The World’s First Openly Gay Prime Minister
Johanna Sigurdardottir, an Icelandic MP, was elected Prime Minister of Iceland this week. She is the first openly gay prime minister in world history.
Link
Original post by John
Archive for January, 2009
Chapter 9: On the Imperfection of the Geological Record [Blogging the Origin]
Thomas Kuhn — the one philosopher of science that even ignorami like me have heard of — said that during periods of ‘normal science’, researchers only take on problems that they know they can solve. ‘Paradigm’ is an overused word, but it’s a measure of the paradigm-shifting nature of the Origin that in much of it, such as in chapter 9 ‘On the imperfection of the geological record’, Darwin flies blind.
Read the rest of this post… | Read the comments on this post…
Original post by John Whitfield none@example.com
How’s 2009 Been Treating You So Far?
So, the first month of 2009 is almost over and it seems that so far the new year has been nothing but bad economic news after bad economic news.
Last week, the folks at the US watched as big companies cut more than 100,000 jobs (with over 70,000 jobs lost on Monday alone), the stock market tumbled, and home prices continued its freefall. Congress played politics over the stimulus package (it passed the House strictly on party line votes) and - surprise - Wall Street continued giving billions in bonuses and perks ($87,784 for a rug, anyone?)
And you know the economy is bad when more people are searching Google for coupons than Britney Spears (via Bo Cowgill).
How’s 2009 been treating you? Did you lose your job? Have trouble making ends meet? What do you think needs to be done to fix the economy? Can the economy be fixed? I’d love [...]
Original post by Alex
What Do Locusts Want?
Most of the time, desert locusts live a solitary existence. But when they experience a sudden spike in serotonin, a neurotransmitter found in all animals, it’s time to swarm! Scientists at the University of Oxford recently found a close connection between the levels of serotonin in
the insects’ bodies and how
sociable they became.
"Locusts switch into swarm behavior based on two cues: when they see and
smell other locusts for an extended period or when their hind legs are
constantly jostled."
Just so you know: when locusts are green (above) they are feeling mellow, when dark-colored they are ready to party.
Photo by Tim Fayle
Link - via news
From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by Marilyn Terrell.
Original post by Queuebot
The Artwork of Sarah King
Writers may use words to weave a work of literary art, but Sarah King did something else with them: she shapes them into wonderful illustrations!
Don’t Panic Magazine has a nifty interview with Sarah:
Inspired by science, space, animals and myths, Sarah’s illustrations are intricately beautiful and bursting with words.
Link
From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by JJA.
Original post by Queuebot
Six Things You Should Know About Minnesota
Think you know Minnesota? The Coen Brothers movie Fargo may make it seem that Minnesotans are yokels, but the truth is, Minnesota is far, far weirder.
Joshua Post Lee of The Black Table explains the things you should know about the Land of 10,000 Lakes - for example:
#1. Minnesota is Trannie Town.
Things seemed to going well that night at the bar. That tall, svelte gal flirting with you has just invited you home. Seems like it’s your night until calloused man hands caress you and that Adam’s apple suddenly just pops out. This happens a lot in our state.
It’s estimated that The Center for Sexual Health at the University of Minnesota (Go U!) does more than half the surgeries nationwide and plenty stick around our Twin Cities.
Minnesota is also home of the International Drag King Extravaganza, which celebrated its fifth anniversary in October 2003 and features many of proud [...]
Original post by Queuebot
Spin-Offs Spinning Out of Control
These days, TV, music and book spin-offs are a pretty slick business - but it wasn’t always like that!
Here’s a list of some pretty badly thought out spin-offs from the mists of time:
So Neil Simon writes a successful play, that then becomes an even more successful movie, and then becomes a long-running sitcom spin-off with Jack “Quincy†Klugman and Tony “proto-Niles†Randall. Surely that’s enough juice to be going on with. A couple more squeezes? You got it.
Exhibit A - The Odd Couple Sings, an endeavour that could most generously be described as misjudged, particularly as Klugman’s pipes aren’t exactly what you call fit for purpose. You can download the full horror at the link above, particularly the awesome version of You’re So Vain.
The indignities don’t stop there for ol’ Felix and Oscar. Oh no, after 114 hit episodes, the concept was later revived in 1982 as The [...]
Original post by Queuebot
Angry Senator: Let’s Cap Wall Street Idiots’ Salaries
Senator Claire McCaskill is angry at the Wall Street "idiots" who are giving out $18 billion in bonuses in 2008. So angry that she has just introduced a bill to cap their pay:
An angry U.S. senator introduced legislation Friday to cap compensation for employees of any company that accepts federal bailout money.
Under the terms of a bill introduced by Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Missouri, no employee would be allowed to make more than the president of the United States. Obama’s current annual salary is $400,000.
"We have a bunch of idiots on Wall Street that are kicking sand in the face of the American taxpayer," an enraged McCaskill said on the floor of the Senate. "They don’t get it. These people are idiots. You can’t use taxpayer money to pay out $18 billion in bonuses."
McCaskill’s proposed compensation limit would cover salaries, bonuses and stock options.
Link
Who thinks it’s a darned good idea?
Original post by Alex
Let’s Panic Like It’s 2009!
Forget the Year of the Ox, according to Bruce Sterling of Seed Magazine, 2009 is the Year of the Panic. He lists 7 reasons why; for example, let’s take look at insurance:
4. Insurance and building codes. Every year, insurance rates soar from mounting "natural" catastrophes, obscuring the fact that the planet’s coasts are increasingly uninsurable.
Insurance underlies the building and construction trades. If those rates skyrocket, that system must keel over. Once people lose faith in the institution of insurance?—?because insurance can’t be made to pay in climate-crisis conditions?—?we’ll find ourselves living in a Planet of Slums.
Most people in this world have no insurance and ignore building codes. They live in "informal architecture," i.e., slum structures. Barrios. Favelas. Squats. Overcrowded districts of this world that look like a post-Katrina situation all the time. When people are thrown out of their too-expensive, too-coded homes, this is where they will go.
Unless they’re American, [...]
Original post by Alex
Cops vs. Krispy Kreme: Where’s My Free Donuts?
A police officer in Brisbane, Australia, got into hot water for trying to claim … free donuts from a local Krispy Kreme:
A Brisbane police officer got into a holey row with Krispy Kreme staff, demanding to be served free doughnuts.
Shocked customers looked on as the officer argued with staff for several minutes in a bid to get his freebies, before finally storming off - empty handed and non-cinnamon-fingered. […]
As the icing on the cake, Krispy Kreme has now decided to stop supplying Brisbane police with leftover doughnuts.
Turns out, it was a simple misunderstanding:
Before the incident, officers had been regularly popping in to collect free boxes of leftover doughnuts at the store in nearby Albert St at the end of the day. Staff were unable to sell the doughnuts and were only too happy to oblige.
A police source said the officer had become confused and thought the free doughnut arrangement applied [...]
Original post by Alex
.jpg)