Doggedly searching for the crux of the biscuit.
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Hey, look at what we made! Say hello to apostropher v2.2.
Cassidy Harper Barnes
5/31/07, 11:12 am
7 pounds, 15 ounces
19-3/4 inches
Everybody's doing just fine. Having now witnessed one old-fashioned delivery, one emergency C-section, and a scheduled C-section, I much prefer the calm and punctual predictability of the latter. More later, because the hospital's wireless network only works in the lobby.
The coincidence of full moon and cloudless sky can deliver so much light from the otherwise hidden sun that you could read a book outside at midnight without the help of a porch light. I promise not to drone on about city versus country living here save to point out that urban night-to-night existence presents a barrier, a disconnect, from a natural cycle that while perhaps not as behaviorally prescriptive as the diurnal or seasonal ones is no less pivotal to human existence. I’m expecting the wrath of the feminist readership here, but the man who can see a woman’s experience mutually reflected in sister luna’s will make a better lover, husband, and father. The moon ranks right up there with earth and sun as heavenly bodies guiding us, cyclically, along in our ways.
I have experienced this disconnect somewhat during my work-weekly stint in the city. (I know, I know, I promised; just hear me out.) However, I find great irony that it is my iGoogle homepage with “Current Moon Phase” (now 'waxing gibbous 99%' with a picture) in the center that relieves me and gives me comfort in knowing that I know again. I connect with the subtlest major natural cycle when I connect to the flipping internet. Oy.
It wasn’t six moons ago that I found myself, for the umpteenth time, enlightening some soul that a ‘blue moon’ was when the moon was full for the second time in a calendar month. Well. Document this because it is a highly unlikely occurrence. Froz was mistaken.
Alas, the full moon on the morrow will not be blue. It still feels special for some reason, though. Exceptional. Extraordinary. Very yin.
Cowboy Troy wants to know. In the meantime, I'm trying to decide which version is more awesome: the original or the dance remix?
Update: And then there's Asylum Street Spankers coming at it from the other side.
Certain fungi have replaced photosynthesis with a process that uses radiation and melanin instead of sunlight and chlorophyll.
Here's a possible solution to both the energy crisis and what to do with highly radioactive waste from nuclear reactors: use the radiation as food. It sounds like something out of a comic book, although scientists already know that fungi will eat asbestos, jet fuel, and plastic. It has also been shown to decompose hot graphite in the ruins of the Chernobyl power plant, which melted down in 1986. The plant's release of large amounts of radiation appears to have attracted black hordes of fungi. But how does it work?
According to Ekaterina Dadachova and her colleagues at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, in New York City, the fungi Cryptococcus neoformans and two other species use melanin, also a pigment found in human skin, to transform radiation into energy to use as food for growth. Researchers believe that melanin is present to protect fungi from stress, such as radiation, and that certain species use this molecule for metabolic reactions. [...]
Dadachova tells me in an e-mail that the most amazing aspect of the finding is that this process is an alternative to photosynthesis, "with melanin playing the role of chlorophyll and ionizing radiation; the role of visible light." Melanin converts the energy from the radiation into chemical energy used by the fungi, she says. [...]
The uses of this discovery could range from a disposal method for nuclear waste to a food source for long space voyages during which fungi could grow using radiation from outer space, although future astronauts may not find fungi very appetizing. Dadachova suggests that the fungi might be used as a biofuel to be grown in high-altitude regions where radiation is prevalent and nothing else can grow.
I read the headline, then I look at the picture just below it, and I think perhaps Rudy needs to work on that a little harder. (via)
You'd think the right-wing blog world would get tired of always being 100% wrong about everything, but you'd be mistaken.
Because vaginas are all played out.
I know this is old, but I'm putting it here so I can find it again later. And maybe one or two of you haven't seen it.
John Edwards picks up the theme the blogs have been carrying all along.
Democrat John Edwards Wednesday repudiated the notion that there is a "global war on terror," calling it an ideological doctrine advanced by the Bush administration that has strained American military resources and emboldened terrorists. In a defense policy speech he planned to deliver at the Council on Foreign Relations, Edwards called the war on terror a "bumper sticker" slogan Bush had used to justify everything from abuses at the Abu Ghraib prison to the invasion of Iraq.
"We need a post-Bush, post-9/11, post-Iraq military that is mission focused on protecting Americans from 21st century threats, not misused for discredited ideological purposes," Edwards said in remarks prepared for delivery. "By framing this as a war, we have walked right into the trap the terrorists have set—that we are engaged in some kind of clash of civilizations and a war on Islam."
Well, thank goodness somebody has the guts to say it. I'm looking at you, Clinton and Obama. I'll be interested to see the full text of the speech once it has been delivered.
Update: The full text of the speech is available here. I won't have time to read it until I get home from work tonight, so maybe I'll have more to say about it then.
But sharks don't necessarily have to do it.
A team of American and Irish researchers have discovered that some female sharks can reproduce without having sex, the first time that scientists have found the unusual capacity in such an ancient vertebrate species. [...] Scientists began their investigation after a female hammerhead shark was mysteriously born at Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo in December 2001, in a tank that held three adult, female hammerheads but no males. [...] The team -- which included scientists at Nova Southeastern University in Florida, Queen's University Belfast and the zoo -- determined that the baby shark's genetic makeup perfectly matched one of the females in the tank, with no sign of a male parent. Mahmood Shivji -- Nova Southeastern's Guy Harvey Research Institute director and one of the paper's authors -- said that he and his colleagues determined that a byproduct formed when sharks produce eggs, known as a sister polar body, had fused with an unfertilized egg to produce the baby shark, whose DNA had only half as much genetic variability as the mother.
A 19-year-old Liberty University student was arrested for having several homemade bombs in his car, which he told police he'd made to stop protesters at Jerry Falwell's funeral, presumably the Fred Phelps clan.
The mission of PSST is to produce original short films through the collaboration of different teams of designers, directors, and animators. Each film is comprised of three sections produced by three different teams. This process is the whole idea behind PSST! – a technique derived from the Dadaist game of Exquisite Corpse and the children’s game Telephone and applied to the arts of motion graphics, animation and film-making.
The first PSST Project had six films and was released in July of 2006.
PSST! 2 [was] released in March of 2007 with nine films.
There's some really great work here. Since these are only about three minutes long, everything is moving quickly and it's interesting to watch the transitions between teams within the films, since the stylistic shifts are so big.
Nine things I learned about the world from anonymous stock photo models.
"Time is going by really really really really slow."
Battered and deep-fried bacon double cheeseburger.
Crazy photos from an Alaskan fishing boat.
"As Mr Wendel's 'performance art' did not harm any of the ancient relics, he was not arrested or charged but given 'serious criticism'."
"Children's author and artist, Mr Dewan is offering to leave instructions in his will for his head to be shrunk and put on display, if the Oxford museum's current collection of 10 heads from the Upper Amazon region has to be repatriated."
"Once you wade past the shallow end of the New Testament into the back half of the Old Testament, get ready: it turns out God's a fucking lunatic, and He loves the taste of your blood."
Thanks for thinking of me, everybody.
A German zoo has hired a clown to keep its monkeys from getting bored.
When the Milky Way collides with the Andromeda galaxy in a couple billion years, our solar system is likely to get banished way out to the dark galactic boondocks.
Video of a water balloon popping at 80x slo-mo.
Picking up where the Vacanti mouse left off, Australian performance artist Stelarc went through with his plans to implant a cell-cultivated ear beneath the skin of his forearm earlier this year, and he's now showing off the results for the world to squirm at. Stelarc apparently isn't satisfied with his newfound appendage just yet, however, and is reportedly planning another surgery to give the ear "more definition." What's more, he's also hoping to implant a microphone inside the ear that'll use a Bluetooth transmitter to, you guessed it, broadcast what it hears over the Internet.
More of Stelarc's work is, of course, at his website.
Nine out of ten patients who survive organ transplantation get skin cancer.
If you're an overweight teenager, you probably want to get raped for the attention. But you don't want to joke about it on Fox News.
The strange-looking Cantor's softshelled turtle spends 95% of its life motionless under the sand, surfacing just twice a day to take a single enormous breath. But:
When its tiny eyes, protruding from the top of its head among the grains of sand, spot a shrimp or a fish or a crab, the turtle shoots its neck out the way a chameleon shoots out its tongue.
"It strikes faster than a snake," Mr. Emmett said. "I have seen cobras striking, and this is easily the same speed. And it has the hardest bite of any animal known to man."
The United States Fish and Wildlife Service is doing its bit to combat counterfeiting.
Genuine tiger genitalia are unlikely to be found for sale in a public shop or market. What is sold as tiger usually comes from cattle—after undergoing some modification. The accurate identification of genitalia from tiger (Panthera tigris) can be achieved only by knowledge of what a genuine tiger penis looks like and by comparison with modified and unmodified penises of other species. [...] Because genuine tiger penises are so rare, the buying public apparently no longer knows what a real tiger penis looks like. Artisans, therefore, must fabricate barbed penises out of cattle and deer genitals to replicate an appearance based on myth and public demand.
Artisans, indeed. Figure 5 ("Extravagantly carved tip of a bull's penis.") is pretty impressive work, even if it doesn't look like a real tiger penis.
The nearest, smallest, and lightest transiting planet found so far has been announced, but that's not all that's interesting.
A Neptune-size planet likely covered in hot—but solid—water has been discovered in a snug orbit around a nearby star, a team of astronomers announced today. While this planet is not fit for life, the finding suggests astronomers may soon detect habitable planets in similar alien solar systems, said Michaël Gillon of the University of Liège in Belgium.
"We are just at the door of a very exciting era," he said in an email interview.
The exotic water detected on the planet is known to form under extremely high pressure—conditions that can only be replicated on Earth in laboratories. [...] Since the planet orbits so close to its star, astronomers expect a minimum surface temperature of 475 degrees Fahrenheit (245 degrees Celsius). And, the astronomers said, pressures within the planet are intense, allowing for the exotic "hot ice."
"Water has more than a dozen states, only one of which is familiar ice," Frédéric Pont, a study co-author from the Geneva Observatory in Switzerland, said in a statement. "Under very high pressure, water turns into other solid states denser than both ice and liquid water, just as carbon transforms into diamond under extreme pressures," he added. Inside the planet, the researchers said the exotic ice is heated to several hundred degrees.
I'd like to hear a few opinions from the lawyer readership on this one. The case has been the big "how will the ruling (Carbone) stand when challenged in this manner" (protectionism of public enterprises vs. purity of interstate commerce) test pending for the waste industry in the last 10 years. I must say the chances for me to side with Thomas and Scalia against JP Stevens are pretty rare. As a practical matter, the ruling clearly strengthens the ability, through local government, for the public to pursue resource recovery out of the municipal solid waste stream. But how resilient will that 'public facility / private facility' distinction prove to be? Inquiring minds want to know...
Tattoos are forever. So choose your artist carefully.
At least that one went wrong instead of by design. (contains a couple small NSFW images)
Christopher Hitchens can be maddening with regard to our foreign policy, but every time he starts talking about our so-called religious leaders, I want to cheer. This is the most appropriate eulogy for Jerry Falwell anybody is likely to give. When Falwell's last breath escaped his body, the United States became a slightly more decent and intelligent country. Good riddance to a thoroughly malevolent person.
Look, I wish her all the best and lord knows it's a gruesomely terrifying story and most of all that it's certainly nothing I should laugh about, but come on. This isn't playing fair.
I have no idea what this thing that washed up in Guinea is, but the diving tiger photos are pretty swank.
For years, educators at the Hancock Park site could only guess that methane gas was being released as the byproduct of oil creation 1,000 feet below the surface. Researchers at UC Riverside have finally found the answer: Hardy bacteria embedded in the natural asphalt are eating away at the petroleum and burping up methane. Of the bacteria the researchers isolated in tar pit samples, about 200 to 300 are previously unknown species. [...]
Although scientists had previously found one living thing in the asphalt — an oil fly that lays its larvae there — no one had managed to extract bacteria. This was difficult in the past because the asphalt "is normally so gooey, it's impossible to get anything out of it," said David Crowley, one of the UC Riverside scientists who found the new bacteria. Crowley and Jong-Shik Kim, a postdoctoral research associate, realized that they could pour cold liquid nitrogen on the asphalt, crush it into a fine powder and extract bacterial DNA from the powdered form. "We found some really great bacteria," Crowley said. "The types we found are all very specialized for life in extreme environments." Living in the asphalt means living with no oxygen, almost no water and lots of toxic chemicals, he said.
Some of the newly found bacteria, from the genus Bacillus, are related to the bacteria that survive the cold conditions 50 miles above the surface of the Earth, where ultraviolet rays sterilize practically everything else. Others, from the genus Rubrobacter, are related to bacteria that can withstand more than 10,000 times the radiation that would kill a person. The bacteria found in the pits work as part of a community. They eat up the petroleum and make organic acids, such as acetic acid, the compound that creates the sour flavor in vinegar. Other bacteria, which Crowley and Kim are still working to characterize, consume these acid byproducts and produce the methane that bubbles to the surface. [...]
What makes these petroleum-eating bacteria interesting is their potential environmental application, Crowley said. Their ability to break up complex hydrocarbons could help clean up oil spills or clear the holds of oil tankers. Some of the species they discovered in the genus Pseudomonas, for example, could help degrade trichloroethylene, a solvent in dry-cleaning and metal degreasing that is a major groundwater contaminant.
In the early 1980's, Betty was a more or less normal, married secretary in her late 50's/early 60's at a Little Rock law firm (allegedly working with Hillary Clinton) with a slight psychiatric problem for which she took medication. At some point, though, she stopped taking her medication and experienced a psychic and sexual renaissance of grandiose proportions: out with the husband and respectable job, in with the matching hot pink hair-do and spandex pants.
Elton, meanwhile, was a much younger (30 years younger, to be exact!) man renowned in Little Rock for his phenomenal basketball skills until the day he claims someone "put something in his drink." Elton met Betty in a homeless shelter, and it was love at first sight. The two were married and became notable Little Rock eccentrics, playing music all around town while sometimes delivering newspapers on the side. Elton ran for a seat in Congress, while Betty challenged Bill Clinton in an Arkansas gubernatorial race with the sole platform of lowering the age of consent to 14.
During this time they recorded at least three albums: "The Best of Elton and Betty" (which is not a compilation), "Sex Beyond the Door," and the mysterious, elusive "Hard Deep Sex Explosion." Each album - but "Sex Beyond the Door" in particular - is a searingly honest, bizarre gem in which the two expound on aspects of their daily lives and sexual inclinations while playing dubiously-tuned ukuleles and tiny guitars.
And it gets stranger from there. Don't miss the Youtube clips for the full experience.
Lots more at the link. In the interest of equal treatment, I linked to the lefty version of this exercise back in 2004, and it remains just as amusing today.
Also, the best news photo from the past week? This one, hands down (source).
Update: Because I'm bored but avoiding work, that celebrity facematcher thingy gave me these and these, some more plausible than others. The vice president of China and Halle Berry were surprises.
"Some people are not cut out to be satisfied with a collection of Hummel figurines. Like Major General Horatio Gordon Robley, seen here with his collection of Maori tattooed heads."
A delivery truck ran over this guy's head, crushing his bike helmet, but only giving him a concussion. Key quote: "I didn't see it coming, but I sure felt it roll over my head. It feels really strange to have a truck run over your head."
Brotherhood of Evil Mutants Now Just Brotherhood of Evil - Wait! I Mean, MUTANTS
The albino alligator on temporary exhibit in Knoxville has to be kept inside to keep from burning. Pink-eyed headshot here.
After seeing this picture (link doesn't work in Safari), I got curious about what the Mingsha sand dune was, having never heard of it before. The clunky translation of the first page I went to made it even better.
Dunhuang has a spectacular natural scene: Mingsha (Sighing) Sand Dune. The dune, a sand crusted hill of dozens of meters high, is 40km east to west, and 20km south to north. In fine days, sand roars like thunder which can be heard in the city, hence the name. when visitors climb up to the dunes and slide downward from the summit, the sand can collapse with them and give out a pearl of loud sound.
How the Mingsha Sand Dunes were formed and what has brought about the phenomenon singing sand? So far, no body has provided a satisfactory answer. According to some Japanese experts, there are probably ancient palaces under the duns while the Russians deem that quartz content in the sand is the main reason. Chinese scientists have carried out the study on the cause of the singing of sand for years and they believe that it is a phenomenon of resonance.
Legend has it that this area was a heavily sheltered, flourishing mountain called Qingshi Mountain(Bluestone Mountain) in ancient time. At the foot of the mountain beside the Crescent Lake clustered many sacred temples. Operas were shown to worship the Temple God on each temple fair. However, the deafening sounds of celebration one year annoying the sleeping Yellow Dragon Prince in a nearby desert. The prince was cruel, cranky and powerful. He used his magical power removed one huge sand dunes into this area and buried all the people underground. Those souls often cry, beat drums and hit gong to complain their mishap. Since then the Mingsha Sang Dunes became into being and the sand was made by the spirits.
Apparently, it's now a well-known tourist attraction along the Silk Road in China. The sound comes from the wind whipping off the sand and sledding down the sand mountain is big business. The main peak is at 5630 feet above sea level and there's a crescent-shaped, spring-fed oasis in the middle. There's a great set of photos starting here and, of course, lots to choose from here.
If you're going to put up a sign exclaiming the inferiority of another religion, at least spell yours correctly, geniuses.
Italy is not the United States.
The balloon self-portrait by Polish artist Pawel Althamer has been hovering outside the Renaissance Palazzina Appiani in Parco Sempione since Monday, drawing second takes, amused looks and some reprobation about exposing children to nudity.
"To be honest with you, it's nothing new," said Rosaria Mirabelli, mother of 3-year-old Tommaso who stared at the sculpture from the back of his mother's bicycle. "He sees his father naked. In this park we see so many worse things than a naked man." [...]
Most people have been amused by the sculpture, he said, noting that Italians, surrounded as they are by Renaissance masterpieces, are used to nudity in public places.
More revealing photos of the inflatable sculpture are here and here.
I know I shouldn't judge before I actually taste them, but my gut reaction is that these constitute an abomination in the eyes of the Lord.
On the other hand, one of the things I learned from my six years as an undergrad is that Kool-aid will mask the taste of damn near anything. Nonetheless, just the thought of pickles and Kool-Aid makes me shudder. Via J-Walk.
"Their owner in China's Liaoning province said they have been playing football regularly since they found the rubber ball three months ago."
A few more words about my recent visit of Picture House: Film, Art and Design at Belsay Hall Mansion, near Newcastle.
Main curator Judith King invited 12 artists, film directors such as Mike Figgis, fashion designers like Viktor & Rolf to take their inspiration from the usually totally empty and slightly gloomy 17th century manor house and inhabit it with art installations. Their work had to respond either to the peculiar atmosphere of the venue or to the narrative of the Hall and the gentry and servants who once lived there. [...]
Dreams of a Winter Night by Geraldine Pilgrim is by far one of the most spectacular installations of the exhibition. A peek into the history of the past owners of Belsay Hall brought to her attention a character she found inspiring: Kitty Middleton was born in 1907 and many former servants remembered Kitty’s coming-out party with fondness. Pilgrim's work combines the imagined memories of Kitty’s disappearing childhood with her fears and excitement for the future. Teacups and saucers flow through one of the smaller bedrooms, a forest weaves its way upward from floor through the bed and up to ceiling of another room and in the smallest of all the ghostly image of Kitty combing her hair in preparation for the party appears in a mirror, whilst a maid peers at her through a crack in the wardrobe.
The headline: PNG police in shoot-out with human sacrifice cult
The money quote: "Gunfire was exchanged and one of the policemen was injured in the leg with an arrow. Another policeman fell over a cliff."
Via Warren Ellis, by way of SEK.
Yesterday as I walked to the bus stop, at 6:30 in the morning, a guy sprinted past me in the other direction carrying a gallon jug of vodka. Early morning vodka emergency. I think we've all been there. I was impressed with how he was carrying it straight out in front of him like a fishbowl---that takes serious forearm muscles. Maybe he was a superhero.
I just walked into my kitchen and realized why I found my gentleman caller standing next to my sink at one point last night staring at the dish drainer. I mean, the vibrator just gave up the ghost over the weekend, and I'm thinking maybe I'll perform a little dissection, just for shits 'n' giggles. And I snagged the half-dozen or so urine specimen cups out of the bathroom when I was having bloodwork done for my annual checkup last week, because I just thought it would be funny to occasionally serve a guest a drink in one. Of course I wanted to wash them all first.
And this snapshot should be seen without introduction.
You know that if you keep masturbating to internet porn, you'll go blind. Luckily, the internet has a solution for this, too.
A new adult entertainment website could be termed aural sex – because it is tailor-made for blind people. The X-rated site features erotic stories read out by scantily-clad women. Users can also listen to graphic descriptions of saucy photos. For those who are not blind but are visually-impaired, a 'zoom' button lets them get up close and personal to the images. The site even provides subtitles on adult movies for deaf subscribers. SoundsDirty.com is the brainchild of British-based web designer and Internet guru Lloyd Chambers.
Joel Ricks told authorities that his wife Amy told him she had a surprise for him. He said she blindfolded him and led him into the basement of a Holladay condominium. The woman then allegedly struck her husband with a hammer multiple times.
When your only tool is a hammer, every spouse looks like a nail.
I can't help but feel some affection for a country whose parliament regularly breaks down into wild, fist-swinging melees.
Bugmaker! Be sure to dig through some of the earlier pages.
"You can expect Bobby to be Bobby. If Bobby ain't Bobby, then Bobby just can't be Bobby."
The biggest supernova ever seen (and still glowing) involved a star 100-200 times the mass of the sun. "Such massive stars are so rare that galaxies like our own Milky Way may contain only a dozen out of a stellar population of 400 billion."
Most tornados that touch down are only a few hundred yards across and stay on the ground for a few miles. The tornado that flattened Greensburg, Kansas Friday night may have been two miles across and stayed on the ground for 100 miles.
Before desperate GOP faithful glom onto Fred Thompson as their party's savior, they should look closely.
You don't hear as much about cattle mutilations as you once did, but they're still happening and they still don't make sense.
The next time you drive by a dead animal on the side of the road, take a closer look. It might just be wearing a purple dress, a green vest or have its "nails" painted. About three weeks ago, Jessica May, who just completed her first year of graduate studies in the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville art and design program, started dressing roadkill in pet and baby clothes to catch people's attention near campus. The 24-year-old from West Lafayette, Ind., said the idea stemmed from a year's worth of work dealing with nature. She said she was interested to see whether people would give more thought to the "wild animals" if they were personified by being dressed in human attire, such as a Polo from Baby Gap. Although she has dressed, and given some manicures, to three raccoons and three possums, she said she is not trying to make a political statement: "I'm not trying to be any sort of militant activist for animals' rights or anything like that."
The article includes a photo of Ms. May crouched on the side of a road, spraypainting a deer carcass gold. Unfortunately, the picture doesn't include enough of the deer for me to judge its aesthetic merit, but in general terms, I give it my seal of approval.
(thanks, Kirsten!)
What happens when you edit out all the false statements and misdirections from Bush's press conferences? Something like this.
Update: Or this.
I recommend starting with Part Two to see why a comedian has become America's most effective and important journalist.
After linking to Amy Stein's Domesticated series below, I went wandering around her blog and found myself at Alison Brady's webpage. From the artist's bio:
My work is a series of color photographs that work to stimulate unconscious emotions, desires, and sexual compulsions, all unified within a dynamic that vacillates between the real and the fantasized. I explore issues related to madness and alienation as they exist in contemporary culture, concentrating on expressions of neurosis, on feelings of anxiety, displacement, and loss of identity.
These emotions are depicted in terms of visual conflict through my imagery, and manifested in terms of grotesque exaggeration. While investigating issues related to the unconscious, elements such as eroticism, twisted humor, and horror come across. I strive to create dichotomies between the sensual and the horrific, the beautiful and the destructive; the result, I hope, is a body of work comprised of deeply emotional and disturbing depictions of the unknown, staged imagery that functions on a metaphorical level, and inanimate objects and settings serving to illustrate the inner workings of the unconscious.
Very much worth your time to click through the posted images (as a work warning, you may see a spare nipple or two, though nothing that's likely to cause trouble). Interesting and confrontational stuff. More here.
Via Matt Welch, Patti Smith singing "You Light Up My Life" on the '80s show Kids are People Too. Seriously.
It would have been twice as punk if, halfway through, she'd segued into "Rock and Roll Nigger". (Aside: you know who does a good version of that song? Marilyn Manson, that's who.)
Interesting gallery of photos covering the intersection of humans and animals. The last one is my favorite.
Pros and Cons of the Top 20 Republican Presidential Candidates
Pros and Cons of the Top 20 Democratic Presidential Candidates
Mostly, I'm just glad to see Allen Iverson make the list.
The US Army says soldiers can no longer post to blogs or send personal emails without clearing the content first.
But with the regulations drawn so tightly, "many commanders will feel like they have no choice but to forbid their soldiers from blogging -- or even using e-mail," said Jeff Nuding, who won the bronze star for his service in Iraq. "If I'm a commander, and think that any slip-up gets me screwed, I'm making it easy: No blogs," added Nuding, writer of the "pro-victory" Dadmanly site. "I think this means the end of my blogging."
Active-duty troops aren't the only ones affected by the new guidelines. Civilians working for the military, Army contractors -- even soldiers' families -- are all subject to the directive as well. But, while the regulations may apply to a broad swath of people, not everybody affected can actually read them. In a Kafka-esque turn, the guidelines are kept on the military's restricted Army Knowledge Online intranet. Many Army contractors -- and many family members -- don't have access to the site. Even those able to get in are finding their access is blocked to that particular file.
"Even though it is supposedly rewritten to include rules for contractors (i.e., me) I am not allowed to download it," e-mails Perry Jeffries, an Iraq war veteran now working as a contractor to the Armed Services Blood Program.
For identical twins, they sure do look different.
Byron Ryman weighed in at 3lb 6oz, followed by his brother Lincoln at only 1lb 2oz when they were induced 11 weeks early. [...] Dr Parag Mishra, who is looking after both infants at the Royal Hospital for Women in Sydney, says he is delighted with their progress. While Lincoln is expected to spend the next four to six weeks being cared for in the newborn intensive care unit, Byron is likely to leave hospital at the end of next week - just in time for Mother's Day in Australia.
"Nicole was 15 weeks along when medical staff detected twin-to-twin transfusion, a type of problem whereby blood flows from one twin to another," he said. "At 29 weeks, we realised Byron's growth had completely stopped, so it was decided that we would induce her to give him a good chance of living. Lincoln had some hope, but the chance of survival I gave was less than 30 per cent because he was so small."
NASA has released a bunch of images from New Horizons' swing by Jupiter earlier this year, including pictures of the planet, its moons, and its rings. Eight more years before the spacecraft arrives at Pluto.
Utah County Republicans had their convention on Saturday and, well, let's just go to the tape.
Don Larsen, chairman of legislative District 65 for the Utah County Republican Party, had submitted a resolution warning that Satan's minions want to eliminate national borders and do away with sovereignty. In a speech at the convention, Larsen told those gathered that illegal immigrants "hate American people" and "are determined to destroy this country, and there is nothing they won't do." Illegal aliens are in control of the media, and working in tandem with Democrats, are trying to "destroy Christian America" and replace it with "a godless new world order -- and that is not extremism, that is fact," Larsen said. At the end of his speech, Larsen began to cry, saying illegal immigrants were trying to bring about the destruction of the U.S. "by self invasion."
Republican officials then allowed speakers to defend and refute the resolution. One speaker, who was identified as "Joe," said illegal immigrants were Marxist and under the influence of the devil. Another, who declined to give her name to the Daily Herald, said illegal immigrants should not be allowed because "they are not going to become Republicans and stop flying the flag upside down. ... If they want to be Americans, they should learn to speak English and fly their flag like we do." [...]
Larsen was allowed to finish the debate with a one-minute speech. "If the Democrats take over the country, we will be dead, and we will have abortion and partial-birth abortion and the Republican Party will go into extinction," he said. "Nancy Pelosi and the ACLU would oppose this (resolution)." [emphases mine]
Awesome. We could run a Manson/LaRouche presidential ticket and still not reach this level of bonkers.
