The Dam Breaks

In regards to today's SCOTUS decision...




From SCOTUSblog:

Even more importantly for present purposes, the Court held that Common Article 3 of Geneva aplies as a matter of treaty obligation to the conflict against Al Qaeda. That is the HUGE part of today's ruling. The commissions are the least of it. This basically resolves the debate about interrogation techniques, because Common Article 3 provides that detained persons "shall in all circumstances be treated humanely," and that "[t]o this end," certain specified acts "are and shall remain prohibited at any time and in any place whatsoever"—including "cruel treatment and torture," and "outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment." This standard, not limited to the restrictions of the due process clause, is much more restrictive than even the McCain Amendment. See my further discussion here.

This almost certainly means that the CIA's interrogation regime is unlawful, and indeed, that many techniques the Administation has been using, such as waterboarding and hypothermia (and others) violate the War Crimes Act (because violations of Common Article 3 are deemed war crimes).

Best Cabbie Fare Ever

Purportedly Via New York Hack:

Recognize him? I did immediately, and I don't even have cable. (It's Jon Stewart of The Daily Show, in case you weren't sure.) Much to my own surprise, I was a bit starstruck. So much so that I actually forgot to turn the meter on for about 15 blocks. He was on the phone and remained oblivious to me for the entire ride until finally, as I dropped him at his destination, I worked up the gumption to interrupt his conversation. And you know what? He was cool as hell. So many cabbies have celebrity stories where the person turns out to be a total asshole, but not Jon Stewart.


I sputtered away at him for a minute and finally told him about the blog and asked if I could take his picture. He graciously posed for me and was incredibly modest and nice. And thank goodness, because it would've been depressing if I had to write about one more dick.


Oh yeah, and he tipped well, too.

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Jokes

A current Afghan joke asks the difference between Americans and Russians, and the bitter answer is: “The Americans are better paid.”

from here.

On the Canadian Terrorists

Money Quote from the comments:

real men do not attack Canada

Purportedly Via OxBlog:

I SEE, ITS OUR FAULT: Who is...: "

I SEE, ITS OUR FAULT: Who is to blame for the aborted terrorist attack on Canada?


Open thread: I'll buy a beer (or a sparkling mineral water) for the person who can come up with the most unrigorous, cliche-ridden effort to apportion blame to the Canadians.


Extra drinks if you can work in to your litany the following: 'neo-liberal', 'root cause' and 'demonise.'


UPDATE: The efforts so far have been mighty fine. But there is stiff competition.

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the mosquito ring tones

For those of you enthralled by the story about the mosquito ring tones, here's some shorter samples that can be used.

How do you lose a large flightless bird?

How do you lose a large flightless bird?
Originally uploaded by satmandu.

Picture of the Day: The Cat Who Scared The Bear

Wizard!

Purportedly Via Gothamist:

Picture of the Day: The Cat Who Scared The Bear: "

Photo by AP Photo/Suzanne Giovanetti

Comment

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Bend it like Beckett

(the title was allen's genius)

ESPN & ABC's coverage of the World Cup is abysmal.

The commentators are clueless.

The England game Saturday was filled with references to Posh Spice, and the repeated mistake of saying Beckett in lieu of Beckham.

For the later games, we switched to Univision's coverage.

There's nothing like hearing GOL GOL GOL GOL GOL loudly after a score, and also being able to tell how the game is going from the change in the lilt of the quite excitable commentator's voice during a notable moment.

On ABC, you got the vibe that the commentator was reading from his crib notes.

On Univision, You could clearly hear the ball getting kicked.

Yes. In the ABC coverage, you couldn't hear the ball getting kicked.

Unforgivable.

remix

Imagine the FANTA jingle, except HANTA HANTA, hantavirus...

trailer for the namesake

It's out and looks awesome.

Les Incompétents

Russia extradited Zelenovic to the Bosnian authorities on Thursday. He was hiding from the U.N. war crimes tribunal for years in Siberia until authorities there detained him last year, the AP reports.

What kind of Dumbass hides in Siberia to avoid a United Nations administered prison in Europe?

Mouse Chewed

Mouse Chewed
Originally uploaded by satmandu.

A mouse chewed through the bottom of my door last night.

Well, tried to anyways...

Gali noticed the shavings on the floor this morning.

iClaudius cleaned them up in short order.

Mars Rover: I can see you

The Domains of your gut

Analysis has revealed that the organisms in your GI tract span all three known domains of life (bacteria, eukarya (us) and archaea), which split over 570 million years ago.

The non-human cells in our guts have twice the number of genes as does the human genome.

That's pretty awesome.

I see you

Thanks.



Only works for iSight equipped visitors.

Advice: Vote Early & Vote Often

RFK, Jr on the stolen 2004 election in Rolling Stone.

heh

I just got carded.

3 cheers for disneyworld

I hates it.

No?

Would wearing this shirt be ironic for doctors?

During Rounds?

Wrong?

Purportedly Via Warrenellis.com:

Nor Do I Play One On Television: "

Another profoundly important t-shirt from TopatoCo.

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Stanford's Stickybot wall-climbing robot lizard

I would like my Van der Waals interaction boots and gloves now please.

Stanford's Stickybot wall-climbing robot lizard: "

Filed under: Robots

We thought MIT's slime-climbing robo-snail was pretty, er, slick, but we have to admit that our new fave wall-climber has got to be Standord's Stickybot. The robot gecko has feet coated with a polymer designed to mimic the properties of setae, the tiny hairs on gecko feet that enable the lizards to climb walls. That allows the bot to clamber freely without the surface in question having to be doused with slime, as required by MIT's bot. Not surprisingly, the Pentagon is already interested in adapting the tech for military use in gloves and boots for soldiers. We can only hope this trickles down to civilian uses fast; we're so ready to connect with our inner Spidey as we climb the walls in our gecko gloves.

[Via I4U]

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(Purportedly Via engadget.com.)