This is a job for Super Bloomy!

It is likely that despite his ability to leap over term limit laws in a single bound, Mayor Bloomberg is not likely to be n office after the next election. Given his penchant for stamping out smoking wherever it exists I thought the challenge posed by by China's smokers would help kee his mind off not being the nann...I mean mayor of New York anymore.

China
Smoke Alert: Chinese Academy of Engineering Honors a Tobacco Researcher
By Hannah Beech | January 5, 2012 | 3
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Sean Yong / Reuters


Last month, the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE) promoted a scientist to its ranks after his fourth attempt to enter the hallowed body. Not big news, perhaps, except the researcher in question, Xie Jianping, 52, happens to work for the state-owned tobacco industry. Even in a country wreathed in cigarette smoke — last year’s nationwide ban on smoking in many public spaces is routinely ignored — the appointment has caused a small furor.

On Jan. 4, the Global Times, a feisty broadsheet, ran a story saying that the appointment of a man who is vice president of a local tobacco-research institute funded by the government monopoly China National Tobacco Corporation (CNTC) “is another example of how well connected and influential the government-owned cigarette industry is in China.” Xie’s research centers on adding traditional Chinese herbs to cigarettes to reduce tar content — even though numerous international studies have shown that low-tar cigarettes are plenty harmful. He serves as the chief editor of Tobacco Science & Technology and boasts 23 patents and four copyrights to his name, according to the website of the Zhengzhou Tobacco Research Institute, where he works.

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War Games June Beetles Conscripted Into Cyborg Army

In George Orwell's "1984" the ultimate spy technology utilized by Big Brother to keep tabs on his own people was the nearly omnipresent two way viewscreen. Anywhere, anytime, anyplace, Big Brother could be watching. Modern military technology makes this type of spying seem almost quaint by comparison. The prospects for pivacy, should any government ever choose to unleash this technology on their own population in the insatiable government appetite for control, are very grim indeed.

Green June beetles beware: The draft never ended. You may be called upon to serve your country.

Military, commercial and academic defense research teams have been busy turning beetles and bees into cybugs, eeny-weeny cyborgs that will serve as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) -- tiny, living versions of drone aircraft.

From surveillance and explosives detection to search and rescue missions, micro UAVs could be useful for a range of defense and security applications. They would have proved handy last year for monitoring the flooding in Pakistan and Thailand, or for inspecting the ravaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant after Japan’s earthquake -- disaster areas where a micro UAV could be deployed rather than risk human life.
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June beetles conscripted into cyborg army

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Some scientists have created UAVs smaller than 6 inches -- but 6 inches is mini, not micro. Insects are micro.

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Liberation theology, not Calvinism, is behind Mel Gibson’s Apocalypto | CatholicHerald.co.uk

I remember seeing Apocalypto some time ago and I agree with the author here that Giles Frasier is completely off base and frankly I am not sure where these comparisons that imply antisemitism in the movie come from. Also Frasier's confusion of Gibson's conservative brand of Catholicism and Calvinism shows a fundamental misunderstanding the theology of each.

The one redeeming feature about the recent spate of Bank Holidays and the fact that it gets dark so early is that one can find time for the guilty pleasure of watching DVDs. Over New Year I hunkered down with Mel Gibson’s Apocalypto, which I think is an absolutely brilliant film. Others disagree. One such is Dr Giles Fraser , who took the film to task in the Guardian for theological error and anti-Semitism, among other things. I strongly disagree with what Dr Fraser has to say about the film’s supposed anti-Semitism, and I think his reading of it as an allegory where the Mayan priests stand in for the Jews is simply wrong. I also strongly disagree with what he implies in the following:

"What’s more sinister is the connection Gibson is always forging between salvation and violence. The root cause is a theology associated particularly with Anselm and Calvin. Human beings are wicked and can only make it to heaven if they are punished for their sin, thus righting the scales of justice and wiping clean the slate. The problem is, human wickedness is so deep that the required punishment would be too much for us to bear. So Christ offers to take our place, accepting our punishment in the form of an excruciating crucifixion. It’s the story of salvation, as read by the religious right. All sin must be paid for with pain."

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Washington governor to support gay marriage law: source - chicagotribune.com

According to a Reuters report yet another Catholic politician is supporting legislation that is anti family and in direct opposition to the teachings of her Church.

SEATTLE (Reuters) - Washington state Governor Chris Gregoire will announce her support on Wednesday for legislation that would legalize gay marriage in the state, a source who has been informed of her decision told Reuters on Tuesday.

The expected announcement will come just days before the Washington state legislature was scheduled to convene for its next session.

A group of Democratic legislators have said that during the session they will introduce a law to legalize gay marriage. Democrats hold majorities in both chambers of the Washington state legislature.

A spokesman for Gregoire, a Democrat who has long supported gay rights, declined to comment on the governor's plans.

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The Day Infant Jesus Received Exotic Visitors

The Day Infant Jesus Received Exotic Visitors

Pope's General Audience: May our lives be transformed by the gifts, joy, newness and light of Christ

Warning Sounded Iran May Execute Condemned Christian Pastor in Secret

As Paul Harvey used to say, "It is not one world."

An Iranian pastor facing death a death sentence for refusing to renounce his Christian faith and embrace Islam is expected to spend another year in jail, awaiting an appeal on his death sentence, while government authorities try to force him to convert to Islam.

However, the delay could be a ruse and the Iranian government could kill him in secret, warns the founder of Present Truth Ministries, which was the first to report on Pastor Yosef Nadarkhani’s arrest in October 2009.

That’s the most recent development in Nadarkhani’s religious and political nightmare of more than two years, according to The Christian Post.


Read more on Newsmax.com: Warning Sounded Iran May Execute Condemned Christian Pastor in Secret
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