Mel

We tried to find out! Here is a list of some of the top books you put aside and a few reasons why.



posted by Elizabeth on July, 09

Hey poli sci geeks - my brother, Greg Weiner (yes there are more Weiners), is writing some articles here. Fair warning: They involve nuance and politics, so you will probably be angry at some of them. Enjoy!

Relevant text from the Reddit thread:

Grave of a Catholic woman and her Protestant husband. The Protestant Colonel of Cavalry, JWC of Gorkum married the Catholic damsel JCPH of Aefferden. This "mixed" marriage, at that time (the 19th century), would have given them trouble. The wife wanted to be buried next to her husband, but the difference in their denomination would not allow that. So the Colonel was buried in the Protestant part, against the separation wall and his wife was buried on the Catholic side.

Here's the cemetery (Roermond, The Netherlands) on Google maps (you can see the monuments from the street view camera!)

Maybe my favorite shirt design ever?

In Hollander v. Members of the Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York, (2d Cir., April 10, 2013), the 2nd Circuit dismissed on collateral estoppel grounds an action claiming that the state and federal governments have violated the Establishment Clause by providing funding to Columbia University which maintains an Institute for Research on Women’s and Gender Studies and a Women’s Studies program. Plaintiff argues that feminism is a "modern-day religion." The courts had dismissed a similar suit in 2010 on standing grounds, and so the issue cannot now be relitigated. The court added: "Hollander is an attorney. Before again invoking his feminism-as-religion thesis in support of an Establishment Clause claim, we expect him to consider carefully whether his conduct passes muster under Rule 11," the procedural rule that imposes sanctions on attorneys for filing frivolous lawsuits. (See prior related posting.)

AP and the Cleveland Plain Dealer report on interesting attempts by lawyers to obtain release while their appeals are pending for Samuel Mullet and several of his Bergholz Amish followers who were convicted last year on hate crime charges for hair and beard cutting attacks on a rival group of Amish. (See prior posting.)  Attorneys claim that assigning the convicted Amish to prisons around the country, some 1,000 miles away from home, is cruel and unusual punishment.  Relatives of the convicted Amish, because of religious restrictions on means of travel, cannot fly to see them, and must hire drivers to visit them by automobile. The motions also argue that language in last year's Supreme court decision upholding Obamacare as a tax, but not as a regulation of commerce, casts doubt on the constitutionality of the hate crimes law as applied to this case where the interstate commerce nexus was that the clippers and scissors used in the attacks came from out of state. The motions also argue that the hate crime law was not intended to apply to disputes among a religious group's own members.

UPDATE: On April 9, Federal Judge Dan Polster denied Samuel Mullet's motion for release, ruling that he still poses a threat to his Amish community and that his appeal does not raise substantial questions of law. (AP).

I worked in our store for years before I finally learned the story of the weirdly long crochet hooks that kept getting tucked away in a forgotten corner. Oh, those? They're just the tool you need to whip up one of needlework's most beautiful fabrics!

Tunisian Crochet may get overlooked in the corner sometimes, but the distinctiveness of its fabric warrants closer scrutiny. It combines a waffle-like grid with a squishy density that is just right for blankets, pillows, dishtowels, and these washcloths!

If you already know how to crochet, you'll be old friends with this new technique in about ten minutes. And even if you've never held a crochet hook before, Tunisian Crochet is one of the easiest places to start. Our new Tunisian Crochet Basics Tutorial will get you on your way!

Use your new skills to whip up these decadently thick and wonderfully soft Tunisian Crochet Washcloths. They're made out of a combination of organic and pima cottons which subtly play off each other with their matte and lustrous finishes. We think a set of three is just what mom will love this Mother's Day! -Whitney

A German company, Atheist Shoes, claims that the U.S. Postal Service is delaying and losing its deliveries because of the company's beliefs. The small company, which designs and produces shoes, was created by a group of atheists. Here is a portion of the company's full account (apparently posted earlier this week) of its experiences in shipping its shoes to customers in the United States:

We have lots of customers in the USA, but sometimes the shoes we send them take longer than they should to arrive, or even go missing. and, when some of our customers asked us not to use Atheist-branded packing tape on their shipments, we started to wonder if the delays were caused by the US Postal Service taking offence at our overt godlessness.

So, we launched an experiment. We sent 178 packages to 89 people, in 49 US states. Each person was sent 2 packages; one sealed with Atheist-branded packing tape, the other with a neutral tape.

They all left Berlin on November 21st, 2012, and, in theory, the branded and unbranded packages should have traveled at exactly the same speed. Atheist-branded packages took on average 3 days longer to reach their destinations. 9 Atheist packages went missing, and just 1 non-branded....

Having run a series of control tests in Germany and Europe, which demonstrate no such bias, the problem appears to lie in the USA and is likely explained by the differential handling of packages by the employees of the US Postal Service....

We're no longer using Atheist-packing tape on our shipments to the USA and delivery times are already improving....

[Thanks to Boing Boing via Scott Mange for the lead.]