Airplanes Are Not Like Slave Ships After All And Other News You Can Maybe Use
In today's news, we have bad analogies (like,really bad), quite possibly the greatest movie review of all time, Fox News being wrong about something (okay, that's not exactly news, but it is funny), and of course SCIENCE!
Last Saturday an editorial cartoon ran on the Lancaster New Era editorial page. It compared a slave ship packed tight with human beings brought to America for a life of forced servitude with the discomfort of airline seating. To somehow link the inconveniences of air travel with slavery in general and the slave ships in particular was not only just plain wrong it was deeply hurtful to our African American community and all those who understand the horrors inflicted on the men and women forced into the slave trade. It both trivialized and demeaned their experience. [...] While the editorial cartoon was not drawn by someone on our staff, the decision to run it on our pages was made here. We are deeply sorry about printing this offensive cartoon.
In case you were on the fence about seeingAtlas Shrugged III: The Shruggening, this most excellent review by Alan Scherstuhl at the Village Voice should help you make up your mind:
The sex scene almost makes it worth sitting throughAtlas Shrugged III, the last and least of the cheapjack adaptations of Ayn Rand's brick-thick celebration of taking your ball and going home. [...] Since it's a PG-13, the sex is vague and quick, leaving vital questions unanswered. For all we know, he might have gone Galt all over her dress. Here's how Conservapedia, the right-wing wiki hive-mind, describes the scene in the book: “She rushes to an abandoned tunnel. Galt follows, and the two of them finally come together.” Well, then. [...] Other questions: Why is Galt posed like a crucified Christ in a movie based on a book by the right's most beloved atheist? Why haven't the filmmakers updated the train politics for an audience who, mostly, consider public transportation an affront to American sovereignty? And why can't any twoAtlas Shruggedfilms have the same leading actors? Was the last cast so moved by the material that they've gone Galt themselves?
They've evolved . Let's hope they don't have a plan:
The cheetah robot created by MIT has evolved and no longer needs a tether. The cheetah has gotten major upgrades and researchers continue to improve its skills. It can now run free, and a new algorithm will allow it to run in an upbeat manner while expertly navigating a grass lawn terrain.
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So ... maybe parole was a bad idea ?
Indiana police arrested Joseph Oberhansley -- a convicted killer on parole -- last week in connection to the killing of Tammy Jo Blanton, who was stabbed to death in her Jeffersonville home. Oberhansley reportedly admitted to police that he ate part of Blanton's brain, heart, and lungs after killing her.
The schoolchildren of San Diego will never dare play hooky again:
On Wednesday, news that the school district's police department recently acquired a 14-ton mine-resistant ambush protected vehicle, or an M-RAP, caused a stir in San Diego. The school district's police force, which employs real cops but is separate from the city's police department, received the truck for free from the same federal program that gave military equipment to the Ferguson, Missouri police and other cities around the country. The district spent $5,000 shipping the thing from Texas.
FOX News unsure if 160 is more or less than zero :
Image source: Media Matters
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