Monthly Archives: April 2011

Christ is Risen from the Dead…

…trampling down death by death, and upon those in the tombs bestowing life!           — Hymn of the Resurrection                 Russian Orthodox Rite Let all pious men and all lovers of God rejoice in the splendor of this feast; let the wise … Continue reading

Posted in Personal, Religion | Leave a comment

There is No Compulsion in Religion: U.S. Version

What one justice on the U.S. Supreme Court had to say to howls of outrage after the court banned states from promoting specific religions or requiring Bible reading and prayer in public schools in the 1947 decision Everson vs. Board … Continue reading

Posted in Human Rights, Law, Politics, Religion | Leave a comment

Elon Musk Talks about Electric Cars, Colonizing Mars

Wall Street Journal reporter and pundit Alan Murray interviewed the founder and CEO of both Tesla (electric cars) and SpaceX, Elon Musk. In person Musk comes across as a rather understated engineer/geek with an accent that many Americans will mistake … Continue reading

Posted in Science, Space, Technology | Leave a comment

How One Boy Got His Own Pirate Ship

How come *I* never got a present like this! ;)

Posted in Miscellaneous | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

High School Senior Pretends Pregnancy as Sociology Experiment

There’s no way I could summarize this story adequately, so please just read it here. I do have a couple of thoughts: She’s one of the more courageous high school kids I’ve ever heard about, and I’ve known a few. … Continue reading

Posted in Anthropology, Culture, Education, Science | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Bahrain: Zainab Alkhawaja (“Angry Arabiya”) Halts Hunger Strike

Zainab Alkhawaja ended her hunger strike after ten days, according to a blog post by her mother because her health was deteriorating rather fast. I’m glad that she did so. She’s the mother of a beautiful little one-year-old girl who … Continue reading

Posted in Human Rights | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Nevada Senator Ensign Quits

I live in Nevada. Today one of my two senators, Senator John Ensign, announced that he is resigning and will leave the Senate in early May. This announcement unleashes a major political storm, mostly because his likely replacement is my … Continue reading

Posted in Politics | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

SpaceX Gets $75 Million NASA Grant for Manned Spaceflight

Congratulations to the SpaceX team for talking our badly overstretched government into shaking a few dollars loose to develop the next generation of manned spaceflight vehicles! Now, BUILD US A MANNED SPACE FLIGHT VEHICLE YESTERDAY, dammit! Or at least in … Continue reading

Posted in Science, Space | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Bahrain: Zainab Alkhawaja (aka “Angry Arabiya”) on Hunger Strike

A Bahraini woman named Zainab Alkhawaja, who blogs under the name “Angry Arabiya”, just went on hunger strike after posting one of the most eloquent appeals that I have ever read in my life. It deserves to be read in … Continue reading

Posted in Human Rights | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Spamazon, All Over Again

I recently upgraded my copy of CorelDraw. Many years ago Amazon had a bad reputation for spamming their customers, as well as the rest of the Internet, so I had not done business with them for almost a decade. They … Continue reading

Posted in Internet, Personal, Spam | Tagged , , | Leave a comment