BaronBifford

I think the trouble starts when a guard takes bribes and does favors, then tries to back out of the relationship.

This is probably because of adrenaline. Adrenaline is a natural painkiller. There's no point in feeling pain when you still have to fight or flee your attacker.

But what about growing old? Must a leaky anus and saggy buttocks and fuzzy eyesight be an essential part of life? Would you at least agree to take a drug that will keep you young and fit, then suddenly drop you dead at age 90?

I read this article by Fareed Zakaria on present-day censorship in China. Here is an interesting excerpt:

What do they find? Contrary to what you'd think, it turns out criticisms of the state are not more likely to get censored. Even vitriolic criticisms are allowed. Instead, the focus is on stopping mass mobilization. Last year Beijing blocked internet searches for Tunisia's "Jasmine Revolution" to prevent discussions about the Arab Spring. Similarly last week searches for the numbers 4/6 were censored - the numbers represented June 4th, the anniversary of the massacre at Tiananmen Square.

The Harvard study shows that Beijing's leaders are making measured concessions. It is said that some 500 protests take place every day across China. But anything that could lead to something larger or more organized is instantly censored and clamped down on.

What do you think of Mr Zakaria's assessment?

What is very telling is that not a single fossil has ever been found in the WRONG place in the fossil sequence. The legendary "fossil rabbits in the Precambrian" have never been found. If they were, evolution would be blown out of the water.

What would happen if someone were to dig up a bunch of fossils, then rebury them in a different geological layer, thus mixing them up with fossils from another era, with the express intention of creating false evidence to discredit evolution? Realistically, would such a hoax be difficult to pull off? Has anyone tried already?