evolution

The circumstances of my life are forcing me to put weblogging in general and evolution in particular on indefinite hiatus.

I may be back soon or not, as future events dictate. In the meantime, check out the archives; check out the natural selections.

Thanks to all of you who’ve come this far with me.

» Jack Grant of Random Fate went to see the final stage of the Tour de France, complete with pictures of the man of the hour himself.

» Meryl Yourish: I wonder how they got this picture? Note especially the disgusting caption. AP and Reuters both have been known to use photos and stories from pro-terrorist stringers in the region.

» Citizen Smash: Satire or not?

» For my former comrades-in-arms in teaching: the educational-jargon drinking game! If I had played this game when I taught, I’d be Keith Richards. Or Ted Kennedy. You know, whichever.

» Barry Campbell highlights an unconscionable government invasion of privacy.

» The Environmental Republican uncovers a vicious Jew-baiting attack on Charles Krauthammer, an excuse for Theo van Gogh’s killer, and a “blame the victim” mentality in a disgusting column

Dude, the whole frosted-hair, deep-bass-stereo, 5-inch-exhaust-tip, Chinese-character, shirt-with-dragons-and-flames thing is over now. Get thee to an Aladdin’s Castle where thou belongst.

An example of an Iranian want ad:

An advertisement in an Iranian publication has called for people to come forward for “martyrdom operations” against the enemies of Islam.

It is published by an institute managed by one of Iran’s most conservative and radical clerics, Ayatollah Masbah Yazdi, who has declared his support for Iran’s new President, Mahmoud Ahmedinejad.

The advertisement calls for men and women to enlist with the “Martyrdom Lovers’ Headquarters”.

It says the idea is to achieve “all-out readiness” against the enemies of Islam – and the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Those who are picked will be specially trained for their missions in different divisions in every province.

To apply, all that is needed are photographs, a form and a copy of a birth certificate.

Symbolic

This is not the first time Iranians have registered for suicide missions – though in Islam a clear distinction is made between ordinary suicide and martyrdom for a religious cause.

Several people have signed up with different organisations to defend the holy shrines in Iraq and the rights of Palestinians.

But in practice, their pledges are merely symbolic and it is highly unlikely that they would actually go on suicide missions.

One function was held earlier this year to honour dead Palestinian women suicide bombers, and a huge mural in central Tehran still depicts one Palestinian woman who had two children, yet chose to die.

Notice how the BBC tries to assuage us by offering that little platitude which I’ve highlighted and then offering exactly nothing to prove it. Nothing to see here…

The killer of Dutch film-maker Theo van Gogh has been sentenced by a Dutch court to life in prison, without parole:

Mohammed Bouyeri, who has joint Dutch-Moroccan nationality, had made a courtroom confession and had vowed to do the same again if given the chance.

The murder in Amsterdam stunned the Netherlands. The court ruled that it was a terrorist act.

The judge said the murder had triggered “great fear and insecurity” in society.

“The murder of Theo van Gogh provoked a wave of revulsion and disdain in the Netherlands. Theo van Gogh was mercilessly slaughtered,” said Judge Udo Willem Bentinck.

Bouyeri had told the court he had acted out of religious conviction.

Clutching a copy of the Koran, he said that “the law compels me to chop off the head of anyone who insults Allah and the prophet”.

Van Gogh, a strong critic of radical Islam, was shot and stabbed in broad daylight as he was cycling through Amsterdam.

His throat was slashed and the killer also pinned a letter to his chest with a knife, which threatened Somali-born Dutch MP Ayaan Hirsi Ali.

She had written the script for Van Gogh’s controversial film Submission, which criticised the treatment of women under Islam.

All of the pieces I’ve written about van Gogh are here, including a detailed description of his murder and his killer’s disturbing, maniacal confession.

UPDATE [09:24]: Roger L. Simon: No one in Hollywood seems to have ever heard of Theo van Gogh.

Watch it live here. Launch time is 09:39 CDT.

UPDATE [09:30]: The final countdown has begun with T-minus 00:09:00. Nice to see Laura Bush has made the trip.

UPDATE [09:37]: T-00:02:00; they’re ready to go.

UPDATE [09:40]: With a thunderous blast, Discovery is on its way. After just one minute, it’s already high enough to discern the curvature of Earth. After two minutes, it’s already 18 miles above Earth’s surface. After five minutes, it’s 200 miles northeast of the launch point, 62 miles above Earth’s surface, and travelling at over 6000 mph.

UPDATE [09:46]: Discovery’s onboard camera shows that the ship now appears to be well clear of Earth’s atmosphere. The entire Atlantic Ocean now appears to be visible, with the blackness of the void above. Discovery has cut its engines and dumped its second-stage tank (which had the camera mounted on it).

UPDATE [10:06]: 26 minutes after launch, Discovery is 126 miles above Earth’s surface, somewhere over northern Italy.

My brother Neil, whose blog Neil in Japan I’ve been pimping on this site for a solid year, is no longer in Japan — he arrived in Kansas City by way of Atlanta on Saturday. I spoke both to him and to our mother yesterday.

It was not without adventure however. He said his flight leaving Tokyo was grounded — because of a magnitude 6.8 earthquake that struck the city while his plane was sitting on the tarmac. The earthquake passed with only minor damage to the city and few injuries; after the tarmac was checked for cracks, his flight was allowed to leave.