links for 2009-04-30

"Mr. Lewis, who helped build Bank of America into the nation’s largest bank, was stripped of his chairman’s title — a stinging blow that leaves his stewardship and legacy in doubt. At a contentious annual general meeting, angry investors held him accountable for what they view as a series of missteps that forced the once-mighty bank to accept not one but two government bailouts." Wow.

"By adopting the methods of Reasons to Believe, you are forced to dismiss all of this scholarship and miss the real meaning of the Bible. The Bible is about how people should get along with one another and about morality and ethics and meaning. By trying to make the Bible fit the current estimates of the Hubble constant (to pick just one among many examples), me thinks you are missing the point of the book, and thus (in your world view) you are missing God’s message."

"Industrial output in Japan rose in March for the first time in six months, according to government figures." Up by 1.6% since February, good to hear for Japan.

Updating all those profiles is so exhausting.

101 down, 15 up, for only $100, sign me up.

"The UN's World Health Organization has raised the alert over swine flu to level five – one short of a full-blown global epidemic, or pandemic. A phase five alert means human-to-human transmission in at least two countries."

"They are visual imaginings built from the raw stuff of computer programming – disassembled code, API calls, memory addresses and subroutines." Art made from computer viruses.

"Gay victims of violence would gain new federal protections under a revived and expanded hate crimes bill passed by the House. The House bill added protections based on sexual orientation, gender, gender identity and disability." Good news.

"Mexico's army is committing human rights violations while engaged in anti-narcotics activities as an arm of the police, a human rights group says. The armed forces are involved in rape, murder and torture, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW)." I'm not all that surprised, Mexico's army is given a lot of power to tackle the drug problem, this is going to give rise to people who will take advantage of that power.

The Beta design is now launched to everybody.

"Brain scans reveal that people believe they are talking to someone when they pray." Interesting.

"Nate Silver has answers to controversial questions about race in politics: Did Obama's race hurt his votes in some places? Stats and myths collide in this fascinating talk that ends with a remarkable insight on how town planning can promote tolerance." Racism is predictable.

"The New Hampshire Senate voted narrowly on Wednesday to legalize same-sex marriage, paving the way for the state to potentially become the fifth in the nation — and the third this month — to allow gay couples to wed." Waiting on the Governor.

"A member of the World Health Organisation (WHO) has dismissed claims that more than 150 people have died from swine flu, saying it has officially recorded only seven deaths around the world." Oops?

"Splitting 5-4, the Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld the government’s power under existing law to ban the use on radio and TV of even a single four-letter word that is considered indecent — but left open the question of whether the ban might violate the First Amendment, at least in some situations."

"The US Federal Reserve has kept interest rates on hold at its current range of between zero and 0.25%, and suggested the recession may be easing. Will the DSCC and DCCC reject donations from executives of bailout recipients such as AIG, the way you did for Enron? Will you require candidates you support to publicly endorse the real solution to special-interest influence: public funding of congressional elections?"

"The US Federal Reserve has kept interest rates on hold at its current range of between zero and 0.25%, and suggested the recession may be easing."

"Today the White House launched an official collection of photos depicting Obama's first 100 days in office on Flickr. The Creative Commons Foundation asks why these photos are licensed as Creative Commons Attribution (meaning you have to credit the source) instead of being in the Public Domain free for use in any context, as data created by the Federal Government usually is. The answer to the question? The photos aren't Public Domain because Flickr doesn't offer Public Domain licensing as an option."