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eftychia at 05:53pm on 2003-08-28
eftychia at 05:53pm on 2003-08-28- First, an urgent one (for those of you who share certain political opinions with me and live in the US): from the page with a form on it to send your representatives email at Human Rights Campaign: "The Senate will hold hearings on marriage on September 4. These hearings were called by Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) to determine whether laws in the U.S. are currently sufficient to prohibit same-sex couples from being able to legally marry, or whether additional measures are needed (such as a constitutional amendment like the one being considered in the House of Representatives). Tell your Senators today to oppose any attempt to amend the Constitution on the issue of civil marriage for same-sex couples." (If folks want me to explain my view on this matter in detail, I will, but I won't go further into it in a link-sausage post except to quote Mark Amidon, who wrote, "Every time I hear the phrase 'defense of marriage', I ask exactly how my marriage is being defended by excluding homosexuals from marrying. I have yet to hear a decent explanation." And yes, that's also in the queue to be a quote-of-the-day at some point.)
- I've been doing something like this in my DayRunner when I encounter an unfamiliar single-malt, so that I can later remember what I liked or disliked about different kinds of Scotch, but here's Whisky Master, a PalmOS application for drinkers who've gone more high-tech than my bulky paper brain. It's basically just a database for keeping track of your observations (and, of course, preferences), but it also allows you to beam your notes to other Whisky Master users. Dunno how many of y'all will actually use this, but I thought the fact that it exists was amusing enough to note. (And yeah, if I had a PDA just might spring for a copy. Why not?) Ooh, looking a little closer, I see they also make one called Beer Master. Though my beer preferences are pretty easy to keep track of.
- An article on Other Magazine's web page (which is, by the way, a syndicated feed in LiveJournal) about a pair of studies about the "cross-race effect" which makes people less likely to be able to clearly identify strangers of another "race" than strangers of their own "race". One study looked at kindergartners and noted that their results were similar to other age groups. The other study presents responses to "racially ambiguous" faces.
- I learned a new word (literally new -- it was coined in
1995) thanks to
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
tinyrevolution ...
Cisgender
is the opposite of transgender, "i.e. having a gender
identity or gender role that society considers appropriate for
one's sex." - Government scientists in 1955, researching how Britain would cope with a nuclear attack drew up secret plans to sell meat from animals injected with radioactive substances in laboratory tests. "Documents released at the National Archives in Kew, south-west London, show scientists in 1955 wanted to find the level of radioactivity needed to make livestock unfit for consumption. [...] Dr Hamish Robertson, the scientist in charge of the project, wrote to the Joint Committee on Biological Problems of Nuclear Physics to say the cost of the experiments would be 'prohibitive' unless the subjects, in particular lambs, were sold on the retail market. [...] The documents did not state whether the scheme was put into action. [...] no immediate record yesterday of what happened to the livestock in any experiment." (Thanks to Fred for the link.)
- I know this will please at least one of my friends with a "geek fetish": "15 Geniuses All In Their Skivvies!", the swimsuit issue of Mental Floss magazine. Albert Einstein is on the cover. "The magazine features a dozen figures from the arts, culture, science and politics -- from the Beatles to Albert Einstein to Mao Zedong -- and accompanies photos of them in swimwear with a variety of fascinating facts about their lives and influences." (Another link from Fred)
- Slender threads tie 19 to terror (Toronto Star), in which it's demonstrated that the US doesn't hold a monopoly on absurd xenophobic paranoia regarding "potential terrorists". The reasons for the arrests were things like, "Some knew people 'that have access' to perfectly legal nuclear gauges 'commonly used in construction'" and "One of the 19 once shared an apartment with a man (not arrested) who was once offered a job by a relief foundation allegedly linked to terrorism." Sheesh! "In short, most of the 19 students arrested were young male slobs who didn't study very hard, who had unspecified 'connections' to a country in which some people are radicals, who knew some people who worked in construction and who knew others who did stupid things, like try to walk on the beach at 4 a.m. in April. They could have been almost anyone at any Canadian university." The biggie was a flight student who was considered suspicious because his flight plan took him over a nuclear power plant just like every other flight student in Toronto. The lead sentence really sums it up: "Future generations will look back at the post-Sept. 11 era as a time in which we all went nuts." (One more link from Fred.)
-
Two species of nonnative carp have been jumping into boats in
Missouri, injuring occupants and damaging the watercraft.
(Thanks to
Interrobang for the link.) "A state fisheries biologist
motoring near Columbia had a filling knocked out of his tooth by
a high-flying fish that struck him on the side of the head.
Another state biologist in the St. Charles area was seriously
hurt when he was hit by a giant carp." The imported species
escaped from private fish hatcheries during floods over the past
decade. "'The sound of a propeller under water makes these
fish go crazy,' Todd said. 'The fish don't jump if you're sitting
there without the motor on, but the higher the RPMs, the greater
the noise, the higher these fish jump.'
[Interrobang included, but denied responsibility
for, the following:
They jump into you boat, pick your pocket, then jump back into the water.
Ouch!]
Then they pass your billfold around from fish to fish, so you can't retrieve it.
Yes, indeed, it's ... carp to carp walleting.
Those nasty fish also make deep holes in earthen dams. Surely you've heard of ... Carp'll Tunnel Syndrome. - Did I get around to posting this one yet? Swimmers Don't Slow Down In Substance Twice As Thick As Water: "University of Minnesota professor Ed Cussler has long wanted to know whether swimming in a substance thicker than water would slow someone down or allow them to swim faster. With that in mind, Cussler coaxed 19 people, including some members of the university's varsity swim team, to swim in water mixed with guar -- a food thickener. [...] The chemical engineering professor reasoned that the increased drag from the body might be countered, or even surpassed, by the hands' ability to push harder against the increased resistance."
- And finally, a really cool story about axiomaxiom's
Lucky Buddha Belly (thanks to errorist). This is
one of those posts you just have to go read, about playing
Pai-Gow poker and suddenly becoming the room's good luck charm:
"She looks at me while the dealer shuffles. Suddenly her hand
is on my tummy. 'Buddha belly! Rub for luck!' I'm too astonished
to move. This septuagenarian is fondling my stomach. She then bets
$200 and wins big. 'Everybody, lucky Buddha Belly!' she says,
raking in her chips. Excited voices tangle the air with half a
dozen Asian languages. A strange hand wraps around me and pets my
abdomen. The same hand drops $800 on the table, and wins five times
that." And that's not the funniest bit.
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