And weekends love us. - 12 October 2007
Oct. 13th, 2007 12:24 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
silveradeptSo, made it through yet another week. Which is great, as it means I have a weekend. And tomorrow, I’m going to see if I can’t rustle together the rest of my required stuff - car registration, possibly phone stuff, a few other odds and ends. And there’s the padded rugby game, and then off to a potluck and such. Should be an eventful and very fun day. If I get it all done in time, then I will finally say that things are complete and I’m moved in (barring consumer electronics and furniture).
So, today’s big headline is that in conjunction with the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Al Gore was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize. This has fueled further speculation that Al Gore should be in the United States presidential race, but may be the best sign that by staying out of the race, Gore has the best chance of assuring that his agenda and concerns are heard and considered. Liberal Eagle takes time to remind us that we could have had Mr. Gore as president in the 2000 elections, but we passed on him for the charming but stupid boy from Texas. Even if Mr. Gore were to go back into the presidential race, there’s no guarantee that the media would treat him any differently now than they did in 2000. The Daily Howler chronicles how much the media claims Gore has changed, yet they still continue to poke at him. Even if they say how much good he’s done, they’re still throwing things like how he might need to lose weight. Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.
Offering more primary source material for you budding scholars and anarachists, articles from the counterculture magazine Rags available with permission of the publisher. For those looking for material on Illinois and the university therein, the Illinois Digital Newspaper Collection carries the archives from 1916-1925 of the Daily Illini and Urbana Daily Courier (for the moment. More might be added over time.)
The Vatican will be offering an incredible suite of documents in relation to the Knights Templar, including a reprieve for their "heresy" that caused their disbanding. The reason it’s so late? The documents were misfiled. For all of you budding librarians and archivists, remember this mistake as a reason why you should always be sure that the place you are filing is the right place according to your schema.
International events: Generals in the Burmese junta are reported to have been arrested for refusing to fire upon demonstrators and monks. Source is a bit iffy, though, so I have no idea how true this is. What is more likely to be true is another reatcheting up of Iran rhetoric, with Condoleezza Rice accusing Iran of "lying" about its nuclear ambitions. All of this while the United States military is paying out significant bonuses in an attempt to stop soldiers from leaving the military and joining up with a private security company.
Domestic politics: Patriot Act powers unconstitutional for gathering criminal evidence, still okay for gathering intelligence. It’s a start, but it’s at the federal level, not the SCOTUS level, so there’s always the chance that there will be a reversal. Even as this battle gets waged in court, potentially, dragonfly-size robots were spying on anti-war protesters. They could have been natural dragonflies, but there’s been a lot of research into crafting the literal fly on the wall.
It's not funny to call in a shooting threat. Nor is it funny to go through with one. These sorts of things should not be in the news because they shouldn’t be happening. But until we manage to fix the problems that produce the people that would shoot up the school, I guess we’ll have to live with it.
If you haven’t already, here’s one more good reason to scratch Mitt Romney off your candidate card: he's "not for discrimination", but he won't support civil unions or marriage for homosexuals. Of course, the rest of the pack received a ringing endorsement from Mr. Bush when Mr. Bush said of the Republican debates, "Didn't watch.". Which may have been good, if you wanted factual information - but one GOP candidate did manage to avoid saying something totally untrue, according to FactCheck.org.
Others are a bit miffed that NASCAR events were specifically cited in a memo advising DHS members to get their vaccinations before wandering into large crowds. If one has up-to-date vaccinations, though, most of those items should be covered and working. It just happens to be that NASCAR events draw large crowds.
Still others are adding fuel to the scandal bonfire regarding Oral Roberts University , by showing that not only were they spending large amounts of money, they were doing so in a time where receipts and donations were down to the point of cutting staff. Despite the university falling on bad times, Discover Magazine has a few pages about places that teach intelligent design, with or without evolution, in their classrooms. These are private, Christian academies for the most part, but there are still some instructors who believe in teaching both, under the rubric that knowing about both helps to foster a critical mind. Which is noble, but one would hope that by applying the scientific method to the claims put forward in intelligent design, the student comes to the conclusion that it cannot be tested by any means we know of now, and must be rejected until such time as an intelligent designer test can be created.
Finally, though, a Marine weighs in on why it's easier to believe conservatives "support" the troops. They do have certain ideological similarities which make it easier for them to believe that the troops are always doing right, no matter whether they are or aren’t. At least, enough to buy silly little magnets.
Tonight had a single candidate eligible for a quiche, and really, all they earned was a cream pie in the face. Yet more from Focus on the Family’s continued insistence on a nonexistent War on Christmas,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
jarandhel entertains the ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
dark_christian crowd with the exhortation not to buy Mrs. Fields cookies because there are no packages specifically tagged and marked "Merry Christmas", choosing to embrace the idea that all peoples celebrate a holiday about peace and goodwill, rather than narrowly insisting that the holiday is the exclusive province of one religion, and that furthermore, the specific phrasing of that religion should be adopted everywhere when discussing said holiday.
Adherents of the Flying Spaghetti Monster denomination will be saddened to see that Mr. Yuk is attempting to unseat the Jolly Roger as the universal symbol for poison. I don’t know, there’s just something more final about the Jolly Roger there, rather than just Mr. Yuk.
Pictures from the Japanese lunar orbiter. Not the really good ones, yet, as it’s not in the final orbit to take pictures with, but it looks like there’s going to be some very high-def pictures of Luna coming back to us. In other technology from Japan, a virtual humanoid has been crafted, with a green-screen skinned body that can receive tactile input. The avatar itself is still only digital, visible through a head-mounted display. Still, if those characters can be mapped, and the haptics made well, one could conference with someone well across the world and feel their handshake. Combined with a brain-computer interface for virtual worlds, one could talk turkey in a virtual golf course, handshakes, strolls, and, dare we say it, a game of Tiger Woods as well?
Scientists have solved how an organism has survived eighty million years without sexual reproduction - it has evolved copies of genes that produce separate proteins. That way, even with the original genetic material, it can perform necessary life-saving functions.
Tonight’s winner of the coveted Last Thing spot is the LOLcat Bible, transcribing the words of the great Ceiling Cat to all the little kitties in the world.
So, today’s big headline is that in conjunction with the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Al Gore was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize. This has fueled further speculation that Al Gore should be in the United States presidential race, but may be the best sign that by staying out of the race, Gore has the best chance of assuring that his agenda and concerns are heard and considered. Liberal Eagle takes time to remind us that we could have had Mr. Gore as president in the 2000 elections, but we passed on him for the charming but stupid boy from Texas. Even if Mr. Gore were to go back into the presidential race, there’s no guarantee that the media would treat him any differently now than they did in 2000. The Daily Howler chronicles how much the media claims Gore has changed, yet they still continue to poke at him. Even if they say how much good he’s done, they’re still throwing things like how he might need to lose weight. Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.
Offering more primary source material for you budding scholars and anarachists, articles from the counterculture magazine Rags available with permission of the publisher. For those looking for material on Illinois and the university therein, the Illinois Digital Newspaper Collection carries the archives from 1916-1925 of the Daily Illini and Urbana Daily Courier (for the moment. More might be added over time.)
The Vatican will be offering an incredible suite of documents in relation to the Knights Templar, including a reprieve for their "heresy" that caused their disbanding. The reason it’s so late? The documents were misfiled. For all of you budding librarians and archivists, remember this mistake as a reason why you should always be sure that the place you are filing is the right place according to your schema.
International events: Generals in the Burmese junta are reported to have been arrested for refusing to fire upon demonstrators and monks. Source is a bit iffy, though, so I have no idea how true this is. What is more likely to be true is another reatcheting up of Iran rhetoric, with Condoleezza Rice accusing Iran of "lying" about its nuclear ambitions. All of this while the United States military is paying out significant bonuses in an attempt to stop soldiers from leaving the military and joining up with a private security company.
Domestic politics: Patriot Act powers unconstitutional for gathering criminal evidence, still okay for gathering intelligence. It’s a start, but it’s at the federal level, not the SCOTUS level, so there’s always the chance that there will be a reversal. Even as this battle gets waged in court, potentially, dragonfly-size robots were spying on anti-war protesters. They could have been natural dragonflies, but there’s been a lot of research into crafting the literal fly on the wall.
It's not funny to call in a shooting threat. Nor is it funny to go through with one. These sorts of things should not be in the news because they shouldn’t be happening. But until we manage to fix the problems that produce the people that would shoot up the school, I guess we’ll have to live with it.
If you haven’t already, here’s one more good reason to scratch Mitt Romney off your candidate card: he's "not for discrimination", but he won't support civil unions or marriage for homosexuals. Of course, the rest of the pack received a ringing endorsement from Mr. Bush when Mr. Bush said of the Republican debates, "Didn't watch.". Which may have been good, if you wanted factual information - but one GOP candidate did manage to avoid saying something totally untrue, according to FactCheck.org.
Others are a bit miffed that NASCAR events were specifically cited in a memo advising DHS members to get their vaccinations before wandering into large crowds. If one has up-to-date vaccinations, though, most of those items should be covered and working. It just happens to be that NASCAR events draw large crowds.
Still others are adding fuel to the scandal bonfire regarding Oral Roberts University , by showing that not only were they spending large amounts of money, they were doing so in a time where receipts and donations were down to the point of cutting staff. Despite the university falling on bad times, Discover Magazine has a few pages about places that teach intelligent design, with or without evolution, in their classrooms. These are private, Christian academies for the most part, but there are still some instructors who believe in teaching both, under the rubric that knowing about both helps to foster a critical mind. Which is noble, but one would hope that by applying the scientific method to the claims put forward in intelligent design, the student comes to the conclusion that it cannot be tested by any means we know of now, and must be rejected until such time as an intelligent designer test can be created.
Finally, though, a Marine weighs in on why it's easier to believe conservatives "support" the troops. They do have certain ideological similarities which make it easier for them to believe that the troops are always doing right, no matter whether they are or aren’t. At least, enough to buy silly little magnets.
Tonight had a single candidate eligible for a quiche, and really, all they earned was a cream pie in the face. Yet more from Focus on the Family’s continued insistence on a nonexistent War on Christmas,
jarandhel entertains the dark_christian crowd with the exhortation not to buy Mrs. Fields cookies because there are no packages specifically tagged and marked "Merry Christmas", choosing to embrace the idea that all peoples celebrate a holiday about peace and goodwill, rather than narrowly insisting that the holiday is the exclusive province of one religion, and that furthermore, the specific phrasing of that religion should be adopted everywhere when discussing said holiday.Adherents of the Flying Spaghetti Monster denomination will be saddened to see that Mr. Yuk is attempting to unseat the Jolly Roger as the universal symbol for poison. I don’t know, there’s just something more final about the Jolly Roger there, rather than just Mr. Yuk.
Pictures from the Japanese lunar orbiter. Not the really good ones, yet, as it’s not in the final orbit to take pictures with, but it looks like there’s going to be some very high-def pictures of Luna coming back to us. In other technology from Japan, a virtual humanoid has been crafted, with a green-screen skinned body that can receive tactile input. The avatar itself is still only digital, visible through a head-mounted display. Still, if those characters can be mapped, and the haptics made well, one could conference with someone well across the world and feel their handshake. Combined with a brain-computer interface for virtual worlds, one could talk turkey in a virtual golf course, handshakes, strolls, and, dare we say it, a game of Tiger Woods as well?
Scientists have solved how an organism has survived eighty million years without sexual reproduction - it has evolved copies of genes that produce separate proteins. That way, even with the original genetic material, it can perform necessary life-saving functions.
Tonight’s winner of the coveted Last Thing spot is the LOLcat Bible, transcribing the words of the great Ceiling Cat to all the little kitties in the world.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2007-10-13 03:18 pm (UTC)And might I add that the Vice President has some mighty big shoes to fit? After all, his predecessor just earned the Nobel Peace Prize!
no subject
Date: 2007-10-13 04:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-13 04:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-13 04:27 pm (UTC)Joe Heller (who's actually very liberal) sums up a lot of popular sentiment about Gore.
Honestly, as much as I dislike the current president, I don't find it productive to speculate as to what would have happened if the former Veep had won instead. Objectively, I think that Bush actually has more all-round LEADERSHIP ability than Gore's demonstrated. Unfortunately, he's led the country entirely and unwaveringly in the entirely wrong direction, but that doesn't make Gore the better president.
no subject
Date: 2007-10-13 04:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-13 04:45 pm (UTC)I note that mainly it is the extreme Christians who seem to perceive that evolution is in direct conflict with theology but I also note that the die-hard scientists who seem to be goading them along. Bringing this mini-rant full circle, the perception of conflict breeds conflict, just ask Mr President.
no subject
Date: 2007-10-13 05:02 pm (UTC)I think you're right when you say that it's the extremists on either end that are goading each other on this one. It sounds like a revitalization of a flat-earth versus round-earth debate, with nobody actually interested in the answer, just in proving that they're right.
no subject
Date: 2007-10-13 07:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-13 07:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-13 07:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-13 07:23 pm (UTC)