Now there’s a blast from the past, 1976 to be exact. Dan Akroyd, and his moustache and plaid suit, make the skit.

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After two more serious posts, I thought it would be good to keep with the theme, but provide a little light relief of the Pythons…after all, the church was kind enough to provide us with the inquisition, we should of course take advantage of that to make merry. While the video quality starts off pretty lousy, it does improve after the first few seconds. Where did you first see this? I can’t remember myself, but I still laugh when I watch it…

Reason #936 children should be kept away from holy men…or perhaps this is design failure of the first order? Maybe it was designed by a Catholic priest – it certainly would be consistent with the behavior of many of them. It doesn’t really matter, but it is creepy in many different dimensions. As previously stated, children and religion don’t mix.

Wow, Pat Condell has expressed something that I believe with every fiber of my being: exposing children to religion is irretrievably stupid, incredibly dangerous, and insidiously criminal behavior. The core message of the video above is about faith and I agree with that too, but toward the end he discusses how we’re abusing children’s rights by brainwashing them before they even have a chance to know which way is up. We don’t ask them questions, we give them answers they haven’t asked to receive.

Many years ago I read a book by Neal Stephenson called Snow Crash, the core thesis of that book is that certain practices and behaviors can be programmed into the human psyche. It’s a small step from that thinking to begin to believe that religion is a self-replicating virus that largely depends on parents exposing their children to the infectious agent before they are able to build immunity (reason and rational thought) to it.

Guess it’s a video weekend. Visit Pat’s site and view his other work.

If your target audience is straight and male, then this is a very effective technique:

Peak oil is a controversial topic, so Oily Cassandra, good on you. Very effective way to get your target audience to listen. Marshall McLuhan is right, the medium is the message. Now, turning to the actual message, I tend to agree that peak oil has happened or is happening now.

However, I’m not as pessimistic about the outcome as Cassandra seems to be. Yes, there is a downside risk of cataclysmic societal collapse ala “The Road Warrior” – but there is some hope. Oil will not run out tomorrow. Peak oil means we’re not going to be able to increase production of oil from present levels and will enter a decline curve. In the meanwhile, biofuels, while not perfect can help form a bridge to an electric powered economy which is satisfied by a number of different technologies that exist today. It won’t be easy, but it is possible.

The best way to get an American’s attention is to hit them in the wallet, well that’s happening with the devaluation of the dollar and the increased demand for resources globally and ultimately, that, will drive innovation and alternatives. Don’t give up hope Cassandra, education on the subject is a net positive, but it’s not a foregone conclusion that we’ll see the outcomes you predict.