Lawsuit in Indonesia: Prince Sues Wife

A Malaysian prince has sued his runaway Indonesian teen wife and mother-in-law.

They had claimed he had tortured the teenager during the couple's year-long marriage.

Tengku Temenggong Tengku Mohammad Fakhry, a prince in northern Kelantan state, filed a defamation suit in the High Court.

He is seeking 105 million ringgit ($30m, £18m) in damages from Manohara Odelia Pinot and her mother, said lawyer Mohamad Haaziq Pillay.

The 17-year-old Ms Pinot returned to Indonesia in May and told media that the 31-year-old Mr Fakhry had slashed her with razor blades and treated her as a sex slave.

She reportedly said she was held captive in her room and drugged whenever she complained.

She allegedly escaped while accompanying the state royal family on a trip to Singapore and filed a police report in Indonesia shortly afterward.

The scandal has captured widespread media attention in both Malaysia and Indonesia.

Mr Fakhry's lawsuit accuses Ms Manohara and her mother, Daisy Fajarina, of concocting the allegations "out of spite" and "motivated by a desire of financial gains," the lawyer said.

link: BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Malay prince sues Indonesian wife

Portez ce Vieux Whisky

but does it float

Henry Louis Gates Arrested in Cambridge for Breaking Into his Own Home

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Colleagues of Henry Louis Gates Jr., Harvard’s most prominent scholar of African-American history, are accusing the police here of racism after he was arrested at his home last week by an officer investigating a report of a robbery in progress.

Professor Gates, who has taught at Harvard for nearly two decades, arrived home on Thursday from a trip to China to find his front door jammed, said Charles J. Ogletree, a law professor at Harvard who is representing him.

He forced the door open with the help of his cab driver, Professor Ogletree said, and had been inside for a few minutes when Sgt. James Crowley of the Cambridge Police Department appeared at his door and asked him to step outside.

Professor Gates, 58, refused to do so, Professor Ogletree said. From that point, the account of the professor and the police began to differ.

According to his lawyer, Professor Gates told the sergeant that he lived there and showed his Massachusetts driver’s license and his Harvard identification card, but Sergeant Crowley still did not seem to believe that Professor Gates lived in the home, a few blocks from Harvard Square. At that point, his lawyer said, Professor Gates grew frustrated and asked for the officer’s name and badge number.

According to the police report, Professor Gates initially refused to show identification.

In the report, Sergeant Crowley said a white female caller had notified the police around 12:45 p.m. of seeing two black men on the porch of the home, at 17 Ware Street. The caller was suspicious after seeing one of the men “wedging his shoulder into the door as if he was trying to force entry,” according to the report.

A spokesman for the Police Department did not return a call seeking comment. But in the report, Sergeant Crowley said that as he told Professor Gates he was investigating a possible break-in, Professor Gates exclaimed, “Why, because I’m a black man in America?” and accused the sergeant of racism.

“While I was led to believe that Gates was lawfully in the residence,” Sergeant Crowley wrote in the report, “I was quite surprised and confused with the behavior he exhibited toward me.”

Professor Gates ultimately followed him outside, the report said, and kept yelling at him despite the sergeant’s warning “that he was becoming disorderly.” Sergeant Crowley then arrested and handcuffed him. Professor Gates was held at police headquarters for several hours before being released on his own recognizance.

link: Henry Louis Gates Jr. Arrested - NYTimes.com

Native American Gender Continuum

Berdache Jordan writes:

Many of the world’s cultures recognize more than two genders. The notion that there are those of us who do not fit precisely into either a male or female role has historically been accepted by many groups.

Among Native Americans, the role of third, fourth, or even fifth genders has been widely documented. Children who were born physically male or female and yet showed a proclivity for the opposite gender, were encouraged to live out their lives in the gender role which fit them best. The term used by Europeans to describe this phenomenon is Berdache. "Indians have options not in terms of either/or, opposite categories, but in terms of various degrees along a continuum between masculine and feminine (Williams 80)."

A berdache was one who was defined by spirituality, androgyny, women’s work and male/male homosexual relationships (127). The berdache could adopt the clothing of women, associate and be involved with women, do the work normally associated with women, marry a man and take part in many spiritual ceremonies of the tribe. Female versions of the role also occurred, but are less well documented and will not be discussed in this paper. Generosity and spirituality more than homosexuality and gender characterized berdachism.

In the traditional tribal sense, these roles have often been ones associated with great respect and spiritual power. Rather than being viewed as an aberration, the role was seen as one, which bridged the gap between the temporal and spirit worlds. The spiritual aspect of the berdache role was emphasized far more than the homosexual or gender variant aspect. Because of this, berdaches were highly valued by the people of the tribe.

Given the choice between discarding or honoring a person, who did not fit neatly into rigid gender compartments, many Native American groups chose to find a productive and venerated place for the berdache. A Crow traditionalist says, "We don’t waste people the way white society does. Every person has their gift ( 57)." According to the Mohave creation story, "Ever since the world began, there have been transvestites, and from the beginning of the world, it was meant that there should be homosexuals. (Roscoe, ed. 39)."

link: A Native American Perspective on the Theory of Gender Continuum by DRK

Morbid Anatomy Seeks Private Collections: Do You Have Any Stuffed Dogs?

Morbid Anatomy writes:

While in the UK, I have scheduled to photograph a few more of these private collections and am on the lookout for more. If anyone has any leads as to private collection that might be of interest, or has a collection of their own they would like to share, please email me at morbidanatomy@gmail.com. All suggestions appreciated! Also appreciated would be advice from Morbid Anatomy readers as to to museums, old collections, naturalia-themed shops, or any other must-see places in and around London.

link: Morbid Anatomy

Guantanamo Detainee, Now Free After Six Years, to Sue George Bush

Al-Jazeera journalist imprisoned in Guantánamo Bay to sue George Bush

Sami al-Haj – freed in May 2008 after more than six years – to launch legal action against former US president

An al-Jazeera journalist who was imprisoned in Guantánamo Bay plans to launch a joint legal action with other detainees against former US president George Bush and other administration officials, for the illegal detention and torture he and others suffered at the hands of US authorities.

The case will be initiated by the Guantánamo Justice Centre, a new organisation open to former prisoners at the US base, which will set up its international headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, later this month.

link: Pan-African News Wire: Al-Jazeera Journalist Imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay to Sue George Bush

Extinct Images of Vanished Giants: BibliOdyssey

'Extinct Monsters; a Popular Account of Some of the Larger Forms of Ancient Animal Life' was first published in 1893 by Reverend HN Hutchinson, featuring illustrations by the respected wildlife artist, Joseph Smit (& others).

link: BibliOdyssey: Extinct Monsters

The Bathos of Gravity: Simon Faithfull

Jessica Griggs writes:

Since childhood, Simon Faithfull has had a problem with gravity. Why could flies crawl across the ceiling when his feet always stayed firmly earthbound?

This fascination never waned. Now an artist, his recent work revolves around his attempts to escape gravity's relentless grip.

Gravity Sucks, an exhibition at the British Film Institute in London from 17 July to 20 September, showcases all seven of Faithfull's attempts. He admits that his first "Escape Vehicles" – including a miniature rocket-powered chair and a boiler suit attached to 50 helium balloons – were "complete heroic failures, or actually not even heroic, more like damp squibs".

But this is his point – Faithfull is interested in the pathos inherent in so many human attempts to escape gravity. Flying is a common fascination for many of us, he says, but drawings of Victorian flying machines and the stories of Icarus, with his melting wax-based wings, and Franz Reichelt, the tailor who jumped to his death from the Eiffel Tower in 1912 to demonstrate his home-made parachute, seem simultaneously absurdly comic and pathetic.

link: Gravity sucks: An artist examines life's weighty side - science-in-society - 20 July 2009 - New Scientist

Vinyl and Print: Parallel Cases?

TechDirt writes:

One of the more interesting trends in the music world is the “return” of the vinyl LP. While sales of CD’s continue to fall in the face of digital downloads, vinyl LP sales continue to rise:

Consumers purchased 1.88 million new vinyl LPs in 2008, an 89 percent increase over 2007 and the highest sales volume recorded in the 17-year history of Nielsen SoundScan. Further, in good news for some physical retailers, two out of three vinyls LPs were purchased at independent record stores.

There are a number of reasons for this, but the most obvious is that the LP is a tangible object that can’t be easily reproduced and can only be shared through a physical, real-world exchange. For true fans, the LP is a sort of badge of fandom, proof of just how much you love the band. Compared to a digital download or a CD, the LP is a crafted thing, complete with large-scale artwork and often other inserts.

While it isn’t likely that LP sales will eclipse digital downloads anytime soon, it is also highly unlikely that the LP market will be undercut by piracy.

Could these same factors be a forecaster for the future of printed books and newspapers? It is hard to imagine that these items, so easily digitized, will be able to maintain their current position on top of the mountain and we are already seeing the rapid decline of the newspaper business.

In the cases of both newspapers and books, it might be that their only hope in surviving over the long-term is to invest in elements that can truly not be pirated.

link: Can Print Be The Next Vinyl? | Techdirt

The Small Rain Down Can Rain: Drops on your Head--How Big, and Why?

We might never consider the size of the raindrops as we hurry for cover, but their variety has puzzled scientists for many years.

Now, by filming one falling raindrop, researchers in France have explained why the drops are an array of so many different sizes.

continue at the link: BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | Why raindrops come in many sizes

The Computer Becomes You: Clicking with your Mind

Sandra Blakeslee writes:

Learning to move a computer cursor or robotic arm with nothing but thoughts can be no different from learning how to play tennis or ride a bicycle, according to a new study of how brains and machines interact.

The research, which was carried out in monkeys but is expected to apply to humans, involves a fundamental redesign of brain-machine experiments.

In previous studies, the computer interfaces that translate thoughts into movements are given a new set of instructions each day — akin to waking up each morning with a new arm that you have to figure out how to use all over again.

In the new experiments, monkeys learned how to move a computer cursor with their thoughts using just one set of instructions and an unusually small number of brain cells that deliver instructions for performing movements the same way each day.

“This is the first demonstration that the brain can form a motor memory to control a disembodied device in a way that mirrors how it controls its own body,” said Jose M. Carmena, an assistant professor of computer and cognitive science at the University of California, Berkeley, who led the research.

The experiments were described Monday in the journal PloS Biology.

The results are very “dramatic and surprising,” said Eberhard E. Fetz, an expert in brain-machine-interface technology at the University of Washington, who was not involved in the research. “It goes to show the brain is smarter than we thought.”

link: Researchers Train Minds to Move Matter - NYTimes.com

Red Wine v. White Wine: Which is Healthier?

Summer is the season for chilled white wine. But does red hold the year-round advantage when it comes to good health?

For the (inconclusive) findings, click through the link:

Really? - The Claim - Red Wine is Better for You Than White. - Question - NYTimes.com

Book Review: "Stormy Weather--The Life of Lena Horne"

John Simon writes:

Inside her, there were two Lena Hornes: the one who fiercely asserted herself, and the one who belittled and berated herself. Viewed from the outside, there were two more: the one who had an impressive career and was a seemingly model freedom fighter; but also the one who could have done so much more, yet, capitalizing on light skin color and great looks, truckled to white society.

There is good reason for James Gavin’s “Stormy Weather: The Life of Lena Horne” to take up — when you count the notes, bibliography, discography, filmography and index — nearly 600 pages. This Lena (or these Lenas), born in 1917 and still hanging in, has had a life so rich in ups and downs as to make page after page eventful and suspenseful. This all the more so since the book is also two books in one: a thorough and fluent biography and a history of the slow social rise of black people despite crippling discrimination and stinging humiliations — a history in which Horne’s story is embedded, notwithstanding some personal jumps ahead.

link: Book Review - 'Stormy Weather - The Life of Lena Horne,' by James Gavin - Review - NYTimes.com

The Evolution of Appetite

Elizabeth Kolbert writes:

Brains are calorically demanding organs. Our distant ancestors had small ones. Australopithecus afarensis, for example, who lived some three million years ago, had a cranial capacity of about four hundred cubic centimetres, which is roughly the same as a chimpanzee’s. Modern humans have a cranial capacity of about thirteen hundred cubic centimetres. How, as their brains got bigger, did our forebears keep them running? According to what’s known as the Expensive Tissue Hypothesis, early humans compensated for the energy used in their heads by cutting back on the energy used in their guts; as man’s cranium grew, his digestive tract shrank. This forced him to obtain more energy-dense foods than his fellow-primates were subsisting on, which put a premium on adding further brain power. The result of this self-reinforcing process was a strong taste for foods that are high in calories and easy to digest; just as it is natural for gorillas to love leaves, it is natural for people to love funnel cakes.

link: XXXL : The New Yorker

Simple Ratio: Higher Speed Limits, More Deaths

Eric Nagourney writes:

The repeal of the national 55-mile-per-hour speed limit has made American highways a much deadlier place, a new study says.

The “failed policy of increased speed limits,” researchers write, was to blame for an estimated 12,500 deaths over a 10-year period. Their report appears in The American Journal of Public Health.

In 1974, hoping to reduce fuel consumption, Congress set a national speed limit of 55. After easing it in 1987, lawmakers got rid of it entirely in 1995, and since then the speed limit has risen in every state, the researchers said.

The study was based on highway fatality rates throughout most of the country. It found that while road deaths went down after the speed limit was lowered in 1974, they went back up an average of about 3 percent after 1995.

The lead author, Lee S. Friedman of the University of Illinois in Chicago, said that after the speed limit was removed, safety changes like the arrival of airbags should have brought the death rate down. That did not happen.

“The only explanation we can think of is the highway speeds,” Dr. Friedman said.

One way to reduce fatalities, the study said, is to improve enforcement of speeding laws. But the country could also go back to the 55-mile-per-hour system, Dr. Friedman said.

“We survived for 20 years on it,” he said. “We were doing perfectly fine.”

link: Vital Signs - Deaths Rise With Speed Limit - NYTimes.com

Khatami: "Minimum Requirement for Getting Out of the Current Situation" in Iran

Iranian reformists, among them Mohammad Khatami, the former president, have called for a referendum to resolve the crisis that has gripped the country since last month's disputed presidential election.

Khatami, whose 1997-2005 presidency saw a thaw in the Islamic republic's relations with the West, hit out on Monday at the conduct of the June 12 vote that saw Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, his hardline successor, returned to power.

Khatami expressed concern that "public confidence in the system has been damaged", the ILNA news agency reported.

He said calls by Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, another former president, for a consensus between reformists and conservatives on resolving the crisis were the "minimum requirement for getting out of the current situation".

link: Al Jazeera English - Middle East - Khatami calls for Iran referendum

Democrats: Revolutionary Moves

Michael Wolff writes:

The Republicans, who for so long have been accusing the Democrats of knowing how to solve problems only with vast, complex, culture-changing programs and bureaucracies, are, once again, accusing them of this--health care will create an intrusive government bureaucracy of unimaginable proportions.

And the Republicans are right.

The Democrats, for so long defensive about their natural inclination to create vast, complex, culture-changing programs and bureaucracies, seem barely able to hide their satisfaction (even as they busily demure about the vastness of their plan and try to shrug off its complexities and sell it as a kinder and gentler bureaucracy). The Republicans are desperate (so, too, apparently are most governors, Democrat or Republican, who will have to find the money to pay for the new regulations). The Republicans understand what's at stake: A system, like this, changes everything. As much as the Reagan era of deregulation changed how the nation thought and acted, a new health care system, touching everyone, adjusting routines, behavior, relationships, will change the way we think and act.

link: Michael Wolff: GOP Gets It: Health Care Reform Is a Revolution

Neandertal Extinction: 15,000 Years, and There Goes the Neighborhood

Katie Wong writes:

Some 28,000 years ago in what is now the British territory of Gibraltar, a group of Neandertals eked out a living along the rocky Mediterranean coast. They were quite possibly the last of their kind. Elsewhere in Europe and western Asia, Neandertals had disappeared thousands of years earlier, after having ruled for more than 200,000 years. The Iberian Peninsula, with its comparatively mild climate and rich array of animals and plants, seems to have been the final stronghold. Soon, however, the Gibraltar population, too, would die out, leaving behind only a smattering of their stone tools and the charred remnants of their campfires.

Ever since the discovery of the first Neandertal fossil in 1856, scientists have debated the place of these bygone humans on the family tree and what became of them. For decades two competing theories have dominated the discourse. One holds that Neandertals were an archaic variant of our own species, Homo sapiens, that evolved into or was assimilated by the anatomically modern European population. The other posits that the Neandertals were a separate species, H. neanderthalensis, that modern humans swiftly extirpated on entering the archaic hominid's territory.

Over the past decade, however, two key findings have shifted the fulcrum of the debate away from the question of whether Neandertals and moderns made love or war. One is that analyses of Neandertal DNA have yet to yield the signs of interbreeding with modern humans that many researchers expected to see if the two groups mingled significantly. The other is that improvements in dating methods show that rather than disappearing immediately after the moderns invaded Europe, starting a little more than 40,000 years ago, the Neandertals survived for nearly 15,000 years after moderns moved in—hardly the rapid replacement adherents to the blitzkrieg theory envisioned.

These revelations have prompted a number of researchers to look more carefully at other ­factors that might have led to Neandertal extinction. What they are finding suggests that the answer involves a complicated interplay of stresses.

link: The Mysterious Downfall of the Neandertals: Scientific American

Deathstar Library

Libraries aren't what they used to be; they have to compete for attention now. Rem Koolhaas built his library in Seattle as a giant ramp and built his deathstar in Dubai; Greeen! Architects has won a competition to drop a Deathstar library (they call it a bibliosphere) on top of a student center and flexible administrative building for the University Duisburg- Essen.

link: Bibliosphere Library Lands in Germany : TreeHugger

Gonna Be In That Number: Global Aging

The world's population of older people is growing at the fastest rate ever seen and the old will soon outnumber the young for the first time, U.S. researchers reported on Monday.

An aging population will push up pension and healthcare costs, forcing major increases in public spending that could slow economic growth in rich and poor countries.

The number of people 65 and older hit about 506 million as of midyear 2008, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. This will double to 1.3 billion by 2040, accounting for 14 percent of the total global population.

"People aged 65 and over will soon outnumber children under age 5 for the first time in history," said the report put together by Kevin Kinsella and Wan He of the U.S. Census Bureau.

"Aging is affecting every country in every part of the world," said Richard Suzman of the National Institute of Aging, which commissioned the report. "While there are important differences between developed and developing countries, global aging is changing the social and economic nature of the planet and presenting difficult challenges."

link: In the year 2040 - 1.3 billion senior citizens | Lifestyle | Reuters

Iran: Supreme Leader Says Don't Challenge Authority

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned senior officials on Monday not to help Tehran's enemies after two former presidents expressed defiant opposition to the result of June's disputed presidential poll.

Clashes erupted between police and reformist protesters for the first time in weeks in Tehran on Friday after former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani declared the Islamic Republic in crisis and said there were doubts about the election result.

That statement was a clear challenge to the authority of Khamenei, Iran's most powerful figure whose endorsement of hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's landslide victory was meant to be the final word on the fairness of the June 12 poll.

link: Ayatollah warns against helping Iran's enemies | International | Reuters