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Miscellany from a fish-obsessed ape-descended lifeform

Posts Tagged ‘George W. Bush’

Iraqi shoe thrower gains freedom

September 15th, 2009

Muntazer al-Zaidi, the Iraqi journalist who achieved fame when he threw shoes at George W. Bush, has just been released. Sentenced originally to three years in jail, he won a reduction to one year, and is now being released early for good behaviour. He’s set for a hero’s welcome when he returns home. His employer has kept paying his salary during him time in jail, and they’ve reportedly bought him a house. Several Arab men have also offered him their daughter’s hand in marriage.

Here’s the moment that spawned all those Flash video games:

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Posted in While I was browsing

Tags: George W. Bush Iraq Shoe thrower USA

A disturbing picture

May 26th, 2009

Map the fallen

While skimming through the various websites I check each day, I was scrolling down the page at Crooks and Liars. The above graphic didn’t hit at first and I scrolled on. I then stopped, scrolled back, and looked again. Each yellow dot in the image is a marker on Google Earth to the home town of one of the US and Canadian troops that has died in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Each marker carries information on the deceased, with photos, biographical information, information on how they died, etc.

Map the Fallen gives a quite remarkable view on the human cost of the wars in Iraq and Afhghanistan- and it includes only the coalition forces, including the Australians that have lost their lives. Not included are the civilians that have lost their lives in the conflicts. A project mapping those lives lost would be a far greater logistical challenge, and be even bleaker.

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Posted in While I was browsing

Tags: Afghanistan Casualties George W. Bush Iraq Politics USA War

Torture… to justify the invasion of Iraq after the fact

May 17th, 2009

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Posted in While I was browsing

Tags: George W. Bush Iraq Rachel Maddow Torture USA

LinkFest: Turtle evolution, coral bleaching, science and buddhism, etc

December 9th, 2008

At Neurologica, Steven Novella describes a new palaeontological find, Odontochelys semitestacea (the half-shelled turtle with teeth). O. semitestacea is a 220 million year old fossil from the turtle lineage, and suggests that the carapace (top of the shell) and plastron (bottom) may have evolved separately rather than at the same time. O. semitestacea has a well-developed plastron but only a hint of the formation of a carapace. Thus the shell in this specimen gives protection to the lower half of the body, perhaps particularly useful when the turtle is at the surface breathing.
We’ve had a fairly warm patch at the start of the summer, and the seas are warming up. The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority is keeping an eye out for bleaching events, but doesn’t expect things to be as bad as 1998 or 2002, the two worst years on record. It’s sad to think that with temperatures warming, partly due to humanity’s impact on the atmosphere, the Reef may die within our lifetimes.
Practical Fishkeeping reports on a Japanese plan to re-plant one of their coral reefs which had been severely damaged by bleaching in 1998 and 2001. It could be an exercise in futility as coral bleaching becomes more common in the future.
At Scientific Blogging, Massimo Pigliucci discusses a book review in the science journal Nature which tried to tie science and Buddhism together. You’ll often find quantum physics abused by whackaloons of all sorts to try to justify their beliefs (I had such an encounter with a homeopathic nutball recently), and I’ve previously heard people link it with Buddhism. Pigliucci also has a nice post on the recent evolution conference at the Vatican.
New Scientist reports on successful early trials of a malaria vaccine in Africa. Malaria is predominantly a disease of the poorer nations, so not as much money has been poured into research as would have been if, say, America was in a malarial region. It’s nice to see progress being made on a vaccine for the disease. The article quotes a researcher pointing out that in Tanzania alone there are 18 million cases of malaria annually. The vaccine could prevent 50% of these.
The Canberra Times reports on an exhibition on Charles Darwin that is opening at the National Museum of Australia. The exhibition is the product of the American Museum of Natural History. I wish it would come north, perhaps to the Townsville museum.
In a rather shocking report, George W. Bush has apparently said that the Bible isn’t literally true, and that evolution and the Bible can co-exist. Perhaps as he comes to the end of his term he isn’t as scared of the Religious Right.

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Posted in While I was browsing

Tags: Buddhism Climate Change Coral reefs Evolution George W. Bush Malaria Science Turtle Vaccination

How should we remember George W. Bush?

December 8th, 2008

As we count down the days until George W. Bush leaves office, and the US gets a President with at least a shred of honour and integrity, let’s consider how to remember the Bush Jr Presidency. A New York Times reporter was summoned to a meeting at the White House after an article wasn’t appreciated:

The aide said that guys like me were ”in what we call the reality-based community,” which he defined as people who ”believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality.” I nodded and murmured something about enlightenment principles and empiricism. He cut me off. ”That’s not the way the world really works anymore,” he continued. ”We’re an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you’re studying that reality — judiciously, as you will — we’ll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that’s how things will sort out. We’re history’s actors . . . and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.”

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/17/magazine/17BUSH.html, 14 October 2004

It seems to sum up Bush foreign, environmental and economic policy very well. It will be nice to have a US President that is part of the reality-based community.

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Posted in In my opinion

Tags: Economics Environment George W. Bush Reality based community

Eclectech’s farewell to George W.

November 16th, 2008

Eclectech‘s website hosts a large number of animations and videos that may amuse and/or offend. Be warned that some are not suitable for children, work, or people who take offence from jokes about bestiality.