Current Events! Current Events

So much going on in the news today. Hard to keep up with Current Events, Current Events.

(Click the link above if you only want the phrase, watch the whole video below if you want to be embarrassed, amused, impressed, entertained, and bored by one man's attempt to communicate with Ellen Degeneres.)

Transgender student wins right to use girls' bathroom

from Newser:

Coy Mathis, the transgender 6-year-old whose school wouldn't let her use the girls' bathroom, has won her battle. The Colorado Civil Rights Division ruled in her favor, the Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund announced yesterday, finding that barring Coy from using the girls' bathroom was discriminatory. But Coy won't actually be using the Eagleside Elementary School bathrooms anymore; the first-grader has moved with her family to Denver and will be attending a new school, KDVR reports.

Open letter to Vladimir Putin

Then Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin swims while traveling in the mountains of the Siberian Tyva region in 2009.   (AP Photo/RIA Novosti, Alexei Druzhinin, POOL, file)

Dear Vladimir Putin,

Kudos to you for staying in shape and getting an open water swim while at this week's G8 summit.

But can I offer you some advice? You look like you're drowning there. Flapping desperately and begging for help. Get a lesson, man. You're a disgrace to the stroke called butterfly.

female surfers under waves

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From Yahoo slideshow: Underwater photographer Sarah Lee
here is her photo blog
Sarah at work:

 

Don't trust the opinions of strangers online

Online I see lots of comments from strangers I disagree with and are obviously untrue.

If the stranger's comment is defending certain corporate or national interests, I ignore the comment instead of engaging that "individual".

Why? Because there's a good chance that online persona is nothing but a "sock puppet" created by a propaganda group.   An advertisement, masquerading as a person's opinion.

These groups are hired by governments and organizations to propagate their viewpoints. Don't think the US government would do that? Think again. Here is one such contractor's sales pitch for online propaganda work:

In this case there are specific social media strategy website RSS feeds we can subscribe to and then repost content on twitter with the appropriate hashtags. In fact using hashtags and gaming some location based check-in services we can make it appear as if a persona was actually at a conference and introduce himself/herself to key individuals as part of the exercise, as one example. There are a variety of social media tricks we can use to add a level of realness to all fictitious personas

Having an unplugged wedding

http://bestof.metafilter.com/2013/06/having-an-unplugged-wedding

"Since I study tea ceremony, I talked about the idea of ichi-go ichi-e (one time one meeting): the idea that this moment with these people will never happen again, and that that the moment should be experienced, because the feeling of looking at pictures you can have over and over again, but the feeling of being in this moment cannot ever be recaptured. I mentioned the professional photographers and that we could trust these experts to do their job, and then I asked them to put away their cameras and turn off their cellphones and invited them to share the experience of the moment with the bride and groom."

Seems like a great idea.   So much of life gets missed because we're too busy e-sharing it.

D.H. Lawrence: The Only Rule

"The only rule is, do what you really, impulsively, wish to do. But always act on your own responsibility, sincerely. And have the courage of your own strong emotion."

D.H. (David Herbert) Lawrence  Fantasia of the Unconscious, ch. 4, Viking Compass (1960). http://quotes.dictionary.com/The_only_rule_is_do_what_you_really

Bryan Cranston skating

I am the one who knocks and rolls.

Did "Star Wars" (SDI) speed the collapse of the USSR?

This paper says no.  It says archives show Gorbachev wanted to disarm but SDI caused the USSR military to strengthen their resistance to disarmament.  

"The Soviet defense industry was telling him there was no way the Soviet Union could agree to any reductions as long as SDI remained in place."

The first laugh of a Navajo child is a very significant event. It marks the child’s final passing from the spirit world to the physical world, meaning he or she is now fully human and present with us. This milestone warrants a party, and what a party it is!

The honor of throwing this party, including covering the expenses, falls to the person who made the child laugh first

LINK

At her First Laugh Ceremony, a relaxed baby offers the community sweets
and rock salt, symbols to guide her toward generosity as she grows up.

Dad and tyke cover Beatles "Don't Let Me Down"

hidden camera solves noise complaint problem

Pianista dog

Imagine, you are a singer and you accompany yourself on the piano.
You have a small dog who is your constant companion and watches as you rehearse.
Neighbors are complaining about your dog's noise when you're at work.
No way, you say.   Your dog is quiet.
Maybe you should leave a camera on to see what the dog does while you're gone.

Monsano Roundup could be messing with your intestinal flora

http://grist.org/food/gut-punch-monsanto-could-be-destroying-your-microbiome/

There is new research out of Germany that establishes that glyphosate kills many species of beneficial animal gut bacteria while not affecting more harmful gut bacteria, like E. coli and the bacteria that causes botulism, which is apparently at epidemic levels in cattle. And it’s not a stretch to say that it likely has a similar effect on the versions of those bacteria that have colonized us.

PS there's no such thing as intestinal fauna.

Paleo Diet Debunked

  "It's when you mate, not what you ate"

You want to know what the ideal human diet consists of? Everything. Humans can and will eat everything, and we are remarkably successful not in spite of this fact, but because of it. Our adaptability is the hallmark of the human species. We’re not called omnivores for nothing.”

 http://hells-ditch.com/2012/08/archaeologists-officially-declare-collective-sigh-over-paleo-diet/


EDIT: Oh darn.  I got fooled.  It seems this was a satire!