Someone's been playing Mad Scientist with sheep and lemming DNA, haven't they?

My apologies for putting a damper on the fun demonization of a huge chunk of the country, but there are some of us who actually see a difference between ending a healthy fetus' life and putting an adult who's suffered in a horrific half-alive state for years on end out of their misery.

I'm sorry, Matt! I should have been more specific--I was thinking about the pro-lifers who have no problems with supporting the death penalty. I just find that inconsistent. Also, the more vocal (and radical) members of the pro-life lobby don't seem to use that voice to support programs to support the lives of infants after they're born, at least from what I've seen and read. I find that disappointing.

I was thinking about the pro-lifers who have no problems with supporting the death penalty. I just find that inconsistent

Not a pro-lifer, but is the premise that one can lose the right to live, but has to do so by their own action really that inconsistent? I mean, people who believe in the death penalty probably believe in your right not to be murdered.

Way to go, shepherds.

Yeah, they seem to be sort of neglecting the "herd" portion of that word.

Those who jumped later were saved as the pile got higher and the fall more cushioned

Is it wrong that this bit made me laugh and laugh?

Is it wrong that this bit made me laugh and laugh?

Well, it made me laugh too... so it must be wrong.

also laughed—is very wrong but also laughed—can't believe I laughed, but each time it comes to mind I laugh and laugh

It also took me to a Monty Python place. "Notice they don't so much fly as plummet."

Plus the sound effects.... "Baaaahhhh--thud."

eta:

It is my belief that these sheep are laborin' under the misapprehension that they're birds. Observe their behaviour. Take for a start the sheeps' tendency to 'op about the field on their hind legs (off-screen baa-ing). Now witness their attempts to fly from tree to tree. Notice that they do not so much fly as plummet.

[link]

No wonder we're so easily distracted:

"Apparently our thirst for novelty begins in the eye itself," says Markus Meister, the Jeff C. Tarr Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology in Harvard's Faculty of Arts and Sciences. "Our eyes report the visual world to the brain, but not very faithfully. Instead, the retina creates a cartoonist's sketch of the visual scene, highlighting key features while suppressing the less interesting regions."

These findings provide evidence that the ultimate goal of the visual system is not simply to construct internally an exact reproduction of the external world, Meister and his colleagues write in Nature. Rather, the system seeks to extract from the onslaught of raw visual information the few bits of data that are relevant to behavior. This entails the discarding of signals that are less useful, and dynamic retinal adaptation provides a means of stripping from the visual stream predictable and therefore less newsworthy signals.

ION, the A/C is on so high in this office that my fingers are almost too cold to type.

If you could go anywhere in the world this weekend, where would you go?

I think I would go to Curacao.

I wonder if cricket will sneak in?

Baseball and softball were tossed out of the Olympics for the 2012 London Games on Friday. The action by the International Olympic Committee marked the first time it had dropped any sports from the Summer Games in 69 years. The committee then rejected the five sports wanting to get in.