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Go ahead, show us how bad it is there.

Seriously? I did a Google search on "Chicago dead voters" and this was the first hit:
http://chicago.cbslocal.com/20...

In all, the analysis showed 119 dead people have voted a total of 229 times in Chicago in the last decade.

That's just the ones they found so far.

So far, then, you found next to nothing then. 119 people. 229 times. Some of which are likely not actual problems. Over 10 years. In a county with 5 million people. Go find us a real problem instead.

I went to check more recent news on voter ID laws and perhaps you've been busy like I have the last couple days and were unaware that Trump and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel have been going back and forth the last few days over voter fraud problems in Chicago. I didn't know this until today but it's apparently been on the news a bit for a week now.

People don't know how bad it is in Chicago because no one has taken the time to take a good look at it.

People have been complaining about Chicago for decades now. Yet they haven't taken a good look? Seems like there's a problem there. Maybe people just want something to complain about, rather than actually find real problems,

We won't know how bad it is until we look either. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel seems pretty adamant on keeping the federal government from looking too. Why would that be?

He knows how incompetent Donald Trump is?

I know that "if you have nothing to hide then we should be free to look" is not how the government should treat people. That is how people should deal with the government though.

Indeed, the government has been at fault.

Right now, the legal limit is 'birth',

Nope. Even historically, it was first breath, not birth. But even now, it is a matter of differing laws, with some, like Kansas, trying to go for fertilization.

Yes, we can do better, and I (and many like me) am working on it. However, I have a completely sincere question: The elected officials who say dumb things and the protesters who clearly haven't done a lick of critical thinking get a whole lot of airtime, for free, and it echoes far and long. What should those who are trying to address the matter in the right way supposed to do?

Here's a way you can do it: Disavow some of your crazies, there are more than a few of them around, including the submitter. Instead of ignoring, confront them and dissuade them from their madness. They're not hard to find, here in this thread, and you can make a good start by standing against them.

That's a suggestion for you. Even these "activists" would be a good target. Denounce them. Condemn them as enemies to your movement. Because they are, same as Trump lying about abortions in the debate, or Fiorina making up a story about seeing an abortion video, or Eric Harris committing an act of terrorism.

You lose the moral high ground with every lie, every deceit, and every act of violence.

And do look at the abuses at Crisis Pregnancy Centers. They're as bad as the Catholic ones in Ireland.

You know, I was going to lament the waste that it seems it will be to pump the relief well and seal off this oil well because of the vastness of the reserve and how much oil and natural gas they could get from it

.. and then you realized that, at the time of the explosion, the rig was trying to fill the well with cement in preparation for abandoning it?

vertigo (Jesse Crittenden) says

Ironically while flying out of KMCI on my way to Iraq for the Air Force I had to go through the extra security screening. Mind you I'm in full military uniform, desert BDUs, boots, boonie hat, M4 in tow sure enough though I had to take off my boots and all metal objects and get the wand ran over me and extra check through my carry on. Let's ignore the fact that I'm carrying a rifle onboard!

Common sense sometimes does not apply.

In the case of the elderly lady I see nothing whatsoever wrong with her getting the same screening as everyone else. Terrorists will use whatever they can to exploit a weakness; that could be a handicapped person, the elderly and children.

Stop the world, it has gone mad, I want to get off.

There was something odd about the Spanish Flu, which was a more deadly version of H1N1. It attacked and killed the healthy and young far more than the sick and the weak, the very young and the elderly.

Now, the report, below says that the two H1N1's are "distant cousins" and "totally not related", but...

The newer "swine flu" H1N1 strain also seems to be following that pattern -- killing teens and "the very healthy" more than the old or young people, in spite of their relative health.

The Spanish Flu made the body attack itself -- the healthier you were, the worse the reaction Click Here:

• Spanish flu
  Main article: 1918 flu pandemic

  The Spanish flu, also known as La Gripe Española, or La Pesadilla, was an unusually severe and deadly strain of avian influenza, a viral infectious disease, that killed some 50 million to 100 million people worldwide over about a year in 1918 and 1919. It is thought to be one of the most deadly pandemics in human history. It was caused by the H1N1 type of influenza virus.[4]

  The 1918 flu caused an unusual number of deaths, possibly due to it causing a cytokine storm in the body.[5][6] (The current H5N1 bird flu, also an Influenza A virus, has a similar effect.)[7] The Spanish flu virus infected lung cells, leading to overstimulation of the immune system via release of cytokines into the lung tissue. This leads to extensive leukocyte migration towards the lungs, causing destruction of lung tissue and secretion of liquid into the organ. This makes it difficult for the patient to breathe. In contrast to other pandemics, which mostly kill the old and the very young, the 1918 pandemic killed unusual numbers of young adults, which may have been due to their healthy immune systems mounting a too-strong and damaging response to the infection.[2]

  The term "Spanish" flu was coined because Spain was at the time the only European country where the press were printing reports of the outbreak, which had killed thousands in the armies fighting World War I. Other countries suppressed the news in order to protect morale.[8]

Perhaps there is something to this study. Now, I don't believe studies as a rule and I have criticized the same, but logic and history seem to add evidence to the *strong* correlation.

As to this study, I think it's a lot closer to being airtight than most (very large sample size, fractional percent margin of error, good science, peer reviews, findings being scrutinized and met with skepticism):

• "There are a large number of authors, all of them excellent and credible researchers," he said. "And the sample size is very large - 12 or 13 million people taken from the central reporting systems in three provinces. The research is solid."

Sadly, I'm not as dubious of this Canadian study as others and will weigh my options for my family.... :-(

I actually work tech at a big media organization, so this is something I think about constantly, and the article is a perfect example of the media missing the goddamn point.

I actually work tech at a small media corporation, and getting the rest of the industry to wake up is something we've been trying to do for years now. I'm employed by the company which (among other things), publishes the Lawrence Journal-World, of Lawrence, Kansas. Most folks, if they know who we are at all, know us as the original home of the Django web framework, but Django came out of our need to quickly put together custom applications for our online presence, something we've historically done as well as or better than anybody else in the industry.

An example:

Lawrence is home to the University of Kansas; last year, one of our reporters got his hands on a set of documents listing every crime report on the campus for the period 2005-2007. He got these documents (Word docs with embedded tables of the reports) on Wednesday. On Friday I had a demo of a browsable database of the reports ready to go; our UI guys put some polish on it, and we ran it online alongside a story looking into trends and interesting bits we picked up from the data (if you're interested, I gave a lightning talk at PyCon last year which covered, in whirlwind fashion, how it was put together. So far we don't have data for 2008, but I'd love to go back and add it, and see a followup story).

We do that kind of thing all the time, and it's neither burdensome nor useless (and we have a bookcase full of shiny things given to us by industry award groups -- two examples I can pull off the top of my head were for this feature on the demise and aftereffects of mining in southeastern Kansas, and our retrospective on the KU basketball team's championship season last year).

People really seem to like this stuff and find it useful (and our former lead developer is recognized as having more or less invented what's now called "database-driven journalism"; these days he's turning out even more interesting uses for online data). Unfortunately, the industry as a whole is stubbornly stuck with the mindset that the printed paper is and always should be their "main product", and most folks are burdened with tech solutions that are far too cumbersome to be put to these sorts of uses.

Anyway, my point is that not all of the stuff going on these days is "Web 2.0 widgets"; there are plenty of us who, when given the chance, are trying to help journalists save themselves from extinction by bringing tech into the newsroom in actually useful and interesting ways.

I actually work tech at a big media organization, so this is something I think about constantly, and the article is a perfect example of the media missing the goddamn point.

I actually work tech at a small media corporation, and getting the rest of the industry to wake up is something we've been trying to do for years now. I'm employed by the company which (among other things), publishes the Lawrence Journal-World, of Lawrence, Kansas. Most folks, if they know who we are at all, know us as the original home of the Django web framework, but Django came out of our need to quickly put together custom applications for our online presence, something we've historically done as well as or better than anybody else in the industry.

An example:

Lawrence is home to the University of Kansas; last year, one of our reporters got his hands on a set of documents listing every crime report on the campus for the period 2005-2007. He got these documents (Word docs with embedded tables of the reports) on Wednesday. On Friday I had a demo of a browsable database of the reports ready to go; our UI guys put some polish on it, and we ran it online alongside a story looking into trends and interesting bits we picked up from the data (if you're interested, I gave a lightning talk at PyCon last year which covered, in whirlwind fashion, how it was put together. So far we don't have data for 2008, but I'd love to go back and add it, and see a followup story).

We do that kind of thing all the time, and it's neither burdensome nor useless (and we have a bookcase full of shiny things given to us by industry award groups -- two examples I can pull off the top of my head were for this feature on the demise and aftereffects of mining in southeastern Kansas, and our retrospective on the KU basketball team's championship season last year).

People really seem to like this stuff and find it useful (and our former lead developer is recognized as having more or less invented what's now called "database-driven journalism"; these days he's turning out even more interesting uses for online data). Unfortunately, the industry as a whole is stubbornly stuck with the mindset that the printed paper is and always should be their "main product", and most folks are burdened with tech solutions that are far too cumbersome to be put to these sorts of uses.

Anyway, my point is that not all of the stuff going on these days is "Web 2.0 widgets"; there are plenty of us who, when given the chance, are trying to help journalists save themselves from extinction by bringing tech into the newsroom in actually useful and interesting ways.

I actually work tech at a big media organization, so this is something I think about constantly, and the article is a perfect example of the media missing the goddamn point.

I actually work tech at a small media corporation, and getting the rest of the industry to wake up is something we've been trying to do for years now. I'm employed by the company which (among other things), publishes the Lawrence Journal-World, of Lawrence, Kansas. Most folks, if they know who we are at all, know us as the original home of the Django web framework, but Django came out of our need to quickly put together custom applications for our online presence, something we've historically done as well as or better than anybody else in the industry.

An example:

Lawrence is home to the University of Kansas; last year, one of our reporters got his hands on a set of documents listing every crime report on the campus for the period 2005-2007. He got these documents (Word docs with embedded tables of the reports) on Wednesday. On Friday I had a demo of a browsable database of the reports ready to go; our UI guys put some polish on it, and we ran it online alongside a story looking into trends and interesting bits we picked up from the data (if you're interested, I gave a lightning talk at PyCon last year which covered, in whirlwind fashion, how it was put together. So far we don't have data for 2008, but I'd love to go back and add it, and see a followup story).

We do that kind of thing all the time, and it's neither burdensome nor useless (and we have a bookcase full of shiny things given to us by industry award groups -- two examples I can pull off the top of my head were for this feature on the demise and aftereffects of mining in southeastern Kansas, and our retrospective on the KU basketball team's championship season last year).

People really seem to like this stuff and find it useful (and our former lead developer is recognized as having more or less invented what's now called "database-driven journalism"; these days he's turning out even more interesting uses for online data). Unfortunately, the industry as a whole is stubbornly stuck with the mindset that the printed paper is and always should be their "main product", and most folks are burdened with tech solutions that are far too cumbersome to be put to these sorts of uses.

Anyway, my point is that not all of the stuff going on these days is "Web 2.0 widgets"; there are plenty of us who, when given the chance, are trying to help journalists save themselves from extinction by bringing tech into the newsroom in actually useful and interesting ways.

I actually work tech at a big media organization, so this is something I think about constantly, and the article is a perfect example of the media missing the goddamn point.

I actually work tech at a small media corporation, and getting the rest of the industry to wake up is something we've been trying to do for years now. I'm employed by the company which (among other things), publishes the Lawrence Journal-World, of Lawrence, Kansas. Most folks, if they know who we are at all, know us as the original home of the Django web framework, but Django came out of our need to quickly put together custom applications for our online presence, something we've historically done as well as or better than anybody else in the industry.

An example:

Lawrence is home to the University of Kansas; last year, one of our reporters got his hands on a set of documents listing every crime report on the campus for the period 2005-2007. He got these documents (Word docs with embedded tables of the reports) on Wednesday. On Friday I had a demo of a browsable database of the reports ready to go; our UI guys put some polish on it, and we ran it online alongside a story looking into trends and interesting bits we picked up from the data (if you're interested, I gave a lightning talk at PyCon last year which covered, in whirlwind fashion, how it was put together. So far we don't have data for 2008, but I'd love to go back and add it, and see a followup story).

We do that kind of thing all the time, and it's neither burdensome nor useless (and we have a bookcase full of shiny things given to us by industry award groups -- two examples I can pull off the top of my head were for this feature on the demise and aftereffects of mining in southeastern Kansas, and our retrospective on the KU basketball team's championship season last year).

People really seem to like this stuff and find it useful (and our former lead developer is recognized as having more or less invented what's now called "database-driven journalism"; these days he's turning out even more interesting uses for online data). Unfortunately, the industry as a whole is stubbornly stuck with the mindset that the printed paper is and always should be their "main product", and most folks are burdened with tech solutions that are far too cumbersome to be put to these sorts of uses.

Anyway, my point is that not all of the stuff going on these days is "Web 2.0 widgets"; there are plenty of us who, when given the chance, are trying to help journalists save themselves from extinction by bringing tech into the newsroom in actually useful and interesting ways.

All right, I have to go into the "Captain Obvious zone". . .

How about not putting the information on the internet?? *GASP*

I can see many problems with using pseudo-anonymous methods, like initials--the info is easily deduced in many cases, data may be lost as to who the initials are, and on and on.

Near me, we have a case going on, where they've issued a gag-order on the persons involved and court ordered them, where possible, to go back and remove blog entries, etc. Here's a link to the latest developments: http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2008/aug/19/federal_judge_orders_release_yellow_house_owners_c/

http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2008/aug/02/fcc_intervenes_navajo_internet_issue/

indicates that the FCC Chairman has put in a call to SES Americomm to get them to forestall the Navajo cutoff.

The University of Kansas will capitulate to anyone that threatens them. The chancellor is inept and doesn't care about the students. The IT Security Office is manned by a bunch of lunatics (all the awesome old guys from Academic Computing Services are gone) that will do anything in the name of "security." Also at this school, the attitude towards students is that they are always wrong, and the Great and Holy Chancellor and his Apostles in the administration are always right. They will destroy students to appease the RIAA, mark my words.

I'm intrigued that the RIAA would be threatening Internet2 members. Notice that the RIAA is a member of Internet2. What possible positive contribution can they make? Look at the rest of the members. I think that if I were a member institution threatened by them, I would petition for their expulsion from the network.

There are figures that your economy is losing out in the magnitude of tens of billion dollars due to decreased tourism to the USA because of stupid procedures. I know that I'm not willing to go to the USA as long as I'm treated as a criminal and I'm not alone with that sentiment.

These new plans are just bound to make it worse.

Oh please.

You are talking about a country with people on nationwide web based sex offender lists for leaving a drunken public piss or for yelling at 14 year old girls.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megan's_Law#Criticism

http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2006/aug/27/critics_c all_registry_sex_offenders_vague_unfair/?state_reg ional

http://www.rawstory.com/exclusives/avery/sex_offen ders_101205.htm

We are quickly creating a nation of criminals and when we finally achieve it -- we should not be surprised we are a nation of criminals. Then we will REALLY know what "chaos" looks like.

...can you be arrested for 'threatening a religion' ?!

Threatening a person, yeah, but a religion? If I express a wish that Christianity or Islam die out can I be arrested? What happened to America's much touted freedom of speech?

It's alive and kicking!

...on the Internet can lead to very bad or unexpected things for you or those around you. Just this week someone "anonymously" posting on a local newspaper online forum caused a mistrial in a multiple first degree murder and aggravated arson case where I live.

They do look at the picture about halfway down.

Yeah. I could actually believe someone would do the computer simulationsm, though there were clues even in that part of the article. Aside from the matter of how much genome data we have to start with, it's the kind of think you expect some team of grad students to come up with for fun in their off hours, like the guys who measured the flatness of a pancake in a laser microscope and compared it to elevation data for Kansas (to determine, one and for all, whether Kansas really is as flat as a pancake). Referring back to the older article with "Paolo Fril's" previous endeavor was a nice touch. It's not until you get to the "Let's synthesize the DNA and put it in a cell!" plan that the klaxons start *really* going off.

The average coal plant produces 600 megawatts of electricity Link. The entire output of an Ovionics Solar Cell assemply plant is enough electricity to produce 30 megawatts a year if all solar cells are used simultaneously, in sunny weather, during the day Link. That means that you have to have 20 years worth of production from that plant to get enough solar cells to equal a coal plant. Wind is a little better with the largest onshore turbines producing 2.5megawatts Link.
Or about 240 needed to reproduce a coal plant, when the wind is blowing. There are about 62 gigawatts of new generating capacity in the works, according to the CS monitor story, for the continental U.S.

But what about solar powered homes? The average home uses 10656 kw/h per year or about 1.21 kw constant load Link. The average aluminum smelting plant uses 300mw of electricity or 250,000 times as much Link. The average chemical plant uses 12mw constant load or almost 1000x as much Link. There are lots of similar industrial users. <sarcasm> Of course, who needs all those plants anyway? Doesn't produce anything usefull? All just pollution right? </sarcasm>

Sure there's plenty of little stuff we can do about the energy problems of the world but I think the problem is far far bigger than most people imagine. So basically given the above, environmentalists really have no solution to the world's energy problem except de-industrialization and I really doubt we are going to go along with that much less China, India, Russia, or Brazil. There you go, with a little math I spoiled the whole alternative energy debate. You have read the last chapter of the book on Global warming: There is no solution (except nuclear!). If you have some alternative examples show me and please make sure they include actual figures in megawatts. Not things like "wind energy potential" but instead, how long it would take to build, how much money, how much energy would be provided, etc. BTW, I'm not saying that some technological revolution isn't going to save us but please, let's get some numbers into the discussion!

The latest LJ-World article:

http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2005/dec/10/professor _blasts_ku_sheriffs_investigation/?ku_news

1. He was on his way to breakfast, at about 6:40 AM.
2. He was being tailgated by two men in a pickup truck
3. He pulled over and stopped.
4. The two men tailgating him stopped and exited their vehicle.
5. The good professor exited his vehicle
6. The two men beat him.

Topeka -- Kansas has the nation's worst science standards for public schools, a national education group says, condemning the state for rewriting its definition of science and treating evolution as a flawed theory.

The "F" grade from the Thomas B. Fordham Institute came after the State Board of Education approved the new standards last month. The Washington-based institute said Kansas' treatment of evolution was "radically compromised."

"The effect transcends evolution, however," the institute said in a report released Wednesday. "It now makes a mockery of the very definition of science."

How did your state fare? Read the Fordham Foundation's full report here.

Fortunately it appears as though KU will probably wait until the furor over Mirecki dies down and find somebody else to teach the class.

It looks as though a KU anthropology professor is planning a similar course, titled Archaeological Myths and Realities, which will discuss ID, crop circles, ESP, and how to distinguish between science and pseudoscience. And I've read that other universities around Kansas are teaching ID as religious studies or philosophy.

One of Mirecki's conservative critics also has a habit of saying inflammatory things, not that it makes what Mirecki said anymore right.

Fortunately it appears as though KU will probably wait until the furor over Mirecki dies down and find somebody else to teach the class.

It looks as though a KU anthropology professor is planning a similar course, titled Archaeological Myths and Realities, which will discuss ID, crop circles, ESP, and how to distinguish between science and pseudoscience. And I've read that other universities around Kansas are teaching ID as religious studies or philosophy.

One of Mirecki's conservative critics also has a habit of saying inflammatory things, not that it makes what Mirecki said anymore right.

Fortunately it appears as though KU will probably wait until the furor over Mirecki dies down and find somebody else to teach the class.

It looks as though a KU anthropology professor is planning a similar course, titled Archaeological Myths and Realities, which will discuss ID, crop circles, ESP, and how to distinguish between science and pseudoscience. And I've read that other universities around Kansas are teaching ID as religious studies or philosophy.

One of Mirecki's conservative critics also has a habit of saying inflammatory things, not that it makes what Mirecki said anymore right.

For those who do not know KU and Lawrence, Kansas, it might help in reading the stories to know that: 1) there are a ton of places to eat, but nothing in the area he claims he was going to get breakfast, 2) KU is widely derided as "Gay U", 3) there is a notorious local "cruising" area for males in the area he claims he was beaten, and 4) coming out of the closet in Lawrence, Kansas means admitting publicly your a christian. The town and University are seems split on whether the beating was faked.

For those who do not know KU and Lawrence, Kansas, it might help in reading the stories to know that: 1) there are a ton of places to eat, but nothing in the area he claims he was going to get breakfast, 2) KU is widely derided as "Gay U", 3) there is a notorious local "cruising" area for males in the area he claims he was beaten, and 4) coming out of the closet in Lawrence, Kansas means admitting publicly your a christian. The town and University are seems split on whether the beating was faked.

For those who do not know KU and Lawrence, Kansas, it might help in reading the stories to know that: 1) there are a ton of places to eat, but nothing in the area he claims he was going to get breakfast, 2) KU is widely derided as "Gay U", 3) there is a notorious local "cruising" area for males in the area he claims he was beaten, and 4) coming out of the closet in Lawrence, Kansas means admitting publicly your a christian. The town and University are seems split on whether the beating was faked.

Reminds me of a bumper sticker that I've seen... http://6news.ljworld.com/art/apps/pennynews/110916 2592_bigoted.jpg

The attack on Professor Mirecki is heartbreaking. Violence in the name of God is disgusting. I think that the rift between members of academia and radcial Christians is growing. We are becoming the society that as a nation, we most actively despise: a society driven by radical religious fundamentalists who have misinterpreted the tenets of the locally dominant religion.

Kansas has always been a little weird. Nobody can debate that. However, Lawrence has been proud to stand out from the rest of the state and see things more thoughtfully. This most recent regression has hurt what Lawrence has always stood for: freedom. Freedom to live, freedom to express one's ideas, freedom to explore the unknown, and the freedom to stand up for those things.

Whatever your current thoughts are about Professor Mirecki, the criminals who attacked him, or the course he was trying to teach, you should probably get your news from sources a little closer to the action. The Lawrence Journal-World has covered this quite thoroughly and has some very interesting blog posts from a wide variety of bloggers (myself included) discussing the articles. I recommend it if you want to get a better view of the scenario.

Plenty of stupid things have taken place in Kansas this year. Let's work to fix the problems that we have caused here and try to move forward.

Nick M.

Research Assistant

Kansas NASA EPSCoR

I live in Lawrence and work at the University of Kansas (KU).

The Lawrence Journal-World is a newspaper in Lawrence.

The Daily Kansan is the student newspaper run from KU.

Beating story http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2005/dec/06/mirecki_t reated_after_roadside_beating/

Follow-up to beating http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2005/dec/07/mirecki_m um_details_beating/

Prof. Mirecki resisns as dept. chair http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2005/dec/07/mirecki_s tep_down_ku_post/ and http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2005/dec/08/mirecki_r esigns_leadership_position/ and http://www.kansan.com/stories/2005/dec/08/ne_mirec ki_folo/

Several of Prof. Mirecki's posts [PDF warning] http://media.ljworld.com/pdf/2005/12/02/mireckiema il.pdf

News of cancelling the course and a quote from a message Prof. Mirecki posted http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2005/dec/02/intellige nt_design_course_canceled/?ku_news

I live in Lawrence and work at the University of Kansas (KU).

The Lawrence Journal-World is a newspaper in Lawrence.

The Daily Kansan is the student newspaper run from KU.

Beating story http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2005/dec/06/mirecki_t reated_after_roadside_beating/

Follow-up to beating http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2005/dec/07/mirecki_m um_details_beating/

Prof. Mirecki resisns as dept. chair http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2005/dec/07/mirecki_s tep_down_ku_post/ and http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2005/dec/08/mirecki_r esigns_leadership_position/ and http://www.kansan.com/stories/2005/dec/08/ne_mirec ki_folo/

Several of Prof. Mirecki's posts [PDF warning] http://media.ljworld.com/pdf/2005/12/02/mireckiema il.pdf

News of cancelling the course and a quote from a message Prof. Mirecki posted http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2005/dec/02/intellige nt_design_course_canceled/?ku_news

I live in Lawrence and work at the University of Kansas (KU).

The Lawrence Journal-World is a newspaper in Lawrence.

The Daily Kansan is the student newspaper run from KU.

Beating story http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2005/dec/06/mirecki_t reated_after_roadside_beating/

Follow-up to beating http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2005/dec/07/mirecki_m um_details_beating/

Prof. Mirecki resisns as dept. chair http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2005/dec/07/mirecki_s tep_down_ku_post/ and http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2005/dec/08/mirecki_r esigns_leadership_position/ and http://www.kansan.com/stories/2005/dec/08/ne_mirec ki_folo/

Several of Prof. Mirecki's posts [PDF warning] http://media.ljworld.com/pdf/2005/12/02/mireckiema il.pdf

News of cancelling the course and a quote from a message Prof. Mirecki posted http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2005/dec/02/intellige nt_design_course_canceled/?ku_news

I live in Lawrence and work at the University of Kansas (KU).

The Lawrence Journal-World is a newspaper in Lawrence.

The Daily Kansan is the student newspaper run from KU.

Beating story http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2005/dec/06/mirecki_t reated_after_roadside_beating/

Follow-up to beating http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2005/dec/07/mirecki_m um_details_beating/

Prof. Mirecki resisns as dept. chair http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2005/dec/07/mirecki_s tep_down_ku_post/ and http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2005/dec/08/mirecki_r esigns_leadership_position/ and http://www.kansan.com/stories/2005/dec/08/ne_mirec ki_folo/

Several of Prof. Mirecki's posts [PDF warning] http://media.ljworld.com/pdf/2005/12/02/mireckiema il.pdf

News of cancelling the course and a quote from a message Prof. Mirecki posted http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2005/dec/02/intellige nt_design_course_canceled/?ku_news

I live in Lawrence and work at the University of Kansas (KU).

The Lawrence Journal-World is a newspaper in Lawrence.

The Daily Kansan is the student newspaper run from KU.

Beating story http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2005/dec/06/mirecki_t reated_after_roadside_beating/

Follow-up to beating http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2005/dec/07/mirecki_m um_details_beating/

Prof. Mirecki resisns as dept. chair http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2005/dec/07/mirecki_s tep_down_ku_post/ and http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2005/dec/08/mirecki_r esigns_leadership_position/ and http://www.kansan.com/stories/2005/dec/08/ne_mirec ki_folo/

Several of Prof. Mirecki's posts [PDF warning] http://media.ljworld.com/pdf/2005/12/02/mireckiema il.pdf

News of cancelling the course and a quote from a message Prof. Mirecki posted http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2005/dec/02/intellige nt_design_course_canceled/?ku_news

I live in Lawrence and work at the University of Kansas (KU).

The Lawrence Journal-World is a newspaper in Lawrence.

The Daily Kansan is the student newspaper run from KU.

Beating story http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2005/dec/06/mirecki_t reated_after_roadside_beating/

Follow-up to beating http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2005/dec/07/mirecki_m um_details_beating/

Prof. Mirecki resisns as dept. chair http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2005/dec/07/mirecki_s tep_down_ku_post/ and http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2005/dec/08/mirecki_r esigns_leadership_position/ and http://www.kansan.com/stories/2005/dec/08/ne_mirec ki_folo/

Several of Prof. Mirecki's posts [PDF warning] http://media.ljworld.com/pdf/2005/12/02/mireckiema il.pdf

News of cancelling the course and a quote from a message Prof. Mirecki posted http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2005/dec/02/intellige nt_design_course_canceled/?ku_news

http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2005/dec/07/mirecki_m um_details_beating/?city_local

Please read this before you say that he shouldn't have spoken out. This is what has happened to him since the incident.

http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2005/dec/05/mirecki_h ospitalized_after_beating/?breaking Mirecki hospitalized after beating

He was beaten down and sent to the Hospital by 2 people who where upset about his anti fundamentalism/anti ID stance.

THESE ACTIONS are the real problem, as they represent the blindness of religious fundamentalism when pressed by the freedom of speech.

The reason I think ID is an issue, is that fundamentalism doesn't allow for an other opinion, it is intractable in its stance about what is right in religion. (whatever the religion).

Even thought Dr Mireki might not have been the most tactful person in his approach to counter the ridiculous decision in his state; it is NEVER acceptable for anyone to be terrorized because of his/her opinions, and the reality in America is that anyone who EVER confronts the religious rights ideals, gets taken down by any means necessary.

This can be seen in the horrendous actions of anti-abortion activists; the pervasiveness of anti-sex education & the ineffective yet over emphasized abstinence movement; the obvious miscarriages of authority that are happening at the FDA in relation to the abortion pill; the rise of intolerance of religious differences; or any idea that goes against "Christians".

In effect, this is the reflection of the Christian fundamentalist leader currently in power.

So its all grand to have people here criticize his actions, when the reality is that in his particular environment (the middle of the bible belt in Kansas), he actually has to deal with the effects of these religious fundamentalist directly, especially working in the field of religion.

Whether it is from the possibility of loosing his jobs from the university who feels public pressure trough their funding, or attacks on his and his loved ones physical person, this is not like being on slashdot with an alias and saying whatever crap and then disappearing.
If you cross them they go after you especially if you have clout.

Personally I really wish had not backed down, and given the course; furthermore the University should really support him no matter what as this directly reflects on their credibility as an independent institution of learning.

Maybe Iran or China are worse.... or are they?

Not all newspapers are behind the times. I'm fortunate to have worked for the Web sites of two news companies that really "get it" -- the Lawrence Journal-World in Lawrence, Kansas, and the Washington Post.

The Journal-World's Web sites (including http://www.ljworld.com/ and http://www.lawrence.com/ allow comments on every story. Readers can have their own weblogs, and the site makes intensive database apps, on deadline, for all sorts of stuff -- like a database of every little-league game (e.g. http://www2.ljworld.com/game/2005/fields/langston_ hughes/). FWIW, the operation has been covered by the New York Times and NPR.

Similarly, washingtonpost.com is quite good. We just launched Post Remix, which encourages developers to put together apps with our RSS feeds. Check it out.

Not all newspapers are behind the times. I'm fortunate to have worked for the Web sites of two news companies that really "get it" -- the Lawrence Journal-World in Lawrence, Kansas, and the Washington Post.

The Journal-World's Web sites (including http://www.ljworld.com/ and http://www.lawrence.com/ allow comments on every story. Readers can have their own weblogs, and the site makes intensive database apps, on deadline, for all sorts of stuff -- like a database of every little-league game (e.g. http://www2.ljworld.com/game/2005/fields/langston_ hughes/). FWIW, the operation has been covered by the New York Times and NPR.

Similarly, washingtonpost.com is quite good. We just launched Post Remix, which encourages developers to put together apps with our RSS feeds. Check it out.

In related news, according to this article, the University of Kansas will be offering a course on ID and teaching it the way it should be taught; as religion not science. Needless to say the ID proponents are none too happy.

Interesting, reminds me of this: http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2002/mar/10/unexpecte d_images2/

Could this have to do with schools lowering their expectations?

http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2005/aug/10/lower_bar _schools_advised/?education

I bet this is already being done silently (well, except in the above case).

I had read earlier this year about companies trying to take down the NWS, See this Brought to you by Scumbag Santorum and his posse of dirtbags. Their plan was to lock out NOAA and NWS so business interests could take over the nitch.

As of a few years, many one-hour photo labs have had a clear policy to report potentially illegal things they see develop on film dropped off.

Photo labs develop porn-reporting policies

Not only have I read about this thing before, no, I have already seen it one tv before (it had a different coloring though -- black).

A quick glance at google showed an announcement from September 2000: http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2002/sep/30/houseclea ning_robot_would/ and another one from June 2003: http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,59237, 00.html.

And electrolux is offering it in a nice red color: http://www.electrolux.co.uk/node40.asp?benefit=3&p rodid=14315

Freidnss of mine already disassembled that beast (longer time ago) to figure out if they could use it for their own, robotics, purposes. Yes, they are doing robotics more often :-)

... so what's the fuss ?

I wonder what Darwin would think.

It pisses me off that no American company today would ever do something like this.

That is because Wall Street is so concerned with short-term profits. Gasoline is at an all-time high while Toyota/Honda are the only companies that had the patience to develop a profitable solution.

Now, Ford isn't buying Toyota technology because it makes environmental sense. Rather, they are doing it because it makes sense for short-term profits - the same mindset that got them into this situation in the first place. This mentality will catch up to the US sooner or later. And where is solar energy? nkc

It pisses me off that no American company today would ever do something like this.

That is because Wall Street is so concerned with short-term profits. Gasoline is at an all-time high while Toyota/Honda are the only companies that had the patience to develop a profitable solution [ljworld.com] to the problem. In 1997 when Toyota introduced the hybrid, they were losing lots of money on every unit sold. Now, they are selling that same technology to US-based companies [iht.com].

Now, Ford isn't buying Toyota technology because it makes environmental sense. Rather, they are doing it because it makes sense for short-term profits - the same mindset that got them into this situation in the first place. This mentality will catch up to the US sooner or later. And where is solar energy? dx

Gravity is less of a problem is there is less mass to the lens. The University of Kansas is working on making lenses out of carbon fiber.