46 posts from September 2008

Belief in God 'really can relieve pain' [by Alastair Jamieson] Research at Oxford University has found believers can draw on their religion to endure suffering with greater fortitude, suggesting Christian martyrs may have been able to reduce the agony of torture or slow death. [more]

Galaxy Clusters Have a Mysterious Motion [in PhysOrg] The stars are in motion, and on a much larger scale than can be explained with current theories, according to astronomers at NASA, the University of Hawaii and UC Davis. The finding could improve our understanding of events in the first moments after the birth of the universe. [more]

Churchgoing Catholics returning to GOP fold [by Ben Arnoldy] Gov. Sarah Palin has outsized impact on an important bloc in key battleground states. Observant Catholics are returning to the Republican fold now that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has joined the GOP ticket – a shift that looks to be more enduring than a postconvention bounce. If the trend sticks, it will mark a partial setback for Democrats and the Obama campaign, who have vied vigorously for the pivotal votes of Roman Catholics. [more]

Trends in Candidate Preferences Among Religious Groups [in The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life] The latest survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press includes analysis of the candidate preferences of major religious groups. These charts, based on People-Press surveys conducted on the dates indicated, will be updated as the Center's new surveys are released. [more]

Villagers kill two militants, foil bid to seize children [by Syed Zahid Jan] Two militants were killed and one was captured in a shootout with local residents on Thursday after their attempt to hold 300 schoolchildren hostage was foiled in Nihag Darra area of upper Dir. Police said the militants were going to Swat to join their comrades in Peuchar area when they confronted the villagers in Maskari area. The militants were asked to surrender, but they ran towards a government school. [more]

Villagers Storm School to Save 300 Children From Suicide Bombers [by Gateway Pundit] Locals attacked the Islamic radicals who kidnapped 300 school children in northwest Pakistan on Thursday. Hundreds of armed people from 10 villages took part in the action. [more]

The story behind the Palin e-mail hacking [by Michelle Malkin] I mentioned an infamous group of hackers whose Internet bulletin board was the gathering place for those who bragged about and publicized the Sarah Palin private e-mail hacking. A tech-savvy reader who monitors the hackers’ site e-mailed me a detailed explanation of how it went down, who was responsible, and how someone with a conscience warned a friend of the Palin family of the crime [more]

FATHER OF HACKER Is Tennessee Dem State Rep!!!!! ...Update: Name- David Kernell ...Update: He's Been Contacted by Feds! [more]

Chrome steals share from every rival but Safari [By Gregg Keizer] Two weeks after the launch of Chrome, Google Inc.'s browser has stolen market share from every competitor except Apple Inc.'s Safari, an Internet measurement company said today. At the end of its second week, Chrome accounted for 0.85% of the browsers that visited the 40,000 sites monitored by Net Applications Inc., an increase from the 0.67% the week before. Chrome's share came at the expense of Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer (IE), Mozilla Corp.'s Firefox, Opera Software ASA's Opera and even AOL LLC's Netscape, all of which have watched their browser share drop in the past two weeks. Only Safari escaped Chrome's impact; Apple's browser, in fact, has gained nearly 0.7 percentage points during the past 14 days. [more]