How will its future resemble its past?

My friend Matthew Roberts forwards me an interesting message, and an interesting video. Here's the video:

Bill Vallicella, who is a "maverick philosopher" in the same sense that John McCain is a maverick politician, wonders why we should care about the truth:

This is just a list of celebrity atheists I wasn't aware of and found interesting. One thing that did occur to me is that the world's two largest philanthropists - Warren Buffet and Bill Gates - are both atheists, which has implications for the claim that belief in God is necessary for morality.

Lance Armstrong

Haven't heard what you folks are listening to in awhile. 

My accountant advised me to start investigating more reasonably priced liquor.

I'm going to be on-site for a customer on Thursday so I shaved today.  I don't look too much like my user picture these days (the most recent *bad* picture of me is here -- 2nd row, 2nd from the right), but I was getting scraggly enough that I cleaned up for my visit.

That lead me to wonder: How many Forvmites enjoy a nice scruffy beard?  How many shave daily?  Must you keep neatly trimmed for work?  How different do you look with/without a good deal of stubble?

First, I'd like to thank Jordan and everyone else who contributed to the let's-get-Hank-drunk fund. A nobler purpose I cannot imagine.

However, I'd like some help. I've already decided that I'll be buying a bottle of Blanton's or Booker's Bourbon - $50. is a bit much for me to spend on Bourbon normally, but I really like Bourbon and I've heard very good things about both brands.

An Old American Song, for the Fourth:

We are pushing towards 250 posts in the last Open Thread...Heaven knows we love them & hence need a new one!

But this is Cool Stuff also to start an Open Thread:

Stephen Hawking has done more to bring the universe into focus than perhaps any scientist in history.  While Albert Einstein became a caricature of himself, often blustering about how God Does Not Throw Dice, Hawking quietly (and correctly ) replied:  "Not only does God throw dice, he throws them where he cannot see them"  Hawking gets a lot of fawning press asking many irrevant questions, but this squib on abcnews made me smile.