UK: Intelligent Design Isn't Science

The UK government has reiterated that Creationism and Intelligent Design are not science and have no place in a modern science curriculum.

"The Government is aware that a number of concerns have been raised in the media and elsewhere as to whether creationism and intelligent design have a place in science lessons. The Government is clear that creationism and intelligent design are not part of the science National Curriculum programmes of study and should not be taught as science."

via /.

Video Gaming Not an Addiction, Yet

A committee of physician groups which had suggested video game addiction be listed as a mental disorder are now backing away from that proposal, saying the issue needs more study.

"There is nothing here to suggest that this is a complex physiological disease state akin to alcoholism or other substance abuse disorders, and it doesn't get to have the word addiction attached to it," said Dr. Stuart Gitlow of the American Society of Addiction Medicine and Mt. Sinai School of Medicine in New York.

via GameDaily

Wiretap Case in Court Today

The Justice Department is arguing in federal court today that states should be blocked in their investigations into warrantless domestic wiretapping.

Murdoch Considers Yahoo!

Rupert Murdoch is reportedly considering swapping MySpace for a 25% stake in Yahoo!

Those Missing W.H. Emails

The scope of the missing email scandal at the White House is growing dramatically. The House Oversight Committee is now saying that email from 51 of the 88 accounts which used an RNC mail system are missing, including the account of White House Political Director Ken Mehlman. Of the remaining accounts, it seems many of the emails are missing. For example, of the over 140,000 emails sent or received by Karl Rove, only 131 are from Bush's first term. And none of those are from before November 2003.

The Administration's defenders are claiming that neither the Presidential Records Act, nor the Hatch Act have been violated, but that in not a settled fact.

Fined for Using Biofuel

A South Carolina man was fined $1000 for using vegetable oil in his car. The issue was his not paying fuel tax.

via /.

NCAA Bans Live-Blogging

Louisville Courier-Journal reporter Brian Bennett says he was evicted from the press box and had his press credentials revoked by the NCAA because he was live-blogging the baseball game he was covering. It seems it all comes down to the money the NCAA gets from broadcasters, and who gets to report events first. The decision against the reporter is drawing the ire of at least one press freedom organization.

via Romenesko

Busted for Recording a Traffic Stop

Eighteen year old Brian Kelly was arrested on a felony wiretapping charge for recording a police officer during a traffic stop. Kelly was the passenger in the car and used his video camera to film the incident.

But the video camera also recorded the sound, and that's why Mr. Kelly is in trouble. There is a state law which bars the intentional interception or recording of a person's oral conversation without consent.

After pointing out that the young men were actually being filmed by a police camera on his cruiser, the officer asked Kelly to stop recording, which he did. Kelly was then arrested and spent the night in the county prison. He now faces felony charges and a possible 7 year prison sentence.

"I didn't think I could get in trouble for that," Kelly said. "I screwed up, yeah. I know now that I can't do that. I just don't see how something like this should affect my entire life."

via BoingBoing

Police Collect Scents of G-8 Protestors

I was listening to the Daily Show tonight when fake news anchor Jon Stewart said the police at the G-8 Summit in Heiligendamm had collected the scents of some known opponents. Ha ha, lots of comedic laughs.

But guess what? It's true!

Not only that, they didn't stop at collecting scents.

Prosecutors already face criticism for taking scent samples in a pre-summit investigation of a handful of G-8 opponents _ a technique used by the dreaded East German Stasi secret police to track dissidents with dogs _ and for intercepting and opening the mail of another suspect.

Teddy Bear Robot to Rescue Troops

I had to triple check the calendar to make sure it wasn't April 1st. But no, it's true. The company VECNA Technologies has developed a rescue robot with a teddy bear head. Well, it vaguely resembles a teddy bear, I guess.

The idea behind the design of the Battlefield Extraction-Assist Robot (BEAR) is that the "friendly appearance" of the cute little head will comfort soldiers as they are being transported. Personally, I'd be a bit creeped out.

via /.