Ginny's Bloggity-Blog

Originally published at Twixel.net. You can comment here or there.

Pharyngula: Another Christian Science Fair embarrasses itself
It’s becoming a trend: Evangelical Christian institutions that try to do science inevitable demonstrate breathtaking inanity of their own. The latest victim is the Pawleys Island Christian Academy. Take a gander at the first place winner in biology.

Brian Benson, an eighth-grade student who won first place in the Life Science/Biology category for his project “Creation Wins!!!,” says he disproved part of the theory of evolution. Using a rolled-up paper towel suspended between two glasses of water with Epsom Salts, the paper towel formed stalactites. He states that the theory that they take millions of years to develop is incorrect.

“Scientists say it takes millions of years to form stalactites,” Benson said. “However, in only a couple of hours, I have formed stalactites just by using paper towel and Epsom Salts.”

This isn’t just wrong, it’s appallingly wrong. He’s wrong on the facts, wrong on the interpretations, wrong on the understanding of how science works. If we’re charitable and grant that a 14 year old has some reasonable excuse for ignorance, we can still indict his parents, his science teacher, and the judges at this fair on gross incompetence on multiple charges.

* This experiment has nothing to do with biology.
* Epsom salts are magnesium sulfate; stalactites are made of calcium carbonate.
* Stalactite growth rates are estimated to be around 0.1-10 centimeters per thousand years. If we assume his ’stalactite’ was 10 cm long and use the slowest growth rate, that’s 100 thousand years, not millions.
* Even if he had demonstrated an accelerated rate of stalactite growth, stalactite length isn’t the method used to date the age of the earth.
* To quote the unquestionable authority, Terry Pratchett: “And all those exclamation points? Five? A sure sign of someone who wears his underpants on his head.” Mister Benson comes perilously close to the underpants limit in his title.

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Holy Morons, Batman.

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Leahy, Others Speak Out Against New ID Standards - washingtonpost.com
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), citing concerns about Americans’ privacy, signaled yesterday that he will push to repeal a provision of a 2005 law aimed at creating new government standards for driver’s licenses.Leahy, who has co-sponsored bipartisan legislation to repeal the provision, spoke out as the debate intensified over the Real ID Act, which requires states to create new tamper-proof driver’s licenses in line with rules recently issued by the Department of Homeland Security. States must begin to comply by May 2008 but can request more time. After 2013, people whose IDs do not meet those standards will not be allowed to board planes or enter federal buildings.
A similar Democrat-backed bill to repeal the provision is pending in the House. At least seven states have passed laws or resolutions opposing implementation of Real ID. Fourteen states have legislation pending. By yesterday, the DHS had received more than 12,000 public comments in response to the rules.

Real ID legislation was tacked onto a 2005 emergency spending bill by House Republicans, without Senate debate, and signed by President Bush. The bill’s passage cut short negotiations between states and the federal government to improve driver’s license security. Advocates of a repeal want to restart the negotiations.
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Let’s hope we can get this repealed. Very bad legislation.

Originally published at Twixel.net. You can comment here or there.

For Some Muslim Wives, Abuse Knows No Borders - washingtonpost.com
“I was perfectly happy living alone, but the family kept pushing me to marry. I wanted to show them I was a good Muslim girl,” said Shireen, now 37 and divorced. When her husband became abusive, she said, relatives told her to be a better wife. When she took him to court, she said, “everyone abandoned me. I was the one who had done something wrong.”

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A lot of the time nowadays I can’t believe we’re actually living in the 21st Century. Not only do we not have flying cars and plentiful, clean energy - but we also have to continue acting like primitive, tribal screw-heads living and dying by books written over a thousand years ago. Sigh.

Originally published at Twixel.net. You can comment here or there.

Essay arrest baffles experts :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Metro & Tri-State
Police Thursday released portions of an essay used to charge a Cary-Grove High School student with disorderly conduct, leaving several experts puzzled at an arrest based on such schoolwork.

Asked to write about whatever he wanted in a creative writing class, would-be Marine and honors student Allen Lee, 18, described a violent dream in which he shot people and then “had sex with the dead bodies.”

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The over-reaction of the nanny-state has begun. ~I mean look!!!! He’s Asian!~ Geez people.

Originally published at Twixel.net. You can comment here or there.

Bush Approval Rating Falls to 28%, Lowest Level So Far, in Harris Poll
The Wall Street Journal Online

President Bush’s approval rating slipped to new lows in the most recent Harris Interactive survey, but he’s not alone: For the first time since the series began, all of the political figures and institutions included in the survey have negative performance ratings.

Of the 1,001 American adults polled online April 20-23, only 28% had a positive view of Mr. Bush’s job performance, down from 32% in February and from a high of 88% in the aftermath of the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The current rating is his weakest showing since his inauguration.
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Wow. Amazing. And still he and his administration are defiant.

Originally published at Twixel.net. You can comment here or there.

BBC NEWS | Americas | Airships to tackle Caracas crime
Officials in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, are taking to the air in an attempt to make the city safer.

The council has bought three mini remote-controlled airships which are soon to be launched to look down on the city monitoring criminal activity.

Each has a camera mounted on it, which beams back pictures to a control room.

The Venezuelan capital is regarded as one of the most dangerous cities in Latin America, with gun crime a particular problem.

There were a few strange looks skywards in Caracas as the new mini Zeppelin took to the skies.

Steered by remote control from the ground, the balloon ducked and dived above the buildings, its pilot showing how manoeuvrable the machine can be.

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This is pathetic. Good ol’ Hugo. What an asshat.

Originally published at Twixel.net. You can comment here or there.

ABC News: Officials: Pet Food Poison May Have Been Intentional
April 19, 2007 — For the first time, investigators are saying the chemical that has sickened and killed pets in the United States may have been intentionally added to pet food ingredients by Chinese producers.

Food and Drug Administration investigators say the Chinese companies may have spiked products with the chemical melamine so that they would appear, in tests, to have more value as protein products.

Officials now suspect this possibility because a second ingredient from China, rice protein concentrate, has tested positive for melamine. So has corn gluten shipped to South Africa. That means there is a possibility for another round of recalls.

The FDA’s top veterinarian, Stephen Sundlof, says finding melamine in so many products “would certainly lend credibility to the theory that it was maybe intentional.”

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Amazing.

Originally published at Twixel.net. You can comment here or there.

Lawmaker wants baking soda to be sold behind counter | St. Louis Area News |
KMOV.com | St. Louis, MO

ST. LOUIS (AP) — A St. Louis legislator wants to require that baking soda be sold behind the pharmacy counter, as part of an effort aimed at a base ingredient in crack cocaine.   The proposal by Democratic Representative Talibdin El-Amin is modeled after a state law that requires some cold medicines to be placed behind the pharmacy counter because they contain ingredients used to make meth.   The anti-meth law requires customers to show a photo I-D and sign a book specifying their name, address and how much they purchased.
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Absolutely ridiculous.
I’m sick and tired of punishing the many for the disruption of the few.
The powers that be are already forcing me to stand in prescription drug lines and get even MORE scrutiny to buy “over the counter” anti-allergy medicine (showing my ID and signing a log book) than I do to get prescription drugs.
Nanny State combined with the power grabbing “War on Drugs”. Neither are good and neither work.

Originally published at Twixel.net. You can comment here or there.

VOA News - Top US Court Declines to Hear Guantanamo Prisoners’ Appeal
The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to hear the appeal of Guantanamo prisoners who want the right to challenge their detention in U.S. federal courts.
In a divided vote, with six justices supporting the decision and three justices dissenting, the court said it would not rule on the constitutionality of a tough anti-terrorism law that denies prisoners the ability to have a federal judge review their detention.
Congress enacted the law last October, after the Supreme Court struck down the previous military tribunal system for the detainees created by President Bush after the September 11, 2001, attacks. After that ruling, President Bush sought new powers to detain and try prisoners under anti-terrorism laws.
There are currently about 395 detainees being held at the Guantanamo detention center on a U.S. naval base in Cuba. Some prisoners have been held for more than five years and most have not been formally charged.
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Oh my God! I actually held out hope that the SCOTUS would do their job. I’m severely disappointed. What a bunch of cowards.

Originally published at Twixel.net. You can comment here or there.

Iranians parade captured navy woman in a hijab | the Daily Mail

Kidnapped British servicewoman Faye Turney was forced to cover her head with an Islamic hijab in the first video released by Iran since she and 14 comrades were seized last week.

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This is absolutely ridiculous. Disgusting fucktards. Those pieces of shit need to be castrated and beaten for psychically raping this woman.