Zooey Deschanel Appreciation Day
Excerpt from an instant messaging conversation with K. Steeze, held yesterday:

Steeze: guess what i get to do on sunday
it's about a million times better than anything you're thinking
Me: Kiss Zooey Deschanel?
Go to Skywalker Ranch?
Steeze: that is a pretty good guess
okay, so maybe not that good
Me: Kiss Zooey Deschanel at Skywalker Ranch?
Steeze: hahaha
Me: If it's a million times better than that, surely this will be the greatest moment of your life.
Steeze: it's about a thousand times worse than that





Science?
The earth is heating to a boil! You, me, and everyone you have every loved is doomed! Doomed, I say! Doomed. Doomed! Doooooooooomed! Wait, this year was demonstrably colder? Um.... Brrrlink. My favorite line from the whole piece: "Computer models suggest that natural cycles may cool the Earth's surface in the next few years, masking the warming impact of rising greenhouse gas levels." (Emphasis mine.) An excellent example of cognitive dissonance: yes, yes, the hard data may clearly show falling temperatures, but the "scientific consensus" proves that temperatures are in fact rising, no matter what nonsense the thermometers are trying to sell you.

I salute all science with an enthusiastic, almost maniacal cry of "Science!," but the entire issue of human-induced climate change is so fraught with bad pop science and polemical diatribes that I have to greet the whole affair (and the claims of both sides) with a far more dubious "Science?"

Science?

The Rebel Black Dot Christmas Song of the Day
Zooey Deschanel & Leon Redbone, "Baby, It's Cold Out There" from Elf: Music From the Major Motion Picture (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary: Not just because of who sings this particular rendition, "Baby, It's Cold Outside" is one of the best songs ever written.