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The place where the world comes together in honesty and mirth.
Windmills Tilted, Scared Cows Butchered, Lies Skewered on the Lance of Reality ... or something to that effect.


Wednesday, March 31, 2010

The Daily Drift

The Daily Drift
Today's horoscope says:
Sometimes if you're involved in a tug-of-war and both sides are equally matched, the only thing to do is ... let go.
No, really.
Not only will you get a good giggle at seeing your opponent go flying, but you'll realize that whatever you were tussling over really wasn't worth it in the first place.
Afterward, help your rival get to their feet and shake hands. Both your struggles will seem pretty silly once one of you agrees to drop it.
Some of our readers today have been in:
Paris, Ile-De-France, France
Lichfield, England, United Kingdom
Arad, Arad, Romania
Chatswood, New South Wales, Australia
Annecy, Rhone-Alpes, France
Monza, Lombardia, Italy
Sheffield, England, United Kingdom
Bremen, Bremen, Germany
Picton, Ontario, Canada
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan, Malaysia
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Sondrio, Lombardia, Italy
Copenhagen, Kobenhavn, Denmark
Bhubaneshwar, Orissa, India
London, England, United Kingdom
Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Rome, Lazio, Italy
Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia
Berlin, Berlin, Germany

as well as Brazil, Scotland, Belgium, and the United States in such cities as Albuquerque, Tomah, Boise, Wake Forest, Dubuque, Atlanta and more

Today is Wednesday, March 31, the 90th day of 2010.
There are 275 days left in the year.

Today's unusual holidays and celebrations are:
National "She's Funny That Way" Day,
Bunsen Burner Day
and
Terri's Day

As The World Turns

As The World Turns
Anonymous's
 picture
Decades of drought, interspersed with intense monsoon rains, may have helped bring about the fall of Cambodia's ancient Khmer civilization at Angkor nearly 600 years ago, according to an analysis of tree rings, archeological remains and other evidence.
New suicide blasts hit southern Russia, killing 12 just days after Moscow subway attack
Two suicide bombers including one impersonating a police officer killed 12 people in southern Russia on Wednesday, two days after deadly suicide bombings blamed on the region's militants tore through the Moscow subway system.

 Iranian Nuclear Scientist Defected To U.S.

An Iranian nuclear scientist who has been missing since June has defected to the United States and is helping the CIA.
Dumping of babies 'a tradition'
Rural traditions of abandoning dead infants may have played a role in the case of 21 babies' bodies found along a river in eastern China, apparently dumped by hospital mortuary workers.

The State Of The Nation

The State Of The Nation

Militia leader 'Captain Hutaree' revealed

David Brian Stone was preparing to levy war against the government from his Michigan property, feds say.  
Also: 

Worst still to come for battered Northeast

"None of us alive have seen the flooding that we are experiencing now," R.I. gov. warns. 
Also: 

NY court upholds hate crime conviction in synagogue attack, rules buildings too can be targets

A person can be guilty of a hate crime even if the violence is directed at a building rather than a person, New York's top court ruled Tuesday.
Man leaps to his death from top of Empire State Building
Body of unidentified man lies on sidewalk on W. 34th St. after the man, believed to be in his 20s, reportedly jumped from the Empire State Building.

Local Hospitality

Local Hospitality
Buster Keaton was the star attraction at the once famous Carolina Theater on North Tryon Street. Carolina Theater

Did you know ...
Jimi Hendrix opened a show for the Monkees in the old Coliseum in Charlotte during the summer of 1967 and was booed off the stage. However, Hendrix came back to Charlotte as a headliner in 1968 and mesmerized the crowd. It’s remembered as one of the best concerts ever in the old Coliseum.


Osmond Barringer was the first car dealer in Charlotte. He liked to pull stunts to promote the automobile. This is Barringer after he drove to the top of Grandfather Mountain.
Osmond Barringer

Local Girl Does Good

Harriet Morrison Irwin was one of the six daughters of a local preacher during the Victorian era. They all married confederate officers in the 1860’s. The most famous one was Anna Morrison Jackson, the second wife of “Stonewall” Jackson, who lived in Charlotte after she was widowed, but Harriet became an architect and patented her design for a six-sided house. Several of these structures were built here in Charlotte, but of course they were all demolished. The plans still exist, though, so one of Harriet’s houses could be constructed today.
http://www.cmstory.org/history/hornets/hex.jpg

Man ordered to pay appeal costs of protesters at his son's funeral

From Michael Moore:
This is BULLSHIT!
These people are the most disgusting excuses for humans I have ever encountered in my life.
The homophobes should be paying out the ass not getting paid!

Lawyers for the father of a Marine who died in Iraq and whose funeral was picketed by anti-gay protesters say a court has ordered him to pay the protesters' appeal costs.
On Friday, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered that Albert Snyder of York, Pa., pay costs associated with Fred Phelps' appeal. Phelps is the leader of the Westboro baptist church of Topeka, Kan., which held a protest at the funeral of Snyder's son, Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder, in Westminster in 2006.
Lawyers for Snyder say the Court of Appeals has ordered him to pay $16,510.80 to Phelps for costs relating to the appeal, despite the fact that the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to review the Court of Appeals' decision.
The lawyers say that Snyder is also struggling to come up with fees associated with filing a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court.
"We are extremely disappointed," said Sean E. Summers, an attorney for Snyder. He added that the high court will likely hear the case during its October term and make a decision in June of next year.
"The Court of Appeals certainly could have waited until the Supreme Court made its decision," Summers added. "There was no hardship presented by Phelps."
Summers said there is no timetable for when the costs must be paid, but if his client doesn't have the money when Phelps requests payment, the matter would go into collections. Snyder could lose his property or his wages, Summers said.
Snyder's lawyer added that if Snyder pays Phelps' court costs and then receives a favorable ruling from the Supreme Court, "imagine him trying to get money back from Phelps."
The high court agreed earlier this month to consider whether the protesters' message is protected by the First Amendment or limited by the competing privacy and religious rights of the mourners.

*****

Of course Snyder is doing the right thing - HE AIN'T PAYING!
Albert Snyder says he won't pay court-ordered legal fees of the wingnut Westboro baptist church, which organizes protests at military funerals.

Stranger answers man's misdialed call for help

A misdialed call probably saved the life of a cancer patient desperately reaching out for help. Dan Oien, 62, who suffers from brain cancer, had a medical emergency in the early hours of March 7, and tried to call for help.

But Oien misdialed, and reached Aquarius Arnolds, a student at Indiana University Purdue University-Indianapolis, instead. "I didn't know who it is so I just decided to answer the phone and see. I couldn't understand anything the caller was saying," she said.

Arnolds said her first instinct was to hang up, but that something kept her on the line. "It seemed like he was in distress, so I just said, you know, do you need help, and he belted out 'Yes,' and that was the only thing I could understand," she said. With only the man's phone number to go off of, Arnolds called 911 and helped dispatchers get help to Oien.


"When the police got there, they had to kick down his door and they couldn't understand anything he was saying. He couldn't talk and he was in constant seizures" said Oien's girlfriend, Sherry Proctor. "I think that I would have come home and found him dead, or in worst shape than what he was."

She called Arnolds Oien's guardian angel, giving family members time to travel to Indiana to see him for what will likely be the last time. "His brothers came from Minnesota, Florida and Georgia, and I don't think they would have ever seen him alive again had it not been for her," Proctor said.

Oien is now in a nursing home, where Arnolds has visited him several times. "He was able to wave, blow a kiss to me and hold my hand," she said. Proctor said she's just thankful Oien found a caring person on the other end of his early-morning call for help. "He dialed one phone number and it just happened to be the right person," she said.

Upping the cute factor

Sign him up!

no speling alowed

Thanks to Skippy for this fine set of examples of wingnut script elocution.
Here are some reasons we have a hard time taking the tea baggers seriously as political thinkers:
(feel free to roll on the floor laughing - we did)

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"just extremey"? is that like "old-timey"?

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That's gotta be from that monster movie, the amnetyville horror

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And they wonder why we call them "tea baggers"?!

Lunatic Fringe

Lunatic Fringe 
Certified Totally
http://crazy-tattoo-designs.com/insane_big.jpg 

Too bad they were unable to complete the arrest!

The RNC Sex Club Scandal Continues- Allison Meyers ID'd as The Fired Staffer in this Mess

One thing is very clear in the controversy now swamping repugican nitwit cabal chairwimp Michael Steele [pictured]: The rnc very much wants to stop talking about it.

Ain't gonna happen!

The scandal broke Monday, when conservative Web site The Daily Caller reviewed recent rnc filings with the Federal Elections Committee and discovered that the rnc had spent $1,946 on an edgy sexually themed Hollywood nightclub called Voyeur.

The February expenditure documents also showed that the committee sprang for $17,000 in chartered plane fees and $12,000 in limousine expenses in February — and according to The Daily Caller, Steele had suggested that the committee bankroll a private jet for him.

On Tuesday, the rnc announced that it had fired the staffer who’d put in the Voyeur expense — which was a reimbursement to a California donor named Erik Brown — and that Brown was returning the Voyeur-related money to the rnc so that, in financial terms at least, it would be as though the whole thing had never happened.

A statement from rnc Chief of Staff Ken McKay on the dismissal of the staffer underlined that the bondage-club outing “was not an rnc-sanctioned event.”

Instead, McKay explained, it took place at the behest of a group of prospective young donors — called the Young Eagles in rnc parlance — after a dinner at a pricey Hollywood restaurant.

(Hotline OnCall reports that the dismissed staffer was Allison Meyers, the director of the under-45 Young Eagles donor initiative.)

“At no time was Chairwimp Steele … or any other member of the senior staff aware of the purpose of this reimbursement or present at the after-hours non-official get-together,” McKay's statement said. (Even so, Brown remains a close friend of Steele, having alluded to outings with the rnc chairman in his Twitter feed, and rnc-related postings on his Facebook page. And an AP report notes that Brown has billed some $19,000 in business from the committee to his firm, Dynamic marketing, Inc., while donating several thousand in funds to the rnc.)

Though fnc mouthpiece Doug Heye told Yahoo! News that McKay’s announcement “ends the story for us,” plenty of questions linger about Steele’s tenure at the rnc, and his ability to hang onto his post amid growing criticism of rnc expenditures.

In an MSNBC interview Tuesday morning, conservative pundit Armstrong Williams said that, despite Meyers’ firing, Steele isn’t in the clear so far as some party insiders and major donors are concerned.

"Many people in the party have seen him — while there's some things that he's done well, they've seen him as an embarrassment for a long time. … You can only defend this guy for so long," he said. "If something doesn't happen and happen fast, the repugican party and its donors, it's just gonna be off the chain."

One factor likely to help Steele, however, is the logistical headache of recalling a committee chairman and staging a special election among the donors who make up the rnc board. It was difficult enough for the committee to settle on Steele when he was elected in early 2009 — it took six ballots from the 168 donors convened to select a chairman in order to yield him an 85-vote majority.

And if Steele were to be booted, he would go a lot less quietly than a midlevel staffer like Meyers seems to have done — ensuring that the embarrassing Voyeur story and reports of Steele’s other high-end expenditures on the job would continue percolating in the news cycle.

The committee already had its hands full controlling damage from the fundraising memo that leaked earlier this month outlining a donor strategy to capitalize on “fear.” That leaked document spurred much outrage in the Teabagger sham — a key constituency that’s absorbing much of the activist energy and fundraising momentum on the right.

Meanwhile, even before the scandal already known as “bondage-gate,” Meyers’ Young Eagle group had stirred up its own share of unwelcome publicity, scheduling a fundraising event at the headquarters of Xe, the controversy-ridden security contractor formerly known as Blackwater.

There’s a more ironic reason that Steele seems likely to stay put: the rnc’s own lackluster performance in the partisan fundraising wars. The committee began the year on more-or-less equal fundraising footing with the Democratic National Committee. But coming into a crucial midterm election season, for which repugicans harbor false hopes to capitalize on health care discontent to take a majority in the House, pressure is building on the rnc to gain significant ground. So far, the committee under Steele is keeping barely ahead of DNC fundraising on a month-to-month basis — but behind both the DNC's overall totals and the rnc’s historic push for cash in election cycles. A protracted power struggle at the top of the committee would only complicate efforts to attract big-ticket donors to the rnc.

Much as the rnc’s idiots are keen to put the Voyeur scandal behind them, the Democrats are going to be just as insistently touting its ongoing fallout — and Steele’s spending habits — as an advantage for their side.

“Anyone who’s a political professional would admit that you’ve got to spend money to raise money,” one senior Democratic source told Yahoo! News. “But there’s a difference between the way we’ve been spending and the way Steele’s been spending. He’s been spending with … abandon; it’s been very spendthrifty. And it’s on things that don’t necessarily bring in more money, like redecorating the chairman’s office.”

DNC spokesman Hari Sevugan put matters more succinctly on Twitter Tuesday morning: “What’s more obscene? A night at the Voyeur West Hollywood or firing junior staffer while the Chairman and Senior staff duck responsibility?”

Them's fighting words you loopy wingnut SOBs!
According to the Dailykos, mainstream repugicans like Marco Rubio are also trying to guy Social Security and raise the retirement age.


Another member of 'christian' militia Hutaree arrested
Federal officials in Michigan have arrested a ninth member of the Hutaree, the 'christian' anti-government militia charged with plotting to use "weapons of mass destruction" in an attack on police.

Talk about sore losers. 
Just when you think the health care debate can't sink any lower, somebody manages to punch through the floor.

A federal grand jury in New Haven, Connecticut returned a seven-count indictment charging five individuals with conspiracy and firearms...

Keith Olbermann: Sarah Palin Could Take a Lesson from Minutemen Leader Carmen Mercer

From Crooks and Liars
Apparently the leader of The Minuteman Civil Defense Corps in Arizona, Carmen Mercer has figured out that if you ask people to "come locked and loaded", they just might take you literally.

From TPM:
Minuteman Leader: When I Said To Come To The Border Locked And Loaded, I Didn't Mean Locked And Loaded:
The Minuteman Civil Defense Corps (MCDC), the Arizona-based anti-illegal-immigration group whose members keep watch on the border, is disbanding as a national organization, after its leader asked for volunteers to come "locked, loaded, and ready," then got more than she bargained for. [...]
It appears that Minuteman members responded enthusiastically to Mercer's call to arms -- maybe too enthusiastically:
Mercer said she received a more feverish response than she expected and decided the group couldn't shoulder the responsibility and liability of what could occur, she said.
"People are ready to come locked and loaded, and that's not what we are all about," Mercer said. "It only takes one bad apple to destroy everything we've done for the last eight years."
In other words: When I told people to come locked, loaded and ready, I didn't mean locked, loaded and ready.
So she and the board's two other directors voted to dissolve the Minuteman corporation.

"Tea Party" needs a lesson from Emily Post

The state of the “loyal opposition” today can sometimes seem so hateful and bigoted that it’s easy to wonder if we’re actually in the year 1960, not 2010. Some people, especially those in the "Tea Party" and even the “mainstream” repugicans in Congress, seem to think that threats and intimidation against those in the majority party is a good track to take on the route to November, hoping to reclaim a majority at the Capitol.

Scientific Minds Want To Know

Scientific Minds Want To Know
Blind snakes have been discovered to be one of the few species now
 
living in Madagascar that existed there when it broke from India about 
100 million years ago, according to a new genetic study. Credit: Frank 
Glaw. Blind snakes have been discovered to be one of the few species now living in Madagascar that existed there when it broke from India about 100 million years ago, according to a new genetic study.
Anonymous's picture
An estrogenic drug that influences neurotransmitter and neuronal systems in the brain is showing promise as an effective therapy for women who suffer from schizophrenia.

A single star that escaped its family – not the usual close-knit stellar clan – may have provided the raw material for our solar system.


So a scientist walks into a shopping mall to watch people laugh. 
There's no punchline.

Interesting In General

Interesting In General

The school's role in bullying prevention

Several recent high-profile cases raise questions about adult accountability.
Also: 

Farmers brace for swarms of grasshoppers

The crawling masses of hoppers can eat every blade of grass on a 10,000-acre farm.
Also: 

An arrow crab, Stenorhynchus seticornis. One of the most uneven ratios of exoskeleton to everything else you’re likely to find in the crustacean world.

From Treehugger:
toad close up photo
photo: Lida via flickr.
It's long been known that many animal species somehow are aware of impending natural disasters like earthquakes and tsunamis, but new research shows that common toads can sense earthquakes up to three days in advance.
snow leopard opener 
photo
Photo credit: Steve Winter and National Geographic
The endangered snow leopard is famously elusive: Not only do fewer than 7,000 remain in the wild, but the animals are notorious for avoiding humans and camouflaging themselves on rocky ledges.
Snow Leopards are in danger from poachers, habitat loss, and neighboring herders who shoot them to protect their livestock--which is why Panthera and the Snow Leopard Trust are working on tracking a group of five Mongolian snow leopards via GPS collars. These photos from the field scientists offer an unusual look at these rarely-seen cats.
Ultra Rare Photos of Endangered Snow Leopards in the wild
cuttlefish image
Screen capture via Life episode preview
Sunday's upcoming episode of Life - the groundbreaking documentary series from the Discovery Channel and the BBC - is all about creatures of the deep. I've always been a fanatic of ocean documentaries, so this one is particularly exciting. And that's because in no small part it emphasizes how little we still know about what lives in the farthest reaches of Earth's ecosystems. Here on TreeHugger, we're constantly hearing about crazy new discoveries from the deep. I dug up a few of my favorites from the last few months, including crabs that eat sunken ships and whales that steal cod from fishing lines. Check out our favorite deep sea stories.

U.S. consumers pay more, get less with respect to broadband

It's bad enough the U.S. continues to lag behind many other countries in broadband speed, considering we (though not Al Gore) basically developed it. It's worse when you consider we pay more, and much more in some cases, for that "privilege."

Palin left Alaska with highest debt-to-GDP in the US

You betcha. Well, they do say everything is bigger in Alaska, so I guess that also means accounting games and debt. Bigger than Texas, again. How can someone who quit their job after leaving the state with its debt equal to 70% of its GDP lecture anyone? The people who believe her are even bigger fools, but yes, we knew that already.
New Hampshire and Colorado attempted to use program-specific pots of state money to plug holes in their general treasuries; Connecticut wrote its own accounting rules; Hawaii reduced the length of its school week; and California made its businesses pay their 2010 taxes earlier to make the budget appear more balanced than it is. But one thing every state is doing, including Alaska, is camouflaging its debts by not releasing how much its state employee pension funds will owe — or how far behind it is on its contributions to said pension funds.

Less than a year after then-Gov. Sarah Palin (r-Alaska) quit the government to pursue other projects, Alaska leads the way in its debt-to-GDP ratio when its unfunded pension obligations are taken into account, followed by Rhode Island, New Mexico, Ohio and Mississippi. And although Alaska’s ratio is far lower than Greece’s, it does give the state a debt-to-GDP ratio similar to that of Jordan and Palin’s favorite health care resource, Canada, and a higher ratio than Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, India, the Philippines or Uruguay.

It's The Economy Stupid

It's The Economy Stupid

Grocery shoppers who try harder to track costs do worse, study finds

Anonymous's picture
Almost one in three U.S. households shop on a budget -- and one in six can only afford basic necessities. So it's no wonder that 78 percent of budget shoppers -- twice as many as those who shop without a budget (37 percent) -- try to track how much their groceries are likely to cost as they roll through the aisles.

Things your grocery store won't tell you

These 13 tips can help you spot old produce and avoid long checkout lines.  
Also: 

A bleak season ahead for home sales

Many experts are expecting the real estate market to get even worse before it gets better.
Also: 

How Lou Lucido Let AIG Lose $35 Billion With Goldman Sachs CDOs

Joseph Cassano insisted American International Group Inc. would be fine. The insurer had quit guaranteeing securities tied to U.S. subprime loans in 2005, before lenders got reckless, the head of AIG's derivatives unit told investors.

Who can afford to file taxes late

Who can afford to file taxes late

It won't cost you a penny to submit your return late if you're in this lucky group. 
Also: 

In Matters Of Health

In Matters Of Health
The age-old maxim "Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper" may in fact be the best advice to follow to prevent metabolic syndrome, according to a new University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) study.
Anonymous's picture
Hemophilia, a disease linked with legends of European monarchs, frail heirs and one flamboyant charlatan called Rasputin, still afflicts many people today.
And the very treatments that can help can also put patients' lives at risk.

Research shows why we forget to take our medicine, and what we can do about it

Anonymous's picture
For many people, remembering to take a daily medication can be the difference between life and death. Yet, people forget all the time. Now a landmark study from North Carolina State University has found that changes in daily behavior have a significant effect on whether we remember to take our medication -- and that these changes influence older and younger adults differently.
Anonymous's picture
A Kansas State University researcher is exploring the use of Chinese wolfberries to improve vision deficiencies that are common for type-2 diabetics.

This Really Won't Hurt a Bit: Wireless Sensor Promises Diabetics Noninvasive Blood Sugar Readings

Anonymous's picture
For many diabetics, the unpleasant chore of drawing blood several times a day in order to check blood glucose levels is a part of life. Efforts to develop devices that can test blood glucose without the need to repeatedly prick fingers have faltered thus far due to questions about accuracy as well as complaints about skin irritation.

Start spreading the news: NYU scientists find therapeutic target to stop cancer metastases

Anonymous's picture
Scientists have uncovered what could be a very important clue in answering one of the most perplexing questions about cancer: why does it spread to the liver more than any other organ?
Article Preview
An Australian study of more than 50,000 women shows that those with children have an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

But the research published in the US journal Diabetes Care found breastfeeding can offset the risk.

It was conducted as part of the 45 and Up initiative, which is Australia's largest long-term study of aging.

University of Western Sydney researcher Dr Bette Liu says mothers who do not breastfeed are 50 per cent more likely to develop diabetes compared with those who do not have children.

Warning signs that burnout is near

Warning signs that burnout is near

Long work hours and low morale are just part of what leads you into the danger zone.  
Also:

And I Quote

The only thing worse than a man you can`t control is a man you can.

~ Margo Kaufman

Singer's music video ignites controversy

Singer's music video ignites controversy

The images in Erykah Badu's latest video have offended some viewers and inspired others. 
Also: 

And you wonder why I make fun of christians

Beside it being so easy ...
The fact is christians worship a pagan goddess.

All christians, violate this very first commandment of their god each year by placing before their god the actual name of a pagan goddess of fertility and the dawn.

In case you haven't figured it out by now, her name is - believe it or not - "Easter."

That's correct, folks. 
The word Easter is actually the name of an ancient goddess who represents fertility, springtime and the dawn. Some of her symbols are flowers, bunnies, eggs, the sun and the moon.

Who'da thunk it?

Anybody with half a brain that's who

Just wait until they discover entire basis of their 'religion' -- the resurrection of jesus h. christ -- is also based on pagan stories.

Some moron says he's going to show the "real" face of jesus

Article Preview
American computer graphic artists using cutting edge technology have recreated the face of Jesus based on the Shroud of Turin.

It took a team from Studio MacBeth six months to create the image using the fabric many believe to be Jesus’ burial cloth, as the blueprint, The Christian Post reported.

“If you want to recreate the face of Jesus and you want to get the actual face of Jesus, you have only one object and that’s the Shroud,” said computer artist Ray Downing.

“It is the only object that can actually purport to be the actual image of Jesus with any kind of credibility whatsoever.”

Did everyone forget that it's been Proven to be a Fake

Yes? 

IT'S A MIRACLE!

More ...

Cthulhu's Pet?

giant isopod sea monster photo
Photo: Gwynzer
For the Love of Cute Kittens! It Looks Like a Sci-Fi Movie Prop
This just goes to show how little most of us know about the oceans. I'm sure some marine biologist reading this will go "Duh, it's a Bathynomus giganteus, better known as giant isopod! An important scavenger in the deep-sea benthic environment...", but the rest of us will just stare with our mouths open. Didn't one of those make a cameo in District 9?

Magnets mess minds, morality

phil mri image
Talk about messing with your mind. A new study by neuroscientist Liane Young and colleagues at Harvard University does exactly that: the researchers used magnetic signals applied to subjects’ craniums to alter their judgements of moral culpability. The magnetic stimulus made people less likely to condemn others for attempting but failing to inflict harm, they report in PNAS.
Most people make moral judgements of others’ actions based not just on their consequences but also on some view of what the intentions were. That makes us prepared to attribute diminished responsibility to children or people with severe mental illness who commit serious offences: it’s not just a matter of what they did, but how much they understood what they were doing.
Neuroimaging studies have shown that the attribution of beliefs to other people seems to involve a part of the brain called the right temporoparietal junction (RTPJ). So Young and colleagues figured that, if they disrupted how well the RTPJ functions, this might alter moral judgements of someone’s action that rely on assumptions about their intention.

Odds and Sods

Odds and Sods
What a shitty way to go (sorry we had to go there).

Man killed by manure hose

An Austrian man was killed yesterday after he was hit in the head by a hose pumping liquid manure.

A Civil War buff has returned a historic revolver to the Chicago museum from which it was stolen decades earlier.
A Colorado gambler claims she won $42 million at a penny slot machine, but the casino says it's a mistake.