Google Earth Spots Flying Car

If you have the new version of Google Earth installed, this link will take you to the gravity defying Flying Car of Perth.

(Parroting The Register, where you can learn more about the flying car and other great things captured mid-flight by Google Earth.)

Found On the Internets: More Fun with Statistics — Universities Ranked by Male/Female Ratio

Universities Sorted by Male/Female Ratio @ about.com

Tiananmen Wha?

As you've probably noted in the news, Google has agreed to censor itself in China.

To censorship in action, check out the search results for tiananmen square from Google's main site and from google.cn.

The distinction is far more jarring when looking at Google image search results for tiananmen square from their main site and from google.cn.

Hubba Hubba

It's a website selling swim apparel for the modest, and it's called WholesomeWear.

Islam in Space

I love the internet.

The second of these questions occurred to me on the subway last night (I was listening to an excellent Hajj-related podcast from the BBC archive). Thanks to the indescribeable wonder that is the internet, I have at least one answer to my question.

The questions:

1. In the event of deep space travel, in which direction should a Muslim pray?
2. If the event of a Muslim living her entire life in outer space, is she required to perform the Hajj (traditional one-in-a-lifetime visit to Mecca & Medina)?
3. For a Muslim living in a distant solar system, how is Ramadan determined?

These are the questions. For the answers, I refer you to islamweb.net's Fatwa Center.

The Fœderalist Papers

(Crossposted from Columbia Law School :: American Constitution Society)

In the Federalist Papers, published in 1788, federal is written fœderal.

As this spelling makes one go bug-eyed in a hurry, most current editions use the modern spelling.

Procrastinating? Here's Wikipedia's list of words that may be spelled with a ligature.

The Silent Majority, The Talking Majority

(Crossposted from the American Constitution Society :: Columbia Law School)

Over at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, Herbert Klein believes that "the so-called silent majority supports the President" in his efforts to wiretap Americans without benefit of a FISA warrant.

Where is this silent majority? Not answering public opinion polls, apparently.

The old news is that Bush's approval rating has returned to 36%. Also old news is the now-discredited claim, made by the Weekly Standard's Stephen Hayes, that public opinion shows "support" for the NSA's warrant-free spying program.

The new news comes from Zogby's polling. 52% of Americans surveyed responded with I agree when asked this question:

If President Bush wiretapped American citizens without the approval of a judge, do you agree or disagree that Congress should consider holding him accountable through impeachment?

Granted, that's a particularly biased way of phrasing that question, and considering impeachment is not impeaching.

Still, almost 1 in 3 (29%) of surveyed Republicans (76% of surveyed Democrats, 50% of surveyed Independents) and a majority of surveyed Americans answered in the affirmative.

Not happy numbers for a President on the eve of his State of the Union address.

I Hope They Convinced Him to Order the Deluxe Package

Naturally, I'm mildly bummed that Cobra Commander, er... Bin Laden has released a new audiotape. However, the bad news that he's (apparently) still alive and kicking is offset by this picture:

Source: CNN
It's nice to know that even Islamo-fascists can get duped into cheesy picture backgrounds.

Home Run Baseballs and Wrecked Spanish Galleons: Both Intentionally Abandoned Property

Great quote from Popov v. Hayashi (.pdf link), the lawsuit that determined ownership of Barry Bonds's 73^rd home run ball:

The parties have agreed to a starting point for the legal analysis. Prior to the time the ball was hit, it was possessed and owned by Major League Baseball. At the time it was hit it became intentionally abandoned property.¹⁵

¹⁵ See generally, Fugitive Baseballs and Abandoned Property: Who Owns the Home Run Ball?; Cardozo Law Review, May 2002, Paul Finkelman, (Chapman Distinguished Professor of Law).

Say Wha? And You Thought US Legal Language Was Bad

Grammatically, judicial opinions delivered by the Cour de Cassation (French Supreme Court) consist of a single run-on sentence.