random

If the snow had waited until today to fall, then it would have made more sense. (Friday the 13th)

I happened upon Simply Asia's rice noodle bowls last week, and I've been fairly attached to them. Before I picked one up, I'd never even tasted rice noodles before. They're easy to make and relatively cheap. And they have fewer than 260 calories per bowl, with only 24 of those from fat. I don't see how I go wrong with these.

It's frickin' cold. Hard for me to even think about getting any work done.

Irreverent blasphemy: So, is the Book of Hebrews, like, Jews for Jesus?

More: So, the Big Bang is necessarily tied into the concept of evolution, yes? Is that why (Christian) fundamentalists can't believe in either? Either one implies the other, yes?

(no subject)

Rep. Ney pleads guilty; GOP vows ouster -- yet he does not immediately resign

Fla. Dems attack election day notices -- it's about the definition of "electioneering"

(no subject)

Smart crazy people recognize which of their ideas would sound crazy to other people and thus do not share those with others.

rummaging

You dig through history and sometimes you find things you had no intention of discovering.

While looking for information about the legality of the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus (due to this LJ exchange), I ran into the Ku Klux Act. I learned the Act was struck down, so I wondered about the composition of the Supreme Court around that time. I came across this very useful chart of Chief Justices, and found that Morrison Waite headed the court.

What a guy. He was a member of Skull and Bones. He struck down the Enforcement Act and was the one responsible for corporations being recognized legally as persons. I love how the Wiki article for him ends, though:

[David C.] Korten [in his "Life After Capitalism"] then observes, "Thus it was that a two-sentence assertion by a single judge elevated corporations to the status of persons under the law, prepared the way for the rise of global corporate rule, and thereby changed the course of history."(p.185) He goes on to point out the legal contradiction implicit in corporate personhood. A corporation is the property of it shareholders. But it is also a legal person (technically, a "legal subordinate fiction"). With such "persons" being owned by others, a condition of slavery exists which is prohibited by the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution.

Very, very neat

Researchers discover mechanism that determines when detailed memories are retained (thanks, dsgood)

The neuropsychologist who recommended I take acetyl L-Carnitine would be unsurprised to read this, I think.