It's a strange, strange world we live in, Master Jack.

Friday, October 31, 2014

The wheel of the year turns


Samhain (pronounced /ˈsɑːwɪn/ SAH-win or /ˈs.ɪn/ SOW-in) is a Gaelic festival marking the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter or the "darker half" of the year. It is celebrated from sunset on 31 October to sunset on 1 November, which is nearly halfway between the autumn equinox and the winter solstice. Along with Imbolc, Beltane, and Lughnasadh it makes up the four Gaelic seasonal festivals. It was observed in Ireland, Scotland, and the Isle of Man. Kindred festivals were held at the same time of year in other Celtic lands.

Samhain is mentioned in some of the earliest Irish literature and is known to have pre-Christian roots. Many important events in Irish mythology happen or begin on Samhain. It was the time when cattle were brought back down from the summer pastures and when livestock were slaughtered for the winter. As at Beltane [think May Day], special bonfires were lit, deemed to have protective and cleansing power. Samhain (like Beltane) was seen as a liminal time, when the spirits or fairies  could more easily come into our world. The souls of the dead were also thought to revisit their homes. Feasts were had, at which the souls of dead kin were beckoned to attend and a place set at the table for them. Mumming and guising were part of the festival, and involved people going door-to-door in costume (or in disguise), often reciting verses in exchange for food. The costumes may have been a way of imitating, or disguising oneself from, any dangerous spirits.
In the 9th century, the Roman Catholic Church shifted the date of All Saints' Day to November1 , while November 2 later became All Souls' Day. Over time, traditions associated with Samhain and All Saints'/All Souls' merged and helped to create the modern Halloween customs most of us know in the United States. Needless to say, in places where the Gaelic influence was less important, other traditions prevail.
 
Since the latter 20th century, Celtic neopagans and Wiccans have observed Samhain, or something based on it, as a religious holiday. Neopagans in the Southern Hemisphere often celebrate Samhain at the other end of the year -- April 30 to May 1, when those in the north are celebrating Beltane.
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Damien's note:  Daniel's niece has recently pledged (?) a Wiccan sorority on campus, and we are learning more about Neopaganism as a result. I already teach a course on unusual belief systems, but it is fascinating to be in direct contact with actual believers.

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Ghost words?


 Dord is a notable error in lexicography, an accidental creation, or ghost word, of the G. and C. Merriam Company's staff included in the second (1934) edition of its New International Dictionary, in which the term is defined as "density".


Philip Babcock Gove, an editor at Merriam-Webster who became editor-in-chief of Webster's Third New International Dictionary, wrote a letter to the journal American Speech, fifteen years after the error was caught, in which he explained why "dord" was included in that dictionary.


On July 31, 1931, Austin M. Patterson, Webster's chemistry editor, sent in a slip reading "D or d, cont./density." This was intended to add "density" to the existing list of words that the letter "D" can abbreviate. The slip somehow went astray, and the phrase "D or d" was misinterpreted as a single, run-together word: Dord. (This was a plausible mistake because headwords on slips were typed with spaces between the letters, making "D or d" look very much like "D o r d".) A new slip was prepared for the printer and a part of speech assigned along with a pronunciation. The would-be word got past proofreaders and appeared on page 771 of the dictionary around 1934.

On February 28, 1939, an editor noticed "dord" lacked an etymology and investigated. Soon an order was sent to the printer marked "plate change/imperative/urgent". In 1940, bound books began appearing without the ghost word but with a new abbreviation (although inspection of printed copies well into the 1940s show "dord" still present). The non-word "dord" was excised, and the definition of the adjacent entry "Doré furnace" was expanded from "A furnace for refining dore bullion" to "a furnace in which dore bullion is refined" to close up the space. Gove wrote that this was "probably too bad, for why shouldn't dord mean 'density'?" The entry "dord" was not removed until 1947.
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Damien's note: My close friend, Michael Dodd, says that the meaning of his Wlesh surname is uncertain, although some believe it comes from a word meaning "short, round, bare" -- or, as he says, "short, round and bald -- which pretty well describes many Dodd men."

I wonder if dodd, not dord, means density in chemistry. Density might apply to the Dodd men I know, too. 


Only kidding, Michael! You know I think of you as my other self.

Cats

According to Michael, today is National Cat Day. Why cats, who are the most privileged of beasts anyway, need a special day is beyond me. At any rate, I thought you might want to see some nice ... cats.

"Soft kitty, warm kitty,
Little ball of fur ... "






Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Imagine that!

A YOUNG woman is auctioning her imaginary friend on eBay on the advice of her psychiatrist. 
 
In the ad, 22-year-old Londoner Georgia Horrocks explains that her invisible buddy, Bernard, manifested “at a time of emotional instability” during her childhood. 

Scroll down to see a photo of Georgia’s imaginary friend. 
 
Georgia posted this photo of herself and Bernard on eBay. 
Imaginary friends have allegedly been known to fetch thousands of dollars online.

“My psychiatrist recommended that I say goodbye to Bernard, and although I would like some financial compensation it is more important that he finds a good home,” Ms Horrocks writes.

She hoped the “active” and “mischievous” Bernard would fetch as much as £200 (AUD 367) [about US$325], adding that he “will be sent via imagination to the winning bidder”
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Damien's note: If anyone is interested, I have some actual friends I am willing to give you for free if you will take them off my hands.

PS -- I know some therapists read this blog. Anyone care to comment?

Monday, October 27, 2014

Expectations



 Video is in Dutch! You did not just have a stroke.

Is it organic, or is it McDonalds?
Two guys (Sacha and Cedrique) from a Dutch show called LifeHunters visited a food convention in Houten where they offered the "food experts" in attendance samples of what they said was a "new organic alternative to fast food." In reality, they served bite-sized pieces of McDonalds food.

The result: the attendees were not only impressed by what they tasted, but also a number of them said that it tasted much better than McDonalds fast food. One commented that, "you can just tell this is a lot more pure."

Sacha and Cedrique concluded that, "if you tell people that something is organic, they'll automatically believe it's organic!"

It's not surprising that people reacted positively to the samples. After all, researchers who study the psychology of eating have long known that how we perceive food to taste is closely linked with how we expect it to taste, based on visual and contextual cues.

For instance, in a famous study conducted in 1998, Frederic Brochet asked wine experts to sample and review a selection of red wines. But Brochet actually gave them white wine colored red, and not a single one of the experts realized this. They were expecting to taste red wine, so that's what they tasted.

Likewise, the attendees at the Houten food convention expected to taste an "organic alternative to fast food," so that's what they tasted.

Of course, the LifeHunters segment hardly ranks as a scientific study. It's more of a prank, really. For a start, we have to assume that LifeHunters didn't edit out all the negative reactions from their video. Also, a lot of the "food experts" in the video looked a lot like regular people. 
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Damien's note: Just like Faux News claims it is just reporting the facts for you to decide: regular people believe it because that is what they have been told by people [paid news people] they expect to be authorities. In the case of Faux News, of course, the  folks who don't fall for the trick sort themselves out by ceasing to view and so only the true believers are left behind to continue being fed a company line.

Sunday, October 26, 2014

The joys of American banking

The former chairman of the Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke, revealed at an October conference in Chicago that even though his post-government income will be several times what he earned as Fed chairman, he was nonetheless rejected recently when he tried to refinance his Washington, D.C., home. 

Mortgage-lending is so highly computerized, he was told, dictated by formulas, that he apparently got caught in an algorithm. Despite a probably-seven-figure book contract and six-figure public speeches, he is no longer “employed” in a steady job, which apparently caused a computer program to signal him as too risky. 

Source: New York Times, 10-2-2014

Damien's note: I got nothing. It speaks for itself. Oh, yeah -- six-figure public speeches?

Saturday, October 25, 2014

St. Crispin's Day

All you Shakespeare fans are familiar with this [edited] passage from Henry V, Act 4, scene iii:





WESTMORELAND. O that we now had here
But one ten thousand of those men in England
That do no work to-day!

KING. What’s he that wishes so?
My cousin, Westmoreland? No, my fair cousin;
If we are mark’d to die, we are enow
To do our country loss; and if to live,
The fewer men, the greater share of honour.
God’s will! I pray thee, wish not one man more...
 


 No, faith, my coz, wish not a man from England.
God’s peace! I would not lose so great an honour
As one man more methinks would share from me
For the best hope I have. O, do not wish one more!
Rather proclaim it, Westmoreland, through my host,
That he which hath no stomach to this fight,
Let him depart; his passport shall be made,
And crowns for convoy put into his purse;
We would not die in that man’s company
That fears his fellowship to die with us.
This day is call’d the feast of Crispian.
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam’d,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say “To-morrow is Saint Crispian.”
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,
And say “These wounds I had on Crispian’s day.”
Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot,
But he’ll remember, with advantages,
What feats he did that day. Then shall our names,
Familiar in his mouth as household words-
Harry the King, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester-
Be in their flowing cups freshly rememb’red.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne’er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered-
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in England now-a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs’d they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.


Well, today, October 25 is St. Crispin's Day. The Battle of Agincourt, that seemingly decisive battle, was fought and won on October 25, 1415. The incredible victory over the French, however, was just another step in a never-ending cycle of battles and wars, and the gains made by Henry V were lost by his heirs.

Sic transit gloria mundi, Henry, sic transit.

On a side trivia note, you may recall that in M.A.S.H., a loudspeaker announced the showing of the movie "Henry the Vee" -- which would have been the 1944 Laurence Olivier vehicle, not Kenneth Branagh's moving 1989 version.

Friday, October 24, 2014

Mormon transparency?

Mormon Church Reveals The Truth Behind 'Magical Underwear' In New Video

Posted: Updated:


SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — The Mormon church is addressing the mystery that has long surrounded undergarments worn by its faithful with a new video explaining the practice in-depth  while admonishing ridicule from outsiders about what it considers a symbol of Latter-day Saints' devotion to God.

The four-minute video on The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' website compares the white, two-piece cotton "temple garments" to holy vestments worn in other religious faiths such as a Catholic nun's habit or a Muslim skullcap.

The footage is part of a recent effort by the Salt Lake City-based religion to explain, expand or clarify on some of the faith's more sensitive beliefs. Articles posted on the church's website in the past two years have addressed the faith's past ban on black men in the lay clergy; its early history of polygamy; and the misconception that members are taught they'll get their own planet in the afterlife.

The latest video dispels the notion that Latter-day Saints believe temple garments have special protective powers, a stereotype perpetuated on the Internet and in popular culture by those who refer to the sacred clothing as "magical Mormon underwear."

"These words are not only inaccurate but also offensive to members," the video says. "There is nothing magical or mystical about temple garments, and church members ask for the same degree of respect and sensitivity that would be afforded to any other faith by people of goodwill."

The video and accompanying article feature more detailed information about the garments than has ever before been released to the public, Mormon scholars say.

It was made to fill a void on the Internet, which has little, if any, accurate information about the undergarments, church spokesman Eric Hawkins said in a statement.

The video, also available on YouTube, explains that the undergarments are worn daily by devout adult Latter-day Saints as a reminder of their commitment to God to live good, honorable lives.
The garments, which resemble a T-shirt and shorts, are shown laid out on a table in what marks a rare public glimpse at clothing that normally is hidden from outsiders. Members are taught not to hang the garments in public places to dry or display them in view of people "who do not understand their significance."
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Damien's comment: Fans of the movie Latter Days may recall that these misunderstood undergarments play an important role in the plotline, when gay Christian tries to obtain Mormon missionary Aaron's undergarments as proof that he seduced the young man. Along the way, needless to say, the undergarments do get shed but things do not turn out as either Christian or Aaron ever expected.

And yes, that is a recommendation for a pretty sweet movie for those who may have missed it when it was released a decade ago.

Thursday, October 23, 2014

Foxy Loxy

A friend who recently returned from a cross-country trip told me that one thing he doesn't like is the presence of televisions in dining areas, especially those that are set to news programs. Why would anyone think that watching the news is conducive to happy eating?

 Even worse, most of the time these places have Fox News on. But he discovered that in quite a few cases, the remote control was nearby. So he switched it to MSNBC in every case where he could, and if that was not an option, he turned it to a children's channel. 

I might mention that he is not a big MSNBC fan at all, but he thought it would be fun for folks who expected to be fed one line of crap whenever they looked at television should be exposed to a totally other line of crap instead.

WTF?

TomoNews US / YouTube
 
A British man faked a coma, and was forced to keep up the ruse for two years before investigators finally woke up to the fraudster’s lark. You have to hand it to South Wales resident Alan Knight, who over two years ago allegedly bilked an elderly gent out of $65,000. To avoid going to trial, Knight feigned an accident and a resulting coma, and then was forced to maintain the wonky subterfuge for years (while also illegally collecting benefits as a supposed on-again, off-again comatose quadriplegic).

Writes The SpreadIt on Oct. 21: “Alan Knight was supposed to go to trial over two years ago after being charged with 19 counts of theft and forgery. But the 47-year-old man suddenly fell, snapped his neck as he was fixing the garage door and slipped into a coma. Well, that is what Knight and his wife, Helen, 33, made British police believe anyway.”

Knight’s wife also is up for an Oscar for her part in convincing everyone that her husband, incapable of talking or feeding himself, was simply unable to stand trial – literally – for his crimes. Knight was charged with stealing the huge sum from his 85-year-old neighbor over the course of three years. The wife of the imaginative con man said she spent all hours “caring” for her debilitated hubby at home, even rolling him into court in a wheelchair, where Knight undoubtedly worked very hard at not sneezing or glancing at his watch.

Knight got nabbed however when police, suspecting he was trying to dupe everyone, started staking out his home and hospital. Detectives said they have Knight on film eating, wiping his face, channel surfing, writing, pushing a shopping cart around, even going on holiday.

Detective Con Paul Harry, from South Wales Police, said, “In my entire career this is the most calculated, long-term deception of a vulnerable, elderly neighbor I have ever seen.” For this vegetative coma con’s hoax, he now faces 19 counts of theft and forgery, and one count of being a complete dolt.

Monday, October 20, 2014

More fake political activity: Because the truth is dangerous to Repugnicans [and sometimes to Demoflats as well!]

When Democrats tout their strength among minority voters, they're usually referring to African Americans and Latinos, but over the past few elections Asian Americans have increasingly gone blue as well. Now, a new group is seeking to thwart that trend. The Asian Republican Coalition launched with a splashy event at the Newseum in Washington, DC, in May, drawing GOP heavy-hitters including Sens. John Cornyn, Tim Scott, and Tom Coburn. And last week, the group announced its first set of endorsements, backing five Republican candidates across the country.

Yet, the Asian Republican Coalition appears to be in an awkward position: It seems unable to find many people of Asian descent to endorse or support its cause.
Take their recent batch of endorsements. Of the five Republicans who earned the group's backing, only one candidate is Asian American—Allan Fung, the gubernatorial candidate in Rhode Island. The group also endorsed incumbents Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Rep. Chris Gibson of New York, along with House candidates Carl DeMaio in California and Barbara Comstock in Virginia.
Political groups that advocate for minority causes often endorse candidates who don't share the same ethnicity but are friendly to their cause. McConnell's wife is a Chinese expat (and former Bush administration Cabinet official), while DeMaio and Comstock are running in districts with large Asian American populations. "These candidates believe in creating and building upon strong relationships within the comprehensive Asian American community," said John Ying, an Asian American investment banker based in Hong Kong and the group's chairman.

But when his group held its kickoff party, apart from Ying the scene reportedly was full of white politicians and consultants. "We have a very broad definition of what constitutes the Asian American community," the group's vice chairman, Thomas Britt, told Vice. "The Asian Republican Coalition is open to all Americans, including Asian Americans and those of us like me who are not ethnically Asian but have spent 20 years living in Hong Kong."

Back in the early 1990s, Asian Americans skewed slightly Republican, voting 55 percent for George H.W. Bush in 1992. Asian Americans had turned more Democratic by the time his son ran a decade later, voting 54 percent for Al Gore. In 2012, Barack Obama won 73 percent of the Asian American vote, an 11 percent rise from his 2008 performance.

Asian Americans don't represent as large of a voting bloc as African Americans and Latinos (they constituted just 3 percent of the national vote in 2012), but they're the fastest-growing segment of the US population—and Asian Americans are considered very reliable when it comes to voter turnout. A survey released earlier this week by APIAVote and Asian Americans Advancing Justice suggested that Asian American turnout of registered voters will range from 60 to 77 percent for the midterms. Of those likely voters, 42 percent plan to vote Democratic in this year's House races, compared to 28 percent of Asian American voters planning to back Republicans.

As a whole, Asian Americans are richer and have higher educational levels than other ethnic groups, making them a prime target in the view of conservatives. "Frankly this group is nominally right now voting more Democratic, but in a very weak affiliation," Ying told the Daily Caller. "These are not die-hard Democrats, and traditionally in the past they used to be Republicans."

But it may not be so easy for Ying and the GOP, given that party's agenda. A comprehensive Pew study from 2012 found that Asian Americans tend to prefer a larger government and robust social services. It's not just a lack of outreach that's holding the GOP back from winning over Asian American voters.

Saturday, October 18, 2014

I see London, I see France ...

Ex-worker sues over pink panties

Patient filing lawsuit was an employee of the surgery center at the time of his colonoscopy

 
A Dover man who underwent a colonoscopy awoke after the procedure to find he was wearing pink women's underwear, according to a lawsuit.

Plaintiff Andrew Walls, 32, was not pleased, or amused, and this month filed a civil suit in New Castle County Superior Court against the Delaware Surgery Center in Dover seeking damages for intentional infliction of emotional distress.

"The defendant's extreme and outrageous conduct went beyond all possible bounds of decency," wrote attorney Gary Nitsche in the complaint on behalf of Walls, who was employed at the center at the time.

Delaware Surgery Director Jennifer Anderson declined comment Wednesday saying, "We just found out about this yesterday afternoon."

The suit also names Eden Hill Surgical Group of Dover, but according to someone who answered a phone number for that business, the practice has since dissolved.

In court papers, Nitsche claimed that as a result of the "severe emotional stress" his client suffered mental anguish, lost wages and loss of earning capacity and is due compensation.

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

So if you get caught at the gym ...

NORWICH, England, Oct. 11 (UPI) -- University of East Anglia (UEA) in Norwich, England has two students, Debs Torr and Chris Dobson, with a controversial idea for saving water. Their Go with the Flow campaign is recommending that all 15,000 students at the university urinate in the shower. 

Dobson, a 20-year-old, said the project could "save enough water to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool 26 times" per year, the BBC reports. He and Torr are representing the UEA in the Npower Future Leaders Challenge, which is an event meant to drive students to come up with environmental initiatives. Students who decide to get involved in the challenge will be encouraged to "pledge their allegiance" on Facebook and Twitter.

As for if it's sanitary or not, including in the case of public showers, the students have done their research on that too. "As long as the water is flowing there is no hygiene risk as urine is sterile but we would encourage that every person using the same shower consents to the challenge and if not that they don't take part," Dobson said.
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Damien's note: There are several stories about this in the news. The one excerpted above is from UPI. The original had so many grammatical and spelling errors [herein corrected] that it made me wonder if the author might need to spend more time in class and less time in the showers.

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Not Phoebe Buffet's "Smelly Cat" song, but ...





An article in Clinical Neurology and Neurosurgery examines whether "shoe-smell" is an effective treatment for epilepsy. The authors note:


Some Eastern parts of the world like India have witnessed since time immemorial, a practice of application of “shoe-smelling” in an attempt to arrest the seizures. The practice consisted of bringing the sole of shoe near the nostrils of the patient during the epileptic attack by near-by attendants or passers-by in the event of the attack occurring in a public place. The practice has continued and still remains a form of first-aid treatment in developing countries especially in countryside and rural areas. Although today, this age-old practice of “shoe-smell” may sound ridiculous apart from being most unscientific, its persistence as a remedy does tempt researchers to provide an insight to the reasons and basis for this continuing practice.

What kind of shoe-smell were they talking about? Apparently it's stinky shoe smell. The stinkier the better. The authors were skeptical that shoe-smell could work, but they end up concluding that it probably did help:

strong olfaction can aid in halting the progress of an epileptic seizure and/or abort the generalization of a partial seizure especially of temporal origin although more prospective studies are required to establish a clear and firm relation between the two, i.e. strong odor and seizure control. It may not therefore be incorrect to believe that in olden days too, strong olfaction applied in the form of “shoe-smell” did definitely play a suppressive role and thus exerted an inhibitory influence on epilepsy.

Source:Weird Universe

Monday, October 13, 2014

Another NRA poster child



Leonard Embody was spotted in September marching up and down a sidewalk in front of Hillsboro High School in Nashville, Tenn., in military clothing and with a rifle on his back and a GoPro camcorder attached to his chest--just his latest street demonstration supporting Tennessee's "open carry" gun law. According to a WSMV-TV report, this episode made even some supporters edgy because of the school setting, but Embody failed to see the problem. "Other people may think I look terrifying," he acknowledged, but he doesn’t think he does, and if you disagree, he suggests psychology counseling. (Tennessee bans guns on school property, but a few inches away, on the sidewalk, Embody has decided that there is no problem.) 

Source: Weird Universe

Damien's note: For fun, just do a search for Mr. Embody's name and images. He apparently makes a career of this sort of activity. On another note, the article mentions "some supporters." Really? Think about the implications.

Sunday, October 12, 2014

Rossum's Universal Robots

A robot on wheels with an iPad for a head is the latest addition to the Indianapolis International Airport's guest services staff.

The so-called Double Robot is meant to enhance customer relations at an airport that serves more than 7 million travelers each year, according to a statement from the Indianapolis Airport Authority. The robot features a customer service worker's face on an iPad—as if you were speaking to the representative on Face Time or Skype—and it sports a blue polo shirt on its skinny Segway-like body.



The robot took its first spin around the airport's baggage claim earlier this week. Many travelers didn't seem to know what to make of the robot. Some waved to it, while others took photos.

When Cliff Willms was told he could ask the robot questions, he said he wasn't ready to do that.
"I'd rather ask a human a question, than a machine," Willms told The Indianapolis Star. "At this point, I'm good with just gawking at it."

But airport officials say customer service can come in many forms.

“This initiative combines our staff’s longstanding commitment to traditional Hoosier Hospitality with an innovative technology that can multiply its benefits,” Michael Wells, president of the Indianapolis Airport Authority's board, said in the statement.

Other travelers said they liked the robot.

"I think it's fantastic," Joe Asen said. "It's great customer service. He's a nice guy, by the way."

The airport is hosting an employee contest to come up with a name for the robot. Double Robot isn't catchy enough, apparently.

Damien's note: Perhaps it should be R2Jeeves2. Or CJeevesPO. Or the classics: Gort or Robby. Or, if we go with a feminine persona, Rosie. I suppose if one went with the British aristocracy's habit of calling male and female servants by their surname, and if the customer service person whose face appears on the iPad may be male or female depending on who is staffing at the moment, perhaps it should be addressed as a generic surname. The most common surname in the world appears to be Lee (spelled differently but pronounced similarly in a number of languages), which also works as a male or female first name.

Saturday, October 11, 2014

Thursday, October 9, 2014

What would Darwin say?

A “chimp personhood” lawsuit has been filed this week in a New York State appeals court, arguing that chimpanzees are “complex, cognitive and autonomous beings,” thus fitting the definition of a human and affording them basic legal rights. Talk about a monkey suit.

Writes NBC News on Oct. 8: “A New York appeals court will consider whether chimpanzees are entitled to ‘legal personhood’ in what experts say is the first case of its kind. On Wednesday, a mid-level state appeals court will hear the case of 26-year-old Tommy, who is owned by a human and lives alone in what attorney Steven Wise describes as a ‘dark, dank shed’ in upstate New York.”

The ruling of the case will have implications for other highly intelligent animals, such as elephants, whales and dolphins – even our pet cats and dogs. Wise, author of the book Rattling the Cage: Toward Legal Rights for Animals, argues that animals with human qualities deserve fundamental rights, including the right to not be kept in a cage. His petition, filed on behalf of Tommy and three other primates, was initially rejected and is now on appeals.

The suit is backed by the Boston-based Nonhuman Rights Project, a nonprofit organization “working toward actual legal rights for members of species other than our own.” Wise’s petition calls for animals to be granted habeas corpus and due process, thus making it unlawful to treat an animal as personal property and place it into a “prison,” or cage-like enclosure.

The lawsuit, brought against Tommy’s owner, Patrick Lavery of Gloversville, alleges that chimpanzees possess “complex cognitive abilities as autonomy, self-determination, self-consciousness, awareness of the past, anticipation of the future and the ability to make choices; display complex emotions such as empathy; and construct diverse cultures.”

Of those cognitive abilities, what makes chimps most human is their “possession of an autobiographical self, episodic memory, self-determination, self-consciousness, self-knowing, self-agency, referential and intentional communication, language planning, mental time-travel,” claims the suit.

The suit says there is already legal basis established for its request. “New York statutory and common law do not limit legal personhood to Homo sapiens and have already conferred legal personhood status on non-human domestic animals who are the beneficiaries of trusts,” says the petition. “Courts also have routinely extended rights to non-human entities such as corporations.”

Lavery said that Tommy is a “cared for under strict state and federal license rules,” adding that he thinks it’s “totally ridiculous to give an animal human rights.” Tommy, a previous entertainment chimp who was abused, was placed with Lavery years ago and lives in a “seven-room enclosure with lots of toys and other enrichment,” Lavery claims.

“We've dedicated our lives to taking care of these chimps who have no place to go,” Lavery said. “We would place him in the right sanctuary if we had the opportunity to. But he has special needs, he can't go just anywhere. He's never been associated with other chimps. He could get hurt if he went in the wrong atmosphere.”

Pepperdine Law School professor and animal legal rights expert Richard Cupp said that allowing personhood status of animals would involuntarily weaken our own human rights.

“We could see over time some of our most vulnerable humans losing out in a rights struggle if they're in direct competition with some particularly intelligent non-human animals,” Cupp said. “We could have the personhood paradigm weakened by extending it to animals.”

Source: Examiner.com 

Damien's note: I suppose those monkeys in the House of Representatives will be excited to hear this.

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Divine appearance of the day




 

Wood you believe it? Churchgoers in Russia have begun worshiping a tree after claiming that religious icons with the faces of Jesus and the saints appeared on its trunk.


The images began to appear on the birch tree in the village of Burmakino in central Russia's Kirov Oblast last month in the places where gardeners had trimmed off old branches.


Villager Valentina Naumova explained: 'We thought nothing of it until the tree started to form these arched shapes, just like church icons.





'Then the faces of Jesus and his disciples began to appear in them and we realised this really must be God's work.


'It seems to me that they had come to us because they wanted to tell us something.'


The village has had no church building of its own since it was destroyed by Communists in the 1930s. In the Soviet Union, all church owned property was confiscated and turned over to public use and most of it - like the property at Burmakino - was destroyed.


Now whole congregations of people gather in front of the tree to pray and give thanks.

Icons are powerful religious images in the Russian Orthodox Church and are believed to be able to work miracles.


Church leaders are so impressed with the display they now plan to rebuild the village's church, the Kazan Divine Mother church.


Spokesman Father Felix Ozerov explained: 'The holy father has spoken and we are listening.'

Source: Mail Online 

Damien's note: Another example of pareidolia, of course: the imagined perception of a pattern or meaning where it does not actually exist, as in considering the moon to have human features. 

With all due respect, the image looks more to me like the bad portrait of St. John featured in an episode of Hot In Cleveland, when Elka [Betty White] painted the wall of a church. Her effort looked more like a monkey than a monk. 

And to get a little bit spiritual, I suspect Jesus would rather people see his face in the face of the suffering and the poor rather than in a tree.

And I take no credit for the dreadful puns in this article, either. Nup, as you know, is pun spelled backwards, and a nup is a nup.