Ray's X-Blog

Yuks And Yuck! Sounds like a good thing to do. Donate your body to science. Maybe your corpse will help train a young surgeon so when he's working on a living body he will have the practical experience not to cut the wrong part. Crash test dummies don't provide the same information as a human body. OK, I won't feel the impact, so let my corpse test the limits of new safety restraints in a vehicle. But leaving my fresh (i.e. unembalmed) cadaver out in a fenced-in grove and let nature run its course to see what happens -- well, let me think about that one. I sunburn so easily. (And I'm already too bloated now as it is.) And using my lifeless flesh for vain cosmetic reasons, to "aggrandize penises" -- to use Mary Roach's phrase -- I think I'm ending up on the short end of the donation deal. The nonfiction book, Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers, is a blend of gags (author Mary Roach's snarky comments and puns) and gags (referring to the r...

"My Beautiful Indestructible Fish Man" Rick Baker, eat your heart out. The title of this post? A quote by Dr. Simond Trent, mad scientist in the movie "Curse of the Swamp Creature" (1966). This grade Z effort was recently broadcast on the television network This TV, sponsored by that new miracle drug, Colon Flow. Dr. Trent is hiding out in a Texas swamp, transforming human beings into fish men. Of course, none of these humans volunteered for his experiments but when the law is far away, who's going to stop you? Well, maybe the local "natives," poor blacks who live in the same swamp. Trent exploits the locals, forcing one to be his lieutenant and number one lackey. Another local ends up as a failed experiment, dumped into a screened swimming pool loaded with hungry alligators who like to chew up the scenery. Besides the locals, John Agar shows up, a geologist searching for oil in the swamp. He doesn't suspect that the people in his party -- a ...

Creating Dialogue With The FW Method Does confrontation lead to conversion? Or is it better to try to open up a dialogue with someone who doesn’t share your view, calmly explaining your position, pointing to facts? Apparently Rebecca Watson prefers the FW Method when promoting the skeptical viewpoint over at www.skepchicks.org . And what is that method? Check out her post on May 29th, 2010 entitled “It’s Like He’s Trying to Explain Evolution to Fuckwits” . Yes, calling others who don’t share your POV “fuckwits” will really lead to changing their minds. The title is actually a quote from Rebecca’s husband regarding book author Dr. Ahamed Kutty and his theory that the children of Adam and Eve didn’t commit incest. Kutty states that human fossils dating back 25,000 have been found that show the same DNA as modern man and these other humans mated with the children of Adam and Eve who appeared later in this world. Adam and Eve, says Kutty, were the first fully developed human beings – ...

Channeling Heaven If you've been victimized by a Catholic priest, then St. John the Apostle, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and Jesus want to help you. That's the message of "Heaven Speaks to Victims of CLERICAL ABUSE" (2005). The book is written by "Anne" but not in the sense of a traditional author. Described as a wife and mother, "Anne" hears messages in her heart from above which she records and shares with others. The process of "interior locution" -- which has the semblance of "channeling" as practiced by New Age psychics -- has resulted in a series of booklets published by the non-profit corporation Direction for Our Times. As noted in "Heaven Speaks to Victims" Anne's bishop has given permission for the messages to be published. The publisher adds that all messages have been submitted to the Holy See for the Nihil Obstat and the Imprimatur. The nihil obstat and imprimatur are official declarations granted by ...

Oh, Those Auqanette Girls! The Aquanettes. Don't confuse them with the hairspray product ( Aqua Net ) or the Belgian beach volley team ( AquaNet ). These young ladies are US astronauts in training under the ocean surface. Yup, it's another classic episode of Sea Hunt, that old TV series starring Lloyd Bridges as scuba hero Mike Nelson. In an episode from 1961 he's been hired to help out with a special governmental program, Operation Astronette, training three women for a space trip to Venus. Apparently being underwater duplicates conditions on Venus. Why Venus? Well, that planet is named after the goddess of love. And after all, Venus is for women while Mars is for men. Not to say "The Aquanettes" episode shows any signs of sexism from that time. Of course, one trainee -- let's call her Sensitive Sue -- has problems, makes a mistake. She gets upset and cries. The real tough cookie of the trio, Brass Bitch, scorns Sensitive Sue. BB says Sue doesn'...