On Thursday, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), in conjunction with Planned Parenthood Health Systems, Planned Parenthood of Central North Carolina, the Center for Reproductive Rights, and the ACLU of North Carolina Legal Foundation, filed a lawsuit against a new North Carolina law that requires pregnant women to receive ultrasounds and be given information about the fetus before obtaining an abortion. The plaintiffs argue that it is unethical for healthcare providers to force patients to listen to “state-mandated ideological speech.”

Details here

OpenSource software is like Free Beer because it is free, but it is free in another way as well: Free as in “Freedom.” Some people are confused about what this means, so I would like to try a new way of explaining it.
Continue reading Free Beer vs. Free Software →

And other things….

Episode 31:

INTRO: Belinda, Jason, Jack and James. New panelist, James Cooper, TAM 9, Belinda’s Masters studies.

ON THE STREET: Martin Pribble at Think Inc. 2011.

INTERVIEW: Eugenie Scott.

NEWS: Faster-â??â??than-â??â??light neutrinos, Blackmores’ pharmacy deal, secularism in the Israel/â??Palestine conflict.

You know you want to! This is just one of the many project you can help out:

My Students: Kids love to find out what’s happening inside them! From their blood to their bones, we study the human body. Our health book is a good resource for students, but having a model for them to look at and touch would make connections for those struggling students who are not strong readers.

We are a small, rural school in Minnesota. We have a surprisingly diverse population that comes from many different socio-economic backgrounds. The students are excited and eager to learn. Our students sometimes struggle to retain information. They are like many of us–they learn better by doing, by touching, by experience. Added regulation and less funding makes it more difficult to provide students with experiences.

My Project: I can already imagine the squeals and giggles when the students first see the skeleton and the other human body models! In some students, it will spark an excitement that no one can measure–maybe future doctors or vets. The ability to touch and move pieces will help them connect the pictures we have seen to their own bodies.

This is a gift I can’t give my students without your help. For students who struggle, being able to learn through doing is very valuable. Having these human body models would enrich the learning of the very intelligent students and the students who struggle. When we talk about the ribs, they can actually see what they look like and imagine that in their own body. Thank you for considering our project! hide»

My students need a skeleton and basic models of the human body to enhance our health unit.

CLICK HERE AND FEEL GOOD ABOUT YOURSELF

This is just one of the many project you can help out:

My Students: Kids love to find out what’s happening inside them! From their blood to their bones, we study the human body. Our health book is a good resource for students, but having a model for them to look at and touch would make connections for those struggling students who are not strong readers.

We are a small, rural school in Minnesota. We have a surprisingly diverse population that comes from many different socio-economic backgrounds. The students are excited and eager to learn. Our students sometimes struggle to retain information. They are like many of us–they learn better by doing, by touching, by experience. Added regulation and less funding makes it more difficult to provide students with experiences.

My Project: I can already imagine the squeals and giggles when the students first see the skeleton and the other human body models! In some students, it will spark an excitement that no one can measure–maybe future doctors or vets. The ability to touch and move pieces will help them connect the pictures we have seen to their own bodies.

This is a gift I can’t give my students without your help. For students who struggle, being able to learn through doing is very valuable. Having these human body models would enrich the learning of the very intelligent students and the students who struggle. When we talk about the ribs, they can actually see what they look like and imagine that in their own body. Thank you for considering our project! hide»

My students need a skeleton and basic models of the human body to enhance our health unit.

CLICK HERE AND FEEL GOOD ABOUT YOURSELF

is … here, at Kevin Zelnio’s blog at Scientific American. Go read it, click on stuff, and pass it around!

On Thursday, 20 House Democrats, led by Representative Louise Slaughter (D-NY), called for an ethics investigation of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas for allegedly failing to report that his wife was paid $700,000 for her work at the Heritage Foundation between 2003 and 2007.

The Democrats issued a letter requesting that the Judicial Conference determine whether the matter should be referred to the Justice Department to decide whether Thomas violated the Ethics in Government Act of 1978. The Act mandates that all federal justices disclose spouse’s or dependent’s place of employment and financial holdings.

Details here.

The Republic of the Marshall Islands is now home to the world’s largest shark sanctuary. The Nitijela, the Marshallese parliament, unanimously passed legislation this week that ends commercial fishing of sharks in all 1,990,530 square kilometers (768,547 square miles) of the central Pacific country’s waters, an ocean area four times the landmass of California.

Details

It’s huge. You could see it from space. If you could see it.

Three women who have worked for peace and women’s rights in Liberia and Yemen have been awarded the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize, it was just announced at the Norwegian Nobel Institute in Oslo.

Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Liberian peace activist Leymah Roberta Gbowee and Yemeni protest leader Tawakkul Karman are being honored.

source

You may have noticed that the Freethoughtblogs have been running a bit rough, sometimes not accessible sometimes slow.

That is because you love us so much and there is so much activity that our server is overloaded.

Alternatively, you hate us and are carrying out denial of service attacks on us.

Either way, someone’s gonna loose themselves a tray-lor, and we’re getting a new server. Soon. I don’t know any more details than that (well, I know the specs of the new server and it’s mondo).

Thank you for sticking with us. If you can even read this because our server is probably down.

Oh, and I love you too. Or hate you too. As the case may be.