Successful Flight Through Enceladus Plume

post from News and Features - NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory on 03 November 2009 03:11:00 PM. © News and Features - NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Cassini has started sending data back from its Nov. 2 flyby of Saturn's moon Enceladus.

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Deep Rift in Chicago

post from Pharyngula on 03 November 2009 02:42:46 PM. © Pharyngula

The Ethical Humanist Society of Chicago has done an incredibly stupid thing. They invited Sunsara Taylor to give a talk on "Morality Without God"…and then disinvited her. The reasons weren't clear, other than that some people in the society disliked her politics — she's a communist — and the group caved and cancelled her speaking engagement a short two weeks before it was to happen.

Basically, the ethical society was unethical. You just don't do that. But then they made it worse.

They've been stonewalling. No explanations, no apologies, nothing — they might as well admit that they're feeling a bit guilty. This is inexcusable: one thing humanists ought to be committed to is the resolution of disputes by dialog and discussion.

Next step: they seem to be spiraling into self-destruction here. Sunsara Taylor showed up at the venue for the meeting and gave a speech to ask that the organization stand up for their principles and give her planned talk; if they didn't, she'd be giving it at the home of another, sympathetic member of the ethical society. It's all very civil.

video details and more

Except for this: near the end of the speech, the president of the "ethical" society dispatched police officers to handcuff and arrest the videographer. WTF?

This is insane. Again, the society is silent. All we know is what we see, and it doesn't look good.

Is this some kind of return to the McCarthy era? Taylor is openly communist, but there is nothing illegal about that, and it certainly isn't a reason to discriminate against her. If the Ethical Humanist Society of Chicago is going to start throwing people out and arresting them for their ideological affiliation, I'm more concerned about a few other criminal organizations, like the Republican party and the Catholic church, and think there are better grounds for slamming the door shut on members of those groups than the American communists. But I'd rather see free discussion of ideas by all of those people, and think that a humanist organization ought to be particularly sensitive to the virtues of free speech.

Shame on the Ethical Humanist Society of Chicago.

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Ken Block's Subaru-based TRAX STI

post from CR4 - Recent Blog Entries on 03 November 2009 01:47:41 PM. © CR4 - Recent Blog Entries

From Autoblog: Yes, that's probably the first ever Subaru tank. We can't say for certain, but I think in this case we can go ahead and assume. Driven by none other then Ken "Gymkhana" Block. Why does it exist? To be the "ultimate backcountry shred car," of course. We think what tha

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http://cr4.globalspec.com/blogentry/10652/Ken-Block-s-Subaru-based-TRAX-STI?from_
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Data from Kaguya's prime mission to the Moon has
been released

post from Planetary Society Weblog on 03 November 2009 01:46:44 PM. © Planetary Society Weblog

Yesterday, the Japanese space agency announced the public release of the data from the primary mission of the Kaguya (a.k.a. SELENE) lunar orbiter. The release covers the period from December 21, 2007 to October 31, 2008, and includes data from all of the science instruments (which excludes the HD camera, not a science instrument). This release formally opens up the data for use by all scientists and enthusiasts around the world, not just the ....

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http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00002191/

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when you dont have anything nice to say

post from weird things on 03 November 2009 01:46:07 PM. © weird things

You know you live in a slightly schizophrenic culture when after watching hours of pundits yelling at each other or news channels trying their hardest to stir up confrontation and controversy, you immediately get messages about the values of being nice,[...]

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http://worldofweirdthings.com/2009/11/03/when-you-dont-have-anything-nice-to-say/

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Idiot Civilian Passenger Ejects Himself Out of
Plane [Airplanes]

post from CR4 - Recent Blog Entries on 03 November 2009 01:44:53 PM. © CR4 - Recent Blog Entries

From Gizmodo: My guess is that when the rockets under his seat fired and he suddenly found himself over 300 feet away from the PC-7 Mk II he was riding in, he probably realized the error of his ways. That's right, a passenger joyriding over South Africa with an experienced Silve

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http://cr4.globalspec.com/blogentry/10651/Idiot-Civilian-Passenger-Ejects-Himself
-Out-of-Plane-Airplanes?from_rss=1

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Idiot Civilian Passenger Ejects Himself Out of
Plane

post from CR4 - Recent Blog Entries on 03 November 2009 01:44:00 PM. © CR4 - Recent Blog Entries

From Gizmodo: My guess is that when the rockets under his seat fired and he suddenly found himself over 300 feet away from the PC-7 Mk II he was riding in, he probably realized the error of his ways. That's right, a passenger joyriding over South Africa with an experienced Silv

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http://cr4.globalspec.com/blogentry/10651/Idiot-Civilian-Passenger-Ejects-Himself
-Out-of-Plane?from_rss=1

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Woman of the Week: Hertha Marks Ayrton
(1854-1923)

Hertha Marks Ayrton was a Mathematician, Physicist, and Electrical Engineer. Ayrton was the first female member of the Institution of Electrical Engineers and the first woman to ever read her own paper before the Royal Society of London. Early Life Phoebe Sarah Mark

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http://cr4.globalspec.com/blogentry/10650/Woman-of-the-Week-Hertha-Marks-Ayrton-1
854-1923?from_rss=1

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Woman of the Week: Hertha Marks Ayrton
(1854-1823)

Hertha Marks Ayrton was a Mathematician, Physicist, and Electrical Engineer. Ayrton was the first female member of the Institution of Electrical Engineers and the first woman to ever read her own paper before the Royal Society of London. Early Life Phoebe Sarah Marks was bo

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http://cr4.globalspec.com/blogentry/10650/Woman-of-the-Week-Hertha-Marks-Ayrton-1
854-1823?from_rss=1

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Toward drugs that will eliminate alcoholism

post from Machines Like Us - Science at the speed of thought on 03 November 2009 12:33:39 PM. © Machines Like Us - Science at the speed of thought

A group of drunken fruit flies have helped researchers from North Carolina State and Boston universities identify entire networks of genes?also present in humans?that play a key role in alcohol drinking behavior.

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http://machineslikeus.com/news/toward-drugs-will-eliminate-alcoholism

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