Catholic University could loose its K

The KUL (Catholic University of Leuven) could loose the support from the Vatican because it conducts research on embryos and fertility.
The University management has publicly stated that they will not budge to pressure from the Vatican to change their policy, I applaud them for taking this stance and showing that religion cannot stand in the way of scientific research!
I searched for an English news article but couldn't find any, apparently the KUL is one of the largest Catholic universities in the world.

I want one of these!

DutchTub

Yep Seattle is great

Pharyngula links to this article.
Seattle is truly the best place in the US, I spent an exchange year there and went back a few times, funny enough it was with a christian organization (though in Belgium they dropped that part of their name, sneaky bastards). On my application I did state clearly that I was godless and I even got a godless hostfamily that was truly the best match ever. I don't think the situation would be the same today, I haven't checked up on ICYE in a while ... WOW they dropped the Christian and renamed it Cultural. That is wonderful, there is progress in the world, like my above example I always found that organization open and not about the religion, if you are thinking about doing or sending your kids on an exchange program check them out (this is not a school exchange, you will be working as a volunteer in social projects)

Today will be a good day, I took the day off work to get my old car to the garage and do some chores and there has been an accident on the route I usually take to work that blocked the whole freeway.

Got my new car

What a difference, the old one didn't even have a proper fuel gauge.
This new 307CC has everything, BlueTooth, automatic wipers, automatic lights, speed limiter, cruise control...
The moring commute just got a little more pleasant and my motorcycle will be staying at home a little while until the "new" rubs off ;-)

Interesting presentation

http://view.break.com/311805 - Watch more free videos


Makes sense to me, on the other hand in column B you could win the jackpot!

Don't give money to Amnesty International

Or so says the Vatican

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6750887.stm

Amnesty said it was not promoting abortion as a universal right.

But the group said that women had a right to choose, particularly in cases of rape or incest.

"No more financing of Amnesty International after the organisation's pro-abortion about-turn," said a statement from the Roman Catholic Church's Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.

The Church's request covers funding from Catholic groups, non-governmental organisations, parishes, schools and individuals.

I immediately went to the Amnesty International site to make a donation and added a little note that I hope they will not succumbing to the Vatican's stupidity!

A little joke

a little joke I read on this forum

Atheist: What's this fly doing in my soup?
Waiter: Praying.
Atheist: Very funny. I can't eat this. Take it back.
Waiter: You see? The fly's prayers were answered.

Maddie

Just read an article about the department that handles missing cases here in Belgium. (to read the article you probably need a subscription and it is in Dutch)
It says that they are receiving almost a tip per day about Maddie, the British girl who disappeared in Portugal, I first read about it here (I'm not gonna comment on that part of the story).
There is no indication whatsoever that she is in Belgium, the Portuguese police did not contact Belgian authorities but Child Focus is starting a poster campaign anyway.
The spokesperson of the police (commissaris Guido Van Rillaer) says that they now have a full time employee working on checking the Maddie tips.  While I understand the parents need to do all they can I feel that a lot of other parents are left in the cold just because they do not have the ability to travel around and to involve celebrities with their cause. 
The parents of Belgian missing cases that we had some time ago while also focusing on their own case were a lot more constructive they have been the origin of Child Focus which is helping all the missing children cases.  If anything were to happen in my family, that is how I would want to focus my efforts, and definitely not having a deluded senior citizen touch a picture of my daughter.

There was however a shimmer of light in the article:

... Met de tweede categorie tips, die van zieners en pendelaars, doen we ook niets. 'Ik zie ik zie ik zie.. dat het kindje nog in leven is en zich ergens in een witte boerderij bevindt.' We zitten al twaalf jaar in het vak en hebben van hen nog nooit bruikbare tips ontvangen.

Translation:
... With the second category of tips, those of mystics and pendulum swingers, we're not doing anything either. 'I see I see I see .. that the child is still alive and is in a white farm somewhere.'  We have been in the business for twelve years and have never received anything useful from them.

(the first category of tips are the vague ones, like 'I saw the girl in a car, but I'm not sure and I don't remember the type of car, color or license plate and didn't see who was driving' can't do anything with that either)

It cannot be stressed enough that those people do not ever help and are just wasting precious time and I applaud commissaris Guido Van Rillaer for telling it to the media.

Yeah I want a t-shirt

Just checking my blog and there was a Google add that said "Atheist And Proud", now I know it's against the rules but I just had to click it.
It is actually an initiative by the Richard Dawkins website to see if selling the t-shirts would be successful (and the profits go to the RD Foundation)
I suggest everybody clicks the link if they see it (the site is here http://atheistandproud.com/)