Dennis Kucinich's answers at debate

Do Pledges Work?

Livescience has a great article about whether or not pledges work. They use violence and abstinence pledges as examples. Their conclusion is that they don't work. Big surprise there.

One thing I found interesting was that "one study found that almost 90 percent of them broke their vow [of abstinence]". There is so much evidence out there about how abstinence doesn't work. I think it's time to move on and start offering campaigns on protection and smart choices.

Violence and Virginity Pledges: Do They Work?

Man tasered and killed in Canada

From Zhongnanhai:

"The brief synopsis is this: On October 14, a 40-year old construction worker arrived to start a new life in Canada. Robert Dziekanski was making his first trip outside of his native Poland, and was coming to join his mother. Mr. Dziekanski arrived at Vancouver Airport and began going through the immigration procedures. He was held up for more than 10 hours when he began to get angry. Unable to communicate in English, and very "confused", as some have described him, he began to become unruly. He pushed a computer off a desk and was shouting for help.

That's when the Vancouver Police arrived and used a taser to subdue the man. Four officers descended on him as he was screaming in pain on the ground, and tasered him at least one more time. He died shortly thereafter."

There were also two YouTube videos posted:


It was after seeing the second video that I became outraged. At least in my opinion, he didn't look like someone who needed to be tasered. In fact, he looked helpless and terrified. Why didn't Canadian officials try to find out where he was from using a map, and then try to find someone who spoke Polish?

If you want to complain here are some contacts:
Prime Minister Stephen Harper
pm@pm.gc.ca
Office of the Prime Minister
80 Wellington Street
Ottawa
K1A 0A2
Fax: 613-941-6900

Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada
webadmin@justice.gc.ca
The Honourable Robert Douglas Nicholson
Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada
284 Wellington Street
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0H8

Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada
info@irb-cisr.gc.ca

Canadian Judicial Council
info@cjc-ccm.gc.ca

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

The UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Sometimes it's good to be reminded of what everyone on this planet is entitled to. This is only some of the articles of the declaration; for the whole thing, visit the UN's site.

Article 1. All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Article 2. Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.

Article 3. Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.

Article 4. No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.

Article 5. No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

Article 6. Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.

Article 7. All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.

Article 8. Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights granted him by the constitution or by law.

Article 9. No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.

Article 10. Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him.

Article 12. No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.

Article 13. (2) Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.

Article 18. Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.

Article 19. Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

Article 20. (1) Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.

Article 21. (3) The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.

Article 25. (1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.

Article 26. (1) Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.

Thousands of animals brutally killed in Puerto Rico

I've seen almost every PETA video, I've watched videos of vivisection in action, and I'm almost to the point where I'm desensitized to it. That doesn't mean I don't care, it's just that cruelty to animals doesn't surprise me anymore. But this is terrible:

Puerto Rico's animal control workers have been slaughtering the animals they were supposed to be helping.

"Possibly thousands of unwanted animals have been tossed off bridges, buried alive, and otherwise inhumanely disposed of by taxpayer-financed animal control programs."

And that's not all that's being done to Puerto Rico's animals:

"Cockfighting is legal, with matches shown on television. One of the island's beaches is known as Dead Dog Beach - a place where teenagers drive over live puppies sealed in bags or cruelly kill them with machetes and arrows, according to animal welfare groups that photographed the atrocities."

This really puts in perspective the state of animals in this world. Although many animal rights activists (myself included) put most of their effort into American cruelty-prevention, places outside of America are usually much worse. However, I do think there is a plus side to focusing on America. Good or bad, when America puts something into place (aside from an unjustified war for oil), other nations want to get in on it too.

I tried to find contact information, and, since I don't know Spanish, I haven't been too successful. So here's the information for Luis Fortuno, who represents Puerto Rico in Congress:
Washington D.C. Office
126 Cannon House
Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
Phone: 202-225-2615
Fax: 202-225-2154

District Office
250 Calle Fortaleza
Old San Juan, PR 00901
Phone: 787-723-6333
Fax: 787-729-7738

If anyone has any better contact information, please let me know in the comments.

And here's the link to the original National Geographic article.

Fox News vs. CNN vs. WWE

Via Racialicious

Spotlight: All Things Democrat

I'm using this post to bring your attention to one of my favorite blogs, All Things Democrat.

This is a partisan site created for Democrats, liberals, progressives, and others who generally support Democratic candidates and ideals.

Our group blog features analysis and commentary by experienced progressive and liberal bloggers. We support small lefty blogs and will gladly add them to our blogroll when asked.

A primary goal of this site is to provide a resource for Democrats to locate the information they need to support and elect more Democrats.

Be sure to take a look. It's great stuff.

Automobile "Green Tax"

The UK wants to put a "green tax" on cars with high emissions. I think that's a great idea. People wouldn't still be able to drive those gas-guzzlers they so love, but they won't get off completely free. Of course, it doesn't do much to help the environment other than making a few people get cheaper cars, but it's a start.

WCU Fall Debate

Go Greens! :)

Great Firewall of China

From China Digital Times:

Far-Right Group Wants to Execute Gays and Others?

Americans United For Separation of Church and State has posted an account of a new far-right wing group named the "Watchmen on the Walls" who, under a "model government", would call for the execution of various groups of people. This is a scary group.

From Russia, With hate: Intolerant 'Watchmen' Focus On U.S.

Update on Remove Empty Directories

About a week ago I wrote about a freeware program called Remove Empty Directories. I no longer recommend it. After using it a couple of times, I've had to reinstall it twice, and it's just an overall hassle. So if anyone knows of a different program that does something along the same lines, let me know.

Bush's War on Zombies

It's silly, but at the same time it's almost realistic. God knows he's down some ridiculous things.

Firefox 3

Yay! Firefox 3 is coming out soon. I remember upgrading to Firefox 2 about a year or so ago, and the changes were awesome. It looks like this'll be even better.

Lifehacker's look at Firefox 3

And in case you're crazy, here's where you can download the best browser for free:
Mozilla

People of Indigenous Cultures

Thanks to the wonderful StumbleUpon, I found this beautiful gallery of photographs by Phil Borges.

People of Indigenous Cultures

The Zomes Concept

I adore architecture. Finding unique, beautiful buildings make me sublimely happy.

This is the Zomes Concept. From the site:

For more than thirteen years, we have been studying, creating, and performing experiments with these shapes in many different areas of study. This research brought in contact with many researchers equipped to measure and thus to confirm the reality of these phenomena. Most people experience a feeling of unity and one-ness in presence of these geometrix forms. This sensation being attuned to the spiral, of becoming integrated in the All, as if, the microcosm and the macrocosm reflected the same One-ness, within us and around us... this is the sensation that many people experience in the presence of zomes. A lot of observers and most of the people who use these forms in their daily life are touched by the beauty of these shapes. They also report a feeling of protection and the impression that zomes are doors that open onto other levels of reality.

Zomes Concept

Way to have gender equality in the senate?

I came across this in my American Government textbook:

Representative Bella Abzug of New York was an outspoken advocate of a constitutional amendment that would change the composition of the Senate to fifty women and fifty men (one of each from every state).

This is an interesting idea. However, it's not necessarily a good idea. Even though it would be great to have more gender equality in governmental positions (along with every other aspect of modern life!), I feel that people should be elected based solely on ability, not gender. Some would argue though that the best of both genders would end up in the senate, thereby making it about ability. I also think that this leave out other forms of discrimination, such as race. It would be impossible to represent every minority group in a state in such a way.

What do you think?

I miss my kitties

Here's a little video I found on YouTube.

And in case you don't have a cat, they really are quite persistent about getting their breakfast on time ;)

Obama's Challenge

Remove Empty Directories

This freeware program removes empty folders so you don't have to go through all that extra and unnecessary trouble. I've been using it for my music folders, since I delete tracks just as much as I add them. Just keep in mind that sometimes deleting an empty folder can screw up your system if you don't know what you're doing, so stay with folders you're in control of.

Remove Empty Directories

How To Learn Better

This article shows you how to learn better. If you learn correctly from the start, you don't have to study quite as much.

How To Learn More and Study Less

This actually helps. When I was in high school, I only memorized stuff, and I can't recall most of what I learned in classes like history. However, the American history class I'm taking now has made me change my way of thinking, although I didn't really notice it until I read this article. I had to learn to connect the events in our history in order to better explain things on the exams, and its benefits are obvious.

The Strife Aquatic

InterfaceLIFT

I'm always looking for new ways to customize my computer to suit my tastes, so when I find a site like this is thrills me. InterfaceLIFT is a phenomenal collection of icons, backgrounds, and themes for your computers. I looked through the site for hours and ended up with tons of new stuff.

InterfaceLIFT

More Powerful Images

A couple of days ago I posted about a collection of powerful images. Here's more:

Images that changed the world

The War on the Unexpected

An article about people being "spooked" by everything and overusing police resources. Great work:

Schneier on Security: The War on the Unexpected