JG Ballard, 1930-2009

 I suppose this should come as no surprise, considering his age, but this is still rotten news to have to report. 

Other info is available at bbc.co.uk, among others.

Welcome to Stoopid Univesitah! Now respect mah authoritah!

In a move stunning both for its stupidity and arrogance, the Institute of Creation Research - yeah, the group behind Answers in Genesis and other "creation science" fluff - has filed suit against the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board because the THECB denied them the right to issue MS degrees in science education. Timothy Sandefur covers this nonsense here and also provides links to pieces by Tony Whitson and Steve Schafersman of Texas Citizens for Science  in his followup on The Panda's Thumb.

Just when you think that state is temporarily safe from Dumbth attacks, here they come again.

No search and seizure overreach here, right...?

 Yeah, I know it's a bad thing to try to out people, especially if you're wrong. That doesn't quite justify what the Boston College campus police did to this guy, especially since there's no indication that a crime was committed.

(You may now return to your Hyperbaric Safety Chamber fully aware that we are all protected from ne'er-do-wells daring to use prompt commands and/or criminal OSes such as Linux. Paperwork concerning your annual Loyalty Oath reaffirmations is due at 0700 hours tomorrow. 

Be seeing you.)