Linkmeister

When Worlds Collide

Ezrael might appreciate the irony here: Sci-fi and sci-fact are merging more quickly than ever before. For those art history majors out there (to quote Click and Clack), here's an astronomer who's pinpointed the exact date on which Van Gogh painted "White House at Night", using the star depicted in the painting as his guide. Continuing in the art/science commingling vein, here's an explanation for the classic melodramatic faint (see Mystery backgrounds on PBS). I have to say, science takes much of the amusement out of the visual. Moving from science to culture, anyone interested in Inuit history as told by its owners? Here's a little more culture (in its broadest sense): need an uncontested divorce? Read this.

Hey, Bunny, shouldn't you work at the new espionage museum? Should you do so, however, do not fall afoul of new legislation approved yesterday by the House; if the Senate agrees, hackers may get life sentences. It's all part of something called the Cyber Security Enhancement Act. In less worrisome news, if this story is to be believed, the White House press corps is finally beginning to question the quality of the gruel Fleischer et. al. has been feeding it for nearly two years. Oh, and with its lawsuit against Cheney and Halliburton, it turns out that Judicial Watch is apparently an equal opportunity gadfly.

Finally there's this piece of idiocy: the culture wars are now embroiling poor Sesame Street. Rep. Billy Tauzin has apparently written a letter to PBS demanding to know if it plans to introduce an HIV-positive character on the American version of the show, and suggesting it probably shouldn't happen. Nice implicit threat contained in the letter, too: "Daily Variety said Tauzin's letter gave Mitchell until Friday to answer such questions as the amount of money PBS dedicates to "Sesame Street," how much is being earmarked for the new Muppet..." Gosh, Mr. Congressman, aren't there a few more important items on your agenda right now?