Wacky fun!

Italian Case On Proving Existence of Christ Proceeds
Under the Italian Penal Code, both "abuse of popular credulity" (Sec. 661) and "impersonation"(Sec. 494) are offenses. Luigi Cascioli, who lives in Viterbo, a town north of Rome, is a retired agronomist who once studied for the priesthood but later became a militant atheist. He has written a book titled The Fable of Christ. A priest, Father Enrico Righi of Bagnoregio, denounced Cascoli in the parish newsletter for questioning Christ's historical existence. In September,2002, Cascoli responded by filing suit. The trial judge dismissed the case but the Court of Appeal held that Signor Cascioli had a reasonable case for his accusation that Father Righi was "abusing popular credulity". So yesterday the trial judge, Gaetano Mautone, set a preliminary hearing for next month. The London Times reports on the case as one in which Father Righi will be required to prove that Jesus Christ existed. It also reports, not surprisingly, that "the Vatican has so far declined to comment".

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Oh, wow. That's miraculous. Well, and skill of the rescuers, and determination, and grit, and survival skills.

I guess one of them didn't make it, which is horribly sad. For the rest, amazing. Thankful, indeed.

There were miners?

::surfs web::

That's great. I had no idea about this. Huh.

Watching BBCAmerica. I do love Trevor Eve something awful. And he looks so much better now than when I first fell for him. This time I think I paid enough attention to catch everything. But I am sad that they dropped, at least by name, the tension from the episode where Spence immediately thought Boyd had been drunk driving. I'd have liked some atonement. The guy playing Steve Hunt tonight is hot. I shall have to look him up when its done.

Also noticed a show called A Week of Dressing Dangerously. Looks interesting. I could probably do with that sort of makeover.

The house mice — believed to have made their way to Gough decades ago on sealing and whaling ships — have evolved to about three times their normal size

Can you really evolve over mere decades?

Late on this, but scientists in the lab have made these 3x size mice by altering a single gene (to do with growth hormones, I think) so it probably would require only a single mutation to do the same in the wild. Not much in the way of evolution, though, just a single gene.

oh, my god -- I'm astonished and thankful. I was convinced they were dead.

it probably would require only a single mutation to do the same in the wild. Not much in the way of evolution, though, just a single gene.

How long would this take to become predominant? Or am I ahead of myself by equating newsworthy with characteristic?

Damn, would I ever sign up for A Week of Dressing Dangerously. I wonder if they do pirates?

How long would this take to become predominant? Or am I ahead of myself by equating newsworthy with characteristic?

There are equations set up for this kind of question, and it depends on reproductive cycle (months in mice) and the relative advantage of the new mutation. But it's likely that there are two strains of mice on the island, each living on a different food source. As you suggest, only one strain is likely to be noticed by the media.

I'm trapped beneath my cat. Send sushi.

Also, Mile High is making me sad.

The earlier news stories seem to be wrong. Now news reports have only one minor surviving, and he is in critical condition.