They’re Here To Teach Us

Artists Katy Albert and Sophia Hamilton, aka Mothergirl, tell us that their work “exhibits a strategically refracted or misrepresented view of current political and philosophical discourse, creating a space where viewers are challenged to think critically about their own relationships with feminism, consumerism, and representational visuality.”

Which is why they spent 90 minutes standing by an onramp hitting themselves with pillows.

Your Moral And Intellectual Superiors

As “the most influential foreign policy adviser of his generation,” Fareed Zakaria is a busy man–not just as the host of CNN’s “Fareed Zakaria GPS,” but also as an editor-at-large at TIME, and a columnist at the Washington Post. Since his post-9/11 famous (or infamous) Newsweek story, “Why Do They Hate Us?” Zakaria has made the list of Foreign Policy’s “Top 100 Global Thinkers,” alongside modern-day Aristotles like Thomas Friedman and Malcolm Gladwell. “My friends all say I’m going to be Secretary of State, [but] I don’t see how that would be much different from the job I have now” he allegedly told New York Magazine in a 2003 profile (a quote he later disputed). More importantly, Zakaria is a decorated journalist, having won a Peabody for his work on CNN, a Deadline Club Award for his “Why Do They Hate Us?” column, a National Magazine Award for his Newsweek work, two Overseas Press Club Awards, and an accolade from the Indian government for his contributions to journalism.

He’s also a plagiarist.

Oh, Shiny Pony! Caption Contest Winner

After a lengthy deliberation by the judges, we are ready to announce the winner!
But first, the Runners Up:
“As Justin announces Liberal platform support for 4th trimester abortions.”MOOSEMILK
“I want a pony with more than one trick!”JJJ
And tonight’s Shiny Pony goes to …

Trudeau Young Voter-1.jpg

“In fact I _do_ remember the exact moment I became a Conservative.”


Drop me an email, Brent and I’ll send you a list of books to choose from.
—Original post continues below—
Photo credit: Saskatoon Star Phoenix
Contest closes Sunday at midnight, the winning caption will receive a free book from the SDA Free Book Library.

The Sound Of Settled Science

More than just X and Y: New genetic basis for sex determination

The team found that miRNAs are essential for sex determination even after an animal has grown to adulthood. “They send signals that allow germ cells, i.e., eggs and sperm, to develop, ensuring fertility,” Fagegaltier explains. “Removing one miRNA from mature, adult flies causes infertility.” More than that, these flies begin to produce both male and female sex-determinants. “In a sense, once they have lost this miRNA, the flies become male and female at the same time,” according to Fagegaltier. “It is amazing that the very smallest genes can have such a big effect on sexual identity.”
Some miRNAs examined in the study, such as let-7, have been preserved by evolution because of their utility; humans and many other animals carry versions of them. “This is probably just the tip of the iceberg,” says Fagegaltier. “There are likely many more miRNAs regulating sexual identity at the cellular and tissue level, but we still have a lot to learn about these differences in humans, and how they could contribute to developmental defects and disease.”

Those Moderate Muslims!

Martin Bosma, Member of Parliament, The Netherlands.

In 1945, people said: Never again. Seventy years later, flying Israel’s flag on Krugerplein will get you stones through your window, death threats, and a Molotov-cocktail.
There are people who see Islamic immigration as a positive thing; that it creates “cultural enrichment,” and “thriving immigrant neighborhoods.” But this is the vision of the liberal elites.
There is also the reality.

Jews flee Paris after kosher shops and synagogues attacked.

Great Britain: This is my brother Mohammed and these are my other brothers Muhammed and Mohummad and…
h/t Adrian and Iowahawk.

Reader Tips

Tonight we have a very well-done 42-minute documentary about IS, or as it’s more commonly known, ISIS. It’s the sort of coverage you’ll never see on CBC or CTV because it’s too informative, and because the IS jihadists speak for themselves with nary a GTA talking-head filter/censor in sight. Without further ado, here’s VICE News’ The Islamic State. Well worth watching, IMO.
For our progressive visitors who don’t want to “go there”, here’s Up With People!
The comments are open, as always, for your Reader Tips.

We Don’t Need No Stinking Giant Mirrors

ABC News;

Workers at a state-of-the-art solar plant in the Mojave Desert have a name for birds that fly through the plant’s concentrated sun rays — “streamers,” for the smoke plume that comes from birds that ignite in midair
Federal wildlife investigators who visited the BrightSource Energy plant last year and watched as birds burned and fell, reporting an average of one “streamer” every two minutes, are urging California officials to halt the operator’s application to build a still-bigger version.

h/t AK

Renegade Regulator

Restore CSA;

From among these documents, the anonymous insider identified one particularly revealing example of [Canadian Standard Ass’n] certification. The insider quoted the “Master Contract” and report numbers for a product that had been submitted for CSA safety testing. This product was failed by the engineer assigned to test it (though we have copies of the tests, we’ll decline to name the honest engineers for obvious reasons). That’s a good failure, by the way, the product did not comply with minimum safety standards and failed its safety tests, so the engineer rightly failed it. That’s what they’re supposed to do. After that failure, the product manufacturer resubmitted the same product, with no changes or improvements, for retesting. The product was failed a second time, on this occasion by a different CSA engineer. Again, this engineer acted correctly. RestoreCSA has long maintained that there are good and decent people in CSA’s house of cards, they’re just not in charge of the place.
So what happened to the failed product?

Y2Kyoto: State Of Anorexia Envirosa

Forward!

In order to comply with the new Obama era EPA regs, American Electric Power, which supplies a major portion of the electricity used on the east coast, will be closing almost one quarter of their coal fired plants between now and next June. This is because they were economically unable to come into compliance with the new regulations in the impossibly short window of opportunity offered by the EPA. This is going to reduce the total surge capacity available for some of our most densely populated areas just when we may get hit with weather related demand spikes beyond anyone’s control.

Navigation