People Power in Politics and Protest

Learn English or go to jail... seems like an easy decision, no? We need more creative sentencing like this. So thank you County Judge Peter Paul Olszewski Jr... you inspire me to consider running one day!

So it would seem that the New York Times is finally discovering what the rest of us already knew... that Social Media is a good forum for politics. "According to interviews and recent surveys, younger voters tend to be not just consumers of news and current events but conduits as well — sending out e-mailed links and videos to friends and their social networks... they are replacing the professional filter — with a social one." I told you so... youth does care about politics!

Among other things happening on-line, a campaign has begun to ban Britian's treasury chief Alistair Darling from pubs across the nation for raising taxes on "one of life's simple pleasures," alcohol. "Hundreds have joined Internet groups devoted to running Darling out of every pub in the country, and establishments from the Tap And Spile in the north England town of Lincoln to the Plough Inn in Finstock, near Oxford, said Darling would not allowed to partake of their booze." Ah, the good ole fashion protest... I miss these... it won't change anything but it lets everyone know that you are unhappy. Good Times.

Your Government at Work...

Have you ever felt a little harassed by TSA? Recently a Texas woman had a hard time getting her nipple piercings past the check point. Last time I went through I had on my belt and once I even made it through with my watch on. So how the heck does this set off the metal detector? "The last time that I checked a nipple was not a dangerous weapon." In the meantime you have an extra year to get a passport before it's needed to cross a land border between the U.S. and Canada or Mexico. So for those of you with nipple piercings, if TSA does not invade your privacy, be sure that the private contractors at the passport agency will! Perhaps someone should complain about TSA to get them to change their ways? It worked last time!

Science in Our Lives...

Did you know that your nose can smell fear? Well maybe not directly, but the sense of smell is stronger when you are emotional. In hopefully unrelated news, "As if the idea of colonoscopies didn't sound uncomfortable enough, now researchers are developing self-propelling probes that crawl inside the colon and grip its sides with the aid of sticky films." Even worse is that if you are afraid of this happening to you... you may be able to smell it better!