| Rayne Today Searching for dharma, in spite of the weather...
RantsCounterRants: Byrd blasts Bush for 'flamboyant showmanship' with carrier speech [CNN] It’s about time somebody in Congress got a spine about this gawddamned dog-and-pony show, this not-so-presidential piece of puffery. You go, Senator Byrd. Don’t stop there. How damned much was this piece of free campaign propaganda? I want to know how many citizens had to cough up hard-earned tax dollars for this crap. I want to know how many unemployed people this could have supported. Where’s our return on investment on this? Tax cuts my butt, stop spending our tax dollars on this kind of garbage. I want to know why this lying sack-of-AWOL-dried-out-fratboy-drunk believes he has the right to appropriate these kinds of resources for what should have been a simple, respectful speech to the American public and the world? He wasn’t elected “Supreme Ruler”, entitled to an unlimited pocketbook. Hell, he wasn’t elected.  comment []
You are Cordially Incited to Activism: From filchyboy: Amina Lawal Set to be Stoned to Death June 3rd “The Nigerian Supreme Court has upheld the death sentence for Amina Lawal, condemned for the crime of adultery on If you haven't been following this case, you might like to know that Amina's baby is regarded as the 'evidence' of her adultery. The father denied everything when he realised the trouble he was in. To find out more about sharia law. Amina's case is being handled by the Spanish branch of Amnesty International, which is attempting to put together enough signatures to make the Nigerian government rescind the death sentence. A similar campaign saved another Nigerian woman, Safiya, condemned in similar circumstances. By March 4th the petition had amassed over 2,600,000 signatures. It will only take you a few seconds to sign Amnesty's online petition. Go to the web page. I certainly hope that her excution is filmed. I hope it is on every tv set on every channel in every home on the planet. Live. I hope those who watch wash the blood from their smiles before they kiss their young.” Go. Go now and quickly. Sign the petition, I beg you. You count, your vote and voice count. No child should grow up without their mother for these flimsy reasons.
(Thanks, Christopher, for this important reminder.) 5:09:16 PM comment []North of Spring 
My mother sent me the following couple of images, taken midday on Sunday, looking NNW over Lake Superior, about 30 miles west of Marquette Michigan. Damn. I don’t know if I really want to spend two weeks up there in June. Pro: probably fewer of the Con: have to wear long underwear with shorts.
4:18:23 PM comment []
ThinkingAhead: Langdon Winner and The Societal Impact of Nanotechnology This is a very nice piece, a presentation given by Professor Langdon Winner to the U.S. House Committee on Science back in early April this year. Straightforward, simplistically sweet and quietly humorous, I wish I’d been there to hear the original presentation. Winner’s not a naysayer or a doomsdayer; while he doesn't demand brakes on development, he does propose that the citizenry should be more engaged in the early stages of this technology. I agree; I can see where this particular technology could be fed by a boom not unlike that of the 90’s and become a scourge of sorts, as Bill Joy has suggested. (Ray Kurzweil has also suggested that development of nanomachines could be only 25 years away, based on increasing rates of speed in technology development.) There’s also the strong possibility that nanotechnology could become like the drug industry – corrupted by the drive to produce anything new to rush to the market, while missing the greater issue of suitability and appropriateness for society. Good stuff. I encourage you to read this since your government representatives have heard this message; can’t hurt at all to know whether your reps are getting their heads on straight or no on this topic. comment []
ATTENTION SLOGGERS (SALON BLOGGERS): Feedback, please So? What do you think, are any of the rest of you participating? I’m a little weirded out by this request. Maybe it’s the fact that I feel blogging is a highly individual and subjective experience; maybe it’s because of the wording. “…examines the motivations for accessing Weblogs.” Does “accessing” refer to reading blogs or to creating and maintaining blogs? And are any of the rest of you being approached with requests for assistance by other parties besides this one? “…My research partner and I are professors at University of Tennessee-Knoxville and Southern Illinois University-Carbondale. We are conducting an online survey that examines the motivations for accessing Weblogs. We are specifically looking for individuals who connect to Weblogs to fill out our survey. We would greatly appreciate if you are a blogger to fill out the survey as well as to forward it to your friends who are bloggers. The URL for the survey is http://apps.ws.utk.edu/weblogs/ Also, if you have a weblog, we were wondering if it would be possible for you to link to our survey? All we are asking is for an icon that directs bloggers to the survey URL. If you could keep the link towards the top until May 7, we would greatly appreciate it…” Thanks, gang. comment []
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