Eric Kobet

I don't know if you have seen Eric's Tainted Donuts anime mash-up of Trigun vs the gentlemen from Cowboy Bebop, but if you like either of them or (better) both, you owe yourself the download.

Of Blogs & Printing Presses.

So an idiot at Forbes magazine writes a spurious and legally incorrect article on the evils of blogs. At which point a kind gentleman from the EFF stepped up and keyed in this missive. via BoingBoing.

Biomimicry For Green Design (A How-To)

Yes, yet another link to an interesting article at Worldchanging. In this one they present an excellent introduction to Biomimicry For Green Design (A How-To).

Copyfight vs beating on ID. Tough choice.

Argh! Cory, is right. Science shouldn't use copyright to silence CreationistsIntelligent Design, especially when they do such a good job themselves.

Republicans, your friends and mine! Oh, wait, you wanted to vote? Sorry, gotta go.

Bitch Ph.D. points out a display of brotherly love: "The House of Representatives is/was supposed to vote today on H.R. 1461, the Housing Finance Reform Act. It supports creation of affordable housing. Good, right? Well, there's a little provision that's been tacked on by the Republican Study Committee to disqualify non-profits from applying for that money if they've engaged in any voter participation activities in the previous year--including non-partisan registering of voters. In other words, this provision ties funding low-income housing to suppressing low-income voting. "

I'm not a fan of Rubert Murdoch, but his lackeys have some cool tech.

So I was browsing one of Declan's posts over at news.com.com.com (no cookies! no cookies! aagh!) and I saw something pretty cool. To the right of the post (if you have javascript enabled) there is a little embedded flash app that shows a web of related stories. It's developed by a company called Liveplasma and I like it. Much like I like other innovative UI/information tools. And speaking of Newsmap (you did click on that last link there didn't you?), we come back full circle to c|Net.

Seed Magazine: Leonardos and the Science Renaissance

Seed Magazine is back, and pior to their site launch, they have a taste up at their corporate site. They have posted the results of survey on american attitudes towards science that they have called Leonardos and the Science Renaissance. In addition to Seed being an excellent magazine, another interesting note is that their new logo in the upper right corner was designed by one of my dream-boats, Jonathan Harris. No, not Colin "Bomber" Harris.

Monkey-cam

In the spirit of the National Geographic African Waterhole cam, we proudly present: Monkey! thanks to Majikthese.

So the mechanic says to the penguin

I think you've blown a seal. And the penguin says "no, no, it's just ice cream!"
Anyway, because you don't all read the same things as I do:

Design Council | RED - Future Currents - Home

Worldchanging reports on a UK council's green design efforts. In this case, they are talking about how to renovate a Victorian terrace house to make it eco-friendly.

WorldChanging: Another World Is Here: T.R.E.E.S. in LA

The kids at Worldchanging talk about an L.A. effort to drastically eliminate the risk of flooding and also reduce water use.

CBC News: Miers withdraws as nominee for U.S Supreme Court

Oh well, I guess it was too good to last

CBC News: Flyers passing through U.S. have few rights, Arar judge told

It occurs to me that when a senior US governement lawyer says:

foreign citizens passing through American airports have almost no rights. At most, Mary Mason told a hearing in Brooklyn, N.Y., passengers would have the right not to be subjected to "gross physical abuse."

that they are in direct contradiction to the US Constitution 14th Amendment Section 1:

Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.
No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

The key here is that is says "nor shall any State deprive any person", rather than saying "nor shall any State deprive any citizen". Note also the use of the word "jurisdiction" - essentially, any place that you can legally act, you have to treat every person equally before the law and provide them with due process regardless of if they are a citizen or not.
I think it is fair to say that Mary Mason's comment is in contradiction to that.

In which out dear readers are exposed to 2 ethical issues concerning health care.

Concurring Opinions: Genetic Testing: Further Debate with Richard Epstein and Lawyers, Guns, & Money have put up a few posts recently concerning health care.

Concerning the last LG&M link, it seems that the Target corporation (a large US discount retailer along the lines of Walmart and K-mart) is hiding behind the Civil Rights Act in a controversy over the filing of a contraceptive prescription. If you follow the link you will find that the "Lawyers" part of LG&M is true and that Target has got some 'splainin to do.

The first three links concern employer-employee relations and health insurance. Walmart wants to hire only healthy people to bring their health insurance costs down. Advancements in genetic analysis are making it easier for health professionals to predict an individual's risk for disease based on their genetics, and IBM has said that they will not gather this information - others may disagree.

I think we can distill the issue down to this:

1. Current US corporate policy is directed towards maximum short-term shareholder value
2. Health insurance is a major cost to US corporations

So anything that can bring down the cost of health insurance can be seen as a requirement. Hiring only healthy people (including predictions of possible future risks) is an easy and obvious way of reducing cost. The wonder is not that corporations are beginning to think about this, the wonder is that it has taken so long. If you think that these policies are unfair, then I submit that the only solution is to make health care costs revenue neutral to corporations. The most tried, true, and global solution is universal healthcare. The randite fixation on individual responsibility in the US is blinding them to the fact that it is costing them money without providing results.

Amazon.ca: My Wish List

I am so happy, they have finally added a "Like-to-have" priority for items on your Amazon wish list.