derivative work

optical communicationsPeter Dizikes writes about a number of right-wing myths about oilландшафт in today’s Salon.com.
Unbelievably enough, there are people who believe:
# There’s more oil in Alaska than in the Middle East
# The Chinese are about to start drilling — or are already drilling — off the coast of Florida (the Cuba/China menace — Russia/Cuba [...]

It’s like they just cut and paste the weather forecast — every goddamn day.

WEATHER FORECAST
This Afternoon…Mostly cloudy with a slight chance of showers and thunderstorms early…then partly sunny with showers and thunderstorms likely. Some thunderstorms may produce frequent lightning and small hail…then some thunderstorms may produce gusty winds…frequent lightning and small hail. Highs in [...]

So this flight attendant is suing a televangelist who assaulted her, and in addition to emotional damages and hemorrhoids, the flight attendant is claiming she is owed damages for loss of faith. Broadsheet, Salon.com, 8/8.
Obviously the First Amendment is going to pose real problems for the plaintiff — American courts establishing a monetary value [...]

This article (”Dark Night for Bats”, Kirsten Weir, Salon.com) compares the current wave of bat deaths with bees’ colony collapse disorder. I’d add the precipitous decline in frogs, as well.