Eideard

Spain’s socialist government has formally unveiled plans to liberalise the country’s abortion law. Under the proposal approved by the cabinet, abortion would be made available on demand for the first time.

Girls as young as 16 would be allowed to terminate a pregnancy without parental consent.

Ministers say it is about rights and respect for women.

The government’s proposal is that abortion should be made available on demand during the first 14 weeks of a pregnancy.

This is the latest ideological clash between Spain’s Catholic right and a left-wing government, which has already legalised gay marriage and made it easier to get divorced.

In my neck of the global prairie the whole confrontation is shifted further to the Right. Religious opposition is larger than just the Catholic Church, including every flavor of True Believer. The Left has no real voice in government outside of lip service from the Democrats.

I admit it: I’m a bigot. A hopeless bigot at that: I know my particular prejudice is absurd, but I just can’t control it. It’s Apple. I don’t like Apple products. And the better-designed and more ubiquitous they become, the more I dislike them. I blame the customers. Awful people. Awful. Stop showing me your iPhone. Stop stroking your Macbook. Stop telling me to get one.

Seriously, stop it. I don’t care if Mac stuff is better. I don’t care if Mac stuff is cool. I don’t care if every Mac product comes equipped a magic button on the side that causes it to piddle gold coins and resurrect the dead and make holographic unicorns dance inside your head. I’m not buying one, so shut up and go home. Go back to your house. I know, you’ve got an iHouse. The walls are brushed aluminum. There’s a glowing Apple logo on the roof. And you love it there. You absolute MONSTER…

I know Windows is awful. Everyone knows Windows is awful. Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it’s there, and there’s nothing you can do about it. OK, OK: I know other operating systems are available. But their advocates seem even creepier, snootier and more insistent than Mac owners. The harder they try to convince me, the more I’m repelled. To them, I’m a sheep. And they’re right. I’m a helpless, stupid, lazy sheep. I’m also a masochist. And that’s why I continue to use Windows – horrible Windows – even though I hate every second of it. It’s grim, it’s slow, everything’s badly designed and nothing really works properly: using Windows is like living in a communist bloc nation circa 1981. And I wouldn’t change it for the world, because I’m an abject bloody idiot and I hate myself, and this is what I deserve: to be sentenced to Windows for life.

That’s why Windows works for me. But I’d never recommend it to anybody else, ever. This puts me in line with roughly everybody else in the world. No one has ever earnestly turned to a fellow human being and said, “Hey, have you considered Windows?” Not in the real world at any rate.

RTFA. Witty, bright, insightful on many levels – even if Charlie Brooker doesn’t answer all of his own questions.

The Telegraph’s headline: “Googlle: Google releases missspelt logo to mark 11th anniversary”

The url of the article is just as wrong – the Telegraph misspelled “missspelt” – which I somehow doubt was deliberate.

Maybe not. Maybe the copy editors have gotten hip?

UPDATE: Har! They not only fixed the headline overnight, they fixed the url + linked the original url to the new one.

File Photo

An unmanned U.S. reconnaissance drone has crashed in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, hitting the offices of one of Iraq’s biggest political parties, the U.S. military said.

No injuries were reported, and there was no indication the aircraft was shot down, said Major Derrick Cheng, a military spokesman in northern Iraq.

Cheng said it was a coincidence that the drone struck the local offices of the Iraqi Islamic Party, Iraq’s biggest Sunni Arab political group, the military said.

The cause of the crash is under investigation.

They had better start having these drones tested by fanboys.

This is what a secret looks like – right?

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has given a cautious welcome to Iran’s announcement that it will open a newly revealed nuclear plant to inspection…

The US, France and UK accused Tehran of deception after it admitted to the existence of the facility on Monday.

“Deception?” What? Did they pull a camouflage net over a couple hundred acres every time a Western spy satellite was due to pass overhead?

These eye-in-the-sky snoops are accurate enough to read the brand name of the condom if you’re having sex in the woods. So, “admitting to the existence” of the facility – is a political farce that may suit our TV talking Heads and Congress; but, has nothing to do with reality.

Iran says the uranium enrichment plant, near the city of Qom, is in line with UN regulations. It maintains it wants atomic power only for the production of electricity. But the revelations have raised tension ahead of next Thursday’s talks in Geneva between Iran and six global powers negotiating over Tehran’s atomic programme.

Which is what such “revelations” are intended to do.

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I’m glad this guy isn’t on my side

Kelly Ayotte, the former attorney general of New Hampshire, was on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, reaping the benefits of being a favored Republican Senate candidate. She collected checks at a series of fund-raisers, including a reception that drew Senate Republican leaders eager for her to join them as a colleague come 2011.

Back in New Hampshire, Ovide Lamontagne, a potential Republican rival to Ms. Ayotte, was reaping the benefits of not being in Washington, hosting scores of supporters at a Manchester club and collecting canned and dry goods in a food drive.

The contrast was no accident. In New Hampshire, Florida, Colorado and other states, the push by Washington Republicans to identify preferred Senate candidates has stirred resentment and prompted competition from those not impressed by the Washington seal of approval…

The pushback on national Republicans is striking because it comes at a time when many in the party believe the political environment is rapidly improving for them and after party strategists were initially keen on the early effort to single out Senate choices…

To some, the resistance is an extension of the grass-roots distrust of the government that was on vivid display during town-hall-style meetings this summer and at the recent conservative protest on the National Mall. Though much of the antipathy was aimed at Democrats, there is unhappiness with Republicans at the national level as well, with home-grown conservatives citing them as part of the overall problem.

The leading Republican opportunists in Congress who have chosen to chase the nutball base – now find their shock troops coming back to bite them.

RTFA. I think it’s mostly good news. Let the egregious and arrogant divide themselves on grounds of purity of their bodily fluids.

Conservative members of the nation’s largest Lutheran denomination voted Saturday to spend the next 12 months deciding whether to split from the church after it liberalized its stance on gay clergy.

About 1,200 people meeting in suburban Indianapolis approved a constitution for the conservative umbrella group Lutheran CORE and a resolution directing its steering committee to report back in a year on whether to stay within the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, form their own denomination or join another.

Some members urged the assembly to more quickly sever ties with the 4.7-million member ELCA after the vote last month to allow gays and lesbians in committed relationships to serve as clergy, dropping a requirement that gay clergy remain celibate…

Spring and other CORE leaders said their decision a year from now could lead to a reconfiguration of Lutheranism in the United States and Canada…

“It’s totally against what’s in the Bible,” said Jo Pruett, who said attendance at her ELCA congregation in Rockdale, Texas, has fallen off in recent years because of “waffling” by the denomination. “We’re interpreting the Bible to suit society today.”

The 71-year-old Rev. Paull Spring, chairman of CORE, pastor for 44 years, received a standing ovation Friday night when he said the ELCA “has fallen into heresy.”

A group of folks determined to reorganize the present to reflect what they think was useful about the past. Whether it is just, useful or rational.

Click on photo for video

Conventional submarine robots are powered by propellers that are heavy, inefficient and can get tangled in weeds.

In contrast ‘Gymnobot’, created by researchers from the Ocean Technologies Lab in the University’s Department of Mechanical Engineering, is powered by a fin that runs the length of the underside of its rigid body; this undulates to make a wave in the water which propels the robot forwards.

The design, inspired by the Amazonian knifefish, is thought to be more energy efficient than conventional propellers and allows the robot to navigate shallow water near the sea shore.

Gymnobot could be used to film and study the diverse marine life near the seashore, where conventional submersible robots would have difficulty manoeuvring due to the shallow water with its complex rocky environment and plants that can tangle a propeller.

The lab was recently awarded a grant to work with six other European institutions to create a similar robot that reacts to water flow and is able to swim against currents.

Interesting – but, their video server may be overloaded.

The future Broadway (NYC) retail store now under construction at the angled intersection with 67th Street will feature unique architectural designs that will put it in competition for the most spectacular store in the chain. The steel-framed building has risen from the near-total demolition of a former two-level Victoria’s Secret store, with but a single wall retained to avoid city burdensome permit requirements.

Priced at over $37.9 million, the 75-foot wide storefront of the building will mimic the all-glass design of the Boylston Street (Boston) store, but with a twist–it will be slanted to mirror the angle of the two streets.

Topping of the building will be its most-viewed feature: a slightly-arched glass roof supported by steel arches, all reminiscent of the historic St. Pancras train station in London (UK). The roof will span the rear three-quarters of the retail space, providing light and an airy atmosphere to the interior space.

View aerial photos of the roof and watch a video.

These folks used a remote controlled miniature helicopter drone – with video camera – to overfly the construction. Good fracking grief!

This is NOT what we’re talking about!

Some U.S. toilet paper makers say they’re taking steps to make their product “green,” which will make it less soft and fluffy but better for the environment.

But others say U.S. customers still want the soft stuff, so they’re still selling it.

“At what price softness?” Marcal Manufacturing LLC Chief Executive Officer Tim Spring told The Washington Post. “Should I contribute to clear-cutting and deforestation because the big (marketing) machine has told me that softness is important? You’re not giving up the world here.”

His Elmwood Park, N.J., company is trying to persuade customers to try 100 percent recycled paper…

The challenge is in how toilet paper is made. Each sheet is a web of wood fibers. Fibers from old trees are longer, producing a smoother and more supple web.

Fibers made from recycled paper such as magazines, newspapers or computer printouts are shorter, producing a web that is often rougher.

It ain’t sandpaper, folks.

To my pleasant surprise, both chains only offered recycled toilet paper. Trader Joe’s was cheaper – no surprise. But, I doubt if anyone shopping there needed to make a special stop on the way home to reduce fear of abrasion on their butt.