What happened to tolerance and diversity?  

The Raelian movement, a UFO religion who believe we were  created by aliens, were going to promote world peace by having tons and tons of sex but they had to cancel it due to pressure.  I mean literally tons of sex; they said they had 250 participants.   And the people who show up for orgies like that are not exactly going to be supermodels, if you know what I mean.  So, if you were planning on attending International Orgasm Day in Tel Aviv this year, you need to make other plans.

To the anonymous prankster who sent me the article above and then included this NASA glacier graphic right after it, you have my eternal respect.  It was definitely the funniest thing I read today:



Are you one of those science bloggers who can't stand religion and like Bush even less?   You'll be delighted that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran is going to deliver an 'alternative' Christmas message - and he's going to say Jesus would oppose Bush's foreign policy.    I am delighted to report that for the 1200th year, anyone attempting to deliver an 'alternative' Ramadan message will get a Fatwa on his ass.

If you live in Seattle, continue to pray to anyone you want if you want to get home safe.   The government wizards there declared that salt would be bad for the ecology, so they instead are trying to terraform the snow - basically that means pushing it around and declaring it a victory for the environment when it melts a few weeks from now.  
   
If you've ever lived in a place where snow is a regular feature, you probably know that the only thing worse than just pushing the snow around is using rubber-bladed plows to do it - because they leave the ice.    Police there have taken to just going places on foot.   So at least criminals with chains will have a happy Solstice, or whatever people in Seattle call it.

Finally, Australian scientist Dr. Glenn Platt wants us all to know that Christmas lights burn energy.  He encourages people to switch to LEDs and use timers, all of which make sense, though the LEDs are still pretty eerie.    You might also consider doing what Australians do in the way of an environmentally friendly Christmas celebration; namely headbutting someone in a bar and kicking them when they're on the ground.

Have a Merry Christmas, everyone!