This and That

Ho Hum

They’re mad again. (Or, wait, maybe they’re just having fun — look at some of their faces.)

Muslim fury grows at Pope’s speech:

The furore over comments made by Pope Benedict about the Islamic concept of Holy War continues to grow.

Instead of all the stampin’ and burnin’ goin’ on out there, maybe they could give something constructive a twirl.

Like this, for instance:

Millions of environmental activists will be picking up trash in places from Copacabana Beach in Brazil to the banks of the Nile in Egypt this weekend in a “Clean Up the World” protest at pollution.

Please, Take Your Time

Long deadlines and extra deadlines are considered a standoff?

I’d call it appeasement, but what do I know?

EU gives Iran two more weeks in atomic standoff

The European Union agreed on Saturday to try to clarify Iran’s nuclear stance within two weeks and Iran told visiting U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan it wanted fresh negotiations on the issue.

History insists on repeating itself.

No More Parakeets

This parakeet was just too scrawny.

Too Scrawny:

Little Pluto, formerly the solar system’s smallest planet, has been stripped of its status by the International Astronomical Union, reducing the number of planets to eight.

The new guidelines — introduced in Prague on Thursday after a week of debate by the 2,500 astronomers at the organization’s conference — define what is a planet and what is not. Pluto didn’t make the cut.

Pluto has been considered a planet since its discovery in 1930. Pluto is now considered a “dwarf planet,” and the eight others — Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune — are now called “classical planets.”

Among other implications, Thursday’s new definition means students will have to find a new way of remembering how the planets are arranged in order from the sun.

The old mnemonic device of “Mark’s Very Extravagant Mother Just Sent Us Ninety Parakeets” helped them recall that the order was Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto.

As a former teacher, I offer this alternative:

Mark’s Very Extravagant Mother Just Sent Us Ninety (dwarf) Parakeets

That way students will only have to drop dwarf when the definition changes again.

Plus it reminds them of the good old days.

Plus it drives home the point that Pluto is still classed as a planet, albeit a dwarf.

You’re welcome.

Crying Fraud

Let me be a gracious, even-handed winner (or loser).

As I’ve kept tabs on the post-presidential-election uncertainties in Mexico, I’ve wondered if the loser would have demanded recounts and staged protests if he would have been on the other side of the super-close margin.

My conclusion has been, “Of course not.”

This morning I see this developing story:

Mexico’s main leftist party was ahead by a hair on Monday in a governor’s election in the largely Maya Indian state of Chiapas, adding to tension over a fiercely contested July 2 presidential vote.

Juan Sabines of the left-wing Party of the Democratic Revolution, or PRD, had 48.43 percent of the vote with votes in from 93 percent of polling stations, a lead of just 0.29 percentage points over his main rival, according to state electoral authorities.

A hefty 5 percent of ballot box returns had irregularities, meaning the final result will likely be challenged. Chiapas has a long history of political violence and is home to Zapatista rebels who took up arms in 1994.

The PRD’s presidential candidate, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, cried fraud after narrowly losing the July 2 election and has led weeks of protests that have raised tension in the country and brought chaos to the center of Mexico City.

What a super-super-skinny lead for Lopez Obrador’s man!

The tables have been reversed!

Good deal. Now Mr. Obrador can get double mileage from his rants, lawsuits, and protests. He can carry on about his narrow loss in the presidential election and he can carry on about his man’s narrow win in the gubernatorial election.

Yeah. Sure.

Oh the humanity!

Dogs and Oily Rags?

Seattle port terminal evacuated

A terminal at the Port of Seattle was evacuated on Wednesday and a bomb squad was investigating a ship container that alarmed bomb-sniffing dogs, a port spokesman said.

The container first raised suspicion when a screening using gamma ray technology about the contents’ density did not match the items listed on the ships’ manifest.

Coast Guard Petty Officer Tara Molle said the ship’s inventory list indicated the container held oily rags.

The Coast Guard did not know where the ship originated.

A ship in port and the Coast Guard doesn’t know where it came from?

Maybe our ocean borders are even more porous than our land frontiers.

Private
Above all, love God!