Fight Over Fort Worth Atheist Bus Ads Escalates

Joe.My.God has been doing an excellent job of following the fight over pro-atheism bus ads in the Fort Worth area which say "Millions Of Americans Are Good Without God."

The ads ran on four buses and sent ministers up the wall. They resorted to following the buses around with a truck which had a pro-religious message and now the transport authority has said that they are banning all faith-based ads:

Stargate: Universe Cancelled By SyFy!

Cast of SyFy's Stargate: Universe

Oh No! SyFy apparently announced last week that they have cancelled the latest entry in the Stargate franchise, Stargate: Universe (also known as SG:U) and there will be no more new episodes after the second half of Season 2 is aired this Spring.

This news does disappoint me because SG:U and Fringe are basically the only science fiction shows I watch (along with The Event). I basically watch all of them on my DVR. It's really bad news about SG:U because now there is nothing on SyFy for me to watch even, though I am a huge science fiction fan.

I guess I might start watching The Good Wife after all...

Roll Call Vote On DADT

Please note that 56 of 57 votes for repeal were cast by Democrats (and Independents), with 39 of 49 votes for bigotry were cast by Republicans. Remember this vote when some people claim there is "no difference" between the two major parties.

Grouped By Vote Position

YEAs ---57
Akaka (D-HI) Baucus (D-MT) Bayh (D-IN) Begich (D-AK) Bennet (D-CO) Bingaman (D-NM) Boxer (D-CA) Brown (D-OH) Cantwell (D-WA) Cardin (D-MD) Carper (D-DE) Casey (D-PA) Collins (R-ME) Conrad (D-ND) Coons (D-DE) Dodd (D-CT) Dorgan (D-ND) Durbin (D-IL) Feingold (D-WI)	Feinstein (D-CA) Franken (D-MN) Gillibrand (D-NY) Hagan (D-NC) Harkin (D-IA) Inouye (D-HI) Johnson (D-SD) Kerry (D-MA) Klobuchar (D-MN) Kohl (D-WI) Landrieu (D-LA) Lautenberg (D-NJ) Leahy (D-VT) Levin (D-MI) Lieberman (ID-CT) McCaskill (D-MO) Menendez (D-NJ) Merkley (D-OR) Mikulski (D-MD)	Murray (D-WA) Nelson (D-FL) Nelson (D-NE) Pryor (D-AR) Reed (D-RI) Reid (D-NV) Rockefeller (D-WV) Sanders (I-VT) Schumer (D-NY) Shaheen (D-NH) Specter (D-PA) Stabenow (D-MI) Tester (D-MT) Udall (D-CO) Udall (D-NM) Warner (D-VA) Webb (D-VA) Whitehouse (D-RI) Wyden (D-OR)

NAYs ---40
Alexander (R-TN) Barrasso (R-WY) Bennett (R-UT) Bond (R-MO) Brown (R-MA) Bunning (R-KY) Burr (R-NC) Chambliss (R-GA) Coburn (R-OK) Cochran (R-MS) Corker (R-TN) Crapo (R-ID) DeMint (R-SC) Ensign (R-NV)	Enzi (R-WY) Graham (R-SC) Grassley (R-IA) Gregg (R-NH) Hatch (R-UT) Hutchison (R-TX) Inhofe (R-OK) Isakson (R-GA) Johanns (R-NE) Kirk (R-IL) Kyl (R-AZ) LeMieux (R-FL) Lugar (R-IN) Manchin (D-WV)	McCain (R-AZ) McConnell (R-KY) Murkowski (R-AK) Risch (R-ID) Roberts (R-KS) Sessions (R-AL) Shelby (R-AL) Snowe (R-ME) Thune (R-SD) Vitter (R-LA) Voinovich (R-OH) Wicker (R-MS)

Not Voting - 3
Brownback (R-KS)	Cornyn (R-TX)	Lincoln (D-AR)

AUS OPEN 2011: Serena Williams Won't Defend Title

Serena Williams tweeted this picture about 2 weeks ago but this week dashed the hopes of her fans hoping to see her add to her 13 major titles any time soon by announcing she would not defend her 2010 Australian Open title due to injury:

As I continue to rehabilitate my foot after the second surgery last month, it is with the utmost regret that I am withdrawing from the Hopman Cup and the 2011 Australian Open Championships. As I recently learned, pushing myself back into my intense training too early only caused me further injury and damage. While I desperately want to be back on the court and competing in the first Grand Slam tournament of the year, it is imperative for my health that I continue to work with my doctors to ensure my foot heals properly. This decision, though heavy on my heart, is the right one. I am praying for a healthy recovery and I promise my Aussie fans and my fans around the world that I will be back better than ever as soon as I can be.

In 2010, Serena won her 5th Australian Open by defeating Justine Henin in the final in 3 tense sets. By failing to defend her title Serena will probably fall out of the Top 10. In 2010 she only played in 6 tournaments, winning 2 majors (Australian and Wimbledon).

CA-AG: Cooley Pulls Ahead Of Harris In Latest Vote Tally

With the vote totals updated on Friday afternoon, Republican Steve Cooley has pulled ahead of Kamala Harris for the first time in the post-election day tallies and currently leads by 22,817 votes.

Steve Cooley (Rep)     3,518,918 46.0%
Kamala D. Harris (Dem)     3,496,101 45.7%
Diane Beall Templin (AI)    133,186 1.7%
Peter Allen (Grn)     195,921 2.5%
Timothy J. Hannan (Lib)     192,018 2.5%
Robert J. Evans (P&F)     123,197 1.6%

Hopefully this does not include a large percentage of Los Angeles County ballots or else things would look  very bad indeed for Ms. Harris to become the next Attorney General of California.

With estimates of more than 2 million outstanding ballots to be counted and Cooley's campaign claiming there are more outstanding ballots in the 40 counties he won than the 18 Harris carried this result is really too close to call. With that many ballots, one probably has to give the edge to Cooley.

Celebrity Friday: Benoit Mandelbrot

Benoit Mandelbrot, the father of the "fractal," died at the age of 85 on Thursday October 14. The Mandelbrot  set, pictured above, is one of the most famous and canonical example of a fractal, a shape with "self-similarity" so that no matter how closely one looks at the object, copies of itself appear to be present, in an infinite progression.

DADT Update: 9th Circuit Issues Stay Until 10/25

Chris Geidner of Metro Weekly is reporting that the 9th Circuit has issued a stay of Judge Phillips' injunction in Log Cabin Republicans v. United States, which means that "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" is back in effect.

To wit:

After DADT had been halted from enforcement for nearly 200 hours, the Ninth Circuit order legally makes DADT enforceable again for the time being.

In a brief order, Judges O'Scannlain, Trott and W. Fletcher wrote:

This court has received appellant’s emergency motion to stay the district court’s October 12, 2010 order pending appeal.  The order is stayed temporarily in order to provide this court with an opportunity to consider fully the issues presented.

Appellee may file an opposition to the motion for a stay pending appeal by October 25, 2010.  To expedite consideration of the motion, no reply shall be filed.

The judges' order means that a temporary stay of the trial court injunction of DADT has been granted until the Ninth Circuit can decide -- sometime after Oct. 25 -- whether to issue a stay pending the appeal of the case to the Ninth Circuit.

[...]

If a stay is granted pending the appeal, however, DADT would likely go back into effect in the interim, as the appeal is not even scheduled to complete the briefing process until the second week of March 2011.

Serena (And Venus) Out For Rest Of 2010

On Sunday, former World #1 Serena Wiliams withdrew from the in-door hard court tournament in Linz, Austria and announced that it is likely she will be out for the rest of the year.

"I am likely out for the year now," Williams said on her website. "I was really looking forward to beginning my comeback in Linz, followed by the year-end championships in Doha, [Qatar]. I feel completely heartbroken, and devastated, but knowing I will never be given more than I can handle I plan on coming back stronger and better."

Serena's sister Venus had previously announced that she would not be playing again in 2010.