Via The Panda's Thumb, published in the well-renowed (ahem) scientific journal The Annals of Improbable Research, The Morphology of Steve (PDF, but have a look at it anyway!), giving a biological, biogeographical, morphological and a heck of other -icals about Project Steve
(aka Stephen, Stephanie, Stephan, Stephen, etc), the ultimate debunking
of the creationists' bogus lists of scientists who deny evolution.
"Look, America transitioned from an agricultural economy to a
manufacturing economy, triggering the largest migration from rural to
urban in history. Then, as manufacturing went overseas, America
transitioned to a service based economy. We just need to transition to
the next thing, and I'm firmly convinced that the next thing is a litigation based economy."
The voice of Arctic trapper Harald Soleim may not be enough to
awaken the dead, but he has proved his yelling can scare away a polar
bear.
PS: Let me use the opportunity to clear up a common misunderstanding about Norway and polar bears. There aren't any polar bears in Norway. There are quite a few of them on Svalbard,
however, which is a special category of Norwegian territory, but very
far away from the mainland (and even further from me). Not that I'm
prejudiced against polar bears, mind you, but I'm perfectly satisfied
with not having to find out if Mr Soleim's trick works every time.
Australian blogger Arthur Chrenkoff has written another great summary of good news from Iraq.
Yes, in mainstream media good news is no news everywhere, but if we
base our idea of an entire country exclusively on stories about decapitations and bomb
blasts, we will get a skewed picture.
In reaction to the murderous attacks on Iraq's Christian minority, we
see growing evidence that the terrorists are not succeeding in turning
Iraqi groups against each other. On the contrary, Iraqis are turning against
the extremists.
Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani issued this statement:
"We condemn and reproach these hideous crimes and deem necessary the
collaboration of everyone — the government and the people — in putting
an end to aggression on Iraqis"
And,
for what it's worth, even a spokesman for extremist cleric Muqtada
al-Sadr condemned the attack on the Christian churches by saying "This
is a cowardly act and targets all Iraqis." Who would have thought...
A great commentary
on certain entertainers, who will remain unnamed here, who exploit
mourning people pretending by to talk to the dead. Also a demonstration
of cold reading.
Two explosions and a fire ripping through a supermarket in Paraguay's capital Asuncion has left as many as 230 people dead and hundreds seriously injured. The cause is not yet clear, but a gas explosion is suspected.
The
deathtoll of this disaster has kept raising all through the day. The
tragedy has totally overwhelmed the emergency services of one of the
poorest countries in the region.
Update:Death toll is now "at least 283", approaching 300. Ouch!
