So this was surprising for me, considering I go to a college teeming with all manner of hooligans who are willing to wear green and drink themselves silly:

Cheating on your taxes is almost as bad as cheating on your spouse.
Drinking excessively is worse than smoking marijuana.
Engaging in homosexual behavior and having an abortion are equally fraught.
Telling a lie to spare someone’s feelings is worse than gambling.
Sex between unmarried adults is more objectionable than overeating (but not by much).
These are some of the findings from PEW’s “Barometer of Modern Morals” report released in 2006.
You can read more about it here.

I realise this will be two short film posts in a row but I’ll try to do something different next time. This film, “Food Fight”:http://homepage.mac.com/stefannadelman/foodfight/index.htm, by Stefan Nadelman of “Tourist Pictures”:http://www.touristpictures.com/ re-tells the military history of the world since the beginning of World War 2. It’s from a very western perspective, but it’s still a lot of fun. I really like the ever-growing burger stack that was the Cold War.

In a world where very little is new, it’s nice to see cool ideas come to life. This animation is by a cool guy at “the Pratt Institute”:http://www.pratt.edu/ in Brooklyn by the name of Javan Ivey. The technique is known as stratastenciling and involves a cascading series of paper cut-out cards. Visit his website “here”:http://www.javanivey.com/ for more genius.

Just when I thought there couldn’t possibly be another group selling ridiculous rubber bracelets to promote their cause, I found out about “this one”:http://www.acomplaintfreeworld.org/. Playing on the idea that we are what we do, _A Complaint Free World_ seeks to “help you set a trap for your own negativity and redirect your mind towards a more positive and rewarding life.” Imagine how much better the world would be if there weren’t almost 5 million people out there wearing purple bracelets complaining about other people complaining.
Still, what’s not to love in the idea that you can just spend money and feel better. I suppose that’s the real secret to happiness, “read a book”:http://www.complaintfreeworld.biz/cofrwobo.html, “go on a cruise”:http://www.acomplaintfreeworld.org/E-Newsletters/2008/cruise.htm, “buy a bracelet”:http://www.complaintfreeworld.biz/purple-complaint-free-bracelet.html and get over yourself.
Previously featured ridiculous cruises:
* “Creationist group fundraises with Alaskan cruise”:http://duenos.net/article/164/CreationistgroupfundraiseswithAlaskancruise: Answers in Genesis on the high seas.

!http://www.lifestraw.com/en/low/imgs/pic03.gif!
I don’t know if I’ve ever mentioned this invention on the blog before, but I first heard about it a few years ago and was very impressed. It is called the Life Straw and it’s the grand prize winner at the Saatchi & Saatchi Award for World Changing Ideas, along with much-lauded runner up “One Laptop Per Child”:http://laptop.org/. The idea of the Life Straw is that it uses a cheap halogen-based resin to filter out 99.9 percent of bacteria and 98.7 percent of viruses providing a VERY cheap way to filter water anywhere. Because the places dealing with water problems are typically not the kind of places with large infrastructures or abundant resources, the Life Straw really helps most where the problems are at their worst. It’s an incredible idea and I for one want to add my voice to singing it’s praises. Who knows, it may just change the world.
For more about the Life Straw, the science behind it, and the promise it holds, visit the official site “here”:http://www.lifestraw.com/. You could also learn about it like I did through environmental uber-blog: “TreeHugger.com”:http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/02/lifestraw_world_changing.php.

It’s been quite a long time since I’ve been able to enjoy the verdant fields and lush plains that are contributing to Duenos, but I’ve managed to escape from the clutches of the law briefly to . . . talk about what I’ve written on the law.
I’m involved with the “Illinois Business Law Journal”:http://iblsjournal.typepad.com/, a blog designed to give law students (and others) the ability to write on pertinent business issues. Though the issues touch business in some way, the scope of the possible topics is extremely broad.
“http://iblsjournal.typepad.com/ I just finished my "first article":http://iblsjournal.typepad.com/illinois_business_law_soc/2008/02/picture-yoursel.html, which discussed the current and prospective state of the law with regard to border searches of laptops and other electronic storage devices performed by US Customs, which has an especially powerful impact on international business travelers. I encourage you to give it a read, but for those with shorter attention spans, here's the basic deal: You'd be surprised what extensive powers the federal government has under existing case law to search your property at the border, and the government rarely needs to suspect you of anything to do so. That being said, there is a particularly influential case being decided in federal court in California right now (United States v. Arnold) that could shape the future of how the law regards laptops and similar devices. Basically, the government is trying to argue that a laptop is no different from any other kind of container that you can put things into. It's also trying to argue that it needs to get into your files to ensure that you're not carrying anything illegal over the border. I think you can guess how I feel on that one, but if you'd like to know more, check out the "article":http://iblsjournal.typepad.com/illinois_business_law_soc/2008/02/picture-yoursel.html. Fortunately, groups like the "Electronic Frontier Foundation":http://www.eff.org have the back of privacy-loving people everywhere, and cases like these help motivate me to further study the law so that I will be able to work to protect vital rights one day myself.

A woman found a wounded lion at the brink of death in the forest. She brought him to her house and took care of him until he got better. After the lion had recovered, she called a zoo and made arrangements so that she could bring him to a proper home, a place where they would be able to continue taking care of him.
This video was filmed when the woman went to visit the lion in the zoo some time after. The reaction of the lion when he sees her is INCREDIBLE.
Here’s a screenshot from the reunion video, but it’s worth seeing it for real “here”:http://duenos.net/images/alex/LionHug.swf, even if you have to put up with the local news banter.
This entry was posted in Uncategorized on February 22, 2008 by .