During the first presidential debate, John McCain once again made reference to the Northern Divide Grizzly Bear Project, a five-year study to which USGS has allocated $3 million to “study the DNA of bears.”
The Scientific American article linked above compares that $3 million, and its relative merits, to the $233 million “Bridge to Nowhere.” I [...]
Archive for the ‘Current Events’ Category
Bear CSI
Posted in Current Events, Politics, Science on 29 September 2008 | Leave a Comment »
McCain wins debate before it happens!
Posted in Current Events, Politics on 26 September 2008 | Leave a Comment »
As of 7:10 pm EDT on Friday night (the time of this writing), it is apparent that John McCain has won the debate. See the back story.
Paul Krugman…
Posted in Current Events on 21 September 2008 | Leave a Comment »
“You’ve heard there are no atheists in foxholes. There are no libertarians in financial crises, either.”
6,200 Chinese babies ill from tainted formula
Posted in Current Events, Economics on 17 September 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Three have died already. This is yet another failure of unregulated markets. Considering all the tainted pet food and lead-filled toys that caused a scare last year, maybe the Chinese are finally going to realize that they’ll have to regulate their products better. You can’t just let the private sector “police itself.”
And the Dow has [...]
Obama on the financial crisis
Posted in Current Events, Economics, Politics on 16 September 2008 | Leave a Comment »
“What we’ve seen the last few days is nothing less than the final verdict on an economic philosophy that has completely failed. And I am running for president of the United States because the dreams of the American people must not be endangered any more.
“It’s time for a government that is fighting for you — [...]
IOC opens investigation into He Kexin’s age
Posted in Current Events on 21 August 2008 | 1 Comment »
Yep, the story just crossed the news wire.
BEIJING (Reuters) – The International Olympic Committee has ordered an investigation into allegations Chinese authorities covered up the age of a double gold medal winning gymnast because she was too young to compete.
He Kexin, who won team gold in artistic gymnastics and an [...]
The Chinese gymnast age controversy
Posted in Current Events, Science, Technology on 21 August 2008 | Leave a Comment »
The interwebs are abuzz over a controversy regarding the ages of several Chinese women gymnasts. Critics point to several news reports, and even an official Chinese government web site, which listed Chinese gymnast He Kexin’s birthday as 1 January 1994 instead of the “official” date of 1 January 1992. That would make her 14 years [...]
Russia wins gold in women’s individual gymnastics
Posted in Current Events on 15 August 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Seriously, that might as well be the headline. Nastia Liukin was born to and trained by a Russian. Her American citizenship is incidental. Ah, but the US team performed incredibly well in women’s gymnastics, anyway. No need to pick nits.
Stunning
Posted in Current Events on 8 August 2008 | Leave a Comment »
As one of the NBC commentators said, “When it comes to Opening Ceremonies, retire the trophy.”
Privacy in the Transparent Society Redux: a major social networking fiasco
Posted in Culture, Current Events, Internet on 11 July 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Jodie Hudson is a student in the United Kingdom whose family owns an $8 million home in Spain. Her mother allowed her to have a 16th-birthday party at their Marbella getaway, I suppose in a vainglorious attempt to recreate the elaborate soires of MTV’s My Super Sweet 16. The party itself was not enough, though, [...]
