Starrylizard

'Tight pants' woman jailed for not paying fine

Lubna al-Hussein had faced 40 lashes for wearing pants deemed too tight and a blouse considered too sheer. The threat of lashes was dropped when a court found her guilty but ordered instead that she pay a fine.

"She is now in jail," her attorney Nabil Adib told CNN. "She refused to pay the fine as a matter of principal."

And another article: 'Indecent trousers': Sudanese woman spared flogging, jailed

I also found this of interest: Sudan trouser trial: What’s your view? There are some very interesting comments amidst the fail. :)

Okay, this is just seriously weird...

The federal attorney-general's department has been placed under the microscope over its dealings with members of the controversial religious group, the Exclusive Brethren.

Um, you're really running out of names for your cult/sect when you call yourself the Exclusive Brethren.
( more of the article )

*shudders* I have a real problem with cults and sects, simply because my mother has counselled some people coming out of them and it is often not at all pretty. This one is just, wow! And they have been meeting with government official and dabbling in political smear campaigns!? o_O

Hey, just out of geeky interest. What are peoples opinions on GM crops in general and this news? It's just I'm in the field...not GM crops, but genetics, and I was wondering how people who don't have a scientific perspective on these issues feel about them. Anyone who is reading this journal feel free to jump in, or feel free to ignore the question entirely. I'm not trying to rope you into a nasty debate or anything, I'm just a geeky girl who is curious...

( quote )

OMG!! Just reading the latest news on www.science.com There's this big scandal in Korea, where a research group fabricated data on stem cell research. They got all these publications on how they had managed to produce the first patient-specific stem cells and it was hailed as a huge breakthrough, but really they hadn't done any of it.

Even more freaky to me, is this:
"...claimed that despite Hwang's statements to the contrary, some of the eggs used for that research came from junior researchers in Hwang's lab. Producer Kim says the scientist provided names, donation records, and an e-mail message he had received from one of the researchers saying she had donated eggs under pressure from Hwang. The tipster also claimed that based on his knowledge of the team's work, Hwang couldn't have produced the patient-specific stem cells reported in the 2005 paper, although he admitted having no hard evidence of fabrication."

That makes me feel queasy. I can't imagine having so few morals or ethical standards!

( a few more quotes form the article )

The program was forced to not show the interviews etc, because they had used unethical tactics to obtain them... ( ...but then )

Yay for the internet. See us scientists are internet savvy too...and he was finally forced to withdraw the paper!!

Gods! It's all so cloak and dagger and scandalous and how anyone could have so little scientific integrity. A final quote - "Among the revelations, PD Notebook alleges that Hwang's team collected more than 1600 oocytes from egg donors--not the 427 originally reported--for cloning research for the 2004 and 2005 papers."

I mean with stuff like this occationally popping up, it's no wonder the public are scared about the things us scientists do. There are so many commitees and governing bodies overseeing our research and what we do...especially where genetic and reproductive research is concerned...and yet it is so easy still to skirt around them. Damn, I am a scientist and shit like this scares the pants off me! I'm fuming mad right now!


Read the article here.