As the November election approaches, there will a lot of noise about taxes and the so-called ‘Buffett rule‘, named after Warren Buffett who has been saying that it was wrong that rich people like him should pay taxes at a lower rate than people who earn much less, like his secretary for example. This will intensify as the end of the year approaches and the Bush tax cuts are set to expire. [Read more…]
Some time ago I wrote about cereal maker General Mills coming out in support of same sex marriage. Their policy resulted in a protest demonstration in front of their corporate offices, where people were asked to empty their kitchens of all their GM foodstuffs and bring them to the protest site, where it would be collected and donated to food banks and shelters. [Read more…]
As often happens during chaotic and deadly shootings as what happened during the killings at the Sikh temple, some people hid in closets and other nooks to try and avoid the gunman. Since it was not initially clear how many gunmen were involved and whether people were being held hostage, it took some time for the all clear to be sounded and for people to feel safe enough to come out of hiding. [Read more…]
Why does sprinkling a little water enable sand to stick together sufficiently to enable the building of sandcastles? The cohesive forces produced are strong enough that one can build a tower that is 2.5 meters high on a mere 20 cm base. A group of scientists have looked into this and come up with an explanation. [Read more…]
And so, inevitably, there has been another mass shooting, this time at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin, and we can expect the gun control debate to heat up again. I am not opposed to private gun ownership. I can understand how a ‘well regulated militia’ might be necessary for the ‘security of a free state’, as the Second Amendment to the US constitution states. I can understand how some people in some areas can feel so frightened that having a gun lets them feel more secure. [Read more…]
As everyone knows, Jamaican Usain Bolt won the 100m with a new Olympic record. Caity Weaver reports that just before the 100m final began, some jerk among the spectators had been hurling abuse at Bolt and that just before the starter gun went off, he threw a green bottle at him that fortunately fell behind the athletes and did not distract him or cause a false start. [Read more…]
The Romneys’ horse Rafalca is still in contention at the Olympics. Although I promoted her as the ideal running mate for Mitt Romney, new information about her has considerably dimmed her chances of being selected, perhaps to levels even lower than those of Tim Pawlenty. [Read more…]
Via Pharyngula, I came across this article by Ian Murphy naming the five most awful atheists. Who are they? [Read more…]
From all early reports, it seems like the Mars Curiosity landing went off perfectly. So many things could have gone wrong, and almost any one of them could have resulted in disaster. [Read more…]
I went for dinner to a friend’s place last Saturday and the TV was on in their family room showing the Olympics. What was the event featured during this prime viewing time? Women’s beach volleyball. This event is apparently scheduled at times for maximum exposure. Who would have guessed that buff young bodies leaping around in skimpy bathing suits would draw viewers? [Read more…]