http://viruscomix.wordpress.com/2010/09/09/discrepancies/

http://viruscomix.wordpress.com/?p=528

Hey, the site’s back online finally, and the new comic’s up too. No walls of text this time though. ROWNTREE WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?! TS;DR

-WR

http://www.realtechnews.com/2010/09/08/htc-new-model-is-hd3-or-hd7/

http://www.realtechnews.com/?p=6941

http://www.topix.net/city/boulder-co/2010/09/social-media-play-key-role-in-boulder-fire?fromrss=1

A wildfire is burning above Boulder, Colorado, and Twitter and Facebook are playing an important role - not only in coverage, but helping the sheriff's department, as well.

http://www.stallman.org/archives/2010-jul-oct.html#9%20September%202010%20%28The%20GPL%20is%20next%29

A Christian church in Florida plans to burn copies of the Koran as an expression of hatred for Islam. Anyone has a right to burn the Koran, or the Bible, or the US flag, or even the GNU Coding Standards. Such an act is disrespectful towards the idea which is the target — intentionally so — and that is why people have a right to do it. Freedom of speech includes the right to express disrespect for any idea whatsoever; to put any idea out of bounds for criticism is intolerable for liberty.

Respect for other people's freedom includes recognizing their right to hold and advocate their ideas. That doesn't mean we have to respect the ideas themselves.

There is much to be condemned in Islam, including mistreatment of women, contempt for dissent, and imposition of absurd moral rules totally unrelated to being good to other people. (The same applies to many forms of Christianity.) However, burning a Koran is not an articulate criticism of these defects in Islam; it fails even to identify the defects. Writing about them is much clearer.

I can understand the hurt feelings of Muslims who dislike this rather crude expression of criticism. I too feel bad when people criticize my ideas. But before Muslims get angry, they should recognize that Islam, with its intolerance of dissent and criticism, is hardly in a position to complain. Islamic states, in their repression of dissent from Islam, do much worse than burning books: they threaten authors with death.

http://www.stallman.org/archives/2010-jul-oct.html#9%20September%202010%20%28No%20more%20%26quot%3BAdult%20Services%26quot%3B%20on%20Craigslist%29

Craigslist has been bullied into censoring its sex ads, in a victory for prude bullies and intolerant Christians.

http://www.stallman.org/archives/2010-jul-oct.html#9%20September%202010%20%28Offshore%20drilling%20challenged%20in%20the%20UK%29

Greenpeace is taking legal action in the UK for a moratorium and safety review on deep sea oil drilling.

http://www.stallman.org/archives/2010-jul-oct.html#9%20September%202010%20%28Risky%20business%3A%20GM%20salmon%29

Are genetically engineered salmon dangerous?

The disgust about mixing genes from different species is irrational, but there are some real issues here.

Salmon spawn in places that are far upstream — nowhere near fish farms. Does this make it impossible for the modified gene to get into wild salmon? I am not sure. If it can't leak from the farms, it might get into a wild population through a unexpected route. Living organisms occasionally do things that surprise us.

Wild salmon must have evolved the gene that turns off growth hormone for part of the year, so the artificial gene might be selected against. If so, it would disappear from the wild population even if it were introduced there. However, it is hard to be sure of this based on theoretical arguments, because they lead to probabilities rather than certainties.

The issue about exposing humans to extra IGF-1 might be a real one. The crucial question is, if you eat a lot of this salmon, how much IGF-1 would you get, and is that enough to have a significant effect? The amount of effect from eating salmon might be either more or less than the effect of drinking cow's milk — I don't know. The point is one cannot assume the two cases are parallel.

What we do know is that children tend to drink a lot of milk, but they don't tend to eat a lot of salmon.

http://www.stallman.org/archives/2010-jul-oct.html#9%20September%202010%20%28BP%20spill%20fallout%20may%20lead%20to%20extinctions%29

The dwarf seahorse may become extinct as a result of the damage to seagrass caused by the big spill. The dispersant might contribute too.

http://www.stallman.org/archives/2010-jul-oct.html#9%20September%202010%20%28Tokyo%20Two%20get%20suspended%20sentence%29

Two Japanese activists who informed prosecutors about illegally appropriated whale meat were convicted of theft for doing so.

http://www.stallman.org/archives/2010-jul-oct.html#9%20September%202010%20%28Big%20labour%20protests%20in%20France%29

There were massive protests in France against President Sarkozy's plan to raise the retirement age.

I am glad that French people are ready to mount large protests. But what about the issue itself?

60 is rather low as a retirement age; in advanced countries, most people live many years beyond that, and most people of 60 are still capable of working. If there are not enough people working to do the jobs that society needs done, then raising the retirement age seems proper to me, especially as the number of old people increases and the number of young people decreases.

However, that argument disappears in a society with a lot of unemployment. If there are already more people ready to work than there are jobs, raising the retirement age will only increase the number of people that need work and can't find any. I think that is the situation in France.