"Throughout the period of civil unrest and even at the height of the problems when there was continual footage of riots on TV, no tourists were harmed in any way in spite of over 30,000 international tourists being in Kenya."

Whew!

Sleights of Mind
By GEORGE JOHNSON

Some magicians have intuitively mastered some of the lessons being learned in the laboratory about the limits of cognition and attention.

Dick Cheney’s unmarried lesbian daughter gave birth to a baby boy (father unknown, of course). It’s like when Dan Quayle attacked Murphy Brown for being a single career woman who had a baby boy, only this time instead of the vice president criticizing the amoral-yet-fictional TV character, the vice president is actually the father of the amoral-yet-real woman, and she’s a lesbian.

SOURCE: http://wonkette.com/politics/week-in-review/aint-nobody-here-but-us-chickens-263828.php

Bruce Schneier, one of the best writers on security, has published a special edition of his e-zine Counterpane, asking for feedback on the draft of an essay he is writing.

In the middle of his ideas Schneier publishes two interesting lists:

People exaggerate risks that are:

• Spectacular


• Rare


• Personified


• Beyond their control, or externally imposed


• Talked about


• Intentional or man-made


• Immediate


• Sudden


• Affecting them personally


• New and unfamiliar


• Uncertain


• Directed against their children


• Morally offensive


• Entirely without redeeming features


• Not like their current situation

People downplay risks that are:

• Pedestrian


• Common


• Anonymous


• More under their control, or taken willingly


• Not discussed


• Natural


• Long-term or diffuse


• Evolving slowly over time


• Affecting others


• Familiar


• Well understood


• Directed towards themselves


• Morally desirable


• Associated with some ancillary benefit


• Like their current situation

To read his draft click on this link.

"While both Mormons and Christians worship the invisible ghost of a dead 1st Century Jew who may or may not have even existed, Mormons have the crazy belief that one book of scripture was written by a New York lunatic in the 19th Century. Conversely, Christians believe that one book of scripture was written by a lunatic on the island of Patmos at the end of the 1st Century, and that this same guy was also a disciple of Jesus some 70 years earlier. As you can plainly see, Mormonism is so weird!"

If you don't believe it, read more here.

"In the beginning, George W. Bush sent American forces into Iraq with no apparent thought about the sectarian tensions that could explode once Saddam Hussein was ousted. Now, nearing the end of his presidency, Bush is sending more American forces into Iraq with no apparent regard for the verdict of the American people, rendered in November's election, that they've had it with his war. And, by the evidence of all available polling, with Bush himself."

Read the whole thing at "Our Delusional Hedgehog" by Harold Meyerson in today's Washington Post

I first ran into this post on Bruce Schneier's excellent security blog, but I wanted everyone to have the whole story.

It's like a comedy routine, except it's not really funny.

About how you can't ship empty jars via FedEx because of what's printed on the labels.

Check out "FedEx refuses shipment of made-up stuff, empty cans".