Bric a brac

The most primitive metazoan: Trichoplax. "It doesn't know its head from its ass, and actually has neither one of those sophisticated features." Interesting discussion of how evolution works by finding new uses for existing genes. (Can't remember who pointed me to this link. Bet it was drhoz.)

With orangutans facing extinction in the wild in the next ten years, the Australian Orangutan Project is working to save them. At their Web site you can donate, buy an orangutan toy, even adopt an orphaned orang (no, you don't have to bring it home, they will look after it on your behalf :-). You may also want to consider avoiding products that contain palm oil - the industry is destroying orangutan habitat.

The blogofractal. "Hey look I got Linux running on my tonsils!"

More bric a brac

Two great entries from HarrangeMan:

Firstly, he went to a lecture by an expert on suicide bombings. The take-home message: suicide bombers are motivated by politics, not religion.

Secondly, he offers an amusing solution for Muslims living in the West who are constantly called on to denounce terrorism.

A SMH opinion piece questions the PM's faux feminism when it comes to "respecting women". (It's clear that Australian Muslims have been chosen as the government's scapegoat in the leadup to the next election.)

Gunns 20

If it wasn't for the waste of cash, the toll of stress, and the danger to free speech, the Gunns 20 case would be pure comedy. Briefly, a Tasmanian logging company is trying to sue protestors for millions of dollars. So far, they've brought three "statements of claim" to court. All three have been thrown out for being unintelligible: basically, nobody can work out exactly what it is that they're supposed to have done. A cynic might suggest that Gunn's lawyers are either trying to harass the defendants or are simply taking the piss.

In the meantime, Gunns have made a last-minute revision to pollution figures for their new pulp mill, which will pump forty-five times as much dioxin into the environment as they originally stated. Whoops.

(no subject)

Just watched a documentary about how the Maccabees invented dying for one's religion (and killing for it, too). THANKS FOR THAT, GUYS.