Free speech vs. Hate speech

In a conversation on keithlard's blog, I said the following and I am curious what y'all think.

But where do you draw the line? Should one be drawn at all?

* Should people in Germany be allowed to deny that the Holocaust ever took place, that up to 11 million people, primarily Jews but also all other "imperfect" peoples, were killed in furnaces and experimented upon?

* If a radical Islamist preacher urges his congregation to bomb an embassy, but himself goes home and sips some decaf tea, should the Islamist preacher take no blame?

* Is hanging a noose on the doorknob of a black professor's office a form of protected expression, or a hate crime that should be treated the same as a death threat?

I don't know. I can't decide. I would rather people punched me in the face than called me names, I really wish I could stop these hate-mongers; if we stopped the inciters and teachers, then we wouldn't have them riling up followers and educating new generations of bigotry. But I don't want to condone censorship either.

(I was torn between using this "peace on Earth" icon, and the "The Power is Yours!" icon.)

Man crush

For l0stmyrel1g10n: Phil Plait and Wil Wheaton apparently have mancrushes on each other. If I had your "no homo!" icon I'd be using it now.

http://www.badastronomy.com/bablog/2007/11/01/happy-wil/

Nowak 1; NASA 0

A Florida judge Friday handed a legal victory to a former astronaut [Lisa Nowak] accused of assaulting a romantic rival [Colleen Shipman], ruling evidence found in her car and statements she made to police after her arrest were inadmissible at trial. ...no written consent was obtained to search her car.
...
On the audiotape of the interview [and Miranda rights], there was no audible response from Nowak on whether she understood that her statements could be used against her in court, and when she was asked whether anyone had threatened or promised her anything to get her to talk to police, [Judge] Lubet wrote. "Thus, there is nothing in either the audio recording or the transcript of the interview that demonstrates that defendant understood these two rights and waived them."
...
she was "subjected to a barrage of questions" beginning in the predawn hours and was questioned for six hours without being given the opportunity to sleep or make a phone call. "Defendant had not slept during the preceding 24 hours," the judge said.
...
Nowak's attorneys in August filed a notice of intent to rely on an insanity defense, saying in court documents her diagnoses include a litany of more than a dozen psychiatric disorders.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/law/11/02/nowak.ruling/index.html

As Foxtrot puts it, "And she made it into the astronaut corps how?"

Wacky humor

For people like blue_102, gemini6ice and the_xtina, it's the shitty_advice community. Go wild.

More flight progress!

Gabe's really starting to get the hang of flying when I want her to. :) I have to admit it's a combination of her knowing what I want, and me knowing when she's receptive to it though.

So evenings she often starts screaming fits when she's on her cage and I'm not in eyesight. Last night I walked up to her cage during one of these moments, held up my arm and said "Fly!" in an eager voice at the same moment as she launched herself and hovered down to my arm. Tonight she launched herself straight to my shoulder; I don't think there was any hover, but I couldn't see too well. And all this for no physical reward, since she hasn't yet responded to treats from my hands, so the reward she gets is praise and being next to me. :)

Also tonight, I wanted to weigh her. The scale is on a table in the same room as her cage. I got her to step up onto my right hand, and as I moved it towards the scale I kept my left hand hovering above her so she didn't think she could fly. I then deposited her on the scale and weighed her (a healthy 93g) and as soon as it was done I said "Fly!" and made some gesture and she immediately launched herself up and flew back to her cage. She sat on the scale (impatiently) right until I said she could go. :-D

I still find it quite intriguing that I'm watching how her behaviors are shaped by positive reinforcement, where the only reinforcer is social. I essentially did the same thing with Peeper her whole life without knowing it, but now that I know "better" that it's "supposed" to happen with treats, and it's still working with Gabe, it seems amazing to me.

Noel

Hurricane Noel's hitting New England Nova Scotia tomorrow. 4-8" rain predicted [in New England].

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/weather/11/02/tropical.storm/index.html
http://www.weather.com/newscenter/fcstsummary.html?from=wxcenter_news
http://www.wunderground.com/tropical/tracking/at200716_5day.html#a_topad