Are you fed up with the world? If so, see if this video helps to dissolve your frustration. It features Kylie Minogue & The Wiggles in what clearly seems to be a dangerous earworm.
It's enough to make Jesus depressed. I just learned of a site called Fundies Say the Darndest Things. This is your one-stop shop for finding "an archive of the most hilarious, bizarre, ignorant, bigoted, and terrifying quotes from fundies all over the internet." The bad science is reason enough to visit the site, at least until you are sufficiently depressed at hearing such nonsense. It's pretty amazing stuff. Consider, too, the 100 all-time most ignorant and offensive fundamentalist quotes. Each on of them is taken from a fundie website and includes the link to the original (consider Rapture Ready, for example). Consider watching FSTDT's reenactment of some of the quotes at youtube (warning: some coarse language). All of this will leave you shaking your head wondering how people can be so pompously ignorant.
The Huffington Post has announced that it will begin an investigative journalism branch. I applaud this move, coming at a time when newspapers everywhere are cutting or eliminating the investigative reporting:
The Huffington Post said Sunday that it will bankroll a group of investigative journalists, directing them at first to look at stories about the nation's economy.
The popular Web site is collaborating with The Atlantic Philanthropies and other donors to launch the Huffington Post Investigative Fund with an initial budget of $1.75 million. That should be enough for 10 staff journalists who will primarily coordinate stories with freelancers, said Arianna Huffington, co-founder and editor-in-chief of The Huffington Post.
Work that the journalists produce will be available for any publication or Web site to use at the same time it is posted on The Huffington Post, she said.
I attended a talk by Arianna Huffington last year. Her site's procedure is that she doesn't pay bloggers money to post at her site. Rather, they are rewarded (many of them richly) in traffic. This investigative reporting wing Huffpo continues that same basic model.I just learned that there is a site called Patients Like Me, where people fighting diseases can share symptoms and treatment experiences. This is another wonderful benefit of being able to network using the Internet. It might even be a life-saver. Here's how the site describes itself:
Whether you’re depressed, bipolar, anxious, obsessive-compulsive, or simply want to monitor your mood fluctuations, this is the online community for you. By sharing your symptoms, treatments and mood charts, you can gain insight into what affects your mood while helping others learn from your experiences. Create a profile today to begin taking control of your health. Imagine knowing every medication, supplement, or device used to treat your disease. Imagine knowing what treatments work for people just like you — and having the ability to easily connect with those people. That’s what makes PatientsLikeMe different. Patients share their treatments and outcomes not just to help themselves, but to help others. Become part of making a difference for everyone with mood conditions today.
The site has special categories for neurological disorders, mood disorders and immune conditions. It's wonderful that patients can have information above and beyond their own health care providers--the opportunity to be a member of a larger community of like-minded people sharing ideas and encouragement.Maher and guests (Salman Rushdie, Christopher Hitchens and Mos Def) had an honest conversation about marijuana, politics and prohibition. Compare this honesty to Obama's recent concocted statement, which was carefully designed to keep him safe from Republican character attacks. This topic of the legalization of marijuana needs more honest discussion, or else we will continue tossing 800,000 victimless "criminals" into the justice system every year. I'm not promoting the use of marijuana or any other mind-altering drug; I would prefer that everyone stay sober and naturally high on life. The current system is insanity, however, and I don't see any hope for the honest public conversations we need to have. On a related note, Huffpo reports that the violent big-time sellers of illegal drugs are thrilled to hear that we are going to continue our violence-inducing and generally counter-productive "drug war":
Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman Loera, reported head of the Sinaloa cartel in Mexico, ranked 701st on Forbes' yearly report of the wealthiest men alive, and worth an estimated $1 billion, today officially thanked United States politicians for making sure that drugs remain illegal. According to one of his closest confidants, he said, "I couldn't have gotten so stinking rich without George Bush, George Bush Jr., Ronald Reagan, even El Presidente Obama, none of them have the cajones to stand up to all the big money that wants to keep this stuff illegal. From the bottom of my heart, I want to say, Gracias amigos, I owe my whole empire to you."