I asked Senator Harris (Maryland) about a press release in which he recommended cutting funding to Columbia University because of their ROTC policy. Here’s his response:

Thanks for contacting my office regarding my press release to cut funding to Columbia University under the Solomon amendment. This just makes sense. If they can’t have ROTC on campus, how in the world can they have an enemy of the United States there? Of course, the mainstream media, like Columbia University, are complicit and won’t cover my call, even though I am running for Congress against an incumbent who wants to sit down and negotiate with terrorists. Please visit my campaign website at www.andyharris08.com. I hope you can help the campaign to bring sanity to Washington!

Sen. Andy Harris

RTFA: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071001/ap_on_en_mu/br…

LOS ANGELES - Britney Spears was ordered Monday to surrender custody of her children to ex-husband Kevin Federline.

Superior Court Judge Scott M. Gordon ruled that Federline will take custody of Sean Preston, 2, and Jayden James, 1, beginning Wednesday “until further order of the court.”

Earlier this month, Gordon said Spears engaged in “habitual, frequent and continuous use of controlled substances and alcohol” and ordered her to undergo random drug and alcohol testing twice a week as part of her ongoing custody dispute with Federline.

While I can’t stand Britney’s music, I feel bad for her. It seems unfair she has to undergo random drug & alcohol tests but Kevin does not.

RTFA: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071001/ap_on_el_pr/mc…

“I just have to say in all candor that since this nation was founded primarily on Christian principles … personally, I prefer someone who I know who has a solid grounding in my faith,” McCain said. “But that doesn’t mean that I’m sure that someone who is Muslim would not make a good president.”

Later, McCain said, “I would vote for a Muslim if he or she was the candidate best able to lead the country and defend our political values.” He added that “the Constitution established the United States of America as a Christian nation.”

Unfortunately, McCain probably had to say this in order to gain votes. No doubt, while Jews, Muslims, Atheists and other groups are criticizing him, he’ll gain more numbers by sucking up to Christians. I would prefer an atheist running the country but I think a black man or white woman has a better chance than an atheist. As far as discrimination in politics goes, it seems religion is #1 in America. This could turn into an interesting conversation if anyone is interested in discussing the topic.

RTFA: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/09/07…

From Alaska to Australia, hundreds of languages around the world are teetering on the brink of extinction—some being spoken only by a single person, according to a new study.

It’s hard for me to see this as a bad thing. If a single person speaks a language, who can you talk with? Isn’t the point of language to communicate? More people using the same language means more communication.

RTFA: http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/news?slug=reu-mar…

Ethiopian Haile Gebrselassie, who broke the world marathon record on Sunday, believes it is only a matter of time before someone covers the 42.2-km distance in two hours flat.

Gebrselassie, 34, clocked two hours four minutes 26 seconds in Berlin on Sunday to better the four-year-old record held by Kenya’s Paul Tergat by 29 seconds.

He was averaging about 4:40 minutes per mile. Incredible.

RTFA: http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070930-att-…

AT&T may immediately terminate or suspend all or a portion of your Service, any Member ID, electronic mail address, IP address, Universal Resource Locator or domain name used by you, without notice, for conduct that AT&T believes (a) violates the Acceptable Use Policy; (b) constitutes a violation of any law, regulation or tariff (including, without limitation, copyright and intellectual property laws) or a violation of these TOS, or any applicable policies or guidelines, or (c) tends to damage the name or reputation of AT&T, or its parents, affiliates and subsidiaries.

I don’t see how they can confiscate domain names, as that is more like property unlike the others being services.

RTFA: http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,2204…

Doctors tried to save the leg for eight months, but had to amputate. Wood told them that when he died, he wanted to be buried a whole man and asked if they could ship the leg to him.

They obliged. The leg - foot, ankle and most of the calf - spent time in Wood’s freezer until his electricity was cut off. Wood then hung it on a fence post in his front yard to dry.

He was later evicted from his home and spent time living in his van. His mom said she’d pay to store his belongings for a couple of months, but after that, the $42 payments were his responsibility.

The leg, carefully wrapped in paper and stored inside the smoker, went into storage. But Wood wasn’t making the payments, and last Tuesday the owner of the storage facility included the smoker in a sale of items from people who got behind on their rent.

Whisnant bought the smoker, opened it and “thought it might have been part of a missing person or someone’s ex-wife.” He contacted police.

Now that Whisnant knows the leg isn’t evidence of a murder, he feels it’s his property.

He says he called every lawyer in the Catawba County yellow pages looking for someone with experience in “cadaver law.”

The leg has brought both men some fame. Both have done interviews. Wood said he became a celebrity at a charity golf tournament that benefited amputees. Whisnant put a sign on the empty smoker charging for a look inside: adults $3, children $1.

American capitalism at its best

RTFA: http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/units/addiction/dru…

the simplified mechanisms of drug action presented here are just a small part of the story. When drugs enter the body they elicit very complex effects in many different regions of the brain. Often they interact with many different types of neurotransmitters and may bind with a variety of receptor types in a variety of different locations.

Very trippy educational flash app.