Global Spin

Recall Posters!

Cute little posters for y'all to print out and display for "vote no on the recall" day!

Does Religion Hold Back Science?

That's the argument made by the Michigan Freethought group. As evidence, one member pointed out this article about recent work restoring a palimpsest to its original form. Seems the scrolls held copies of a bunch of Archimedes' treatises and calculations originally, but some monks saw fit to rub and scrape those out and replace them with prayers in Greek. But with modern imaging techniques, we're getting it all back now... Yay!

Baby study links antibiotics to asthma

Disturbing news from a New Scientist article:

Babies given antibiotics during the first six months of their lives are far more likely to develop asthma, according to a US study. Why is not clear, but the team claims antibiotics might be partly responsible for the steady rise in asthma cases in western countries.

Update on CIA Operative's Exposure

Back on August 27, I quoted Al Franken, who said, "Joe Wilson, the former Gabon ambassador, was sent to Niger by the CIA and came back and said the uranium claims weren't true. And when the controversy started broiling again about the 16 words in the State of the Union address and Wilson wrote the piece in New York Times, senior administration officials blew the cover on his wife, who was a covert [CIA] operative."

It took a while, but this is finally being investigated. Should be interesting....

Hindu Priests Marry Pairs of Animals for Peace

Not making this up, kids. I don't quite know what to make of it, though. I just know the marriages won't be considered legal in the U.S., ha ha. :-)

Motion and the Mind

This has nothing to do with anything, but I saw a few optical illusions today and had to share them.

Rolling circles
Whirling seeds
Spinning snakes

Are they moving? Look closer...

Woman to be Spared from Stoning

Well, this is good news, I guess. Amina Lawal, a Nigerian woman who was sentenced to be stoned to death for adultery (mostly given the fact that she gave birth to a child two years after she and her husband divorced), has been spared.

What's weird, though, is that she's not being spared because burying someone up to her neck in sand and stoning her to death is a ridiculous punishment for any crime, especially a nonviolent one. She's being spared because of procedural errors in the case, probabably because of the amount of international protest the case has sparked, and also, her lawyer argued, because it is believed in the strict Islamic law being followed that, "babies can remain in gestation in a mother's womb for five years, opening the possibility her ex-husband could have fathered the child."

This makes me want to scream and take notes at the same time.

Blood Money

Well, the Bush family wealth seems to have a bloody history according to this article.

Wonder if my grandmother was "managed" by Prescott Bush?

Women Move Forward in Afghanistan

I'm liking this. Here's information on the women being trained in Afghanistan's new police academy. Says one, "Some women don't think this is the right thing to do, so we want them to understand that they can do it." Go, sisters!

Stupidity by Design

Hi, this is Deana, your Michigan correspondant, writing with a report from the field. Despite all the supporting evidence, it turns out, according to this Detroit News editorial, that the theory of evolution is "an antiquated, unproven teaching theory". Oh, I see. It also says that evolution "fails (the) test" of being a "genuine scientific theor(y)". Ah. Unlike intelligent design, which "can and has been proved scientifically." I'm learning so much here in Michigan!

It is so, so, so awful. I'll finish this despairing rant with another quote, "Some Michigan educators have already vowed to fight intelligent design. One Grand Rapids Community College biology professor called it "embarrassing." But the theory that we "evolved" from apes isn't?"

Oh, joy.

Put the Star Wars Kid in Episode III

I just signed the online petition to put the Star Wars Kid in Episode III. There are 99,000 signers so far, so who knows if Lucas will take our advice.

Organic News

Since we all seem to be consumers, some of us like organics and we generally like to associate, check out the news blog on the Organic Consumers Association website.

I like the article about Whole Foods where a successful competitor says: These independents aren't entitled to survive; they're just entitled to compete . . . I think anyone that has a problem with [Whole Foods] is really just whining.

Somewhere on there is also an article about Denmark banning the use of glyphosates (Roundup) as they are contaminating the drinking water, but I can't find it. Can you?

Newsworthy

I think Jaime might agree with this catholic nun again.

A (news)worthy read.

Vanguard of the Bush Backlash

I haven't had much time to comment on Bush administration lies lately. Luckily, folks are doing that for me:

http://www.misleader.org/

Discouraging Pedophilia?

Can't make my mind up about this web site, Perverted Justice. There was an article about it on Salon.com (but it's premium, so the link wouldn't work here), and it's basically a site where vigilante types go to chatrooms and pose as underage boys and girls. When they're approached, they try to get as much information about the would-be pedophile that they can, then reveal their identities and post the whole session on this site. They're not cops, but they hope to discourage this kind of trolling for kids on the internet. I don't know whether it works - apparently people find would-be pedophiles on this site and harrass them, too. It's an interesting approach, I suppose.

Tell Bush to recall himself

I can't help but agree to this:

Bush recall petition

Evangelism as public education?

I belong to a humanistic web group here in Michigan and recently someone noticed that one of the community colleges was giving a class called the Alpha Course, meant to determine what relevance Jesus has in the lives of its students. The humanists alerted the ACLU and apparently they agreed that the separation of church and state was being violated, and managed to shut the class down. This article discusses the situation. What do you think? Is this an attempt to evangelize, or just education?

On a lighter, more musical note

I love that a black hole can be heard singing! Or maybe it's meditating, doing one long Om.

Talk to the animals

Hiya,

I'm working on a lecture about human language and its relationship to abstract thought and culture, and I wanted stuff on meerkat alarm calls for comparison's sake. I stumbled across this great site talking about animal behavior and communication in a number of arenas, all assembled for your reading pleasure. It has the overly simple title of "biology - animal behavior".

RAWA!

From the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan website:

RAWA is the oldest political/social organization of Afghan women struggling for peace, freedom, democracy and women's rights in fundamentalism-blighted Afghanistan.

If you are freedom-loving and anti-fundamentalist,
you are with RAWA. Support and help us.

Guess we're all with 'em, aren't we?

Me and the quiz thing again -

I'm breaking from all the political stuff to demonstrate a very accurate quiz. I'm well nigh obsessed with Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, and I took yet another quizilla quiz that pegged my favorite from the fab five with extreme precision. The Queer Eye guy who is my type is:

Ted: Food & Wine Connoisseur

And it is, too! Yay! (Even though I find Kyan very, very attractive as well...)

The Blogs of Iraq

This is the article that tells ya about it: Live from Iraq, it's the real story
by Jon Carroll

. . . and this is the blog.

Voting No on the Recall?

If you're planning to vote NO on the recall, please let me know by signing the pledge at MoveOn.org.

Thanks!