RationalWiki:What is going on in the world?/August 2010
August 2010[edit]
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"The University of Minnesota is abandoning the traditional teaching methods of yesterday in favor of ... a mindset that favors innovative teaching paradigms." Never mind the asinine objections from those dumb professors, who obviously know nothing about teaching. |
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More racefail: a middle school in Mississippi uses a 30-year old plan to determine their student government. It's just that black students aren't allowed to be president. |
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Just when everyone thought that German racism was a thing of the past, a Bundesbanker puts his foot in his mouth. |
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The Burgess Shale now has a smaller, but equally important sister site. |
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Heavy drinkers rejoice! You'll live longer than non-drinkers!. Moderate drinkers may rejoice even more - in moderation of course. |
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Climate change sceptic |
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Psychedelics are making a comeback... in your doctor's office. Link to source article here. |
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"Swarm Intelligence" - a new concept in marine energy harvesting may allow turbines to gather energy from the Gulf Stream. |
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The Internet has killed the Oxford English Dictionary!! Well, possibly in print form anyway. |
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Headline: "North Carolina man waits for 'ghost train,' killed by real one." |
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Just in case you had any free time left, Diaspora is about to launch and compete with Facebook. |
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Too horrible to contemplate - it could take up to four months to rescue trapped miners. |
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Glenn Beck following in Martin Luther King's footsteps? "It's just a coincidence," he claims. |
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Apparently the educational qualification for lap-dancers is rising. - A university study finds that one in four lap dancers has a degree. |
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Want good grades? Bug your teachers. |
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"You can't appreciate Shakespeare until you've read him in the original Klingon." |
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Captain's log; Stardate: sometime soon. Our mission: to search for the anti-universe. Wait... what? |
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The new public editor for the New York Times acknowledges an awful science story and asks how they could have done better. (Answer: Don't discount absolutes; just learn a little logic.) |
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For more than a decade, Britain has vaccinated hens for salmonella. In doing so, they have virtually wiped out the disease in their egg industry. By following suit, American egg farmers might have prevented the current salmonella scare. However, when new food safety rules were being debated a few months ago, the FDA quashed plans to vaccinate hens because "there was not enough evidence to conclude that vaccinating hens against salmonella would prevent people from getting sick." |
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People can sell smut in the streets of Baghdad without being assassinated, meaning it's safe for the U.S. to pull out. (No pun intended.) |
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A new study suggests that colonising new living space (the "ecological niche concept" hypothesis) is possibly a more important aspect of evolution than direct competition and natural selection. |
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Court ruling: Death threats against corporations are legal. |
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Latest natural resource crisis: we're running out of helium. |
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Cat haters find new ways of destroying their nemesis |
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The more things change, the more they stay the same. 16 years after ending apartheid, the ANC plans to impose apartheid-style censorship on the independent media. |
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A French town hallucinated, ergot the CIA drugged them. |
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Poll: Costa Rica is a happier country than the U.S. Perhaps this is because some people in the U.S. make themselves depressed by yowling about the "exploitation" of Costa Ricans. |
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Thought your commute was bad? Try being stuck in a 9 day, 100km traffic jam. |
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Time Magazine: Is America Islamophobic? Rest of the |
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Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has just |
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First atheist to run for Federal office in the USA for 10 years. |
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Can where you vote affect how you vote? |
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First Wikileaks leaks details about the Afghan war mess, then its founder suddenly finds himself facing rape allegations. Let the conspiracy theories begin. UPDATE: Charges dropped |
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A new guide to English composition aims to "encourage more fluency in writing" by reclassifying, i.a., the Summa Homosexualita and the musings of Jpatt as English-language works. |
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Mexico's Supreme Court OK's same-sex marriage in Mexico City. Cardinal claims mayor of Mexico City bribed Court. Mayor sues cardinal for defamation. |
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In a follow-up to the missing Japanese centenarians' stories below, Japanese officials are now tracking down 281 centenarians who are missing or may have already died. |
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Where will it end? "Psychic" Croc picks Gillard to win. Octopus Paul says "no comment." |
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Spoon under the Moon in June while you still can. The moon is getting smaller. |
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Australian judge orders witness to remove niqab in court. |
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Well that's one less way in which the Catholic Church can discriminate against gays. |
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1 in 5 Americans think Obama is a Muslim. In other news: 1 in 5 Americans is a complete dumbfuck. |
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Heavily armed trucker opened fire on a public safety building and tried to set off improvised explosives before shooting himself. The police have no clue why. And all this happens in Texas, of course. |
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New age woo peddler: Our magic amulet gives you the protection of seven angels, watching over you and protecting your life. UK Advertising Standards Authority: Does it bollocks! |
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Dr Laura, you have First Amendment rights... its just that when you use them, fewer folks want to listen to you... |
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The birthers get smacked down for the umpteenth time as the Supreme Court refused to block a $20K fine levied against Orly Taitz. |
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Evolutionary psychologist Marc Hauser busted - after Harvard knew about his shoddy research for three years. (His next book? Evilicious: Why We Evolved a Taste for Being Bad. Really.) |
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What could help US college students with mathematics? Oh, how about teaching them how an equals sign works. |
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Bike sharing in Denver "threatens our personal freedoms." Just don't tell the Conservative blue-blood pushing the scheme in London. |
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Proposition 8 proponents strike back with a cunning 95 page appeal. "the confusion and irreparable injury that would flow from the creation of a class of purported same-sex marriages." Oh, and we don't have legal grounds to stand on, so let's accuse the judge of being a faggot. |
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In his new campaign TV ad, the son of the biggest dumbass ever to serve as U.S. Vice President says that Barack Obama is the worst president in history. Knowing the Quayles, is there any doubt that Li'l Ben's knowledge of history is a bit sparse? Oh, and check out his country club tough guy act starting at the 20 second mark. |
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How to use baraminology to convert creationists to proper science. |
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Turnabout is |
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Global warming denier Viscount Monckton is a hereditary Lord ... but was never a member of the House of Lords. The House Of Lords goes out of its way to make this quite clear, including demanding he stop using a logo resembling theirs. Monckton then uses pseudolaw to claim he should be considered a member, dammit. |
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RIP Ted. The tubes will never forget you. |
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Best. Parthian shot. Ever. JetBlue flight attendant quits his job in truly epic style. |
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Let us never forget. 65 years on, atomic bomb survivors relive their experiences. |
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In Iceland the mayor of Reykjavik was "too busy" to attend the opening of a gay pride festival - so he sent his friend instead. |
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All together now: |
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Ann Coulter who, as Wikipedia puts it, "has been engaged several times, but never married," will be the headline attraction at "Homocon," a convention for gay conservatives. Will Westboro Baptist Church protest that? |
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Publicity hungry Westboro Baptist Church protests at Comic-Con but the real attraction was the counter protests from the nerds themselves. |
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Adolf Hitler taken away by social services. Really. |
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Those evil, liberal, atheist, commie, muslim, nazis are once again refusing to be charitable. Bastards. |
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FBI: "Using our seal in your Wikipedia thing is illegal!" Mike Godwin: "Arkell v. Pressdram." |
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It's deja vu all over again! A week after finding out that Tokyo's "oldest man" actually died more than 30 years ago, officials have now been told that the whereabouts of Tokyo's "oldest woman" (113 years) have been unknown since 1986. |
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Niche marketing in a recession. For those who are about to die, we have a magazine for you. |
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Idiot creationists, not just for America any more! Queensland students taught humans coexisted with dinosaurs. "But the teacher replied that DNA wasn't invented then." |