Eric Schlosser on the fast food industry

From the Guardian - no surprise the depths the food industry will sink to to grab children as early as possible to turn them into obese junk food junkies

Famous last words

A list of the last sayings of famous dead people

Am I dying or is this my birthday?
When she woke briefly during her last illness and found all her family around her bedside.
~~ Lady Nancy Astor, d. 1964

What a fantastic woman

It is nice to see that some sanity prevails in Dakota

When Governor Mike Rounds signed HB 1215 into law it effectively banned all abortions in the state with the exception that it did allow saving the mother's life. There were, however, no exceptions for victims of rape or incest. His actions, and the comments of State Senators like Bill Napoli of Rapid City, SD, set of a maelstrom of protests within the state.
Napoli suggested that if it was a case of 'simple rape,' there should be no thoughts of ending a pregnancy. Letters by the hundreds appeared in local newspapers, mostly written by women, challenging Napoli's description of rape as 'simple.' He has yet to explain satisfactorily what he meant by 'simple rape.'
The President of the Oglala Sioux Tribe on the Pine Ridge Reservation, Cecilia Fire Thunder, was incensed. A former nurse and healthcare giver she was very angry that a state body made up mostly of white males, would make such a stupid law against women.
'To me, it is now a question of sovereignty,' she said to me 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.'

What a fantastic woman

It is nice to see that some sanity prevails in Dakota

When Governor Mike Rounds signed HB 1215 into law it effectively banned all abortions in the state with the exception that it did allow saving the mother's life. There were, however, no exceptions for victims of rape or incest. His actions, and the comments of State Senators like Bill Napoli of Rapid City, SD, set of a maelstrom of protests within the state.
Napoli suggested that if it was a case of 'simple rape,' there should be no thoughts of ending a pregnancy. Letters by the hundreds appeared in local newspapers, mostly written by women, challenging Napoli's description of rape as 'simple.' He has yet to explain satisfactorily what he meant by 'simple rape.'
The President of the Oglala Sioux Tribe on the Pine Ridge Reservation, Cecilia Fire Thunder, was incensed. A former nurse and healthcare giver she was very angry that a state body made up mostly of white males, would make such a stupid law against women.
'To me, it is now a question of sovereignty,' she said to me 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.'

Tomato juice keeps emphysema at bay in new model | Science Blog

This sounds very interesting - perhaps everyone that's scared of passive smoking should get drining bloody marys

Now this is bound to cause offense

Someone has made a page just like the hamster dance which was so popular a few years back except this time it's the cartoons of the prophet Mohammed which have caused so much offense dancing.

It never fails to surprise me how quickly people will say that people shouldn't be offended by things precisely because they don't share the same faith and cannot see why offense might be given. Unfortunately though these people most often have the thinnest skins when it comes to anyone insulting anything that they hold sacred.

More on the Thornbororugh henges

One wonders whether Tarmac has thought through its attitude to their planned destruction of the landscape around the Thornborough Henges - can they not see they might be embarking on a massive PR own-goal??

Tarmac has said it plans to appeal the decision, claiming that much of the history conservationists have cited in Thornborough's protection amounts to nothing more than myth.
However, the problem for the company is that any appeal would mean a public inquiry - and it is in the public arena, rather than in the offices of developers and planners, that the case has been most persuasively put for preserving the henges.
Tarmac raised concerns over local unemployment if its application failed. But any loss in quarrying work will be regained through the guides, meals and beds that come with increased visitors, as nearby York and Harrogate know very well.

I hope their share price plummets through the floor for this - advice to anyone who owns shares in Tarmac - dump them and then tell them why

Thornborough henges are saved for the nation

Tarmac was defeated in its bid to destroy the landscape around the Thornborough Henges, three large-scale earthworks which have survived since 5,000BCE in the Vale of York.

Of course, they played the usual corporate trick of saying jobs were threatened as well as the fate of the building industry

Tarmac's estates manager Bob Nicholson said the firm was deeply disappointed by a decision which could put 50 jobs at risk. He also warned of serious implications for the supply of sand and gravel to the construction industry and said the company would appeal against the decision. The quarrying did not threaten the actual henges which are scheduled national monuments.

Amazing - when he says the henges would not have been threatened, he failed to mention that many of the neaolithic burial sites would have been destroyed, along with the landscape which puts the monuments into context.

Evil evil corporate bastards

Archaeologists uncover first Valley of the Kings tomb since 1922 Tutankhamun find

How exciting, archaeologist have just uncovered the first tomb in the valley of the kings since the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun

wonder how many more there are still waiting to be discovered

The War of the Worlds - Book Cover Collection

Look, lots of variations on a theme of HG Wells' War of the Worlds