Presented without comment.

Via mightygodking.

Thank the gods of comedy. The best sketch troupe in the history of creation have created a YouTube channel containing high-quality clips, interviews and unreleased footage. And the only advertising is links to Monty Python products on Amazon. Here’s the intro vid:

And here’s a small sample, a classic from Life of Brian:

Awesome.

All across North America, atheists are stepping out. Billboards. Greeting cards. Community meet-ups and coffee dates. A holiday festival called “HumanLight“. Emboldened by the election of Barack Obama who, although a Christian, seems to espouse something approaching a rationalist worldview, nonbelievers are attempting to put their ‘beliefs’ into the mainstream. It’s all very fun and cozy. It’s also vaguely ridiculous.

I’m an atheist. For me, the non-belief in god/gods/magic is an intellectual choice. Not only do I reject the idea of religion, I also repudiate the functional trappings of organized religious activity. I seek no community of like-minded believers, and I don’t proselytize. Atheism is not the belief in non-belief. It is just non-belief. By definition, it cannot be the foundation of an organization designed to replace conventional religion.

Don’t misunderstand me- I’m all for atheists having the freedom to express their views in public, and have these views treated with the same respect accorded to the pious. But when atheists start imitating the structures and activities of organized religion- community events, festivals, creating a  ’movement’- they betray their convictions. Atheism posits a world where morality and community can exist without religious dogma. Trying to pass off atheism as a substitute for religion is at best contradictory and at worst hypocritical.

So believe- or don’t believe- what you will. But don’t act like atheism is the thinking man’s religion. If you do, then you’re no longer an atheist.

The world’s most awesome car is going out of production. The Yugo, aka “sex on wheels”, aaka “human ingenuity’s ultimate achievement”, will no longer roll of the assembly line of its Serbian factory.

I know what you’re thinking. How could this icon of automotive prowess be relegated to the rusty fields of history? With a bitchin’ 1300cc engine, a gearshift that came off in your hands, and body panels and doors that inexplicably detached, the Yugo redfined performance for a generation of thrill-seeking Americans. I mean, check out this promo flyer:

 Aw, yeah. That’s pure driving excitement. Too bad my boyhood dreams of owning this fine machine have been cruelly dashed.

And I can’t help but think the Yugo is missing its historical moment. Their slogan, “Cars to make new economic sense”, just screams 2008 financial meltdown. The only thing better would be a car that gets 300 hectares per litre of kerosene. Put it in ‘H’!

Ah, google ads. You create so much accidental irony:

I know this is only in the RSS feed, but still. Nothing like pushing an Arab dating service in a story about imprisoned Yemenis.

Hump day, ladies and gents. Let’s see what goes.

The World

• Al Qaeda’s new tactic in its war on the West? Petty namecalling.
• The copilot of an Air Canada flight wigs out, and a flight attendant is forced to replace him. I love our national carrier.
• A murder suspect in New York uses his metrocard as an alibi. And here I am with a pocket full of tokens.
• Remember all those isolated tribes in the Amazon? Brazil has a fancy new heat sensor-equipped plane to monitor them.
• Dick Cheney is indicted by a grand jury. In Texas. Whoa.
• A Chilean man who everyone thought was killed by Augusto Pinochet, shows up 35 years later. Now, police are investigating him for fraud. Keep the circle unbroken, folks.

Science and Tech

• An astronaut lost her tools while on a spacewalk. Indonesia, watch out for falling socket wrenches.
• Supercomputers are now doing pentaflops. I did that once, when I fell down the stairs.
• Somali pirates = no Wii’s for Christmas.
• Doctors perform a windpipe transplant using a trachea grown from stem cells. Science is hawt.
• Real-life gremlin - aka the pygmy tarsier - has been rediscovered.

Pop Culture

• The riddle of the opening chord of the Beatles’ Hard Days Night has finally been solved.
• Musicians play their own songs in Guitar Hero!
• Chuck Klosterman, unabashed metal fan, reviews GnR’s Chinese Democracy.
• Following Sarah Palin’s book deal, Joe the Plumber will be publishing his own work of penetrating insight. Oh, wait. It’s not on plumbing? Then never mind.

The Mary Rose was the pride of Henry VIII’s navy, up until the moment in capsized and sank during a battle with the French in 1545. You can now go to the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard and see what’s left of the old girl, after some enterprising archaeologists dredged her up from the bottom of the English Channel.

But almost since the moment she sank, there has beem controversey over why exactly the Mary Rose went down. Official accounts claim that a freak tide and wind forced the ship over, allowing seawater to flood her open gunports. But, according to recent research, it seems most likely that she was holed below the waterline by French cannonfire, and this sent her to the bottom.

Which seems glaringly obvious. If a ship sinks in the middle of a battle, it seems reasonable to assume enemy fire had something to do with it. Like ol’ Ockham said, we should not mutliply entities beyond necessity. Or, the simplest explanation is usually the best.

The case of the Mary Rose thus emerges as one of the earliest examples of political spin in history. The loss of the Mary Rose- the royal flagship, named after the King’s sister- was a humiliating disaster for the British. So, rather than let the navy’s reputation take a crippling hit, the powers-that-be crafted a plausible cover story.

We like to think the vagaries of our political systems are a new creation. Not so. The British Navy showed the world how to obfuscate and twist events for public advantage five and a half centuries ago.

Two reasons:

1. It’s James Bond.
2. The design is freakin’ gourgeous:

Via Kottke.

Vacation is over - time to get this link show back on the road.

The world

• Australia’s entire Navy goes on vacation. New Zealand spots its chance for invasion.
• Hugo Chavez wiretaps his political opponents and then broadcasts the recordings. If you’re a dictator, and you’re unashamed, clap your hands!
• President-Elect Barack Obama is not happy about giving up his Blackberry.
• Sarah Palin is getting $7 million to “write” a book about her vapid and uninteresting life story. I’m sure someone will buy it; I just can’t imagine who.

Science and tech

• The oldest living polar bear (that we know about) has died at the Winnipeg Zoo. So long, Debby.
• The University of Toronto has a wicked awesome computer.
• Archaeologists in Israel have uncovered the remains of 12,000 year old witch doctor. And a 4,600 year old murdered family. And Lindsay Lohan’s career. Hey-O!

Pop culture

• The Biggest Loser, UK pet edition..
• iO9 runs down the clues for the most pressing issue of our age: who is the final Cylon?
• iO9 also gives a shot-by-shot analysis of the new Trek trailer. Useful site, that iO9.\
• Michael Jackson is being sued by a prince. There was a time when that would have surprised me.

Comedy

• Gabe and Max have a new set of fashion tips.

And, the worst headline of the day:

Supertanker Sirius Star hijacked by pirates fully loaded with crude oil. It must have been hard to hijack a supertanker while carrying all that oil. And where did they put it? Backpacks?

After several years of rowdy celebrations and at least one near-riot, Queen’s University has cancelled its annual Homecoming celebrations for at least the next two years. There will now be a quieter ‘mini-Reunion’ held in the spring. You can read the Queen’s press release here.

Now, Queen’s is my alma mater, and I had many a good night during homecoming. But it’s clear something needed to be done about the growing instability of the celebration. It damaged relations between the school and the neighbouring community, and could eventually lead to serious injury or loss of life. And people need to take responsibility for their actions. And if they don’t, then they shouldn’t be surprised when the powers-that-be crack down. But I’m just sorry that an important part of Queen’s tradition has been snuffed out by a herd of drunken idiots, and a university admin apparently unable to cope with them.

Of course, as my friend and fellow alum MN pointed out, the people who really suffer are the actual alumni who actually want to catch up with old friends and not drink their faces off and burn cars. Homecoming was more than a party for them. It was a way to connect with an important part of their past. Well, no longer.

So long, Homecoming. I hope you’ll be back, but I suspect you probably won’t. Next up: next year’s epic protest party.

The first proper trailer for the JJ Abrams is now live. If you click through you can watch the full-res clip. For the purposes of my site, here’s the best bootleg I could source:

Let the fanboy kvetching, hand-wringing and teeth-gnashing begin!

UPDATE: This trailer is much, much better.

As promised, here is the latest update from my Movember adventure:

As you can see, my moustache has been upgraded from a tropical storm to a category 5 hurricane of awesome.

And remember, if you’d like to support prostate cancer research by donating to my moustache, you can do so here:

https://www.movember.com/ca/donate/donate-details.php?action=sponsorlink&rego=1781766&country=ca

Only 13 days left!

Hiya folks;

I’ll be out of town the next few days, enjoying the sights and Obamamania in Chicago. I probably won’t get a chance to blog, but check out my twitter feed at twitter.com/NuncScio. I’ll be sure to tell you what I find in Al Capone’s Vault.

Stay well, and I’ll see you back here on Monday.

This entry is cross-posted with blogTO.

The toga, chief among all robe-based attire, is comedy gold. Animal House knew it. A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum knew it. And the Bad Dog Theatre knows it too.

Their latest mainstage show, Rome’d, makes heavy use of the classical garb as it spoofs HBO’s Rome. While the original TV show is heavy on the intrigue and gore, Rome’d is all about the funny.

Created by Toronto improv stalwart Cary West, the improvised show follows the misadventures of eight debaucherous citizens of ancient Rome. There are dictators, heroes, party animals, scheming queens and someone described as a “self-lacerator”. Filling these roles are some of Toronto’s best improvisers.

Rome’d is the latest in a series of pop-culture spoofs at the Bad Dog. It follows the successful BSG parody BattleAwesome AwesomeStar, and joins Hot Doctors in Love, currently a hot ticket for the theatre company. There’s much comedy hay to be made from today’s television uber-series, and the Bad Dog seems keen to take advantage this potential whenever- and however- they can.

And, if you’re a HBO or comedy enthusiast, good news- if you wear a toga to the show, you’ll get in for half price. Is there anything a toga can’t do?

Rome’d continues at the Bad Dog Theatre, 10PM every Saturday until November 28th. For tickets and info, call 416 491 3115 or visit the BDT website.

Photo: Rob Norman, Aurora Browne, Lisa Merchant, James Gangl,
Alastair Forbes, Kris Siddiqi, Dave Pearce, and Tom MacKay do the antiquity thing.

Like manna from heaven, this is.

We finally get a look at the NCC-1701 from the new JJ Abrams trek film:

I like it. A bit more art deco than the original, but still retains the flavour. However, those warp nacelles better glow red when active, consarn it.

Also, Abrams screened some scenes from the flick to some British journalists yesterday. From the sounds of things, this new Trek could be pretty awesome. Warning! Minor spoilers if you click through.