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Mostly because I'm going to be otherwise occupied this evening, cooking and unwinding, possibly trying to beat this cold back to the foul depths from whence it came, and otherwise trying to get to bed earlier tonight. So hopefully all of you will enjoy this early present from me to you. Now onward to the linkdump.
Let me start by saying that I am a non-expert. Thus, much like The Non-Expert, rather than answering questions or offering opinions on things that I know lots about, I'll answer questions and offer opinions on a wide variety of subjects.
In Iran, Some of the disqualified candidates for their general election have been reinstated, but many more remain unable to participate. Furthermore, in a move sure to raise hackles around the world, Iranian centrifuges began to produce material in small quantities that could be used for the fissile core of nuclear weapons. The Iranian government emphasises the small quantity of material, which isn't enough to begin building functional warheads with.
The United States is planning to blast an errant spy satellite out of space, rather than waiting for it to crash and trying to predict where all the pieces will go. Of course, they could do it wrong and have lots of big pieces spiraling to earth as if the satellite were breaking up naturally in the atmosphere. Because of the sensitivity of the equipment aboard, it appears, the current administration favors destruction-by-missile.
There continues to be opinions flung far and wide about the United States presidential candidates. Today, The American Conservative's Justin Raimondo says that Senator McCain is a narcissist and thus unfit for the Presidency, Michael O'Hanlon thinks that Senator Obama's want to talk more with foreign leaders is misguided if he thinks it will produce more results, and Daniel Henninger finds Senator Obama's message depressing, painting the picture of a bleak America. That said, considering Senator Obama is running on a "hope" platform, painting a slightly depressing picture of the current America is a good strategy.
Of importance in all of this, though, is the basic confirmation of Senator McCain as the Republican candidate, as Mitt Romney has agreed to endorse Senator McCain and have the convention delegates Mr. Romney obtained vote for the Senator. Mr. Huckabee now fights an even more uphill battle, and is really not likely to achieve his aim of the candidacy.
Observe the sport of Speedcabling, where geeks compete to untangle rat's nests of cords and cables the fastest. While weird, there seems to be a practical aplication to such contests. Something like tentacle sucker body implants, however, will probably only appeal to those that feel they were an octopus or a tentacle monster in another life (or this one).
Walking into new scientific territory, Scientists have genetically engineered schizophrenic mice in an attempt to understand the mental illness better. According to the Sunday Times, this is the first recorded incident of deliberately engineering unhealthy mice. It sounds like there are possible ethical questions here, although I sincerely doubt anyone is thinking about doing the same to humans for study.
Want to see some of the consequences of living in a terrorist-paranoid society? Try this - a man in the UK was arrested because another citizen believed his MP3 player was a gun and dialed emergency services. Now the arrested man has his DNA permanently on file, and has on his record that he was arrested on suspicion of firearms, even though neither of those items is actually true.
Back here in the States, a quadriplegic man was tipped out of his wheelchair after (understandably) not complying with a directive to stand up at a police station. Abuse of power and insensitivity to the situation of the person there. There's another consequence of the terror-paranoid - the police start acting like they're not accountable.
And then, our Unabashed Feminism Department has lots to say, thanks to our Bureau Chief![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ldragoon and her crack team of presenters. Two instances of people who are supposed to be making laws that are good for us saying that women are not deserving of respect. Out of Colorado, State Representative Larry Liston called unmarried, pregnant, sexually active, teenage men and women sluts on the record. He thinks that the shaming and shunning of previous eras was a good thing, thus shamelessly promoting shame as an effective deterrent. For more of the same, Tennessee State Senator Doug Henry complains about how the definition of rape has changed over the years. Apparently, he's of the opinion that rape should only mean penetrative sex between an unmarried man and a "chaste" woman. Way to go, state senator. I guess you think that all the girls are sluts to, huh? On the tail end of this is the International Herald-Tribune's 2006 piece about what life is like in an antiabortion-with-no-exceptions nation, complete with the police having the requirement and authority to search and investigate a woman's vulva as a crime scene. That sort of scenario sounds an awful lot like the nightmare world these state senators and their allies are trying to build. The Junior Anti-Sex League will be recruiting for them soon.
Finally letting up a little on the anger-inducing articles, something that both inspires outrage and a certain amount of snickering - A conservative Christian high school in Kansas insisted a female referee could not call a basketball game, claiming that putting a woman in authority over the boys was against their beliefs. So the referee working with her walked out as well. The referee who had been doing the previous games? Refused to referee once he heard the reasons why he was being called back in, leaving the academy without officials for their game. To which I point and say with Nelsonish glee, "Ha-ha!"
The fact that there is a Hello Kitty MMORPG is freaking scary. Even more so that there's probably enough of a demand for it that it will be popular.
In the "Um, a little late" department, seventy years after being shot with it, a bullet was removed from a now-88 year-old gentleman. Admittedly, better late than never, but one would have thought somewhere along the way, it would have been detected and removed.
Disney is going to revamp and re-open a Home of Tomorrow exhibit, so that in a few years we can look back on it and see how quaint it is, while realizing just how much of its material we actually do have, if not in the form envisioned. If they would put a Running the Numbers exhibit next to it, we might get futuretech directed toward reducing those amounts.
Last for tonight, though, and a real happy thing, NPR interviewed the Cookie Monster for one of their programmes. It's definitely worth a listen if you get the chance. Might be even better if you're hopped up on Mana Potion energy drink, which will get you in the same sort of monomaniac mind as the Cookie Monster.
And that's it. Enjoy the rest of your day. Whether it's a Hallmark holiday, an expression of Twu Wuv, an excuse to do two hot chicks at the same time, or a celebration of a horny werewolf. Or, if it's a day that you are painfully aware of your single status, we're sorry, and we'd jack the couple with the excessive PDAs, too, just because they were so disgusting.
Let me start by saying that I am a non-expert. Thus, much like The Non-Expert, rather than answering questions or offering opinions on things that I know lots about, I'll answer questions and offer opinions on a wide variety of subjects.
In Iran, Some of the disqualified candidates for their general election have been reinstated, but many more remain unable to participate. Furthermore, in a move sure to raise hackles around the world, Iranian centrifuges began to produce material in small quantities that could be used for the fissile core of nuclear weapons. The Iranian government emphasises the small quantity of material, which isn't enough to begin building functional warheads with.
The United States is planning to blast an errant spy satellite out of space, rather than waiting for it to crash and trying to predict where all the pieces will go. Of course, they could do it wrong and have lots of big pieces spiraling to earth as if the satellite were breaking up naturally in the atmosphere. Because of the sensitivity of the equipment aboard, it appears, the current administration favors destruction-by-missile.
There continues to be opinions flung far and wide about the United States presidential candidates. Today, The American Conservative's Justin Raimondo says that Senator McCain is a narcissist and thus unfit for the Presidency, Michael O'Hanlon thinks that Senator Obama's want to talk more with foreign leaders is misguided if he thinks it will produce more results, and Daniel Henninger finds Senator Obama's message depressing, painting the picture of a bleak America. That said, considering Senator Obama is running on a "hope" platform, painting a slightly depressing picture of the current America is a good strategy.
Of importance in all of this, though, is the basic confirmation of Senator McCain as the Republican candidate, as Mitt Romney has agreed to endorse Senator McCain and have the convention delegates Mr. Romney obtained vote for the Senator. Mr. Huckabee now fights an even more uphill battle, and is really not likely to achieve his aim of the candidacy.
Observe the sport of Speedcabling, where geeks compete to untangle rat's nests of cords and cables the fastest. While weird, there seems to be a practical aplication to such contests. Something like tentacle sucker body implants, however, will probably only appeal to those that feel they were an octopus or a tentacle monster in another life (or this one).
Walking into new scientific territory, Scientists have genetically engineered schizophrenic mice in an attempt to understand the mental illness better. According to the Sunday Times, this is the first recorded incident of deliberately engineering unhealthy mice. It sounds like there are possible ethical questions here, although I sincerely doubt anyone is thinking about doing the same to humans for study.
Want to see some of the consequences of living in a terrorist-paranoid society? Try this - a man in the UK was arrested because another citizen believed his MP3 player was a gun and dialed emergency services. Now the arrested man has his DNA permanently on file, and has on his record that he was arrested on suspicion of firearms, even though neither of those items is actually true.
Back here in the States, a quadriplegic man was tipped out of his wheelchair after (understandably) not complying with a directive to stand up at a police station. Abuse of power and insensitivity to the situation of the person there. There's another consequence of the terror-paranoid - the police start acting like they're not accountable.
And then, our Unabashed Feminism Department has lots to say, thanks to our Bureau Chief
ldragoon and her crack team of presenters. Two instances of people who are supposed to be making laws that are good for us saying that women are not deserving of respect. Out of Colorado, State Representative Larry Liston called unmarried, pregnant, sexually active, teenage men and women sluts on the record. He thinks that the shaming and shunning of previous eras was a good thing, thus shamelessly promoting shame as an effective deterrent. For more of the same, Tennessee State Senator Doug Henry complains about how the definition of rape has changed over the years. Apparently, he's of the opinion that rape should only mean penetrative sex between an unmarried man and a "chaste" woman. Way to go, state senator. I guess you think that all the girls are sluts to, huh? On the tail end of this is the International Herald-Tribune's 2006 piece about what life is like in an antiabortion-with-no-exceptions nation, complete with the police having the requirement and authority to search and investigate a woman's vulva as a crime scene. That sort of scenario sounds an awful lot like the nightmare world these state senators and their allies are trying to build. The Junior Anti-Sex League will be recruiting for them soon.Finally letting up a little on the anger-inducing articles, something that both inspires outrage and a certain amount of snickering - A conservative Christian high school in Kansas insisted a female referee could not call a basketball game, claiming that putting a woman in authority over the boys was against their beliefs. So the referee working with her walked out as well. The referee who had been doing the previous games? Refused to referee once he heard the reasons why he was being called back in, leaving the academy without officials for their game. To which I point and say with Nelsonish glee, "Ha-ha!"
The fact that there is a Hello Kitty MMORPG is freaking scary. Even more so that there's probably enough of a demand for it that it will be popular.
In the "Um, a little late" department, seventy years after being shot with it, a bullet was removed from a now-88 year-old gentleman. Admittedly, better late than never, but one would have thought somewhere along the way, it would have been detected and removed.
Disney is going to revamp and re-open a Home of Tomorrow exhibit, so that in a few years we can look back on it and see how quaint it is, while realizing just how much of its material we actually do have, if not in the form envisioned. If they would put a Running the Numbers exhibit next to it, we might get futuretech directed toward reducing those amounts.
Last for tonight, though, and a real happy thing, NPR interviewed the Cookie Monster for one of their programmes. It's definitely worth a listen if you get the chance. Might be even better if you're hopped up on Mana Potion energy drink, which will get you in the same sort of monomaniac mind as the Cookie Monster.
And that's it. Enjoy the rest of your day. Whether it's a Hallmark holiday, an expression of Twu Wuv, an excuse to do two hot chicks at the same time, or a celebration of a horny werewolf. Or, if it's a day that you are painfully aware of your single status, we're sorry, and we'd jack the couple with the excessive PDAs, too, just because they were so disgusting.
