The Cassini spacecraft has found evidence of liquid water spewing from geysers on one of Saturn's icy moons, raising the tantalizing possibility that the celestial object harbors life.

Scientists Find Evidence of Water on Saturn Moon - New York Times

Is the continent at the end of the Earth slowly melting? For millions of years, Antarctica, the frozen continent at the southern end of planet Earth, has been encased in a gigantic sheet of ice. Recently, the orbiting robotic GRACE satellite has been taking sensitive measurements of the gravity for the entire Earth, including Antarctica. Recent analysis of Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) data indicate that the Antarctic ice sheet might have lost enough mass to cause the worlds' oceans to rise about 1.2 millimeters, on the average, from between 2002 and 2005. Although this may not seem like much, the equivalent amount of water is about 150 trillion liters, equivalent to the amount of water used by US residents in three months. Uncertainties in the measurement make the mass loss uncertain by about 80 trillion liters. Pictured above is an iceberg that is a small part of the Antarctic ice sheet. Future research will likely focus on trying to better understand the data, take more data, predict future trends, and understand possible effects of these trends on the future climate of our entire home planet.

APOD: 2006 March 8 - Earth's Shrinking Antarctic Ice Sheet

Tom makes quite a cogent argument... well said.

RE: Suit: W.Va. Police Chief Denied Gay Man CPR - Yahoo! News

During his trip to South Asia, President George W. Bush did his best to whistle past the diplomatic graveyard of Kashmir, issuing only bland encouragements to the leaders of India and Pakistan to resolve the status of the disputed territory. That's a shame, because instead of ignoring Kashmir, Bush and his administration should be studying it as a case study in dealing with an insurgency.

written by

Anit Mukherjee, a doctoral candidate at the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins, served in the Indian Army for nine years.

nice article by a man who has on the ground experience of counter-insurgency

Kashmir: Lessons from another insurgency - Editorials & Commentary - International Herald Tribune

The imam begins his trek before dawn, his long robe billowing like a ghost through empty streets. In this dark, quiet hour, his thoughts sometimes drift back to the Egyptian farming village where he was born.

a portrait of a man whom I'm sure I would disagree with but seems from the portrait a seeker of truth and a wise person to know
Ma'assalama

A Muslim Leader in Brooklyn, Reconciling 2 Worlds - New York Times

The explosion, which would have the force of a nuclear bomb, constitutes the moral high point of the movie, the moment of climactic cleansing, as the Pure One clad in white merges with the great white mass of the huge terminal wall, at which point the screen goes pure white. And reverently silent.

Absurd. Fabulous job missing the point entirely and then dressing it up as you wish. That is, as an anti-american, pro-terrorism screed. As if it's that simple. The audince is supposed to like that character so that they are devastated when they see what he becomes. We're meant to follow the path of a good-natured man who is changed into something else. Certainly, we're meant also to understand how certain actions and policies of our government provide fodder for the radicals to convert people like this kid. But I think we're supposed to see that, regardless of what actions precipitated it, the truly pernicious element is that terrorists are created, not born. To stop and consider that perhaps some of America's activities could be aiding in that creation isn't anti-american. It's called *thinking*.

Ideologues like Krauthammer would prefer to believe in a black and white world of good vs. evil where you're always either one or the other and born that way, because it simplifies morality. If there's any one thing that a liberal does believe in it's that morality (among other things) is not necessarily simple in every case. That we're willing to self analyze in the pursuit of truth isn't treasonous. It's what allows people, and nations, to locate and correct their own faults. I categorically refuse to accept this propostion, that my willingness to admit fault is equivalent to moral ambiguity, which is, in this America, tantamount to self-loathing, america-loathing. It's a ridiculous and simple minded cast, put forth by fools who can't tolerate even the notion of complexity. "We need labels and boxes!" their minds scream. "Us" "Them" "For" "Against" "Good" "Evil" "Right" Wrong" "Left" "Right". That's all bullshit. The average man seeks out simple answers as a way to cope with an overwhelming world (see, for example, Religion). The Right plays on this dishonest viewpoint, to the detriment of our way of life, to the deaths of our soldiers and to the utter dissolution of what our country once stood for.

For shame.

yes
plus as a Brit i would point out that some non-Americans are not necessarily being anti-American if they disagree with certain things that certain Americans do (even if those Americans happen to be the executive). Over here it is a standard practice of certain people dismiss it that way and i know the same is true in the States. It is a way of dismissing an argument and not dealing with the points raised.
sometimes the truth is simple; 2+2=4, and sometimes it is not; how should i behave as a moral being in a world of starvation and disease, should i quit my job and go and work with the poor when if everybody did that the global economy would collapse; how much of my own income is it moral for me to keep when I earn less than $20,000 a year or if I am Bill Gates? if love is good why do some say that love between two people of the same gender is wrong? why did slavery happen? why did the Holocaust?

"We need labels and boxes!" their minds scream. "Us" "Them" "For" "Against" "Good" "Evil" "Right" Wrong" "Left" "Right".

we live in an analog world
it is not 1 or 0 but rather how many real numbers are there between 1 and 0? answer infinite see Georg Cantor
sometimes morality is analog

Oscars for Osama

Infants as young as 18 months show altruistic behaviour, suggesting humans have a natural tendency to be helpful, German researchers have discovered.

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Altruism 'in-built' in humans

Bonhomie, as our ex-cronies the French call it, should have its limits. Seems as if American voters picked the current president because they thought he'd be a fun hang at a cookout — a jokey neighbor who charred a mean burger and is good at playing Frisbee with his dog. What we should be doing is electing a president with the nitpicky paranoia you'd use to choose a cardiologist — a stunted conversationalist with dark-circled eyes and paper-cut fingertips who will stay up until 3 tearing into medical journals in five languages trying to figure out how to save your life.

ahh yes
i love democracy
i believe in democracy but DAMN some voters are stupid even some of the ones who, by the usual tests, IQ and university, are intelligent, make very stupid choices
u yanks had nixon now W
we brits had years of Thatcher
the Palastinians have elected Hamas
i love democracy but voters are a bit crazy
vote George Galloway nooooooooooooOOOOOOOO

When Bush Falls in Love - New York Times

THREE little words to make strong American theatergoers shudder: British sex farce.

Count me among those who can't hear a title like "Run for Your Wife" without wanting to run for the hills. It is all the stranger, then, to admit that I am looking forward — with something close to lust — to a show opening next month that technically falls within this loathed category. But let me put forward two other words that automatically nullify expectations of cozy titters and rib-nudging elbows: Joe Orton.

hooray for a true son of my hometown

Sweet Are the Uses of Perversity - New York Times

The momentum for a change in the national policy on abortion is going to come in the not-too-distant future," said Rep. Roger W. Hunt, a Republican who sponsored the bill. To his delight, abortion opponents succeeded in defeating all amendments designed to mitigate the ban, including exceptions in the case of rape or incest or the health of the woman. Hunt said that such "special circumstances" would have diluted the bill and its impact on the national scene.

S.D. Abortion Bill Takes Aim at 'Roe'