SkeptiLog, bastard son of

News: ** Army, Marine cooks go to battle. FORT LEE, Va. (AP) - Nobody ever joined the Army for the food. Ask a GI about his memories of military cuisine and prepare for tales of green, blob-shaped entrees with misleading names and, if you were lucky, a little flavor. But at Fort Lee this week, at least a few soldiers are eating like four-star generals: Pork schnitzel with minestrone. Jalapeno cornbread. Upside-down pineapple cake and fruit salad. To some, the irony of a military cooking competition is thicker than gravy. With 1.37 million active-duty mouths to feed, the Army is known more for quantity than for quality when it comes to food.

A personal note: When I was in a medical batallion of the California Army National Guard, our company cook ran a Hawaiian catering business in real life. He was a great cook, had a mess-truck especially fitted-out so he could cook right in the field, and we always ate well - so well, that Pentagon brass flew in to have lunch with us. Yes, some people DID join that unit "for the food." Yum.

Dear Readers: Those of you who've grown accustomed to the 4-to-6 bulletins-per-day I was producing a few weeks ago may be disappointed with the current 2-3 daily output. Tough. At the instigation of a disgruntled Usenet reader, as well as to fulfill my own longings, I've been spending a fair amount of time on this SkeptiLog page, which is evolving into the portal [gasp!] of the whole SkeptiCon/OTRSS empire. Once I get the design stabilized, I should have a bit more time for gleaning STUFF for the bulletins. But for now I'm still streamlining the design here, optimizing the links, trying to get the page to load faster, experimenting, all that good time-consuming stuff. Your contributions of extra time are greatly appreciated - email me a few hours to add to my life, eh? Cya --Ric

US Presidential politics - here's how I evaluate the leading candidates [at least, it's what I thought of'em before McCain apparently self-destructed]:

• Sliminiess (will do anything to raise cash):
  1:Bush 2:Gore/McCain(tie) 4:Bradley
• Slickness (will say anything to gain votes):
  1:Bush/McCain(tie) 2:Gore 4:Bradley
• Electability (could win a general election):
  1:McCain 2:Gore 3:Bush 4:Bradley
• Danger (will devastate/polarize the nation):
  1:McCain 2:Bush 3:Bradley 4:Gore
• Affability (will be a confortable neighbor):
  1:Bradley 2:Gore 3:Bush 4:McCain

The world has a rich literature of monkey bridegrooms and animal brides and similar bestiality and you don't want to miss any of it.

Serious students of the Turkish language need to know these vulgarities. The rest of us have much to learn too.

If you ever spew Sea Monkeys, be sure to write poetry about the experience.

STUDY of the day: "Quality of sperm unchanged over 50 years" - something we all need to take into account, eh?

How many parallel worlds/timelines do you inhabit? Do all your possibilities become manifest in an ever-expanding tree of time/space continua? Does The Great Timestream Bifurcation exist in an observable realm; or is it confined to abstract planes of imagination; or something else entirely? The Stanford Metaphysics Research Lab may provide some answers, especially the Theory of Abstract Objects.

• Bifurcation and Chaos - nonlinear science is terribly exciting. Get nonlinear today.
• The Complexicon leads you into chaos & complexity, and out again. Whew.
• The Lab is a good place to play with pendulums without breaking things, as I otherwise tend to do.
• The Principia Cybernetica Project (PCP) "aims to develop a complete philosophy or 'world-view' based on the principles of evolutionary cybernetics." Nothing too complicated, eh?
• Dynamic Urban Models may describe abstract cities, but can new geographic technology really eliminate urban decay?
• What's your favorite complex system?

Tired of ordinary dolls? Try the voodoo Barb.E. dolls - Undead Barb.E.; Voodoo Goddess Barb.E.; Khen the Corpse; Skip'r the Human Sacrifice. And slather'em up with Night Of The Living Dead Bar-B-Q Sauce. But I digress. The line of alternative Barb.E. dolls also includes: Auto Accident Barb.E. and Road Kill Khen; Cancer Barb.E.; Chernoble [sic] Barb.E. and Lead-Lined Khen; Lesbian Barb.E. and Kendra; PMS Barb.E.; Sister Barb.E., Father Khen and the Alter Boy Playset; and Triage Barb.E. too. Loads of fun for all!

Get the latest drug news at CannabisCulture.

Some say New Orleans is haunted but from what I've heard it's just corrupt and sinking.

Questions for Tom Robbins - "3. Why would extra-terrestrial beings travel so many light-years across the universe just to look up Whitley Strieber's bum?"

And don't forget to embrace your inner zombie.

When you go looking through the news for Chupacabra & Sasquatch & Yeti these days, nothing much turns up except sports and games stuff, a couple of publishers and a call for Washington to have an official state animal -- and that's all sasquatch stuff. Cryptozoological entities seem to have just dropped off the radar? Coincidence, conspiracy or environmental devastation?

SkeptiNews overflow:

• Yahoo Vows to Curb Net Hate - Net Nazis sneer, "Oh no you won't, Chink!"
• Creating Borders on the Net - HiTech Polarization / Fragmentation / Conquest?
• Silicon Summit: divvying-up the world! [Happens all the time]
• Internet execs discuss Web's future - plot to manipulate global telecom!
• Rupert Murdoch may buy Yahoo! or vice versa - 'partnership' talks?
• eBay Buys Sotheby's? Update: No, eBay Won't!

News Stolen from Sinopolis: