Assorted links, vol. 80

--A sobering editorial on the impact the next president could have on the Supreme Court.
--Speaking of the Supreme Court, it has become an occupying target.
--Speaking of occupying, who was Guy Fawkes and why do the protesters wear his mask?
*--A ballot initiative in Mississippi seeks to define any fertilized egg as a legal person.
--The Church of England met with News Corp. to discuss the phone hacking scandal.
--The world population is about to hit 7 billion.  How big is that?
*--Can "zombie Jesus" serve as a source for legitimate theological reflection?
*--I agree that the science of the future should be networked.

Assorted links, vol. 79

*--Chinese tweeters (or rather, sina-weibo-ers) won't be occupying Beijing anytime soon.
--Is Tim Tebow a Protestant saint?
--A list of 25 bible resources available online.
--Backwards world: might Justice Stevens be less liberal and Justice Thomas more liberal than we generally imagine?
*--NYPD apparently keeps files on those who change their names to or from "Arabic-sounding" names.
--Explanation of how the Citizens United decision harmed campaign finance laws.
--Peruse the oldest scientific journal.
*--Round-up of the status of laws targeting undocumented immigrants in various states.

Assorted links, vol. 78 (Thomas hearings edition)

[In case you don't know about the Andrew Thomas disciplinary hearings, the basics are here, the formal complaint is here, and video recordings of the examination are here.]

*--PBS' show "Horizon" had very good pieces on the hearings before they began and after Thomas testified.
--Here is respondent Rachel Alexander's blog (see especially this gem, denouncing the proceedings).
*--Can't make it to the trial, but still want to know everything about it?  Follow Arizona Republic reporter @yvonnewingett to be kept in the loop.
*--Besides Yvonne, another amazing reporter covering the hearings is the ABA Journal's senior writer Terry Carter.  While we wait for his sure-to-be-amazing article, check out some of his past reporting here, here, and here.
--Also testifying: Joe Arpaio and David Hendershott.
--News about these hearings have been seen all over local TV (here, for instance), in the Washington Post, WorldNetDaily, Huffington Post, etc., etc.

Assorted links, vol. 77

--Award for weirdest and dumbest Phoenix mayoral race campaign signs goes to... Stingray Sushi.
*--Excellent commentary from NPR on the NC-17 film rating.
--Words and paradoxes.
--My brother beat me to posting this (even though I found the link independently of him), but a giant Lego man washed up on the beach in Florida.
--What if the Supreme Court weren't the last word on constitutionality?
*--What would the happiest person in America be like?  (Also, follow the embedded NYTimes link.)
--Moderate Islamists win in Tunisia.
*--As the headline asks, "Why does God love beards?"
--A new Australian program is helping to change public perception of greyhounds, taking them from fearsome to friendly.

Assorted links, vol. 75

*--Winter is growing closer, which can only mean one thing: time to break out the beard hats.
--It looks like robots have once again bested humans, this time at solving Rubik's cubes.
*--A very important independent study on climate change has just been released, proving (unsurprisingly) that it is, in fact, real.  Check it out, and be sure to follow the resources links to the time lapse video and two-page summary, at least.
*--A $1,000,000 prize was awarded to the team who created an oil spill cleaner-upper that works three times as well as the industry's state-of-the-art machines.
--On Republicans and the judiciary.
--The winner of the "Dance Your Ph.D." contest was announced -- go watch "Microstructure-Property relationships in Ti2448 components produced by Selective Laser Melting: A Love Story".
--A comparison of how the various iPhone cameras.
--And AntiSec strikes again, taking down the police this time.

Assorted links, vol. 72

--You can read entire Dead Sea Scrolls online.  This has to be the coolest online biblical studies tools I've seen in awhile.
--The writers of "Toy Story" are apparently working on a new film about ... Farmville?
--A helpful YouTube channel called "minutephysics" helps to give brief introductions to complicated physics ideas.
*--A virus attacked the computer of the U.S. drone fleet.
--IGN recently updated its list of the best Wii games.  What do you think of its choices?
*--Very interesting article on the behind-the-scenes workings that led to the birth of the state of Israel.
*--This story also has been bothering me for awhile now (it isn't very new...).  Should guns legally be allowed in churches?  That question is actually far less important to me than the question of the theological rationale of why anyone would need to bring a gun to church.  Of what is he or she afraid that God can't fix but a gun can?

Assorted links, vol. 71

*--A Swedish poet won the Nobel Prize in literature (read English translation of two of his poems here and here), the discoverers of dark energy won in science, one of the three winners of the prize in medicine died just before the award, and three women shared the peace prize for their nonviolent work advancing women's equality.
--An amazing story about the mother of the man who killed or wounded 10 Amish schoolchildren.
--America on why the Catholic Church should let girls be altar servers (and priests, too).
--Should have posted this awhile ago, but here is a Q&A on the Palestinian statehood bid.
--A Tennessee pastor asked his deacons to beat his gay son and stood by as they did.  So sad.
*--A.S. Haley has written a useful Q&A about the legal wranglings in the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina.
*--How can you get recognized by the Royal Astronomical Society without being a Ph.D.-level astronomer?  By playing Planet Hunters, of course!  (See also: FoldIt.)

Assorted links, vol. 70

*--Can differences in the brain help explain political orientation?
--Need a job?  NASA is hiring new astronauts.
*--This new book about secular apocalypticism sounds like an interesting read.
--What are your thoughts on the new Common English Bible?
*--The Supreme Court today heard arguments about one of the most important religions cases it has faced in a long while, which arose because of ... narcolepsy.
--Interesting short essay about Catholic hospitals and contraception.
--For those who still think that only Muslims can be violent, did you read about the mosque that was graffitied and burned, likely by Jewish extremists?

Assorted links, vol. 69 (awesome things edition)

*--Arrested Development is coming back!
*--Enoch and Metatron star in a video game!
--Will Shortz opened up a table tennis club!
--America (Magazine) reports from the Occupy Wall Street protest (which has received support from Cornel West, George Soros, Russell Simmons, Alec Baldwin, Joseph Stiglitz, and Michael Moore).
*--Rob Bell is leaving Mars Hill to team up with "Lost" co-creator Carlton Cuse to create a new TV show called "Stronger".
--If only Justice Scalia were true enough to his words that he would indeed resign....  (See, for instance, paragraph 56 of John Paul II's "Evangelium vitae" here.)
--And what better way to bid farewell to departed loved ones than by stuffing their cremains into rifle bullets with which to take one final hunting trip?

Assorted links, vol. 67

--Al-Qaeda has released a new video tape supporting the Arab Spring.
*--Pediatricians called out Michele Bachmann for her statements on the HPV vaccine.
*--Looks like I'm not the only one living at home.
*--Mormon women's sex lives improved when they read romance novels, and Mormon missionaries were asked to stop proselytizing on buses.
--The PCUSA may divest themselves of Caterpillar, Motorola, and HP due to their various business practices with respect to the Israel/Palestine conflict.
--America (the magazine) compares the GOP to a cult.
--It would be wonderful to see ecumenical progress on the Catholic-Orthodox front.
--Oklahoma's ban on sharia law had its hearing in the Tenth Circuit Court.
--North Carolina is being sued by the ACLU for allowing pro-life license plates while denying pro-choice ones.

Hacktivism

I am getting more interesting in the idea of hacktivism and the controversies surrounding it.  Before you ask, no, I haven't done any hacking or illegal computing of any kind.  As you may know from news reports, the two big-name groups are Anonymous and (the now-disbanded) LulzSec, who have done some work together under Operation AntiSec.  It seems to me that the attacks they carry out are not legal (see here, here, and, most fully, here), though I am often sympathetic to their rationales.  Using a variety of attacks, they have hit Sony (protesting the arrest of someone who had hacked them), MasterCard and PayPal (protesting their severing ties with WikiLeaks), and Arizona (protesting SB1070), among many others.  Their DDoS attacks use Low-Orbit Ion Cannon to attack other sites.  They have worried about being caught, and the eventual arrest of an alleged member after LulzSec called it quits led rapper Moses to pen this song.  And joining is easy.  But be warned: others will want to take you down of you get too involved.

Assorted links, vol. 60 (Miller-McCune edition)

*--Breastfeeding mothers may be more aggressive than non-mothers or those mothers who do not breastfeed.
--Women's "gaydar" effectiveness may depend on where their are in their menstrual cycle.
--This idea of "predictive policing" reminds me of "Minority Report".
--Babies prefer Picasso to Monet.
*--Demining sounds like amazing and heroic work.
*--What is the extent of cigarette companies' free speech rights?
--An article on the importance of documenting endangered languages.
--Could we be seeing eco-driving in the near future?

Assorted links, vol. 58

--A man accused a woman of stalking him after she called him 65,000 times in one year.
*--Fascinating article arguing that "in red America, families form adults; in blue America, adults form families".
*--GOP debate mini-roundup:  Fox News thinks either Perry or Romney won (apparently); MSNBC thinks it was Paul or, if you discount that verdict citing his techno-savvy fan base, Romney.  Huntsman wants the GOP to stop being anti-science, and Perry likened his (non-)scientific views to those of Galileo.  Perry also received applause for executing more than 200 people (including one who was likely innocent).
*--Virginia's political maneuvering about the health care law hit the wall today, as the federal court of appeals declared that the state can't pass a law that contradicts a federal mandate and then use that contradiction to sue.  Duh: any U.S. history student who studied McCulloch v. Maryland could tell you that federal laws trump state laws.  Here are the Washington Post's and Fox News's takes on the ruling.
--A new Australopithecus fossil may tell us more about human evolution.
--Google bought Zagat.

Assorted links, vol. 54

*--A new website allows Arabs, Muslims, and Sikhs to tell the stories of discrimination that they have faced since 9/11.
*--Today was the next in a long line of big court days in the Prop 8 case.  Here are takes on the day from The Advocate, Towleroad, and the LA Times.  A live blog of the hearing is here.
--The beginning of what ought to be an interesting week-long series of posts about marriage.
--Can the supercommittee work without the taint of lobbying special interests?
--Some of the challenges facing Afghanistan as the U.S. looks toward a military drawdown.
--Looks like some benefits may be returning to the domestic partners of gay and lesbian Arizona state employees.
*--Have you heard of Burning Man?  Here is one RD writer's take on it, here is a picture of the event taken from space, and here are copious photos of the event itself throughout the years (which contain some nudity -- fair warning).
--Is fashion going 3-D?

Assorted links, vol. 53

--The Maricopa County Republican party isn't happy that one of their own is about to go down in an ethics trial.  (Must be that left-wing Bar Association's fault -- right, because Thomas surely didn't play any part in any wrongdoing....)
--If only this parody about Jesus taking the GOP to task for misrepresentation were true.
--Tea Party darling and debt-bashing congressman Joe Walsh knows a little something about the horrors of big debts... mostly because he owes $117,000 in unpaid child support.
*--Check out al Jazeera's take on GOP dominionism.
*--Would Rick Perry be happier living with the Confederate Constitution than with the American one?
--Some last ditch meetings are underway to try to circumvent Palestine's bid for statehood at the U.N.
*--Great take on the intersection of social justice and evangelism.
--Nothing says heavy metal like... quilting?

Assorted links, vol. 52

*--What's the best way for Prop 8 to go down?  (Don't forget that today was the big day to argue about whether Prop 8's official proponents have standing to appeal.)
--How is Mitt Romney coming out of the South Carolina GOP Q&A looking like the most normal one?  Now granted, I didn't watch this, but it sounds like Michele Bachmann didn't do so well there.
*--I am totally ready to watch this documentary about the Maine campaign to repeal LGBT marriage equality.
*--With advance apologies for the poor copy, as we approach 9/11, everyone should read this article from Harper's Magazine about the limits of remembrance.
--A Georgia church got an $80,000 winning lottery ticket in its collection plate.  (And I love the security director's assertion that it must have come from someone outside the church, because no one in the church gambles.)
--An encouraging report of some good interfaith work in Syracuse.

Assorted links, vol. 50

[50th assorted links -- thanks for reading!]

*--South Korea was cyberattacked by North Korea (presumably).
--Mark Harris wonders if it is time to call a Special General Convention.  Thoughts?
--A short and sweet rumination on contemplative prayer.  Love his quote about what "thinking" is not.
--Does the GOP still care about social issues?
--What are the secrets to writing faster?
--Turkey and Israel still haven't gotten anywhere in their spat.
*--The Washington Post believes that the CIA has largely morphed into a killing machine.
*--Awesome explanation about the legality of fighting in a foreign war.

Assorted links, vol. 47

--Here's another reminder that Islamophobia isn't confined to the United States.
*--Fascinating article about the nature of time.
--Cute pictures of heart-shaped graphs, known as cardioids.
--The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington has generously given $25,000 to the National Cathedral to help offset some of the repair costs.  Here are the two (similar) reports from ENS and NCR.
--Looking at al-Qaeda's legacy, 10 years after 9/11.
*--Speaking about Italy, of which he is prime minister, Berlusconi said to an alleged extortionist, "I'm leaving this shitty country of which I'm sickened."  But I guess that by now, people's expectations are pretty low, so maybe this isn't that surprising after all.
--Maricopa County paid out a $100,000 settlement to a judge for harassment by Sheriff Joe Arpaio and former County Attorney Andrew Thomas.
*--And I found a Mormon apologetics website, which for all its articles, doesn't seem rebut, or even address (so far as I can see) this infamous letter....

Assorted links, vol. 45

*--What was Sarah Palin like behind the scenes?
--Who wants to read this book about fonts with me?
*--Wow, just wow.  The Pima County GOP is raffling off a Glock handgun as a fundraiser.  Yes, like the gun that was used to shoot Pima County congresswoman Gabby Giffords.  Wow.
--Two great ideas for social websites: SCVNGR (which I've used for awhile and enjoyed) and Hey, Neighbor! (which i just learned about, but seems really cool).  But both need more people to join them before they can really take off.  What do you think of them?
--The future of bananas appears to be somewhat uncertain.
*--Goodwin Liu was confirmed today as the California Supreme Court's newest justice.  Why does this matter?  Here are two reasons.
--And if only I weren't stuck in this postponed generation....

Assorted links, vol. 44

--Are you ready to eat meat that didn't come from an animal?
*--An easy-to-understand FAQ about the question of standing in the never-ending Prop 8 trial.
--Mormon author Joanna Brooks wants to ask these LDS-specific questions to would-be presidential candidates Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman.
*--Rowan Williams wrote this introductory piece about homosexuality in 1988.  Ah, for some of that directness today....
*--Here is a very important modern interreligious document: A Common Word Between Us and You, offered by Muslim leaders to their Christian counterparts, to which many Christian leaders have responded.  The document is a good starting point, and I am in the process of making my way through Rowan's engagement with and responses to it.
--And a list of things that you never knew had names.  :-)