How I was keeping my mind clean this week:
- The men and women at the Western Wall may soon be separated by one-way mirrors.
- "It doesn't suit the senator to discuss a suit about his suits."
- This week in "Organizations wanting Feedback" news, the Conservative Jewish movement wants you to email your suggestions! And NASA wants YOU! to submit songs for their astronauts to listen to when they wake up.
- Anchor embryos.
How I was keeping my mind fit this week:
- The fascinating RecombinantRecords comic blog has a reflection of who's fear was more justified: Huxley or Orwell?
- This incredible description of using pulsars to weigh planets.
Important facts:
- OC Register reassigns its music critic to cover "People." By which they mean Zsa Zsa Gabor, Mel Gibson, and Lindsey Lohan.
- Unprotected Sex + HIV Positive = Bodily Harm, according to a German Court.
- Gates thinks we have too many military musicians. Which reminds me of that classic Daily Show about military musicians.
- My God, a traffic jam that may last a week. (h/t Isaac-at-Parabasis)
- 80 US Soldiers were disciplined for not participating in "spiritual fitness" concerts.
- Anne Frank's favorite tree just fell over.
- Israel continues to demonstrate that when a country runs rough-shod over human rights, it instills the same callous behavior in its soldiers -- which is all of its young people. This week's exhibit: Facebook Photos taken with blindfolded detainees.
- Meanwhile, Palestinians get a qualified right to work in Lebanon.
- Jack London was a crazy communist.
- India defends its ancient trademarks. This week: no trade-marking yoga!
- Whigs are back, baby!
ChartPorn:
- Word-clouds of Shakespeare.
- How man has remade the world in his own image, from the biological perspective.
- A beautiful interactive map of all of the cross-ocean internet cables. The unsung heroes of the internet.
Things to watch in the future:
- The legendary biologist E. O. Wilson has opened up a major war on the theory of kin selection as an explanation for altruism.
- The incredible Chilean miner's story. See here how they have to lose weight so they can squeeze through the eventual 90cm tunnel.
- A group of Danish volunteers are poised to launch a manned spacecraft. It would be the fourth country to perform manned spaceflight, and the first non-governmental organization. Take that, X-Prize...
- The Net Neutrality debate continues to intensify. Great primer here. Bonus fact: the first net neutrality ideas came in the 1980s, and it is the reason we don't have live operators on telephones anymore.
- Is the Obama administration really going to cut food-stamps to fight obesity? That seems... dumb.
