What Caught My Eye Today

Jordan - The CIA sent at least 12 terrorism suspects to a prison in Jordan where they were allegedly tortured. The CIA has a longstanding relationship with the Jordanian intelligence service, which has received CIA money, training, and equipment. The CIA says that it does not transfer prisoners to any country if it believes they will be tortured there. U.N. investigators have confirmed that torture is routine in Jordan. Well, we may have sent suspects to other countries in the past, but apparently we don't need to do that anymore. According to some in Washington aggressive interrogation tactics like waterboarding are technically torture, at least according to the letter of the law. I wonder if the CIA is having any recruitment problems? Seriously, would you want to work for these guys?

Global Warming - So yesterday, I reported on the beating that the U.S. was taking at the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Bali, Indonesia. Here's a story on just how environmentally friendly Indonesia is. Indonesia rushed to plant 79 million trees just as environmentalists where arriving for the U.N. summit on climate change. Indonesia is the third biggest producer of greenhouse gases behind the U.S. and China. It also has the highest rate of deforestation in the world, largely because of illegal logging that every year cuts down the equivalent of a forest the size of Switzerland. See, this is why my feathers get ruffled. I'm not saying that the U.S. is innocent--far from it. But who among those attending this conference--aside from our Scandinavian brethren, of course, because they seem to do everything right--is not guilty of some transgression against the environment?

China - China has proudly released pictures relayed from its first lunar probe, saying the photos show that the unmanned moon mission, launched in October, is a complete success. Some Chinese bloggers promptly raised doubts about the photos saying that the images appeared identical to some NASA pictures. Chinese space officials reject the claims saying that careful examination of the pictures shows some small differences. I'm probably going to take some heat on this one, but does it seem that far-fetched that China may have doctored some photos of the moon's surface? It isn't as if they haven't pirated stuff from us in the past and made knock-offs. Plus, how hard is it to digitally alter a photograph these days? I hope that the photos are genuine, I really do--but, like I said, I wouldn't be that surprised if they weren't the real deal.

Canada - Ever since the Canadian loonie (dollar) eclipsed the U.S. dollar in value, shoppers from the north have been flocking to stores near the U.S. side of the border. Canadian customers are dumping their old clothes in dressing rooms or garbage cans, and then wearing their new purchases across the border to avoid paying duty fees. Canadian duty fees on U.S. purchases range upward of 6% and evading payment is illegal. Some stores are making the best of the situation by placing charity bins outside stores to collect the excess clothing. At a mall near Niagara Falls, an average of 20 full containers are picked up by the Salvation Army and other local charities each week. Don't even think about thumbing your nose up at these folks. Like you've never fibbed on your customs form. Saying that you always claim everything on your customs form is like denying that you have ever participated in another little activity (you all know what I'm talking about) -- 70% of you have done it and the other 30% are lying.

Alcohol - Absinthe has been banned in the United States since 1912. The bitter, greenish liqueur, long associated with bohemian artists and poets, supposedly touched off violence and madness. This past week, St. George Spirits of Alameda, California sold the first legal bottle of the stuff in the U.S. in nearly a century. Distilled with wormwood, absinthe derives its powerful mystique from the chemical thujone, which is believed to cause hallucinations. The St. George version is nearly thujone-free. If you listen carefully, you can hear fraternity houses at college campuses across the country, letting out a big cheer. I for one will probably take a pass. I still have a boat load of Mr. Clean to go through. Seriously, if you put the two next to each other, I swear you cannot tell the difference.

Health - This one is priceless...Everyone knows that the normal body temperature is 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit...and everyone is wrong. For most adults, the natural body temperature is actually half a degree cooler, 98.1 degrees. Back in the mid-19th century, German doctor, Carl Reinhold August Wunderlich record the body temperatures of 25,000 people with his mercury thermometer, which at the time was still considered a new instrument. Through painstaking measurements and tedious math (he had to average about a million readings by hand), Wunderlich came up with the now-familiar average of 98.6 degrees. But more recent studies found that body temperature is flexible , but generally lower than 98.6 degrees. When scientists examined Wunderlich's thermometer, they found it to be calibrated wrongly. All of his readings were false. That's a shame. One wonders what other medical benchmarks that we all take for granted are actually based on erroneous conclusions? Oh well, you know what they say, "what you don't know, probably won't kill you."