The news that Princeton's infamous ESP research lab is soon to close (link) is both heartening and a little disappointing. On one hand, if there's anything at all to ESP, then skeptics should have no objection to private donations funding some bonafide scientific research into it – no harm done except for a hint of legitimacy. On the other hand, this lab was a black bruise for Princeton and its "findings" were routinely debunked, and a facility investigating exceptional claims must have exceptional adherence to scientific standards. Good riddance.

All that said, there's still plenty of stupid in the world. Ethiopia is about to celebrate their millenium amid celebrations about the symbolic dawn of a new morning in a country that needs to move on from its past. (link) You'd think that after all of the doomsday predictions about our own year 2000 failed to come true, nobody in Ethiopia would make the same mistake, but nah.

"When everyone else celebrated their millennium, they said all sorts of things were going to happen, but nothing happened," Addis Ababa-based film director Tatek Tadesse said.

"Now all the prophecies they made about 2000 will happen this time round on the true millennium. It will be a new age for Ethiopia," said Tatek who is putting the final touches to a film inspired by the historic event.
That's logic in action, folks. I can't wait until the doomsday predictions about our December 2012 fail to come true and Ethopian doomsayers offer that as proof that the world will end in their December 2012.


Two Replies to Shoulda Seen It Coming

Kris Weberg | February 20, 2007
Pretty much every major calendar change in human history has provoked crazy millenarian thinking; it may just be somethign hardwired into our societies or our brains.

Amy Austin | February 21, 2007
Yeah... fortunately for me, my Y2K compliance allowed me to simply recognize that, all other things being pretty much equal, I was only going to keep advancing one more year in age, one day at a time, just as I always have.

Now, Y3K on the other hand... well... let's just say that I'm not at all prepared to deal with *that* fiasco -- but I'm fairly confident that there will be plenty of time to work out the kinks.


Logical Operator

The creator of Funeratic, Scott Hardie, blogs about running this site, losing weight, and other passions including his wife Kelly, his friends, movies, gaming, and Florida. Read more »

Ten Things I Learned While Kelly's Parents Pat & Russ Spent a Week Visiting Us

• Florida reminds me of Dave Barry's quip that vacationing in Britain is great because you meet people from entirely different states. We stopped a woman to take our picture; she was visiting from New Jersey and her daughter beside her was from California. The only local we met warned us what bridge not to jump off for swimming because the water is shark-infested. Go »

Illinois 2013

Ten highlights of my just-concluded road trip to northern Illinois with Kelly, in chronological order: - Seeing lots of friends and family at our engagement party in St. Charles, our old hometown. I was glad to be able to talk to everyone there, and also glad that I now recognize almost everyone in Kelly's large family on sight. Go »

The Serpent

This is the third of four weekly blog posts about diagnoses that have completely changed my life since the pandemic started, after The Dragon and The Tiger. 2020 was hard on all of us. We all lost friends and family. Go »

Summer of Suck

It's been a tough summer so far. Here's venting. - Some good people were laid off in my department. Go »

Jeffrey Katzenberg is a Crazy Person

I'm no fan of 3-D. I have lazy eye, which makes my right eye blurry and my left eye sharp. During a normal movie, I usually sit up front to be absorbed in the picture so that it doesn't matter, or if I sit in the back, I can concentrate to correct my vision. Go »

Party Time, Excellent

I rarely enjoy going to parties and I never drink, so it has come as a surprise to me that I have lately developed a love of hosting parties where friends drink. Kelly and I have thrown three parties in three months, each with around 20-25 guests: A Labor Day cookout with swimming in the pool, a Halloween party with costumes and horror games, and a Christmas party with a gift swap. I think we're done for a little while, just to give ourselves a break, because it takes a lot of cleaning and shopping and preparing to throw parties like this. Go »