Spaghetti-Loving Jokester Scores Book Deal

by David Burn | Nov 8, 2005 | Go Big Red

New York Metro: Villard is paying an $80,000 advance to the creator of a religion designed to make fun of intelligent design. This summer, Bobby Henderson, 25, an unemployed slot-machine engineer, posted a much-forwarded open letter to the Kansas State Board of Education declaring that “there are multiple theories of Intelligent Design” on his Website. He contends that a huge, invisible beast made of spaghetti and meatballs created the world about 4,000 years ago (pasta of that vintage has been found in China, he points out). The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, which will codify Pastafarianism, is set to come out on Valentine’s Day. “My hope is that readers won’t know if I’m trying to make a point about pseudoscience or if I’m a complete nut,” says Henderson. “I’ll be really disappointed if it doesn’t spawn a cult.”

[via Kottke]

And Now For Some Perspective

by David Burn | Oct 22, 2005 | Go Big Red

According to Global Rich List, my annual income places me among the top 0.839% richest people in the world (there’s only 50 million people between me and Bill Gates).

There are 5,949,632,435 people in the world poorer (in financial terms) than me.

Global Rich List is the work of Poke in London. Here’s what inspired them to create the site.

We are obsessed with wealth. But we gauge how rich we are by looking upwards at those who have more than us. This makes us feel poor.

We wanted to do something which would help people understand, in real terms, where they stand globally. And make us realise that in fact most of us (who are able to view this web page) are in the privileged minority.

We want people to feel rich. And give some of their “extra” money to a worthwhile charity.

By the way, the world’s 225 richest people now have a combined wealth of $1 trillion. That’s equal to the combined annual income of the world’s 2.5 billion poorest people.

Hang Up And Walk

by David Burn | Oct 20, 2005 | Go Big Red

Do More With Less

by David Burn | Oct 16, 2005 | Go Big Red

eHow: Experiment with the freedom of buying nothing and embrace Henry David Thoreau’s sentiment that “he who owns little is little owned.”

Practice reverse snobbery. Express contempt for people who mindlessly buy things. This has two benefits: It raises the act of not buying things to a lofty moral height, from which you can denigrate others, and you get to enjoy the irony of simultaneously being a snob while making fun of other snobs.

Take pride in being an eccentric recycler.

Thanks to Lifehacker for the pointer.

Look To Nature

by David Burn | Oct 12, 2005 | Go Big Red

From the comments to a post on Dave Pollard’s blog, “How to Save the World”:

Leonardo da Vinci was not a genius because of his imagination. His genius lay in his ability to OBSERVE nature and THEN create. It was this humility that was the doorway into his inventions. He did not invent anything that hadn’t already been created in nature. He simply looked more closely at how nature did things and then tried to do the best he could with human tools to copy it. This power of observation came through his initial interest in painting and sculpting, which taught him, more than anything else, to observe. Why does the human species today believe that they no longer have anything to learn from nature and that the human imagination can somehow go beyond nature? We have but scratched the tip of the iceberg in our observations. Reality is far more complex than anything we could possibly imagine. Human arrogance has grown to such an extent that we believe we are no longer operating within the laws of nature! Of course disaster will result from that assumption. –Kerry Somers

From Corn To Rice

by David Burn | Oct 9, 2005 | Go Big Red

After seeing mile upon mile of cotton fields bursting with the puffy white subtsance last week on our trip to Greenville, I now find the following map all the more interesting.

Tracking The Swamp Fox

by David Burn | Oct 7, 2005 | Go Big Red

I didn’t realize “The Patriot,” the Hollywood film starring Mel Gibson, is actually the story of Francis Marion, one of South Carolina’s Revolutionary War heroes. Marion was known as the “Swamp Fox” for his ability to use decoy and ambush tactics to disrupt enemy communications, capture supplies, and free prisoners.

Born sometime in 1732 in St. John’s Parish, Berkeley County, S.C., his parents were French Huguenots who lived and farmed along the Santee River.

After the capture of Charleston, South Carolina on May 12, 1780, Marion organized a small troop, which usually consisted of between 20 and 70 men–the only force then opposing the British in the state. Governor John Rutledge made him a brigadier-general of state troops, and in August 1780 Marion took command of the scanty militia, ill-equipped and ill-fed. With this force he was identified for almost all the remainder of the war in a partisan warfare in which he showed himself a singularly able leader of irregulars.

Today, there is a state-supported liberal arts college, a National Forest, a prominent Charleston hotel and a well constructed website that pay homage to Marion.

For another perspective, historian Christopher Hibbert said that Marion was “a wily and elusive character, very active in the persecution of the Cherokee Indians and not at all the sort of chap who should be celebrated as a hero. The truth is that people like Marion committed atrocities as bad, if not worse, than those perpetrated by the British.”

Apperently, this interpretation (and potential for controversy) led Hollywood producers to change Marion’s name in the film to “Benjamin Martin.”

Cartographic Curiosities

by David Burn | Sep 21, 2005 | Go Big Red

Step right up and get a good look at the Baptist Belt. Come on. It won’t bite.

More studies in American cultural geography are also available, care of Valparaiso University.

Media Misses The Boat In New Orleans

by David Burn | Sep 4, 2005 | Go Big Red

My friend, Lori Cotton, forwarded an e-mail today from New Orleans attorney, Mark Morice.

Dear Friends,

I want to thank all of you for your heartfelf responses of love, encouragement and offerings of shelter. I also want to thank all of you have offered employment. I am with my mother and brother at his house in Morgan City, Louisiana, only 87 miles West of N.O. My father is doing fine as he was able to evacuate as well.

As many of you know, I have spent the last four days living in the second floor of my neighbor’s home on Napoleon Avenue with 8 1/2 feet of water on my doorstep. I was blessed to have two good friends stay with me who recognized the needs of our neighbors, and accepted the dangers and perils of being a volunteer during a time of mass tradgedy, compounded by confusion, poor planning and an inconconceivable response. Their names are Beaux Whalen and Paul Gonzalzles and I am eternally greatful for their company, encouragement and ideas.

Beaux, Paul and I spent four days in boats going from house to house in the immediate flooded areas around my home. We started at daylight and drove our boats home at sunset. We were able to rescue over 100 neighbors, but we had to leave thousands behind. We focused on areas where no other water-based rescue operations were taking place and we could not travel more than one block without hearing the cries for help, people beating from the inside of attics and the pleas for supplies. These people were confused, scared, dehydrated, hungry, tired, elderly, disabled, people needing oxygen, needing dialysis.

The wealthier neighbors kept tabs on which neighbors were staying. They also had communication equipment and plenty of essential supplies. The poorer neighbors were not as organized. They had water for only a day or two. Sixteen people to some houses. The poor continue to suffer the most. They have no idea how to swim and many are taught that playing with a pit bull would be safer than going into the water for fear of drowning. So they have stayed in their houses, baking, dying.

We had a radio at night to keep us “informed.” Our local news radio station, WWL, failed miserably. They were not broadcasting where the drop off stations were. They were not informing the locals stuck in the water of the best escape routes. While we heard screams at night and banging on rooftops from trapped survivors, WWL was entertaining political debate discussing fault, blame and rebuilding New Orleans. Why weren’t they discussing volunteer efforts and relief? Still today, where is their leadership?

While I don’t think it is an appropriate time to share share the sad realities of what I’ve seen in N.O. as I type this message to you all, I say that I am glad to share the details if you want to know.

I am very greatful to be alive and I am deeply troubled and saddened that I left. I never met one aggressive person. I was never intimidated. I felt no threat of violence, other than the mass hype being proliferated by the media. The reports of the media caused me and many other volunteers to leave the city in fear of our lives – maybe this was good, I just don’t know.

I am in Morgan City and I can mobilize over 100 people who will be happy to participate in saving lives TODAY. They are local fisherman and sportsman who have boats and are willing to go into the city with me – but we can not get any clearance. No response from the Mayor’s office. No response from the federal agencies I have contacted. My friends in Morgan City report that over 400 volunteer fisherman from the St. Martin, St. Mary and Lafayette area have been turned around and told they could not go into the City of New Orleans because is was “too dangerous” or for some other reason. I have been sending a video and details of this disaster to news agencies around the country. I am hoping that someone can get through to the “brass.” My fear is that it is all too little and too late.

For all of my friends who live in other cities around our country, please don’t let this happen to you. Make sure your Mayor has a plan. Make sure your Governor has a plan. You don’t want to be walking around your home town FIVE DAYS AFTER a national emergency wondering why you, as a private citizen, can still see with your unaided eyes hundreds of people trapped, dying slowly, with no hope of survival.

The day I can return to New Orleans, I will. I will help clean the streets, remove the debris and rebuild my city according to the historical codes that are in place. I will help the displaced and assist in relief efforts. The spirit of New Orleans will not be broken. Our natives are strong, generous and carry the same passion for the Crescent City that I have shared with you all.

I thank our Lord for guidance and support during those solitude and lonely nights on “lake Napoleon.” I thank all of you for your thoughts, prayers and text messages of encouragement. I thank Beaux and Paul for making our small volunteer effort possible.

Again,
Thank you and God Bless you all,
Mark Morice

In addition, The Washington Times makes mention of Mark’s rescue efforts.

Prestige And Money Can’t Compete

by David Burn | Aug 23, 2005 | Go Big Red

Associated Press: Getting a 34-year Harvard man to abandon one of the nation’s most prestigious business schools for an Idaho church college seems like a task that would demand divine revelation.

For Kim Clark, who left his post as Harvard Business School dean last week, it came down to the next best thing.

A member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Clark took a call in May from Gordon Hinckley, the 95-year-old president of the Mormons. Hinckley asked the economist to head Brigham Young University-Idaho, in Rexburg, which just five years ago was a two-year junior college.

“You have to appreciate what this is like,” the 56-year-old Clark said. “We behold him (Hinkley) to be a prophet. Imagine yourself getting a call from Moses.”

Clark’s move, viewed from inside the church, could be seen as a promotion: Some say this establishes Clark, a former Mormon bishop, as a rising star. His predecessor as university president, David Bednar, was named in 2004 to the “Quorum of the 12 Apostles,” a church governing body considered by Mormons to have the same authority as the 12 Biblical apostles.

Clark earned $407,000 a year as HBS dean. BYU-Idaho officials won’t say how much he’ll earn in Rexburg.