We did a bit of driving around Ajo today, mostly because we were too exhausted to go much farther than that today. While we were out, we visited the local museum and the mine overlook. Here are a few of the photos we took (click for larger copies).

In a reproduction of a PETA ad that ran… sometime (I only know that’s what it was because of the press release), a woman wearing nothing but paint protested the eating of meat in front of the Town Center yesterday.

I’m sorry. I understand what she’s trying to do, but at best, she’s simply making a good ironic protest on behalf of feminists, by making the point that some men treat women like they’re pieces of meat. To be fair, though, those men aren’t going to see the protest that way. On the other hand, they’re not going to see this woman and say, “Hey, she’s just like an animal! She has the same parts. I should stop eating animals.” Instead, they’re going to say, “Mmm. [Breasts.]” (Slang terms edited to prove my point.)

“Animals aren’t ‘breasts’ or ‘thighs’ or ‘flanks,’” says PETA’s Dana Littlefield. “They think, feel, and want to live, just as you and I do. By exposing my body, I hope to expose others to the benefits of a humane, vegetarian diet.”

By protesting naked, Littlefield is not discouraging people from seeing animals as pieces of meat. She’s encouraging people to see her (and, by extension, other women) as pieces of meat.

Even beyond that, does the whole “Animals are people, too” meme just seem pathetic to anyone else? When considering their alleged equality between people and animals, one really has to wonder — does PETA want to raise animals to our level (in which case they should be going after every meat eating animal, not just their fellow man), or do they want to lower us to the animal level, which would make our eating of meat pretty much par for the course when one compares us to any other predator.

( þ Oncee )

From the Associated Press, via Fox News (emphasis mine):

CHICAGO — A two-year study in eight Ethiopian villages found that a single dose of an antibiotic is not enough to end infections that cause trachoma, the world’s leading preventable cause of blindness.

The headline for this article?

Single Dose of Antibiotic Would Stop Blindness-Causing Infections

Shouldn’t headlines, at least, not blatantly contradict the story’s first paragraph?

We arrived safely last night at just after 11:00pm local time. I’d like to tell you how nice Arizona seemed, but honestly, 11:00pm local time was 1:00am by my internal clock, so I was dead tired, and, besides, it was dark.

Now that I’ve given you that exciting update, I’m going to go enjoy my vacation. More posts later, or not, depending on when I find time.