Archive for March, 2008
Wisconsin’s shame
An 11-year old girl died this week from a treatable form of diabetes. She died because she didn’t get the treatment she needed–not because of lack of resources, but because her parents decided that prayer alone would cure her.
This is a shame on our state and our nation that we can allow such wanton neglect within a civilized society. As a libertarian, I am all for personal freedoms and liberties but this example has clearly gone way over the line. These parents are clinically insane at best; murderous criminals at worst.
The fact that such people could live in our state and be regarded as normal is deeply troubling. I don’t know them personally, but I would be shocked if this is the first time their over-zealous “religion” was noticed.
Have we really lost the ability as a culture to distinguish religious practices from insanity? Are we so afraid to offend our neighbors that we’ve stopped questioning abuse when done in the name of religion? Does it take a death for us to wake up and see the danger?
What’s worse is that the District Attorney is still debating whether to press charges. I see no other way to interpret this tragic event than gross negligence by the parents. What a shame. . .
Filed under culture : Comments (2) : Mar 27th, 2008
Gay Scientists Isolate Christian Gene
Consider : why is this treated as farce, but it’s news when it’s the other way around?
Filed under culture : Comments (3) : Mar 27th, 2008
Torture doesn’t work
Not only does torture run counter to national law, international law, and our internal moral compass, it also doesn’t work. But don’t take my word for it, here’s a former FBI interrogator on the subject:
Filed under politics, war : Comments (0) : Mar 26th, 2008
A N I M O T O is A M A Z I N G
In the last 24 hours, I’ve fallen in love with animoto. So much so, I’ve actually paid to get the unlimited service (you can make 30 second videos for free, or spend $30 and get unlimited videos for a year).
What a refreshing take on the boring old photo slide show. This blows the favored Ken Burns effect right out of the water. I’ll never make my friends/family sit through a boring iPhoto slide show again!
Here’s another one I put together.
Now what we need is Yahoo! to swoop in, purchase animoto, and roll it into their Flickr offering. (I would be shocked if Google & Yahoo aren’t already in talks to purchase this little upstart!)
Filed under sites i like, technology : Comments (4) : Mar 21st, 2008
A N I M O T O
I was referred to a very cool new Web2.0 service today : animoto.
You input some photos (upload or transfer from Flickr, Facebook, etc.); input some music (upload or choose from their library) and it outputs a flash video. It’s very quick, very painless, and very flashy. Check out my first attempt below.
Filed under technology : Comments (3) : Mar 20th, 2008
