“Baiting is putting an object out there that we know they will use, with the intention of destroying the enemy,” Capt. Matthew P. Didier, the leader of an elite sniper scout platoon attached to the 1st Battalion of the 501st Infantry Regiment, said in a sworn statement. “Basically, we would put an item out there and watch it. If someone found the item, picked it up and attempted to leave with the item, we would engage the individual as I saw this as a sign they would use the item against U.S. Forces.”

Charleston novelist James Oliver Rigney Jr., 58, known to millions of readers by the pen name Robert Jordan, the best-selling author of “The Wheel of Time” fantasy series, died Sunday after a fight with the rare blood disease amyloidosis, a progressive disorder first diagnosed in December 2005 at the Medical University of South Carolina.

Ouch, I always thought the jokes about not starting his “Wheel of Time” series until he had finished them in case of an untimely death were just that, jokes.

Behold the full interactive DNA of Craig Venter - online and zoomable.

(Via The Daily Dish.)

Also, this is the first time I’ve really had a chance to browse the Public Library of Science. What an incredible publication. It’s about time we started being able to see more primary results in the public domain.

From Human Rights Watch:

“Human Rights Watch shares the public’s goal of protecting children from sex abuse,” said Jamie Fellner, director of the US program at Human Rights Watch. “But current laws are ill-conceived and poorly crafted. Protecting children requires a more thoughtful and comprehensive approach than politicians have been willing to support.”

In many states, registration covers everyone convicted of a sexual crime, which can range from child rape to consensual teenage sex, and regardless of their potential future threat to children. Unfettered public access to online sex-offender registries with no “need-to-know” restrictions exposes former offenders to the risk that individuals will act on this information in irresponsible and even unlawful ways. There is little evidence that this form of community notification prevents sexual violence. Residency restrictions banish former offenders from entire towns and cities, forcing them to live far from homes, families, jobs and treatment, and hindering law-enforcement supervision. Residency restrictions are counterproductive to public safety and harmful to former offenders.

Sex offender laws reflect public concern that children are at grave risk of sexual abuse by strangers who are repeat offenders. As the report documents, however, the real risks children face are quite different: government statistics indicate that most sexual abuse of children is committed by family members or trusted authority figures, and by someone who has not previously been convicted of a sex offense.

In addition, the laws reflect the widely shared but erroneous belief that “once a sex offender, always a sex offender.” Authoritative studies indicate that three out of four adult offenders do not reoffend. Moreover, treatment can be effective even for people who have committed serious sex crimes.

The full report (all 146 pages) can be found here, in both .pdf and browsable formats.

Here are a few interesting bits I found:

Hagel Will Not Run for Re-Election: “The Omaha World Herald reports Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE) is calling it quits. Hagel plans to announce on Monday that ‘he will not run for re-election and that he does not intend to be a candidate for any office in 2008,’ said one source.

Hagel informed Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) of his decision yesterday morning and informed his staff later in the day.

(Via Taegan Goddard’s Political Wire.)