I was going to say something about the Polanski thing, but silk_noir pretty much said what I was going to. I'll just add that I'm appalled by how many people whose work I respect are willing to go on record as saying rape is acceptable. (Many of the names in her post come from this petition; others have made some other public declaration of support for ( Read more... )

( Read more... )

The Philadelphia Zoo's two remaining elephants, Kallie and Bette, are being moved to the Pittsburgh Zoo's 724-acre International Conservation Center. Despite the protests, this seems like a good move, or at least a step in the right direction.

Follow-up to the reports of poisoned Sumatran elephants in my last update: the Sumatran government ( Read more... )

I'm going to try to be regular about this again. Of course, I'm about to head out traveling for two weeks, so "regular" may be a relative term for a bit.

It appears that Indonesian villagers poisoned four rare Sumatran elephants, probably to protect their palm oil plantations. Last month two male elephants were poisoned with cyanide-laced ( Read more... )

This video is a couple of days old, but it's a great encapsulation of what has been happening for years now.

Click to view

And another video on the current state of abortion services--remember, this is a legal procedure (and as Dr. Wicklund notes in the video, one of the most commonly done)--across the country. (This video is rather crappy, sorry; I can't ( Read more... )

You will soon be able to get gay married in New Hampshire.

Via tacithydra.

Not all of you may be aware that there are desert elephants: they travel along the fringes of the Sahara, digging wells with their trunks--which incidentally become mini-ecosystems for all sorts of creatures. But the Gourma region of Mali is in the midst of the worst drought in 26 years, and the elephants are in trouble.

Many elephants are now ( Read more... )

The more often Americans go to church, the more likely they are to support the torture of suspected terrorists, according to a new survey.

A 64-year-old woman has reported to doctors at Geneva University Hospital the presence of a pale, milky-white and translucent third arm.

Sure, that happens. But then there's this:

The upshot is that the woman can use the apparitional extremity to relieve very real itches on the cheek. It cannot penetrate solid objects.
You know that's what she's ( Read more... )

. . . you might think about Iowa.

Yes, Iowa.