From the Guardian:
_Brazil yesterday became the first country to “take a public stand”:http://www.guardian.co.uk/aids/story/0,7369,1475965,00.html against the Bush administration’s massive Aids programme which is seen by many as seeking increasingly to press its anti-abortion, pro-abstinence sexual agenda on poorer countries._
In other words, they decided it wasn’t worth $40 million to make bad public health decisions. Go, Brazil!
A group called “vision42″:http://www.vision42.org/ has proposed making the entire length of 42nd Street in New York City car-free. The existing street would become a pedestrian area with a light rail line down the center.
As the New York Times points out, “the idea is not new”:http://www.vision42.org/news/articles/041805_nytimes/, but it seems like this time it may have a better chance of succeeding. The group is organized and thorough, and the city is hoping to improve its chances for the 2012 Olympics.
We saw the “Hitchhiker’s Guide movie”:http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0371724/ over the weekend, as you might have guessed. I liked it a lot, and so did Karen. I can imagine we’ll watch it again when it comes out on DVD.
Of course, we also watched and liked “The Pirate Movie”:http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084504/ this weekend, so we’re probably not the most stable reviewers around. Read on if you’re also a silly sort.
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In a depressingly unsuprising move, the State of Florida successfully sued to “prevent a pregnant 13-year-old ward of the state from having an abortion”:http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4500245.stm on the grounds that she’s too immature to make the decision. The irony of this would be hilarious if it wasn’t so sickening. Fortunately “Fafblog can be witty”:http://fafblog.blogspot.com/2005/04/old-beyond-her-years-florida-has-no.html in ways that I can’t. For further discussion, see “Gibbon’s Decline & Fall”:http://mysteriousgalaxy.booksense.com/NASApp/store/IndexJsp?s=showproduct&isbn=0553573985, once thought to be science fiction.
Opportunity, one of the Mars Exploration Rovers, has gotten “stuck on a sand dune”:http://space.com/missionlaunches/050428_rover_update.html and it’s not certain that they’ll be able to free it. (All six wheels are pretty “deeply buried”:http://marsrovers.nasa.gov/gallery/all/1/f/447/1F167871674EFF55DIP1214R0M1.JPG.)
I’m sure they’ll think of something and the Little Rover That Could will be on its way. Still, send good vibes to Opportunity whenever you can.