The current I and the Bird blog carnival (it is about birds) goes into extra innings. This is a particularly good version of the carnival, which is always good anyway. Check it out here.

Eight to one? Any guesses as to which of the nine supreme court justices think it is OK to get a 13 year old girl to strip down and shake out her underwear so you can see if she has TWO ASPIRIN ON HER???

The Supreme Court said Thursday school officials acted illegally when they strip-searched an Arizona teenage girl looking for prescription-strength ibuprofen.

In an 8-1 ruling, the justices said that school officials violated the Fourth Amendment ban on unreasonable searches when they ordered Savana Redding to remove her clothes and shake out her underwear.

Redding was 13 when Safford Middle School officials in rural eastern Arizona conducted the search. They were looking for pills — the equivalent of two Advils. The district bans prescription and over-the-counter drugs and the school was acting on a tip from another student.

The dissenting opinion was, of course, Clarence Thomas.

Continue reading Supreme Court: 8-1, Strip search of girl to find ibuprofen was … wrong. Duh. →

… At age 62. Updated:
Continue reading Farrah Fawcett Dead →

Surgeon and inventor Catherine Mohr tours the history of surgery (and its pre-painkiller, pre-antiseptic past), then demos some of the newest tools for surgery through tiny incisions, performed using nimble robot hands. Fascinating — but not for the squeamish.

This is what I got on the Internet for my Birthday.

“So take this and fill it out,” he suddenly said, thrusting a small square of paper in my general direction, a piece of paper that looked like a postcard on one side and a form to be filled in on the other. “As soon as you can. Do it right now.”

So my boss had just forced me to join the Columbia House Record Club so he could get a free album by getting someone else to join. I had to pick five albums from this list of mostly totally stupid stuff….

Forced to Join the Columbia House Record Club at Quiche Moraine

First he was, I dunno, in the bathroom. Then he was, perhaps, down in the parking lot waxing his car. Then he was home working on his stamp collection or something. Then he was hiking the Apalachian Trail. Now, it turns out, supposedly, that Republican South Carolina Governor Sanford was in South America. What next?

There is a timeline here at the Charlotte Observer

You know, there is only one possible explanation for this. See headline.

In light of the recent assassination, by a member of a right wing Christian anti-abortion cabal, of a physician who specialized in late term abortions, it may be worth having a look this medical phenomenon.

Well, my blog colleague Monado contacted me a week ago or so and we discussed this, and I felt that she should write up what she had, since she had done some research. I would then hope that my readers who are interested in this will go and have a look at her post.

The bottom line is that third trimester abortions are done for a diverse set of reasons, and a lot of what is said in the public debate is not accurate.

Have a look at “What causes third-trimester abortions?” at Science Notes.

Citing recent killings in Arkansas, Kansas and the nation’s capital, Attorney General Eric Holder on Tuesday said new hate crimes law were needed to stop what he called “violence masquerading as political activism.”

The attorney general’s call for Congress to act came as a civil rights coalition said there has been a surge in white supremacist activity since the election of the first African-American president and the economic downturn.

“Over the last several weeks, we have witnessed brazen acts of violence committed in places that many would have considered unthinkable,” Holder told the Washington Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs.

source

Is this legislating thinking? Or is it legislating stupidity?

UPDATE: There are reports that the missing governor is tweeting. These reports are unconfirmed.

His wife does not know where is his. The lieutenant governor does not know where he is. It is said that “he needed some time away from his children to write something.” It is said he is working on a book. No one has seen him since Thursday.

Makes sense to me.

His chief of staff claims to know where he is. But he would say that even if he didn’t.

Apparently, not having a governor for a few days is not that big a deal. I say, give it a week then maybe go looking for him.

BTW, this Thursday? I’m outta here for a few days. Gotta write some stuff. If you want me get me before then. (Unless you want to go fishing, of course.) My chief of staff will know where I am if anything really important comes up.

I wanted to know about Iran, and she told me. I was curious, because I had a feeling that there was more to the story than we were getting from the news. There had to be reasons that the students were rebelling against the Shah and pushing for an Islamic Revolution. She explained it to me, and at last I felt like I understood….

Here at Quiche Moraine, and more at TUIBG

I’ve always lived among trees and gone to the woods for quiet, but it took a change of scenery to discover just how much trees mean to me….

Turns out, it was the trees!

hat tip: Miss Cellania