h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I agree, swl, that the study appears a little sloppy based on media reports, but it is always thus, is it not?

http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=1174



'There's also the fact that in areas of London the most fundamendalist Christians are black. '

I'm not sure how that fact factors into things. Are you suggesting that black people are incapable of harbouring racist feelings?

One of the unusual things about the Judeo-Christian religion is that it includes a moral system as part of the package. A pretty extreme moral system if you go through the Book of Leviticus looking for trouble.

The religion(s) of ancient Greece and Rome were about ceremony and belief, leaving ethics to their philosophers. Marcus Aurelius was a good man, and a great emperor, because he was a Stoic rather than because he was devout. I was talking about this to my local newsagent, a Hindu, and he told me there was no specific ethical teaching in his religion either.

In Australia they are moving towards giving instruction in ethics to the children who are currently having quiet lessons while their religious classmates are studying divinity. I understand this, but I'm not sure it's the right direction to take.

I have a personal story that might throw a little light on this subject. I had some neighbours who were evangelical Christians. They invited me to attend their church, but I turned them down. I was in the supermarket buying (among other things) some milk. One of these Christians saw me there and expressed surprise. She said she expected me to be buying beer.

I thought it was funny at the time, but on reflection it seems sinister. She thought, because I did not believe in her God, that I put alcohol on my cornflakes every morning.

It seems to me that if you feel that another group of people have no morals, that they're going to suffer an eternity of torture far worse than anything you can inflict on them with fire and the sword, and that as the children of Ham they have been separate from decent people since the dawn of history, then you're going to feel justified in treating them any way you please.

After all, Jericho was one of the first cities mankind ever built, but the God of Abraham gave the territory to another group of people, and knocked the city walls down to make it easy for its inhabitants to be killed.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8685930.stm

Israel denies US academic Chomsky West Bank entry

>>Texas schools board rewrites US history with lessons promoting God and guns.
US Christian conservatives drop references to slave trade and sideline Thomas Jefferson who backed church-state separation>>

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/16/texas-schools-rewrites-us-history

"When I arrived at my desk on the very first day as Chief Secretary, I found a letter from the previous chief secretary to give me some advice, I assumed, on how I conduct myself over the months ahead.

"Unfortunately, when I opened it, it was a one-sentence letter which simply said ’Dear Chief Secretary, I’m afraid to tell you there’s no money left’

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/economics/article7128665.ece

"The letter - which Mr Byrne claims was meant to be humorous"


Oh very funny.

Lovelorn kangaroo stalks women in Australian Outback

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article7126055.ece

I love it! Is his name Benny Hill?

I image the scene, a kangaroo chasing a lot of women and a balg guy to the sound of Yakety Sax

bald

Someone has found the photo used as the source for the Wem Ghost Photo.

http://www.shropshirestar.com/news/2010/05/17/does-postcard-solve-ghost-riddle/

Now hopefully someone can find the original photos used for the Cottingley Fairies.

'Astronauts' Prepare to Leave for 520-Day 'Mars' Simulation

Crew Will Spend More than a Year in Capsule to Simulate Trip to Red Planet

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/International/astronauts-russia-plan-mars-flight-simulation/story?id=10677834

The EU will adopt the Spanish policy on donation of organs. Spain is the first country in the world for donations. It has to do not only with generosity, also with good policies to carried them out.

I haven´t found a link in English.
http://www.elpais.com/articulo/sociedad/UE/copia/sistema/trasplantes/espanol/salvar/20000/vidas/ano/elpepusoc/20100519elpepisoc_3/Tes

I think it should be a civic duty to donate your organs.

Young mother Cindy Corton died during a risky operation to remove a toilet brush handle that had been stuck up her bum for five years.

http://www.metro.co.uk/weird/826877-unnoticed-toilet-brush-in-buttock-kills-mum

So much for the aliens who captured Voyager 2:


'U.S. space agency scientists say they have identified the problem that distorted patterns of science data returning from the Voyager 2 spacecraft.

Engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory said the "flip of a bit" in the memory of an onboard computer appears to have caused the disruption. A value in a single memory location was changed from a 0 to a 1.

Officials said they plan to reset the bit to its normal state Wednesday.'

http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2010/05/18/NASA-IDs-Voyager-2-spacecraft-data-problem/UPI-33141274196385/

How disappointing!! I was looking forward to the war of the worlds!!

In other news:

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE59E0Q920091015

The United States reversed policy on Wednesday and said it would back launching talks on a treaty to regulate arms sales

Seattle cartoonist launches "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day"

http://www.mynorthwest.com/?nid=11&sid=313170#

The big day is tomorrow.

I'm going to do one

They won't see it in Pakistan Effers

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/10130195.stm

Here the artist Molly Norris explains that she never meant her "Draw Mohammed Day" to catch on and she's distancing herself from the whole thing. The comments section probably illustrates why.

http://tnwp.blogspot.com/2010/05/molly-norris-now-horrified-as-her-idea.html

I'm presuming she got scared. I don't blame her.

A few years ago I did some voluntary work for a local arts group funded by the council to kind of co-ordinate all kinds of art stuff in the borough, music, theatre, visual arts etc. We brought out a magazine once a month with an art image on the front cover. One month we used some painting in Tate Modern, I forget which..something surrealist I think, involving naked female flesh. A few local Muslims kicked up a huge stink..next month the council insisted we print an abject apology and it wouldn't happen again. I immediately resigned.