Man blames bar for scooter crash

BRADENTON -- A 73-year old man who crashed his motorized scooter after too many drinks is suing the bar that served. him.  John Wasko filed a lawsuit this past week against The Oasis, saying the bar should have stopped giving him drinks.  He is seeking more than $15,000 in damages.  On Jan.18th, Wasko was riding home on his scooter when he was struck by a vehicle.  He blames the bar for injuries from the accident.  Bradenton Police cited him for walking in the path of a vehicle.  [story from the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 9-27-10]

Misuse of handicapped placards is widespread

We've all seen people park in handicapped spaces, leave their car, and walk perfectly well or even jog to their destination.  Click on this link to read a Washington Post article (9-26-10) about the widespread abuse of handicapped stickers and placards.  The article describes how spouses and friends of the handicapped use the placards and how some placards are handed down in families after the person dies.  They are also stolen by thieves and sold.  One study cited suggested that 75% of the placards where being used improperly.  Do you think the whole enterprise of handicapped spaces should be abolished?  Or is there a way to crack down on abusers so that the spaces are reserved for those genuinely in need?  The article notes that police are hesitant to accuse a person who seems to be misusing the placard of not really being disabled, hence enforcement is minimal.  Are handicapped spaces an example of Nietzsche's concern that we've grown weak, whiny, and pathetiic as a species, or do they represent a genuine and legitimate exercise of compassion?

Is it wrong to leave water bottles for illegal immigrants?

Activist groups such as No More Deaths have been leaving plastic jugs of water in the Arizona desert for illegal immigrants who cross the border there.  They believe the flow of immigrants is inevitable and are trying to prevent these individuals from dying of thirst in the harsh desert terrain.  Critics argue that this supports criminal activity and pollutes the environment.  Click on this link to read a Sarasota Herald-Tribune story (9-27-10) about this practice.  Do you believe this is a compassionate or criminal action?

Does it make a difference who runs a local library?

Public libraries have been a central institution in America since Benjamin Franklin founded the first one.  Librarians operate according to a strong ethic of neutrality and have resisted many attempts to censor library holdings.  A new trend, however, is to turn the management and staffing of libraries over to for-profit private corporations.  Click on this link to read a Sarasota Herald-Tribune story (9-27-10) about this movement to save money.  Do you think turning this key public information portal over to private companies is a good idea?

Did you know?

www.youtube.com/watch%253Fv%253DlUMf7FWGdCw

Genetically modified salmon? We're not going to tell you

Click on this link to read a story that first ran in the Washington Post (9-18-10) about the new FDA rules concerning genetically modified salmon.  Not only do the rules not require companies to disclose that their fish is GM, they also forbid companies that don't genetically modify their food from advertising this.  The ruling continues the huge controversy about whether such foods are safe and whether the FDA is protecting the interests of companies that use genetic modification to produce food.  Salmon is the first fish product that has been allowed to be sold GM.

Redesigning the Dollar

I came across this article that is trying to promote redesigning the American dollar. They seem to think that by redesigning the dollar they will "find a catalyst to restart our economy". I highly doubt that just by making our money look prettier we can restart the economy, but what do you think? Does our dollar need to be revamped?

The whole article can be found here...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/huffpost/721294

The realities of illegal immigration and sexual slavery

This is an article that Sara brought to my attention. It discusses the realities of young girls who have dreams of coming to America for a better life but end up being forced into prostitution upon arrival. The teenage girls live in Mexico and are swept away by men who tell them stories of great lives in America, and finding jobs. They then sneak them illegally into the US and force them into becoming prostitutes with threats of beating them or killing the girls parents if they don't do as the men wish. This is a terrible tragedy that many people don't realize is going on. It causes me to wonder if immigration were easier things like this wouldn't be happening. The whole article can be read here.


http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/09/16/human.trafficking.claudia/index.html?npt=NP1

What do you think is the cause of this? And how can we stop it?

What the Bleep do we know? Flatland

Here is a clip from the very interesting movie "What the Bleep do we know?" which discusses quantum physics and consciousness. This is a clip about Flatland, which we have been discussing in class.




Thanks for the clip Scott!

Yankee baseball caps correlated with crime?

Click on this link to read a Sarasota Herald-Tribune (9-16-10) story that investigates alleged correlations between the wearing of Yankees baseball caps and committing crimes.  Do the explanations cited by the article indicate the cause of this strange statistical anomaly or does this fall into the "weird shit happens" category?

Dangerous anti-censor software?

Click on this link to read a Washington Post article about Haystack, an application designed to circumvent Iranian censors.  Human testing of the software in Iran has been halted for fear that authorities might be able to determine the identities of the testers.  The software anonymizes the testers, but security in the program was apparently lax.  Should the U.S. government (which approved Haystack's export to Iran) be encouraging the creation of programs that defeat other governments' attempts to control the Internet in their countries?

Paranoid about paranoia

Click on this link to read a New York Times column (9-8-10, reprinted in the Herald-Tribune) that warns about paranoid thinking by both liberals and conservatives.  What does such thinking do to our political process?

Imagining and Visualizng the different dimensions

This is a cool video Scott sent me about the different dimensions we might live in. Its a bit long but pretty interesting it discusses the theory that we live in a universe with 11 dimensions. They make some pretty interesting points, its worth taking a look at.

Why Is the Anoka-Hennepin School Board Doing Nothing About LGBT Suicide?

Lesbian and gay students in a Minnesota are committing suicides at an alarming rate, and the school district is doing nothing to stop it. Three gay students commited suicide this year due to bullying and feeling uncomfortable in their own skin. The school distrcit is scared to do anything because they're worried about offending some socially conservative religious leaders in the area, who want to keep any mention of homosexuality, even if it relates to anti-bullying, verboten on high school campuses. I personally think this is a horrible tragedy. Students are dying and the school is scared of offending anyone? Do you think it is the school districts job to step in and stop this?

You can read the whole article here http://gayrights.change.org/blog/view/why_is_the_anoka-hennepin_school_board_doing_nothing_about_lgbt_suicide

There are a lot of other interesting articles on change.org, you can also sign petitions and find out ways to get involved in helping to resolve some of these problems.

Understanding the Theory of Everything

I recently saw a video describing the way we try to understand multiple dimensions as being similar to Plato's Allegory of the Cave, and I thought it was a really neat comparison between ancient philosophy and quantum physics.

True, we may have trouble grasping the truths behind scientific processes when all we are capable of understanding are the "shadows" of what we can comfortably perceive. But even when addressing a difficult concept, like Garrett Lisi's Theory of Everything illustrated below in an eight-dimensional model, there is the possibility of comprehension.

Cyber-bullying defies traditional school bully stereotype

Click on this link to read a Washington Post (9-2-10) article about how young girls are playing the role boys traditionally played as bullies in the world of social networking.

Corpse-tested cars

From Slate (9-1-10):

Corpses Used As Crash Test Dummies

Virtually every part of your vehicle that affects driver safety, from the steering column to the windshield, was tested by having a human corpse slammed against it, reports Wired. Computer modeling is used to design new safety features, company officials say, but when push comes to shove there's still no substitute for testing new equipment using a genuine human cadaver. "It's still very important," said a Ford safety specialist. "Even though we have very good math modeling of dummies, human modeling hasn't reached that state yet." The bodies are swaddled in stockings to protect their dignity, then used in exactly the same way as a conventional crash-test dummy; after a simulated crash, the cadavers are rushed away for X-rays and autopsies to check for organ damage. Some automakers deny using cadaver testing, but even those who are bashful about using human bodies fund independent research groups that conduct testing on their behalf. "It's always a good idea when you're developing something to do cadaver testing," the Ford safety official says.

Read original story in Wired.com | Tuesday, Aug. 31, 2010

Iranian newspaper calls for death of France's first lady

French First Lady Must Die, Says Iranian Newspaper

An Iranian daily newspaper with close ties to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, has called for the execution of French first lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy. The attack, which came in response to Bruni-Sarkozy's defense of an Iranian woman sentenced to death for adultery, began on Saturday when the Kayhan newspaper ran a story headlined: "French prostitutes enter human rights uproar." The newspaper continued its assault today, calling the French first lady a "decadent actress" and "immoral woman ... known for her extramarital relations," and saying that she too deserved capital punishment for adultery. Iran's government sought to distance itself from the comments, and warned the country's media to be more restrained in future. "Insulting the officials of other countries and using inappropriate words … is not approved of by the Islamic Republic of Iran," a foreign-ministry spokesman said. "We don't think using inappropriate words and insulting words is the right thing to do."

Read original story in Reuters | Tuesday, Aug. 31, 2010