"...In an explosive decision, the court concluded that basing school admissions on a classic test of Judaism — whether one’s mother is Jewish — was by definition discriminatory. Whether the rationale was “benign or malignant, theological or supremacist,” the court wrote, “makes it no less and no more unlawful.”
The case rested on whether the school’s test of Jewishness was based on religion, which would be legal, or on race or ethnicity, which would not. The court ruled that it was an ethnic test because it concerned the status of M’s mother rather than whether M considered himself Jewish and practiced Judaism.
“The requirement that if a pupil is to qualify for admission his mother must be Jewish, whether by descent or conversion, is a test of ethnicity which contravenes the Race Relations Act,” the court said. It added that while it was fair that Jewish schools should give preference to Jewish children, the admissions criteria must depend not on family ties, but “on faith, however defined.
The same reasoning would apply to a Christian school that “refused to admit a child on the ground that, albeit practicing Christians, the child’s family were of Jewish origin,” the court said.”
* Boing Boing gives some guidelines for aiding the Iran Situation with Twitter.
* These are cheese straws. These are graham crackers.
Basic Gist:
1) There is a game called "Desert Bus." It consists of driving an old empty bus from Tucson to Las Vegas in real time; that means you spend 8 hours driving a bus through the desert with 8 bit graphics. If you crash, a tow truck comes for you and drives you back (also in real time). Each time you reach Las Vegas (or get back to Tucson) you get 1 point.
2) There is a charity called "Child's Play" associated with Penny Arcade. Each year they collect money and games from geeks all over the world for children in hospitals.
3) There is a strange group of people in Vancouver that call themselves "LoadingReadyRun." They are playing desert bus for days and days and days based on donations from internet geeks. They have a live cam of them playing, a live chat, and a live cam of the game screen. They've been playing for 16 hours now. They've received donations for 99 hours, over $12,000.
This is hypnotic and you should watch.
excerpts:
" “It’s allowed,” he said. Medical supplies, such as saline solution for contact-lens cleaning, don’t fall under the TSA’s three-ounce rule.
“What’s allowed?” I asked. “Saline solution, or bottles labeled saline solution?”
“Bottles labeled saline solution. They won’t check what’s in it, trust me.”
They did not check.
“Maybe if you lit it on fire, he’d pay attention,” I said, risking arrest for making a joke at airport security. (Later, Schneier would carry two bottles labeled saline solution—24 ounces in total—through security. An officer asked him why he needed two bottles. “Two eyes,” he said. He was allowed to keep the bottles.)
...
“The whole system is designed to catch stupid terrorists,” Schneier told me. A smart terrorist, he says, won’t try to bring a knife aboard a plane, as I had been doing; he’ll make his own, in the airplane bathroom. Schneier told me the recipe: “Get some steel epoxy glue at a hardware store. It comes in two tubes, one with steel dust and then a hardener. You make the mold by folding a piece of cardboard in two, and then you mix the two tubes together. You can use a metal spoon for the handle. It hardens in 15 minutes.”
* This is gorgeous and I hope they bring it to the US.
* Weave on a hairpick.
* Maker Shed has some new neat kits: Phonograph kit, animated ghost kit.
* Crochet pumpkins and squash and candy corn and such (for sale, not for free, unfortunately)
* Hear Neil Gaiman read his new book chapter by chapter.
* 'Member that clip of Matt Damon talking about Sarah Palin? Says something about her story being like some Disney movie? Oh yeah. (Video)
After several hours of discussions with President George W Bush, a group of Republican members of Congress blocked the government plan...The intense discussions reportedly saw US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson literally down on one knee, begging Ms Pelosi to help push through the bail-out package.
* Instant Ramen in a Can
*
* Paper Mache is neat. If only I had a dress form.
* popcorn balls
* Faberge Egg Contest
* custom silhouette tshirt
* potato print bag
* goodwill table + mosaic + resin = awesome
I also greatly enjoy Game Over. Their version of the Yule Log makes me happy.
* Followup on the NYT article on the man who died in detention of cancer and a broken spine.
* Tourists are weird.
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