March 2006 Archives

Yo, I'll answer them when I'm good and ready.

Ethical Atheist - Questions for God

God, if you truly exist, we have a few (dozen) questions for you. Why don't you answer them for us? P.S. Any of your followers are welcome to answer these too. This is just the start of questions we have and there are obviously some we neglected in this version. So, all atheists, please submit your questions to be added to the list. And... "God", you're omniscient, so you know how to contact us, but for your followers and the atheists... Go here... CONTACT US.

A year after Republicans took control of state government, conservative lawmakers are promoting a wide range of social legislation designed to rein in sex and unshackle the Bible.

From new limits on sex education classes to penalties for living in sin, the proposed laws would remake Missouri’s public life in myriad ways. They would sanction prayer in public schools, subsidize religious schools and allow the Bible to be taught in school.

One bill purports to help women make “the transition from work to home.” Another wants the legislature to recognize “a Christian God” as the deity for most Missourians.

Rep. Cynthia Davis, an O’Fallon Republican and sponsor of several bills, said conservatives are tired of an overly permissive society in which high school students are taught how to use condoms.

Other bills would:

• Deny alimony to ex-spouses who live with a boyfriend or girlfriend.
  
• Ban all abortions.
  
• Provide tax credits for contributions that help kids in lousy school districts to attend private schools.
  
• Propose a constitutional amendment guaranteeing the right to pray in schools and on other public property.
  
• Allow pharmacists, insurance companies, doctors and hospitals to deny treatment if the procedure or medication offends their moral values.
  
• Propose a constitutional amendment to allow the Ten Commandments to be displayed on public property.
  

Kansas City Star | 03/12/2006 | Social issues top agenda

In the largest study of its kind, researchers found that having people pray for heart bypass surgery patients had no effect on their recovery. In fact, patients who knew they were being prayed for had a slightly higher rate of complications.

Researchers emphasized that their work can't address whether God exists or answers prayers made on another's behalf. The study can only look for an effect from prayers offered as part of the research, they said.

They also said they had no explanation for the higher complication rate in patients who knew they were being prayed for, in comparison to patients who only knew it was possible prayers were being said for them.

Study: Praying won't affect heart patients

Oh boy, oh boy.

The Sun Herald | 03/28/2006 | 'Galileo Was Wrong,' claims geocentrist writer

The Earth is at the center of Robert Sungenis' universe. Literally.

Yours too, he says.

Sungenis is a geocentrist. He contends the sun orbits the Earth instead of vice versa. He says physics and the Bible show that the vastness of space revolves around us; that we're at the center of everything, on a planet that does not rotate.

He has just completed a 1,000-page tome, "Galileo Was Wrong," the first in a pair of books he hopes will persuade readers to "give Scripture its due place, and show that science is not all it's cracked up to be."

Geocentrism is a less-known cousin of the intelligent design, or anti-evolution, movement. Both question society's trust in science, instead using religion to explain how we got here - and, in geocentrism's case, just where "here" is.

Mention geocentrism and physicist Lawrence Krauss sighs. He is director of the Center for Education and Research in Cosmology and Astrophysics at Case Western Reserve University and author of several books including "Fear of Physics: A Guide for the Perplexed."

"What works? Science works. Geocentrism doesn't. End of story," Krauss said from Cleveland. "I've learned over time that it's hard to convince people who believe otherwise, independent of evidence."

Some good thinking going on here. Worth a read.

Truthdig - An Atheist Manifesto

It is worth noting that no one ever needs to identify himself as a non-astrologer or a non-alchemist. Consequently, we do not have words for people who deny the validity of these pseudo-disciplines. Likewise, atheism is a term that should not even exist. Atheism is nothing more than the noises reasonable people make when in the presence of religious dogma. The atheist is merely a person who believes that the 260 million Americans (87% of the population) who claim to never doubt the existence of God should be obliged to present evidence for his existence and, indeed, for his benevolence, given the relentless destruction of innocent human beings we witness in the world each day. Only the atheist appreciates just how uncanny our situation is: Most of us believe in a God that is every bit as specious as the gods of Mount Olympus; no person, whatever his or her qualifications, can seek public office in the United States without pretending to be certain that such a God exists; and much of what passes for public policy in our country conforms to religious taboos and superstitions appropriate to a medieval theocracy. Our circumstance is abject, indefensible and terrifying. It would be hilarious if the stakes were not so high.

We live in a world where all things, good and bad, are finally destroyed by change. Parents lose their children and children their parents. Husbands and wives are separated in an instant, never to meet again. Friends part company in haste, without knowing that it will be for the last time. This life, when surveyed with a broad glance, presents little more than a vast spectacle of loss. Most people in this world, however, imagine that there is a cure for this. If we live rightly—not necessarily ethically, but within the framework of certain ancient beliefs and stereotyped behaviors—we will get everything we want after we die. When our bodies finally fail us, we just shed our corporeal ballast and travel to a land where we are reunited with everyone we loved while alive. Of course, overly rational people and other rabble will be kept out of this happy place, and those who suspended their disbelief while alive will be free to enjoy themselves for all eternity.

We live in a world of unimaginable surprises--from the fusion energy that lights the sun to the genetic and evolutionary consequences of this lights dancing for eons upon the Earth--and yet Paradise conforms to our most superficial concerns with all the fidelity of a Caribbean cruise. This is wondrously strange. If one didn’t know better, one would think that man, in his fear of losing all that he loves, had created heaven, along with its gatekeeper God, in his own image.

... that the Bush administration is repeating

Top Ten Mistakes the Bush Administration Is Repeating from Vietnam: Newsroom: The Independent Institute

Because the Bush administration, almost from the start, has eschewed any comparison of Iraq with Vietnam, officials apparently never read the history of the nation’s heretofore worst war and have made the same 10 major mistakes:

1. Underestimating the enemy. As in Vietnam, the superpower’s potent military has been astounded by the tenacity and competence of a nationalist rebellion attempting to throw a foreign occupier from its soil. For example, the U.S. military, a hierarchical organization, views the Sunni insurgency as disorganized and without a central command structure. Yet the insurgents are using this decentralized structure very effectively and are not threatened by any U.S. decapitation strike to severely wound the rebellion by killing its leaders.

Apple Computer, which has sold more than 42.2 million iPod players since October 2001, released software that lets parents set the volume on the music devices to protect their children's hearing.

The software is available now as a free download, Apple said. The iPod is the world's best-selling personal music player.

Apple is offering the software two months after Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) asked the National Institutes of Health to investigate possible hearing problems associated with the music players. Most can produce sounds at as many as 120 decibels, as loud as an ambulance siren, and prolonged exposure to 90 decibels may cause some hearing loss, according to the Mayo Clinic's Web site.

New York Daily News - Business - Volume control for iPod

When President Bush signed the reauthorization of the USA Patriot Act this month, he included an addendum saying that he did not feel obliged to obey requirements that he inform Congress about how the FBI was using the act's expanded police powers.

The bill contained several oversight provisions intended to make sure the FBI did not abuse the special terrorism-related powers to search homes and secretly seize papers. The provisions require Justice Department officials to keep closer track of how often the FBI uses the new powers and in what type of situations. Under the law, the administration would have to provide the information to Congress by certain dates.

Bush signed the bill with fanfare at a White House ceremony March 9, calling it ''a piece of legislation that's vital to win the war on terror and to protect the American people." But after the reporters and guests had left, the White House quietly issued a ''signing statement," an official document in which a president lays out his interpretation of a new law.

In the statement, Bush said that he did not consider himself bound to tell Congress how the Patriot Act powers were being used and that, despite the law's requirements, he could withhold the information if he decided that disclosure would ''impair foreign relations, national security, the deliberative process of the executive, or the performance of the executive's constitutional duties."

Bush wrote: ''The executive branch shall construe the provisions . . . that call for furnishing information to entities outside the executive branch . . . in a manner consistent with the president's constitutional authority to supervise the unitary executive branch and to withhold information . . . "

Bush shuns Patriot Act requirement - The Boston Globe

I didn't even know he was sick... or still alive, for that matter.

Stanislaw Lem - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Stanislaw Lem (September 12, 1921 – March 27, 2006) was a Polish science fiction, philosophical, and satirical writer. His books have been translated into 41 languages and sold over 27 million copies. At one point he was the most widely read non-English language science fiction author in the world. Lem's writing is full of intelligent humor, puns, and neologisms, and Michael Kandel's translations into English have been praised by many for capturing Lem's style.

Interesting speculation on what happened to this film.

Cold Fusion Video Reviews: Slipstream

Here's what I like to imagine happened: Producer Gary Kurtz (of American Graffiti, Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, and The Dark Crystal, plus others) came to director Steven Lisberger (who also directed Tron, and who hasn't been in the director's seat since Slipstream) after two-thirds of principle photography was completed.

"Sorry," says Kurtz, "we ran out of money. The investors dried up. No more aerial photography. No more location shoots."

"But -- but -- but," stammers Lisberger, "we can't just scrap it. Look at what I've done so far! Look at the beautiful aerials! Look at the message of friendship! Look how mean I've made Mark Hamill look! There's got to be some way to finish the picture."

"Well," says Kurtz, "here's what I've got: A big, opulent museum set, and a whole bunch of '20's costumes. And I think we can get F. Murray Abraham for one day of shooting. Maybe you could do, like, a Boy and His Dog thing."

Lisberger goes into deep thought, furiously reviving the plot, as Kurtz walks away.

When Governor Mike Rounds signed HB 1215 into law it effectively banned all abortions in the state with the exception that it did allow saving the mother's life. There were, however, no exceptions for victims of rape or incest. His actions, and the comments of State Senators like Bill Napoli of Rapid City, SD, set of a maelstrom of protests within the state.

Napoli suggested that if it was a case of "simple rape," there should be no thoughts of ending a pregnancy. Letters by the hundreds appeared in local newspapers, mostly written by women, challenging Napoli's description of rape as "simple." He has yet to explain satisfactorily what he meant by "simple rape."

The President of the Oglala Sioux Tribe on the Pine Ridge Reservation, Cecilia Fire Thunder, was incensed. A former nurse and healthcare giver she was very angry that a state body made up mostly of white males, would make such a stupid law against women.

"To me, it is now a question of sovereignty," she said to me last week. "I will personally establish a Planned Parenthood clinic on my own land which is within the boundaries of the Pine Ridge Reservation where the State of South Dakota has absolutely no jurisdiction."

Oglala Sioux Tribe on the South Dakota Abortion Ban : SF Bay Area Indymedia

I built a potato battery out of 500 pounds of potatoes. It powered a small sound system. With the help of the Red 76 crew I installed the battery and sound system in the back of a U-Haul truck and drove it around town inviting people to enter the truck and take a listen.

Batteries work by allowing electrons to pass from one electrode to another. In this case the potato provides phosphoric acid, which enables a chemical reaction causing electrons flow from copper to zinc. The zinc came from galvanized nails and copper came from small pieces of copper. You don't have to use potatoes; any acidic medium such as citrus fruit will work. I chose potatoes because they are traditional and cheap.

500 lb Potato Battery

The device is called a virtual hallucination machine. It was introduced to police by Teresa Bomhoff, president of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill of Greater Des Moines.

She said the mask was created by a Belgian pharmaceutical company to give mental health providers, police and the public an idea of what it's like to experience hallucinations.

"We want people to get a more empathetic understanding of what people with hallucinations are experiencing," she said.

The effort is more than an interesting experience. Confrontations with the mentally ill can turn deadly...

DesMoinesRegister.com

It's a screensaver. No, it's a packet sniffer. No wait ...

PacketFountain: Network Sniffing Screensaver

"Casino Royale" could be the first art-house-style 007 movie.

For one thing, the man chasing a terrorist through the tropical undergrowth on the film's set this week doesn't look much like the ultra-smooth James Bond that fans have come to adore over the course of four decades. He's bleeding, ragged -- and nowhere near a tuxedo, martini or gorgeous woman.

Beyond Bond's gritty characterization are other techniques and details associated with more low-budget productions. The opening sequence will be in black and white. And even after the movie goes to color in the first act, there's restless camera movement that gives this Bond an almost documentary feel.

delawareonline - The News Journal - Shaken and stirring: A grittier, less suave 007

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, has stepped into the controversy between religious fundamentalists and scientists by saying that he does not believe that creationism - the Bible-based account of the origins of the world - should be taught in schools.

Giving his first, wide-ranging, interview at Lambeth Palace, the archbishop was emphatic in his criticism of creationism being taught in the classroom, as is happening in two city academies founded by the evangelical Christian businessman Sir Peter Vardy and several other schools.

"I think creationism is ... a kind of category mistake, as if the Bible were a theory like other theories ... if creationism is presented as a stark alternative theory alongside other theories I think there's just been a jarring of categories ... My worry is creationism can end up reducing the doctrine of creation rather than enhancing it," he said.

The debate over creationism or its slightly more sophisticated offshoot, so-called "intelligent design" (ID) which argues that creation is so complex that an intelligent - religious - force must have directed it, has provoked divisions in Britain but nothing like the vehemence or politicisation of the debate in the US. There, under pressure from the religious right, some states are considering giving ID equal prominence to Darwinism, the generally scientifically accepted account of the evolution of species. Most scientists believe that ID is little more than an attempt to smuggle fundamentalist Christianity into science teaching.

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Archbishop: stop teaching creationism

On his live television programme, The 700 Club, he said radical Islamists were inspired by "demonic power".

A US religious liberty watchdog called the comments "grossly irresponsible".

Mr Robertson had to apologise recently for calling for Venezuela's president to be killed, and saying Ariel Sharon was struck down by divine retribution.

His latest comments were expunged from The 700 Club's website, but Mr Robertson's Virginia-based Christian Broadcasting Network confirmed them with a transcript.

BBC NEWS | World | Americas | Top US evangelist targets Islam

A California drug operation manufactured marijuana-laced candy and soft drinks that were packaged to resemble popular products like Jolly Ranchers, Milky Way, and Pop Tarts. The pot ring, busted yesterday by Drug Enforcement Administration agents, was headquartered in Oakland and allegedly headed by Kenneth Affolter, 39, who was one of 12 alleged dealers nabbed. DEA raids at indoor pot-growing facilities turned up the marijuana-infused products, which carried labels such as Toka-Cola, Pot Tarts, Puff-A-Mint Pattie, Stoney Ranchers, Munchy Way, and Buddahfinger. A DEA spokesperson told TSG that the pot was baked into chocolate bars and hard candies and that the soda contained concentrated hash oil.

Drug Ring Sold Pot-Laced Candy, Soda - March 17, 2006

A vegetarian's nightmare.

the Giant Burger

The assembled burger weighed 29.75 pounds, with a pound of bacon, two pounds of cheese, grilled onions and portabella mushrooms, avocados, tomatoes, lettuce, mustard, ketchup, and a giant toothpick through the center with deli pickles on top. The buns were baked on a pizza pan with a custom-fitted steel ring around the edge. Grilling occurred on a specially built turnover fixture with a brazed steel lid made from leftover material from the big round fish tank.

Scientists said yesterday they have found the best evidence yet supporting the theory that about 13.7 billion years ago, the universe suddenly expanded from the size of a marble to the size of the cosmos in less than a trillionth of a second.

A team of researchers used data collected by a NASA satellite measuring microwave radiation to offer direct, experimental support for the theory of "inflation" put forth 25 years ago -- that the expansion of the universe, commonly known as the "big bang," began with a single burst of repulsive energy acting in a tiny fraction of time. The expansion continues today but at a much slower rate.

"We can measure the sky to tell what powered this expansion," said Goddard Space Flight Center astrophysicist Gary Hinshaw. "It's really amazing, actually. I was in graduate school when the theory was first proposed, and I've been working on it ever since. It's gratifying to see the idea hold up now."

New Images Support 'Big Bang' Theory

A US federal judge has denied a government request that Google be ordered to hand over a sample keywords, but required the company to produce some web addresses indexed in its system.

In a 21-page ruling, Judge James Ware of the US District for the Northern District of California said the privacy considerations of Google users led him to deny part of the Justice Department's request.

"To the extent the motion seeks an order compelling Google to disclose search queries of its users the motion is denied," Judge Ware wrote.

US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales had subpoenaed Google to turn over data the government wanted from the company as part of the Bush Administration's attempt to defend a federal law on child pornography on the internet.

Australian IT - Mixed ruling in search battle (Eric Auchard and Adam Tanner in San Francisco, MARCH 20, 2006)

The episode, "Trapped in the Closet," first aired in November. It was scheduled to repeat on Wednesday (March 15), a week before the show's new season begins, but it was quietly pulled in favor of "Chef's Chocolate Salty Balls," a showcase for the Chef character voiced by Isaac Hayes, who quit "South Park" this week over what he called the show's "intolerance and bigotry towards religious beliefs."

Which leaves the last word with Stone and fellow "South Park" creator Trey Parker, who released, no kidding, the following statement to the trade paper (emphasis and exclamation points all Parker and Stone's):

"So, Scientology, you may have won THIS battle, but the million-year war for earth has just begun! Temporarily anozinizing our episode will NOT stop us from keeping Thetans forever trapped in your pitiful man-bodies. Curses and drat! You have obstructed us for now, but your feeble bit do save humanity will fail! Hail Xenu!!! [Signed,] Trey Parker and Matt Stone, servants of the dark lord Xenu."

Did 'South Park' Get Cruised? - Rumors swirl around yanking of 'Closet' episode - Zap2it

The worldwide launch of Sony's PlayStation 3 has been delayed until early November, the company said yesterday at a press conference in Tokyo. Sony attributed the revised launch, pushed back from this spring, to a delay in the release of copy-protection software required for the PS3's game and high-definition movie discs.

While few doubt that the PlayStation 3 will be a hot seller when it hits the streets, the delay gives Microsoft’s Xbox 360 a major head start—a full year in which it will compete mainly with two older consoles, the PlayStation 2 and Nintendo's GameCube. Xbox game developers will also be busy. Microsoft says it expects that nearly 50 Xbox 360 game titles will be on sale by June, twice the number of games currently available.

TIME.com: What’s Holding Up PlayStation 3? -- Page 1

The funny video that asked what would happen if Microsoft had designed iPod packaging was apparently made by Microsoft. See the video here.

The iPod Observer - Now Playing - Microsoft Confirms it Originated iPod Box Parody Video

Microsoft spokesman Tom Pilla on Tuesday confirmed with iPod Observer that his company initiated the creation of the iPod packaging parody video that was first reported last month. "It was an internal-only video clip commissioned by our packaging [team] to humorously highlight the challenges we have faced RE: packaging and to educate marketers here about the pitfalls of packaging/branding," he said via e-mail.

The video, which surfaced on You Tube but has since been removed and can now be found on Google Video, pokes fun at Microsoft's tendency toward cluttered packaging by imagining how the company would have designed the box for the original iPod. Where Apple's design is sparse, Microsoft's final creation is full of so many stickers and other information that the photo of the MP3 player can be barely seen.

Mr. Pilla noted: "While MS did not release the video, it's natural to share funny things with friends. So while we didn't publicly share the video, it was shared with appropriate teams internally. We're happy to see others enjoy the laugh as well."

Sometimes the most well thought out practical jokes trigger an uneven brand of justice that falls under the laws of unintended consequences. While not formally codified and ill defined, the law of unintended consequences is very real, as a Google-focused prank pulled by 15-year old Tom Vandetta amply illustrates.

Reading through SEO focused blog entries, Vandetta found an article that explained how to fool Google's news system by writing fake press releases. Sensing an opportunity to experiment and play a joke on his friends, the self-described "Google fanboy" decided to see what would happen if he submitted a fake Google press release claiming the 15-year old New Jersey student was Google's youngest employee.

The press release was issued through the free service I-Newswire and contained a number of spelling mistakes.

The SEO Blog: Google News Credibility Foiled By 15-Year Old

Bringing the workday to the Polynesian islands.

Tiki Central Forums - Topic: My Tiki Shrine at work

Neat. Hey, for $200 I'll be a pre-op transgender lesbian.

GayNZ.com - News

The success of ‘Brokeback Mountain’ at the Academy Awards has provided a new opportunity for gay and lesbian tourism in Canada. The film, a love story about two Wyoming cowboys was shot almost entirely in and around the town of Fort Macleod, Alberta.

A travel agency in Taiwan is the first to offer package holidays to the region. While not marketed solely to gay travellers, if you can illustrate you’re gay or lesbian, you’ll receive a $200 discount. Holidaymakers have long visited Southern Alberta, with its wide-open countryside and spectacular vistas.

The town of Fort Macleod is divided over the prospect of gay people visiting in greater numbers, but according to Gordon MacIvor, the local economic development officer, “visitors to the town will be welcomed and not judged.”

The winter of 2005-2006 has been Canada's warmest on record and the federal agency Environment Canada said Monday it was investigating whether it's a sign of global warming.

Between December and February, the country was 3.9 degrees above normal - the warmest winter season since temperatures were first recorded in 1948. Environment Canada climatologist Bob Whitewood said it smashed the previous record set in 1987 by 0.9 degrees.

"We saw it coming from mid-January on that we were seeing something quite remarkable," Whitewood said.

Winter warmest ever on record in Canada

This is stupid. Give the little girl the RAV4 and be done with it.

CBC News: Lawyer wants DNA test on 'Roll up the Rim' cup

A high-profile Quebec lawyer is asking for a DNA test on a winning Tim Hortons coffee cup, claiming that his client is its rightful owner.

Claude Archambault said his client threw out the cup and should get the "Roll up the Rim" prize that is being fought over by two Montreal families.

Claude Archambault

Earlier this week, a 10-year-old girl found the unrolled cup in a garbage can in her school. She enlisted the help of a 12-year-old friend to roll up the cup's rim. They discovered the cup was the winner of a $28,700 Toyota RAV 4.

Ah crap.

"The bill would make it a crime to tell the American people that the president is breaking the law, and the bill could make it a crime for the newspapers to publish that fact," said Martin, a civil liberties advocate.

Days of DeWine and Ruses? Reporters May Be Exempt from Eavesdropping Bill

Reporters who write about government surveillance could be prosecuted under proposed legislation that would solidify the administration's eavesdropping authority, according to some legal analysts who are concerned about dramatic changes in U.S. law.

...

The Associated Press obtained a copy of the draft of the legislation, which could be introduced as soon as next week.

The draft would add to the criminal penalties for anyone who "intentionally discloses information identifying or describing" the Bush administration's terrorist surveillance program or any other eavesdropping program conducted under a 1978 surveillance law.

Yikes. If I were suffering from cancer, I'd steer clear of the CCRG.

Stay Away from the Canadian Cancer Research Group (CCRG)

"As part of W-FIVE's investigation, two producers—one pretending to be severely ill with Stage III lung cancer—visited the Canadian Cancer Research Group (CCRG) with a hidden camera. O'Neill stated CCRG's cure rates were over 80% for lung cancer and 100% for lymphoma, leukemia, and prostate cancer. After failing to respond to more than half a dozen requests for documentation, O'Neill agreed to an on-camera interview. But when he was asked questions about the Bagyans, he refused to answer them; and when the producer tried to get O'Neill to comment on the hidden-camera videotape, O'Neill refused to look at it and abruptly ended the interview [10]."

... and without having to clean up the wall behind the unlucky person's head.

Roulette Chocolate

Seated in individual compartments, twelve chocolate bullets lay waiting to be bitten into. Although eleven of the sweet little slugs contain delicious praline centres, one conceals a seriously red hot chilli that's guaranteed to blow your head off - metaphorically, at least.

The great thing about encasing something so palate-peelingly hot in chocolate is that it takes a few seconds for the 'victim' to register that he or she has just bitten into the wrong bullet. So relief and delight are rapidly replaced by abject horror, an expression reminiscent of Kenneth Williams getting into a hot bath, a volley of garbled expletives and a manic sprint to the nearest tap!

'I was raped by a doctor... Which is so bittersweet for a Jewish girl.'

Her default persona is goofy Jewish American Princess. It makes the material all the more shocking: no one so dopey-cute and girl-next-door has ever been so nasty. She does Holocaust jokes, Martin Luther King jokes, Aids jokes and lots on Jewish girls and sex - chiefly anal sex and abortion. If she has a staple comedic form, it's obscenity delivered with a cosy flirtatiousness. 'Last night I was licking jelly off my boyfriend's penis' - big kooky smile - 'and all of a sudden I thought - Oh my God! I'm turning into my mother!'

Her first broadcast gag was about the US legislation imposing a 24-hour cooling-off period after someone seeks to terminate a pregnancy. 'I think it's a good law,' she said. 'The other day I really, really wanted to get an abortion. I totally did. But then I thought about it and it turned out I was just thirsty...'

The Observer | Woman | If women aren't funny, how come the world's hottest, most controversial comedian is female?

A small, frigid moon orbiting Saturn may have vast stores of liquid water that could sustain life, NASA revealed today.

The Cassini spacecraft has sent back images that show "Yellowstone-like geysers" on Saturn's moon Enceladus. Researchers have seen "icy jets and towering plumes" of particles being ejected from the moon's surface at speed. While not certain, NASA believes that the best explanation for the geysers would be close to the surface reservoirs of liquid water.

"It appears we have all the ingredients that all the experts have claimed for a long time now, you would need to have environments suitable for living organisms," said Carolyn Porco, a Cassini team leader. "And so, that’s what we think we have here. We have found another environment in our solar system, in a very surprising place, that could host living organisms.

NASA finds a gusher on Saturn moon | The Register

Some of [the tinfoil hat brigade] have found time to attack WiFi, and have had their first taste of success at a Canadian university, which has just banned wireless internet access. Officials at the school, Lakehead University, have banned WiFi, saying that they want to avoid "potential chronic exposure for our students." The officials point out that the "jury’s out" on the health risks from EMF generated by WiFi transmissions, and liken the risks of WiFi to those of second-hand tobacco smoke, which were not immediately apparent to researchers. Meanwhile, the school apparently still allows microwave ovens, cellphones, televisions, portable radios and other electrical devices that may pose some undefined long-term risk, though we assume they'll get around to banning them all soon enough.

WiFi is dangerous/not dangerous: a new saga - Engadget

A 52 year old Canadian man has been arrested by police following allegations that he exploited his role as a Counter-Strike clan manager to solicit nude pictures of minors.

According to GotFrag.com, George "Spike" Finley of London, Ontario allegedly recruited boys aged between 10 and 13 to his clan, the Green Berets, telling them to lie about their ages to other gamers and the clan's leader, James O'Connor.

Finley is accused of asking the boys for nude pictures of themselves via the Ventrilo voice chat program. The boys allege that they were offered computer hardware, cash and clan leadership roles in return, and claim that on refusing Finley's requests, they were dropped from the clan.

News - Counter-Strike clan leader accused of paedophilia // PC /// Eurogamer

Microsoft has been granted its 5000th US patent for a new technology, specially designed for inclusion in Xbox 360 games, that will enable people from around the globe to join online games as spectator.

The milestone patent relates to a host of technologies that mirror the experience of viewing a sporting event broadcast, enabling people to tune in to online videogames and enjoy the gaming experience in real-time as a spectator rather than a player.

Featuring highlights, instant replays, and unique spectator controlled views of the action within a game or event, the technology enables the viewer to control one or more virtual cameras to select desired viewpoints, or an automated camera control to frame the action and perform specific cuts to best convey the story and action.

News - MS gets spectator patent // Xbox 360 /// Eurogamer

2K Games has signed a new deal with Twentieth Century Fox to produce a game based on hit animated TV series Family Guy.

2K will work closely with Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane on the action adventure title, which will feature all your favourite characters plus locations seen in the TV show.

"2K Games really understands the distinct humour and unique voice of Family Guy," said Fox bigwig Elie Dekel. "We're confident that they will develop a hilarious and entertaining game for fans of the show as well as for gamers."

News - Family Guy game on the way /// Eurogamer

Isaac Asimov [1920-1992] Russian-born American author

"I am an atheist, out and out. It took me a long time to say it. I've been an atheist for years and years, but somehow I felt it was intellectually unrespectable to say that one is an atheist, because it assumed knowledge that one didn't have. Somehow it was better to say one was a humanist or agnostic. I don't have the evidence to prove that God doesn't exist, but I so strongly suspect that he doesn't that I don't want to waste my time."

"Creationists make it sound like a 'theory' is something you dreamt up after being drunk all night."

Thomas Jefferson [1743-1826] 3rd American president, author, scientist, architect, educator, and diplomat. Deist, avid separationist.

"History, I believe, furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government. This marks the lowest grade of ignorance of which their civil as well as religious leaders will always avail themselves for their own purposes" Letter to von Humboldt, 1813

"The day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the Supreme Being as His father, in the womb of a virgin will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter." Letter to John Adams, April 11, 1823

"In every country and in every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty. He is always in alliance with the despot, abetting his abuses in return for protection to his own" Letter to H. Spafford, 1814

John Adams [1735-1826] 2nd President of the United States

"The divinity of Jesus is made a convenient cover for absurdity."

"The government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion." Treaty of Tripoly, article 11

GREAT MINDS: atheist quotes

Pretty cool stuff right here.

Official homepage of Desiree Palmen

Concern about the increasing use of identity based electronic information systems and the frequent use of surveillance cameras is one of the impulses for Désirée Palmen to create her work, which uses camouflage, as it's main focus. In photo works, videos and site-specific actions, she explores the possibilities of letting people 'dissolve' into their surroundings or to let them disapaer against the background.

A batch of funky breakbeats, a crateful of kitschy samples and some guest vocals by big-lunged divas and rappers-of-the-moment will only take you so far. And let's face it: By 1997, Coldcut had ridden that soul train to the end of the line.

Maybe that's why it took the pioneering electro-dance duo of Jon More and Matt Black nine years to follow up their last studio disc Let Us Play. Or maybe it's because they were busy DJing live, developing software, hosting radio shows and running their Ninja Tune label. Whatever. We just know that when you make folks wait nearly a decade for an album, it better be a knockout.

CANOE -- JAM! Music: CD Review: Coldcut: Sound Mirrors

If you remove Garfield's thought balloons, it goes from an unfunny comic to a rather sad, poignant story about a lonely man who has wasted his life talking to his cat.

lakini_malich: Jon seems crazy to be talking to his cat like that.

Three words that I've never seen together before...

Josh Karpf: In Search of the Perfect Pork Martini

The pork Martini serves many needs on many levels! In these pomo days, when old formulas are reborn with futile twists for our fickle, fin-de-siècle tastes, the meat cocktail stands out above wobbly, cranberry-tainted attempts at bar trendiness. When one abandons the olive garnish for that of a pork-rind wedge, the pork Martini merges the flavors of the working class with that of wealthier ones, bridging social strata. It has the humanitarian goal of bettering the nutrition of alcoholics, offering protein for those who prefer their lunches liquid: since meat digests longer, it will both inebriate and offer nutrients for longer periods! It will open new markets to pork consumption, adding American jobs to every level of the meat-industrial complex. And, finally, it looks really weird.

Oh, so now I gotta be a villian? Hmmm. Works for me.

Religion of Comic Book Characters (Religion | Comics)

Most super-villains in mainstream comic books are atheists, agnostics, or simply non-religious. Aside from a few major villains, the list below primarily focuses on villains who have a known religious affiliation other than atheism.

America was today accused of failing to learn the lessons of Abu Ghraib by continuing to hold thousands of Iraqi detainees in conditions that breached their human rights.

Amnesty International, the London-based rights watchdog, criticised coalition forces and the Iraqi Government for holding security suspects for months without trial and allowing them to be routinely abused.

The group said around 14,000 people are currently imprisoned in American and British-run jails under rules that do not afford detainees access to the courts or, in some cases, to the details of the charges against them.

The report alleged that the disregard for due legal process in prisons run by coalition forces had also contributed to a culture of violence and torture in Iraqi-run facilities. In November last year, American soldiers discovered an underground jail in Baghdad run by the Iraqi Interior Ministry that contained more than 100 malnourished and abused suspects.

Amnesty said that detainees held in Iraqi jails are routinely beaten with heavy electrical cables and have their fingernails pulled off.

America 'has failed to learn from Abu Ghraib' - World - Times Online

Yeah, this here's pretty cool. Get Einstein to support whatever thought crosses your mind:

Hetemeel.com : Dynamic images

Oh, this had better be what I think it is... Finally I can use something a little more up to date than the Netbook.

CBS News | Origami Anyone? | March 1, 2006 - 16:34:53

There’s been a lot of speculation about Microsoft’s Origami Project, fueled in part by a Microsoft-owned Web site that says almost nothing, but promises more information on Thursday, March 2, 2006.

Word on the Net is that the Origami Project is a code name for an upcoming handheld device that is like a tablet PC, only smaller. Microsoft is remaining mum on details but has repeatedly said that is working with manufacturers on a variety of different-sized handheld devices.

A video on the YouTube.com site shows such a device in action. Microsoft reportedly has confirmed that it produced the video but says that it’s old footage and not necessarily a preview of any product in the works.

The Associated Press reported Tuesday that Microsoft has confirmed that is planning an "ultra-mobile PC device."