The Big List #7

This is long overdue, I'm afraid. Most of these items have been sitting around waiting patiently for me to blog about them for weeks. I still think they are interesting, though, so here they are. Also, for those who are interested, Rush has pushed back their Indianapolis concert from June 25th to July 24th. June 25th is now the makeup date for a show they had to cancel in Denver earlier this month because of weather.

On to the big headlines!

• New Blog - Indy Insights

I was reading Ruth Holladay’s blog a couple of days ago and came across this link to a blog about city life here in Indianapolis. It’s run by Bill Benner, who used to do sports for the Star and now works for the Indiana Convention and Visitors Association.

• My Carbon Pledge

This is a project being put on by the Indianapolis Zoo to try to replace one million standard incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs in the state of Indiana in 2008. They have a running tally of how far along they are - and you can even check your profile to see how green your house is! Help save a polar bear - make a pledge today!

• American Beauty (Now That's Esoteric!)

A kid called Daniel Burd, in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, did a science fair project in which he figured out a way to make those horrid plastic grocery store bags biodegrade by 32% in six weeks. It’s still best to use a canvas tote or take paper sacks at the store - but maybe an idea like this will help ease the fears of those Republicans who want to pay lip service to saving the planet without also alienating all those votes from the semi-skilled laborers in the plastic bag industry.

• You Lose One More, You’re A Talking Monkey

Anytime George Bushtard implies that he is pro-life, he is instead proclaiming that he is a lying piece of shit. Nearly all of his vetoes have been of bills that would bring the troops home from Vietraq or provide further funding for embryonic stem cell research. This post talks about induced pluripotent stem cells, yet another group of stem cells that scientists have discovered that might be able to do some or all of what embryonic stem cells can do. There’s also the possibility that these cells could be banked - in much the same way blood is banked today. Nice ideas, both - too bad scientists had to waste time discovering them when they could have been working on embryonic stem cells. It’s sad that one closed-minded idiot can obstruct Congress and stall the progress of science to such a degree - but it’s good to see that science marches on, even if it has to take the (very) long way around the Bushtard learning curve.

• More On Expelled

So one Cosmic Log post on the Ben Stein movie wasn’t enough, it seems. Here’s another, about an evolutionary biologist called P.Z. Myers, who agreed to be interviewed in 2007 for a project called “Crossroads,” which purported to be a documentary concerned with the ways in which science and religion intersect. Turns out that the project was actually Ben Stein’s “intelligent design” movie, Expelled - and that Myers was lied to about why he was being interviewed. Classy. Later, Myers went to a preview screening of the film, but was asked to leave the screening when one of the producers recognized him. Again, classy. Whatever will those on the right do now that they are no longer eligible to complain about Michael Moore?