we're having a rash of really good lecturers come along: first christoff koch who talked about the neural correlates of consciousness, and now steven pinker, who was guest lecturer at an award ceremony for students of exceptional talent (not me). the room was full of non-science types, so he had to give a somewhat non-technical talk that was not terribly informative but highly entertaining. he's recently turned to studying innuendo and swearing, and led off byspeaking about the FCC's uproar over bono saying "fucking brilliant" on live tv in 2004, an act of miscreancy that provoked conservatives to present this bill to the house of representatives:

To amend section 1464 of title 18, United States Code, to provide for the punishment of certain profane broadcasts, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section 1464 of title 18, United States Code, is amended--

(1) by inserting `(a)' before `Whoever'; and
(2) by adding at the end the following: `(b) As used in this section, the term `profane', used with respect to language, includes the words `shit', `piss', `fuck', `cunt', `asshole', and the phrases `cock sucker', `mother fucker', and `ass hole', compound use (including hyphenated compounds) of such words and phrases with each other or with other words or phrases, and other grammatical forms of such words and phrases (including verb, adjective, gerund, participle, and infinitive forms).'.

hysterical. i just love watching people getting their knickers in a twist over this stuff, mostly because it doesn't do an ounce of good anyway. (for the true dregs of what america has come up with, check out the parents television council.) plus, they don't get to watch dexter, which is the awesomeness, and in which the word 'fuck' is used in ways you would never have imagined.