One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we've been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. The bamboozle has captured us. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back. ~Carl Sagan

Death of a legend: Ayveq the masturbating walrus dies at 14

Seeded on Thu Jun 26, 2008 9:22 PM EDT (brooklynpaper.com)

Ayveq, the walrus whose bizarre, though oddly compelling, masturbation rituals made him an international sensation at the New York Aquarium, has died. He was 14.

odd-news, walrus, masturbating, new-york-aquarium

Why Juneteenth's Not My Thing

Seeded on Thu Jun 19, 2008 3:41 PM EDT (theroot.com)

I am John Hamilton McWhorter, the fifth. The first John Hamilton McWhorter was a slave. This Thursday is Juneteenth, when I might be inclined to celebrate the emancipation of John Hamilton McWhorter, the first.

slavery, freedom, us-news, lynching, african-american-history, emancipation, juneteenth, abolitionists

English language legislation gathers steam across the USA

Seeded on Thu Jun 19, 2008 7:07 AM EDT (USA Today)

Thirty states now have laws specifying that official government communications be in English, says U.S. English, a group that promotes the laws. This year such bills are under consideration in 19 legislatures.

immigration, english, foreign-language, bilingual, us-news, governement

142

Gore Vidal's Article of Impeachment

Seeded on Thu Jun 12, 2008 6:41 AM EDT (Truthdig)

I wish to draw the attention of the blog world to Rep. Dennis Kucinich's articles of impeachment presented to the House in order that two faithless public servants be removed from office for crimes against the American people. As I listened to Rep.

congress, politics, president, war-crimes, impeachment, george-bush, iraq-war, dick-cheney, warrantless-wiretapping, gore-vidal

The Bush Chronicles: A Tell-All Tally

Seeded on Sat May 31, 2008 7:01 AM EDT (The Washington Post)

Former press secretary Scott McClellan is only the latest former Bush administration insider to point a finger at White House failures in a tell-all book.

bush, white-house, politics, mcclellan, paul-bremer, hubris, douglas-feith

Boys not better than girls at maths, study finds

Seeded on Fri May 30, 2008 3:39 PM EDT (Guardian Unlimited)

Globally, boys tend to outperform girls in maths (on average girls score 10.5 points lower than boys) but in more "gender equal societies" such as Iceland, Sweden and Norway, girls scored as well as boys or better.

education, math, gender-equality

Score One for Monogamy

Seeded on Fri May 30, 2008 3:35 PM EDT (Science: Current Issue)

Swingers take note--monogamy may be the foundation of cooperative societies, at least for insects. Researchers have found that bees, wasps, and ants live in communal groups because all members of the group are closely related.

science, polygamy, ants, wasps, bees, polyandry, relatedness, hymenoptera, eusociality, social-insects

Flies get 'mind-control sex swap'

Seeded on Thu May 22, 2008 7:23 PM EDT (BBC News)

Researchers genetically modified the insects so that a group of brain cells that control sexual behaviour could be "switched on" by a pulse of light. The team was able to get female fruit flies to produce a courtship song - behaviour usually only seen in males.

science, genes, genetics, neurons, fruit-fly, drosophila, neurobiology, courtship, courtship-display

16% of US science teachers are creationists

Seeded on Tue May 20, 2008 6:55 AM EDT (newscientist.com)

Despite a court-ordered ban on the teaching of creationism in US schools, about one in eight high-school biology teachers still teach it as valid science, a survey reveals.

evolution, science, creationism, teaching, evolutionary-biology, what-is-our-country-coming-to

Five things humans no longer need

Seeded on Mon May 19, 2008 7:56 PM EDT (newscientist.com)

Vestigial organs are parts of the body that once had a function but are now more-or-less useless. Probably the most famous example is the appendix, though it is now an open question whether the appendix is really vestigial.

evolution, science, human-evolution, vestigial-organs

Giant carnivorous mice threaten world's greatest seabird colony

Seeded on Mon May 19, 2008 5:26 PM EDT (Guardian Unlimited)

Very large mice, apparently descended from house mouse stowaways upon British vessels, are eating the eggs of several seabird species on Gough Island in the south Atlantic Ocean.

birds, science, endangered-species, alien-species, albatross, nests, introduced-species, seabirds, gough-island

Unearthing leviathan in Canada

Seeded on Mon May 19, 2008 6:56 AM EDT (The Boston Globe)

In Canada's tiniest province, scientists are undertaking what may be history's largest exhumation of a single creature. It's a whale of a tale, and a ripe one, too.

whales, science, skeleton, blue-whale, museum-exhibit, canadian-museum-of-nature, beaty-biodiversity-museum

Misogyny I Won't Miss

Seeded on Thu May 15, 2008 9:19 AM EDT (The Washington Post)

There are many reasons Clinton is losing the nomination contest, some having to do with her strategic mistakes, others with the groundswell for "change." But for all Clinton's political blemishes, the darker stain that has been exposed is the hatred of women that is accepted as a …

election, democrats, politics, gender, hillary-clinton, misogyny

The New Paternalism

Seeded on Wed May 14, 2008 5:46 PM EDT (chronicle.com)

They are authors of a new book, Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness (Yale University Press), in which they articulate an approach to designing social and economic policies that incorporates an understanding of people's cognitive limitations.

university-of-chicago, nudge, government-policy, behavioral-economics, cass-sunstein, libertarian-paternalism, richard-thaler

Goodbye to Blasphemy in Britain

Seeded on Wed May 14, 2008 4:28 PM EDT (humaniststudies.org)

The long standing British blasphemy laws were officially abolished on May 8, 2008. And good riddance to their long, repressive reign—say humanist and free speech advocates.

religion, free-speech, blasphemy, britian, church-of-england, blasphemy-laws

Top billing for platypus at end of evolution tree

Seeded on Thu May 8, 2008 4:42 PM EDT (News at Nature)

A draft sequence of the platypus genome reveals reptilian and mammalian elements and provides more evidence for its place in the ancestral line of animal evolution.

evolution, science, platypus, monotremes, phylogeny, genome-sequences, ornithorhynchus-anatinus

Suicide victims' brains bear chemical scars of child abuse

Seeded on Thu May 8, 2008 4:28 PM EDT (Science News)

Child abuse can leave lasting scars on its victims, both physical and psychological. It may also leave chemical marks in the brains of its victims who will later kill themselves.

suicide, science, child-abuse, depression, mental-illness, epigenetics, methylation, ribosomal-rna, neuron-growth

New York Times Explains Winter Soldier Blackout

Seeded on Tue Apr 8, 2008 5:36 PM EDT (Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting)

New York Times public editor Clark Hoyt has offered a response to media activists who wrote to the paper about its non-coverage of last month's Winter Soldier hearings.

media, new-york-times, us-news, iraq-war, iraq-veterans-against-the-war, vets-for-freedom, winter-soldier, iraq-military-personnel

Pretty Babies: young girls receiving luxury spa treatments (including bikini waxes!)

Seeded on Mon Apr 7, 2008 2:41 PM EDT (phillymag.com)

Facials, bikini waxes, mani/pedis and blowouts have long been de rigueur Rittenhouse and Main Line beauty regimens — but nowadays, the "women" getting these luxe spa treatments have yet to reach puberty.

fashion, beauty, puberty, luxury, waxing, spas, facials

The Parent Trap: Interview with Parenting, Inc. author Pamela Paul

Seeded on Mon Mar 31, 2008 2:13 PM EDT (Salon.com)

The clever, bizarre and sometimes insidious ways that marketers capitalize on today's parents' fears and aspirations for their children is the subject of a new exposé by journalist Pamela Paul titled "Parenting, Inc." Paul documents how, in recent years, the market for baby prod …

marketing, baby-einstein, home-garden, baby-proofing, childrens-toys, luxury-baby-items, pamela-paul

Cruel and Usual Punishment

Seeded on Fri Mar 28, 2008 10:27 PM EDT (The Washington Post)

I have been alone in a room for almost 24 hours with 6 TVs, a laptop and two radios, listening to and watching and reading only political shows and pundits and blogs, sometimes monitoring four or five things at the same time. Just to see if it can be done.

politics, humor, cnn, fox-news, rush-limbaugh, bill-oreilly, pundits, political-blogs, punditry, keith-olberman

Congress Debates Air Passenger Rights

Tue Mar 25, 2008 12:20 PM EDT

By asdf, Associated Press Writer (Clipped by Edelweiss)

The patience of weary travelers stranded for hours on airport runways has also been tested by years of waiting for Congress to give them a passenger bill of rights.

Continue reading this entry ...

business, politics, passenger, rights, kennedy-international-airport, us-news, passenger-rights

A look at lives lost as U.S. deaths in Iraq near 4,000

Seeded on Sat Mar 22, 2008 7:48 AM EDT (USA Today)

One in six were too young to buy a beer. About two dozen were old enough for an AARP card. Eleven died on Thanksgiving Day, 11 on Christmas, and at least five on their birthdays. One percent were named Smith.

iraq, war, fatalities, iraq-war, soliders

Same war. Same platoon. Two paths since leaving Iraq

Seeded on Sat Mar 22, 2008 7:37 AM EDT (Christian Science Monitor)

Vincent Emanuele thinks of his teenage self growing up in Indiana and recalls being interested in three things: "girls, beer, and sports." About that same time, out in California, Travis Pinn was looking for adventure: scuba diving, shooting guns, and jumping out of planes.

iraq, us-news, iraq-war, soliders, ivaw, iraq-veterans-against-the-war, winter-solider

Hillary Attack Ads For The Obama Team

Seeded on Thu Mar 20, 2008 7:04 AM EDT (villagevoice.com)

This fire must be fed, not doused. Therefore, since it is the Obama campaign that has been pulling its toughest punches, here is a handful of suggestions for television ads to be used against his opponent.

clinton, democrats, politics, humor, obama, attack-ads, democratic-primary, politifcal-advertising

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