RADIO ZERO

2008-10-24T21:35:00.003-04:00

What Would Jesus Brew?

"It's the oldest story ever told -- the struggle between good and evil... There is a battle being waged between those who make good beer and those who make evil beer."

More at CNN

2008-10-19T02:29:00.000-04:00

2008-04-12T16:29:00.001-04:00

We're being held up at the moment. But keep checking in. We'll be back.

2008-02-04T22:53:00.002-05:00

I'm not myself until I've hung my ass over my head in the morning.

2008-02-04T22:31:00.000-05:00

Selling Pets Is Forbidden. So Blowing Up Women with Downs Syndrome In A Crowded Pet Market Is OK.

Baghdad’s fragile peace was shattered yesterday when explosives strapped to two women with Down’s syndrome were detonated by remote control in crowded pet markets, killing at least 91 people in the worst attacks that the capital had experienced for almost a year.

Sunni fundamentalists consider the selling of pets to be haram — forbidden on religious grounds.

Though the use of women in warfare violates religious taboos, Al-Qaeda has increasingly used women as suicide bombers because they can conceal explosives beneath their black robes and usually escape the rigorous body searches to which men are subjected.

The (London) Times' Martin Fletcher reports

2008-02-04T22:03:00.000-05:00

How Do You Get Rid Of A Tenured Professor? Play The Race Card.

Brandeis, a private university with about 3,200 students, is named after former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis, a passionate defender of free speech rights.

That's the irony of this story.

Politics professor Donald Hindley, who has taught at the Waltham, Massachussetts school for 47 years, had a monitor placed in his classroom and was asked to undergo sensitivity training after he told students in his Latin American politics class last semester that Mexican migrants are sometimes referred to pejoratively as "wetbacks."

Hindley claims the school never told the nature of the complaint against him and was never given the chance to defend himself. Associated Press' Mark Pratt reports via The Boston Globe

"Protection of free speech and rules against discrimination are the bottom line in protecting minorities from the whims of the majority. Yet in the name of being “inclusive” and “welcoming” colleges have given a self selected group of little tyrants the right to decide what does and does not constitute offensive speech. In the end the majority will reassert itself and the very codes that were instituted to prevent minorities from being offended will be turned around and used against them." Reader commentary from Inside Higher Ed's coverage of the Brandeis story

2008-02-04T21:41:00.000-05:00

No Athiests In Foxholes... Or MySpace

MySpace deleted the 35,000-member "Atheist and Agnostic Group" on Jan. 1, a little more than a month after hackers broke in and renamed the group's site "Jesus Is Love."

MySpace has ignored repeated requests to restore the group's site. A MySpace spokeswoman did not return calls seeking comment.

The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer's David Briggs reports

2008-02-04T21:15:00.000-05:00

Afghan Student Sentenced To Death for Blasphemy

23-year-old Afghan student Sayed Pervez Kambaksh was arrested in 2007 after downloading material from a Farsi website, which criticized Muslims who use misinterpretations of the Koran to justify their oppression of women.

Kambaksh distributed the information to fellow students and teachers at Balkh University with the aim, he said, of provoking a debate on the matter. He was subsequently arrested, tried by religious judges (reportedly without being allowed legal representation), and sentenced to death.

A statement supporting the death sentence was issued by the leader of the Afghan Senate, Sibghatullah Mojaddedi, an ally of President Hamid Karzai.

BBC News reports

Comment from Daniel Dennett: "The 'tolerance' urged by many voices outside the Muslim world played into the hands of the radical Islamists."

More in Secular Philosophy

2008-02-04T20:58:00.001-05:00

Beware The Straw Man!

"Statements made in the media can surreptitiously plant distortions in the minds of millions. Learning to recognize two commonly used fallacies can help you separate fact from fiction."

Yvonne Raley and Robert Talisse discuss in Scientific American: "Getting Duped: How The Media Messes With Your Mind"

Talisse elaborates further with Scott F. Aiken in their paper
"Two Forms of The Straw Man"

2008-02-01T23:22:00.001-05:00

Walter Lantz's "Scrub Me Mama With A Boogie Beat"

Walter Lantz was an animator whose chief claim to fame was his Woody Woodpecker cartoons. Less known is the fact that Lantz created a film that is so blatantly racist, so unashamedly degrading to African Americans that... Well... It's actually funny.

"Funny" in the sense that, when confronted with such unrelieved, jaw-dropping ignorance, you can't even waste your energy getting indignant. You just have to laugh at the prima facie absurdity of the thing.

We first came across "Scrub Me Mama" about 20 years ago when it resurfaced, after decades of utter obscurity, on Rhino Home Video's "Weird Cartoons, Volume 2." Watching it, you may be inclined to think that we're much more enlightened these days. And in some sense, you'd be right. Much more disturbing than anything this film can serve up is the era that allowed it to be made -- an era that's long gone.

But while today's mainstream has no tolerance for such depictions of African Americans, other populations still seem to be fair game. Asians, Italians, not to mention the overweight and the mentally ill, are just a few groups that are still regularly subject to harmful stereotyping in our popular entertainment.

That said, Don Raye's title song is a damned catchy one. So if you find the video to be too much for your delicate sensibilities, just minimize the screen and listen to some crazy boogie woogie... Rub-lee-ub-dub!

2008-01-31T15:07:00.001-05:00

An Ever-Expanding Moebius Strip of Metabullshit

We recently came across a transcript of a talk that is credited to the late Neil Postman. It's called "Bullshit and the Art of Crap Detection," and was supposedly delivered nearly 40 years ago at a conference for English teachers.

Just on the face of it, it seems like the sort of thing that you'd expect to find on blogs by people who enjoy thinking of themselves as learned... A respected scholar slips into the vernacular, and we can all have a smug laugh about it amongst our scholarly selves. Tee-hee.

And indeed, such is the case. This essay pops up all over the Interwebs on any number of blogs -- posing as "scholarly" -- that gleefully repost "Neil Postman's classic essay." We first came across it on a blog called "CriticaliThinkingiSnippets."

This, by the way, strikes us as more than a bit ironic. Because if there were some actual critical thinking going on, someone might have determined that "Bullshit and the Art of Crap Detection," is probably... well... bullshit.

Now, when you have bullshit that's about bullshit, that's what we at Radio Zero call "Metabullshit." And when you have bullshit about bullshit proliferating on the web the way this piece seems to have, that is what we call: "An Ever-Expanding Moebius Strip of Metabullshit."

We're not hardcore Postman scholars by any stretch. But we have read enough of his work to know that, even though he has a great sense of humor, it's NBL (not bloody likely) that Postman authored a paper about bullshit.

The closest thing we've found so far is Postman's The Educationist As Painkiller, where the word "bullshit" makes a cameo in a fleeting moment of levity before the author announces he'll settle on the less offensive "balderdash" to illustrate his points.

Otherwise, a quick search through a number of online sources that review Postman's literature more thoroughly (sources which do not include Wikipedia, by the way) don't list the "Bullshit" paper at all.

On the other hand, there seems to be no definite statement that "Bullshit and the Art of Crap Detection" is a hoax, either. Until such time, we'll just go out on a limb and claim that "Bullshit and the Art of Crap Detection" was probably written by a pinhead grad student researching yet another study on how cultural memes proliferate via internet, or the nature of truth in the information age, or blah blah frickin' blah.

We'd love to be proven wrong.

2008-01-28T11:16:00.001-05:00

There's more Jesus and Mo here

2008-01-28T11:09:00.000-05:00

The "Boogeyman of Polite Society"

"Was Mr. Wilders asserting a right to free speech?

Or was he dressing up a gratuitous religious insult in constitutional language?

He was doing both, of course."

The Financial Times' Christopher Caldwell "In Defence Of The Right To Offend"

2008-01-28T10:58:00.000-05:00

It Was Good Enough For God... It's Good Enough For You

A self-styled Christian preacher and his wife have been convicted of cruelty towards their two sons. The man sliced his boys' mouths with a scalpel and left safety pins in their mouths for days – telling them he inflicted the injuries because God had his tongue cut off in the Bible.

The boys' mother did nothing to stop the torture with safety pins or to remove the children from their torment.

Detective Chief Inspector Stan Bates, head of West Yorkshire Police's child and public protection unit, said: "It is believed the motive for this abuse was an extreme religious belief."

Fiona Evans of the Yorkshire Post reports

2008-01-28T10:48:00.000-05:00

A story based on the Three Little Pigs fairy tale has been deemed potentially offensive to Muslims by a British government agency.

The BBC's Sean Coughlan reports

2008-01-28T10:41:00.000-05:00

Free Speech For Me, But Not For Thee

A court in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif today passed the death sentence on a young journalist, Sayed Perwiz Kambakhsh, for alleged blasphemy. The trial was held behind closed doors and without any lawyer defending him.

The court also threatened to arrest any reporters who protested against Kambakhsh's sentence.

The BBC reports

2008-01-28T10:33:00.000-05:00

Large Increase of Rapes in Kenya

"At any time of unrest, of violence, or rioting, women and children are targeted... People are fighting and the weakest ones get abused."

The BBC's Stephanie Holmes reports

2008-01-28T10:18:00.002-05:00

"Here is the biggest, richest and most powerful religious institution on earth, explicitly telling deeply mentally ill people the Devil is within them because they asked him in, and they have to suffer to get him out."

"This December, Father Gabriele Amorth – official exorcist of the Rome Diocese, and friend of the ‘Holy Father’ – announced the Pope will soon undertake a new campaign to unleash a fresh batch of four hundred exorcists on the world, in addition to the thousands already in operation. Johann Hari discusses in The Independent

More about Gabriele Amorth here at Ignatious Insight

2008-01-28T10:03:00.001-05:00

The Face of FGM.

A 9-month-old is comforted following her circumcision.

A new study published by the World Health Organization (WHO) shows that women who have had Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) are significantly more likely to experience difficulties during childbirth and that their babies are more likely to die as a result of the practice.

Indonesian supporters, however, claim that girls like the one pictured can look forward to "a stabilized libido, a husband who thinks she is pretty, and a balanced psychology." It's all here in the New York Times Magazine.

2007-12-06T08:58:00.000-05:00

Quotable Quotes

"You grow up the day you have your first real laugh at yourself." ~ Ethel Barrymore

"I'll not listen to reason. Reason always means what someone else has got to say." ~ Elizabeth Gaskell

"Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation." ~ Oscar Wilde

"First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you – then you win." ~ Mahatma Ghandi

2007-11-27T21:07:00.000-05:00

New York City, 11:14 AM

2007-11-04T23:51:00.001-05:00

The Sonics:

Retooled and Refueled

(l to r: Original Sonics Rob Lind, Larry Parypa and Jerry Roslie)

Throughout the first night of Cavestomp 2007, total strangers would approach us simply to express some variation of this sentiment: "I can't believe we're here to see The Sonics!"

There was a strong current of "pinch-me-I'm-dreaming" drifting through the ether. For the past 35 years, the band has resisted all overtures to reform... But tonight was the night.

And, holy shit, The Sonics delivered.

The band rehearsed anywhere from six to eight months (depending on what you read) for just these two shows, and the effort truly showed. We at Radio Zero hate hyperbole, but for those who worship at the altar of garage rock gods, this concert was nothing short of witnessing a second coming.

Original members Jerry Roslie, Larry Parypa and Rob Lind were ably augmented by two other Northwest garage rockers -- bassist Don Wilhelm (from The Daily Flash) and drummer Ricky Lynn Johnson (from The Wailers.) Wilhelm told us that original bassist Andy Parypa (Larry's brother), was actually sitting in at a Daily Flash gig back home that very evening, so Wilhelm could play with The Sonics. Oooh, the eerie synchronicity! And original drummer Bob Bennett flew in from Hawaii just so he could be in the audience, though he did not play.

Bennett was not the only one with serious jet lag -- people actually flew in from as far away as England and Japan to witness this event. For those unable to attend, there will be a DVD and live album (the band is recording overdubs tomorrow, in fact.)

And for those unable to wait that long, we shot some footage of the moment that 35-year sound barrier was broken. (As Cavestompers like to say: "It's primitive." But just you try holding a camera still when nearly four decades of pent-up ecstacy finally gets unleashed all around you.)

There are no plans for The Sonics to perform beyond these two Cavestomp shows, but Larry Parypa says future shows would be considered if, among other things, there is enough positive feedback from these performances.

Well, we can't imagine The Sonics aren't feelin' the love right about now.

2007-10-29T11:30:00.000-04:00

2007-10-27T10:28:00.001-04:00

2007-10-27T10:10:00.000-04:00

Crisis Management =

Perception Management

FEMA has truly learned the lessons of Katrina. Even its handling of the media has improved dramatically. For example, as the California wildfires raged Tuesday, vice admiral Harvey E. Johnson, the deputy administrator, had a 1 p.m. news briefing. Reporters were given only 15 minutes' notice of the briefing, making it unlikely many could show up at FEMA's Southwest D.C. offices, and questions were asked by FEMA staffers playing reporters.

The Washington Posts' Al Kamen reports

2007-10-25T10:16:00.000-04:00

2007-10-24T10:27:00.000-04:00

Shaking The Tree
"The real story of Jena and the Jena 6 is quite different from what the national media presented. It's time to set the record straight."

From the Christian Science Monitor, this report by Jena Times Assistant Editor Craig Franklin:

"By now, almost everyone in America has heard of Jena, La., because they've all heard the story of the 'Jena 6.' White students hanging nooses barely punished, a schoolyard fight, excessive punishment for the six black attackers, racist local officials, public outrage and protests – the outside media made sure everyone knew the basics.

"There's just one problem: The media got most of the basics wrong. In fact, I have never before witnessed such a disgrace in professional journalism. Myths replaced facts, and journalists abdicated their solemn duty to investigate every claim because they were seduced by a powerfully appealing but false narrative of racial injustice."

In light of recent research on the difficulty of countering false information in the news media, it should be interesting to see how this develops.

2007-10-24T00:51:00.003-04:00

Harold and Maude Trailer
Featuring Cat Stevens'
"If You Want To Sing Out, Sing Out"

2007-10-24T00:10:00.000-04:00

The Psychology of Believing News Reports

Conventional response to myths and urban legends is to counter bad information with accurate information. But the new psychological studies show that denials and clarifications, for all their intuitive appeal, can paradoxically contribute to the resiliency of popular myths.

This phenomenon may help explain why large numbers of Americans incorrectly think that Saddam Hussein was directly involved in planning the Sept 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, and that most of the Sept. 11 hijackers were Iraqi.

While these beliefs likely arose because Bush administration officials have repeatedly tried to connect Iraq with Sept. 11, the experiments suggest that intelligence reports and other efforts to debunk this account may in fact help keep it alive.

The Washington Post's Shankar Vedantam reports

2007-10-23T23:34:00.000-04:00

Black Balled

"The overwhelming desire of society today is to assume that equal powers of reason are a universal heritage of humanity. It may well be. But simply wanting this to be the case is not enough. This is not science. To question this is not to give in to racism."

So says Nobel Prize-winning DNA pioneer James Watson, seeking to clarify remarks that eventually earned him a suspension from his research institution, the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in Long Island, NY.

In a recent (London) Times interview, Dr. Watson was quoted as saying that he was "inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa" because "all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours - whereas all the testing says not really."

The remarks drew sharp criticism, and following the suspension, he stated: "This is not a discussion about superiority or inferiority, it is about seeking to understand differences, about why some of us are great musicians and others great engineers."

Read the BBC News' report here

2007-10-23T22:50:00.000-04:00

Measles, Schmeasles.

I've Got A God To Please.

An Associated Press examination of states' vaccination records and data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that many states are seeing increases in the rate of religious exemptions claimed for kindergartners.

The number of exemptions is extremely small in percentage terms and represents just a few thousand of the 3.7 million children entering kindergarten in 2005, the most recent figure available.

But public health officials say it takes only a few people to cause an outbreak that can put large numbers of lives at risk.

The Associated Press' Steve LeBlanc reports (via The Guardian)

2007-10-23T21:16:00.000-04:00

One Vote Under God:
The Role of Faith in the 2008 Election Campaigns

Abortion. Education. Religious extremism and its ties to terrorism. All of these are central to life in today's America, and all -- or nearly all -- of the candidates have been forthright in their opinions on these issues and, in many cases, how they relate to their faith.

One Vote Under God is an incredibly useful interactive database that tracks the 2008 presidential candidates on topics ranging from their strategies for targeting 'values voters' to their stances on issues typically informed by faith. An invaluable tool to evaluate candidates' positions on a wide variety of key subjects, One Vote Under God is just a small part of the fascinating website based on the "Faces of Faith In America" Journalism Initiative of the Carnegie and Knight Foundations.

Text edited from the One Vote Under God website

2007-10-15T04:26:00.000-04:00

Doctor No

To paraphrase something George Carlin once said: Somewhere on the planet is the world's worst doctor... And someone has an appointment with him tomorrow.

Carlin's observation came to mind when we read the following, from the London Times:

"Some Muslim medical students are refusing to attend lectures or answer exam questions on alcohol-related or sexually transmitted diseases because they claim it offends their religious beliefs. Some trainee doctors say learning to treat the diseases conflicts with their faith, which states that Muslims should not drink alcohol and rejects sexual promiscuity. A small number of Muslim medical students have even refused to treat patients of the opposite sex. One male student was prepared to fail his final exams rather than carry out a basic examination of a female patient."

The (London) Times' Daniel Foggo and Abul Taher report

2007-10-15T04:08:00.000-04:00

New Hope for Intelligent Design!

Texas Opens The Back Door for ID, Bitch Slaps Dover, PA

Texas' new "Religious Viewpoints Antidiscrimination" law requires every public school in the state to adopt a policy guaranteeing students' right to religious expression. It mandates that schools create "limited public forums" for religious and other types of speech.

One of the drafters of the law, a Houston attorney named Kelly J. Coghlan, urges students to lead their peers in prayer before the beginning of the school day as well as before football games, graduation ceremonies and other school events. A student could, for example, read the morning announcements over a loudspeaker and then lapse into a prayer or mini-sermon.

"This law is fundamentally at odds with the principle of religious freedom," said Kathy Miller, president of the Texas Freedom Network, an Austin-based group that opposes the machinations of the Religious Right. "It will force public school students to participate in public events that promote religious views -- through prayer or even proselytizing -- that they and their families may not share or may even find deeply offensive. So rather than protecting religious freedom, this law represents a grave threat to it."

AlterNet's Rob Boston reports

2007-10-15T03:08:00.000-04:00

More "Jesus And Mo" Here

2007-10-11T13:13:00.001-04:00

Anthony Balch's "Bizarre"

Try to imagine The Twilight Zone – or better yet, Night Gallery – filtered through copious amounts of acid and Spanish fly. You might get something like the Anthony Balch film "Bizarre."

In surveying the online reviews, it seems that even some of the most jaded cult film connoisseurs walk away from "Bizarre" at an utter loss for words to describe what they’ve just experienced. Watch this 12-minute clip, and you may understand why.

We first came across "Bizarre" during our search for the short films that Balch made with William S. Burroughs. For a while, the only place you could find their collaborations "Towers Open Fire" and "The Cut Ups" was as bonus material on the "Bizarre" DVD.

Though these 'bonuses' are completely incongruous next to a movie like "Bizarre," they do help provide some perspective: Take the art-house sense of the Balch/Burroughs shorts, and combine it with a grindhouse sensibility... What you get is indeed bizarre.

The clip contains sexual situations that will probably not be safe to watch at your cubby farm.

Read The New York Times 'review here

2007-09-27T10:48:00.000-04:00

Frustrated by press leaks about its most sensitive electronic surveillance work, the secretive National Security Agency convened an unprecedented series of off-the-record "seminars" in recent years to teach reporters about the damage caused by such leaks and to discourage reporting that could interfere with the agency's mission to spy on America's enemies.

The New York Sun's Josh Gerstien reports

2007-09-27T10:10:00.000-04:00

Harvard Coop In the Doghouse

The 125-year-old campus bookstore The Harvard Coop is facing some stiff competition from online book retailers. So much so that students trying to do some comparison shopping could find themselves bounced out of the store.

The situation escalated recently when Coop management had police eject a group of students who were writing down ISBN numbers and prices from the bookstore shelves. The "offenders" work for the student-run CrimsonReading.org, a website that provides information on where textbooks can be found for the lowest price.

All along, the Coop has maintained that the ISBNs are its intellectual property. But the director of Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet and Society, along with another Berkman Fellow and a Harvard law student, beg to differ: "The Coop neither authored the ISBN numbers on its books nor compiled them in an original selection or arrangement," the trio writes. "Locking competitors out from price comparison is not part of copyright's aim. While some courts have protected the creativity of price estimates, they haven't allowed companies to exclude others from learning market prices or catalog part numbers."

2007-09-25T21:41:00.000-04:00

Kill Hill... Or No Bill
Celebrity Culture and the Campaign

Early this summer, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s campaign for president learned that the men’s magazine GQ was working on a story the campaign was sure to hate: an account of infighting in Hillaryland.

So Clinton’s aides pulled a page from the book of Hollywood publicists and offered GQ a stark choice: Kill the piece, or lose access to planned celebrity coverboy Bill Clinton. Despite internal protests, GQ editor Jim Nelson met the Clinton campaign’s demands.

The spiked GQ story shows how the Clinton campaign has been able to use its access to the most important commodity in media — celebrity, and in fact two bona fide celebrities — to shape not just what gets written about the candidate, but also what doesn’t.

There’s nothing unusual about providing extra access to reporters seen as sympathetic, and cutting off those seen as hostile to a campaign. But a retreat of the sort GQ is alleged to have made is unusual, particularly as part of what sources described as a barely veiled transaction of editorial leverage for access.

Politco's Ben Smith reports

2007-09-24T00:57:00.000-04:00

The (London) Times' Carol Sarler tells religious pundits to stop all the jibber jabber.

Read The Times' Carol Sarler here

Meanwhile, Paul Kurtz responds to similar requests for humanists and sundry godless types to keep it down: "Let’s be fair: Until now, it has been virtually impossible to get a fair hearing for critical comment upon uncontested religious claims."

Read Kurtz' editorial at the Council for Secular Humanism

2007-09-24T00:52:00.000-04:00

KATHMANDU - Officials at Nepal's state-run airline have sacrificed two goats to appease Akash Bhairab, the Hindu sky god, following technical problems with one of its Boeing 757 aircraft.

from Reuters via MSNBC

2007-09-24T00:40:00.000-04:00

God Wins Again!

"How can Americans say that they respect science and even know what scientists believe and yet still disagree with the scientific community on some fundamental questions? The answer is that much of the general public simply chooses not to believe the scientific theories and discoveries that seem to contradict long-held religious or other important beliefs."

Read David Masci at Pew Research Publications Online

Or... Does He?

"The anti-Darwin movement has racked up one astounding achievement. It has made a significant proportion of American parents care about what their children are taught in school. And this is not a question of sex or salacious novels; the parents want their children to be taught the truth."

The Nation's Ian Hacking

2007-09-17T12:36:00.001-04:00

It's The Reunion We Were Told Would Never, Ever, EVER Happen.

Since they broke up decades ago, they’ve turned down many offers and serious gobs of money to perform again.

Regularly lauded as one of the most influential rock and roll bands in history, its members seemed content to just sit back and watch their legend grow... Which it has, to genuinely mythological proportions.

But just last week, fans the world over lathered in sheer ecstasy when news of the impossible was confirmed... There would finally be a one-off reunion.

Uh, what's that you say...? Led Zeppelin?

Well, as nice as it is to hear that those boys are back in the sandbox, we’re talking about something far more monumental…

The Sonics were one of, if not the great architects of the raw rock and roll that went on to be known variously as Garage, Punk and Grunge. In their heyday of 1964-66, The Sonics were cranking out some of the fiercest gutbuckets of sound ever waxed, with a power that holds up remarkably well to this day.

Just think about what was on the radio then…. Lovable mop-tops, harmonizing surfer boys, cuddly girl groups… Hell, think about what's on the radio today... and know why the world needs The Sonics reunion... Now more than ever!

More info at the Cavestomp! MySpace page

2007-09-16T22:36:00.000-04:00

Haidt on Morality and Religion
"Surveys have long shown that religious believers in the United States are happier, healthier, longer-lived, and more generous to charity and to each other than are secular people." Read "Moral Psychology and the Misunderstanding of Religion" By Jonathan Haidt

Harris on Haidt
"...Religion remains the only mode of discourse that encourages grown men and women to pretend to know things they manifestly do not (and cannot) know." Sam Harris and others respond in "The Reality Club" at Edge.org

2007-09-16T21:37:00.000-04:00

Free Speech For Me But Not For Thee

Islamist Orders Hit on Cartoonist and Editor
The head of an al Qaeda-led group in Iraq has offered a $100,000 reward for the killing of a Swedish cartoonist for his drawing of Islam's Prophet Mohammad and threatened to attack major Swedish companies. Reuters' Diala Saadeh reports

Woman Sues Judge Over Language Restrictions
The accuser in a sexual assault case is suing a judge because he barred the word "rape," "victim" and "assailant" and other words from the trial. Read the AP report at Law.com

Ridiculously Rich Guy Buys Respect
Since 2002, Sheikh Khalid bin Mahfouz, has used his considerable financial clout as one of the richest men in the world to garner apologies and damages through the UK courts. Recently, his attention has been turned to respected academic publisher Cambridge University Press, over the book "Alms for Jihad."

The book's authors firmly deny bin Mahfouz’s claims that their book links him, financially and through family, to Osama bin Laden. However, CUP recent issued an outright apology, declared that it would pulp all unsold copies of the book in the UK, and requested that library copies be returned to meet the same fate. Such is the fear of bin Mahfouz that even US-based Amazon is not selling "Alms for Jihad," instead, somewhat disingenuously, offering a 557-word review for the knock-down price of $9.95. Read more in the Index On Censorship

2007-09-09T23:19:00.001-04:00

Event Planning... The White House Way!
Tip #42: If You Can't Keep Your Protesters On Ice, at Least Strive for a Chilling Effect

A married couple neither said nor did anything to disrupt a Bush rally in Charleston, W. Va. But when they refused to remove their anti-Bush T-shirts, they were, at the direction of White House event staff, handcuffed, booked, photographed, and fingerprinted, charged with trespassing, and held for several hours in jail.
Dahlia Lithwick looks at the "Presidential Advance Manual" in Slate

2007-08-27T13:09:00.000-04:00

Readin' and Writin' and Repression

Stephen Law asks: "To what extent should schools encourage deference to authority on moral and religious matters?"

Commentary in The Sydney Morning Herald

2007-08-27T12:41:00.000-04:00

Transsexual Harassment

To many of Dr. Bailey’s peers, his story is a morality play about the corrosive effects of political correctness on academic freedom.

In 2003, Dr. J. Michael Bailey published “The Man Who Would Be Queen,” a book intended to explain the biology of sexual orientation and gender to a general audience.

He argued that some people born male who want to cross genders are driven primarily by an erotic fascination with themselves as women. This idea runs counter to the belief, held by many men who decide to live as women, that they are the victims of a biological mistake — in essence, women trapped in men’s bodies.

Days after the book appeared, Lynn Conway, a prominent computer scientist at the University of Michigan, sent out an e-mail message comparing Dr. Bailey’s views to Nazi propaganda. She and other transgender women found the tone of the book abusive, and the theory of motivation it presented to be a recipe for further discrimination.

Dr. Alice Dreger, an ethics scholar, is a longtime advocate for people born with ambiguous sexuality and has been strongly critical of sex researchers in the past. She said she had presumed that Dr. Bailey was guilty of scientific ethics violations.

But in her just-completed account, due to be published next year in The Archives of Sexual Behavior, the field’s premier journal, she concluded that the accusations against the psychologist were essentially groundless.

Some scientists say that it has become increasingly treacherous to discuss politically sensitive issues. They point to several recent cases, like that of Helmuth Nyborg, a Danish researcher who was fired in 2006 after he caused a furor in the press by reporting a slight difference in average I.Q. test scores between the sexes.

The New York Times' Benedict Carey Reports

2007-08-27T12:25:00.000-04:00

Pentagon Nearly Sends "Left Behind" To Soldiers In Iraq

Last week, after an investigation spurred by the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, the Pentagon abruptly announced that it would not be delivering "freedom packages" to our soldiers in Iraq, as it had originally intended.

What were the packages to contain? Not body armor or home-baked cookies. Rather, they held Bibles, proselytizing material in English and Arabic and the apocalyptic computer game "Left Behind: Eternal Forces" (derived from the series of post-Rapture novels), in which "soldiers for Christ" hunt down enemies who look suspiciously like U.N. peacekeepers.

The packages were put together by a fundamentalist Christian ministry called Operation Straight Up.

From the Los Angeles Times article by Michael L. Weinstein and Reza Aslan

2007-08-27T12:11:00.000-04:00

Justice Is Served... Eventually

Mississippi: James Ford Seale, a 72-year-old ex-policeman and former Ku Klux Klansman, has been jailed for life over the 1964 abduction and killing of two black teenagers.

During the 1950s and 1960s, dozens of black people were killed by whites who wanted to retain racial segregation. Few of the crimes were solved, partly because some of the perpetrators were protected by state and local officials. The FBI is re-opening several cases from the civil rights era before suspects die.

Read More Here

2007-08-27T11:07:00.000-04:00

Don't Tread On Me. Or Kick Me Into A Net. Or Lob Me Off Your Head.

Americans call them "soccer balls." The rest of the world calls them "footballs." Except in Afghanistan, where they are called "blasphemous." That is, when the balls in question are adorned with the Saudi flag -- which features a verse of the Koran.
BBC's Alastair Leithead reports

In other news, Afghanistan is trying to decide what to do with the other giant Buddhas they didn't destroy.
BBC's Charles Haviland reports

2007-08-23T12:35:00.000-04:00

There's More "Jesus and Mo" Here

2007-08-23T11:57:00.000-04:00

Newfangled Coffeeshops Create Grande Tizzy In Ivory Tower

Professor Angles for Larry King's Job in What Just Might Be "The Worst Op-Ed Piece Ever Written"

"... Our professor seems to think he has encountered a brand-new cultural phenomenon: coffee places that are disturbingly different from the lunch counters of yesteryear. Well, I did a little Googling, and it turns out he's right! There are hosts of these coffee chain stores, including one with the improbable name Starbucks, infiltrating our cities."

Slate's Ron Rosenbaum creams Stanley Fish's coffee here

You can read the original Fish-in-a-barrel here

2007-08-23T11:24:00.000-04:00

Evil 101

"Any deed that any human being has ever committed, however horrible, is possible for any of us—under the right circumstances."

The infamous "Stanford Prison Experiment" was aborted in less than a week due to its character-imploding power. Along with Stanley Milgram's studies of obedience to authority—the "shock experiments"— the investigation is considered one of the most important pieces of research demonstrating a core tenet of social psychology: external situations can lead us to behave in ways that we would not, could not, predict.

American Scientist Online features details in Robert Levine's review of "The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil," by Philip Zimbardo

Also, Discover Magazine Online has this excerpt

2007-08-23T10:49:00.000-04:00

Free Speech For Me,

But Not For Thee

Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasrin, attacked last week at the launch of her book in southern India, faces up to two years in jail if found guilty on a charge of inciting religious tensions. The Guardian's Richard Lee reports

Meanwhile, a Muslim fundamentalist group has revived a long-standing fatwa on Nasrin, stating that she “has spoken against Islam and Prophet Muhammad and we will go to any extent to eliminate her.” An unlimited amount of money is offered to anyone who will kill her. The Hindustan Times' Rakeeb Hossain reports

2007-08-23T10:37:00.000-04:00

"Resentments Rather Than Good Relations"

Staff at a UK hospital have been told not to eat at their desks to avoid offending Muslim colleagues.

The Muslim Weekly reports

2007-08-23T10:17:00.000-04:00

India's Prosperity Enables Sex Selection

Increased consumer choice is one of the hallmarks of the new India. Tragically, it is being applied, with almost industrial efficiency, to depress the female birth rate.

BBC's Nick Bryant reports

2007-08-17T10:52:00.001-04:00

Jose Gonzalez "Killing For Love"

2007-07-25T11:49:00.003-04:00

Model Behavior

Digging through the attic recently, we unearthed a memento of a fun little memory from just over five years ago. The occasion was the live premiere broadcast of Little Steven’s Underground Garage, a nationally syndicated radio show that continues to be one of the most wildly successful in recent history.

Little Steven took over New York City’s Hard Rock Café to throw a huge party for the launch, and Garage Rock legends were everywhere – We even shared burgers with Lenny Kaye and drinks with Richard and the Young Lions.

The event was just as much a celebration of New Jersey Guys Made Good, with virtually every celebrity from The State Next Door in attendance. That included co-stars from one of Little Steven’s other gigs, The Sopranos, who may not have been real Jerseyites but played them on TV.

Loud music, go-go dancers and swirling day-glo lights kept the surroundings psychedelicized. But it was genuinely surreal to weave around people on the dance floor doing the Frug and the Swim, then bump into TV Mafiosi.

In the V.I.P. Room, Jon Bon Jovi surrounded himself with a phalanx of what looked like genuine Mafiosi. Some people could occassionally be seen penetrating the barrier, however, creating the curious effect of a "V.I.P.-Room-Within-A-V.I.P.-Room." It was at one of the food tables in the remaining V.I.Plebe Zone where a woman named Pamela Vandenberg told us about some her recent projects, including a gig modelling as "Sindy" for Altoids cinnamon mints.

Have a look at this clip featuring Pamela as Sindy – which is way up there on our list of the best ads ever filmed.

This other clip is pretty good, too.

The Sindy campaign was an enormous success (dare we call it "iconic"?), and pushed Altoids way over the top in their effort to be a "hip" brand. But we have to admit that, at first, Pamela's claim to being Sindy seemed a bit dubious.

First of all, she looked more to us like a young Lauren Hutton than the devilish minx in the ads. But more to the point, famous models simply don’t make conversation with people like us. You know, people who use words like "phalanx," and still expect to hold someone's attention.

Yet there was Pamela, happily chatting it up. And any doubts about her true identity were dispelled when Pamela gave us her direct mail piece, a mini-portfolio of sorts, which included her work as Sindy.

A few minutes after we had all moved on to mingle, Pamela returned to give us an Altoids postcard, and autographed it: "You’re too hot! Sindy." It was that very postcard that we found in the attic recently, conjuring up memories of that great big loud insane party at the Underground Garage.

At a number of parties since then, we’ve taken a cue from Pamela and handed out autographed photos of ourselves, using character names like "Magnus," "Gaspard" and "Dr. Finger." They never seem to go over quite as well as "Sindy," though. And we can understand why... Have a look at Pamela Vandenberg’s website, and see for yourself.

2007-07-11T11:07:00.000-04:00

Appearances by Bill Clinton and Karl Rove generated a good deal of buzz for this year's Aspen Ideas Festival, the week-long series of open air chats with some of the world's most inspired thinkers and inspiring speakers.

Other highlights include Thomas Friedman's take on the enormity of being Green, and Richard Branson discussing his plans for privatized space travel. You can download or view streaming video at the links below... While you're there, take some time to peruse the entire Aspen Ideas Festival 2007 Audio/Video Library.

Thomas Friedman: Green is the New Red, White, and Blue
A Conversation with Richard Branson
In Conversation with Karl Rove
Bill Clinton Discusses His Work Around the World

2007-06-28T13:03:00.002-04:00

The Tears Of A Clown

Crispin Glover's "Clowny Clown Clown"

Toothache Of The Clown

Jerry Lewis in "The Day The Clown Cried"
Wikipedia Entry

Bonus Happy Clowns! Clown Ministry

2007-06-26T21:06:00.000-04:00

My Nature Documentary
by Jack Handey

Show monkey in a tree. Narrator says, “The monkey, proud and smart, in his native habitat. But one thing he does not have . . .” Show a giraffe. “. . . is a long neck, like the giraffe. Which is why nature has allowed them to combine forces.” Show monkey on giraffe’s neck. (Note: Monkey may have to be tied on.)

Then the narrator says, “The monkey can now see very far, and has protection from predators. And the giraffe has a little friendly guy to ride around on him.”

The monkey is shot by a poacher and falls from giraffe. Put ketchup on monkey to make him look bloody, but put something bad-tasting in the ketchup or monkey will lick it all off. Shoot BB gun at giraffe to make him run off.

Narrator: “The monkey and the giraffe have been separated.”

Continue reading here at Newyorker.com

2007-06-22T11:57:00.001-04:00

Can I get some head?

2007-06-20T23:01:00.001-04:00

When Peter Kaukonen attended Stanford University in the early 60's, he majored in biochemistry, human sexual behavior, and musicology, none of which appeared on the curriculum.

Peter played the folk circuit with people who went on to become Janis Joplin, the Quicksilver Messenger Service, the Grateful Dead, and Jefferson Airplane. (In the picture, he's the guy whose teeth are visible.)

His musical odyssey since then has been marked by detours and excursions, possibly symptomatic of ADD or Tourette's. He has played, toured, and recorded with Johnny Winter, Jefferson Starship, Jefferson Airplane, Hot Tuna, and his own Black Kangaroo.

By the way, virtually all of the above was lifted verbatim from Peter Kaukonen's site, which has more, so much more, about the man and his music from a live performance broadcast this past December on KRSH-FM. Joining Peter is bassist Michael Lindner (pictured here blissfully unaware), a long time compadre who also played in Black Kangaroo.

Peter Kaukonen will also be live in the tattooed flesh on Friday, July 6th at the Warwick Valley Winery in Warwick, New York. Contact them at (845) 258-4858 or wvwinery@warwick.net for more info, or visit their Events Calendar.

2007-05-17T17:33:00.001-04:00

2007-04-13T00:23:00.001-04:00

2007-02-12T13:46:00.000-05:00

On Hiatus

Two months to the day since the last post, it may be a good time to mention that Radio Zero is on hiatus.

We've got this thing we gotta do. But only for a little while longer.

See you soon.

2006-12-12T23:15:00.000-05:00

Now Look Here

Is it any wonder that TV's best ensemble cast also throws the best Christmas party?

The cast of "Scrubs" added some new dialogue to the classic "Charlie Brown Christmas" for a holiday party they threw a few seasons ago... If you are at all familiar with the show, this ten-minute reel is just as brilliant and inspired as you might imagine. If you're not familiar with the show, this could very well serve as a fine introduction to one of the funniest shows -- Nay -- the funniest show on TV today.

Either way, it's a fair guess that you'll probably never see Scrubs' "My Charlie Brown Christmas" on TV -- or on DVD for that matter -- so have a look here. And if you decide you want a copy for yourself, download it here.

If you don't have RealPlayer, get it here so you can stream our videos and music... It's free.

2006-12-08T01:53:00.001-05:00

Now Look Here

Smokey the Bear? Crying Indian? Pshaw. Have a look at this.

2006-12-03T04:42:00.000-05:00

Your Escape From Holiday Hell

Radio Zero's Helpful Holiday Hints To Make Your Gift Shopping More Fun

* Take 24 boxes of condoms and randomly put them in people's carts when they aren't looking.

* Set all of the alarm clocks in the Housewares section to go off at 5-minute intervals.

* Make a trail of tomato juice on the floor leading to the restrooms.

* Walk up to an employee and tell her in an official tone, 'Code 3.' Watch what happens.

* Put a bag of M&M's on lay away.

* When a clerk asks if you need help, begin to cry and ask, 'Why can't you people just leave me alone?'

* Look into the security camera, like a mirror, and pick your nose.

* Dart furtively around the store while loudly humming the "Mission Impossible" theme.

* In the Auto department, try a "Madonna look" using different size funnels.

* Hide in a clothing rack, and when people browse through, yell "PICK ME! PICK ME!"

* When an announcement comes over the loud speaker, assume the fetal position and scream "No! No! It's those voices again!!!!"

* Go into a fitting room, shut the door, wait awhile, then yell very loudly, "There is no toilet paper in here!"

2006-12-03T03:59:00.000-05:00

Dying Breeders

Over the years a blind eye has been turned to the practice of polygamy in the United States. But the trial of a Fundamentalist Mormon for assisting in the rape of a minor could change all that.

Of all the difficult public relations campaigns in the world, this must be among the toughest: to sell polygamy, the practice of keeping more than one wife by one man, as a deeply Christian, rewarding activity that frees the women as much as it forwards the spiritual standing of the man.

But that is the challenge Anne Wilde has taken up, as a sort of unofficial spokeswoman for the polygamists of Utah.

Wilde was the second wife of Ogden Kraut. She keeps stressing that she feels that being a polygamist gave her more, not less, independence as a woman; and although her husband was a patriarch, part of his role as head of the family was to treat his wives with respect.

Wilde's purpose is made particularly tough because polygamy gets a consistently bad press, fuelled by events in some polygamist communities that appear to be anything but celestial.

Warren Jeffs, the "Prophet" of a polygamist community in Utah, has recently been charged with assisting the statutory rape of a 14-year-old girl, who had allegedly been forced into a spiritual marriage with her cousin, and ordered to "multiply and replenish the earth."

In other words, procreate, or risk eternal damnation.

Jeff's lawyers argue that to commit him to trial would be to continue the persecution Utah's polygamists have suffered since the late 19th century.

Read the full article by EdiPilkington at Guardian Unlimited

2006-12-03T03:45:00.000-05:00

In Space, No One Can Ask If You Want Fries With That

NEW YORK (Reuters) - From space, extraterrestrials and astronauts can look back to earth and see The Great Wall of China -- and KFC's Colonel Sanders.

The KFC Corp. recently launched a rebranding campaign with an 87,500 square-foot image of Colonel Sanders in the Nevada desert which the company says makes Kentucky Fried Chicken the world's first brand visible from space.

Read the full story here.

2006-12-03T03:26:00.000-05:00

Missing Think
Evidence that psychology, like biology, is conserved between human and nonhuman species augurs a shake-up for science and society

Back in 1974, an unusual report from Jane Goodall at the Gombe Stream Wildlife Research Centre in Tanzania caught the public eye. Chimpanzees had committed infanticide and were engaging in war. Not only were they acting in unanticipated ways, chimpanzees were acting like humans.

Since then, what we know about ourselves and other species has changed substantially. We now recognize that species other than humans engage in an array of behaviors that bring variety and depth to life: dolphins teach cultural customs to their young, octopi demonstrate diverse personalities, and rats show a sense of humor.

Once at odds with the conventions of her discipline, Goodall's interpretations today are supported by decades of research in neurobiology. They are part of a broad conceptual framework that has coalesced around the idea that psychology, like biology, is conserved among animals.

Ethologists studying animal behavior with close links to humans, however, have long made it a principle not to infer humanlike mental states from humanlike behavior and, until recently, many scientists in the field frowned upon any discussion of animal mental states.

Read the full article by G.iA.iBradshaw and RobertiM.iSapolsky at American Scientist Online

2006-11-21T22:15:00.000-05:00

Cognitive Dissonance
We at Radio Zero find ourselves strangely attracted, yet repelled.

2006-09-20T12:37:00.001-04:00

Now Look Here

The Sultan's Elephant
"Created by theatrical magicians Royal de Luxe, it was an extraordinary experience for everyone who saw it. The majestic elephant and the little girl giant captured the hearts and minds of thousands of Londoners and visitors, and will live in our hearts and minds for years to come." -- text from The Sultan's Elephant website
The Sultan's Elephant appeared in Calais from September 28 to October 1, and in Le Havre from October 26-29 2006.

It's A Thin Line Between "Tongue Twister" and "Ball Buster"

2006-09-20T11:05:00.000-04:00

"This is the true joy in life -- the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap; the being a force of Nature instead of a feverish selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy."

-- George Bernard Shaw

2006-09-20T10:52:00.000-04:00

Ramey:
(addressing a group of professional military officers) Are you a Feminist? Oh...WRONG question. I should have asked 'are you a Father?' When your daughter loses her job to a clearly less-qualified man, you will discover YOU are a feminist.

Now, I like testosterone. Every home should have some. But it becomes damaging as a man gets older. I'm trying to help men live longer, although I'm not sure all of them deserve it.

Yussef:
Did you hear about the Muslim strip club? It features full facial nudity!

What do you say to a Muslim woman with two black eyes? Nothing! You told her twice already!

2006-09-19T10:18:00.000-04:00

Because You Can't Make Goat Cheese With A Woman
Sudanese Man Takes Goat Bride After Roll In The Hay

A Sudanese man has been forced to take a goat as his wife, after he was caught having sex with the animal. The goat's owner, Mr. Alifi, said he surprised the man with his goat and took him to a council of elders. They ordered the man, Mr. Tombe, to pay a dowry of 15,000 Sudanese dinars ($50) to Mr. Alifi.

"We have given him the goat, and as far as we know they are still together," Mr. Alifi said. Mr. Alifi, Hai Malakal in Upper Nile State, told the Juba Post newspaper that he heard a loud noise around midnight on 13 February and immediately rushed outside to find Mr Tombe with his goat.

"When I asked him: 'What are you doing there?', he fell off the back of the goat, so I captured and tied him up." Mr Alifi then called elders to decide how to deal with the case. "They said I should not take him to the police, but rather let him pay a dowry for my goat because he used it as his wife."

Stolen almost entirely word for word from BBC News

2006-09-13T11:14:00.000-04:00

Lancelot Link: Mindless Saturday Morning Fodder... Or The Window Into Our Primoridal Selves?

Mounting evidence suggests that human beings are hard-wired to appreciate music. Now researchers want to know why our ancestors evolved music in the first place.

Researchers at the Montreal Neurological Institute, for example, have scanned musicians' brains and found that the "chills" that they feel when they hear stirring passages of music result from activity in the same parts of the brain stimulated by food and sex.

As evidence mounts that we're somehow hard-wired to be musical, some thinkers are turning their attention to the next logical question: How did that come to be? The benefits of our affinity for food (nutrition) and sex (procreation) are easy enough to explain, but music is trickier.

Some suggest that music originated as a way for males to impress and attract females. In many bird species, for example, males sing to impress females. Depending on the species, females will tend toward the males with the broadest repertoire or the most complex or unique songs.

The foremost defender of that model today is GeoffreyiMiller, an evolutionary psychologist at the University of New Mexico. Miller argues that in prehistoric communities, singing and dancing might have worked-as they do today in some Native American cultures -- as proxies for hunting and warfare. The ability to come up with imaginative melodies and rhythms would connote intelligence and creativity, and the long, arduous dances would be proof of one's endurance-the sort of traits that a choosy female would like to see in her offspring.

Even today, Miller argues, music retains some of its old procreative roots. Looking at 6,000 recent jazz, rock, and classical albums, Miller found that 90 percent were produced by men, and that those male musicians tended to reach their peak musical production around age 30, which he notes, is also the peak of male sexual activity.

Miller points in particular to the example of JimiiHendrix. Miller has written that, despite dying at 27,iHendrix had "sexual liaisons with hundreds of groupies, maintained parallel long-term relationships with at least two women, and fathered at least three children in the United States, Germany, and Sweden. Under ancestral conditions before birth control, he would have fathered many more." To Miller, it was Hendrix'sistatus as a music-maker rather than his fame or charisma that gave him this sexual allure.

Edited from the article byiDrakeiBennettifor the Boston Globe. Read it here in its original, expanded form

2006-09-13T10:47:00.000-04:00

Compassion, Mercy, Charity... In Action.
Priest Admits Madonna Bomb Hoax

A 63-year-old Dutch priest has confessed to making a hoax bomb threat in an attempt to stop a concert by US pop star Madonna, prosecutors say.

Her mock re-enactment of the crucifixion in one of the scenes offended some Christians during earlier shows in Italy and Germany. But the concerts in Amsterdam went ahead as planned on Sunday and Monday. A city official said the priest was arrested soon after making the call because he used his home phone. Emergency services quickly traced the number.

Edited from BBC News

2006-08-06T01:15:00.000-04:00

Now the Healing Can Begin

from a correction in Audubon

The urine of the red fox smells more like skunk musk than the urine of the gray fox, as stated in "Winter Yaps."

2006-08-06T00:51:00.001-04:00

They Must Be Mad
from the Walden (Colorado) Jackson County Star

On August 9, a gate was left open along Highway 14 west of Walden and several head of cattle left a perfectly good pasture with some of the lushest grass in years to go stand on asphalt. Their owner was notified.

2006-07-22T11:35:00.001-04:00

Animals and children... They just know...

2006-07-17T13:15:00.000-04:00

Who Invited That Guy?

Here at Radio Zero, we believe it is much more important to appear intelligent than to actually be intelligent.

That's why there was cause for excitement when we scored an advance copy of "TheiConciseiGuide toiSoundingiSmart atiParties."

Everyone else must wait until October to buy this book. But as a reader of this blog, you have an exclusive preview. Soon, you can lay legitmate claim to being the erudite raconteur extraordinaire that everyone wants to talk to at parties.

"The Concise Guide" grips you from the very start with strategies detailing how you can bring up Hannibal [247 BC - 183 BC] in conversation ("There's more foreigners here than in Hannibal's army") and it never lets go.

Here are just two more bon mots to mix with your pink drinks:

How to Bring Up Richard Wagner in Conversation
"Dude! Maybe it's time to get a little Richard Wagner and compose yourself."

How to Bring Up Bob Fosse in Conversation
"Hey now! Those are some sexy moves. Been taking dance lessons from Bob Fosse?"

Of course, if you want to truly appear intelligent at parties, you'll need to back up such powerful entrees to conversation with some actual knowledge of culture and history. We at Radio Zero, however, are a bit intimidated by things like the sheer enormity of recorded history, and would much rather leave that stuff to the professionals to figure out. In fact, we would rather just not read at all unless we really have to.

Rest assured, the authors have done all that reading for us. And they present the annals of history with such rapier wit that we found ourselves just laughing too hard to realize that we were taking in the accumulated wisdom of a civilization many millenia in the making. (In fact, through this book, we've also learned that 'annals' is actually spelled with two N's)

For instance, in the section "J. Robert Oppenheimer Was Da Bomb," we learn that the titular scientist was "appointed to lead the Manhattan Project -- the government team responsible for creating the first nuclear bomb, not the Alan Parsons Project, the rock band responsible for creating explosive pop music."

And in "Hitler 101," we learn that Der Fuhrer blamed Jews "as the source of all problems in the world with not even one nice word at least admitting how delicious bagels are."

The authors have a firm grasp of their incredibly varied subject matter and are imminently qualified to present it in an entertaining yet informative way. DavidiMatalon is a feature film director (he's wrapping up production oniVolleygirlias we speak), and ChrisiWoolsey is a freelance writer, 'youth speaker' and actor. We may not ever be lucky enough to see these Hollywood power brokers in action at a party, but with this book, we don't need to.

Anyway, to quote Mr. T, enough jibber jabber. There's so much to take away from "The Concise Guide," but here's just a small sampling of more smart-sounding subjects sure to stimulate scintillating small talk at the next soiree that has the honor of your presence:

How to Bring Up Smallpox in Conversation
"Agh! I've got this thing on my face that makes me look like I've got variola major."

How to Bring Up Sir Walter Raliegh in Conversation
"Girl, I can't believe you took credit for that. You totally just pulled a Raleigh."

How to Bring Up Bhopal in Conversation
"Don't you hate people who make empty promises like Union Carbide at Bhopal?"

How to Bring Up John Wayne Gacy in Conversation
"That guy's house stank so bad, I thought John Wayne Gacy was renting a room."

How to Bring Up Anton Chekov in Conversation
"Ya gotta chickity Chekov yourself before you wreck yourself by getting too serious about things."

2006-07-17T13:10:00.000-04:00

"I hope there's an animal somewhere that nobody has ever seen. And I hope nobody ever sees it."

-- Wendell Berry, quoting his daughter, in "To the Unseeable Animal."

2006-06-09T14:46:00.001-04:00

Now Playing

2006-06-06T12:02:00.000-04:00

My Kid And My Money Go To Monty Python
John Cleese Appointed Cornell Provost's Visiting Professor for Three-Year Term

"We have been fortunate to have John Cleese as an A.D. White Professor for eight years -- two years longer than the normal term," said Cornell President Hunter Rawlings. "He has been so popular we've now made him Provost's Visiting Professor in response to requests from students and faculty."

Cleese holds an M.A. in law from the University of Cambridge and an honorary LL.D. from St. Andrews University, where he was rector for several years.

Throughout his career, Cleese has used humor as a teaching tool. Along with his Monty Python cohorts, Cleese has presented relatively advanced concepts in philosophy, science, history, religion, politics, human relations and physics to general audiences.

Appointed an A.D. White Professor in 1999, Cleese used his role to introduce other notable visitors to campus whose knowledge, expertise and enthusiasms were in concert with his own, including Hollywood screenwriter William Goldman, wildlife preservationist Simon Hicks and W.C. Fields biographer James Curtis.

Cleese became known on campus for presenting eclectic rounds of public talks on topics ranging from human development and animal welfare to the works of W. Somerset Maugham. He delivered a sermon at Sage Chapel on his experience with religion, gave public readings and screenings of Python blockbusters and generally seemed to relish his role as "professor-at-large."

Adapted from Cornell University Chronicle

2006-06-05T16:57:00.000-04:00

Happiness Is...

... for idiots.

-- Charles de Gaulle

2006-06-02T17:53:00.000-04:00

... And We Shouldn't Call It "Child Rearing," Either

"Even if [the dad] drops the kid and he cracks his head, at least he'll be heterosexual. A small price to pay."

-- Research psychologist Joseph Nicolosi encouraging his followers to engage in manly activities with their male children.

2006-05-23T21:31:00.001-04:00

Thank God they found each other.

2006-05-22T14:31:00.000-04:00

Brokaw: This 'Media' Thing Is Nothing But Trouble

"You live in a world of chat rooms and web sites. You are manned with cell phones, have video on demand and games on a chip. You are exposed to high-def and low-brow. You are masters of a new universe... or are you?"

- Tom Brokaw (pictured right, with tennis partner) to graduates of the University of Florida College of Medicine.

With arched eyebrow, Brokaw then snickered derisively and said, "Progress!? Flibberty floo!!" before shaking his head and mumbling something about "wagging the dog."

"Let me put it to you this way -- country simple," he continued. "Are you feeding the beast? Or is the beast feeding off of you?"

One student broke the uneasy silence that had fallen over the room, shouting: "That sounds like something Rather would say." Pockets of nervous laughter could be heard.

Brokaw shot back: "Go ahead. Laugh. But don't be surprised when you wake up one day and find that your hand has been bitten clean off." The crowd hushed again.

Brokaw's posture strightened while he sighed heavily, pausing as he struggled to focus his gaze on some distant point. His suddenly ashen face squinted. "I have seen the trail of tears this will leave. I've seen it myself. It is a bitter, twisted, bloody trail... Corpse-strewn. You must use this power only for good. Only for good..."

Dean Terry Hynes of the University of Florida's College of Journalism and Communications later commented: "Why didn't he come talk to us?"

2006-05-18T12:22:00.000-04:00

But If You Look Closely...

"When he spoke again, it was to talk of pumpkins and cabbages, and after that, for he was a man of limited ideas, of cabbages and pumpkins." -- PG Wodehouse

2006-05-17T15:13:00.000-04:00

Chuck Norris Does Not Sleep.
He Waits.

Chuck Norris doesn't read books. He stares them down until he gets the information he wants.

Simply by pulling on both ends, Chuck Norris can stretch diamonds back into coal.

Chuck Norris eats beef jerky and craps gunpowder. Then, he uses that gunpowder to make a bullet, which he then uses to kill a cow and make more beef jerky. Some people refer to this as the 'Circle of Life."

You'll find many more Chuck Norris facts here
courtesy of Sean

2006-05-17T09:44:00.001-04:00

No, really, you had to be there