Homeopathic bombs

Via bruce_schneier.

‘A homeopathic attack could bring entire cities to a standstill,’ said BBC Security Correspondent, Frank Gardner, ‘Large numbers of people could easily become convinced that they have been killed and hospitals would be unable to cope with the massive influx of the ‘walking suggestible’.’

Progress?

In April, the number of adults not affiliated with either major party increased by 1.6 percentage points, while the number identifying themselves as Republicans decreased 1.3 percentage points.  This marks the lowest level for Republicans since July 2008.  The number of Democrats remained relatively constant, compared to last month.

Following the historic health care reform debate, the percentage of adults identifying themselves as Democrats is now at 36.0% and the number of Republicans at 31.6%, while 32.5% say they are not affiliated with either major party.

So there are now more unaffiliated voters than Republicans. When the number of unaffiliated voters passes the number of Democrat voters as well, maybe we can start breaking out of this two-party death spiral.

Unfortunately there's no indication as yet that this is a long-term trend.  It's still in the noise.

Ongoing lunacy in the EU and the UN

It was recently reported (admittedly in the Daily Mail) that the Council of Europe human-rights group is calling for even a disciplinary smack to be prosecuted as assault.  Reportedly only "a handful" of European states, including Britain, France and Poland, are holding out against the ban, which has been passed by some 20 nations.  One wonders how much longer it will be before all possible ways of disciplining a child have been ruled to cause "serious psychological harm", and what will happen when the resulting generation reaches adulthood.

Mr. Burgess, Mr. Anthony Burgess, to the white courtesy phone, please.

But wait!  There's more!  It is being reported by outlets including Fox, The National, and The Jerusalem Post that Iran has been granted a seat on the UN Commission on the Status of Women.  Yes, a theocratic nation in which women lack the ability to choose their husbands, have no independent right to education after marriage, no right to divorce, no right to child custody, have no protection from violent treatment in public spaces, are restricted by quotas for women's admission at universities; a nation in which women are arrested, beaten, and imprisoned for peacefully seeking change of laws that treat them as chattels; a nation in which the law requires that women be lashed for "immodesty" and stoned to death for anything from favoring an unapproved boyfriend to being raped; a nation in which a prominent state cleric recently declared that immodest women cause earthquakes; this nation has been seated on a UN Commission that is supposed to monitor state-sanctioned abuse of women, "conduct review of nations that violate women's rights, issue reports detailing their failings, and monitor their success in improving women's equality."

One can only assume that Iran's appointment to the Commission is to help it ensure that states that sanction abuse of women do it properly.

Wildlife Documentaries Infringe Animal Privacy

Via rosencrantz23:

"Wildlife documentaries infringe animals' privacy, says report."

Save the animals!  Save the animals!  (Just as long as you don't try to understand anything about how they live, or interest anyone in saving them, or do anything else that might actually help save them.  Because that might infringe their privacy.)

In related news, the IUCN Red List currently lists 3566 critically endangered species — 1859 in the animal kingdom, 1701 plants, four protists, and two fungal species.  The identify of the threatened species is being withheld lest well-meaning environmentalists should seek to infringe their privacy by mounting conservation efforts on their behalf.

...Well, OK, no.  I made up the part about withholding their identities.  (But you knew that, right?  Please tell me you knew that.)  But not the 3566 critically endangered species, or the report.  You can't save a species that nobody cares about, and to get people to care about something, you need to get them interested in it.

The BBC's Natural History unit in Bristol said:  "Constantly developing filming technology gives wildlife film-makers the ability to film animal behaviour with minimal disruption to the animal.  Film-makers work very closely with scientists whose work studying the complexity of animal lives is vital for wildlife conservation.

"Natural history films play a major role in spreading knowledge of their work.  And understanding the world around is vital in the continuing endeavour to preserve our ecosystem."

Exactly.  But god forbid reason and sense should interfere with some nitwit going on a hare-brained crusade.