Links

Stuff I find around the web that interests or amuses me.

Forecast: cloudy, 67% chance of God

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Hey, all you atheists out there — looks like you’ve only got about a 33% chance of being right. According to Dr. Stephen Unwin, there is a 67% chance that God exists.

Dr Stephen Unwin has used a 200-year-old formula to calculate the probability of the existence of an omnipotent being. Bayes’ Theory is usually used to work out the likelihood of events, such as nuclear power failure, by balancing the various factors that could affect a situation.

The Manchester University graduate, who now works as a risk assessor in Ohio, said the theory starts from the assumption that God has a 50/50 chance of existing, and then factors in the evidence both for and against the notion of a higher being.

(via Neil Gaiman)

Congratulations Rev. Dammann!

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In a quick update to a story from two posts back…Rev. Dammann has been acquitted!

A lesbian Methodist pastor will be allowed to continue her ministry after she was acquitted Saturday in a church trial over her sexual orientation.

A jury of 13 pastors ruled in favor of the Rev. Karen Dammann, 47, who disclosed three years ago that she was in a homosexual relationship.

Rock on.

Lego porn!

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And I thought I got creative with my Legos…

Hidden in a miniature Washington, D.C., at Legoland California, among thousands of characters living frozen lives, a businessman moons a presidential motorcade.

Nearby, in a Lego replica of New York City, a man does his laundry in the nude. And at a New England harbor, beneath an overturned rowboat, two pairs of legs tangle suggestively.

Such adult-themed vignettes, played out in tiny plastic bricks, are a secret diversion at the Carlsbad theme park, where “master builders” make a sport of putting risque scenes into G-rated landscapes.

Tab A into slot B, indeed.

iTunes: “Ride the Bullet (1991)” by Army of Lovers from the album Army of Lovers (1991, 3:45).

The latest from Mars

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Two LiveJournals have popped up to keep us informed of what’s really going on on Mars, without being filtered through the publicists at NASA.

First, Spirit Rover…

Monday, February 9th, 2004

9:56 pm

i’ve been staring at the same rock for two weeks.

stupid, boring rock.

this weekend i got my revenge. first i got to grind into it, then i drove right over it.

okay, i admit it, i had fun. i’d like to do more of this autonomous navigation thing. i knew i didn’t really need nasa telling me what to do.

And sister Opportunity:

**Friday, February 6th, 2004 **

8:23 am

squee!

I got to drive today! It’s so cool! I didn’t think I’d ever be allowed to go out on my own. NASA is so protective sometimes; it’s like they wanted to keep me swaddled in airbags forever. But anyways, I keep finding these round pebbly things. They get stuck in my treads. Do you think they’ll leave a mark? OMG what if Stardust saw me like this? No, it’s cool. It’s not like he’d ever come by this planet again…

Spirit is still “sick.” She swears she’s gonna drive to that crater any time now, though. She just wants to do it on her time and not when NASA orders her to. Like, whatever. Don’t tell anyone but sometimes I miss her.

Personally, I think this stuff is brilliant.

(via Boing Boing)

Toilet tourism

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Ever wanted to use a public toilet? Usually, they’re items to be avoided, not sought out. Seattle looks to be trying to change that, though, with our new high-tech public lavatories…

The doors open and close like those on an elevator. You step in. They softly seal shut behind you.

“Welcome to Seattle’s public toilet,” says the kind of voice you might hear as you board a space ride at Disneyland.

[…]

Tour the potties at Occidental Park in Pioneer Square, Hing Hay Park in the International District, Victor Steinbrueck Park at Pike Place Market, Waterfront Park at Pier 59 and the 1800 block of Broadway on Capitol Hill.

I just may have to check one of these things out at some point…just because. ;)

(via Pops)

I wanna push da button!

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Okay, so this article is New York specific, but I’d be willing to bet that just about any city works the same way. But y’know…I’m probably going to keep pushing the button.

For years, at thousands of New York City intersections, well-worn push buttons have offered harried walkers a rare promise of control over their pedestrian lives.

[…]

Millions of dutiful city residents and tourists have pushed them over the years, thinking it would help speed them in their journeys. Many trusting souls might have believed they actually worked. Others, more cynical, might have suspected they were broken but pushed anyway, out of habit, or in the off chance they might bring a walk sign more quickly.

As it turns out, the cynics were right.

(via Anil)

iTunes: “Cominagetcha” by Propellerheads from the album Decksandrumsandrockandroll (1998, 7:02).