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John and Adam discuss the news of the day from an international perspective
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No Agenda Archive
Running time: approx. 90 mins.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 57% would vote to replace the entire Congress and start all over again. Eighteen percent (18%) are not sure how they would vote.
Overall, these numbers are little changed since last October. When Congress was passing the unpopular $700-billion bailout plan in the heat of a presidential campaign and a seeming financial industry meltdown, 59% wanted to throw them all out. At that time, just 17% wanted to keep them.
I find it interesting that people usually dislike Congress more than the President, yet the latter has more power in deciding the country’s path.
The British government decided it was “in the overwhelming interests of the United Kingdom” to make Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, the Lockerbie bomber, eligible for return to Libya, leaked ministerial letters reveal.
Gordon Brown’s government made the decision after discussions between Libya and BP over a multi-million-pound oil exploration deal had hit difficulties. These were resolved soon afterwards.
John wrote about this back in ’03. An extension of this illiteracy includes kids who were never taught everyday thinks like how to balance a checkbook and haggle when buying a car. Perhaps it’s time for a “How to function in today’s world” class that includes a chapter on how a computer works, Internet scams, etc.
On the other hand, given kids today start on their parent’s computers at age 2, a Nigerian prince could have wiped out their piggy bank account well before starting kindergarten.
Australia’s leading criminologist thinks online scams have escalated to such a point that first-time users of computers should have to earn a licence to surf the web.
Russel Smith, principal criminologist at the Australian Institute of Criminology said the concept of a “computer drivers licence” should be taken seriously as an option for combating internet-related crime.
“There’s been some discussion in Europe about the use of what’s called a computer drivers licence – where you have a standard set of skills people should learn before they start using computers,” Dr Smith told iTnews.
“At the moment we have drivers licences for cars, and cars are very dangerous machines. Computers are also quite dangerous in the way that they can make people vulnerable to fraud.”
Found by Neven via Twitter.
Humanists protest against Noah’s Ark Creationist Zoo — Looks like a must see to me!!
If you think private, multi-million dollar monuments to Creationist-themed education are the sole property of First-World nations with Third-World levels of religiosity (IE: the United States), well, think again. The Noah’s Ark Zoo Farm is located in the lush countryside of Merrye Olde England, just 7 miles from the city of Bristol… and it has outraged the British Humanist Association who are urging British tourism boards to stop promoting it and asking the British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums to take action against it.
Here’s some unique commentary.
“[at the museum] I learned,” he says, “that while birds sing to ‘sound warning’ and ‘mark their territory’, they also do so in order to ‘praise their Maker’. In fact, so wonderful is the ability of birds to sing that the necessary features clearly ‘go far beyond what is biologically an advantage, and point to a musically minded Creator.’”
Dougherty County School Police are investigating a complaint of excessive force against a sixth grade girl arrested for protesting having her picture taken. Her father shows scratches on 11-year-old Treneashe Graddy’s neck and back. She says she was thrown to the ground and arrested at Southside Middle School yesterday. When school officials tried to take her picture for school identification, she refused because her hair was not fixed. School Police Lt. Laniece Pope tried to force the girl to take the picture, and handcuffed and arrested her when she resisted.
OK, let’s examine the worst case scenario and assume the girl was a little a-hole. So What? Why should she be forced to get a picture ID in the first place?
I’m not sure what I’m eventually going to do with him as he grows up. I rescued him again last night from the jaws of a cat. So I’m definitely his hero today. His name is Ganesha after the Hindu elephant god. I want him to have an important name. My complete collection of pictures can be found here.
The study, commissioned by IBM, found that young adults in Generation Y — the folks currently aged 18-24 — had both the highest levels of awareness of environmental issues, and were the biggest wasters of energy and water in the country.
“The good news is that Generation Y is showing clear concern for environmental issues,” said Jon Z Bentley, a partner in energy and environment at IBM Global Business Services. “The not-so-good news is that far too few are taking even simple, small steps to control their own wasteful use of resources.”
Among the findings: 72 percent of Gen-Y members surveyed admitted that they wasted water on a regular basis. Fifty-six percent said they leave the tap water running while brushing their teeth, and 40 percent allow the shower to run for “a few minutes” before getting in.
In the picturesque Swiss village of Lauterbrunnen, the locals are worried. Dozens of alpine cows appear to be committing suicide by throwing themselves off a cliff near the small village in the Alps. In the space of just three days, 28 cows and bulls have mysteriously died after they plunged hundreds of metres to rocks below where they were killed instantly. In each case, local mountain rescue services using a helicopter had to be called in to remove the bodies because of the danger to the local groundwater of pollution.
A police spokesman said: ‘There are no large carnivores living in the Alps anymore who would once have disposed of the bodies so they have to be moved. ‘We are investigating because cows growing up in the mountains normally can estimate dangers and do not plunge down cliffs.’
According to local reports, there had been violent thunderstorms in the area which may well have spooked the animals. Cows wandering at high altitude are a common sight across much of the Alps, where farmers let them loose to graze on the green plateaus above the villages. Often carrying large bells around their necks, most are dairy cows as the mix of vegetation and grasses at that high altitude are particularly good for milk and for making cheese.
Cows do occasionally fall to their deaths in these Alpine regions although it is rare for so many to fall in one particular place.
There has been speculation in the past that when this does happen it is because a tightly-grouped number have followed each other as they search for more grass.
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Here is what Gary Shapiro CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) said: Dvorak's writing sings with insight and clarity. Whether or not you agree with John's views, he will get you thinking and is never boring. These essays are worth the read!
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