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Are there other universes? It's mind-boggling to imagine how this might be so, but some scientists think it's possible. But if there's no way to detect something, does it really exist?
comment posted at 10:22 AM on Feb-12-02
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Compassionate Conservatism? Why is anyone surprised by the difference between campaign rhetoric and action once in office?
comment posted at 12:09 PM on Feb-12-02

Ohio school board considers adding "Intelligent Design Theory" to science curriculum. I wish I could find better links than these. I've been hearing about this on NPR every morning this week, but have been unable to find any news links - I can't even find the Ohio State School Board site. They are debating whether or not to start teaching IDT, which seems to be Creationism with a pseudo-scientific background. Here is a transcript of comments that were given to the board by John Calvert, J.D., a supporter of IDT. Anybody know any more about this theory?
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comment posted at 11:26 AM on Feb-9-02

Scalia: Think the dealth penalty wrong? Resign In particular, he says, any Catholic jurist who agrees with the Vatican's anti-death penalty stance should resign. One to raise an eyebrow over, given that Scalia - a jurist who just happens to be Catholic - has been a consistent foe of Roe v. Wade and legalized abortion. He says his opposition to Roe, however, is mainly legal, and adds that his religious views should play no role in his decisions.
comment posted at 6:48 AM on Feb-8-02

Harry Potter fans warn against dangerous effects of Bible A number of concerned British Harry Potter fans have spoken out against the Bible, claiming that the holy text of the Christian Church can cause serious damage to children.
comment posted at 6:52 AM on Feb-8-02

Goodbye QWERTY, Hello ',.PY !!! [Or, One Writer's Love Affair with the Other Keyboard Layout.] From Slate.com
comment posted at 3:17 PM on Feb-6-02

New gender-neutral bible planned... It seems there is a lot of controversy surrounding the revised bible known as "Today's New International Version," or TNIV. The Council on Bibllical Manhood and Womanhood has released a statement on what is wrong with a gender-neutral bible translation while admitting there are a few improvements regarding changing the word men (which isn't specified by Greek text) to all people, a faithful rendering of the Greek pronoun pas According to some, this is the work of the devil and feminist groups everywhere. There have been outright denouncings of the gender-neutral bible by several Christian groups... but really, what do you think? Is it really the big deal people make it out to be? How can the church teach that man and mankind in the Bible refers to all of God's human creatures and yet, not support a genderless translation???
comment posted at 5:59 AM on Jan-29-02
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"America is Blinded on Human Rights" Christopher Hitchens comments on the U.S. and international standards of human rights.
comment posted at 11:07 AM on Jan-27-02

WA Lawmakers try to remove "repugnant" Theory of Evolution from schools . Yes, this is the 21st century, and yes - we in Washington State now have two bills, (Senate and House) before our congress that propose "All textbooks and curriculum that teach the theory of evolution shall be removed from the public schools forthwith and replaced with textbooks and curriculum that teach the self-evident truth of creation".

I don't know whether this is a legitimate effort to change the law, or a (hopefully) doomed effort to curry favor with conservative voters. [originally via fark]
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comment posted at 8:39 PM on Jan-26-02

Are you using VX2? If you are, you probably don't realise it. It's a piece of spyware hidden with Audiogalaxy that "collects some information from online forms that you fill out". Time to update the Adaware reference file again.
comment posted at 4:03 AM on Jan-23-02

Somalis cheer at bootleg "Blackhawk down" screening Somali citizens paid the equivalent of US $.10 to see a bootleg copy of the movie in a playground in downtown Mogadishu on Monday. The audience cheered at scenes where American troops were killed and American choppers were shot down. Somalia may be the next target in the 'War on Terrorism'. "As you can see, Somalis are brave fighters," one man said. "If the Americans come back to fight us, we shall defeat them again."
comment posted at 2:40 PM on Jan-22-02

President Bush seems to think that abortion is unconstitutional. Does anyone smell hypocrisy here? I would suggest that he examine the constitutionality of his own actions before throwing stones.
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comment posted at 2:58 PM on Jan-21-02

Looks like the Saudis may kick the US out. The US presence in Saudi Arabia has been blamed for a lot of discontent in that country. Sounds as if once the campaign in Afghanistan is considered finished, the US may no longer be the guest of the Saudi royals.
comment posted at 8:41 AM on Jan-19-02

Kazaa halts downloading at least until a court decision. Does this really matter, as you're only blocking distribution of the client from the kazaa site. The "servers" still run, and people can still download the client from any other site.
comment posted at 6:55 PM on Jan-18-02
comment posted at 6:56 PM on Jan-18-02

Porn and pizza keep inmates happy over New Year's. Typically New Year's Eve is a somewhat rowdy event at this prison with inmates starting fires and refusing to go back to their cells. So this year, some employees struck a deal with the inmates to show porn and have pizza at New Year's provided they don't cause any trouble.

Now that word has got out to higher authorities and an investigation is in place. And heads will roll...
comment posted at 11:11 AM on Jan-17-02

It's been a while since we discussed who wrote the bible, so I offer these links to the Straight Dope's site: part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4 and part 5.
comment posted at 11:46 AM on Jan-13-02

I'll Have What La Signorina's Having: Recipes from the movies, sweet aphrodisiacs and other secrets from a charming and informative Italian web site. So mangia, mangia, che ti fa bene! ("Eat up, eat up, it's good for you!")
comment posted at 6:41 PM on Jan-12-02

Maya Angelou rises to the challenge of writing for Hallmark. Angelou finds it "challenging and daring" to craft two-sentence sentiments. And when the Maya Angelou Life Mosaic Collection hits stores this month, you'll be able to read the hard-won sentiments of America's favorite inaugural poet on pillows, wall hangings and banquet bowls.
comment posted at 6:22 AM on Jan-12-02

List of Opt-out links that take you directly to the "opt out" feature of the ad server listed. Clicking these links stop the advertising from that adserver. Opt out of double-click, advertising.com, x10, 24/7 media.
comment posted at 10:02 AM on Jan-10-02

While some EU countries are negotiating peace after their failed war on drugs, US legislators keep on the old Prohibition path. Just yesterday I noticed the new "My Anti-Drug" campaign included the careful discalimer that "all drugs, even marijuana" are morally wrong to take. Equating the harm and effects of all controlled substances isn't helping kids, it just makes them ignorant. Of course, most Americans' Anti-Drug is alcohol.
comment posted at 3:54 PM on Jan-1-02

The Universe in One Year Every year on December 31 since I was in 7th grade I think of something I saw in an episode of Carl Sagan's Cosmos. I found this: Imagine that the history of the universe is compressed into one year—with the Big Bang occurring in the first seconds of New Year’s Day, and all our known history occurring in the final seconds before midnight on December 31. Using this scale of time, each month would equal a little over a billion years. Dinosaurs ruled the Earth for almost two hundred million years - from December 25 to December 30 on this time line. Most of our entire written history fits into the last 10 seconds of the year. It's something to think about while watching the ball drop tonight.
comment posted at 9:52 AM on Dec-31-01

Arthur Miller, playwright, fears for American Civil Liberties Here is a distinguised writing Lefty who sure does not give up and hits away at what he perceives as enemies as he did so many years ago. Usually, with age, lefties grow up and move Rightward.
comment posted at 1:48 PM on Dec-25-01

Intelligent Design - Natural Selection guided by God? Is every facet of evolution guided by God then? What about fashion or politics?
comment posted at 4:12 PM on Dec-19-01
comment posted at 2:20 PM on Dec-20-01