2. The London Brew-nami of 1814

The Industrial Revolution wasn't all steam engines and textile mills. Beer production increased exponentially, as well. Fortunately, the good people of England were up to the challenge and drained kegs as fast as they were made. Brewery owners became known as "beer barons," and they spent their newfound wealth in an age-old manner -- by trying to party more than the next guy.

Case in point: In 1814, Meux's Horse Shoe Brewery in London constructed a brewing vat that was 22 feet tall and 60 feet in diameter, with an interior big enough to seat 200 for dinner -- which is exactly how its completion was celebrated. (Why 200? Because a rival had built a vat that seated 100, of course.)

After the dinner, the vat was filled to its 4,000-barrel capacity. Pretty impressive, given the grand scale of the project, but pretty unfortunate given that they overlooked a faulty supporting hoop. Yup, the vat ruptured, causing other vats to break, and the resulting commotion was heard up to 5 miles away.

A wall of 1.3 million gallons of dark beer washed down the street, caving in two buildings and killing nine people by means of "drowning, injury, poisoning by the porter fumes, or drunkenness."

The story gets even more unbelievable, though. Rescue attempts were blocked and delayed by the thousands who flocked to the area to drink directly off the road. And when survivors were finally brought to the hospital, the other patients became convinced from the smell that the hospital was serving beer to every ward except theirs. A riot broke out, and even more people were left injured.

Sadly, this incident was not deemed tragic enough at the time to merit an annual memorial service and/or reenactment.

Drinking Stories That Put Yours To Shame

After more than a decade on the air, Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart” has its own online home. The new Web site will go live at noon EST, today, presenting nearly the entire video archive of the show for the past nine years.

The Daily Show Arrives Online

PCMAG.com
October 10, 2007
by Sascha Segan

We need less anonymity on the Internet. And we need more privacy. And the two should go together.

Meanwhile, you may have a false anonymity, but you have no privacy—not from Google's database of Web searches, private addresses, and phone numbers, nor from goverment agencies' searches of your ISP's records. False anonymity leads to a complacency where we forget that we don't have privacy where it really counts—because we're able to act like idiots in front of strangers who don't matter. You may think you can pretend to be somebody else on the Internet, but the Department of Homeland Security doesn't see the distinction between you and your cyber-self.

Real privacy would help the people who actually need to be anonymous on the Net: corporate whistle-blowers, teenagers seeking advice from Planned Parenthood, that sort of thing.

So, minors need "real privacy" when going behind their parents' backs? Bad example... the corporate whistle-blowers made the point well enough. That aside, Segan has some interesting points, although I think he sees anonymity as a larger problem than it really is.

On the Web: Less Anonymity, More Privacy

The Chinese government has instituted an elaborate system for Internet censorship that employs tens of thousands of censors and police responsible for maintaining control over the flow of information, a report released by international free press advocates showed.

Despite self-censorship and the filtering of government-banned words or phrases from articles, sites do occasionally broach subjects inadvertently. Penalties for such mistakes range from criticizing the site, imposing a fine, ordering the dismissal of the employee responsible, or closing down the site section or the entire site, the report said.

Chinese internet censorship machine revealed

By ANDREW MIGA
Associated Press Writer
AP - Friday, October 12

WASHINGTON - Rep. Barney Frank, a leading gay rights champion in Congress, on Thursday urged fellow gay rights advocates not to let their dispute over protecting transgender workers doom a job discrimination ban that could mark a major civil rights advance for gays in the workplace.

The debate over including transgender people has sharply divided gay rights activists, many of whom are trying to kill a stripped-down bill without protections for transgender workers that Frank and Democratic leaders hope will win House passage this year.

"We're not going to be split off this way," said Matt Foreman, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. "We're driven by principle. No civil rights movement has ever left a part of its community behind - and we're not about to be the first."

Frank, D-Mass., one of two openly gay members of Congress, supports transgender protections, but said they don't have the votes.

"Politically, the notion that you don't do anything until you can do everything is self-defeating," he said.

Frank said the public has more awareness because gay activists began educating people about the unfairness of prejudice based on sexual orientation a long time ago.

"These things take awhile," Frank said. "The transgender issue is of relatively recent vintage."

Legislation banning workplace discrimination against gays, lesbians and bisexuals _ but not those who have had sex-change surgery or cross-dressers _ has stalled after an outcry from the transgender community and its allies, including many gay rights organizations.

"Transgender" is an umbrella term that covers transsexuals, cross-dressers and others whose outward appearance doesn't match their gender at birth.

The Employment Non-Discrimination Act would make it illegal for employers to make decisions about hiring, firing, promoting or paying an employee based on sexual orientation or gender identity. Churches and the military would be exempt.

But when Democrats took vote counts and realized the measure would fail, they substituted a new scaled-back version dropping transgender people from the bill. A second bill to ban workplace discrimination against transgenders was also drafted.

Gay rights groups that oppose a ban that leaves out transgender people have waged an aggressive lobbying campaign.

"Fighting your friends can sometimes be difficult," said Frank.

Foreman agreed.

"I never thought in a million years we would be on the opposite side of Barney Frank and it is painful," he said.

Federal law bans job discrimination based on factors such as race, gender and religion. Nineteen states and the District of Columbia have laws against sexual orientation discrimination.

However, only nine states specifically protect transgender people from discrimination: New Jersey, Minnesota, Rhod... [ Read More (0.4k in body) ]

Gay Rights Backers Split on Bias Bill

"From the moment I started making the film I thought I have to show an abortion, which at the time had never been done before," Kaye, best known for his 1998 neo-Nazi feature "American History X," told AFP in an interview. "There was no question about whether or not that was the right thing to do because if I'm documenting two sides of the argument, that is one side of the argument and you have to show it," he said.

Even after spending years working on the project, Kaye, however, admits to not knowing where he stands in the debate. "My position on the subject is that I don't really know what's right. I didn't know much in the beginning... and at the end I was just as confused."

Lake of Fire - New documentary takes unflinching look at abortion in US

Here's the YouTube video (language not safe for work).

NEW YORK — New York City Councilman James Oddo may have had a meltdown during his first experience with gotcha satire media, but he wasn’t about to go down without a fight.

Dropping the “f-word” no fewer than 16 times in the course of what has become a popular You Tube video, Republican Oddo became irate when he realized the attractive, seemingly harmless young reporter who sat before him last week for an interview in his office was really a comedienne of note for the Norwegian program "Rickets Rost," a sort of Scandinavian "Daily Show w/Jon Stewart."

The video, which garnered more than 44,174 hits on YouTube as of midday Wednesday, shows Oddo exploding at reporter Pia Haraldsen, 26, after she asked whether Obama could legally run for office because he is African American, and about Hillary’s “cigar,” an obvious reference to President Bill Clinton’s scandal-ridden affair with intern Monica Lewinsky.

He blasted the woman, telling her repeatedly to “get the f—ck out of my office,” at one time telling her he would beat “the sh—t” out of them if she and her camera crew didn’t get out fast enough.

Oddo, who is up for borough president as a representative of both Staten Island in 2009, was unapologetic in a follow-up interview with FOX News.

Anyone who thinks they are going to come in and waste time while mocking him and other American leaders like the Clintons, while implicitly saying “America is a racist nation ... I’m going to throw you out of my office,” Oddo said. He apparently did apologize to his mother for the curse words.

The city councilman was somewhat more introspective in a NY1 cable news television interview.

“My language was inappropriate, I'm apologetic for it, I regret it,” said Oddo. “I don't regret the sentiment. In fact, I think that people across the country will see that I reacted the same way any Staten Islander walking down Hylan Boulevard would have reacted.”

Meanwhile, according to the Staten Island Advance on Wednesday, Oddo is not, so far, feeling the heat from thwarting a successful satire, or being "punked" — a format made popular by The Daily Show, and Sacha Baron Cohen’s Borat and Da Ali G Show, where interviewees believe they are engaging in sincere and legitimate interviews and typically are made to look foolish.

"It could be hurtful in that everyone expects their representatives to be civil. However, it is tough to be civil when you’re being set up,” New York Democratic consultant and lobbyist George Artz told the newspaper. “This is such a miniscule issue. It won’t affect anybody, and he was scammed.”

Others have suggested the video celebrity will boost his image with no-nonsense New Yorkers.

For her part, Haraldsen, 26, seemed unruffled and even jazzed by the interview and the media attention she was getting for it.

When asked by FOX News in an on-air phone interview on Wednesday, the “reporter” said she was used to angry responses, and in the case of Oddo thought it was an attractive character trait.

“I think Mr. Oddo’s reaction was quite normal and I’ve always been fond of men with a temperament,” the heavily-accented Haraldsen said, adding that she wouldn’t mind having Oddo as a “rumba and salsa” partner on "Dancing with the Stars," a reference that indicates she is perhaps more of an American celebrity-seeker than an Ali G protégé.

Exploding New York City Councilman Refuses To Get 'Punked'

Friday, September 07, 2007

BEIJING (AFP) - Doctors have discovered 26 needles embedded in the body of a woman in China, believed to have been inserted not long after she was born by grandparents upset she was not a boy, state media said Friday.

The sewing needles were found in an X-ray after the 29-year-old, Luo Cuifen, went to a hospital in Yunnan province complaining of blood in her urine, the Beijing Morning Post reported.

Doctors plan to operate to remove as many of the needles as they can, it said, but face "great difficulties" as the images show several had penetrated vital organs including her lungs, liver, bladder, small intestine and kidneys.

She also had needles in her head, neck, and shoulder -- some of which are dangerously close to major arteries -- and one in her brain that has broken into three pieces, the paper said.

"Her grandmother and grandfather are suspected of doing it because they had wanted a boy, but as they are dead now there is no evidence," the paper said.

Luo, who comes from a poor farming community, said two needles were removed by doctors when she was a child, the paper said. But she has had no health problems until recently giving birth.

Due to the difficulty in removing the remaining needles, the unnamed hospital is organising a 16-member team of doctors, including some from as far away as Canada, for consultations ahead of an operation expected next week.

"Taking out the needles will be like dredging for needles in the ocean," the paper quoted one doctor as saying.

"But if we don't operate, her life could be in jeopardy."

Under China's "one child" family planning policy, the traditional preference for boys remains strong in the vast and poor rural countryside, and reports of aborted female foetuses and infanticide remain common.

I'm trying to imagine grandparents (or anyone else) shoving needles into a baby, in hopes that she'll die, so that her parents can try again for a son. I certainly understand just how strong some cultural pressures can be on individuals, but it still amazes me that some persons are capable of doing such horrible things to others.

Surgeons to Try to Remove 26 Sewing Needles from Woman

Associated Press
Roger J. Kuhle, an assistant Polk County attorney, argued that the issue is not for a judge to decide.

The issue is for a judge to decide, because the issue is the constitutionality of a state law, and that's precisely the domain of the courts. I despise activism on the part of judges (legislating from the bench), but this is a logical application of constitutional rights.

Associated Press
Hanson ruled that the state law allowing marriage only between a man and a woman violates the constitutional rights of due process and equal protection.

Initially, I had assumed the judge was applying the Iowa Constitution, but his language references the U.S. Constitution.

Iowa Constitution, Article 1, Sec. 1.
All men are, by nature, free and equal, and have certain inalienable rights among which are those of enjoying and defending life and liberty, acquiring, possessing and protecting property, and pursuing and obtaining safety and happiness.

Iowa Constitution, Article 1, Sec. 6.
All laws of a general nature shall have a uniform operation; the General Assembly shall not grant to any citizen, or class of citizens, privileges or immunities, which, upon the same terms shall not equally belong to all citizens.

U.S. Constitution, Amendment XIV, Section 1
All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

We'll see how this plays out. One would think that, if a county judge can apply the Fourteenth Amendment to overturn a state law (especially if the decision withstands appeal), then a case brought before the U.S. Supreme Court could overturn all state legislative and constitutional prohibitions against same-sex marriages, as well as the federal Defense of Marriage Act of 1996.

Laws prohibiting interracial marriage were upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1883, and that judgment was finally overturned in 1967, the court stating that such laws violated the Fourteenth Amendment. Likewise, I hope (if not expect) that the Court will eventually do the same regarding laws against same-sex marriages. I just hope something similar to last year's proposed Federal Marriage Amendment doesn't get passed first.

Judge Rules Gay Couples Can Marry In Iowa

The central figure, J. Michael Bailey, a psychologist at Northwestern University, has promoted a theory that his critics think is inaccurate, insulting, and potentially damaging to transgender women. In the past few years, several prominent academics who are transgender have made a series of accusations against the psychologist, including that he committed ethics violations. A transgender woman he wrote about has accused him of a sexual impropriety, and Dr. Bailey has become a reviled figure for some in the gay and transgender communities.

The hostilities began in the spring of 2003, when Dr. Bailey published a book, “The Man Who Would Be Queen,” intended to explain the biology of sexual orientation and gender to a general audience.

“The next two years,” Dr. Bailey said in an interview, “were the hardest of my life.”

Many sex researchers who have worked with Dr. Bailey say that he is a solid scientist and collaborator, who by his own admission enjoys violating intellectual taboos.

In his book, he argued that some people born male who want to cross genders are driven primarily by an erotic fascination with themselves as women. This idea runs counter to the belief, held by many men who decide to live as women, that they are the victims of a biological mistake — in essence, women trapped in men’s bodies. Dr. Bailey described the alternate theory, which is based on Canadian studies done in the 1980s and 1990s, in part by telling the stories of several transgender women he met through a mutual acquaintance. In the book, he gave them pseudonyms, like “Alma” and “Juanita.”

“I think for me, for the work I do, honestly, I don’t really care what his theories are,” said Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, of Dr. Bailey. “But I do want to feel like any theories that affect the lives of so many people are based in good science, and that they’re presented responsibly.”

But that, say supporters of Dr. Bailey, is precisely the problem: Who defines responsible? And at what cost is that definition violated?

(Some of my comments below were previously posted on my own website.)

Autogynephilia is described as an attraction to the image of oneself as a woman (referring to M-to-F transsexuals). It is a controversial theory intended to explain transsexualism, originated by Ray Blanchard and advanced by Anne A. Lawrence and J. Michael Bailey, in which transsexualism is caused either by homosexuality taken to an extreme (in androphilic males), or by paraphilia in the form of a misdirected sex drive (in non-androphilic males), rather than being a matter of intrinsic identity, as indicated by traditional conventional wisdom.

I do think that the theory of autogynephilia could possibly explain why some M-to-F transsexuals are the way they are, but I don't believe that autogynephilia and/or homosexuality are the o... [ Read More (0.3k in body) ]

Criticism of a Gender Theory, and a Scientist Under Siege