Today marks the 20th anniversary of Frank Zappa's untimely passing, a sobering and solemn milestone in my mind. A sad fact of life; Frank Zappa has been dead for 20 years. I really miss him, he wielded an effective sword against apathy and ignorance. — Charlie Vogel (@teleskiguy) December 5, 2013 Thanks in part to the lizards of LGF and the ever-changing "Frank Says" ...

And this guy is the chairman of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. I expect the bombshell revelation that Michele Bachmann is, in fact, from Mars. The hearing's charter states that, "With the discovery of potential Earth-like planets outside of our Solar System, the hearing will also investigate what methods are being used to determine if any of these planets may harbor ...

We all know about the importance of context in understanding and judging the actions of others. If the person who stole a loaf of bread was starving, and trying to feed her starving child, we judge the theft differently from the way we judge an equivalent theft carried out by some opportunistically looting hooligans. So what would you think of someone who told you ...

A Michigan tea party activist missed a scheduled court appearance in Wisconsin because he spent Thanksgiving weekend in jail on felony charges in the Upper Peninsula. Doug Sedenquist was arrested last week and charged with extortion, using a computer to commit a crime, aggravated stalking and possession of a drug chemically similar to a controlled substance. The extortion and computer crime charges each carry ...

The War on Science crosses all boundaries. Usama Hasan was the imam of a mosque in Leyton until he was driven from the post by death threats. This is perhaps the most extreme reaction there has ever been to an article on Comment is free: the death threats were the response of a section of his congregation to a piece he wrote here defending ...

This is a strange story with a lot of missing pieces. It could well be just coincidence that Reed happened to be collecting bomb materials before the plant blew up, and behaved like a grandstanding goofball afterward. Otoh, I am glad he is behind bars, even if for just a few years. That will keep him on ice long enough for new evidence, if ...

If any of you work for one of these companies, and you support the contraception mandate and you don't want your employer to be to violate your reproductive rights, American's United is her to help! In case you are worried about contacting them, it is completely confidential. You can remain anonymous. The Affordable Care Act's so-called contraception mandate, met with immediate outrage from the ...

I can't follow this. So including abortion in regular health insurance policies is bad because it pools everyone's money with the fertile women's money? Is that the illogic? Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R) vetoed the proposed insurance ban last year for exactly this reason -- pointing out that it would require rape victims to pay for the total cost of their abortion procedure out-of-pocket, ...

More: St. Paul YMCA and Police Start Somali Girls Swim Group Rayan Dhamuke, 12, doesn't get to swim a lot, unlike her brothers. During the past summer, she had to visit the pool at 5 a.m. so that she would have the privacy she needed to enjoy the water while still adhering to her family's cultural and religious beliefs. To better accommodate girls like ...

Making chimpanzees legally "persons" will have inintended (or perhaps intended) consequences. There was an article awhile back regarding the "personhood" of dogs as sentient beings. It's more than the new buzzword. It's a fundamental redefining of our legal system. Conferring human attributes such as religious conviction and the capacity for embarrassment on a corporation is dangerous. Conferring human rights upon a fertilized egg is ...

This woman is pure evil. Pamela Geller is telling her fellow anti-Muslim activists to convince Congress to reject a resolution "urging the Government of Burma to end the persecution of the Rohingya people and respect internationally recognized human rights for all ethnic and religious minority groups within Burma." The Rohingya minority have faced vicious persecution in Burma, but Geller accuses them of "waging jihad ...

The anti-vaccination movement has long since become a public menace. It's responsible for the resurgence of numerous serious diseases that were on the decline, including measles, mumps, and whooping cough. Now the movement has been given a big booster shot by Katie Couric, who devoted a large portion of her daily talk show Wednesday to some highly emotional and scientifically dubious claims by critics ...

at link That's why the city is establishing a new domestic violence task force. It will focus on state-of-the-art training for Chicago Police officers to help them develop more proactive responses to high-risk situations. The city will also establish a new shelter that will provide services for victims and their families. Twenty years ago, Deborah Graham was a victim of domestic violence. Graham says ...

Last spring, my half-sister Michele called me concerned about her 21-year-old daughter's mental health, as she'd had several bouts of depression and it appeared another one was coming on. This time, Michele was eager to get in touch with her daughter's therapist before their next meeting. She had some new--and potentially treatment-altering--information. "Her tests came back," Michele told me. "Turns out she's got a ...

Courtesy of Slate: Park rangers set up a tiny camera in Western Australia last May to film fresh-water crocodiles in the Margaret River. When it disappeared, they figured it had fallen into the water. They were wrong. The camera was later recovered and returned to the rangers, who then strung together the delightful footage above. A misguided young sea eagle snatched up the device ...

Hot Shopping Tip For 2013Image from- stevenkretchmer.com Disclosure-My day job is tightly related to gold sales to the jewelry biz. And that pendant is made by a good friends company. But hey, I sell raw materials not jewelry. I just think that since gold got so hard to afford in the last few years, it's worth bringing up when it's a much better price. ...

The enigmatic Canon 1 à 2 from J. S. Bachs Musical Offering (1747), The manuscript depicts a single musical sequence that is to be played front to back and back to front.Video by Jos Leys (

Susan Tompor reports: Susan Tompor: Bankruptcy Ruling Shocks, Disappoints Detroit Retirees Darwina Wallace, 69, first heard that her city pension was a step closer to being cut when a friend who also retired from the city called her "up in arms" and demanded that she turn on the TV. Wallace, who lives in Detroit, discovered that U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes ruled Tuesday morning ...

Okay, folks, Declutterfest 3 is a go for this weekend. And now, we enter the Office, where the good stuff lives! As before, it's SOP: Saturday; anytime after noon. I provide pizza, beer, Coke, and water (BYOB otherwise), and you bring two boxes: one for me, and one for you. (I'll probably also hit Staples and get 4-8 boxes this week anyway.) We go ...

For all the history buffs out there. A treasure trove of ancient bibles and rare Greek and Hebrew texts are being made available to the public through a website set up by the Vatican and Oxford University. A priceless 1455 copy of the Gutenberg Bible -- the first major book to be printed with movable type in the West and one of fewer than ...