Another letter to the LA Times...as the Supreme Court throws out a domestic spying challenge

To the Editors, LA Times:

The Federal Gov't claims it is secret who they spied upon (if they spied at all), those who think they were spied upon can't therefore know for certain, and somehow the Supreme Court observed, recognized and continued this injustice, and disallowed the complaint.

 

If any of us were spied upon, all of us were spied upon.  That is the American standard they ought to be using.

 

Congress must act to release all records relating to domestic spying (wiretapping and any other forms) immediately!

 

Frish

 

(I've copied several groups of folk on this.  There is a particularly bright group that may benefit from the style and effort if not the content...will they publish?  always a crap shoot!)

Re: U.S. Christians suggest killing Muslims to "purify the Earth"

Yesterday, Fred wrote to me and said:

 

 

I don't believe Christians teach their children to strap bombs to themselves and blow up

  infidels.

 

I replied that KKKers claim to be Christian too, but, as you'll see below, Fred decided not to understand my meaning, or to be obtuse in his response. 

 

The article is advocating just that, strap on your rifle and kill a Muslim, there is no difference Fred, between the hated Islamic Enemy and the so called Christian response!

 

Just because a human bomber is described as a Muslim Extremist, doesn't mean they are Muslim or Extremist.  At least some of them are Psychotic Extremists, but they live in a Muslim country...so, our press calls them Muslim Extremists. 

 

This is exactly what the article was about, how our very worldviews have been tainted by the obsessing over MUSLIMistism (to coin a colbertism).

 

The Christians being written about advocate arms be taken up against Muslims!  

 

How incredibly hypocritical and unChristian in their response, forget turn the other cheek, let's sign up for perpetual war, to please god...

 

On Feb 13, 2008 3:22 PM, Fred wrote:
 

I don't think 10% of Christians belong to the KKK.

Hi.  My point is that 100% of KKKers claim to be Christian.  Do you agree they are Christian?  Or are you saying that they just aren't very many in number, so, it doesn't matter if they claim to be Christian?  Or what?  Labeling a homicide bomber a muslim extremist is just like labeling them a KKKer Fred.  Do you ever hear the term Psychotic Extremist, yet most of them are that too?

 

Are you claiming that 10% of Muslims world wide are terrorists Fred?  Do you know how many that is?   I'd be plenty worried too, if that were the case, and nothing our military could do would stop it either, believe me! 

 

Let's do the Math:

 

About 2 Billion Muslims in the World Fred.

If 10% are terrorists we have 200,000,000 people to worry about. 

 

That's like 1 out of 20 adults in the world Fred...no police no military, nothing could stop them if they were in any way organized.

 

 

Besides, Muslims -- like about 10,000,000 of them, are teaching kids today to blow themselves up to kill infidels.

 

So, let's work on fixing that, if it is true.  How about spending 10% of what we're spending to fight terrorism via the military means and develop free solar powered PCs wireless to satellites, distribute them any way we have to, so local governments can't control content and then see what happens in 25 years or so...education is the key Fred, both for Christians and Muslims.

 

But you don't see any difference.

Are you advocating their deaths? 

Are you suggesting the correct response to their harmful schooling of horrible hatred for Christians is to kill Muslims?

 

Then, you are correct Fred, there is no difference between Christian Extremists and the Muslim Extremists...

U.S. Christians suggest killing Muslims to "purify the Earth"

As Frish (that's me sport's fans, this note has a wide distribution!) said (during the 2004 "political season"), whomever wins it won't be good for Muslims...since Kerry and Bush were both Skull & Bones (for example) and that's just another name for Crusaders.

 

A recent conversation with a Bright US Navy Warrior confirmed that the pressure for all to be "christian" in the military is extreme, from officers and chaplins on down...nice to see a reference to the The Military Religious Freedom Foundation.

 

I have seen video and read about "Haji" chants/songs (cute little military ditties that dehumanize Muslims so to make it easier to kill them, spread informally from unit to unit but not discouraged by officers...).

 

THE ARTICLE COPIED BELOW IS EXTRAORDINARILY DISTURBING, SINCE THE RELIGIO-PROPOGANDA IS SO IMBEDDED IN THE CULTURE, AND THE MILITARY...and spread by our "leaders"  "Islamo-Fascism" is the weirdest combination of concepts ever foisted on an horrifically and purposely ignorant public.

 

Actually the title of the article is way too tolerant by stating this is an "emerging" situation.  This has been in full force for 30 years or more, thanks to Tim LaHaye and other Dominionist/Second Coming touts...

 

Dealing with terrorists is actually a very soluable problem.  Make it a police problem, since they are political criminals, and not a military problem, since they aren't actually "at war" with us.  For example, to whom would we surrender in Iraq?  How can we be at war and not know to whom we ought surrender?  Doesn't follow any logic, we can't be at war at all...

 

Dealing with individuals acting crazy will never stop.  Dealing with terrorists can be done...It is very possible that the lies spread by the groups fomenting anti-Islamism are actually terrorists...criminality limited to liable, but hey...no different than Holocaust deniers.  That's criminal in Europe!

 

The Earth will be "purified" with or without christians, since it isn't nice to fool Mother Nature...but that's a different note...

 

*(Oh, yeah, spread the meme - see http://www.the-brights.net/ and, remember "REALITY NOW!" (Motto of the LA Brights!))

 

http://www.alternet.org/rights/76686/

Christian Right's Emerging Deadly Worldview: Kill Muslims to Purify the Earth

By Chris Hedges, Truthdig. Posted February 12, 2008.

 

Christian extremists are preaching a war against tolerance to target and persecute all Muslims, including the 6 million who live in the U.S.

 

Walid Shoebat, Kamal Saleem and Zachariah Anani are the three stooges of the Christian right. These self-described former Muslim terrorists are regularly trotted out at Christian colleges -- a few days ago they were at the Air Force Academy -- to spew racist filth about Islam on behalf of groups such as Focus on the Family. It is a clever tactic. Curly, Larry and Mo, who all say they are born-again Christians, engage in hate speech and assure us it comes from personal experience. They tell their audiences that the only way to deal with one-fifth of the world's population is by converting or eradicating all Muslims. Their cant is broadcast regularly on Fox News, including the Bill O'Reilly and Neil Cavuto shows, as well as on numerous Christian radio and television programs. Shoebat, who has written a book called Why We Want to Kill You, promises in his lectures to explain the numerous similarities between radical Muslims and the Nazis, how "Muslim terrorists" invaded America 30 years ago and how "perseverance, recruitment and hate" have fueled attacks by Muslims. 

 

These men are frauds, but this is not the point. They are part of a dark and frightening war by the Christian right against tolerance that, in the moment of another catastrophic terrorist attack on American soil, would make it acceptable to target and persecute all Muslims, including the some 6 million Muslims who live in the United States. These men stoke these irrational fears. They defend the perpetual war unleashed by the Bush administration and championed by Sen. John McCain. McCain frequently reminds listeners that "the greatest danger facing the world is Islamic terrorism," as does Mike Huckabee, who says that "Islamofascism" is "the greatest threat this country [has] ever faced." George W. Bush has, in the same vein, assured Americans that terrorists hate us for our freedoms, not, of course, for anything we have done. Bush described the "war on terror" as a war against totalitarian Islamofascism while the Israeli air force was dropping tens of thousands of pounds of iron fragmentation bombs up and down Lebanon, an air campaign that killed 1,300 Lebanese civilians.

 

The three men tell lurid tales of being recruited as children into Palestinian terrorist organizations, murdering hundreds of civilians and blowing up a bank in Israel. Saleem says that as a child he infiltrated Israel to plant bombs via a network of tunnels underneath the Golan Heights, although no incident of this type was ever reported in Israel. He claims he is descended from the "grand wazir" of Islam, a title and a position that do not exist in the Arab world. They assure audiences that the Palestinians are interested not in a peaceful two-state solution but rather the destruction of Israel, the murder of all Jews and the death of America. Shoebat claims he first came to the United States as part of an extremist "sleeper cell."

 

"These three jokers are as much former Islamic terrorists as 'Star Trek's' Capt. James T. Kirk was a real Starship captain," said Mikey Weinstein, the head of the watchdog group The Military Religious Freedom Foundation. The group has challenged Christian proselytizing in the military and denounced the visit by the men to the Air Force Academy.

 

The speakers include in their talks the superior virtues of Christianity. Saleem, for example, says his world "turned upside down when he was seriously injured in an automobile accident."

 

"A Christian man tended to Kamal at the accident scene, making sure he got the medical treatment he needed," his Web site says. "Kamal's orthopedic surgeon and physical therapist were also Christian men whom over a period of several months ministered the unconditional love of Jesus Christ to him as he recovered. The love and sacrificial giving of these men caused Kamal to cry out to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob acknowledging his need for the Savior. Kamal has since become a man on a new mission, as an ambassador for the one true and living God, the great I Am, Jehovah God of the Bible."

 

This creeping Christian chauvinism has infected our political and social discourse. It was behind the rumor that Barack Obama was a Muslim. Obama reassured followers that he was a Christian. It apparently did not occur to him, or his questioners, that the proper answer is that there is nothing wrong with being a Muslim, that persons of great moral probity and courage arise in all cultures and all religions, including Islam. Christians have no exclusive lock on virtue. But this kind of understanding often provokes indignant rage. 

 

The public denigration of Islam, and by implication all religious belief systems outside Christianity, is part of the triumphalism that has distorted the country since the 9/11 attacks. It makes dialogue with those outside our "Christian" culture impossible. It implicitly condemns all who do not think as we think and believe as we believe as, at best, inferior and usually morally depraved. It blinds us to our own failings. It makes self-reflection and self-criticism a form of treason. It reduces the world to a cartoonish vision of us and them, good and evil. It turns us into children with bombs. 

 

These three con artists are not the problem. There is enough scum out there to take their place. Rather, they offer a window into a worldview that is destroying the United States. It has corrupted the Republican Party. It has colored the news media. It has entered into the everyday clichés we use to explain ourselves to ourselves. It is ignorant and racist, but it is also deadly. It grossly perverts the Christian religion. It asks us to kill to purify the Earth. It leaves us threatened not only by the terrorists who may come from abroad but the ones who are rising from within our midst.

 

Chris Hedges, a Pulitzer prize-winning reporter, was the Middle East bureau chief for The New York Times. He spent seven years in the Middle East and reported frequently from Iran. His latest book is American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America.

A quick response to Fred's weekly email blast

Fred:  The set of record low temperatures is absolutely MEANING FREE.  

 

How do you know, from what the "Washington Times National Weekly Edition" says, that last year was somehow special in terms of low temperatures...

 

The best sentence in the piece is the final one:

 

"Global warming has long since passed from scientific hypothesis to the realm of pseudoscientific mumbo-jumbo."

-- "Year of Global Cooling," by David Deming, The Washington Times National Weekly Edition, December 24, 2007, page 32. Address: 3600 New York Avenue, NE, Washington, DC 20002.

Fred.  No one speaks of global "warming" as a scientific hypothesis.

Scientists speak of Global Climate Change.

Climate CHANGE doesn't mean hotter all the time everywhere.

Why should a few "low" temperature examples be anything but what they are?  They are evidence of Global Climate Change.

 

It will get much worse before the Earth recovers itself from our unintentional experiment on the biosphere.

 

Global Climate Change, due to human activity, is as much a scientific FACT as gravity. 

 

Fred, do you act in accordance with gravity? 

 

Why do you think you'll avoid the effects of global climate change?

Yahoo Headlines as of 12:48 pm on 02/08/2008

• Knife-wielding woman stabs pilots, tries to hijack N.Z. flight
• Women in Basra are being brutally murdered by extremists
• Man opens fire at Missouri city council meeting Six dead
• Explosion rocks sugar refinery in Georgia Dozens injured
• Evangelical leader endorses Huckabee 2008 campaign
• Exxon wins court orders freezing billions in Venezuelan assets
• Court holds closed-door hearing on motion in Spears case

 

Nothing to say really. 

 

Some fairly abnormal behavior by people, including Britney, plus hijackers, explosions, oil, Venezuelans and Evangelicals!

Getting Over It

Getting Over It

Dripping/Coughing noises are

replaced by snoring

LABRIGHTFLASH 2 - "Pressing Business 101"

Fearless Leader, your kind assistance please:

I met you at the November meet-up. During that meeting you mentioned that you had written an article in response to another pro-faith article appearing in the same publication. I had asked you at the time if I would be able to see the article you wrote and the one you responded to so that I could get an idea of what sort of things should be actively addressed and how to go about doing so. I'd like to take you up on your offer to show me these articles if you can and it is not too much trouble. Thanks. Hope to see you at February meeting.
News Hound

 

Dear News Hound:

The particulars of my foray in November are related on my blog:

http://nonshoppingchannel.blogspot.com/2007/10/la-times-article-on-bakersfield.html

 

That's a rather long post, but I think it tells the story.

 

Let me make one thing extraordinarily crystal clear:  I would NEVER suggest what should be "actively addressed".  We all have a moral compass, what ticks you off or turns you on is your own thing, so react to whatever you find yourself reacting to in whatever sincerely appropriate way you deem necessary!

 

You have, however, given me the opportunity to wax poetic about the press, how to approach, and how to get published, that I will share with the group.

 

1.  Finding articles to react to -  I've come to the deliberation that we ought to try to find local press outlets, as we're the LA Brights. 

 

LA Times - I read it daily

LA Business Journal - not sure there's much call for our message here.

Orange County Whatever - Do It!

Valencia Village Voice - local published stuff (every city has one, Venice Mag is quite popular)

 

However, it is easier to react to things without worry about geography. 

 

Here's a strategy to find things to react to:  Google Alerts!

 

Set up a news finder alert that has one the following keywords:  "The Brights", "Atheist", "theocracy" "church state separation", "Secular Humanism", "or whatever phrase you wish to react to".

 

Then, everyday, you can review whatever you choose to respond to!

 

2.a  How to respond:  Find, in the online resource, the means to respond.  Sometimes that's simply contributing another comment on the forum where you found the interesting article. 

 

Sometimes you can write to the editor and the author. 

 

I like that better, it means the source is (perhaps) legitimate and not just some random blog.

 

2.b.  How to respond:  Being Bright means being POSITIVE, friendly, diplomatic, assured, NEVER cocky, argumentative nor hostile. 

 

So, think about the tone of your response, especially after you write it! 

 

Be cautious of responding in the heat of the moment, a well edited note, like revenge, is best served cold.  Sleep on it, send Friar Frish a copy to review, send it to your mom, or other person whose opinion you respect, then, read it again.

 

If you stop changing anything in it after reading it, read it again until you stop making changes.

 

2c.  How to respond:  Be direct, be CONCISE, show you've understood their issues and that you take issue with it, (or, that you wholeheartedly agree) and here's some evidence to prove it.

 

So, like every treatise:

 

I> Short intro - to what are you reacting

 

II> Your Premise

 

III> Support for your premise and sign off

 

Here's another real life example...a letter I wrote to the NY Times in response to the following:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/04/opinion/04dobson.html?ref=opinion

 

(Please note, along with being Fearless Leader of the LA Brights, I'm also a Volunteer in the WWW.VHEMT.ORG!)

 

Dear Editors: 

Cultural changes cannot be "managed", however much Dr. Dobson yearns for some supposedly "better" tradition.  Families are far more diverse than ever before, and our economy and society seem to be coping.

 

His single issue vehemence only serves to isolate him, and his support for a third party candidate would seal the deal.  That's why Giuliani doesn't care about Dr. Dobson, he knows he'll get those votes anyway...

 

To further educate Dr. Dobson, there are those who feel that having children is immoral altogether, but that is a different discussion.

 

I hope any political activities including fundraising and "calls-to-action" via sermon by churches are taxed appropriately.

 

(I write as I speak.  It works for me.  Pick a style you are comfortable with and develop it!)

 

3.  If you get published, you may end up being asked for an interview. 

 

If this should occur, you'll need Frish's Pressing Business 301...for future spokespeople.

 

Thanks all, Friar Frish says: "REALITY NOW!"  (followed by the hand sign, see below)

 

Every "gang" needs a "hand sign". 

 

Here's my suggestion:

The right hand is vertical, the left palm is placed on the right middle finger.  A Referee's TIME OUT symbol (REALITY NOW!).

Headlines we could not make up! "U.S. woman abducted in Afghanistan. A Taliban snatch?"

I hope "they" don't take this page down, but, just in case, I'll copy the text here. 

While it sounds a lot like Leno ripped off Carson, this is not a fun or funny story, but how can they get away with the headline?

 

The story of the abduction of Cyd Mizell was distributed by the CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR!

See:  http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20080128/wl_csm/okidnap

 

U.S. woman abducted in Afghanistan. A Taliban snatch?

By Jon Boone Mon Jan 28, 3:00 AM ET

KABUL, Afghanistan - The abduction on Saturday of a female US aid worker in one of Afghanistan's most dangerous cities may signal increased risk for foreign aid workers.

Kidnappings of Americans have been rare, and some Kandahar residents say the abduction of Cyd Mizell and her Afghan driver at gunpoint is a worrying development.

Sarah Chayes, a former journalist who now runs an Afghan cooperative that exports soap, says the incident "sends a signal. It's like a new chapter in a book."

"They haven't taken an American or a Canadian on the streets like this before. I don't think this was just bandits because the operation looks like it was too sophisticated for that."

Ms. Chayes suggests that the abduction could have been payback for US policy on President Pervez Musharraf.

Kandahar, the spiritual home of the Taliban movement, has been rocked by the neo-Taliban insurgency that has gained strength in the past three years. The deterioration of law and order has also made the city considerably more dangerous for foreign visitors and Afghans alike.

The most recent abduction case involved four members of the International Committee of the Red Cross in the eastern province of Wardak in September. The two Afghans, a Macedonian, and a Burmese citizen were freed three days later. Perhaps the most notorious case of 2007 was the abduction of 23 Christian aid workers from South Korea who attempted to travel from Kabul to Kandahar by bus. Two hostages were shot to death before the rest were released. An American civilian was briefly abducted in Kabul in April 2005 but escaped by throwing himself from a moving car.

Analysts fear that terrorists and criminal gangs have been encouraged by the policy of some foreign governments to pay ransoms.

The few foreigners who still live in the city of Kandahar often use heavy security, including armed guards and armor-plated vehicles, whenever they ventured out of their offices. Afghan officials say that Mizell had been wearing a burqa, an all-encompassing body veil favoured by most Afghan women when they have to go out of their homes.

Ms. Mizell worked for Asian Life Development Foundation, a little-known nongovernmental organization . The group said she had been working in Kandahar for nearly three years with women and on income generation projects.

A speaker of Pashtu, the main language of Afghanistan's south, she taught English at Kandahar University and gave embroidery lessons at a girls' school.

In response to the abduction, local police increased their presence on the streets of Kandahar over the weekend and the Ministry of the Interior said it was doing all it could to find Ms. Mizell. Local police said that they had not been contacted by anyone claiming responsibility for the kidnapping.

The Taliban have employed kidnapping as a tactic in their battle to erode popular support for the government of President Hamid Karzai several times before.

Zabihullah Mujahed, the Taliban's main spokesman, said they did not know if anyone affiliated with the extremist Sunni group had been responsible for the abduction.

An inquiry from an acquaintance - what about lyrics?

Drunkirish writes to Frish: A while back u edited my story "the end" ive recently got into writing lyrics maby u can give me some pointers...

Dear Drunkirish:
Find a good RHYMING DICTIONARY and a THESARUS.

Think of what you want to write about, find a few fun words that rhyme or are alliterative and go to town (city, burg, village, urban spawl, etc.) (brown, pity, iceberg, pillage, suburban mall, etc.)

Pick a meter, that's why writing haiku is good practice, since you have to be strict in the word choice  (5 syllables, 7 then 5 again).

A town without pity  (that's a 6 count)
Brown pall over city
Move out from Urban Sprawl
Trade in for shopping mall!

lyrics are fun, hope that helped.

My newly diagnosed "E.D." - your sympathy and guidance are welcome...

Found out today there is a term for what I have...

 

Electile Dysfunction:  The inability to become aroused over any of the choices for president.

LABRIGHTFLASH 1: Voting Your Conscience!

Yes, we have no soul, but we do have a conscience.  All part of being social animals, don't you know.  I ought to know, since I'm about to lay a guilt trip on you!  So, I thank Nature for your conscience...

 

Hi all, I'm Frish - Fearless Leader LA Brights and you signed up for MEETUP email (or I bcc'ed you anyway, or you subscribe to my blog...well you understand!)

 

This is the very first LA BRIGHT F.L.A.S.H. - Fearless Leader Addresses Special Humans.

You are Special Humans.  If you know others, please have them sign up as gaining more membership is one of our goals...or pass this along to all your friends and neighbors...

 

My assignment, post our prior MEETUP, was to do "something" political.  Being a force of one I don't have the "mips" to do more, but I offer the following to assist you in your voting decisions.  (Stop Laughing at the MIPS reference - you know who you are!)

 

Feb 5th is fast approaching.  Generally people get the government they deserve.  I vote.  Hope you do too!  (That was the guilt trip!)

 

FLASH Topics!

A.  HR 888 Christian Nation

B.  Separation, Recognition, Faith and Science

C.  Select a Candidate!

 

===================== 

A. If you happen to be able to raise BRIGHT issues in a group of people, or, better yet, have an opportunity to quiz a candidate, here's something that is fun!  Ask a candidate if they support H. R. 888, introduced by Randy Forbes in the House back in December, and if so, why?

 

Here is a brief summary of it and why your representative ought not vote for it, from the Secular Coalition site: H. R. 888 Christian Nation Resolution

The Christian right is pushing this to get voting records established so they can then use it against candidates in the 2008 election.  Democrats squirm while Republicans jump to answer yes. Then, nail them with the next question, "why do you think this is only a Christian nation," and "what about religious diversity do you find intolerable?"

 

============================

 

B.  Here's a great list of questions from http://www.firstfreedomfirst.org/getinvolved/questions-to-ask-candidates#q8

 

Questions to Ask Candidates

Here are suggested questions that you can use at Town Hall meetings or other locations where candidates for office will be gathering. You can copy and paste them into an email message to the candidates. Or, use these as suggestions to help formulate your own questions to candidates, to find out their views on safeguarding separation of church and state and protecting religious liberty.

1. Leaders on the religious right often say that America is a "Christian Nation." Do you agree with this statement?
2. Do you think Houses of Worship should be allowed to endorse political candidates and retain their tax exempt status?
3. Do you think public schools should sponsor school prayer or, as a parent, should this choice be left to me?
4. Would you support a law that mandates teaching creationism in my child's public school science classes?
5. Do you think my pharmacist should be allowed to deny me doctor-prescribed medications based on his or her religious beliefs?
6. Will you respect the rights of those in our diverse communities of faith who deem same-gender marriage to be consistent with their religious creed?
7. Should "faith-based" charities that receive public funds be allowed to discriminate against employees or applicants based on religious beliefs?
8. Do you think one's right to disbelieve in God is protected by the same laws that protect someone else's right to believe?
9. Do you think everyone's religious freedom needs to be protected by what Thomas Jefferson called "a wall of separation" between church and state?
10. What should guide our policies on public health and medical research: science or religion?

=======================

 

C.  PERSONALLY, I'M MORE THAN A ONE ISSUE (FREEDOM LOVING) GUY.  THIS SITE ALLOWS YOU TO WEIGH THE CANDIDATES FROM SEVERAL PERSPECTIVES...I WON'T SHARE HOW I CAME OUT, BUT I WAS NOT SURPRISED (and somehow I won't miss Fred Thompson!)

 

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/projects/ongoing/select_a_candidate/poll.php?race_id=13

 

====================

 

Please do comment, unsubscribe, tell a friend, and otherwise interact, to the group, to me, to total strangers!  

 

Our emails are THE MANIFESTATION of our group - The Los Angeles Brights.

 

Looking forward to your participation!

 

Control your options at http://brights.meetup.com/286/ (daily digests, etc.)

 

----------------------------------------

 

LA Brights - "Reality Now!"

(Frish's suggested, lovely and totally unofficial LA Brights Motto, your reactions please, and seeing if anyone besides John reads this far...DG, thanks for your support on this!)

Italian Altar Boy

Bless me Father, for I have sinned. I have been with a loose girl."

The priest asks, "Is that you, little Joey Parisi?"

"Yes, Father, it is."
 

"And who was the girl you were with?"

"I can't tell you, Father, I don't want to ruin her reputation."

"Well, Joey, I'm sure to find out her name sooner or later, so you may as well tell me now. Was it Tina Minetti?"

"I cannot say."

"Was it Teresa Volpe?"

"I'll never tell."

"Was it Nina Capelli?"

"I'm sorry, but I cannot name her."

"Was it Cathy Piriano?"

"My lips are sealed."

"Was it Rosa Di Angelo, then?"

"Please, Father, I cannot tell you."

The priest sighs in frustration. "You're very tight lipped, Joey Parisi, and I admire that. But you've sinned and have to atone. You cannot be an altar boy now for four months. Now you go and behave yourself."

Joey walks back to his pew, and his friend Franco slides over and whispers, "What'd you get?"
 
"Four months vacation and five good leads."

Achy Breaky

(Responding to Hal):

 

I'm sorry that your life has no goal or purpose, Frish.

Hal, sorry if I wasn't clear.  LIFE has no purpose, it is simply chemistry.  My life?  As all humans, I continuously find purpose, or I wouldn't go on.

 

No wonder that you don't care much about it.

You misunderstand.  I care greatly about life, and therefore am concerned it won't last much longer if humanity continues to "rule".

 

On the other hand, I believe my life does have a purpose and there are definitely goals that I want to accomplish, so I am not so cavalier about giving up the ghost.

Who is cavalier?  No heroic measure, no unnecessary procedures, no unnatural prolongation of misery, etc.  I never said I didn't have purpose or goals, only that life has no purpose.

 

It seems, therefore, that your interest in VHEMT is more because of your belief that your life is useless that any altruistic concern for all the other species that humanity supposedly mistreats. If you changed your view of your life, you may change your view on VHEMT.

Well, it seems, since you have so many mis-assumptions, that you cannot possibly know what I think.

 

In any case, I thought the motto of VHEMT was "Live long and die out." If so, then how can you oppose means to lengthen life?

Because some of those attempts to "lengthen life" are more damaging to the environment than the benefits they provide!

 

As long as you don't reproduce, what's the problem?

Forever, I've got a vasectomy, no problem!

 

But then again, if you think your life is worthless, then I agree, why bother?

Who said I thought my life was worthless?  Many love me Hal.

Relationshi*

(Frish sez:  This has some mild "Adult" Language, but no violence or sex, sorry...If you don't appreciate vulgarity, don't watch...personally I was ROFLMAO having been in relationships almost constantly for the past 40 years or so...I see it as more justification and validation for my vasectomy!)

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zj1LDgph6PY&feature=related

 

Hi Frish,  I thought you might like this.   --  Bill

--------------------

Bill was correct, I liked this video. 

Considering that Bill is a modern day hermit who lives on a mountain in a rain forest on a rancho in a house (think domes and tunnels and turtle ponds) he's been building out of fishing net and cement for the last three + decades, I thought it quite a nice commentary!

"Over and over and over and over ..."

Probably best watched without the kids (*or your parents, (or your manager? (OR YOUR SPOUSE or significant other!) depending...).

Achy Breaky Responses

Hal Friedman wrote:

> I don't see anything monstrous at all about growing an artificial heart.

 The procedure does not
> involve the destruction of any other life. Is this really any more "unnatural" than devising vaccines
> and other medicines that deny the "right" of naturally-created pathogens to infect and destroy a body
> and so let "nature take its course"? Perhaps your disdain for this procedure is related to your (or
> anyone close to you) not having any heart trouble. I don't think you'd be this philosophical
> otherwise.

 

1.  My distain has naught to do with monstrousness.  (Find the lyrics to "Look out there's a monster coming" and you'll better understand)

 

2.  My distain has to do not with what is possible.

 

3.  My distain has to do with WHY BOTHER, there are already too many people, why are we so keen on extending life beyond some "natural" limit, for what purpose, what is the goal?

 

Hal, for me life has no goal or purpose or mission.  If I had heart trouble, I'd lump it.

 

Life is chemistry.  When chemistry fails we die.  Fairly simple.  Also, humanity evolved to survive about 40 years.  Anything over 40 is bonus time.  Teeth don't last that long even, if you don't have modern cooking techniques for one thing...so, once again, we use our technology (culture) to circumvent "natural limits" via regrowing a new heart for someone...

 

>
> From Hal who says Luddites wouldn't use artificial birth control either.

 

Artificial Birth control was around long before Luddites, so they would have certainly used if  they so chose!   (Condoms have been around since Egyptian built pyramids!!)

 

JIM SAYS:

Good points. Since we routinely perform "unnatural" acts in order to have many of our modern and not-so-modern comforts, perhaps
the quality of them shouldn't be always called into question, but rather the quantity, and the circumstances. Creating an
artificial heart for an infant might at least give that person their "fair share" of life.

 

(HUH?  Fair Share?  Hey, lucky to have been born at all, most fetus' are self aborting.)

 

On the other hand, expending valuable
resources to make life-extenders for people past a certain age could be seen as a misappropriation in our increasingly difficult
world.

 

THIS IS MY DISTAIN.  FOR THOSE WHO THINK WE ARE IN A WORLD OF UNLIMITED RESOURCES, SO THAT EVERYTHING INCLUDING THE PLANET CAN BE SACRIFICED IN THE NAME OF EXTENSION OF human LIFE.

 

Hard choices need to be made, resources allocated correctly, and NOW if humanity expects to survive beyond 2150 BCE.

 

Your optimism Hal is only matched by Jim's diplomacy!

 

Thanks to both of your comments.  The world is being destroyed, we continue to ignore it.

 

(Jim says:) But such discipline, for fairness, should go hand in hand with extremely disciplined breeding.

(Frish: Yeah, Like NONE)

Achy Breaky Heart!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080113/sc_nm/heart_artificial_dc;_ylt=ApqOlrip25h30qU_g5Uhe9xxieAA

Once again, technology finds a way to thwart, circumvent and otherwise make obsolete Mother Nature. 

 

While paranoids do have real enemies, perhaps Luddites had a point!

 

From the article:

Nearly 50,000 people in the United States die each year waiting for a donor heart.

"This is an ingenious step towards solving a massive problem," Dr. Tim Chico of Britain's University of Sheffield said in a statement. "This study is very preliminary, but it does show that stem cells can regrow in the 'skeleton' of a donor heart."

(Let me rephrase:  "This is a monstrous step, a synthesis of Mother Nature and man's tinkering.  Just because we "can" do something doesn't mean we should.")

Perhaps health "advances" ought to be like a balanced budget...Each life saving technique must be matched by double the number of fewer children born...(anyone's ideas on how to achieve this, I'm all ears!)

Getting Rocks Off!

What are you doing here? - man asks wife at brothel Reuters - Wed Jan 9, 9:58 AM ET

WARSAW (Reuters) - A Polish man got the shock of his life when he visited a brothel and spotted his wife among the establishment's employees.

 

TRUTH STRANGER THAN FICTION

SEEMS THEY HAVE A LOT IN COMMON

PERHAPS IT WILL MAKE THEIR UNION STRONGER?

How global warming becomes reality...

Bill Lischka was drinking coffee at a restaurant in Caledonia, Ill., when he heard something he didn't expect in January: a tornado siren.

"Next thing you know ... a tornado just popped right out of the clouds," Lischka said.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080108/ap_on_re_us/severe_weather

How not to run a beta test program with children

The most telling comment is that the program could have easily passed under the radar, as no one local cared enough to even find out more about it! 

"In a recent letter to parents, the company and the district explained the program and invited parents to get in touch with the school system if they had any questions, Rapp said. No one called. "

 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080108/ap_on_re_us/tracking_students;_ylt=Au3loUYS9581LnphA8xkzTgXIr0F

 

America, it's beautiful!

Head of State or State of Head?

I drove by Cedar Sanai on my way to work this morning and I I knew something was going on, because of all the news crews.

 

A reporter from a local news channel was standing high on a portable step, so she could have the "right" part of the hospital in the background.

 

There were three or four news vans, both local and national...but this is LA and a famous and well regarded hospital, so I figured it was either a dying celeb, or a foreign head of state...the fact that the hospital is also within Beverly Hills City Limits also adds to its panache...

 

This evening, on my way home, a CNN crew was across the street, filming a well lit someone standing under a tarp, microphone in hand, while it was raining here (really hard). 

 

The four tent poles stretched the vinyl tarp in a peculiar way, making it look a lot like some  misplaced Arab tent...I was sorely tempted to call Homeland Security...but figured I was almost home already, so not to worry...

 

Then, thanks to you Guy, I found out it was not some head of state...but perhaps just the state of her head!

On Jan 4, 2008 8:25 AM, From Guy at Soundscapers <guy@soundscapers.org > wrote:

As long as she's having fun, I say it's fine.

 

http://music.msn.com/news/article.aspx?news=291008&GT1=7702

 

While some people may know what it means to have fun, I sincerely doubt Brit is one of them.

This spammer tried to post a comment to my blog

Gostei muito desse post e seu blog é muito interessante, vou passar por aqui sempre =) Depois dá uma passada lá no meu site, que é sobre o bunkoNet, espero que goste. O endereço dele é http://www.bunkonet.com . Um abraço.

It is Portuguese, and I changed the name so he'd get no play here.

Found 33 references to his site on the web, all in blogs, except his own blog, which is actually a site to purchase telephone minutes or some such bs.

Here's my rough translation of the pigfucks spam:

Really liked your post and your blog is very interesting, I'll be swinging by here a lot. Come on by my site, blah blah blah, Hugs.

~~~XTIAN OPERATING SYSTEMS~~~

As a Bright, and a technologist, and a marketer, and an Anthropologist, the following "YAHOO Answer" struck me as quite surreal...

-----------------------------

Where can I find the new Christian operating system for my computer?

I think it is called JesOS, by Baptist Pastor Isaac Peters, to offer an alternative to the secular operation sytems like Lynux and windows, and the Satanic Apple (Apple=fall of man).

===============

So, that looked weird enough to be true...after all, since Apple is Satanic as it is a sign of the fall of man, and we know the rumors about The Devil and Bill Gates etc..., so, looks like we're left with Pastor Peter's OS - JesOS!!!

 

http://www.landoverbaptist.org/news0907/jesOS.html

 

Then I found the reference to landoverbaptist and am no longer concerned with the profits at MS going to hell anytime soon...

 

There actually is at least one open source xtian operating system (they claim!):

 

http://www.whatwouldjesusdownload.com/christianubuntu/2006/07/about-ubuntu-christian-edition.html

 

While I won't be changing operating systems anytime soon...this is definitely a sign of the end times...

"Is it normal for a rat to itch?" - dedicated to rodent pet lovers everywhere!

The Internet remains ephemeral.  The nature of the data flow allows only snapshots of what's really going on dynamically.  Tonight I snapped a copy of YAHOO Answers Home > Pets > Rodents as of 11 PM PDT or so on 080102.

 

Cheers and enjoy these questions about rodents as pets…my answers are included beneath the unedited question…whoa, the standards for English as she are wrote ain't real high!

 

Rodents

 

I breed mice becuz i feed there babys to my bearded dragon an i was wondering my female will not stop breeding i have had over 6 litters of babys in the last 2 weeks? should i take the males out and the female are fight alot

            Too many prey?  Get more Predators!  I'd say 2 more dragons should do it...

 

My hamster has an odor coming from his rear end. Is that normal?

            When did you first find yourself sniffing hamster rear end?

            Why are you asking me?

 

Why do my hamsters bite their cage??

            Because they can?  In actuality, hamsters continuously sharpen their fangs (that's how they think of them) and they have continuous delusions of slicing your throat, thinking themselves mad wild boars 100 times their actual size, because of the purina crap you feed them...

 

Has anyone ever been to a rat show?

            Yes, but they called it the Republican National Convention.

 

What do I need for my new gerbil??

            It all depends…anything from a cardboard tube to meat tenderizer are popular!

 

Why does my guinea pig losing hair in clumps when i pet her?

            Probably a failed experiment from a radiation lab…what do you expect, its a guinea pig for crap's sake...

 

How do you give a Guinea Pig exercise if you live in an apartment?

            A:  Place Guinea Pig in Palm of hand.  Bend elbow until pig is near shoulder, extend hand, bend elbow and repeat for several thousand times.

            B:  Get a large low cage for the guinea pig…Get a cat and let it loose in the apartment.  The pig will run like hell…

 

Do gerbils recognize people?

            They do, but they won't admit it…DO NOT attempt communication, it shames them and they get really depressed.

 

How do you tell a gerbil is sick, and how to make it get along with its little gerbil friend?

            Ask it if it is sick, if it answers see a doctor.   Have him try giving Chocolates, they work for me...

 

Will my guinea pig be lonely?

            Not as long as you sleep with it and carry it with you at all times.

 

Do dwarf hamsters poo a ton???

            One reason they are popular with gardeners, the dwarf hampster poops more than it eats, fixing nitrogen from gut bacteria introduced in genetic experiments in United Korea, 2050.  They were the first pets sent back in time (2075).

 

Cavy info on care?

            Sorry, recipes yes, info no…

 

Is it normal for a rat to itch ?

            No, but it is common for them to scratch…what makes you think that it itches?

 

What's a good idea for a unique hamster cage?

            Clear plastic flexible tubes attached in a warren all over your apartment that you can flood to clean…

Sexual Economics 101 - Male monkeys pay for sex

While the idea of paying for sex is not new, this may be the first documentation in non-humans of a "cultural" practice that leads to sex as payment, since the "cost" of the plumage on a pheasant may be a different means for paying for sex...or the house a bird builds etc...(And, with the frequency of mating being only 1.5 times per hour what are those monkeys getting wrong???)

 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080102/sc_afp/scienceanimalssexoffbeat;_ylt=An4ZHmzwP6VaR5W6WJ4vvLMPLBIF
Cost of coitus: Male monkeys pay for sex

Wed Jan 2, 1:52 PM ET

PARIS (AFP) - Selling sex is said to be humankind's oldest profession but it may have deep evolutionary roots, according to a study into our primate cousins which found that male macaques pay for intercourse by using grooming as a currency.

Michael Gumert of Nanyang Technological University in Singapore made the discovery in a 20-month investigation into 50 long-tailed macaques in Kalimantan Tengah, Indonesia, New Scientist reports on Saturday.

On average, females had sex 1.5 times per hour.

But this rate jumped to 3.5 times per hour immediately after the female had been groomed by a male -- and her partner of choice was likely to be the hunky monkey that did the grooming.

Market forces also acted on the value of the transaction.

If there were several females in the area, the cost of buying sex would drop dramatically -- a male could "buy" a female for just eight minutes of nit-picking.

But if there were no females around, he would have to groom for up to 16 minutes before sex was offered.

The work supports the theory that biological market forces can explain social behaviour, the British weekly says.

"There is a very well-known mix of economic and mating markets in the human species itself," said Ronald Noe of France's University of Strasbourg.

"There are many examples of rich old men getting young attractive ladies."

So, did you see this yet?

Just a little something from Fearless Leader Frish, and Bright's Central...

 

(J.T.: please distribute and/or post in all the right places...)

 

http://www.nwanews.com/adg/Religion/210738/

 

That is the article in which I am quoted, along with others...regarding being Bright and still respecting aspects of religion.

 

As you can see below, "Bright" Paul doesn't like being second banana, but hey, the article also characterized my non-belief as "Atheistic Leanings"  (yeah, like HORIZONTAL!)...

 

We'll probably see other outlets pick up this article over the next few months, it is the way of the web these days...

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Paul Geisert <the-brights@the-brights.net>
Date: Jan 2, 2008 11:59 AM
Subject: RE: So, did you see this yet?
Frish

Thanks for forwarding the "heads up".  I did not know about it.  

Love the part about the Bright who is a Greek Orthodox deacon.

 

Nice little article (except for:  "Mynga Futrell, who started the organization in 2003 with the help of her husband, Paul Geisert…")

Hummmm.

Bright Regards

Paul

Paul Geisert

Mynga Futrell

 Co-Directors of www.The-Brights.Net

illuminating and elevating the naturalistic worldview

Telepathy's newest song!

This is from a friend who plays bridge with me online.  It is music from her niece, Willow Lama...

 

I'm copying you, musical friends, who may appreciate it, and even more so, the vehicle upon which she shares her art...

telepathy has posted a new rockin mix of the song "10th Mile from the Sun" on www.sellaband.com/telepathy

It is free to listen!!! :-)

If you want to be a member of this interactive real music community that unites artists with listeners it only costs $10!!! The fun you can have is priceless!!!

If you want to be removed from this list please just let me know! :-)

Rock Steady,

Willow ~ Telepathy
--
Telepathy comes from very far... she watches the stars and her thoughts fly across the Universe.
Take your time to listen to her music... a wonderful surprise awaits you....

A disturbing family video - breaking the news to mom...

Please enjoy this video sent to me by my sister, Dr. Nancy Frishberg a world renown guru of Sign Language, who wrote her dissertation about how American Sign Language is every bit as much a language as spoken English.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=K3ai5IVfFdE

Is humor tied to male aggression?

Dec. 21, 2007
Courtesy British Medical Journal and World Science staff

Hu­mor seems to de­vel­op from ag­gres­sion caused by male hor­mones, ac­cord­ing to a study pub­lished in this week's is­sue of the Brit­ish Med­i­cal Jour­nal.

A dermatologist-researcher in­ves­t­i­gated how peo­ple re­acted to him as he rode a uni­cy­cle—the com­i­cal, one-wheeled bi­cy­cle va­ri­ant long fa­vored by clowns and other whim­si­cal per­son­al­i­ties.

For the doc­tor, Sam Shus­ter of New­cas­tle Un­ivers­ity, U.K., uni­cy­cling be­gan as a hob­by. But it be­came a study of hu­man na­ture as he wheeled about lo­cal streets and no­ticed the mul­ti­tudes of jokes he sparked—of­ten lame and pre­dict­a­ble, he said, and usu­ally from men. Guess­ing this might re­flect a bi­o­log­i­cal phe­nom­e­non, he pro­ceeded in a year-long in­ves­ti­ga­t­ion to doc­u­ment over 400 peo­ple's re­ac­tions to his one-wheeled jaunts.

Over 90 per­cent re­sponded phys­ic­ally, he found, such as with ex­ag­ger­at­ed stares or waves. Al­most half re­sponded ver­bal­ly—more men than wom­en. He­re, said Shus­ter, sex dif­fer­ences emerged in force: 95 per­cent of adult wom­en praised, en­cour­aged or showed con­cern, while men in­stead un­leashed of­ten-snide jokes 75 per­cent of the time. Equally strik­ing, he said, was the jokes' re­pet­i­tive­ness. Two thirds re­ferred to the num­ber of wheels, such as "lost your wheel?" 

One of the most con­spic­u­ous find­ings, to Shus­ter, was the way the male re­sponse changed with age.

It started with cu­ri­os­ity in child­hood, years 5 through 12—the same re­ac­tion as young girls. But around the ages of 11 to 13, boys' re­sponses de­gen­er­ated in­to phys­ical and ver­bal ag­gres­sion, Shus­ter found; these scamps in fact of­ten tried to get him to fall. Re­sponses be­came more ver­bal dur­ing the lat­er teens, turn­ing in­to mock­ing jests or songs, Shus­ter re­ported. This lat­er evolved in­to adult male hu­mor, char­ac­ter­ized by put-downs that Shus­ter as­cribed to la­tent ag­gres­sion. Par­tic­u­larly pug­na­cious re­marks, he said, came from young male mo­torists at the ages of peak viril­ity.

But the com­bat­ive­ness waned as life wore on, Shus­ter found: old­er men gave more neu­tral or friendly re­marks.

Female re­ac­tions, by con­trast, were sub­dued dur­ing pu­ber­ty and late teens—nor­mally evincing indif­fer­ence or min­i­mal ap­prov­al, he said. The re­sponses then evolved in­to the laud­a­to­ry or con­cerned adult female re­sponses.

Uni­cy­cling may be in­trin­sic­ally fun­ny, but that does­n't ex­plain the find­ings, said Shus­ter—par­tic­u­larly the re­pet­i­tive­ness and dif­fer­ences by sex and age. The wax­ing and wan­ing male re­sponse in par­tic­u­lar, he ar­gued, points to an ex­plana­t­ion in male viril­ity hor­mones such as tes­tos­ter­one, known col­lec­tively as an­dro­gens. The find­ings may al­so shed light on the ev­o­lu­tion of hu­mor, Shus­ter pro­posed: some ag­gres­sion might have been chan­neled in­to ver­bal re­sponses that trans­formed it in­to com­e­dy, which even­tu­ally be­came a sep­a­rate phe­nom­e­non with a life of its own.

EXERCISE FOR PEOPLE OVER 50

Begin by standing on a comfortable surface, where you have plenty  
of room at each side. With a 5-lb potato sack in each hand, extend  
your arms straight out from your sides and hold them there as long  
as you can. Try to reach a full minute, and then relax. Each day,  
you'll find that you can hold this position for just a bit longer.  
After a couple of weeks, move up to 10-lb potato sacks. Then try 50-
lb potato sacks and then eventually try to get to where you can  
lift a 100-lb potato sack in each hand and hold your arms straight  
for more than a full minute (I' m at this level). After you feel  
confident at that level, put a potato in each of the sacks.

Please note: Buggy Email Alert!

I found a bug in the last e-mail you sent

Here - you can have it back

From an E-Bay Ad for a musical instrument...

welcome to my store

Description

Hello! Welcome to my shop.
I am a musical instrument dealer, the management GuZhen, Saxophone, violin, ErHu, the bottle gourd silk, guitar, lute, Mandolin, flute, tuba, about several 100 species can provide you choice! Please first look the photos, Its texture is very well. Look at the pictures you can see the shape is very well . So wonderful item . please don't miss it ! It is most valued. It will bring good luck for you, I believe you are a very standout buyer. If you know the value of my item. Please bid my item. I have many other wonderful collect item on me store. Please view my other items . If you need please send E-mail to me.If you be music fancier, the chance to of the so better of the not miss of the please do get it. Enjoying your bidding!!!

this is what we missed

Have to organize

Star gaze opportunity

This is what we missed!!!!!

 

http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/ver/251.1/popup/index.php?cl=5498293

The story of "Stuff" - a timely parable, considering the season!

http://www.storyofstuff.com/

 

Wow.  Twenty Minutes well spent, IMHO.

$0.49 cent short story!

Katie Gates is my mother's "girl Friday who comes in Thursday".

 

20 years ago, she wrote a Seussian poem, which was a bit ahead of its time.  20 years ahead maybe?  It is now available for the world to see, and you can download it from Amazon Shorts for a mere 49 cents.  That's right, just 49 cents.

 I encourage you to do so, as supporting creative endeavors has never been so affordable.

 Besides... it's a great read!

 The "short" is called Too Many Machines, and you can try this link:

  http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_b/105-3390025-6562865?url=node%3D13993911&field-keywords=%22Too+Many+Machines%22&x=14&y=20

 If that doesn't result in seeing David Ray Preston, Jr.'s wonderful cover art and the link to the story itself, just go to Amazon Books and find Amazon Shorts by clicking on the Digital Downloads link.  Then do a search either for "Too Many Machines" or for "Katie Gates"

 Please feel free to write a review as well.  The more buzz the better!

As she relates:

"Thank you so much for your support!  And -- spread the word!!! 

Happy Holidays!"

Katie (tenacity's poster child)

Reply to my Friend Fred, on the Mexicanization of The United States

"The only rational explanation of Bush's stubborn determination to override the wishes of the American people by opening up all our roads to Mexican trucks is that this is an essential part or his plan for the economic integration of the United States into a North American Community. The only rational explanation of Bush's refusal to build the fence is that he has no intention of stopping the flow of illegal aliens across our Southern border."

 

Fred:

When did Bush have a rational explanation for anything he has ever done?  When was that a requirement for him?  Or, is she saying Bush must be insane?  Well, on that we might agree.

 

Do you really believe we can build a fence to control the border?

 

Is Phyllis Schafly in favor of a national ID card to ensure only US Citizens have employment here, for example?

 

How about Radio Frequency Chips that are tuned to our individual DNA so they can't be counterfeited...and, you can be plugged right into society, a walking, working debit card...

 

We need immigrants here Fred.  Without them our economy would stagnate and self implode.  More LEGAL immigrants ought to be brought into the US than is currently the case.

 

However, the economic forces that support illegal employees are not to be scoffed at, and plenty of them are Bush supporters.

Controlling Insect Mating/Dating key to success (if what you want are fewer insects!)

Another so called "smart and green" technology to disrupt the interdependence of all organisms in favor of humanity's need to control  "mother nature".  It's not nice to fool with Mother Nature...read about a birth control chemical that could affect insects across the board. 

 

While that may or may not seem a good thing, to point out the obvious:  Humans would benefit from the treatment...

 

Fewer insects = More Crops = More People = no need to change anything about how we live or do business, we can feed billions more people! = Problem solved, Malthus was wrong.

 

Or, so the entrenched economic interests (those based on growth) would have us believe.

======================

 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071209/sc_nm/insect_sex_dc;_ylt=ApyjLAW9E30GCayKdFk8pb8PLBIF

 

Sex "switch" points way to smarter pest control

By Ben Hirschler Sun Dec 9, 1:30 PM ET

LONDON (Reuters) - Turning off a sex "switch" triggered when female insects mate may be a smart and green way of controlling pests in future.

Scientists said on Sunday they had found a molecular receptor, or switch, common to all insects that sets off post-mating behaviors like egg-laying.

Developing a chemical to artificially block its action could stop insect populations in their tracks and help fight the spread of many human and animal diseases.

"If you had an inhibitor of this receptor then you could interfere with its function and it would, in effect, be a birth control pill for insects," said Barry Dickson from the Institute of Molecular Pathology in Vienna, Austria.

Many female insects undergo profound changes in behavior after mating. Some species start laying multiple eggs. Female mosquitoes, for example, seek out a meal of blood -- often spreading malaria in the process.

Scientists have known for some time that such behavior is triggered by a so-called sex peptide molecule in the male's seminal fluid, but it has been unclear how it exerts its impact on the female.

Now Dickson and his colleagues have identified the receptor for the molecule in fruit flies and shown it is key to post-mating behavior. Females lacking the receptor continue to behave as virgins, even after mating, they reported in the journal Nature.

Crucially, the same receptor has been found in all insects studied so far, suggesting it may be possible to develop a widely applicable chemical blocker that would be far more effective and environmentally friendly than insecticides.

Modern insecticides are good at killing bugs, but because insects breed so prolifically, those that die are quickly replaced.

By contrast, females dosed with a sex peptide receptor blocker would remain alive and continue to compete in the breeding pool, producing a bigger impact on the wider population.

Developing the concept will require a lot more research but Dickson said it was possible such a blocker might be introduced into breeding ponds where larvae grow or else planted in pheromone traps designed to attract insects.

Resume facts we we'd be better off not knowing...

From a personal website of no one I know!

"...I also APPEARED recently in 3 films... THE VIRGIN MURDERS, DEATH FACTORY: BLOODLETTING, and GENITAL GENOCIDE...all to be seen in 2008!!!! "

 

"Genital Genocide" does sound mildly intriguing, I must say!

Don't mess with the Rector! (Especially those of you considering academics abroad!)

Internet site with best dressed faculty!

 

http://www.info.am.wroc.pl/ed/useful.html

Here's another example of "Technology" that cannot help!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20071126/sc_afp/ussciencebotanyfarmdrought

 

Scientists tout success with drought-resistant plants: study  Mon Nov 26, 5:34 PM ET  

 

WASHINGTON (AFP) - With arid zones expanding worldwide, scientists have created transgenic plants able to survive extreme drought and thrive on far less water in an encouraging potential boon to food production, new research shows Monday.

The discovery could have important implications for food production and maintaining yields amid adverse conditions.

"We hypothesized that it is possible to enhance the tolerance of plants of drought stress by delaying the drought-induced senescence of leaves during the drought episode," wrote Rosa Rivero, one of the co-authors of the study.

Senescence is the growth phase of a plant or its parts from maturity to death.

The study by Rivero, of the University of California, Davis , and Mikiko Kojima, of the RIKEN Plant Science Center in Yokohama, appears in the December 4 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"Our hypothesis is that senescence is due to a type of cell death program that could be inappropriately activated in different plants during drought," they wrote.

"Suppressing it could therefore enable plants to mount a vigorous acclimation response that would result in enhanced drought tolerance with reduced yield losses," they explained.

The scientists carried out their studies by engineering transgenic tobacco plants.

"Production of drought-tolerant crops able to grow under restricted-water regimes without dimunition of yield would minimize drought-related losses and ensure food production in water-limited lands," they said.

------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Note:  They said "trans-genic" which of course means genetically modified (GM).  This is a "nano-technology" in the truest sense.  It is also untested, and will have unpredictable results if spread throughout the biosphere.  Sure, some of the very few plants we find commercially useful can then thrive with less water, and, guess what, they'll all be suseptible to some virus or other too, or, they'll crowd out the "native" species so the ground won't recover after an infrequent rain, or they'll not find the insects around they need to reproduce (since insects still need water), etc.

 

Why do "scientists" insist on "enhancing" nature, instead of finding ways to limit population?

 

Why do reporters seem to "promote" technologies that will continue our profligate waste and overpopulated ways?

 

Economics is the answer in both cases.  It doesn't pay to be a scientist who isn't working on a commercially viable solution.  It doesn't pay to be a reporter who writes bad news...our economic structures all assume, assure, and demand GROWTH of population.

 

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Cheers,
Frish

Wedgies and Atomic Wedgies - now obsolete!

Whomsoever claims

Kids don't have things on their minds...

"Generation Ought"

 

I remember camp's

Wedgies...Atomic Wedgies...

Oh, those were the days!

 

One's Cotton-STUFFED crack

Was no way comfortable.

(Gave as good as got)

 

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21599350/

Twins, 8, invent 'wedgie-proof' underpants

 

Ohio boys gain fame for anti-bully design that just rips away

 

updated 11:33 a.m. PT, Fri., Nov. 2, 2007

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Bully-proof underwear earned 8-year-old twin Ohio boys a spot Friday on daytime TV talk show, "The Ellen DeGeneres Show."

Using rigged boxers and fabric fasteners to hold together some seams, Jared and Justin Serovich came up with the "Rip Away 1000," a pair of underwear that cannot be jerked up to give its wearer a painful "wedgie."

"When the person tries to grab you — like the bully or the person tries to give you a wedgie — they just rip away," Justin explained Thursday by phone from Los Angeles, where the TV segment was taped Wednesday.

The brothers began brainstorming one day after they were playing around, giving each other the treatment. Their mother's partner sarcastically said someone ought to invent wedgie-proof underwear, the family said.

The project got the boys to the finals of a central Ohio invention competition earlier this year, followed by the television appearance.

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Cheers,

Frish

The Nature of Right and Wrong - we're hardwired to recognize "goodness from badness"

There is a lot of talk these days about how can people be moral actors without religious leanings?

 

My contention is that conscience, morality, and our personalities (how about "tolerance for embarrassment" as a governor on behavior) EVOLVED to take on the roles they play.

 

We must consider how they helped the GROUP survive, since evolution doesn't act on individuals, it acts on populations...

 

See the article below and draw your own conclusions, however, they found no difference between sexes, ability to distinguish not only the end points (good and bad) but they also placed the neutral objects into the correct order as well, pre-verbal children, to me points to a "natural" and "congenital" ability to distinguish right from wrong...regardless of the dissenting viewpoint presented.  (ALL OF THE KIDS RESPONDED IN A SIMILAR FASHION, WHAT OTHER MEASURES HAVE SUCH A UNIVERSAL OUTCOME AT THIS AGE?)

 

I claim we're hardwired with the "Golden Rule".  That's why all religions claim the golden rule as their basic teaching, since they can point to something that already exists!  (Sleeves from Vest negotiation stance!)  Without that genetic predilection, to expect good treatment by giving good treatment, humans couldn't live in groups to evolve in the first place...

 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071121/ap_on_he_me/infant_judging

Babies can tell helpers from hurters

By SETH BORENSTEIN, AP Science Writer 1 hour, 15 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - Even infants can tell the difference between naughty and nice playmates, and know which to choose, a new study finds.

Babies as young as 6 to 10 months old showed crucial social judging skills before they could talk, according to a study by researchers at Yale University's Infant Cognition Center published in Thursday's journal Nature.

The infants watched a googly-eyed wooden toy trying to climb roller-coaster hills and then another googly-eyed toy come by and either help it over the mountain or push it backward. They then were presented with the toys to see which they would play with.

Nearly every baby picked the helpful toy over the bad one.

The babies also chose neutral toys — ones that didn't help or hinder — over the naughty ones. And the babies chose the helping toys over the neutral ones.

"It's incredibly impressive that babies can do this," said study lead author Kiley Hamlin, a Yale psychology researcher. "It shows that we have these essential social skills occurring without much explicit teaching."

There was no difference in reaction between the boys and girls, but when the researchers took away the large eyes that made the toys somewhat lifelike, the babies didn't show the same social judging skills, Hamlin said.

The choice of nice over naughty follows a school of thought that humans have some innate social abilities, not just those learned from their parents.

"We know that they're very, very social beings from very, very early on," Hamlin said.

A study last year out of Germany showed that babies as young as 18 months old overwhelmingly helped out when they could, such as by picking up toys that researchers dropped.

David Lewkowicz, a psychology professor at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton who wasn't part of the study, said the Yale research was intriguing. But he doesn't buy into the natural ability part. He said the behavior was learned, and that the new research doesn't prove otherwise.

"Infants acquire a great deal of social experience between birth and 6 months of age and thus the assumption that this kind of capacity does not require experience is simply unwarranted," Lewkowicz told The Associated Press in an e-mail.

But the Yale team has other preliminary research that shows similar responses even in 3-month-olds, Hamlin said.

Researchers also want to know if the behavior is limited to human infants. The Yale team is starting tests with monkeys, but has no results yet, Hamlin said.

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Cheers,

Frish