Rush Loves the Commies?

Via here, it sounds like Rush Limbaugh does like the Chinese government more than the US government:
So we here in America, the most prosperous, the most advanced, the freest, greatest potential, the most amazing collection of human beings in the history of collections of human beings, we are getting rid of our SUVs and pickup [...]

Cost of Global Warming

Paul Krugman has a post about the cost of global warming as a response to this articleby Bjorn Lomborg. He talks about the cost of uncertainty, linking to this paperby Martin Weitzman and a summary here. Here’s the idea:
It helps that Weitzman has a compelling story to tell: Climate change is fundamentally a problem about uncertainty. [...]

Bush: Politics Trumps Everything

It turns out that President Bush was being serious when he said he was a uniter, he just meant that the government should be united to follow him:
That aide, Monica M. Goodling, exercised what amounted to veto power over a wide range of critical jobs, asking candidates for their views on abortion and same-sex marriage [...]

More on the Bat Die-Off

I had a post back in May about a bat die-off. At that time, there was little information on why they were dying. An article in today’s Boston Globe says there is growing consensus that it’s due to a fungus:
Researchers now think that a fuzzy white fungus found on thousands of dead and dying bats [...]

Evolution Evidence

The Boston Globe has two articles in today’s Health/Science section that hurt Creationism/Intelligent Design.
The first looks at the Tiktaalik:
this remarkable fish-with-limbs specimen, which made worldwide headlines when unveiled in 2006, reveals with stunning clarity how life crawled from water onto land. Its neck and forelimbs became features of four-legged animals, or tetrapods. The intricate bone [...]

A Poem, Alone

I’m going off to Cooperstown in a few minutes, so there will be no random 10. Still, I have to put up something and a poem is always good. Have a good weekend:
Color bleeds me as I see
Outside in the middle of me
Blue and red as if taunting
One to the other exchanging.

Football’s New Offense?

I’m not sure if this has been talked about and I’m just asleep, but a California high school football team is trying out a new type of offense, they call it the A-11 (it looks like they’re trying to promote it, they even have a web site with instructional videos and so on). Here’s their description [...]

The New Fenway Neighborhood

I lived in the Fenway area of Boston for 18 out of 20 years from 1981 through 2001, but eventually moved out because it (along with most of the city) became too expensive. Except for the expense, I thought the west Fenway region especially was a very good urban neighborhood:

it has a compact residential section
the roads inside the [...]

Terror Watch List

Via Majikthise, here’s a report about being on the TSA no-fly watch list. It’s personal, because the reporter is himself on the list. He notes (see here also):
“Coincidentally, this all began in May, shortly after I began a series of investigative reports critical of the TSA. Eleven flights now since May 19. On different airlines, [...]

IMF Not Good for Health?

A study has found that IMF loans in Eastern European countries is associated with higher TB rates (or the NY Times has an article here):
The International Monetary Fund could be bad for your health. The organisation loans money to countries with financial problems, and in return requires governments to undertake “structural adjustment” policies aimed at improving [...]

McCain: Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan–One of Those

Usually I don’t say much about verbal gaffes (over the course of a day, I say some pretty stupid things), but if you’re asked about Afghanistan how do you start talking about the border of Iraq and Pakistan (or here for a slightly longer version–it also has a map of the area)?
Asked on ABC’s “Good Morning [...]

Purity Balls

Amanda links to this article in Time about Purity Balls. Here’s what I say over there:
I do find the whole thing creepy, but what makes this misogyny are things like:
They gave her a charm for her bracelet–a lock in the shape of a heart. Her father has the key. “On my wedding day, he’ll give [...]

Mirrors and Perception

The NY Times has an article about mirrors. The first part is something I would expect:
In a report titled “Mirror, Mirror on the Wall: Enhancement in Self-Recognition,” which appears online in The Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Nicholas Epley and Erin Whitchurch described experiments in which people were asked to identify pictures of themselves amid [...]

Paper Proves Story

This is very interesting. The Boston Globe has a story about the cutbacks in newsrooms and the effect it has on newspapers:
Stories are shorter overall, the study found, and staff coverage tends to focus on local and community news.
“America’s newspapers are narrowing their reach and their ambitions and becoming niche reads,” the study said.
The story [...]

Car Pools in the Boston Area

The Boston Globe magazine has an article about car pooling. It wonders why so few people car pool, provides a couple answers, and then looks at some solutions that might increase the numbers. First it’s noted that the number of people who car pool is down:

In 1980 20% of drivers car pooled, it was down to [...]

Dr. Horrible by Joss Whedon

Via Boston Brahmina, Joss Whedon has a musical thingy called Dr. Horrible. It’s a three piece (about 13 minutes each) done up by Joss (and including people he knows) to protest the way show business works and to make eating petunias mandatory (or something, read his plan).
It’s quite interesting, but if you want to watch [...]

I’m Going to the Moon

Ok, just my name but at least I’m only the 1,760,377th person to submit my name. Ok, that’s not very impressive either (I’m hoping for a FILO standard, so that I end up being near the top). Still I got this lovely certificate thingy:

You can do the same here (you have until July 25th).

How About $2?

Every once in awhile I accidentally blow up the universe, doesn’t everyone. I don’t worry too much since there are a near infinite number of them theoretically and in some of them I’m probably trying to blow up this universe. Anyway, here’s a random (duo) 10:
Freak Scene Dinosaur Jr
Taxi Harry Chapin
Dreams Go By Harry Chapin
I Wanted Everything The Ramones [...]

China and the Olympics

The Olympic ideal is that people will get together openly to compete without regard to politics or conflict. This is why China says there should not be a boycott based on their actions in Tibet or Sudan or other places. Of course it’s all just a cover, China has no problem:

keeping out entertainers it doesn’t [...]

Zimbabwe Collapsing

Zimbabwe’s inflation is so high (2.2 million percent) that they are running out of paper to print the new bills:
As hyperinflation spiraled last year, Fidelity printed million-dollar notes, then 5-million, 10-million, 25-million, 50-million. This year, it has been forced to print 100-million, 250-million and 500-million notes in rapid succession, all now practically worthless. The highest [...]