Legal Case Against God Dismissed

“A US judge has thrown out a case against God, ruling that because the defendant has no address, legal papers cannot be served.

The suit was launched by Nebraska state senator Ernie Chambers, who said he might appeal against the ruling.

He sought a permanent injunction to prevent the “death, destruction and terrorisation” caused by God.

Judge Marlon Polk said in his ruling that a plaintiff must have access to the defendant for a case to proceed.

“Given that this court finds that there can never be service effectuated on the named defendant this action will be dismissed with prejudice,” Judge Polk wrote in his ruling.

Mr Chambers cannot refile the suit but may appeal.”

Read more at BBC News.

LEGO Mindstorms Sudoku Solver

You have to heart a robot that can solve Sudoku without any help from pesky humans [yay robots!]. This l’tle fella scans the puzzle box with a light sensor, computes the solutions and even writes in the answers. Beats a Roomba hands down, huh?

Visit http://tiltedtwister.com for more info.

Bee Genome Linked To Colony Collapse Disorder

Colony Collapse Disorder is a devastating disease that’s been wiping out bees colonies all over the world. As yet there is no clear-cut scientific explanation as to the cause of this disorder. However, good news may be on the scientific-horizon:

“Now insights from the honeybee genome could overthrow guesswork in the effort to diagnose the cause of the die-offs.May Berenbaum at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and her colleagues looked for genetic differences between bees from US colonies that have suffered CCD and bees that were sampled before colony collapses shot up in 2006. CCD killed off about a third of US honeybees in 2007 and 2008. The team found 65 genes that were distinctly different in CCD bees. They also discovered unusual snippets of genetic material that are typical of infection with the RNA viruses known as picorna-like viruses. They found no evidence to suggest that pesticides or bacterial infection are the primary cause of CCD. Berenbaum thinks picorna-like viruses may be the root cause, making the bees highly vulnerable to other viruses, pesticides and bacteria.”

Read more about this research: http://u.nu/9iu33

Gliider: An Online Travel Planner

“gliider is a digital file that lets you hold on to all of the interesting stuff you come across when you’re researching and planning a trip. Find a cool hotel you don’t want to forget about? See a great restaurant you want to try? No matter what website you’re on, just highlight whatever you want with your mouse and drag it into your gliider. Photos, text, whatever!

gliider will then bring you deals related to what you’re interested in. No spam, no overload. Only the good stuff and just the right amount of it.”

“GoodMorning!” Twitter Visualization Tool

GoodMorning! is a Twitter visualization tool showing approximately 11,000 tweets collected over a 24 hour period. The collected tweets visualize the phrase ‘good morning’ in English and various other languages.

The tweets are coded in coloured blocks:

• Green tweets are sent pre-9am
• Orange tweets are sent at 9am approximately
• Red tweets are sent between 9am and 12 noon
• Black tweets are messages sent “…at times that aren’t in the morning at that location”.

For more information, visit: blog.blprnt.com

World Bank breaks rules in lending to palm oil companies

Campaign groups call for a suspension on lending to palm oil plantation developers after critical internal audit. The World Bank has admitted errors in its procedures for lending money and safeguarding against social and environmental abuses.

An internal audit found the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) had mis-categorised loans to the Wilmar Group, one of the world’s largest producers of palm oil and based in Indonesia.

Loans that should have been classified as higher risk were listed as ‘low-risk’ thereby avoiding more comprehensive social and environmental checks.

The Palm Oil industry has been linked to the large-scale destruction of forests in Indonesia – endangering wildlife and increasing greenhouse gas emissions.

More from The Ecologist

Into the Red opens at Guildford Lane Gallery

Guildford Lane Gallery, presents a Fringe Festival exhibition from emerging curator Emily Kocaj

23rd September – 4th October
Opening – Thursday 24th September Guildford Lane Gallery is proud to present ‘Into the Red’, a group exhibition exploring the anxieties of the past year. “ ‘Into the Red’ surveys the impact of current tensions such as the global financial crisis, climate change, fires, wars and swine flu on the work of a diverse group of artists”, says curator Emily Kocaj.

Artists Abbra Kotlarczyk, Allison Orton, Emma Waheed, Frank Prskalo, Kerry Herrmann, Lauren Simmonds, Leni Kae, Melissajay Egan, Michal Teague, Pamela Kouwenhoven, Vesna Maksimovic and Wina Jie have responded to the theme with work that takes some unexpected directions. The common thread is tension: Between built and natural environments; between space and object, and between desire and reality.

For the exhibition, artists were asked to examine the pressures they feel: Cultural, environmental, social, emotional and physical. In her work, Wina Jie examines the pressures that afflict cultural travellers, while Frank Prskalo depicts raw aggression. Michal Teague and Abbra Kotlarczyk explore the decay and transformation of both the built environment and man made objects.

Address:
20-24 Guildford Lane
Melbourne 3000
Gallery hours:
Wed-Fri 12-9 / Sat-Sun 12-5

Chris Badenoch, from Masterchef Australia and BeerMasons present Party for Strays

If you love animals and you love to party you have the power to save their lives.

Our resident foodie, frontman and MasterChef contestant, Chris and the chefs from The Court House Hotel, North Melbourne, have whipped up a night of boutique beer and mouth watering bites for your partying pleasure.

Join in this Party for Strays and help the Lort Smith Animal Hospital give stray, abused and abandoned pets a second chance at life and help reduce pet euthanasia (currently 200,000 animals a year in Australia.)

Door prizes, competitions, DJs, sensational beer, fine food and excellent company.

It’s time to party with a purpose!

Thursday 10th September, 2009
@ 7pm
The Court House Hotel
Cnr Errol and Queensbury Streets
North Melbourne, VIC
BeerMasons Party Team
info@beermasons.com

Register for this event

Livewire Launches Siblings Community To Support Brothers & Sisters

Livewire Siblings, a new online community, where young people aged over 10 and under 21, who have a brother or sister living with a serious illness, chronic health condition or disability can support and connect with one another.

Livewire Siblings (http://siblings.livewire.org.au) is a free, safe and supportive community where young people can meet and chat online with other siblings who understand what they are going through. The site allows them to share experiences as well as gain skills and knowledge to help them feel more in control of their situation.

Currently, there are approximately 585,000 siblings, aged over 10 and under 21,  of people living with a serious illness, chronic health condition or disability in Australia. These young people often face unique teenage challenges, and suffer a heavy emotional burden – experiencing feelings of isolation from the rest of their family and their peers; as well as guilt, confusion, anger, jealousy.

Many siblings are as emotionally vulnerable as their brother or sister as they deal with feelings of loss, anger and sadness, and come to terms with the consequences of their family’s situation. What’s more, they often receive less parental attention than their ill siblings and take on increased household responsibilities as they help their parents cope with looking after their sick brother or sister.

Prominent child and adolescent psychologist, Dr Michael Carr-Gregg, says “The sibling relationship is the single most important relationship that a chronically ill young person will have – in terms of its duration and intensity – and the psychological impact on the sibling can be as significant, if not more, than the psychological impact on the patient.

“Up until very recently, siblings needs have been overlooked and ignored, and I commend Livewire for recognising the importance of this formerly invisible group,” he concluded.

As part of Livewire Siblings, young people can chat online with other siblings, create blogs, read content and information created just for them, check out the latest music and games, post in forums and have their say!

About Livewire.org.au

Livewire.org.au is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Starlight Children’s Foundation and is supported by funding from the Australian Government under the Clever Networks Program, Starlight Children’s Foundation and in-kind support from Livewire’s launch partners.

Oncologists rock out to raise awareness for gynecologic cancers.

N.E.D. (an acronym for No Evidence of Disease) is a rock band with a purpose: composed entirely of six musically talented gynecologic cancer surgeons hailing from all four corners of the U.S.  The doctors are full time, practicing surgeons, researchers, and professors who moonlight as musicians in hopes that their music can improve the quality of life of patients and anyone potentially touched by women’s cancers.

New York-based Motema Music spearheaded the production and recording of their album which will be released on September 8th to coincide with the first annual Gynecologic Cancer Awareness Month (United States). Producer Mario McNulty (David Bowie, Linkin Park, Ziggy Marley) worked closely with the band to create these first-class recordings. The music and lyrics are original, written by members of the band who worked together primarily through video conference.

Sonically, N.E.D.’s  EP blends a wide range of folk, arena, and indie rock, and demonstrates pure female vocals likened to Mary Travers of Peter, Paul and Mary and Christine McVie.  Lyrically, the music brings a fresh and sympathetic approach to issues of life and death faced by cancer victims and their families. Net proceeds from the sale of the CD will be donated to the N.E.D. Cancer Foundation in association with the Gynecologic Cancer Foundation (GCF) to support public education about gynecologic cancers and to fund promising research projects and programs.

More info on N.E.D.