From The Agonist
Day: November 6, 2006
Deceiving Pictures
The Gong Show’s “Popsicle Twins” Act
This was the infamous act from “The Gong Show” in 1978 that pulled the plug on the NBC version, though it would last two more years in syndication. Immediately after that act, NBC switchboards were flooded with complaints from irate viewers; and despite many claims, that episode WAS seen on the West Coast.
The Orange Balls of Japan
Have you ever wondered what those fluorescent orange balls found in nearly all convenience stores, banks, and post offices in Japan are for? Simon Adams takes us on a journey to find out!
Top 100 Hubble Photos
Phenomenal. Pictured above is the Sombrero galaxy:
NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has trained its razor-sharp eye on one of the universe’s most stately and photogenic galaxies, the Sombrero galaxy, Messier 104 (M104). The galaxy’s hallmark is a brilliant white, bulbous core encircled by the thick dust lanes comprising the spiral structure of the galaxy. As seen from Earth, the galaxy is tilted nearly edge-on. We view it from just six degrees north of its equatorial plane. This brilliant galaxy was named the Sombrero because of its resemblance to the broad rim and high-topped Mexican hat.
Poland and Evolution
From Spiegel:
Poland’s deputy education minister has called for Polish schools to ditch Darwinism in favor of creationism. His party is also well known for gay bashing and for wanting to introduce the death penalty.
Where do we come from? It’s a question that has been dogging mankind since … well, since when? Since man was created? Or since man climbed down from the trees? Poland’s deputy education minister Miroslaw Orzechowski thinks he knows, and he wants Polish schoolchildren to know too.
Orzechowski is intent on keeping Darwinism from falling into the wrong heads. In a recent interview, he commented that it was “sad” that the “lie” of the evolution theories of Charles Darwin were being taught in Polish schools, and called for a debate on whether Darwin’s theories should be purged from the school curriculum.
Orzechowski’s position is not totally surprising. The minister belongs to the ultra-Catholic rightwing party the League of Polish Families (LPR), a junior partner in Poland’s conservative government. Other European governments have been alarmed by the LPR’s campaigns against gay rights, their purported anti-Semitism, their support for an abortion ban, and their calls for a re-introduction of the death penalty (something which would be illegal under European Union law).
(via J-Walk)
Penn Jillette on The Colbert Report
From OneGoodMove:
Stephen and Penn discuss Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and God. Penn explains how the resurrection was a magic trick and exactly how it was done.