RationalWiki:What is going on in the world?/October 2010

October 2010
Most US soldiers don’t object to gay servicemembers says a poll conducted by that notorious left-wing, gay-loving institution... The Pentagon Mount Everest gets a 3G connection.

Mother shakes baby to death, because it was crying while she played Farmville. Bill Clinton and Newt Gingrich found common ground in the Nineties: fooling around on their wives. Gather around, kids. Let me tell you about the good old days. I know it's had to believe, but before every home had a computer, and the schools closed after a big snowstorm, they actually allowed us to go outside and play in it, rather than spend all day stuck inside in an online classroom.

Meanwhile, in Bizarro world, the Rand Paul supporter who stomped on a MoveOn supporter wants her to apologize to him. Vatican doesn't want former Iraqi minister Tariq Aziz to hang. Straight couple fight for the right to have a civil partnership. What Happened When I Yelled Back at the "Christians" Calling My Wife a Murderer. "These people aren't used to being confronted. They prey on the weak and they pounce on the wounded. But I chose to fight back." Minnesota Public Radio makes a shocking revelation: "There may be a religious undercurrent to the harassment of teens who are seen as gay." What will they think of next, that the Spanish Inquisition was religiously motivated or something? Farewell, creator of Moose and Squirrel. So who exactly owns the colour purple? Massive fossilised amber find. "It's like having the complete dinosaur, not just the bones. You can see all the surface details on their bodies and wings. It's fantastic." As France bans covering up a small part of Italy contemplates a ban on revealing all. Rand Paul supporter stomps on a MoveOn.org activist It's a shame that some people take political polls seriously. Consider this example from the Fifth Congressional District of Oregon. On the morning of 25 October, the (Portland) Oregonian published the results of a 18-21 October poll conducted by Elway Research of Washington State. Elway gives the Democratic incumbent, Kurt Schrader, a 50-38 lead over his Republican challenger, Scott Bruun. That evening, the Huffington Post quoted the results of a 17-19 October poll from New Jersey-based SurveyUSA, and from HuffPo's firm, Pollster.com. SurveyUSA shows Bruun leading 51-41. Pollster.com shows that Schrader once led, but now trails 45.3-42.1. <vote poll=world2192 closed="yes">NPR CEO, Vivian Schiller: Juan Williams was fired for "expressing strong personal opinions on controversial subjects in public settings." She seems to be using some hitherto unknown definitions of "strong personal opinions," "controversial," and "public settings" that do not include calling all black leaders "phonies" on an NPR news show. <vote poll=world2191 closed="yes">The Guardian took those 400,000+ Wikileaks pages from Iraq, then [http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/datablog/interactive/2010/oct/23/wikileaks-iraq-deaths-map? pasted all of the geographic data of casualties onto a Google map], and, well. . . . <vote poll=world2190 closed="yes">Oh, look! The Associated Press has noticed the likes of RealCatholicTV and the anti-heterodoxy forces of "Taliban Catholicism." <vote poll=world2189 closed="yes">Bert comes out of the closet. Cue the obvious jokes about having a hand inserted in him all these years&hellip; <vote poll=world2188 closed="yes">I can only assume it's to remove the liberal bias. The Kama Sutra is to be re-translated. Presumably they won't be including the parable about getting stoned with an adulteress&hellip; <vote poll=world2187 closed="yes">"Just say grow" Conservatives who support legalizing marijunana. <vote poll=world2186 closed="yes">We all know about hijacking planes, cars and boats; but hijacking companies? <vote poll=world2185 closed="yes">Ah, Southern law. A Florida teenager who was burglarizing a house with some friends faces a 50-year sentence for second-degree murder because the homeowner shot one of his accomplices dead. Will the homeowner face murder or manslaughter charges? No, although he was found to be in possession of a shit-load of cocaine. <vote poll=world2184 closed="yes">What's on? Martin Freeman is to play the Baggins (have you spotted the pun yet?). All together now: "What's in my pocket?". Tricksy hobbit&hellip;. <vote poll=world2183 closed="yes">The Pot/Kettle Comparative Blackness Index (PKCBI) climbs into previously unknown territory. <vote poll=world2182 closed="yes">Lets not only ban abortion, but also many forms of birth control, stem cell and in vitro fertilization treatments. <vote poll=world2181 closed="yes">33 Chilean miners were rescued after 69 days underground, but it seems that it's the other 400 workers that are facing the most uncertain future. <vote poll=world2180 closed="yes">Friday Night Lights are about football, fun, community, youth, living vicariously through children and copyright infringement <vote poll=world2179 closed="yes">During this election cycle, the Republicans have pushed the meme that the $15 trillion debt is all the fault President Obama and the Democrats, and not the Bush Administration. Has their message been successful? Well, on 20 October -- five days after it was announced that federal spending and the national debt and deficit had all declined over the previous year -- few people noticed when Dubya admitted that bailing out Wall Street was an easy decision, but Fox News loves that an 18-term Democratic congressman from a strongly Democratic Minnesota district got booed for suggesting that most of the debt and deficit are carryovers from the Bush years. <vote poll=world2178 closed="yes">States that stress abstinence-only sex-ed have far higher rates of teen pregnancy. You don't say? <vote poll=world2177 closed="yes">You know the "bodice ripper" genre of salacious damsel-in-distress romance tales? Well, your friendly local hacks are now writing about a decidedly different community with an exciting new romance genre, the bonnet-ripper. <vote poll=world2176 closed="yes">Benoit Mandelbrot, father of fractal geometry, R.I.P. <vote poll=world2175 closed="yes">Rolling Stone Uganda counts down the nation's "Top 100 homos" and advocates violence against them. <vote poll=world2174 closed="yes">Dear Penthouse, I never thought I'd be writing this but I was reading the newspaper when I spotted your founder's obituary. <vote poll=world2173 closed="yes">Juan Williams (Fox's token liberal or NPR's token conservative) fired from NPR for saying anti-Muslim remarks. <vote poll=world2172 closed="yes">A Virginia history textbook contains some outright lies about the Civil War. But this, according to "historians from across the country," is apparently not so big a problem as the book's questioning the idea that slavery was the war's main cause. (It appears that on this point a little consistency is too much to ask.) <vote poll=world2171 closed="yes">Drastic but necessary, or too harsh and too fast? The UK's budget is in with the biggest cuts in over half a century. <vote poll=world2170 closed="yes">The Univision (Spanish-language) TV stations in Nevada have pulled an ad that urged Hispanics not to vote after finding out that it came from a Republican front group. UPDATE: Here's the long-form version of the ad (in English). <vote poll=world2169 closed="yes">Mrs. Clarence Thomas, part 2: After leaving the Heritage Foundation early in 2009 -- claiming she wanted to avoid any apparent conflicts of interest with her hubby's day job -- she first went to work for a college, but then started a website that she said was a community for people seeking to "preserve freedom and reaffirm the core founding principles."  That website has now morphed into a full-fledged Teabagger advocacy and lobbying group that has benefited greatly from her hubby's vote to lift restrictions on campaign contributions.  So much for avoiding conflicts of interest. <vote poll=world2168 closed="yes">Woolworths decides not to sell Christian magazines anymore. The faithful see it as "an assault on evangelistic Christianity." UPDATE: Woolies caves in. <vote poll=world2167 closed="yes">Mrs. Clarence Thomas asks nicely if Anita Hill would apologize for making allegations of sexual harassment against her husband. Prof. Hill takes it remarkably well, only going so far as to report her to her campus security office, who reported it to the FBI. <vote poll=world2166 closed="yes">The BBC compares and contrasts the heads of government of Turkey and Germany. Turkish Prime Minister Erdoğan is lauded for his excellent choice of scarf. German Chancellor Merkel is tut-tutted for being so deluded as to suggest that immigrants to Germany ought to >gasp!< learn to speak German. <vote poll=world2165 closed="yes">Sarah Palin [http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/10/fail-palin-endorses-raese-in-pennsylvania-hes-from-west-virginia.php makes an endorsement for the Pennsylvania Senate race. The recipient of her endorsement is running in West Virginia.] <vote poll=world2164 closed="yes">Christine O'Donnell doesn't know about the Constitution.  Fox News reports the story with a considerably different angle. <vote poll=world2163 closed="yes">Take one homemade space capsule equipped with a parachute, add one HD video camera, one iPhone (for its GPS locator), and one weather balloon, and what do you get? One really cool father-and-son home science project. (Video included.) <vote poll=world2162 closed="yes">The Crystal Cathedral wasn't the first megachurch, but it was one of the first designed to exhibit showy opulence. Now, almost five years after the resignation of its founder, and after years of living beyond its means, the Crystal Cathedral has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. <vote poll=world2161 closed="yes">Obama to appear on Mythbusters. Nothing to do with religion or birth certificates, however. <vote poll=world2160 closed="yes">Advice to teenagers: when attempting to purchase marijuana, do not contact your local sheriff. <vote poll=world2159 closed="yes">Colorado Senate candidate: being gay is like alcoholism. I'll drink to that! <vote poll=world2158 closed="yes">Who says the recession isn't over? Sure, Wal-Mart believes it needs to build smaller stores to better compete with dollar stores. But at the same time, sales of luxury items have rebounded to pre-crisis levels. <vote poll=world2157 closed="yes">Greater Manchester Police live-blog 24 hours of incidents on Twitter. The police tweets also archived here. <vote poll=world2156 closed="yes">The Tea Party is a grass-roots movement of popular resentment against Obama, er, funded by Big Oil. <vote poll=world2155 closed="yes">"They said that I was a f** and that I should die and go to hell, where I belonged. This story is for the young people who might be holding the gun tonight, or the rope or the pill bottle. You need to know that the story doesn't end where I didn't tell it, on that unfortunate day." <vote poll=world2154 closed="yes">According to a Florida lawyer representing more than 3,000 foreclosed homeowners, mortgage lenders were so hot to foreclose on as many properties as possible that they hired hair stylists, WalMart floor workers, teenagers and assembly line workers as "foreclosure experts." <vote poll=world2153 closed="yes">Glenn Beck: Parodist is a federally funded progressive propagandist. Original parody video here. <vote poll=world2152 closed="yes">A thirty three year old woman gets her jollies by being cruel to a seven year old girl. Oh, and the little girl is dying. <vote poll=world2151 closed="yes">And the new frontrunner in the 200 meter backpedal. <vote poll=world2150 closed="yes">As 33 Chilean miners escape through 700 metres of narrow pipe a lone sewer worker has his own lucky escape through more than 1600 metres of narrow pipe. <vote poll=world2149 closed="yes">From the "Don't expect to see this on MPR" department: Obama is more popular than Palin in her home state. <vote poll=world2148 closed="yes">United States District Judge in California rules Don't Ask, Don't Tell to be unconstitutional. <vote poll=world2147 closed="yes">First traces of life pushed back to 3.3 billion years ago (As reported in [dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2010.09.008 Earth and Planetary Science Letters]) <vote poll=world2146 closed="yes">Julia Gillard backs internet filter, on "moral" grounds. <vote poll=world2145 closed="yes">[http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-11518015 33 miners, 68 days, 624 meters. The rescue of the Chilean miners is almost ready to go.] <vote poll=world2144 closed="yes">"There's nothing wrong with you, but there's lots wrong with the way society and the politicians treat you." The words of the late Claire Rayner to an early meeting of the Campaign for Homosexual Equality. <vote poll=world2143 closed="yes">Italy cracks down on Roma (aka Gypsies). Why? "These are dark-skinned people, not Europeans like you and me." <vote poll=world2142 closed="yes">Good news: You're implementing a CO2 emissions tax. Bad news: Your country doesn't yet have the correct petrol to reduce emissions. <vote poll=world2141 closed="yes">Climate talks stalled by a Chinese-US pissing contest. <vote poll=world2140 closed="yes">The new Nobel Laureate in literature believes that "it is very dangerous to use literature as a vehicle to promote political ideals." But it would appear that the Nobel Prize people do not agree with him, having given him the prize because his work espoused the correct political views. <vote poll=world2139 closed="yes">Main Street vs. Wall Street: The day after it was reported that 95,000 Americans lost their jobs last month, the Dow Jones Industrial topped 11,000 for the first time since May thanks to a 0.8 percent drop in the value of the dollar. Woo hoo! Cheap money! <vote poll=world2138 closed="yes">Oh those heathen British. The leader of a paedophile church leaves crowds wanting far less it seems. <vote poll=world2137 closed="yes">More fun with Dick and Jane priests - one "surprised" a victim in a pub, and another's violated his parole, while facing sexual abuse charges. <vote poll=world2136 closed="yes">Yoga? "That's just not Christianity." <vote poll=world2135 closed="yes">Fox & Friends hosts to be replaced by chimps! Well, according to the ever-reliable Weekly World News, who acknowledged Fox's coverage of their story. <vote poll=world2134 closed="yes">Is a saboteur afoot at Fox News? Fox and Fiends breathlessly reported that Los Angeles will spend $1 billion (10,000 units at $100,000 each) for jetpacks that can go 63 miles per hour and soar to 8,000 feet. Gawker got a tip that the most likely source of this story is -- wait for it -- the Weekly World News! <vote poll=world2133 closed="yes">The Hardly Suprising News Department reports that a new poll has found that Tea Partiers share many values with the religious right. "Nearly half of those who identify with the Tea Party believe that the Bible is the literal word of God". <vote poll=world2132 closed="yes">The "war with the Muslims has just begun" warns the Times Square Bomber who was sentenced to life in prison today. <vote poll=world2131 closed="yes">Just when you thought the Republicans had contained their urges for this election cycle, along comes 67-year-old Reagan-appointed Senior U.S. District Court Judge Jack T. Camp in a case that involves illegal possession of firearms, a stripper, and the judge's attempt to buy some Roxys and blow. <vote poll=world2130 closed="yes">Fox News reports on a poll that says Dems may not do as badly as thought in the mid-terms. <vote poll=world2129 closed="yes">Genuine hero of comedy and Albanian icon. Norman Wisdom dies at the age of 95. <vote poll=world2128 closed="yes">In the 19th century, fire departments were privately owned. If you weren't one of their paying customers, they would stand by while your house or business burned to the ground. But then evil socialists were elected seized power and forced government takeovers of these privately owned extortion rackets mom-and-pop businesses. Fortunately for the good people of northwestern Tennessee, the local government has reintroduced good, sound 19th century business ethics to their fire department. <vote poll=world2127 closed="yes">Show me the Republican who'll vote against this Bill. <vote poll=world2126 closed="yes">A very hard green campaign video featuring people blowing up climate change denialists is pulled for being a bit violent. <vote poll=world2125 closed="yes">Democracy: One man - one vote, or $80 million dollars? <vote poll=world2124 closed="yes">It might be life, Jim, but not as we know it.

<vote poll=world2122 closed="yes">New study: Collaboration beats smarts in group problem solving. Hint to study's researchers: Next time, try setting problems that actually require thinking to solve. <vote poll=world2121 closed="yes">Did you do well in 4-H or the FFA? According to sociologist Thomas Espenshade, that means you're too much of a hayseed Undecided About Your Academic Future to go to Harvard. Right-wingers, completely missing the point, yowl as usual about "persecution of white Christians." <vote poll=world2120 closed="yes">"Diversity trainer" Paul Gorski lays it right out: There is an enormous difference between actual diversity and systemic diversity. <vote poll=world2119 closed="yes">You can't keep a good mercenary down. <vote poll=world2118 closed="yes">Getafix's day has just been made! <vote poll=world2117 closed="yes">The US accounts for 46.5% of all military spending in the world. The second largest spender is China, with 6.6%. Can the US continue to maintain such vast expenditure, and how has it come to be so large? <vote poll=world2116 closed="yes">Rick Sanchez was fired from CNN for calling Jon Stewart a bigot and claiming that "The Jews" run the media. Is it because Jon keeps showing this clip? <vote poll=world2115 closed="yes">Germany finally settles its debts... from WW1. Although, in fairness, they were originally pegged at a somewhat steep equivalent of 100,000 tonnes of gold. <vote poll=world2114 closed="yes">To silence those snivelling shits, with their "I know my rights" rubbish, the Tories are planning to scrap the "no touch" rules in schools. <vote poll=world2113 closed="yes">China takes a Great Leap... er... Upwards.