I was going to make some quip about Sarah Palin here, but really, I guess I just did. :)

From the Telegraph, about the Large Hadron Collider (emphasis mine, for the good bit):

Such is the angst that the American Nobel prize winning physicist Frank Wilczek of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has even had death threats, said Prof Brian Cox of Manchester University, adding: “Anyone who thinks the LHC will destroy the world is a twat.”

‘nuff said.

The problem with throwing around phrases like epic fail for trivial things like incorrectly rating fruit, getting roman numerals wrong right on a watch, or falling out of your exercise-wheel, and with getting irate about someone incorrectly identifying a harvestman as an insect or a spider or both, is that it leaves you very little room to express your even greater incredulity when you see something like this.

I’m going to assume that no-one needs me to point out the obvious flaw with that?

Apparently, in Sweden, people are granted the human right to be invited to any birthday party they want. Bureaucracy ftw!

Joking asside, this is a symptom of something we’re seeing more and more; this pervasive idea that people have the right not to be offended. Yes, it’s pretty harsh not to be invited to a party that everyone else is going to, but that doesn’t mean you have the right to go. You have the right to call the kid a jerk for not inviting you, and you have the right to reciprocally not invite him to your party, but that’s it. It’s his party and it’s his right to decide who’s invited. It’s a pretty stupid, trivial example, but it’s just a symptom of the same sort of thinking that leads people to think they have a right not to have their beliefs challenged or their stupidity ridiculed. It’s a dangerous trend, because often one person’s “right” not to be offended is indirect opposition to someone else’s actual rights. In this case it’s the right of a child to not invite people he doesn’t like into his house, which is important enough, but in more extereme case, it might be someone’s freedom of speech or of expression that’s being suppressed to keep people from being put out, and I don’t care how you dress it; freedom of speech is more important than anyone’s sensibilities.

This might just be the most awesome thing ever.

From YouTube; check out his other tracks.

Props to my friend Brian for the link.

Edit: OK, no, him doing Sweet Child of Mine is the most awesome thing ever.

I have to say, I wouldn’t normally link to the Telgraph, but this is just too good (and surprisingly on-the-ball for the Torygraph.) I mean, obviously, it doesn’t qualify as news per-se, but it’s good to see the concept is sinking in.

Video on YouTube.

We’re a long way from the truth, but at least someone’s finally asking the right questions!

I would love someone to have stood up during Tom Wright’s sermon and called him on Godwin’s Law.