Another day another case of a town mayor comparing atheists to Nazis and the KKK. Although given that traditionally the KKK was made up of good God fearing white Christians (the type of people Mayor James Fouts of Warren, MI seems to favor) I’m perplexed by the latter comparison. To: mayor@cityofwarren.org Subject: atheists not welcome here I’m confused when you say you “cannot accept or will not allow a group that is disparaging of another group”.

So I’m leaving the Safeway grocery store this afternoon and I see a panting dog in a Toyota RAV 4 (small SUV) with all the windows rolled up in direct sun with the ambient temperature 85°F (29°C). I have the store manager page the owner. Another bystander calls the police. Ten minutes later the moron comes out of the store. I express my displeasure. The moron claims not to speak english (but pretty clearly does).

An invaluable source of medical information for the lay person is being sued in an attempt to suppress legitimate criticism. Dr. Edward Tobinick seems to think litigation, rather than published peer reviewed studies, is the proper way to address criticism of his practices. Here’s wishing that Dr. Novella and SBM prevail so that cranks like Dr. Tobinick learn that frivolous lawsuits are a waste of time. Update 2014-08-24: You can find more information and an easy way to donate to the defense of this SLAPP [here](http://www.

Earlier this year I signed up under a non-de-plume for Family Research Council (FRC) alerts. Today the FRC (Family Research Council) sent me an irony laden email outlining the frightening outcomes should Pamela Harris be confirmed by the Senate. President Obama is on a mission to fill the nation’s highest courts with activist judges who will rubber stamp his liberal agenda. Obama’s nominations are totally unlike his Republican predecessors in that regard according to the FRC.

Okay, he didn’t literally say that. But he did snipe at President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama for encouraging their children to learn for themselves what it’s like to try to live in America on a minimum wage. What Paul meant, according to Brian Darling, Paul’s senior communication director, was Sen. Paul argued that kids should be celebrated for making their own money and not taught that minimum wage jobs are bad.

There is a new study by a group of independent US medical researches that antioxidants in pill form are at best worthless and at worst harmful (e.g., by triggering lung cancer). This really shouldn’t be a surprise. We’ve known for decades that biological processes are almost unbelievably complex. Theoretical models often fail when confronted with the reality of a biological organism. A treatment that works in the lab (e.g., a petri dish) seldom works as well or in exactly the same way inside a living body.

This should be unbelievable but a town in Florida has passed a law banning saggy pants. I’m no fan of that fashion style. If I had my way the offenders would be forced to watch Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. But, come on, six months in jail? Who believes this is anything but thinly veiled racism? It’s nothing more than yet another excuse to harass young black men. Why not pass a law that makes it illegal to commit the fashion crime of dark colored dress socks with sandals and shorts?

Princeton physicist William Happer is still being invited on television to talk about things of which he is ignorant. He’s living proof that being intelligent on one topic doesn’t make you smart on other subjects. Case in point, this quote: I keep hearing about the “pollutant CO2,” or about “poisoning the atmosphere” with CO2, or about minimizing our “carbon footprint.” This brings to mind another Orwellian pronouncement that is worth pondering: “But if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought.

I really like the WordPress twentyfourteen theme. Except for one thing: the presentation of post titles in all-caps. Fortunately it’s pretty easy to change it to something more aesthetically pleasing. I decided to use small-caps as a compromise between the theme default and the raw title as entered by the user. To make the change select Appearance → Edit CSS and enter /* I really dislike the twentyfourteen theme converting titles to uppercase.

Yippee! Two new songs by my new favorite band: Lake Street Dive. And you can get them for just $2 and support independent music.

[https://www.youtube.com/embed/lcUeothSPyc?feature=oembed]