These tricks do not involve skilled sleight-of-hand but are the kinds of things any one can do with friends or at parties, and are kind of fun.
Mano Singham
Just another Freethought Blogs site
The New York Times reports on yet another deal in which the government lets a big bank get off lightly with crimes and does not disclose the deal to the public. The deal between the New York Fed and Bank of America occurred in July but only came to light because of court filings last week. Not only did the government give the bank a mere slap on the wrist, it then maneuvered to release the bank from other massive legal claims against it totaling billions of dollars. [Read more…]
The Vatican is concerned that after the pope resigns and is no longer the head of state and loses his immunity, he might be in danger of being brought to trial for the many crimes of the Catholic Church. Hence they are recommending that he stay within the confines of the Vatican and not travel to other countries where he might be subjected to arrest, the way that former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet was when he traveled to England. [Read more…]
My recent post on the pastor who scrawled on her meal receipt an ungracious note to the server in an Applebee’s restaurant resulted in an interesting discussion in the comments on whether the server was justified in putting a photo of the receipt on the web with the name of the customer visible but other information (the name of the restaurant, the date, and the credit card number) omitted. [Read more…]
I once had my pocket picked. It was on a bus in Sri Lanka and I never even noticed that I had lost something. But the thief made a mistake in that he mistook a case containing keys for a wallet. When he discovered his error, he threw the case away and left the bus. When I later discovered my loss I asked the conductor if he had seen my keys and he said that he had found them and gave them back to me. So I had a lucky escape. [Read more…]
Anti-abortion activists who want to outlaw the procedure entirely have usually shied away from answering the question as to what punishment should be meted out to the women and doctors who get abortions anyway, since they know that there is not much support for putting such people in jail. Most people realize that people get abortions because they are desperate and should not be treated as criminals. [Read more…]
One of the encouraging signs on US university campuses is the rapid rise in the number of secular groups that are forming, similar to the growth of evangelical groups that occurred beginning in the 1970s. [Read more…]
There is a curious hypocrisy when it comes to unwed mothers. When those mothers are wealthy and/or celebrities, this is seen as a lifestyle choice on the part of the woman, courageous even, boldly taking charge of their own lives and changing society’s attitudes to traditional mores. But when the unwed mother is poor and/or black, it is deplored as if it were yet another sign of the lack of virtue that is presumed to be the cause that keeps them down. [Read more…]
Growing up in the pre-internet (and indeed pre-VCR) age, one could only see films when they were still in the theaters and so had only one or two chances. So a great performance would have to be savored in one’s memories. The arrival of the VCR and videocassettes changed all that, giving new life and new audiences to old films. [Read more…]
I have mentioned my concern with the revolving door between government and the private sector (especially between the Treasury Department and Wall Street) and that Jack Lew, currently president Obama’s chief of staff and his nominee to become Treasury Secretary, has some problems in that regard. Now a new problem has cropped up. [Read more…]