Necessary Roughness

two kingdoms, hundreds of thousands of miles

Archive for February, 2008

Vaccine Court: Government Concedes a Case
Monday, February 25th, 2008

HT: Adventures in Autism
David Kirby of the Huffington Post reports that the government has quietly conceded one of the cases heard by the Court of Federal Claims. This is the same group of cases that included Cedillio vs. HHS. It bugs me that there is no link to an official report, but then it wouldn’t [...]

Iraqi Ayatollah: Obey the Law Where You Live
Monday, February 25th, 2008

It’s a start.
The Washington Times reports that the Grand Ayatollah for Iraq, Ali Sistani, has issued a fatwa:
“Muslims have undertaken to obey the laws of the country of their residence and thus they must be faithful to that undertaking,” the fatwa said.
It condemned all acts of violence and encouraged imams to keep a watchful eye [...]

Safety Meetings
Monday, February 25th, 2008

No class today, but everyone was strongly encouraged to come the day before to make sure their computers will handle the software I’m teaching.
This morning the classroom was used for a safety meeting. Someone asked why they needed the projector, and sensing the joviality of the crew, I said, “so he can hook his laptop [...]

Lutheran Carnival LXX: Giving It a Rest
Sunday, February 24th, 2008

Dan the Geologist, while under the weather, has posted the seventieth edition of the Lutheran Carnival. The Carnival is going to take a break of undetermined length after this edition.
It’s been a nice run of about 1-1/2 years, a millennium as far as things on the Internet go. The first necessity of the Carnival, to [...]

Pelosi’s Swamp is Flooding, Not Draining
Saturday, February 23rd, 2008

photo credit: p373
On October 6, 2006, the Associated Press reported that then House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) would “drain the swamp.” On the first day they would “break the link between lobbyists and legislation.”
Today TheHill.com reports that lobbying revenue is up, up, up. Seven lobbyist firms are over the $20 million dollar mark [...]

UPI reports that Japan has launched the WINDS satellite, which promises internet service faster than today’s normal broadband service.
“Among other uses, this will make possible great advances in telemedicine, which will bring high-quality medical treatment to remote areas, and in distance education, connecting students and teachers separated by great distances,” the statement said.
While I was [...]

The Times of London reports:
A diocese of the Church of England is giving an unprecedented £250,000 towards a multi-faith building in which the largest amount of worship space will be reserved for Muslims.
The Guildford diocese is one of the wealthiest in the UK. The Bishop of Guildford, the Right Rev Christopher Hill, today handed over [...]

Visited St. Paul’s in Woodland
Thursday, February 21st, 2008

When I’m on the road, Lent is great, because sometimes I don’t get to go to church on Sunday and can go on Wednesday night. Upon scouring the web sites of four churches in the Sacramento area and St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Woodland, St. Paul’s seemed to be the best place to go.
Before church [...]

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