Isn’t it time for us to at least try to have a very public debate about this stuff?  Or perhaps its time that "Seperation of Church and State" actually meant something again.

I admit my involvement with my kids’ school board is minimal but the time is fast approaching when I am going to have to start attending meetings and asking questions like "Sir, if your faith and belief in the Lord God Almighty is so strong, don’t you feel that its truth can’t be threatened by science?  Good, then let my kid take Earth science 101 without your God fearing non-subject related tripe interfering.  If you want me to convert to your beliefs knock on my door at 8 in the morning and take your chances that I own a rabid chihuahua just like the Jehova’s Witnesses do!" 

"50% do not cover evolution because they felt intimidated, saw no need to teach it, or might lose their jobs" –

"I am under censure for mentioning numbers…." "I am instructed NOT to use hard numbers when telling kids how old rocks are. I am supposed to say that these rocks are VERY VERY OLD… but I am NOT to say that these Ordovician rocks are thought to be about 300 million years old."

Essentially, they are not allowing Bob to teach a certain set of scientific data in order to protect their ability to provide students the good science curriculum they do teach. The directors… have heard from them more than enough times that teaching evolution would be "political suicide".

In Arkansas, even supporters of teaching evolution feel they must hide, obfuscate, and water-down evolution.

(Via Metafilter)

 Man, this just made my day. Talk about an excellent "Fuck you" to South Dakota lawmakers.

Oglala Lakhota president: we’ll host abortion clinic on reservation – Xeni Jardin: Responding to South Dakota’s statewide abortion ban, the Oglala Lakhota president on the Pine Ridge reservation — she’s also a former healthcare worker — says she’ll provide access to sovereign tribal land for clinics. Snip:

"To me, it is now a question of sovereignty," [Cecilia Fire Thunder] said to [Lakhota Times editor Tim Giago] last week. "I will personally establish a Planned Parenthood clinic on my own land which is within the boundaries of the Pine Ridge Reservation where the State of South Dakota has absolutely no jurisdiction."

Link to Native Times article (subscription required), or read excerpt on indybay website here. (Thanks, drogheda, Ryan and others!)

Reader comment: For those wishing to donate cash for the project, or extend messages of support, BoingBoing reader Lampbane says, " Contact info for Ms. Fire Thunder can be found here."

(Via Boing Boing)

 I can’t decide if this game is a brilliantly ironic way of telling us we should spend less time on the computer or if its just silly.  Any input is appreciated.

Don’t Shoot the Puppy Game – win it by doing nothing – Cory Doctorow: Don’t Shoot the Puppy — a dead-simple Flash game. If you move the mouse or type anything, you shoot the puppy. The objective is to not shoot the puppy. Therefore, to win, you must do nothing. Link (via Plasticbag)

(Via Boing Boing)

 Uh Oh.  A new project looms.  While I probably wouldn’t use the same hardware this gentleman did, he set up all the PVR software on the same distro of Linux I am running.  Do I need a PVR?  No.  Do I desire one?  Absolutely.

The Mini-ITX Linux PVR Project – An anonymous reader writes "Home theater PCs have taken many shapes and forms, perhaps none more interesting than this Mini-ITX PVR. In part three of its Mini-ITX project, XYZ Computing has turned its Mini-ITX box into a Linux PVR, using Ubuntu and MythTV. This is a lot of computer in a very small package and designing it, putting it together, and then getting it to work was an interesting process. The article is a great guide for people who are interested in their own Mini-ITX Linux PVR, but also goes over the problems and pitfalls of a build like this."

(Via Slashdot)

A couple weeks ago I was attending a training class and somehow managed to spill a big cup of coffee perilously close to the laptop that I was using for the class. Reacting instinctively, I threw myself into the fray and interposed my lower body between the scalding liquid and the innocent computer. I successfully took one for the team, as it were, and immediately began cursing the heat-holding efficiency of my travel mug under my breath.

When I went to the bathroom to try and clean up, I realized that my cell phone was in my pocket, and was…how do we put this delicately? Squishy. Shockingly, it actually worked reasonably well after it dried out and I cleaned it up, but several of the keys were sticky (dump 20 ounces of coffee with vanilla nut creamer on it and that’s a fairly likely outcome, I guess) and worst of all, it smelled. Like coffee. All the time. When I used it for any length of time, my HAND would smell like coffee. It was unpleasant, to say the least.

I tried to deal with it, but it was just too annoying. As of last night, I am the proud owner of a Motorola v360 (a solid if unspectacular handset – it looks quite a lot like my former phone, a Motorola v300, and has a good set of features to go along with pretty good call quality). The upgrade also allowed me to get a bluetooth headset, an option unavailable with my v300. Here I decided to splurge a bit, and went with the Motorola h700. I’ve used it all of three times and my geek heart is enamored. For one thing, it’s tiny – something like 2.5 x 2.15" and a whopping 0.2 ounces. The foldable boom mike can be used to answer and end calls, which I find wildly cool. Perhaps best of all, it fits snugly against my ear but doesn’t go inside the ear, so it’s barely noticeable.

As an added bonus, now I won’t be breaking the law when I talk on the phone around Chicago.  The headset-only statute is something I’ve completely ignored up until now, but when I could use that law to justify spending money on a cool new gadget, I was suddenly very concerned about being in compliance. Go figure.

i am NOT going to be at the James Brown Soul of America Music Festival – This comes from the Headlines-I-Never-Thought-I’d-Write department. Last week, a reporter from the Augusta Chronicle in Augusta, Georgia contacted me and asked if I was performing at the James Brown Soul of America Music Festival on Memorial Day down in…

 *snicker* Here’s my favorite line from Wil’s post, quoted in the Augusta Chronicle:

"I respect and admire the godfather of soul as much as anyone else, and though I’ve been known to get on up like a sex machine from time to time, I will be paying tribute in my own not-coming-to-Georgia way."

(Via Will Wheaton)

Is it wrong that I desperately want the cast recording of this show that I hadn’t even heard of until 10 minutes ago? My birthday’s only a few months away, all. *hint, hint*

Scientology Pageant used kids to make musical fun of CoS 

A jubilant cast of children celebrate the controversial religion in uplifting pageantry and song. The actual teachings of The Church of Scientology are explained and dissected against the candy-colored backdrop of a traditional nativity play.

(image caption: "Chigoziri Ikeme, Mario Quinonez, and Nikki Haddad as Thetans, Molly Matzke as Prince Xenu, Kristopher Barnett, and Kyle Kaplan as L. Ron")

Link (via Neatorama)

(Via Boing Boing)

 Its pretty!  We wants it! 

A little over the top on my reaction today but really.  Less than three pounds, reversible touch screen for tablet use, all the connectivity you could want.  Yes, put it on my Christmas list.

Flybook v23i shows that small can be beautiful –

Filed under: Handhelds, Laptops, Tablet PCs

While most of the recent portable computing buzz has been sucked up by the UMPC, the Flybook folks haven’t been sitting on their hands (or their computers, fortunately). Their latest models, the v23i and the previously announced v33i, show that the company is still capable of making very small laptops that are still usable — and can look oh-so-hot as well. Both models weigh in at about 2.6 pounds, and have 8.9-inch touchscreens, full keyboards, 512MB RAM, 40GB drives, and the usual connectivity options, including Ethernet, WiFi, Bluetooth and USB ports. About the only thing not to like about these is the price; these start at around $2,500, about the price of 2 1/2 UMPCs, and even more than the OQO (which we also happen to like, despite its high price). Like the OQO, the Flybook will remain a luxury item for those with heavy wallets who want lightweight computers — but that doesn’t mean we don’t want one, too.Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

(Via Engadget)

Saw a sign in front of a local church toady which proclaimed in big friendly letters….

LEARN ENGLISH FREE! ENROLL TODAY! CLASSES WEDNESDAY 7:00 8:15

Its hard not to mock people when  things like this keep appearing.

 BRILLIANT!!  Now, how do I play real life Donkey Kong?

The Ultimate Frogger Challenge –

How do you know when the people over at Make Magazine have run out of ways to hack a Roomba? They begin making dangerous games out of it. This Roomba was modded to be controlled wirelessly on a balcony high above the street for a true Frogger experience. Unfortunately the Bluetooth signal was not strong enough to reach the high balcony and they were forced to play Frogger at eye level. Anyone who has played Frogger knows that this would be a difficult task and not for the weak hearted.

After making it back and forth across a total of 40 lanes of traffic, the Roomba Frogger finally met his match, a white Toyota 4Runner. Rest in peace, buddy.

Roomba Frogger Makes Me Sad [Kotaku]

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(Via Gizmodo)