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Weekend ready - 15 February 2008
Feb. 15th, 2008 05:46 pmHere we go again - made it to the end of another week.
Although not without another tragedy strike - a gunman at Northern Illinois University shot twenty-one fellow students and himself. The gunman and six others have died so far.
Vladimir Putin continues to amp up his bellicose rhetoric, claiming that Russia might decide to aim rockets at the European missile shield the United States intends to deploy.
Yet more indications that our federal government's disaster and emergency response agency is a disaster all of its own, (although I think I've reported on this before) there's potentially-dangerous levels of formaldehyde in the trailers that Katrina-displaced residents are living in. It's not lead paint, but it has the same sorts of possible effects. Especially when things get warm and the levels go up. The mayor of the city, however, is taking a different kind of heat after an image of him joking around while holding a pretty powerful gun and associated commentary tries to make sense of the matter.
I really want to do something like scream "child abuse" when I read about Baby Bible Bashers, children who are ordained ministers. The three mentioned in the blurb haven't even reached ten years of age, yet they're ordained and supposedly understand what it is they're talking about. There's something really messed up about this, really, really, messed up about this.
A Republican state lawmaker in Maryland says he will resign after police seized his laptop, apparently containing images of potentially criminal nature. Naturally, he's also been very involved with Big Brothers and Big Sisters. This has to be just one of those things - people alleged to be child pornographers and predators manage to work their way into organizations that have lots of trusting children. I'm sure there are lots of people who would like to know if there's a way to screen out undesirables, but no system is perfect.
Our Unabashed Feminism department is no doubt pleased to learn that Dear Abby is not promoting traditional sexual values, according to a study done by the Culture and Media Institute. Our blogger from whence this data comes is obviously Shocked and Appalled that Abby doesn't suggest that girls should always abstain before marriage and she's okay with homosexuals and kinky behavior, too. Perhaps Ms. Raezler would rather read an article about the University of Michigan's 1943 advice for young men on pursuing and dating the opposite sex.
The worst of the lot, however, is that an accusation of witchcraft in Saudi Arabia stuck, with the illiterate woman accused sentenced to death. The scholar that took a course on the history of witchcraft and witchcraft accusations wonders if the court system in Saudi Arabia has done the same, because they clearly don't seem to recognize that historically, the accusation of witchcraft has nothing to do with actual witchery. Much like Flemming Rose's says that the response against depictions of Mohammed in unflattering light is not about defamation of religion, but the silencing of the ability to criticize. It may be in poor taste, but I'm still confident that the cartoons printed (and now re-printed) still would make it past the obscenity tests in this country, and should everywhere else, as well.
In domestic politics, Nancy Pelosi flew the bird to the FISA extension bills that had passed, killing the chances of retroactive telecommunications company immunity through the legislative process. Mr. Bush may invoke his "unitary executive" again and do it anyway, but any matters in that case fall squarely on him. We hope the lawsuits remind the telecommunications corporations that we put great stock in the rule of law. Ms. Pelosi's spine continued to be present in the House voting to hold two persons in contempt of Congress over their unwillingness to testify before the body with regard to Alberto Gonzales' firings of federal attorneys. The move had Republican minority members walking out of the chamber while the vote was going on, citing the need to work on the FISA bill instead. As noted above, that didn't go anywhere, either.
The Wall Street Journal is Shocked that Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton both say on the record that there will be increases in taxes in their presidencies. Because they would prefer not to run up $500 billion dollar deficits, and they have to pay off the ones already run up. You know, fiscal responsibility? And they'd also like to put some money toward the things that the American populace have repeatedly said they want, like not having to mortgage their first-born child to pay health costs for said child.
Townhall's John Hawkins criticizes Senator Obama, saying that he lacks experience, but that his voting record makes him the most liberal Senator there is, and as such, completely unelectable even with more experience. Hawkins finds an actual liberal in the party that claims to be the liberal party disconcerting, and decries his campaign as a cult of personality. Funny, most of the people who have been converted or stump for Obama do so not because of his speaking ability, prodigious that it is, but because of his liberalness, his want to change, and his willingness to take on the sort of policies that Hawkins believes renders him unelectable.
Even Newt Gingrich gets into the political foray, saying that the Democratic party should do the Michigan and Florida primary votes over again to help legitimize the selection of the Democratic candidate, and to make the general election feel more a matter about the people. Integrity and all that. Coming from Newt, that may be a lot of ballyhoo, but it is rather interesting to see how, as a general thought pattern, Republicans try to hang around and stay power players after their time in office or near it, while a lot of the Democrats don't, President Clinton and Vice-President Gore notwithstanding. Then again, I might be having selective memory.
The Slacktivist visits the concept behind Extreme Makeover's various progressions, from follwing those who want cosmetics, to providing it to those who need it, to the current home-building incarnation. He notes that the misery quotient of the people involved keeps increasing, to counter the "undeserving poor" resentment that festers when people get gifts that they need, but are deemed insufficiently hardworking for. I like his tailing idea - take a school system and pull an Extreme Makeover on them, getting their textbooks, facilities, and staff all brought up to the latest technology and paid an appropriate salary for the importance of their task. Sure beats economic stimulus rebate checks, right?
Our Science Department is always looking for interesting things. I suppose teaching simulations of various sensitive parts of the body counts as something interesting. I'd rather that the doc had some practice on those bits before touching mine.
For those looking to the stars, the United Kingdom has suggested that they could send explorers into space on missions to Luna, Mars, or other locales. Those going up may be protected in their missions from ionic solar radiation thanks to a new system being tested that uses near-relativistic electrons emitted by the sun as a warning sign that ions will be following. So no more Reed Richards accidents. Yay!
Our Art Department reminds us that the food you see in advertisements has been sculpted for the camera, and that the real thing often looks nothing like its on-screen counterpart. (Occasionally, it's not even made of the same stuff.) This idea could be taken further with the automaton available on eBay that BoingBoing thinks would make an excellent iconic representation of Jesus.
The Watchmen movie may be a bit delayed, until Fox and Warner Brothers settle the suit Fox filed over the rights. Maybe in the interim, they'll figure out how to make a movie that Alan Moore might actually like and be able to put his signature and endorsement on.
Of much more interest to both Science and Art, Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories shows how to make fractals in clay, and how to make fractals with lasers and standard VEWPRF tree ornaments. And topping that off with something that could have come out of a Mad Scientist Laboratory, The sQuba, a convertible vehicle that can be driven on land and under water.
Last for tonight, poking fun at the red day that just went by, the perfect gift for the co-dependent couple, so that they never have to be apart in the cold. Enjoy yourselves, people.
Although not without another tragedy strike - a gunman at Northern Illinois University shot twenty-one fellow students and himself. The gunman and six others have died so far.
Vladimir Putin continues to amp up his bellicose rhetoric, claiming that Russia might decide to aim rockets at the European missile shield the United States intends to deploy.
Yet more indications that our federal government's disaster and emergency response agency is a disaster all of its own, (although I think I've reported on this before) there's potentially-dangerous levels of formaldehyde in the trailers that Katrina-displaced residents are living in. It's not lead paint, but it has the same sorts of possible effects. Especially when things get warm and the levels go up. The mayor of the city, however, is taking a different kind of heat after an image of him joking around while holding a pretty powerful gun and associated commentary tries to make sense of the matter.
I really want to do something like scream "child abuse" when I read about Baby Bible Bashers, children who are ordained ministers. The three mentioned in the blurb haven't even reached ten years of age, yet they're ordained and supposedly understand what it is they're talking about. There's something really messed up about this, really, really, messed up about this.
A Republican state lawmaker in Maryland says he will resign after police seized his laptop, apparently containing images of potentially criminal nature. Naturally, he's also been very involved with Big Brothers and Big Sisters. This has to be just one of those things - people alleged to be child pornographers and predators manage to work their way into organizations that have lots of trusting children. I'm sure there are lots of people who would like to know if there's a way to screen out undesirables, but no system is perfect.
Our Unabashed Feminism department is no doubt pleased to learn that Dear Abby is not promoting traditional sexual values, according to a study done by the Culture and Media Institute. Our blogger from whence this data comes is obviously Shocked and Appalled that Abby doesn't suggest that girls should always abstain before marriage and she's okay with homosexuals and kinky behavior, too. Perhaps Ms. Raezler would rather read an article about the University of Michigan's 1943 advice for young men on pursuing and dating the opposite sex.
The worst of the lot, however, is that an accusation of witchcraft in Saudi Arabia stuck, with the illiterate woman accused sentenced to death. The scholar that took a course on the history of witchcraft and witchcraft accusations wonders if the court system in Saudi Arabia has done the same, because they clearly don't seem to recognize that historically, the accusation of witchcraft has nothing to do with actual witchery. Much like Flemming Rose's says that the response against depictions of Mohammed in unflattering light is not about defamation of religion, but the silencing of the ability to criticize. It may be in poor taste, but I'm still confident that the cartoons printed (and now re-printed) still would make it past the obscenity tests in this country, and should everywhere else, as well.
In domestic politics, Nancy Pelosi flew the bird to the FISA extension bills that had passed, killing the chances of retroactive telecommunications company immunity through the legislative process. Mr. Bush may invoke his "unitary executive" again and do it anyway, but any matters in that case fall squarely on him. We hope the lawsuits remind the telecommunications corporations that we put great stock in the rule of law. Ms. Pelosi's spine continued to be present in the House voting to hold two persons in contempt of Congress over their unwillingness to testify before the body with regard to Alberto Gonzales' firings of federal attorneys. The move had Republican minority members walking out of the chamber while the vote was going on, citing the need to work on the FISA bill instead. As noted above, that didn't go anywhere, either.
The Wall Street Journal is Shocked that Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton both say on the record that there will be increases in taxes in their presidencies. Because they would prefer not to run up $500 billion dollar deficits, and they have to pay off the ones already run up. You know, fiscal responsibility? And they'd also like to put some money toward the things that the American populace have repeatedly said they want, like not having to mortgage their first-born child to pay health costs for said child.
Townhall's John Hawkins criticizes Senator Obama, saying that he lacks experience, but that his voting record makes him the most liberal Senator there is, and as such, completely unelectable even with more experience. Hawkins finds an actual liberal in the party that claims to be the liberal party disconcerting, and decries his campaign as a cult of personality. Funny, most of the people who have been converted or stump for Obama do so not because of his speaking ability, prodigious that it is, but because of his liberalness, his want to change, and his willingness to take on the sort of policies that Hawkins believes renders him unelectable.
Even Newt Gingrich gets into the political foray, saying that the Democratic party should do the Michigan and Florida primary votes over again to help legitimize the selection of the Democratic candidate, and to make the general election feel more a matter about the people. Integrity and all that. Coming from Newt, that may be a lot of ballyhoo, but it is rather interesting to see how, as a general thought pattern, Republicans try to hang around and stay power players after their time in office or near it, while a lot of the Democrats don't, President Clinton and Vice-President Gore notwithstanding. Then again, I might be having selective memory.
The Slacktivist visits the concept behind Extreme Makeover's various progressions, from follwing those who want cosmetics, to providing it to those who need it, to the current home-building incarnation. He notes that the misery quotient of the people involved keeps increasing, to counter the "undeserving poor" resentment that festers when people get gifts that they need, but are deemed insufficiently hardworking for. I like his tailing idea - take a school system and pull an Extreme Makeover on them, getting their textbooks, facilities, and staff all brought up to the latest technology and paid an appropriate salary for the importance of their task. Sure beats economic stimulus rebate checks, right?
Our Science Department is always looking for interesting things. I suppose teaching simulations of various sensitive parts of the body counts as something interesting. I'd rather that the doc had some practice on those bits before touching mine.
For those looking to the stars, the United Kingdom has suggested that they could send explorers into space on missions to Luna, Mars, or other locales. Those going up may be protected in their missions from ionic solar radiation thanks to a new system being tested that uses near-relativistic electrons emitted by the sun as a warning sign that ions will be following. So no more Reed Richards accidents. Yay!
Our Art Department reminds us that the food you see in advertisements has been sculpted for the camera, and that the real thing often looks nothing like its on-screen counterpart. (Occasionally, it's not even made of the same stuff.) This idea could be taken further with the automaton available on eBay that BoingBoing thinks would make an excellent iconic representation of Jesus.
The Watchmen movie may be a bit delayed, until Fox and Warner Brothers settle the suit Fox filed over the rights. Maybe in the interim, they'll figure out how to make a movie that Alan Moore might actually like and be able to put his signature and endorsement on.
Of much more interest to both Science and Art, Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories shows how to make fractals in clay, and how to make fractals with lasers and standard VEWPRF tree ornaments. And topping that off with something that could have come out of a Mad Scientist Laboratory, The sQuba, a convertible vehicle that can be driven on land and under water.
Last for tonight, poking fun at the red day that just went by, the perfect gift for the co-dependent couple, so that they never have to be apart in the cold. Enjoy yourselves, people.
