The Spirit of Tyranny is a seductive bastard…
- New study reveals details of time when Earth was hot, CO2-rich. Hot, prehistoric conditions may return by 2100.
- Kids’ kickabout reveals church’s mystery crypt.
- Scottish university to carry out major study on the mysterious Beaker people, who flourished across Europe more than 4,000 years ago.
- Did Michigan’s copper fuel Europe’s Bronze Age? Here are – three – excerpts from Michigan Copper: The Untold Story.
- A new ‘theory of everything’ is gaining ground.
- How to build a particle accelerator on a table top.
- China claims successful test of fusion reactor.
- Two million air miles will buy you a ticket into space. Humm… Hey, Branson, wouldn’t flying that much be environmentally irresponsible?
- Self-resurrecting bacteria‘s secret revealed. In other words, some bacteria are born old.
- Distraction tactic wipes out allergies. Will Rico move to Switzerland so he can get in the clinical trials?
- Researchers discover that dust mites and their droppings – long linked to asthma and allergy attacks – contain an enzyme which destroys the protective function of the skin.
- Eris, NASA, Madonna, the Pope, Stargates and Magic Mushrooms in Movies.
- A virtual world like no other.
- British are following Americans off the debt cliff.
- Bush claims crown …err, victory as Senate approves terror suspects bill. No matter how they phrase their responses, many agree – these are – dark times – for the US.
- The science of predicting the future: it’s all about crossing thresholds.
- Beneath the scary headlines about the Patriot Act, government spying, or the evils of voting machines, the biggest, yet least discussed, problem with America’s electoral system is gerrymandering. Dims or Repugs: Our current system of two parties amounts to nothing more than a choice of being screwed with, or without, a lubricant. (Greg said that ought to be a QotD, but I’m giving today’s final word to one of history’s greatest orators.)
- If you’ve ever wondered why Americans seem so ill-informed, here’s your answer. According to The Guardian, Newsweek‘s international editor, Fareed Zakaria, explained the difference in covers by saying that in the US, Newsweek is a mass market magazine with a broad reach, while overseas it ‘is a somewhat more upmarket magazine for internationally minded people.’
Quote of the Day:
Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated. Britain, with an army to enforce her tyranny, has declared that she has a right (not only to TAX) but “to BIND us in ALL CASES WHATSOEVER,” and if being bound in that manner, is not slavery, then is there not such a thing as slavery upon earth. Even the expression is impious; for so unlimited a power can belong only to God.
Thomas Paine, The Crisis
