From an article here:

Non-British Scouts can promise to do their duty to “the country in which I am now living” rather than the Queen.

The updated guidelines allow the word ‘God’ to be replaced by ‘Allah’, ‘my Dharma’ or others according to the individual Scout’s faith or religion. Only atheists are not allowed to join the movement.

It’s nice that they treat all superstitions equally.

From the Slashdot article:

You can put away your Sharpies, because Sony has launched a new CD copy protection scheme that is actually designed to be easily cracked: The copy-protection technology is…far from ironclad. Apple Macintosh users currently face no restrictions at all. What’s more, if users go to a Web site to complain about the lack of iPod compatibility, Sony BMG will send them an email with a back door measure on how to work around the copy protection.

From the BBC article:

Qui Chengwei stabbed Zhu Caoyuan in the chest when he found out he had sold his virtual sword for 7,200 Yuan (£473).

The sword, which Mr Qui had lent to Mr Zhu, was won in the popular online game Legend of Mir 3.

Attempts to take the dispute to the police failed because there is currently no law in China to protect virtual property.

CNN.com is reporting that United Parcel Service has lost backup tapes containing the identities of 3.9 million Citigroup customers. Oops.
From the article:

Citigroup did not return calls seeking comment, but it sent its customers a letter saying the tapes included Social Security numbers, names, account history and loan information about retail customers, and former customers, in the United States.

This is very surprising. The Smithsonian will co-sponsor and screen a movie that supports creationism. The Smithsonian!
The Discovery Institute (yes, them again) produced the film, The Privileged Planet: The Search for Purpose in the Universe. They gave $16K to the Smithsonian, and now it will be aired, despite the museum’s stated policy that “events of a religious or partisan political nature” are not permitted. The NYT has the article.

A senator from Kansas is seeking the Republican nomination for Secretary of State. That senator thinks that giving women the right to vote was a mistake. The irony… that senator it’s a woman. From the AP article:

“I think the 19th Amendment, while it’s not an evil in and of itself, is a symptom of something I don’t approve of,” she said at the time. “The 19th Amendment is around because men weren’t doing their jobs, and I think that’s sad. I believe the man should be the head of the family. The woman should be the heart of the family.”

Must be Strom Thurmond speaking through her.

Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world that bans women from driving. The AP has an article about the Saudi response to the possibility of lifting the ban:

Conservatives, who believe women should be shielded from strange men, say driving will allow a woman to leave home whenever she pleases and go wherever she wishes. Some say it will present her with opportunities to violate Islamic law, such as exposing her eyes while driving or interacting with strange men, like police officers or mechanics.

To be fair, that is how most 80’s porn flicks start.

When asked at yesterday’s press conference about Amnesty International’s report criticizing America’s treatment of detainees, President Bush called the claims “absurd.” According to the White House transcript, he also said:

In terms of the detainees, we’ve had thousands of people detained. We’ve investigated every single complaint against the detainees. It seemed like to me they based some of their decisions on the word of — and the allegations — by people who were held in detention, people who hate America, people that had been trained in some instances to disassemble — that means not tell the truth.

What, Dubya? You’re trying to trying to dispel the widely held opinion that you’re a rube? And you think that you can achieve that by appearing professorial as you use a word in a speech that you assume people don’t know, then define it for them? Well, OK, that tactic may seem condescending and blatantly transparent, but you’re the prez. There are just one or two things you may want to consider:

• Make sure you use the right word-definition combination. For instance, disassemble does not mean to “not tell the truth”, but dissemble does.
• To lessen the transparency of the definition tactic, it might be a good idea to not use “Dictionary.com’s Word of the Day” from the previous fucking day.

How did you get into Yale? Oh, never mind, I remember.