I have been consumed with frustration in recent days. The principal cause of this has been industrial action by an assortment of trolls who think that holding strikes for pay in a recession, thus holding commuters to ransom, is a good way to improve public relations. … We commuters are so powerless…

Cromercrox writes…

OK, there is this blogger named Steve. Steve is of some interest, so let’s see who he is. This is what Steve says this about himself in the about section of his own blog:

Though I grew up in Garland, I was born in Irving. And my dad’s biggest bragging point about me is that you could see Texas Stadium from the window in the room where I was born. So, as you can see, I never had a chance. I love the Dallas Cowboys more than most of my family members and I’m here to keep haters on the straight and narrow. I’m also the resident hippie-hater. Don’t bring your liberal crap in here, because it won’t be tolerated!

Lately, Steve has been arguing with Stephanie Zvan about the crazy anti-health teabaggers over on this blog. More recently, Stephanie wrote a post about Atheism and Alienatation. In that post, Stephanie provides a very interesting and detailed discussion of what Atheists try to do, try to not do, are told to do, and told to not do. (This is not unrelated to this recent post by moi: What to do if you accidentally end up with a roommate who is religious?).

Well, the first comment on Stephanie’s post is what I would count as a death threat. It is not 100% clear that it is a threat. It does not say “I will kill you.” It does tell Stephanie and all atheists that the sooner they die the better and that before that they don’t really count as humans (to put it slightly more politely than Steve did).

What is funny about this is that Steve posted that remark anonymously, and Stephanie outed him.

My original title for this post was “Poe or real? Death Threat Doling Blogger Exposed!” because I did not believe it was possible for anyone to be as over the top as Steve appears to be. But as I’ve read around and collected the info for this post, I decided that he really is what he seems to be, and as you can see, I retitled it.

And, in that title, when I say “bad move, Steve” that is not because of something I’m going to do, like I’m going to come to Stephanie’s rescue or something. It is because Steve has actually messed with the wrong person. In fact, I kind of feel sorry for poor ol’ Steve. This is not to say that I wouldn’t come to Stephanie’s rescue. I would. But I know her very well and I know she’ll have things totally in control. I will simply make myself available in any way I can be helpful. Perhaps I’ll make cookies and tea for those of us who are going to enjoy watching what happens next.

Oh dear, poor Steve….

Oh, if you ever digg or stumble on or otherwise promote blog posts, this would be a good one to do, don’t you think?

UPDATE: Apology and explanation offered and accepted.

Too much of the world lacks access to clean drinking water. Engineer Michael Pritchard did something about it — inventing the portable Lifesaver filter, which can make the most revolting water drinkable in seconds. An amazing demo from TEDGlobal 2009.

With cutting-edge nanotech, Michael Pritchard’s Lifesaver water-purification bottle could revolutionize water-delivery systems in disaster-stricken areas around the globe.

For more information about the world water problem, visit Digital Rabbit.

I and the Bird #106: Four Years Young! Say no more. Just go read it!

On this day in 1945 …

The first atomic bomb has been dropped by a United States aircraft on the Japanese city of Hiroshima.

President Harry S Truman, announcing the news from the cruiser, USS Augusta, in the mid-Atlantic, said the device was more than 2,000 times more powerful than the largest bomb used to date.

An accurate assessment of the damage caused has so far been impossible due to a huge cloud of impenetrable dust covering the target. Hiroshima is one of the chief supply depots for the Japanese army.

The bomb was dropped from an American B-29 Superfortress, known as Enola Gay, at 0815 local time. The plane’s crew say they saw a column of smoke rising and intense fires springing up.

more at the bbc

By the way, there is a very interesting discussion of the politics surrounding the dropping of this bomb, and the subsequent cold war and east/west relationships, over on Primate Diaries: Intimidating the Soviets: A Hiroshima Anniversary Memorial. It is a very interesting read.

Ginny Barbour, Part 5: Open Access, Achievements and Looking Forward from PLoS on Vimeo.

Hat Tip: ABATC

… Over the Dead.”

“Hey, you can be so stupid sometimes,” chimed in another of the guys. “That’s a monkey tooth. I’m sure of it. Of course, how would you know, since you’ve never been close to a monkey!”

At Quiche Moraine

Marilyn Monroe and Tony Curtis …. in her brentwood home, on this day in 1962. She was 36 years old.

A concerned housekeeper called doctors to the scene, who were forced to break into her bedroom. This was in the days when you could call a doctor to the scene, and no special group of people (like fire fighters) was particularly well trained or equipped to break into someone’s bedroom …. people were kinda generalists in this area back then.

Read more here.