Saturday, July 26, 2008

Politically Correct inversely proportional to intelligence.

A major new study of the political correctness of faculty members may challenge assumptions all around.

If you look at the actual figures it turns out -suprise suprise- that the most PC professors are in the most degraded parts of academe: Sociology, English, and the humanities generally.

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Sunday, July 20, 2008

George Monbiot

Britain has excellent sources of stupid:

George Monbiot, the Guardian columnist and predictor of the world’s end, has undergone a metamorphosis of Kafkaesque proportions in recent years. Never mind poor Gregor Samsa, who awoke one morning to find himself transmogrified into a monstrous insect; Monbiot has made an even more remarkable cross-species leap. Some time during the past five years he went to bed an hysteric, the closest thing Britain had to a nutty Nostradamus, and awoke to find himself labelled a man of reason, a ‘defender of truth’ no less, who is praised on the dust-jacket of his latest book for possessing a ‘dazzling command of science’ (only by Naomi Klein, admittedly, but still).

New Non Scientific Alliance Against Logic

Art imitates life:

Three environmental pressure groups, 'The Soiled Association', 'Purplepeace' and 'Fiends of the Globe' have formed an association against those demons of the modern world, The Royal Institution, The Royal Society and The Institute of Biology.

Its funny because its true.

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Biofuels

One of the stupidest ideas in the long, sad, sorry history of stupid:
Growing crops for oil was supposed to solve global warming. Now, as food prices soar, biofuels stand condemned as a crime against humanity. Christopher Booker and Richard North report.

With photosynthesis running at an efficiency of 1 to 3%, what did they expect?

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Kayak to the North Pole

LONDON (AFP) - A British explorer unveiled plans Tuesday to kayak all the way to the North Pole to expose just how quickly the ice cap is melting.

Well, if there is one thing we need, its more awareness raising for global warming. I mean there must be at least one or two people who have not had this drummed into them yet.

Here is a crazy idea. Instead of doing more "awareness raising" how about inventing some new energy source/energy saving device/mode of transport/something/anything!

Friday, July 11, 2008

Traditional Stupid

While academia, the media and various other groups in society are producing new and inovative forms of stupid, let us not forget more traditional stupidities.

We here at Peak Stupid have long marveled at thos who think that bits of rock and gas millions of kilometers away effect our finances and love lives. We are refering, of course to Astrology.

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Catherine Deveny

Age journalist Catherine Deveny is glad that Australians are suffering:
AM I the only person terrified by everything getting so big?

Yes.
Is anyone else feeling that the bigger things get, the more soulless they are becoming?
No.
Mega-meal deals devoid of nutrition complete with a stuffed cheese crust, chocolate Bavarian and 1.25 litres of fizzy emptiness to wash it down.
We, here at PeakStupid like to enjoy these things occasionally. Deveny, howevery, dosn't like our personal choices. But enough of our take. Here is what James Lileks has to say about Deveny:

There’s so much twaddle in that piece it’s hard to know where to start – it’s like a bucket of depression larger than a human head, flavoured not with reason but panic-flavored fear-sauce – but there is one telling line:

“Abundance takes the value from everything.”

Ingratitude takes the value out of everything. I can easily imagine the columnist complaining about the abundance of a civilized frippery like toilet paper, and wishing we could go back to corn cobs, which would get us back in touch with nature. Literally. If you needed any benchmarks about what the apogee of comfort looks like, there you are: a newspaper columnist paid to worry about the size of other people’s popcorn purchases.

Hold on: after reading more, I discovered that she does complain about bulk toilet-paper purchases, which one can obtain at that imported American horror, Costco. I belong to Costco; I go there a few times a year. I like it. I like any store where you can buy a 48-pack of shaving razors, a piano, and lettuce. She says: “it encourages a mentality of fear, famine and greed.” Well, at the 1930s Soviet Inner Party Costco, yes, but ours is rather cheerful. She says:

“It encourages people to consume more than they need. Eat three chocolate bars for the price of one. I’ve opened that kilogram bag of chips, so I may as well polish it off.”

Speak for yourself, ma’am.

“Because it’s cheap people feel they’re getting value for money. They’re not. It just means they’re eating more, spending more and feeling emptier. Instead of going to the local supermarket to buy what they need, they’re driving kilometres, taking 20 minutes to park and buying stuff they don’t need, because it’s cheap. And it’s there.”

I can’t speak for Australia and its parking lots so wee it takes a third of an hour to find a spot; around here I find a spot in 30 seconds. But I will admit that I drive actual kilometres, or miles as we Yanks call them, to get there. But why do I go where, when the local supermarket has what I need? ecause it doesn’t, or because it costs too much.

Because Costco sells large deli trays for the party we’re having, printer ink at low prices, great barrels of gummi vitamins the kid likes at half the price, and great bolshy bags of dog food I can store in the basement so I don’t have to walk to the common market and buy a half-pound bag every other day.

I know she would prefer that I slump to the People’s Distribution node every afternoon wearing sandals made out of old tires and walk home with a farking bag of Purina on my head and two hemp sacks of produce nurtured in night soil strung around each shoulder, but that sort of rich, community-building, soul-enriching experience is usually reserved for people who have to pause on the way home because a soldier butted their ear with a rifle butt for sneezing in front of a picture of Mugabe, and it still hurts.

Deveny is essentially a sanctimonious blowhard who presumes to know whats best for the common man (and woman).

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Stupid Police

The toxin of political correctness has created a new source of stupidity in Britains police. Reports the Sunday Times:

Police sniffer dogs will have to wear bootees when searching the homes
of Muslims so as not to cause offence.

Naturally, we regard political correctness as a vast, indeed, almost inexhausible source of stupid.

Saturday, July 5, 2008

Climate stupidity

Here in Australia, we have just had the release of the "Garnaut report", urging Australia to commit economic suicide to prevent global warming. The proposal will cause economic pain and will make no difference to climate. This represents a new and innovative form of stupid.

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Hypersensitivity

Why is it that some people hyperventilate over something so trivial:

A postcard featuring a cute puppy sitting in a policeman's hat advertising a
Scottish police force's new telephone number has sparked outrage from
Muslims.

stupid business ideas

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