor: Mr. Churchill you're drunk!
Churchill: Yes I am but you're a twat. Tomorrow I'll be sober but you'll still be a twat.

12:00 PM


Hahaha, I love the arguments those two had! Still, my favorite is the one I quoted a few weeks ago about poison in his drink.

Trooper York said...

Movie trivia quiz. Name the movies that you can find these burning twats:

Molly O’Leary
Nola Darling
Alex Forrest
Barbara Scott
Zipporah

Peter Hoh said...

So we have self-appointed monitors now? I must have missed a few threads. Please don't fill me in.

Lorelei Leigh said...

Can we talk about something other than the election or the economy?

Did anyone watch Mad Men last night? I've liked Don Draper for two weeks in a row, so I'm thinking next episode will be a doozy for him.

Anonymous said...

Wow. Look at that photo. It's been posted twice in the last few days.

Do you think Ann has any issues with prickly roundish hairy-looking things we should be analyzing here?

Trooper York said...

She once went on a date with David Crosby.

He is in fact a roundish hairy-looking prick.

chickelit said...

@Lorelei: I love Mad Men, (especially Christina), but am too cheap to spring for the cable package that carries it.

What year are they up to now?

Henry said...

Do you think Ann has any issues with prickly roundish hairy-looking things we should be analyzing here?

OMG, it's John McCain's head!

(sorry Lorelei)

Darcy said...

Glad the Angels were able to pull that game off. I don't really need the Sox to win again. Nice story, but I'd like a change.

I'm hoping the Phillies win the whole thing.

And I'm missing Roger Federer...who is thinking about taking the rest of the year off, I guess.

Sports/tennis nut. :)

Lorelei Leigh said...

@chickenlittle: I'm pretty sure it's 1962 this season on the show. I think the episodes are available on the internet to watch, but I had trouble watching them. With the advent of DVD, I almost think I'd rather watch a whole season of television at once rather than an episode a week.

@henry: That's ok. That was actually pretty funny.

Ernesto Ariel Suárez said...

Where do they show Mad Men?

Ann Althouse said...

Michael H, it's not the same picture, just another picture of the same plant.

(Commenting from the talk.)

Unknown said...

Well how about a little musical entertainment.

Ernesto Ariel Suárez said...

mcg, that was painfull...very...

Lorelei Leigh said...

Where do they show Mad Men?

It's on the very inaptly named American Movie Classics. I say that not because of Mad Men but because very few of the films they air could be considered classics, and when they do air the classics, they butcher them by airing them full screen.

Unknown said...

OK, that's not really fair, that was a Microsoft internal video and a spoof of The Boss. To make up for it, here's a serious music video.

George M. Spencer said...

"Iran's Asymmetric Naval Warfare" by Fariborz Haghshenass from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

Learn about about valayat-e faqih, Alavi warfare, preemptive jihad, and taklif.

"For a military force following the concept, fighting and fulfilling its duty to the fullest—including
martyrdom—is an end in itself; the military outcome is of secondary importance."

PS..Mad Men is great. The show on TV, not the one in the Middle East.

Anonymous said...

Ann - Is the talk boring to the point where you are more interested in what's going on in the blog universe?

Lorelei Leigh said...

We could talk about the NY Giants. 4-0 baby! Another impressive win yesterday.

Trooper York said...

Stop it Lorelei, I'm married. CUT THAT SHIT OUT!!!!

Ernesto Ariel Suárez said...

Lorelei, yeah, I used to like TCM better. Alas, I have no cable, I prefer my DVDs and Netflix. However, I do miss certain shows and channels.

mcg, I got the reference, but it it was just unbearable.

Trooper York said...

Let's talk about something safe.

How about them there Cowboys?

Ernesto Ariel Suárez said...

The Last Temptation of Trooper York

AllenS said...

I guess this is as good of a time as any, to tell everyone that I put an electric motor on my corn sheller. I had to change the rotation of the motor from clockwise to counter clockwise. A man's work is never done.

Lorelei Leigh said...

Oops. Sorry Trooper York. I'll try to be less enthusiastic about my support for the Giants in the future, for the sake of your marriage.

I'm all out of conversation ideas, then.

Lorelei Leigh said...

Trooper York, am I allowed to talk about my seething hatred of the Cowboys, or will that only make things worse?

Lorelei Leigh said...

Lorelei, yeah, I used to like TCM better. Alas, I have no cable, I prefer my DVDs and Netflix. However, I do miss certain shows and channels.

TCM is much better. I'd probably be better off with cable, as I watch entirely too much of it. The nice thing about TV on DVD is that you only have to wait a little while and then you can have the whole season of your favorite show at your finger tips.

I'm a total Netflix junkie.

Trooper York said...

By all means lets talk about how we hate the Cowboys.

Let me start, I hate the Cowboys more than Cedarford hates the Jewboys.

If that's possible.

Trooper York said...

If Mort were awake he would say that was racist.

Unknown said...

Apprently, Ann can't get enough of hairy balls.

DaLawGiver said...

Trooper,

Your hate is your fear.

Be afraid, be vvverrry, verrry, afraid you wascally litte wabbit!

Lorelei Leigh said...

I think I hate the Cowboys even more since Romo. I didn't think that was possible, but it's true.

DaLawGiver said...

Jason Whiten without a doubt is the best tight end in the NFL. Maybe the best of all times.

DaLawGiver said...

Romo has looked tentative the past few games. sorta like he's afraid to screw up.

Anonymous said...

I was okay with the cowboys, even with Romo because he's a Wisconsin boy afterall....but I can't get past the whole Jessica Simpson thing. I mean, the woman just looks like she's a walking petrie dish.

Trooper York said...

Lawgiver knows we are coming for him and his merry band of Romosexuals. Just wait till Big Blue comes to call. I mean I haven't seen the Redskins slaughter the Cowboys so bad since the Battle of the Little Big Horn.

Ernesto Ariel Suárez said...

AllenS, that reminds me, in 1994 when the last Castro-approved massive "rafters" exodus was in full swing in Cuba; my next door neighbors built a boat from scratch. Well, it was more like a modern day Noah's Ark. The used a trailer truck engine to power it. Got it all ready, but the thing was too wide, so they demolished a part of the house's side fence to get it out. Paid some guy to use another truck to tow it to the beach. The whole neighborhood was present to see them off. They finally got to the beach threw the boat in, floated it, rowed a few miles in before starting the engine. They finally started the engine, and to their immense sadness, they discovered that the propeller had been installed incorrectly. They rowed their way back to shore with the idea of fixing it the next day, but that night Fidel went on radio and TV, and said that the "doors" were been shut again.

It took them 9 years to attempt anything similar, this time in a 1949 sealed station wagon(coincidentally the same wagon that brought my grandma to the airport in 1981 when she left for the US). I am not lying. I grew up in El Diezmero, from where this people came, and they were my next door neighbors. I flipped out when I saw their picture online.

Sadly, they had to attempt it again, the last time, and they used the same truck that towed their boat the first time.

Trooper York said...

I leave it up to Titus to tell us who is the best tight end in football.

DaLawGiver said...

Cowboy fans embrace the hate. Bring it on you hairy-balled whiner babies.

Ann Althouse said...

"Is the talk boring to the point where you are more interested in what's going on in the blog universe?"

No, it's very interesting. I just like to multitask.

Trooper York said...

Yeah that's what I call it. Sounds a lot better than goofing off.

DaLawGiver said...

I would love to be in Tony's pants, I mean, I would love to be in his position, err, what I really mean is why does he date that Simpson girl, I mean really, why date a cartoon? There are plenty of exquisite, smart, rich girls who I am sure would love to date him.

Anonymous said...

I recall Althouse commenting that Michael Douglas's face always reminded her of a scrotum. I've been studying this picture, and I still don't see any resemblence to Michael Douglas. Can anyone help me out here?

George M. Spencer said...

Now that Sen. Obama says he didn't know of Ayers' radical past when they met, wouldn't ya like to ask him if he's ever heard of these people...

Frank Robinson
Willie Stargell
Mercury Morris
Florence Ballard
Deacon Jones
Bobby Seale
Robert Culp
Levi Stubbs
Luke Cage

Extra Credit:
LaWanda Page

It's like the guy's from Neptune.

“I always joke that my intellectual formation was through Jewish scholars and writers,” [Obama] explained. “Whether it was theologians or Philip Roth who helped shape my sensibility, or some of the more popular writers like Leon Uris.”

"Shape my sensibility"?

Trooper York said...

Well if you look really closely you can see an impression of Catherine Zeta Jones burning twat.

AllenS said...

ElcubanitoKC,

I have a shop full of tools. I love to make and repair stuff. The only thing that I don't have is a metal lathe, but I have a good friend who is a machinist who will machine tool something if I need it. I repair my cars, tractors and machinery. I've marveled at those Cubans with the ingenuity to keep those old cars running, and the ability to make something floatable reach this country. We're better off as a nation when they reach the shore.

Chennaul said...

Let me start, I hate the Cowboys more than Cedarford hates the Jewboys.

Gawd!

One night he got off on a tangent about the Jewgirls.

Wow...

That dude , you know holy schmolly That! explains it...

former law student said...

Does anyone know? What is the Clarion Fund, and why did my cousin get a copy of their "Obsession - Radical Islam's War Against the West" DVD with his county weekly?

Trooper York said...

“Whether it was theologians or Philip Roth who helped shape my sensibility, or some of the more popular writers like Leon Uris.”

It means that he suffers from Portnoys complaint.

In other words he's a jerkoff.

Peter Hoh said...

Here's a trailer for my favorite political documentary.

Chennaul said...

Case isa closede.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

I find this oddly relevant...

Prickly Pear Puree

Ingredients:

1/2 c. prickly pear puree
1/3 c. salad oil
1 tsp. seasoning salt
1 tsp. sugar
3 or 4 tablespoons vinegar

Mix all together, chill and serve.

bearbee said...

Read somewhere that Obama if elected would select current adviser Cass Sunstein as a Surpeme Court nominee,

Anonymous said...

Kinky Friedman's band is called the Texas Jewboys.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Ernesto Ariel Suárez said...

AllenS, I have always admired people that can repair anything themselves. The last time I tried, my sister's Soviet made washer ended up with extra parts when I put it back together.

Necessity may be the mother of invention, but they say the father is a Cuban.

Ernesto Ariel Suárez said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
DaLawGiver said...

I'm pretty sure it's 1962 this season on the show.

In 1962;

I was 9 years old.

John Glenn became the first American to orbit the earth.

Jackie Kennedy takes us on a TV tour of the White House.

Wilt Chamberlain scores 100 points in a single game.

Cuban military tribunal convicts 1,179 Bay of Pigs combatants.

12 East Germans escape via a tunnel under the wall into West Berlin. I think there was a spread about it in Look magazine.

Adolph Eichmann hanged in Israel.

The first Wal-Mart opens.

The Beatles release their first single Love Me Do.

The Cuban Missile Crisis threatens world war. Dad deploys on USS Boxer as part of the blockade of Cuba.

The term "personal computer" is first mentioned in msm.

Most of the above is from wiki.

Trooper York said...

Luke Cage and Lawanda Page, Electric you are one cool dude!!!

Ernesto Ariel Suárez said...

Lorelei:, here is the entire Are You Being Served? collection at Amazon

George M. Spencer said...

Trooper--

Obama/Aunt Esther ticket on Youtube.

Trooper York said...

I love Aunt Esther. She was like all the older church ladies I knew as a kid. The ones from the Protestant church over on Clinton St. A holy terror. But the salt of the earth. Mean as a snake though. Don't get on her bad side. God bless her.

Trooper York said...

Obama doesn't think he is Luke Cage though. He knows he's T'Challa.

Justin said...

Lawgiver:

When do we get the next excerpt from “Hate Me, Hate You, A Tale of Despair and Loathing in The 21stCentury"? It seems appropriate again.

Maxine Weiss said...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jikan/514973641/sizes/o/

Lorelei Leigh said...

Lorelei:, here is the entire Are You Being Served? collection at Amazon

Thanks. I went to look for it after the earlier discussion. I'll have to save my pennies to buy it. Perhaps I'll see what they have at Netflix in the meantime.

Cedarford said...

The picture? Hazlenut w/husk?

Trooper York - Don't remember using "Jew-boy" - my beef with Jews is about disproportionate power being used against average American citizen's culture and economic/international interests.

Not hating them.

If they didn't have such power, or had power but stayed out of other people's business, they would have had a better reception...

And perhaps you would agree that the Feds should be seizing the passports and blocking foreign travel of hundreds of Wall Street fatcats pending criminal investigations...as was done with the US and Israeli passports of Fast Andy Fastow & Family in the Enron book-cooking?

Other Wall Street con artists have acted faster and escaped US jail by fleeing to places like Costa Rica (Vesco) or Israel ("Crazy Eddie" Antar & Marc Rich).

Ruth Anne Adams said...

Trooper: I don't follow football much even though my sis owns part of Lambeau Field [Dad was on the waiting list fo 30 years for that opportunity], but Tony Romo appears in Peephole Mag pretty regularly. He must be stupid to choose Jessica Simpson over Carrie Underwood. Just sayin'.

Ruth Anne Adams said...

Maxine: For the love of Hubbard will you please learn to hyperlink?!

DaLawGiver said...

When do we get the next excerpt from “Hate Me, Hate You, A Tale of Despair and Loathing in The 21stCentury"? It seems appropriate again.

Justin,

I kicked that idea around when Luckyoldson reappeared as Michael but he's just so darn boring now. I don't read much of what he posts anymore. I think Beta is needling him in a similar fashion anyway.

But I do love the German Valise, Astrotroller, and dinosaur comments he elicits.

DaLawGiver said...

Tony Romo appears in Peephole Mag pretty regularly. He must be stupid to choose Jessica Simpson over Carrie Underwood. Just sayin'.

C'mon Ruth Anne he should choose one of them Harvard babes whose daddy is a congressman. That's where the real money is. He needs to set himself up for life after football.

Ruth Anne Adams said...

Lawgiver: Hasn't Brett Favre proved that there is no life after football?

Justin said...

Lawgiver said...

I kicked that idea around when Luckyoldson reappeared as Michael but he's just so darn boring now. I don't read much of what he posts anymore.

I understand. Too bad, though. Those posts were probably the most effective mockery. Sublime.

DaLawGiver said...

Congressmen Jack Kemp(senator?), J C Watts, and Steve Largent could be his role models.

I've always wondered what percentage of our multimillion dollar sports heroes are Democrats. They all seem to have various foundations helping someone. Do they also want more taxes on their millions?

blake said...

Levi Stubbs? The guy who did the singing voice of Audrey II in the movie The Little Shop of Horrors?

AMC used to be what TCM is now. (No commercials, classic films most of the time.) I don't know if they switched because their ratings were bad or because TCM spun off and took 80% of the good movies with them.

I realized it was over for them when they showed a Godzilla sequel. Neither Americn nor a classic, barely even a movie....

Trooper York said...

I am just pissed that no is interested in my movie trivia question about burning twats.

garage mahal said...

And perhaps you would agree that the Feds should be seizing the passports and blocking foreign travel of hundreds of Wall Street fatcats pending criminal investigations...as was done with the US and Israeli passports of Fast Andy Fastow & Family in the Enron book-cooking?

If you told Americans the people responsible for decimating their investments and retirement were muslim economic terrorists that hacked into their accounts, and the government answered with giving them 700 billion taxpayer dollars more as a reward I think you'd see riots in the streets 100% guaranteed. And rightfully so. But what's amazing is not what is illegal, it's what is legal. Steve Jobs got $70 million of stock options at a meeting of the board of Apple company directors that never took place. George Bush owes almost his entire fortune to a tax increase that was funneled into his pocket and into the use of eminent domain laws.

Christy said...

Season 2 Episode 1 of Mad Men is available at Hulu for your viewing pleasure.

Darcy said...

Alright, Trooper...I tried:

In Old Chicago
She's Gotta Have It
Fatal Attraction
??
The Ten Commandments?

Trooper York said...

Very, very good Darcy. You got four out of five right! You have an amazing depth of knowledge of popular culture for a character in Jane Austin novel.

A hint for the one you missed:

Kay Parker.

Darcy said...

LOL, Trooper.

Ok, Taboo.

former law student said...

Isn't that recipe a tautology?

No, it is recursive, like the picture on the Land o' Lakes butter box.

Barbara Scott

Taboo, you pervert Trooper you.

Trooper York said...

Hey the question was about buring twats in the movies. Pay attention to what the thread is about before the hall monitors get here and give us all a demerit.

I don't want to stay for dentention again.

chickelit said...

Trooper York wrote: Hey the question was about buring twats in the movies.

burning or buring? Actually burring would be more on topic :)

Dust Bunny Queen said...

I don't want to stay for dentention again.

Are you getting your teeth done again?

or is this a reference to vagina dentata since the subject seems to be twats?

Couldn't keep up. Kinda busy today.

former law student said...

buring twats in the movies

Generally porn, especially kinky porn, does not count as "the movies." I think the line is drawn at the oeuvre of Russ Meyer.

chickelit said...

@Christy

Thanks for the link!

George M. Spencer said...

Blake--

Levi Stubbs.

I believe he is the gentleman on the right.

Old school. The best.

Reach out, sugar pie, I'll be there.

Darcy said...

I love the song Reach Out I'll Be There. But I can never separate it from the sad parts of Cooley High.
So it's a bittersweet song for me to hear.

LonewackoDotCom said...

On the topic of the post, Althouse is too much of a lightweight to look into where Cato gets its money, but looking in to that might be interesting for others.

Note also that a hack from Cato helped Bush come up with one of the most anti-American and un-American schemes I've ever heard of. Discussing that is also, of course, above Althouse's pay grade.

Christy said...

Lonewacko, you have a very good point. It is always useful to know who and what money is behind those who develop policy. So why do the progressives refuse to discuss who and what is behind Obama?

Anonymous said...

My theme today is food. Breakfast was a glass of Kool-Aid and two chocolate chip cookies. Prickly cactus puree surfaced this afternoon. Now, I'm fixing dinner. So far, into the pot have gone several Italian sausages, grilled onions, garlic, marjoram, thyme, roma tomatoes, sweet basil, and a dash of sugar to thwart the acidic thing that goes on with tomatoes.

Here's the big question. Do we serve this over some pasta, or do I thicken it up and add some other stuff, making a stew-like concoction? It's not too late to call my wife, and have her bring some more things home from town, to toss into the pot.

The suspense is killing me.

Christy said...

Windbag, if it isn't cold in your neighborhood, my vote is to go with pasta.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

Do we serve this over some pasta, or do I thicken it up and add some other stuff, making a stew-like concoction

Serve it over soft polenta that is rich with butter and parmesan cheese.

former law student said...

So why do the progressives refuse to discuss who and what is behind Obama?

Lawyers and retired folks are behind Obama. In sharp contrast, retired folks and lawyers support McCain. (po-tay-to po-tah-to) From opensecrets.org:

Barack Obama
1 Lawyers/Law Firms $27,689,330
2 Retired $27,220,507
3 Education $12,222,365
4 Securities & Investment $10,847,652
5 Business Services $7,451,886

John McCain
1 Retired $30,263,018
2 Lawyers/Law Firms $9,334,909
3 Real Estate $7,651,562
4 Securities & Investment $7,634,378
5 Misc Business $4,779,073

Unlike McCain's fat cat supporters, regular folks are behind Obama. From opensecrets.org:

Candidate Obama, Barack

No. of $200+ Contributors: 221,049
% from Donors of $200 or less: 51%
No. of $2,300+ Contributors: 42,806
% from Donors of $2,300+: 30%
No. of $4,600 Contributors: 7,963

% from Donors of $4,600: 9%

Candidate McCain, John

No. of $200+ Contributors: 125,594
% from Donors of $200 or less: 34%
No. of $2,300+ Contributors: 32,106
% from Donors of $2,300+: 49%
No. of $4,600 Contributors: 6,293
% from Donors of $4,600: 16%

Anonymous said...

My daughter requested polenta for breakfast last Friday. Okay, she called it by its redneck name, corn meal mush. The kids love it.

Michael McNeil said...

Lorelei Leigh says:
Lorelei:, here is the entire Are You Being Served? collection at Amazon

Thanks. I went to look for it after the earlier discussion. I'll have to save my pennies to buy it. Perhaps I'll see what they have at Netflix in the meantime.


Check it out for free from your local public library. If they don't have it, request that they obtain it for you, season by season, via an interlibrary loan. It'll probably take a month or two to arrive.

blake said...

FLS,

Given how many of those "little guy" contributions may be illegal, I'm not sure you want to be digging into that.

I'm quite sure Obama's campaign doesn't want you digging into that.

Anonymous said...

Christy sided with my son and it's settled...pasta.

Baron Zemo said...

There has been some notice of the foriegn contribution Senator Obama has from such people as Hamas. Unlike both Hillary Clinton and John McCain he has refused to document who these "overseas contributions might be."

Palladian said...

"Where has Palladian been lately?"

Busy!

Did someone say Lawanda Page? This isn't the Aunt Esther we all know and love! [NSFW]

vbspurs said...

Who doesn't want a long, black dick, Palladian?

Michael McNeil said...

(Topic carried over from another thread, so it can appear on one of the primary Althouse pages.)

I spent some time the other day debunking our resident troll's ignorant and incorrect assertions (involving “carbon dating” and the like) about how the ages of fossils are determined. Given that Troll's wrong, just how are sedimentary rocks and the fossils within them actually dated?

Though various supplemental means are known by which fossils and rocks can be dated according to particular circumstances, the predominant method is to start off initially relatively dating by means of a phenomenon known as the geologic column — a mass of jigsaw-puzzle-like information painstakingly pieced together by geologists and paleontologists over the last two hundred years.

What is the “geologic column”? Wikipedia doesn't even have an article of that name, though other articles there do touch on the subject (for those who'd prefer referring to that source). Encyclopædia Britannica is also a worthwhile source. I'm going to skip all that, though, and just wing it here on my own.

It is an observational fact, extensively made use of by the sciences of geology and paleontology (aka evolution), that the sedimentary layers located within the Earth's crust are found to be massively sorted and organized, so that fossils of the denizens of various chronological time periods appear only in the vertically stratified layers appropriate to their life epoch.

The implications of this profound synthesis of fact extend far beyond the common evolutionary observation-prediction that humans and dinosaurs never coexisted and thus can never be found fossilized together. It makes use of the larger encompassing truth that the remains of all living things deposited during every period of geological natural history never overlap (other than in situations that can be seen to have been later extraneously disturbed or intermixed) with those of creatures from other time periods — with the “exception that proves the rule” of certain organisms (known as “living fossils” when they happen to have survived up to the present day) that have remained almost unchanged over lengthy intervals of time.

It is the fact of the geologic column which overwhelmingly convincingly demonstrates, among other things, that the Creationist pie-in-the-sky of Noah's flood (the mythical catastrophe whence all animals but the few who supposedly made it aboard the Ark, excluding such prehistoric monsters as dinosaurs according to latter-day Creationist rationalization, all bought it) never ever occurred, as it would be essentially impossible — there is really no way, naturally speaking (though Creationists are thoroughgoing rationalizers) — that something like a single chaotic flood could produce the detailed (what we comprehend to be chronological) sorting of sediments and fossils exhibited by the geologic column of the Earth.

Thus, initial relative dating via the geologic column consists of identifying the community of fossilized organisms — flora and fauna — found within a particular geological sedimentary stratum (perhaps including their neighbors in adjacent strata as a check), then looking up in the geological column just where those creatures are located, and thus when they (relatively) lived.

(Creationists like to pretend that utilizing the geologic column for dating is a kind of “circular reasoning” — which is not the case at all — but if any here are curious, I'll be happy to discuss it further.)

Given knowledge obtained by the foregoing means of fossils' and rocks' relative ages, how does one thereby date them absolutely? Simple. One locates instances — anywhere in the world, not necessarily nearby particular fossils of interest — where segments of the sedimentary geological column are seen to overlie beds of lava, ash, and pyroclastic flow resulting from earlier volcanic eruptions, and which in turn are overlain by later such volcanic deposits.

Volcanic deposits, being igneous in nature, are absolutely datable via radiometric techniques such Argon-Argon, and above and below they bracket the ages of any sedimentary deposits (and hence any fossils) laid down in between. Voila!

former law student said...

Mr. McNeil: Clearly the simple truth, that God created the world with a supposed fossil record, never occurred to you.

/s/ The Honorable Sarah Palin

Michael McNeil said...

Sarah Palin, of course, said no such thing.

Moreover, you're very much mistaken, in my view, that any thoughtful Christian would seriously entertain such a notion — as it basically transforms God into the “Great Deceiver,” who has lied to us from one end of this astonishing universe we live in to the other in order simply to entice us to conclude a falsehood. That's not any God I'd believe in.

Meanwhile, as to Sarah Palin, the Washington Post has a piece up by David Waters entitled “Is Palin a Closet Evolutionist?” which makes the point that:

“The same day Sarah Palin told Katie Couric that ‘science should be taught in science class,’ a group of scientists were making that very point to the Texas Board of Education. Is Sarah Palin a closet evolutionist?

“Hardly, but it's difficult to peg her as the sort of strict Creationist many academics and people of faith accuse of trying to undermine the teaching of evolution. Like many people of faith, Palin seems to believe that science and religion are not necessarily incompatible and that a good education should make room for both. […]

“Kouric asked: ‘Do you believe evolution should be taught as an accepted scientific principle or as one of several theories?’

“Palin responsed: ‘Oh, I think it should be taught as an accepted principle. And, as you know, I say that also as the daughter of a school teacher, a science teacher, who has really instilled in me a respect for science. It should be taught in our schools. And I won't deny that I see the hand of God in this beautiful creation that is Earth. But that is not part of the state policy or a local curriculum in a school district. Science should be taught in science class.’ […]

“It shouldn't be part of her father's science class curriculum anymore than evolution should be part of her own child's Sunday school lessons. For many people of faith, the question isn't whether science and religion can comfortably coexist, but how.

“The best suggestion I've read can be found in ‘An Open Letter Concerning Religion and Science from American Christian Clergy,’ signed so far by more than 11,000 clergy across the country.

“‘We the undersigned, Christian clergy from many different traditions, believe that the timeless truths of the Bible and the discoveries of modern science may comfortably coexist,’ the letter reads in part. ‘We urge school board members to preserve the integrity of the science curriculum by affirming the teaching of the theory of evolution as a core component of human knowledge. We ask that science remain science and that religion remain religion, two very different, but complementary, forms of truth.’”

former law student said...

Moreover, you're very much mistaken, in my view, that any thoughtful Christian would seriously entertain such a notion — as it basically transforms God into the “Great Deceiver,” who has lied to us from one end of this astonishing universe we live in to the other in order simply to entice us to conclude a falsehood. That's not any God I'd believe in.

Then you must believe that Adam and Eve lacked belly buttons. Because belly buttons would demonstrate that God was trying to deceive us into believing that Adam and Eve were born of women, and you would never believe in a deceptive God.

Michael McNeil said...

Then you must believe that Adam and Eve lacked belly buttons.

I must believe that? As I've stated here before — I'm no Creationist. Adam and Eve never existed, as a single couple. Humanity arose among a group of thousands of evolving individuals. Go peddle your “gotcha” crap somewhere else.

bleeper said...

Windbag - excellent polenta reference.

Unknown said...
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Michael McNeil said...

mdix sez:
Why speak for the Creationists unless you are one?

Who says I'm “speaking for the Creationists”? What are you, a troll like Plagiarizing Michael? Nor is opposing ignorant obnoxious plagiarizing Michael, whose total intent here is in disrupting the comments section of this blog, equivalent to “speaking for the Creationists.” And if I “are one,” funny that I would a) repeatedly declare that I am not, while b) explicating good science with regard to nature of evolution, almost alone on these threads.