links for 2009-10-02

A Linux user trusts that the software will come along.

"My name is Nick Kallen (@nk) and I'm the project lead on Lists, a new feature we're testing with a small subset of users. The idea is to allow people to curate lists of Twitter accounts. For example, you could create a list of the funniest Twitter accounts of all time, athletes, local businesses, friends, or any compilation that makes sense." Awesome.

"In what some opponents say looks like a political move and Gov. Rick Perry says was “business as usual,” the governor replaced the head of the Texas Forensic Science Commission and two other members on Wednesday, just 48 hours before the commission was to hear testimony from an arson expert who believes that Mr. Willingham was convicted on faulty testimony, a conclusion that has been supported by other experts in the field. Mr. Perry’s decision to shake up the commission and put one of his political allies in charge has, at the least, delayed the inquiry into the Willingham case. While Mr. Perry says he has no political motive for the move, his opponents have called for the commission to finish its inquiry."

"Dozens of colleges — including Amherst, Bates, Carleton, Colby, Vassar, Wellesley and Yale — are embracing student blogs on their Web sites, seeing them as a powerful marketing tool for high school students, who these days are less interested in official messages and statistics than in first-hand narratives and direct interaction with current students." Awesome plan.

"My two cents, as someone who is neither a lawyer, nor a skateboarder: taunting a police officer by calling him a "fckng dck" is about as dumb as it gets, but that does not give the officer the right to threaten to break the guy's arms, or arrest him for — what was it, in the end, failing to carry identification?" Who watches the watches.

"Here I’ve collected 50 Beautiful Website Designs vary from and-drawn, grunge, big backgrounds, clean, corporate etc.., hope you get inspired from this list, pls mention your favorite designs in comments."

"Sex, food and shelter. All provided by robots."

"When you open up Mariah Carey's new CD, it'll have the stuff you're used to: liner notes and lyrics. But the CD's booklet will also have advertisements." Seriously.

"There is a chance, however, that Texas could become the first state to acknowledge officially that, since the advent of the modern judicial system, it had carried out the “execution of a legally and factually innocent person.”" This article certainly makes a really good case that Texas did in fact execute a totally innocent person. The worst part is that it sounds like he was persecuted on the fact that he had tattoos and listened to rock music.

"Regarding the Yale U.P. book that was stripped of all visual depictions of Mohammad, Mr. Flemming quips that it seems “…Al-Qaeda has been appointed editor-in-chief of Yale University Press.” To me that aptly names the stakes: until our government takes a principled stand and firmly upholds our right to free speech in the face of intimidation and threats, we in effect subordinate our liberty to Islamic religious dogma." One of the few times I find myself in agreement.

"Of course, since Paul was writing after the time of Jesus, it’s been natural to assume he got these ideas from the teachings of Jesus. But when you realize that Jesus utters the word love only twice in the Gospel of Mark—compared with Paul’s using it more than 10 times in a single letter to the Romans—the reverse scenario suggests itself: maybe the Gospel of Mark, which was written not long after the end of Paul’s ministry, largely escaped Pauline influence, and thus left more of the real Jesus intact than Gospels written later, after Paul’s legacy had spread." How much did Pual and globalization effect the way we view Jesus.

"Some Texas school districts are abandoning abstinence-only curricula in favor of abstinence-based programs that also teach about contraception and prevention of sexually transmitted infections, the Austin American-Statesman reports. Many of the school districts, including Austin's, made the change after it became clear that teen pregnancy rates were climbing under the abstinence-only approach, according to the American-Statesman. The change also comes as the Obama administration seeks to shift federal abstinence-only dollars to programs proven to reduce teen pregnancy rates." About time.

"Women have a particularly high stake in the health care reform debate because they "interact with the health care system more often" than men, "and so are more vulnerable to a system with soaring costs and with restrictions that hurt women especially," the Christian Science Monitor reports. Although more men than women are uninsured — 46% to 38%, respectively — women face greater hurdles in the existing health care system that reform legislation would address. For example, the House health reform bill (HR 3200) would ban "gender rating," a practice by which health insurers charge women more than men for the same policies. Under the current system, a 25-year-old woman typically pays 6% to 45% more than a man the same age for identical coverage, according to the National Women's Law Center. "The current market doesn't work very well for women," Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), co-chair of the Congressional Caucus for Women's Issues, said."

""Critics of pending health care reforms claim they want to ensure that the government does not thrust itself between patients and doctors to dictate what medical procedures can be performed," but "many are trying to do just that when it comes to one legal and medically valid service: abortion," a New York Times editorial states. Abortion-rights opponents in both chambers of Congress "are seeking to prohibit millions of Americans" who might receive tax subsidies to purchase insurance under health reform legislation "from purchasing plans that would cover an abortion," the editorial says."

Creating a navigation menu.

"Grayson told reporters that "I didn’t violate the rules of the House." He’s right there. If misrepresenting the other side’s position were against House rules, hardly any elected official would escape reprimand. But he’s wrong that the Republicans have "no plan," whether he likes it or not, and it certainly doesn’t boil down to "die quickly." He’s right that maintaining the status quo would mean deaths from lack of insurance, but as for how many, he’s relying on one study’s estimate."

Create a custom background.

"The High Court has given permission for an injunction to be served via social-networking site Twitter. The order is to be served against an unknown Twitter user who anonymously posts to the site using the same name as a right-wing political blogger. The order demands the anonymous Twitter user reveal their identity and stop posing as Donal Blaney, who blogs at a site called Blaney's Blarney. The order says the Twitter user is breaching the copyright of Mr Blaney. He told BBC News that the content being posted to Twitter in his name was "mildly objectionable". Mr Blaney turned to Twitter to serve the injunction rather than go through the potentially lengthy process of contacting Twitter headquarters in California and asking it to deal with the matter."