Sudanese Refugees In Israel

TEL AVIV, 4 April 2007 (IRIN) - TEL AVIV, 4 April 2007 (IRIN) - Israeli NGOs are campaigning to have 120 Sudanese refugees who fled violence in first Sudan and then Egypt released from the Israeli prisons they are being held in.

This is the sort of news story that I "love." A look at a slice of the world that I knew nothing about. It is also interesting that these Sudanese would flee to a nation that their own culture, etc. probably has little in common with. Anyway, let's hope that these refugees are released and allowed to stay in Israel.

Do You Have A...

Zombie Plan?

Photo source can be found here.

Gap

Sorry for the posting gap. We've been busy.

VA Tech

Our condolences to the families and friends of the VA Tech students who were killed Mon. I hope that despite all the media hype (and sensationalism about the killer's "motives") you are able to find some peace and closure.

A New $10,000 Car?

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Sensing an untapped market, Japanese automaker Nissan is "seriously" mulling the launch of a small car in the United States priced under 10,000 dollars, top executive Carlos Ghosn said Wednesday.

As the article notes, Ghosn is also the chief executive of Renault and Renault already sells cars priced at ~$10,000 in Europe. As such cars presumably meet European regulatory standards they would also likely meet American regulatory standards. I would see their introduction as a major boon to those who would like a new car but can't afford one; indeed, used car lots would likely take a major hit after their introduction.

Sarkozy & Royal

PARIS (Reuters) - France's presidential election on Sunday looks set to be a traditional contest between the main right and left parties as a bid by a centrist candidate to mount a challenge loses steam, a poll on Thursday showed.

I suppose this is what everyone expected, but a race between Bayrou and Sarkozy or Royal would have shook things up a bit. Of course the only real poll that counts is that on April 22nd.

Buds

Mead

I had some Redstone Black Raspberry Nectar Mead last night and was it ever good.

Euler

Tomorrow is Euler's 300th Birthday. So happy birthday Euler and thank you for your brilliance!

Self-Censorship

Something about self-censorship and the nature of the philosopher will be posted here sometime today.

Action

"Tocqueville suspected that the greatest danger to freedom was not a state which prevented men from exercising liberty, but one which encouraged them to refuse the burdens of action."

-- Bruce James Smith, Politics & Remembrance: Republican Themes in Machiavelli, Burke, and Tocqueville, n. 106, p. 240

While there is something of "two sides of the same coin" present here, this way of looking at the issue underscores the perniciousness of tyranny. It is not simply that the tyrant acts like a tyrant; the tyrant also fosters a society where political, etc. culture is so weak that it numbs any "instinct" to overthrow the tyrant's rule.

Firefly Personality Quiz

You are Zoe Washburne (Second-in-command)

Zoe Washburne (Second-in-command) 75% Malcolm Reynolds (Captain) 70% Dr. Simon Tam (Ship Medic) 50% Jayne Cobb (Mercenary) 45% Wash (Ship Pilot) 40% River (Stowaway) 40% Kaylee Frye (Ship Mechanic) 30% Inara Serra (Companion) 20% Alliance 15% Derrial Book (Shepherd) 0% A Reaver (Cannibal) 0%

Dependable and trustworthy. You love your significant other and you are a tough cookie when in a conflict.

Click here to take the Serenity Personality Quiz


I'm quite pleased with the result.

Jonestown

PBS' American Experience did a great piece on Jonestown last night (09/04/07).

For me Jonestown was the point in my then young life when the problem of evil reared its ugly head. It was also the first time that I discerned the sort of troubling things that groups of people can do given the requisite commitment. Indeed seeing the pictures of those bodies lined up as neatly as they were induced nightmares in me for days afterwards.

Note that I'm a great fan of the idea that our intellectual, etc. commitments are largely pre-political/pre-rational in nature. If I apply that idea to my reaction to Jonestown I could argue that the source my religious and political stances is in the events at Jonestown.

Don't Use Condoms; Masturbate

PARIS, April 6, 2007 (AFP) - French far-right presidential candidate Jean-Marie Le Pen told a women's forum Thursday he was against making condoms freely available in schools -- advising young people to masturbate instead.

Whatever else can be said about Le Pen at the very least he is unpredictable.

Stem Cell Research

Here's a first: a British research team has grown part of a human heart from stem cells.

What do people think of stem cell research applications like this?