linkfrenzy (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} linkfrenzy) wrote,@ 2007-10-23 08:40:00 |
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Who Will Rule Us After the Next 9/11?
http://www.slate.com/id/2176185
Comity--that innocent-sounding word--could well turn out to be the excuse for junking those pesky checks and balances the Founding Fathers seemed so obsessed with. For an indeterminate period of time... I don't want to be alarmist, I have no evidence there's a coup brewing. But I think the American people and their congressional reps deserve some say in how they will be ruled when the ordinary rules go out the window in a national emergency. For one thing, what will happen to the Bill of Rights' guarantees of individual liberty and the courts that are supposed to enforce them?
Police Allegedly Hang Quadriplegic Man
http://tinyurl.com/2wznmg
A jury cleared four Pasadena police officers accused of pulling a quadriplegic man out of his wheelchair and slinging him over a concrete wall to search him, but ordered the city to pay the man $80,000... the officers lifted Greathouse out of his chair , and placed him over the wall in order to search him after he was arrested for public drunkenness. He was hospitalized for six days due to shoulder and neck injuries he sustained when the officers hung him over the wall... A judge later dismissed the public drunkenness charge.
'My Holocaust is more important than yours...' (NSFW Pictures)
desertpeace.blogspot.com/2007/10/my-holo
In not so many words, that's exactly what the Jewish community of Turkey had to say about the genocide commited against Armenians in the early 1900's. One would think that the Jews would be more sensitive to this question than anyone else... I guess I was wrong to assume that...
Lebanese virtuoso can?t be stopped
http://www.nowtoronto.com/issues/2007-0
...it's not just in the Middle East where Khalife has trouble with fundamentalists. A San Diego date on his current North American tour with his five-piece Al Mayadeen Ensemble (featuring his sons Rami on piano and Bachar on percussion) had to be moved to another venue when administrators of the Salvation Army's Kroc Center decided the performance would be "divisive" and "unbalanced" without an Israeli performer on the same bill. Unless the Salvation Army has started asking Christian artists to hire Buddhist or Taoist opening acts, it would appear to be a strange double standard.
Nine angry over bid to silence 'worm'
www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/10/22/2
Channel Nine presenter Ray Martin has accused Australian Prime Minister John Howard's office and the National Press Club of trying to stifle the media after the plug was pulled on the channel's feed during last night's election's debate.
Blog author receives uninvited guests from the gov
http://ladyliberty.wordpress.com/2007/1
Ed and Elaine Brown were taken into custody last week. That the government monitors and then detains a person for expressing himself on a public blog should show you that we are not talking about tin foil stuff here. It?s not paranoia if they really are out to get you.
Hooker raped and robbed - by justice system?
http://tinyurl.com/2tpq4r
A Philadelphia judge dropped all sex and assault charges at his preliminary hearing. Municipal Judge Teresa Carr Deni instead held the defendant on the bizarre charge of armed robbery for - get this - "theft of services."
A Spell for Democracy: Run, Al, Run!
http://neopagan.net/blog/?p=155
In the days to come, Mr. Gore will be deciding whether or not to jump into the race for the U.S. Presidency... As a Druid and as a priest of the Earth Mother I know how important it is to use both magical and mundane methods to draft Al Gore, kicking and screaming if necessary, to run.
Marshall University adds Pagan holidays to absence list
http://tinyurl.com/3apvwc
After several controversial requests, the university's policy regarding absences excused for religious reasons is under review, and the decision has been made to add Pagan holidays to the list of excusable holidays. "Based on the research I've done, Paganism is practiced by a group of people large enough for it to be considered a major religion"...
Terrorists who say no to terror
www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25
THEY were considered to be among the world's worst terrorists. Between them they have been responsible for hundreds of horrific deaths, including those of dozens of Australians. But these killer jihadis once hell-bent on destruction and mayhem are now campaigning to stop others following in their footsteps.
Nazanin Fatehi is now free
http://www.helpnazanin.com/
After spending two grueling years in prison, Nazanin Fatehi was spared from her original death sentence, released from prison and reunited with her family on Janurary 31st 2007...
Disney, Microsoft Lead Copyright Pact
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1192697
The copyright holders in the group have agreed not to pursue Internet companies for infringement claims if their sites adhere to certain principles. Those principles include eliminating copyright-infringing content uploaded by users to Web sites, and blocking any infringing material before it is publicly accessible.
How to build your own Sputnik
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/maga
It seems incredible that the technology that went into building the first successful satellite 50 years ago can now be found lying around the average house. You could even build one yourself...
Warning to abusive bloggers as judge tells site to reveal names
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/20
Disgruntled fans of Sheffield Wednesday who vented their dissatisfaction with the football club's bigwigs in anonymous internet postings may face expensive libel claims after the chairman, chief executive and five directors won a high-court ruling last week forcing the owner of a website to reveal their identity.
About 120 people protest religious group's meeting in Lynnwood
http://heraldnet.com/article/20071021/N
About 120 protesters greeted an anti-gay religious group with signs, chants, cheers and jeers... The colorfully dressed group made it clear that the message from the Watchmen on the Walls, monitored by national civil rights organizations as a potential hate group, was not welcome.
neuro-linguistic programming
http://skepdic.com/neurolin.html
It seems that NLP develops models which can't be verified, from which it develops techniques which may have nothing to do with either the models or the sources of the models. NLP makes claims about thinking and perception which do not seem to be supported by neuroscience. This is not to say that the techniques won't work. They may work and work quite well, but there is no way to know whether the claims behind their origin are valid.
(Interesting skeptical look at NLP. More interesting as a window into the mind of non-zetetic skeptics, though--ED)
Researchers knock out HIV
http://www.ku.dk/english/news/?cont
...doctors have discovered that they can successfully neutralise the HIV virus. The so-called ?combination therapy? prevents the HIV virus from mutating and spreading, allowing patients to rebuild their immune system to the same levels as the rest of the population. To date, it represents the most significant treatment for patients suffering from HIV.
Normalisation of CD4 counts in patients with HIV-1 infection and maximum virological suppression who are taking combination antiretroviral therapy: an observational cohort study
http://tinyurl.com/2zp8o4
We compared increases in CD4 counts in 1835 antiretroviral-naive patients who started cART from EuroSIDA, a pan-European observational cohort study. Rate of increase in CD4 count (per year) occurring between pairs of consecutive viral loads below 50 copies per mL was estimated using generalised linear models, accounting for multiple measurements for individual patients.
Who Needs Another Doctor?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/news/cul
David Tennant's Tenth Doctor is set to meet Peter Davison's Fifth Doctor in a special scene commissioned for BBC One's Children in Need.
Beeb confirms Davison-Tennant Who hook-up
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/1
The BBC has confirmed that David Tennant's tenth Doctor Who will meet Peter Davison's fifth incarnation of the Time Lord for a Children in Need special on Friday, 16 November.
Next CSI: New York episode in Second Life
http://www.videogamesblogger.com/2007/1
CBS just put up a teaser trailer on Youtube for the next episode of CSI: New York, where you can see Detective Mac Taylor dress up in drag? virtually for the the online multiplayer game Second Life...
Taoist homosexuals turn to the Rabbit God
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/ar
The Rabbit Temple in Yonghe enshrines a deity based on an historical figure, which is believed to take care of homosexuals
Créature de Jacobs
http://www.cryptomundo.com/cryptozoo-ne
The above photograph is for viewing during the ongoing discussion of the ?Jacobs creature? captured via a trailcam. This image may be useful for comparative analysis, as the subject reveals itself nearly bare of hair, as the reality is it could never bear being called a Sasquatch.
(..or perhaps *not* a Bigfoot, at that--ED)
The Zeusaphone: The Origin of the Word
http://beamjockey.livejournal.com/6
...high-voltage hobbyists have recently developed a so-called solid-state method for driving a Tesla coil. The pulse rate can be increased or decreased, so the sound of "lightning bolt" discharges from the coil have a varying tone. Think of it as a series of rapidly repeated thunderclaps. "...so the lightning is actually making the music," I said. "Ah," said he, "then you could call it a Zeusaphone."
Giant Zombie LEGO Men ATTACK!
http://www.dyzplastic.com/projects/c
customizes and painted 19" LEGO figures for retro-inspired art show, "Back in the Day"
Thailand nabs Canadian pedophile suspect
http://www.reuters.com/article/topN
Canadian pedophile suspect Christopher Neil, focus of a global hunt that ended in rural Thailand on Friday, will be charged with molesting underage children after being tracked down through his boyfriend's phone.
Library Arcade
http://www.library.cmu.edu/Libraries/et
These educational games were developed by graduate students from the Entertainment Technology Center, in collaboration with the University Libraries, and the generous support of the Buhl Foundation.
People with big heads have higher intelligence
http://news.independent.co.uk/sci_t
Edinburgh University researchers, using MRI scans and IQ tests on 48 volunteers, discovered that the larger the head, and therefore the brain, the greater the IQ. A person with a brain of 1,600cc has an IQ of around 125.
(Hmmm. I suspect more research is needed...--ED)
Next e-mail hassle: audio spam
http://redtape.msnbc.com/2007/10/ne
Earlier this week, spammers loaded up tens of thousands of e-mails with short 30-second audio ?'commercials? and let them fly across the Internet.
The Iron Hymen
http://www.ironhymen.com/
The Abstinence-Only Education Program is produced by the US Dept. of Health & Human Services and the White House Office of Youth Purity.
15 Most Ill-Advised Career Reinventions in Rock Music History
http://tinyurl.com/2re2w4
The artists that do a good job of reinvention are allowed to hang around (like Radiohead and even Madonna, brief reign of terror as a rapper notwithstanding). But sometimes reinvention goes horribly, hilariously wrong, and none were worse than these...
and 20 Shockingly Drunk Moments in Music History
http://www.shoutmouth.com/index.php/new
...when famous people drink there are usually cameras rolling. While we cannot personally attest to the level of intoxication of the musicians in these videos, I think we all know some outlandish behavior when we see it. Enjoy!
http://www.slate.com/id/2176185
Comity--that innocent-sounding word--could well turn out to be the excuse for junking those pesky checks and balances the Founding Fathers seemed so obsessed with. For an indeterminate period of time... I don't want to be alarmist, I have no evidence there's a coup brewing. But I think the American people and their congressional reps deserve some say in how they will be ruled when the ordinary rules go out the window in a national emergency. For one thing, what will happen to the Bill of Rights' guarantees of individual liberty and the courts that are supposed to enforce them?
Police Allegedly Hang Quadriplegic Man
http://tinyurl.com/2wznmg
A jury cleared four Pasadena police officers accused of pulling a quadriplegic man out of his wheelchair and slinging him over a concrete wall to search him, but ordered the city to pay the man $80,000... the officers lifted Greathouse out of his chair , and placed him over the wall in order to search him after he was arrested for public drunkenness. He was hospitalized for six days due to shoulder and neck injuries he sustained when the officers hung him over the wall... A judge later dismissed the public drunkenness charge.
'My Holocaust is more important than yours...' (NSFW Pictures)
desertpeace.blogspot.com/2007/10/my-holo
In not so many words, that's exactly what the Jewish community of Turkey had to say about the genocide commited against Armenians in the early 1900's. One would think that the Jews would be more sensitive to this question than anyone else... I guess I was wrong to assume that...
Lebanese virtuoso can?t be stopped
http://www.nowtoronto.com/issues/2007-0
...it's not just in the Middle East where Khalife has trouble with fundamentalists. A San Diego date on his current North American tour with his five-piece Al Mayadeen Ensemble (featuring his sons Rami on piano and Bachar on percussion) had to be moved to another venue when administrators of the Salvation Army's Kroc Center decided the performance would be "divisive" and "unbalanced" without an Israeli performer on the same bill. Unless the Salvation Army has started asking Christian artists to hire Buddhist or Taoist opening acts, it would appear to be a strange double standard.
Nine angry over bid to silence 'worm'
www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/10/22/2
Channel Nine presenter Ray Martin has accused Australian Prime Minister John Howard's office and the National Press Club of trying to stifle the media after the plug was pulled on the channel's feed during last night's election's debate.
Blog author receives uninvited guests from the gov
http://ladyliberty.wordpress.com/2007/1
Ed and Elaine Brown were taken into custody last week. That the government monitors and then detains a person for expressing himself on a public blog should show you that we are not talking about tin foil stuff here. It?s not paranoia if they really are out to get you.
Hooker raped and robbed - by justice system?
http://tinyurl.com/2tpq4r
A Philadelphia judge dropped all sex and assault charges at his preliminary hearing. Municipal Judge Teresa Carr Deni instead held the defendant on the bizarre charge of armed robbery for - get this - "theft of services."
A Spell for Democracy: Run, Al, Run!
http://neopagan.net/blog/?p=155
In the days to come, Mr. Gore will be deciding whether or not to jump into the race for the U.S. Presidency... As a Druid and as a priest of the Earth Mother I know how important it is to use both magical and mundane methods to draft Al Gore, kicking and screaming if necessary, to run.
Marshall University adds Pagan holidays to absence list
http://tinyurl.com/3apvwc
After several controversial requests, the university's policy regarding absences excused for religious reasons is under review, and the decision has been made to add Pagan holidays to the list of excusable holidays. "Based on the research I've done, Paganism is practiced by a group of people large enough for it to be considered a major religion"...
Terrorists who say no to terror
www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25
THEY were considered to be among the world's worst terrorists. Between them they have been responsible for hundreds of horrific deaths, including those of dozens of Australians. But these killer jihadis once hell-bent on destruction and mayhem are now campaigning to stop others following in their footsteps.
Nazanin Fatehi is now free
http://www.helpnazanin.com/
After spending two grueling years in prison, Nazanin Fatehi was spared from her original death sentence, released from prison and reunited with her family on Janurary 31st 2007...
Disney, Microsoft Lead Copyright Pact
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1192697
The copyright holders in the group have agreed not to pursue Internet companies for infringement claims if their sites adhere to certain principles. Those principles include eliminating copyright-infringing content uploaded by users to Web sites, and blocking any infringing material before it is publicly accessible.
How to build your own Sputnik
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/maga
It seems incredible that the technology that went into building the first successful satellite 50 years ago can now be found lying around the average house. You could even build one yourself...
Warning to abusive bloggers as judge tells site to reveal names
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/20
Disgruntled fans of Sheffield Wednesday who vented their dissatisfaction with the football club's bigwigs in anonymous internet postings may face expensive libel claims after the chairman, chief executive and five directors won a high-court ruling last week forcing the owner of a website to reveal their identity.
About 120 people protest religious group's meeting in Lynnwood
http://heraldnet.com/article/20071021/N
About 120 protesters greeted an anti-gay religious group with signs, chants, cheers and jeers... The colorfully dressed group made it clear that the message from the Watchmen on the Walls, monitored by national civil rights organizations as a potential hate group, was not welcome.
neuro-linguistic programming
http://skepdic.com/neurolin.html
It seems that NLP develops models which can't be verified, from which it develops techniques which may have nothing to do with either the models or the sources of the models. NLP makes claims about thinking and perception which do not seem to be supported by neuroscience. This is not to say that the techniques won't work. They may work and work quite well, but there is no way to know whether the claims behind their origin are valid.
(Interesting skeptical look at NLP. More interesting as a window into the mind of non-zetetic skeptics, though--ED)
Researchers knock out HIV
http://www.ku.dk/english/news/?cont
...doctors have discovered that they can successfully neutralise the HIV virus. The so-called ?combination therapy? prevents the HIV virus from mutating and spreading, allowing patients to rebuild their immune system to the same levels as the rest of the population. To date, it represents the most significant treatment for patients suffering from HIV.
Normalisation of CD4 counts in patients with HIV-1 infection and maximum virological suppression who are taking combination antiretroviral therapy: an observational cohort study
http://tinyurl.com/2zp8o4
We compared increases in CD4 counts in 1835 antiretroviral-naive patients who started cART from EuroSIDA, a pan-European observational cohort study. Rate of increase in CD4 count (per year) occurring between pairs of consecutive viral loads below 50 copies per mL was estimated using generalised linear models, accounting for multiple measurements for individual patients.
Who Needs Another Doctor?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/news/cul
David Tennant's Tenth Doctor is set to meet Peter Davison's Fifth Doctor in a special scene commissioned for BBC One's Children in Need.
Beeb confirms Davison-Tennant Who hook-up
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/1
The BBC has confirmed that David Tennant's tenth Doctor Who will meet Peter Davison's fifth incarnation of the Time Lord for a Children in Need special on Friday, 16 November.
Next CSI: New York episode in Second Life
http://www.videogamesblogger.com/2007/1
CBS just put up a teaser trailer on Youtube for the next episode of CSI: New York, where you can see Detective Mac Taylor dress up in drag? virtually for the the online multiplayer game Second Life...
Taoist homosexuals turn to the Rabbit God
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/ar
The Rabbit Temple in Yonghe enshrines a deity based on an historical figure, which is believed to take care of homosexuals
Créature de Jacobs
http://www.cryptomundo.com/cryptozoo-ne
The above photograph is for viewing during the ongoing discussion of the ?Jacobs creature? captured via a trailcam. This image may be useful for comparative analysis, as the subject reveals itself nearly bare of hair, as the reality is it could never bear being called a Sasquatch.
(..or perhaps *not* a Bigfoot, at that--ED)
The Zeusaphone: The Origin of the Word
http://beamjockey.livejournal.com/6
...high-voltage hobbyists have recently developed a so-called solid-state method for driving a Tesla coil. The pulse rate can be increased or decreased, so the sound of "lightning bolt" discharges from the coil have a varying tone. Think of it as a series of rapidly repeated thunderclaps. "...so the lightning is actually making the music," I said. "Ah," said he, "then you could call it a Zeusaphone."
Giant Zombie LEGO Men ATTACK!
http://www.dyzplastic.com/projects/c
customizes and painted 19" LEGO figures for retro-inspired art show, "Back in the Day"
Thailand nabs Canadian pedophile suspect
http://www.reuters.com/article/topN
Canadian pedophile suspect Christopher Neil, focus of a global hunt that ended in rural Thailand on Friday, will be charged with molesting underage children after being tracked down through his boyfriend's phone.
Library Arcade
http://www.library.cmu.edu/Libraries/et
These educational games were developed by graduate students from the Entertainment Technology Center, in collaboration with the University Libraries, and the generous support of the Buhl Foundation.
People with big heads have higher intelligence
http://news.independent.co.uk/sci_t
Edinburgh University researchers, using MRI scans and IQ tests on 48 volunteers, discovered that the larger the head, and therefore the brain, the greater the IQ. A person with a brain of 1,600cc has an IQ of around 125.
(Hmmm. I suspect more research is needed...--ED)
Next e-mail hassle: audio spam
http://redtape.msnbc.com/2007/10/ne
Earlier this week, spammers loaded up tens of thousands of e-mails with short 30-second audio ?'commercials? and let them fly across the Internet.
The Iron Hymen
http://www.ironhymen.com/
The Abstinence-Only Education Program is produced by the US Dept. of Health & Human Services and the White House Office of Youth Purity.
15 Most Ill-Advised Career Reinventions in Rock Music History
http://tinyurl.com/2re2w4
The artists that do a good job of reinvention are allowed to hang around (like Radiohead and even Madonna, brief reign of terror as a rapper notwithstanding). But sometimes reinvention goes horribly, hilariously wrong, and none were worse than these...
and 20 Shockingly Drunk Moments in Music History
http://www.shoutmouth.com/index.php/new
...when famous people drink there are usually cameras rolling. While we cannot personally attest to the level of intoxication of the musicians in these videos, I think we all know some outlandish behavior when we see it. Enjoy!
