take a gander

gonzalescantata.com

Someone decided that Alberto Gonzales' testimony to Congress in 2007 was an inspiration and should be made into an opera. Kudos to Rachael Maddow, who apologized for perhaps making the site crash due to her mention.

(no subject)

Obama runs into resistance over school speech: The president is scheduled to address students next week about responsibility and goals. Florida's Republican Party chairman issues a statement denouncing 'Obama's socialist ideology.'

Part of finger bitten off at Calif. health protest (thanks, quiet_flame)

Congress, pass single-payer health coverage now in memory of Cynthia McKinney's Aunt Hazel (thanks, brashley46)

Study finds potential way to make an AIDS vaccine

Thin thighs--maybe not your heart's desire -- "Danish doctors said on Thursday they found patients with the thinnest thighs died sooner than the more endowed. Obesity, age, smoking and other factors did not reduce the effect, the researchers reported in the British Medical Journal."

Unhealthy habits alter thinking, memory skills

USDA to buy $30 million in pork to help farmers

Food stamp list soars past 35 million: USDA

protolanguages in a snap

Computer algorithm to decipher ancient texts

Researchers in Israel say they have developed a computer program that can decipher previously unreadable ancient texts and possibly lead the way to a Google-like search engine for historical documents.

The program uses a pattern recognition algorithm similar to those law enforcement agencies have adopted to identify and compare fingerprints.

But in this case, the program identifies letters, words and even handwriting styles, saving historians and liturgists hours of sitting and studying each manuscript.

inaugural

Lung debuts today. "Driven" is included. (The funny thing is, the editor mistook me for a man! It's all very amusing. I've left him a note; perhaps he'll update it before long.)

There's some fine writing all around, I must say. Three memorable lines from Alex Galper's "Jose and Teresa":

But it's hard to spot a dark skinned woman in a dark room
especially if she's already dressed and left
and you are high on insanity.

See also Nina Ki's untitled piece.

the nerve of some people

Man Slaps Stranger's Child in Walmart