A Rant in Rhyme Saves Time

Here is a beat poem that first appeared on YouTube as a concert bootleg with subtitles about a month ago. The artist quickly had the bootleg taken down. And then received a Storm of protests, requests to post it again. Finally, he put it up himself. Sans subtitles, or even video. So listen well to a rational rant that many of us would love to be capable of delivering. Storm, by Tim Minchin I've seen those warning eyes from both my wives, and held my piece for a while. But the temptation is great to emulate this artists storm of bile.

Continue ReadingA Rant in Rhyme Saves Time

Sex, movies and videogames

Movies are a staple of American culture. Videogames are another staple. And yes, movies that feature videogames constitute ultra-special moments for those who are fans of both. What are some of the top movies that have utilized videogames as part of their story lines? Nick Smith of pwnordie.com has taken away much of the guesswork by compiling video-gaming excerpts from National Lampoon's Vacation, Back to the Future II, Superbad, 40 Year Old Virgin, National Lampoon's Vacation and many other popular movies. If you follow this link to Nick's site

Continue ReadingSex, movies and videogames

Dangerous Intersection is under construction – and a note about Gravatar

As you can tell, there have been quite a few changes to the site design of Dangerous Intersection. There are many more changes to come. Therefore, if you see something that looks not quite right for the next couple of weeks, we're probably working on it. It's taken many hours of work--I now know ten times as much about WordPress as I did one month ago. But it's also been fun and educational. WordPress is a most impressive system, with perhaps too many choices. Too many choices, did I say? Sign up for Gravatar! You can personalize your comments with your own image. Truly, it's EASY. It will take 5 minutes at most, assuming you have an image of yourself ready. It's totally free. With Gravatar, you have total control over the image you'd like to use as author of comments (your photo will be displayed next to each comment you make). You can change it any time you want, Total control. Ownership society! Just visit Gravatar - Set up an account with the email address you normally use when you leave comments and choose a password

Continue ReadingDangerous Intersection is under construction – and a note about Gravatar

How shall we punish women who commit murder by having abortions?

Those who vehemently oppose abortion steadfastly claim that abortion is "murder." They want to make it illegal for any woman to have an abortion. Therefore, it seems fair to ask anti-abortionists a simple hypothetical question. Assume that we changed the law and that all abortions were illegal. Under that scenario, how would you punish women who committed "murder" by having abortions?" What do you get when you combine a camcorder, a simple question and a group of fervent anti-abortionists? You get a fascinating set of answers. Where are all of the unflinching statements that the women who have abortions have thus committed murder and that they should all be punished as murderers? There were no such answers. Why all the hedging and squirming? Is it possible that abortion is not really the equivalent of murder? Even in the hearts and minds of those who claim to know for certain that it is "murder"? Assuming that abortion were made illegal, why are so many anti-abortionists so willing to allow a bunch of female murderers walk free without without being penalized under the law? Especially when those who committed the "murder" killed "babies," allegedly with deliberation and premeditation? This January 2008 video was produced by At Center Network, "a project of the Northbrook Peace Committee, Inc., a group that works for justice and nonviolent resolution of conflicts."

Continue ReadingHow shall we punish women who commit murder by having abortions?

Judging the violence of others

Psychologist Jonathan Haidt has written an excellent multidisciplinary work on the meaning of life, entitled The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom (2006). I am presently reading Haidt's book for the second time, paragraph by paragraph.  This is clearly one of the books I would take to a…

Continue ReadingJudging the violence of others