Rapid-fire bullet update from my RSS feeds
Here are a couple of stories I’ve seen on my RSS feeds (I use Google Reader now), that I keep meaning to write lengthy posts about but I know I’ll never get around to it… so here’s the linkalicious list for any who are interested:
- I remember reading about this last year… a family watched their young daughter waste away, losing weight, and all her energy over a period of weeks. The parents interpreted this as a “test of faith”, and instead of bringing her to a doctor as urged by their friends, they gathered their family together to surround this sick girl with prayer. Unfortunately, prayer’s not an effective treatment for diabetic ketoacidosis, so she died. Surprisingly (for the US), she was tried for second-degree homicide despite her protestations that it was her religious right to avoid medicine (of course it is – her right – but she cannot impose the same on her child). The verdict is in: guilty.
Prosecutors contend a reasonable parent would have known something was gravely wrong with Madeline and that her mother recklessly killed her by ignoring obvious symptoms, such as her inability to walk or talk.
(via Respectful Insolence)
- Harriet Hall reviews Alcoholics Anonymous and the lack of evidence for its effectiveness – in fact, from what we know about addiction, it may even be harmful. Throw another ‘religious truth’ out the window…
- What’s with the world today and governments/law enforcement trying to do stuff just because they can? The Spectator notes Canadian police are trying to pass legislation to fingerprint people before charges are laid (also covered here). In the UK, they’re putting CCTVs in classrooms and trying to expand a program that tracks movements of ‘terrorist suspects’ (aka anyone the govenrment doesn’t like) via the ubiquitous CCTV network (cannot find source ATM, but I know I read this somewhere…).
- Interesting video (from TED) – 10 things you didn’t know about orgasm. (via BoingBoing)
- This BoingBoing headline says it all: Canadian think-tank spends tax dollars to plagiarize and regurgitate talking points from US entertainment lobby group
- For all the kids out there with no initiative, there are a few you have to give props to. (And no, they don’t just exist in Cory Doctorow’s fiction). So your school principal bans a whole bunch of books as being ‘inappropriate’. What do you do as a kid at the school? How about start a black market library of said books out of your locker for those interested? Brilliant! (via BoingBoing)
- I’ve posted about Obama’s failing the high hopes we all had for him; see this video by Rachel Maddow that shatters it completely; she points out that Obama is proposing “preventive detention”, which would imprison people indefinitely if we REALLY REALLY think they MIGHT commit a crime in the future. (via BoingBoing: Obama promises to suspend Habeas Corpus, original article on Salon)
Local cache: maddow-on-obama
- Finally, it’s moves like this that make me hate Apple and their App Store: BoingBoing: Apple says no Project Gutenberg for iPhone because some old books are dirty. Fine, have a censored app store, but then don’t petition the government to prevent me from installing any application I damn well please on hardware I paid for. Is RIM as bad with their blackberries?
*phew* OK, I have more, but this has taken long enough. I’m off to watch Terminator now!
Possibly related posts:
