Michael Rogers' Star Talk Weblog

2004-12-02T08:16:00.000-05:00

News -- Still another way to watch DVDs: The New York Times > Technology > Circuits > For the No-Return DVD Rental, It's '48 Hrs.,' Then Fade to Black

"Unlike video on demand, which comes and goes as you watch it, Flexplay delivers movies on physical DVD's. But they are DVD's with a difference: 48 hours after the $5 disc's airtight package is opened, the readable side turns from red (indicating that it is playable) to black (expired). 'You throw it away or recycle it,' said Jeffrey T. Arnold, chief executive of the Convex Group, which owns Flexplay."

Comment -- So, you save the trip down to the video store (or library) to return the DVD when you're done watching it. I could see that being pretty convenient if it's a hassle to jump in the car and drive down to Blockbuster.

But on the other hand, for $15 bucks you can purchase most DVDs and keep them as long as you want -- watching the director's commentary, giving them to relatives to watch, etc.

2004-12-01T08:31:00.000-05:00

News -- Spartans look better than last year, but still lose to Duke: Duke's duo does in Spartans - 12/01/04

"Michigan State got crushed by Duke, 72-50, last season at the Breslin Center. This time, the Spartans didn't back down. They cut the lead to 73-72, but Sean Dockery, who scored only four points, responded with a turnaround jumper in the lane with 2:18 left.

'No question, this year we competed,' Izzo said. 'That's what I was looking for. Last year was more like death."

Comment -- The Spartans had a chance to win until they missed 5 free throws in the final two minutes. It was close the entire game, which is to the credit of the Spartans. In such a hostile environment, they could easily have folded and lost by 25.

I find it hard to believe that any team this year will beat Duke on their own floor. As for the Spartans, let's see how they play Saturday afternoon against a good Maryland team. Sure would be nice to see MSU beat a nationally-ranked team.

2004-12-01T08:24:00.000-05:00

News -- Get your goat!:danieldrezner.com :: Daniel W. Drezner :: Blog

"While the idea of eating goat is considered distasteful by some in the United States, goat is the primary meat dish in many parts of the world. With the number of immigrants arriving from the Middle East, Mexico and Asia surging, so, too, does the demand for goat meat.

According to the most recent Census of Agriculture, which the Department of Agriculture publishes every five years, goats are among the fastest growing sectors of the livestock industry. The number of goats raised annually for meat increased from 1.2 million to 1.9 million--a jump of 58 percent--from 1997 to 2002. The number of farms that raise meat goats grew to 74,980 from 63,422.

'If you want to know who eats goat, it's anybody but white people, descendants of Northern Europe,' said Susan Schoenian, a sheep and goat specialist with the University of Maryland extension service. 'Now all the immigrants come from every other part of the world, and they all come from goat-eating parts of the world."

Comment -- This article says that goat meat is lean and low fat, thus healthier to eat than beef.

I really like goat cheese, but I've never eaten goat meat. Probably tastes kind of like venison.

By the way, Blogger.com was down most of Tuesday, so I could not blog very effectively. It's been kind of a busy week, but when I get a chance I'll post some of our photos from the New York City trip.

2004-11-30T16:04:00.000-05:00

News -- Manhattan was nice to visit but I'm not sure I'd want to work there: USATODAY.com - Think your commute is tough?

'The sun isn't even up,' says Sandra Foster, 42, who's been making the 85-mile trip into Manhattan for nearly a year to her job as an information-technology recruiter. 'The last thing anyone wants to do is chat.'

Foster is one of 3.4 million Americans who endure a daily 'extreme commute' of 90 minutes or more each way to work. They're among the fastest-growing segment of commuters, according to a Census study, Journey to Work, released in March. Their commute times are more than triple the national average of 25.5 minutes each way."

Comment -- New Jersey and New York are #1 and #2 for ultra commutes to work. Michigan is #30.

Why do people live so far away from their jobs? Rent controls and development restrictions make it too expensive to rent or buy housing in big cities.

2004-11-30T08:19:00.000-05:00

News -- Interesting article about how the classical music recording business is showing signs of life: The New York Times > Arts > Music > Critic's Notebook: Amid Dire Predictions, Classical Records Flower

"Naxos, the invaluable and adventurous budget label, may get top honors for the most significant contribution of the year with its release of William Bolcom's setting of William Blake's 'Songs of Innocence and Experience,' 46 poems by William Blake, in a live performance by the University of Michigan School of Music Orchestra and Chorus. This work, with over two hours of Mr. Bolcom's poly-stylistic music, is surely his masterpiece."

Comment -- We heard a terrific classical piano concert during our NYC trip last week, featuring a 17-year-old pianist from Russia. I'll post a photo of her (next to Granny Weir) tonight when I get to my home computer.

Sometimes I get dismayed that there is so much great music out there that I don't know about and probably will never hear.

On another subject, sorry that blogging was a bit light yesterday. I've been having more and more problems with blogger.com, the company that hosts my blog. Since they don't charge anything, their service seems to be slipping. I may switch to another blogging host.

2004-11-29T13:35:00.000-05:00

News -- You've probably all heard by now that we had a great time in New York City last week: Radio City Music Hall

Comment -- Over the next few days, I'll post a few of the photos I took during the trip.

In the meantime, I'll note that seeing the Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall was one of the highlights of the week. I suspect that people younger than us (unless they were kids) may have found the extravaganza a little old-fashioned, but I enjoyed the pageantry and special effects.

Radio City Music Hall is a mammoth facility. It holds over 5,000 spectators and the stage looked about the size of a football field.

The lobby was decorated with Christmas decorations, anchored by a huge, elaborate Christmas tree.

2004-11-29T08:48:00.000-05:00

News -- The New York Times forgot that the election is over. No need to continue tortured Vietnam metaphors: The New York Times > International > Middle East > Troops: Shadow of Vietnam Falls Over Iraq River Raids

"That war is rarely mentioned among the American troops in Iraq, many of whom were not yet born when the last American combat units withdrew from Vietnam more than 30 years ago. A war that America did not win is considered a bad talisman among those men and women, who privately admit to fears that this war could be lost. But as an orange moon sank below the bulrushes on Sunday morning, thoughts of Vietnam were hard to avoid."

Comment -- The reporter doesn't even try to disguise his hope that the U.S. soldiers get their comeuppance from the brave Iraqi insurgents:

"...the sense expressed by many of the Americans as they scoured the area that in this war, too, the insurgents might have advantages that could make them a match for highly trained troops, technological gadgetry and multibillion-dollar war budgets."

2004-11-19T11:00:00.000-05:00

News -- Where ABBA on this list? Dylan Plucks No. 1 Song of All Time (washingtonpost.com)

"Rolling Stone magazine has named the top 500 songs of all-time, and, well, the No. 1 song isn't exactly a complete unknown. Bob Dylan's 'Like a Rolling Stone' tops the list, compiled from votes by 172 critics and musicians including Brian Wilson, Joni Mitchell and Jeff Tweedy of Wilco.

Following "Like a Rolling Stone" are the Rolling Stones' "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction," John Lennon's "Imagine," Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On" and Aretha Franklin's "Respect."

"It's worth noting that 'Like a Rolling Stone' and `Satisfaction' were recorded within a month of each other," Fricke told The Associated Press Wednesday. "It says a lot about how fast pop music was moving at that time."

Rounding out the top 10: "Good Vibrations" by the Beach Boys, "Johnny B. Goode" by Chuck Berry, the Beatles' "Hey Jude," Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and Ray Charles' "What'd I Say."

Comment -- It might be fun to make a list of the all-time worst rock-and-roll songs.

Too late! The list was compiled in April: http://www.usatoday.com/life/music/news/2004-04-18-worst-songs_x.htm

On the list: John Mayer's "Your Body Is a Wonderland."

2004-11-19T10:41:00.000-05:00

News -- Minneapolis is the best city in the nation to get a good night's sleep. Detroit is the worst: The New York Times > Fashion & Style > Can't Sleep? Change Towns, Not Sheets

"Dr. Mark Mahowald, medical director of the Minnesota Regional Sleep Disorders Center in Minneapolis, concurred. 'Generally, if you're feeling pleasant and satisfied you're going to sleep better, and Minneapolis is a pretty stress-free city,' he said. 'I don't know what that says about Detroit,' he added with a chuckle. 'But I'd rather sleep in Minneapolis."

Comment -- New York City is another town where it's supposed to be tough to get a good night's sleep. We'll find out when we go there next week.

2004-11-18T16:02:00.000-05:00

News -- TiVo sells out to the man: Yahoo! News - TiVo Will No Longer Skip Past Advertisers

"By March, TiVo viewers will see 'billboards,' or small logos, popping up over TV commercials as they fast-forward through them, offering contest entries, giveaways or links to other ads. If a viewer 'opts in' to the ad, their contact information will be downloaded to that advertiser ? exclusively and by permission only ? so even more direct marketing can take place."

Comment -- I bet in short order someone will post a hack that defeats the "billboard" feature.

2004-11-18T11:11:00.000-05:00

News -- Here's a good reason to eat more sauerkraut and sausage: PR Newswire - A United Business Media Company

"It is estimated that one in five Americans currently suffers from Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) and the number is growing. But there is hope. Many, including medical nutritionist Dana Reed, are discovering relief from the symptoms of IBS in unexpected places -- including traditionally fermented foods like Sauerkraut. Reed attributes some of the symptoms of IBS to the lack of fermented foods in our diets, the destruction of the body's probiotic (good) bacteria, and to the poor eating habits of today's society. To lessen these, she recommends a return to more natural diet that works to build and maintain healthy bacteria within the gut."

Comment -- This story was distributed by Great Lakes Kraut Company, which I'm sure is an unbiased source.

2004-11-18T09:42:00.000-05:00

News -- MSU says job outlook for Brandon improves: Good news for college grads - companies are hiring

"*Companies reported that they will hire largely among 'all majors,' a trend likely driven by the demand for sales people. Among specific bachelor's degrees, accounting, marketing, all business majors, biological and physical sciences ranked high.

*After a slump over several years, computer science grads could land more jobs, although the numbers won't rival the 'dot.com craze.''

*Starting salaries for those with associate's and bachelor's degrees are expected to rise 3 percent to 7 percent.

*Employers are seeking better communications and computer literacy skills."

Comment -- MSU says employers are looking for graduates who have the teamwork and communications skills to step into a job and hit the ground running.

2004-11-17T13:01:00.000-05:00

News -- Tomato prices skyrocket: Fried Green . . . Cucumbers (washingtonpost.com)

"They've been swirled in California floods. They've been smashed by Florida hurricanes. They've been picked at by Mexican bugs. The result has been a national tomato shortage that has sent prices climbing like a vine seeking light. With costs up and quality down, some national restaurant chains are reconsidering their marketing strategies to keep the thought of juicy, tender tomatoes off customers' minds, or switching recipes to make up for the absence of certain hard-to-find varieties."

Comment -- The article says the wholesale price of tomatoes is four times as high as it was this time last year.

2004-11-17T09:21:00.000-05:00

News -- The pros and cons of a revolutionary new heart scanner: The New York Times > Science > Heart Scanner Stirs New Hope and a Debate

"The scans can largely replace diagnostic angiograms, the expensive, onerous way of looking for blockages in arteries, and can make diagnosis so easy that doctors would not hesitate to use them. They are expected to cost about $700, compared with about $4,000 for an angiogram.

Moreover, the scans take seconds to conduct and require no recuperation time; angiograms take nearly an hour and patients must stay in the hospital for a day. The new scans can see not just the outline of blood vessels but every detail inside and out.

Even so, there is hardly wide agreement over whether this new technique, known as multidetector CT scans of the heart, is entirely a good thing. Indeed, critics say, the technology is ripe for overuse, with doctors scanning people who do not need to be scanned and finding - and fixing - medical problems that do not need to be fixed."

Comment -- This appears to be a wonderful new tool. The article implies that they are using one at the U of M hospital in Ann Arbor.

But the cloud around the silver lining is that healthy, symptomless people may insist on getting the heart scans (particularly if insurance covers the cost). The scan also images the lungs -- potentially showing small, benign spots on the lungs that will have to be tested for the remote chance they are cancerous.

Why on earth would doctors scan people who do not need to be scanned? Again, if the scans are covered by insurance, what's the incentive not to order the scan?

These cost/benefit decisions are distorted by our current health insurance system. Let me have one of the new Health Savings Accounts that gives me a pool of tax-free money that I, in consultation with my doctor, can decide how to spend. I don't want insurance company bean counters making my health care decisions for me.

2004-11-16T11:39:00.000-05:00

News -- This is a cool product made up in Northport: Product Description

"Virtual Rocks have been described as, "The best man-made rocks to ever hit the market." Virtual Rocks are hollow and lightweight, yet virtually indistinguishable from natural rocks.
Made with the best materials available, Virtual Rocks are totally weatherproof, including protection from harmful U.V. rays."

Comment -- They come in a variety of colors. The company has photos of people using these hollow, fake boulders to cover up electric utility boxes and satellite dishes.

Prices range from $69 to $479.

2004-11-16T11:21:00.000-05:00

News -- This could be really big news if it pans out: Sky and Telescope - Mars Methane Boosts Chances for Life

"Tantalizing new evidence possibly suggestive of current life on Mars has just been reported by two independent teams. The groups, led by Michael J. Mumma (NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center) and Vladimir A. Krasnopolsky (Catholic University of America), have found the spectral signature of methane (CH4) in the Martian atmosphere. Mumma's team found significant enhancements of methane near the equator, while Krasnopolsky's results show a global level of atmospheric methane."

Comment -- It's hard to explain the presence of methane except by biological processes. But if there's life on Mars, there's not much of it and it's going to be hard to find.

2004-11-16T11:14:00.000-05:00

News -- Oh dear, no deer this year for me: Deer hunt has its points in southern part of state

"The state herd peaked at about 2 million five years ago, and the DNR has been trying to bring it down ever since because of complaints about crop damage, automobile collisions and damage to forests. The primary tool has been issuing liberal numbers of doe permits."

Comment -- Dave told me he saw lots of does on opening day but no bucks. Come on Dave, we're all counting on you to harvest some venison for us to eat at the Christmas party.

2004-11-15T11:12:00.000-05:00

News -- This is kind of an interesting story, for all of us space dorks: Slowly but Cheaply, a New Way to the Moon (washingtonpost.com)

"A standard moonshot involves putting a rocket on a launchpad and lighting the fuse. The target is about 240,000 miles away, and it takes about three days to get there. Apollo 11, the first mission to put two men on the moon, reached lunar orbit in just under 76 hours.
SMART-1 has a different idea. Instead of using chemical propellant, its ion propulsion expels the positively charged atoms, or ions, of the gas xenon, accelerated by an electric field inside the spacecraft's engine.

'There's no combustion,' Racca said in a telephone interview from his ESA office in Noordwijk, the Netherlands. 'We split the atoms with electricity to get ions, accelerate them at high speed and eject them.' Ejection -- firing the ions out the back of the spacecraft -- is what drives the spacecraft forward. SMART-1 generates the electricity by converting sunlight with outsize solar arrays that give the spacecraft a 45-foot wingspan.

The bad news about ion propulsion is that it does not produce a lot of thrust. 'The ion engine varies from gentle to exceedingly gentle,' said physicist Marc Rayman, of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. 'It pushes like a piece of paper pushes on your hand.'
But there are plenty of advantages. Rayman, chief engineer for Dawn and former project manager of Deep Space 1, noted that objects don't slow down in space, so acceleration is cumulative.

Comment -- Ion propulsion could make possible affordable, very long distance flights -- like to the outer edges of the solar system.

2004-11-15T08:38:00.000-05:00

News -- This article is about the opening of the rebuilt Museum of Modern Art in New York City: The New York Times > Arts > Art & Design > Architecture Review: Art Fuses With Urbanity in a Redesign of the Modern

"Designed by the Japanese architect Yoshio Taniguchi with Kohn Pedersen Fox, the expanded museum is a serene composition that weaves art, architecture and the city into a transcendent aesthetic experience. Its crisp surfaces and well-proportioned forms clean up the mess that the building had become over the course of three expansions. No doubt the design will breathe new life into the museum's collections, too."

Comment -- I think we're scheduled to see it next Tuesday. Should be much different than any other art museum we've seen.

2004-11-12T12:34:00.000-05:00

News -- They cooked an omelet that would satisfy even my appetite for omelets:
Giant Omelette Celebration

Comment -- They used 5,000 eggs.

2004-11-12T09:29:00.000-05:00

News -- MacGyver is a live and well and working at NASA: Robot Helps NASA Refocus on Hubble (washingtonpost.com)

"It is by no means a sure thing. Yet largely because of the Canadian robot named 'Dextre,' NASA has gone in less than a year from virtually writing off the Hubble to embracing a mission that will cost between $1 billion and $1.6 billion and approach in complexity the hardest jobs the agency has ever undertaken.

'Almost as difficult as landing on Mars successfully twice,' Weiler called it. Servicing the Hubble, like the nine-month tour de force that has kept two rovers tooling around the Martian countryside, will demand a host of technical tasks and tricks that have never been tried."

Comment -- The only reason NASA got off it's butt and started working on this is because of the public outcry over the recommended abandonment of the Hubble Space Telescope.

2004-11-12T08:34:00.000-05:00

News -- A fast cop car to catch fast drivers: The New York Times > International > Europe > Fiano Romano Journal: Whoosh! For Speeders, Speedier Justice, via Lamborghini

"Superintendent Vincenzo Bizzarro wore a satisfied look on his face when he gave a reporter, fingers dug into fine leather seats, a small taste of what the force's new Lamborghini Gallardo patrol car can do: nearly 100 miles an hour in just a few seconds, with a row of tollbooths approaching awfully fast. (He mercifully got nowhere near its maximum speed of 190 miles an hour.) With a slim aerodynamic siren and sleek blue paint job, it looks great too: a perfectly Italian tool to foil the famously fast and anarchic Italian drivers."

Comment -- Apparently, the superintendent's name really is Bizzarro.

The article says that in Italy, you automatically lose your license if you are caught driving faster than 100 mph. If we did that in Michigan, it would wipe out half the drivers on I-96.

2004-11-11T11:26:00.000-05:00

News -- This website for a Texas hunt club claims to be working on a system that allows you to hunt from your computer keyboard: Live-Shot.com - Real Online Hunting, Exotic Game Hunting, Internet Hunting

"We are currently working on a very comfortable, ADA compliant blind which will house the LIVE-SHOT shooting system. Once this and the perimeter fencing are completed, will we be able to offer a unique computer assisted hunting opportunity. Disabled and handicapped hunters, as well as others who would like to try this type of hunting, will be able to use our system."

Comment -- The keyboard hunting would be an extension of their current online target shooting:

"LIVE-SHOT is a new concept. You can challenge yourself and compare your skills to other members with our on-line target shooting. We have developed a system where you can control a pan/tilt/zoom camera and a firearm to shoot at real targets in real time.

While your membership is active, access the viewing cameras to see how others stack up to your abilities, control the pan/tilt/zoom camera to take a look around, and schedule a reservation for your on-line shooting experience.

Currently, shooters will be able to fire 10 (ten) .22 caliber rounds at paper and silhouette targets. You may also have a DVD recording and/or the paper target from the session shipped as an option. Look for additional, varied shooting systems along with competitions to come online soon."

2004-11-11T09:22:00.000-05:00

News -- Interesting article in the Detroit Free Press about deer hunting: State deer herd makes big moves

Comment -- The article reviews the modern history of the deer herd. It notes that in the 40s, when my dad was a teen up north, there were lots of deer in Michigan -- an estimated 1.5 million . But, by 1970, the population was down to 445,000. The UP was down to 150,000 and the northern Lower to 125,000.

So, right about the time dad was taking me hunting for the first time, the deer herd was near an historic low. No wonder I got frustrated about not seeing any deer -- there were darn few deer to see!

Today, much of the deer herd has shifted to the southern lower peninsula. A few days ago, I saw seven does in a neighbor's front yard.

I miss getting out on opening day, but I do have my nice trophy hanging on the wall in our media room at home to remind me of what good hunting we had out at Dave and Beth's farm.

2004-11-11T08:15:00.000-05:00

News -- New technology makes it easier to sell stuff on eBay: The New York Times > Technology > Circuits > Sprucing Up the Storefront When the Address Is EBay

"The eBay edition of Contribute 3, which works with Windows, will come with 800 templates that can be customized with product images, descriptions, logos and other standard Web page elements. Step-by-step software wizards guide the way. Finished pages can be published on eBay with one click. Sellers are not restricted to using templates; personally designed pages are easy to add. Contribute can also update existing pages with new merchandise."

Comment -- We use Contribute 3 at work to allow our staff to update the Web pages for which they are responsible. It's pretty easy to operate.

Hmmm, I wonder what I could sell on eBay? Lots of stuff, but what could I make money on? I know! Jennifer's tasty meat loaf...mmm, meat loaf. The only problem is that there is never any leftover to sell.

2004-11-10T09:08:00.000-05:00

News -- Imagine taking only 15 minutes to fly out to San Francisco to see Vanessa: With 'Scramjet,' NASA Shoots for Mach 10 (washingtonpost.com)

"They call it a 'scramjet,' an engine so blindingly fast that it could carry an airplane from San Francisco to Washington, D.C., in about 20 minutes -- or even quicker. So fast it could put satellites in space. So fast it could drop a cruise missile on an enemy target, almost like shooting a rifle.

Next week, NASA plans to break the aircraft speed record for the second time in 7 1/2 months by flying its rocket-assisted X-43A scramjet craft 110,000 feet above the Pacific Ocean at speeds close to Mach 10 -- about 7,200 mph, or 10 times the speed of sound."

Comments -- This is still in the research phase. We're a long way from manned flight at Mach 10 (let alone Warp 5 like in Star Trek!).

2004-11-10T08:52:00.000-05:00

News -- This writer says advertisers are trying to make us paranoid about germs: The New York Times > Health > Essay: Germs, Germs Everywhere. Are You Worried? Get Over It.

"The fantasy of a germ-free home is not only absurd, but it is also largely pointless. Unless you share your home with someone very old, very young (under 6 months) or very ill, the few hundred bacteria on a countertop, doorknob or spoon pose no threat. The bacteria that cause food poisoning, the only significant rational bacterial worry in the average home, need to multiply into the thousands or millions before they can overwhelm your immune system and cause symptoms.

The only way common food poisoning bacteria can manage this is to spend four or five hours reproducing at room temperature in something moist that you then eat. If you are worried about food poisoning, the best defense is the refrigerator. If you don't make a habit of eating perishable food that has been left out too long, don't worry about bacteria."

Comment -- She says the same general advice applies to viruses.

The best way to stay healthy: she recommends washing your hands with soap and water a few times a day and quit worrying.

2004-11-10T08:27:00.000-05:00

News -- How can you best preserve digital photos? The New York Times > Technology > Even Digital Memories Can Fade

"Magnetic tape, CD's and hard drives are far from robust. The life span of data on a CD recorded with a CD burner, for instance, could be as little as five years if it is exposed to extremes in humidity or temperature. And if a CD is scratched, Mr. Hite said, it can become unusable. Unlike, say, faded but readable ink on paper, the instant a digital file becomes corrupted, or starts to degrade, it is indecipherable."

Comment -- You could print out the pics. New photo papers can last up to 200 years. Of course, you might lose the prints. On the other hand, you could copy everything on to DVD. Or, keep it on a backup hard drive or somewhere on the Internet.

2004-11-09T13:04:00.000-05:00

News -- Is it easy or hard to get a job in IT? Post Series - $17 An Hour (washingtonpost.com)

"I am a contractor in the tech industry. I have never been out of work for an extended period of time (except when I was not looking for something). I do, however, have many coworkers that were out of work for a while. But since I worked with these people, I realized the main reason they were out of work was because they really didn't have the skills (social and computer) to work in a fast paced environment.

Simply, my theory is that during the boom way too many people saw technology jobs as the easy way to make money. Now those people that were really never very good at programming, database administration, etc. are getting weeded out."

Comment -- This is part of a chat session based on a Washington Post article about the difficulties in finding full time IT jobs.

The reporter wrote in his article about people (mostly guys) who have to hop around the country, taking temporary assignments doing programming or other IT work. The tone of the article is that evil companies are outsourcing IT jobs to India, or forcing their IT workers off the permanent payrolls.

All of which may be true. However, as the guy notes above (from the chat session), if you know what you're doing and have some people skills, there are jobs available.

Also from the chat session, here's a message from an employer: I own an IT business located in DC and am currently looking for techs. My business is pretty new (opened in 2002) and is growing rapidly. I have permanent positions available, with hospitalization insurance, 401(k) (with employer matching, upon qualification), car provided, base salary + commissions = $60 - 75K per yr and more. I'm having a really difficult time finding DEPENDABLE techs.

2004-11-09T12:43:00.000-05:00

News -- These guys sound like Brandon and William: Halo 2 Ready to Run Rings Around Video Game Industry (washingtonpost.com)

"It was all Halo for 13 hours Saturday at Pat Dwyer's three-story, four-bedroom home in Jeffersonton, near Warrenton, Va. His three kids were sent away. His wife was gone for the day.

Dwyer, 36, had invited his friends the Mourad brothers -- Ramsey, 35, and Reem, 34, owners of their own telecommunications company -- to come over, their Xboxes in tow. Together, the men own four Xboxes, which they set up with four TV screens. They were also stocked with two cases of beer, lamb steaks, a seven-layer dip, peanuts and cigars. The Virginia Tech-North Carolina football game could be heard in the background -- blasting from an Internet broadcast in the family room. These thirty-something guys -- 'the Atari generation,' says Dwyer, referring to the classic platform, 'with the orange buttons and the stick' -- are not far from the typical video game player, who is 29 years old and male."

Comment -- I had no idea Halo 2 was such a big deal. The article says they've even printed 1.1 million strategy guides -- a bigger total than most blockbuster novels.

2004-11-09T10:38:00.000-05:00

News -- I missed this Sunday night display of the northern lights, but they still used my quote in the paper: Lansing State Journal:Northern lights dazzle mid-Michigan

Michael Rogers, vice president of the Capital Area Astronomy Association, a local amateur astronomy group, said the northern lights evoke strong emotion in those who see them.

"It's an eerie, 'otherworldly' experience," he said.

Their appearance is difficult to predict, he said.

"It's very random and chaotic if they'll be visible in your particular location," he said.

Comment -- Sunday night, I looked out in the backyard around 10 p.m. and it was cloudy. So, I went to sleep. It appears the display really took off around midnight.

I guess the lesson is to always stay up all night. No, actually, the lesson is there needs to be some kind of alert system so I find out when a display is taking off.

2004-11-08T14:56:00.000-05:00

News -- Who's as prosperous as Oprah? Dolly!: Dollywood.com - Dolly Parton's Theme Park in Pigeon Forge, TN

Comment -- The Wall Street Journal today has a special "Through the Glass Ceiling" section on women business leaders.

It notes that Oprah's companies earn $275 million a year. But I was surprised to see that Dolly Parton's enterprises, including the Dollywood theme park, rake in $200 million a year. She's one savvy country singer.

2004-11-08T08:34:00.000-05:00

News -- M33 was one of the objects I saw through my telescope at Granny Weir's house on Saturday night: Messier Object 33

Comment -- Of course, it didn't look quite like this through my little ETX. It was more of a fuzzy spill of light in the eyepiece. Still, it's a thrill to see a galaxy that's 3 million light years away.

The clear, dark skies on the shores of southern Lake Michigan let me spot several objects I've never observed before in any of my telescopes, including M74, a large dim galaxy located in Pisces.

2004-11-08T08:24:00.000-05:00

News -- We saw The Incredibles this weekend: what a tremendous movie! :: rogerebert.com :: (xhtml)

"On the surface, 'The Incredibles' is a goof on superhero comics. Underneath, it's a critique of modern American uniformity. Mr. Incredible is forced to retire, not because of age or obsolescence, but because of trial lawyers seeking damages for his unsolicited good deeds; he's in the same position as the Boy Scout who helps the little old lady across the street when she doesn't want to go. What his society needs is not superdeeds but tort reform. 'They keep finding new ways,' he sighs, 'to celebrate mediocrity."

Comment -- It's exciting to see something genuinely creative, and that's what Pixar has come up with once again. It's not a movie, it's not a cartoon -- it's a completely new art form.

In our theater, we also saw a preview of the new Star Wars movie. Looked pretty slick.

I was disappointed by the Pixar short feature that preceded The Incredibles. It just seemed...strange. Maybe I need to see it a couple more times.

2004-11-08T08:18:00.000-05:00

News -- President Bush may push hard for radical tax reform, like a flat income tax or a national sales tax: The New York Times > Washington > Big Tax Plans, Big Tax Risks

"Advocates of both options, though, say they could be structured to exempt many low- and-middle-income people and would give the economy a substantial boost by effectively eliminating taxes on savings and investment, creating a bigger pool of capital to finance business expansion, technological innovation and better productivity. And Republicans say the election results favor the bold. They point to Senator-elect Jim DeMint, Republican of South Carolina, who won on Tuesday despite being attacked by his opponent for his support of a national sales tax."

Comment -- This will be a very interesting fight. Fat cats who benefit from the complexity of the tax code will resist efforts to simplify it.

2004-11-05T13:50:00.000-05:00

News -- Study finds benefits from robot cats: Gizmodo

"Researchers at Georgetown University have been using robot cats to help treat patients recovering from surgery or succumbing to dementia. By providing some companionship without needing much care (beyond the occasional fresh set of batteries), the NeCoRo from Omron helps patients 'increase focus and decrease aggression.'

The pair of robot psychology researchers who ran the project say that future models of robotic pets could even remind patients when to take medication, such as the anti-depressants we'll all soon be taking as we realize any emotions we feel towards animals and even each other are simply autonomic responses that can be successfully triggered and emulated by machines."

Comment -- Why robot cats instead of real ones? Well, as you may recall from my blog entry of a couple days ago, every time you vote Republican, God kills a kitten. Based on the election results (Bush by 3.5 million votes), it looks like a lot of kittens will never grow up to be cats.

2004-11-04T16:39:00.000-05:00

News -- Some people in San Francisco seem to be taking the Bush re-election kind of hard: The New York Times > Washington > Election 2004 > On the Avowed Left Coast, a Feeling of Being Left Out

"...Tracy Conklin, 45, a freelance writer and photographer, was equally dark, concluding that there was no hope and only isolation for those on the left. 'I am prepared to keep my head down, possibly for the rest of my life, under a totalitarian regime,' Mr. Conklin said."

Comment -- Uh, is she talking about the USA or Iran?

2004-11-04T08:15:00.000-05:00

News -- Interesting election analysis (the first of about a gazillion, I'm sure): The New York Times > Washington > Election 2004 > News Analysis: Electoral Affirmation of Shared Values Provides Bush a Majority

"...while Mr. Bush remains a polarizing figure on both coasts and in big cities, he has proved himself a galvanizing one in the broad geographic and political center of the country. He increased his share of the vote among women, Hispanics, older voters and even city dwellers significantly from 2000, made slight gains among Catholics and Jews and turned what was then a 500,000-popular-vote defeat into a 3.6 million-popular-vote victory on Tuesday."

Comment -- This article says the president won big among people to whom "moral values" are important. Personally, I don't look to politicians for guidance on moral values. This election, to me, was all about the war on terror. I was convinced that Kerry would not protect Jennifer, Brandon and Vanessa.

2004-11-03T15:28:00.000-05:00

News -- Man, I sure am glad this election is over.

Comments -- Here's what I've learned/observed.

1) Despite the Rogers/Dawdy's best efforts, we couldn't deliver Michigan for the president. But the Rogers gal in California was more successful for Kerry.

2) The race was much closer than I expected. That was probably wishful thinking on my part rather than rational analysis. Still, a win's a win.

3) As you may know, I closely watched tradesports.com during the campaign. The Bush contract traded at 55 just before voting on Nov. 2, dropped to 28 (wow, I should have bought then -- no guts, no glory) yesterday afternoon, then climbed to 70 last night. About the only thing I can say about its value as a predictor is that it consistently listed the president's chances (and Kerry's) as about 50-50. Well, that's pretty close to the final result.

4) Pollyvote.com averaged a bunch of polls and predictive systems and came up with a forecast of a Bush 51.6 percent popular vote win. Again, that's pretty close to what happened.

5) Nice concession speech by Kerry. Pretty classy.

6) I think Bush would have won by a huge margin if it hadn't been for the debates. Kerry did very well and convinced a lot of people that it was safe to vote for him.

7) More than just a presidential victory, this election allowed the GOP to also increase their margins in both the House and Senate. For better or worse, that's probably an endorsement of the Republican agenda.

2004-11-02T11:10:00.000-05:00

I had no idea! I'm sure glad some folks in our family are voting Democrat (or, based on this photo, should it be Demo-cats?)

2004-11-02T08:26:00.000-05:00

News -- Yale economist Ray Fair predicts an easy Bush win: The New York Times > Magazine > Questions for Ray C. Fair: Bush Landslide (in Theory)!

"Historically, issues like war haven't swamped the economics. If the equation is correctly specified, then the chances that Bush loses are very small."

Comment -- Fair uses election and economic data going back to 1916, and claims his model is accurate to plus or minus 2.4 percent. But other economists have criticized the Fair Model for picking past data points that add up to the conclusion that Fair wants to reach, i.e., a "prediction" of the election winner after the election has been concluded.

Certainly, Fair's Model is way out of the far end of the range of Bush-Kerry predictions.

All in all, I still think it's an uphill fight for Kerry. But he might pull it off.

2004-11-02T08:19:00.000-05:00

News -- The rest of the Universe doesn't care that we're having an election today: The New York Times > Science > Space & Cosmos > As the Veil on Titan Is Lifted, 'What We See Is Very Alien'

"The surface of Titan seen so far is a mosaic of bright, or rugged, regions bordering dark expanses where the terrain is generally smooth and may include lakes of liquid methane and ethane. One such 'lake' appears to be as large as Lake Champlain.

Some places resemble a cracked eggshell, with thin bright threads running like fissures through the landscape. Broad grooves near the equator look like ridges, perhaps formed by volcanic eruptions not of molten lava but icy water or hydrocarbons."

Comment -- The spacecraft will orbit Titan for the next four years and take pictures. So far, only about one percent of the surfaced has been imaged. So, who knows what kind of weird stuff they may find.

It's kind of exciting that we're seeing photos of stuff no humans have ever seen before.

2004-11-01T10:36:00.000-05:00

News -- This economist puts the Tradesports.com "Bush Wins" contract price into perspective: The Conspiracy to Keep You Poor and Stupid

"...we have to remember something very essential about what these futures contracts are really telling us at this point. With four days to go, if there really were a favorite in this contest, the contract would be pricing him at 80. Anything from 30 to 70 is, functionally, a prediction of a toss-up."

Comment -- So, with Bush Wins at only 55, the market is telling us the race is wide open (gulp!).

2004-11-01T09:17:00.000-05:00

News -- With a headline like this, I expected a story about a bloody, gruesome event:Lansing State Journal:Gore fires up Lansing rally

Comment -- It takes gore to fire up the rally? What happened to clean, wholesome family-oriented events?

Oh, wait...it was former vice president Gore!

"Gore greeted the Lansing crowd with a joke at his own expense. 'I am Al Gore, and I used to be the next president of the United States,' he said, alluding to losing the 2000 election to Bush despite winning the popular vote."

2004-11-01T09:13:00.000-05:00

News -- A slim electoral college lead for Bush: Averaged Nonpartisan Polls

Comment -- This Web site cites an average of various nonpartisan polls to predict a Bush win by about 30 electoral votes.

Meanwhile, Tradesports.com has "Bush Wins" contracts trading at 55 this morning.

It's not impossible that Kerry will win, but he has an uphill fight. Everything has to fall his way across the country, while Bush has some margin of error.

My hope is we have a solid winner -- one way or the other. Obviously I hope it's Bush, but I'd rather have a Kerry win than have a razor-close election that gives us months of litigation and uncertainty.

Of special interest to my mid-Michigan readers, I read today that Rep. Byrum's seat is being targeted by a GOP-ad blitz. It's unlikely that she'll lose, but it's interesting that the Republicans are pouring a lot of last minute money into this fight.

2004-10-28T08:25:00.000-04:00

News -- The lunar eclipse looked a lot like this from our front yard last night: Photographs of the 'World Series' Eclipse

Comment -- This is the first time I've ever seen two lunar eclipses in one year. Good thing we spotted this one -- Michigan won't have another for almost three years.

All in all, 2004 was pretty good for astronomy events. It was clear for two lunar eclipses and the Transit of Venus. Other other hand, it was cloudy (for the third year in a row) for the Perseid meteor shower.

2004-10-28T08:18:00.000-04:00

News -- There really are -- or at least, were -- "little people":The New York Times > Science > New Species Revealed: Tiny Cousins of Humans

"The new finding is 'among the most outstanding discoveries in paleoanthropology for half a century,' say two anthropologists not associated with the study, Dr. Marta Mirazon Lahr and Dr. Robert Foley of the University of Cambridge, in a written commentary in the same issue."

"The first little Floresian, an adult female, was found in September last year, buried under 20 feet of silt that coats of the floor of the Liang Bua cave in Flores. A team of paleoanthropologists headed by Dr. Peter Brown, of the University of New England in Armidale, Australia, identified the skeleton, which is not fossilized, as a very small but otherwise normal individual, similar to Homo erectus. Because the downsizing is so extreme, smaller than that in modern human pygmies, they assign it to a new species."

2004-10-27T15:02:00.000-04:00

News -- Check out this paper-toss-into-a-wastebacket Flash game: Paper Toss - Flash Game

2004-10-27T08:43:00.000-04:00

News -- NASA eagerly awaits more picture from Titan: The New York Times > Science > Space & Cosmos > First Saturn Moon Close-Ups Arrive After Spacecraft Flyby

"It was Dr. Tobias Owen, a planetary scientist at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, who called Titan, with a diameter of 3,200 miles, the largest unexplored surface in the solar system. And a strange landscape it may be: ridges and deep cracks, stretches of ice and tar, pools of liquid hydrocarbons, perhaps resembling, in Dr. Owen's description, 'a frozen chocolate sundae.'

'We're not expecting to find life - it's too cold - but we are expecting to find prebiotic chemistry like that in the very earliest days of Earth,' Dr. Owen said."

Comment -- On Dec. 24, Cassini is scheduled to release a small spacecraft that is to land on Titan on Jan. 14, taking pictures and gathering scientific data.

Meanwhile, chances are slim that we'll be able to view tonight's total eclipse of the Moon.

"Clear Sky Clock" predicts poor transparency in Lansing during the eclipse (the total eclipse phase begins at 10:23 p.m. EDT). We might spot it through the clouds. Or, if it's clear, they will surely show the eclipse on TV during the World Series.

2004-10-27T08:29:00.000-04:00

News -- This is one way to make a living: playing music in the New York City subway: The New York Times > New York Region > A Day in the Subway, as It Rolls Up a Century

"For a performer as successful as Mr. LaRoc, the show unfolded with almost scientific precision. It began with Mr. LaRoc laying out seed money, four one-dollar bills - it takes money to make money, he explains. He then repeated only two songs, both of his own composition - 'Savage Lover' and 'Montuno in F.' He keeps the list short, he says, because he estimates that his audience turns over completely every four and a half minutes. And his entire concert lasted only about 2 hours, through the height of the jam-packed rush, during which he sold 67 of his CD's at $10 a copy and had a wad of bills piled in his violin case."

Comment -- That's an idea for my niece...sell CDs of your music when you are playing on the Charlevoix street corners.

2004-10-26T10:07:00.000-04:00

News -- This is an interesting article that compares this year's presidential campaign with the Truman/Dewey race of 1948: TCS: Tech Central Station - Why Truman Defeats Dewey - and Bush Beats Kerry?

"The lesson about the candidates has to do with personality. Americans like to like their Presidents. Tom Dewey was very good at conveying competence, even mastery. (Dewey was America's first celebrity prosecutor, and in many ways he resembles a later New York prosecutor-turned-politician: Rudolph Giuliani, though September 11 seems to have humanized Giuliani.) He was also an arrogant know-it-all. The second impression ultimately mattered more than the first. John Kerry is not as talented as Dewey was; he does not convey the same level of mastery. All the more reason his supporters should worry about the arrogance he exudes. And Bush's critics should remember another lesson of 1948: Americans like Presidents who seem to know right from wrong, act decisively, and don't put on airs."

Comment -- I would not be shocked if Kerry won, but in my opinion he's got an uphill battle. Thanks to the way that states stack up in the Electoral College, Bush has a little room for error. But everything has to go just right for Kerry to make it over the top.

We were talking this morning in our staff meeting about the presidential election, and I was disturbed to hear several of our staff noting that both parties are already planning extensive legal challenges to the vote. That would be very bad for our country. I'd rather have Kerry win big than have either party tie us into knots again over the election.

2004-10-25T18:47:00.000-04:00

Here's a photo Vanessa sent us with her and her friends after a recent San Jose Wind Symphony concert.

2004-10-25T13:08:00.000-04:00

Comment -- This cartoonist is speaking at a comic convention at Eastern Michigan University on Nov. 10. Maybe we'll go see him.

2004-10-25T08:42:00.000-04:00

News -- I'm quoted in today's Crain's: Crain's Detroit Business

"SBAM's third-quarter Small Business Barometer survey of 200 business owners, released this month, shows that only 23 percent plan additional capital investment over the next 12 months. That's despite some optimism about increasing wages and profitability, the survey shows.

SBAM officials said they are concerned with the low expectations for investment, because it's often an indicator for how well small businesses are expected to perform in the near future.

They attribute the reluctance to invest to uncertainty over the upcoming presidential election, the potential for business tax reform and a tough local economy. Retailers face the added challenge of competing with big-box stores while trying to cut costs, said Michael Rogers, SBAM's vice president of communication.

'Through good times and bad, small businesses are getting steadily squeezed and have less money to put into their small-business investment,' Rogers said. 'There's less money left over to put into buying more computers or building a bigger warehouse or office."

2004-10-25T08:27:00.000-04:00

News -- The New York Times > Week in Review > Tiny Ideas Coming of Age

"...the United States Patent and Trademark Office announced a new registration category just for nanotechnology inventions.

Nanotechnology is the realm of the very, very small: its name comes from the nanometer, a unit of measure so tiny that a human hair is roughly 80,000 nanometers thick. Individual molecules are measured in nanometers; so are viruses, strands of DNA, and the microscopic structures that determine the performance of everyday materials like steel and plastic."

Comment -- Most of us have more experience with what I call "nana" technology, that is, technology invented by and implemented by grandmas.

Here are a few examples:

-- when I was a kid, grandma Rogers owned a purse that never ran out of little candies for her grandkids.

-- granny Weir's amazing technology that let her take supper for four and stretch it to feed the extra nine people who just came in the door.

-- my mom's high-tech sausage and sauerkraut stew pot.

2004-10-22T11:25:00.000-04:00

News -- Big lunar eclipse coming up Wednesday, Oct. 27: Sky and Telescope - This Week's Sky at a Glance

"A total eclipse of the Moon takes place in the eastern sky this evening as seen throughout the Americas, and before dawn Thursday morning as seen from Europe and West Africa. Don't miss this biggest celestial event of the season! See the timetable, photo tips, and complete coverage in the October Sky & Telescope, page 72, and online.

And in a conjunction of events never before seen in history, the eclipse happens during Game 4 of the World Series, in the early innings. The World Series Eclipse should be visible to fans with good sight lines from Busch Memorial Stadium, and we can hope that TV crews periodically aim up to show the progress of the event. Millions of watchers could be inspired to duck outside for a look between innings. (P.S.: Go Sox!)"

Comment -- I'll may go out to the MSU Observatory for the big event, although it does start kind of late. The total eclipse begins at 10:23 p.m. and ends at 11:45 p.m. Let's keep our fingers crossed for clear skies.

2004-10-21T12:40:00.000-04:00

News -- Hunting adventures with Sen. Kerry(heh heh): ScrappleFace: Camouflaged Kerry Denies Deceiving Dead Goose

"Camouflaged Kerry Denies Deceiving Dead Goose

(2004-10-21) -- John Forbes Kerry today denied allegations of deception after his morning goose hunt on an Ohio farm.

Reporters peppered the Democrat presidential candidate with questions after learning that Mr. Kerry apparently disguised himself as swamp grass in order to accomplish his goal.

'I have nothing to hide: I'm a hunter,' Mr. Kerry said. 'This here shotgun clearly indicates that. My $140 Ohio hunting license documents it. It's the goose that's dead wrong.'

Mr. Kerry, a professional Vietnam veteran, distinguished war protestor and 'regular guy' who is also a U.S. Senator, later stopped at Wal-Mart to pick up some more shotgun shells and a box of Tide laundry detergent for his wife, Teresa."

2004-10-21T08:31:00.000-04:00

News -- The New York Times > Technology > Circuits > State of the Art: Google Takes On Your Desktop

"Last week, Google took the wraps off its latest invention: Google Desktop Search. As the name implies, it's software that applies the famous Google search technology to the stuff on your own hard drive. It's free, it's available right now for Windows XP and 2000 (desktop.google.com), and it's terrific.

Like the Windows search program, Google Desktop can find files by name, including photos, music files and so on. But it can also search for words inside your files, including Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents. That's a relief when you can't remember what you named a file, but you do remember what it was about - or when a marauding toddler renamed your doctoral thesis 'xggrjpO#$5%////.' (Windows offers this feature, too, but it's hard to find, hard to turn on and poorly documented.)"

Comment -- I have Google Desktop installed on two of our home computers but I haven't used it much, yet.

Anything has to be better than the Windows "Find" function, which in my experience has been just about worthless.

2004-10-21T08:24:00.000-04:00

News -- Hmmm, maybe I should get one of these and try it out at Tripper's during the MSU -- U of M football game: The Associated Press

"The keychain fob works like a universal remote control but one that only turns TVs on or off. With a zap of a button, the gizmo goes through a string of about 200 infrared codes that controls the power of about 1,000 television models. Altman said the majority of TVs should react within 17 seconds, though it takes a little more than a minute for the gizmo to emit all the trigger codes.

Altman, 47, first got the idea for TV-B-Gone a decade ago when he was out with friends at a restaurant and they found themselves all glued to the perched TV instead of talking to each other. No one was around to turn the TV off."

Comment -- If people started doing this in sports bars, the management would probably put a piece of tape over the infrared input on the TV.

2004-10-20T09:07:00.000-04:00

News -- IKEA store coming to western Wayne County: State: IKEA coming to Canton - 10/20/04

"IKEA has been scouting locations in Metro Detroit for the past three years. The company recently settled on a 23-acre site at Ford and Haggerty roads in Canton Township, community and state officials say.

'We're excited that IKEA is coming to Michigan,' said Kathleen J. Blake, senior vice president of business development for the Michigan Economic Development Corp. in Lansing. 'This is good news for the state.'

What distinguishes IKEA from every other discounter selling unassembled goods is the depth of its product and emphasis on contemporary design. IKEA furniture is made by or exclusively for IKEA. It's renowned for certain categories, particularly funky inexpensive lamps."

Comment -- Vanessa's apartment in the Bay area was furnished courtesy of IKEA.

The Bay area has not one but two IKEA stores.

Some knuckleheads in the Detroit area will no doubt mistake the yellow-and- blue color scheme on the IKEA stores for U of M maize-and-blue.

2004-10-20T08:38:00.000-04:00

News -- No bones about it: new report emphasizes need to fight osteoporosis: The New York Times > Health > The (Often Neglected) Basics for Keeping Bones Healthy

"The report urges that doctors and patients pay attention to bones throughout life. Children and adolescents need a proper diet and exercise to stimulate bone growth. For adults, eating properly and staying active can maintain bone strength.

The report recommends that people over 50 who are at high risk for osteoporosis - women with a strong family history of the disease, for example - and anyone over 65 have a bone density test. Older people should also take simple measures to prevent falls, like removing small rugs from their homes."

Comment -- The report says adults should take Vitamin D supplements if their Vitamin D levels are below normal, and any adult who fractures a bone should be tested for osteoporosis.

2004-10-19T11:25:00.000-04:00

News -- Why dads lose their hair: Foxtrot by Bill Amend

2004-10-19T08:22:00.000-04:00

News -- Bush surges in tradesports.com markets: TradeSports Trading & Betting Exchange, Best Lines & Bonuses.

Comment -- This morning the President has opened up a 58-41 lead over Kerry.

Now, understand that means that investors believe there's about a 58 percent chance that Bush will be re-elected, not that the final margin will be 58 percent Bush, 41 percent Kerry. The electoral vote could still be razor thin.

What's interesting is the slow but steady decline over the last week in Kerry's prospects. My guess is that investors believe he's run out of time to catch the President before Nov. 2.

2004-10-18T14:24:00.000-04:00

News -- This is how you can tell that winter is on the way: Weather Underground: Holt, Michigan Forecast

"... Growing season has ended across southwest lower Michigan...

The growing season across all of southwest and west central lower
Michigan has ended. Thus frost advisories... freeze watches and
warnings for the 2004 season will be discontinued until the 2005
growing season begins."

Comment -- On Saturday morning we drove through a brief but intense snow storm near Olivet. Yuck!

2004-10-18T11:19:00.000-04:00

News -- Interesting article about the Atkins Diet and the history of food fads in the U.S.: The New York Times > Magazine > Our National Eating Disorder

"...there are other cultures that have been eating more or less the same way for generations, and there are peoples who still rely on archaic criteria like, oh, taste and tradition to guide them in their eating decisions. You might also be interested to know that some of the cultures that set their culinary course by the lights of pleasure and habit rather than nutritional science are actually healthier than we are -- that is, suffer a lower incidence of diet-related health troubles.

The ''French paradox'' is the most famous such case, though it's worth keeping in mind the French don't regard the matter as a paradox at all; we Americans resort to that word simply because the French experience -- a population of wine-swilling cheese eaters with lower rates of heart disease and obesity?! -- confounds our orthodoxy about food. Maybe what we should be talking about is an American paradox: that is, a notably unhealthy people obsessed by the idea of eating healthily."

Comment -- From our trip to Paris last summer, it seems that there is a big difference in attitudes toward food. In France, we observed that people ate small amounts of very rich, tasty food over the course of several hours. Here in the U.S., on the other hand, the habit seems to be consuming vast quantities of mediocre food (check any buffet restaurant) as quickly as possible.

2004-10-15T12:46:00.000-04:00

News -- Another revealing chat session with Democrat Donna Brazile and Republican Peggy Noonan about the election: washingtonpost.com - Live Online

Brazile: "I believe the American people are ready for a change and a fresh new start. We need leaders who will put the nation first and their own partisan, ideological positions on the sidelines. The current crop of leaders are totally acting as if this country belongs to them and no one else."

Noonan: "I am so hoping for a more definitive outcome than we had in 2000. My great anxiety is that we continue to appear to be a 50-50 nation, I really hope for greater support for the president. One thing that yanks at my thoughts: some day we will be hit worse than 9/11, and when that day comes our president will have to hold the nation together. How do you hold together a 50-50 nation?"

Comment -- This is the second chat session the two woman have done this month. Just as in the first one, Peggy comes across as thoughtful and creative (maybe because she's a professional writer) while Donna comes across as a cliché-spouting political hack (maybe because that's what she is!)

2004-10-15T08:31:00.000-04:00

News -- Who needs cable? FCC give electric companies permission to start offering broadband Internet access over power lines: The New York Times > Technology > F.C.C. Clears Internet Access by Power Lines

"For the electric companies' part, broadband Internet service is more than a year away from becoming widely available. But the agency's ruling is expected to increase significantly the level of investment and interest by the utilities, which had been stymied in previous attempts to offer new services over power lines. They reach more American homes than either telephone lines or television cables."

Comment -- This will provide competition that will help drive down the cost of broadband Internet.

It will also have a huge impact on telephone companies like SBC. If you have broadband access in your home, you can get telephone service over the Internet (called VOIP). Comcast is rolling this out across the country over their cable system.

So, don't be surprised if Consumers Energy offers phone service in a couple of years. Once they do, who needs SBC?

I wonder if SBC is planning to begin buying electric companies so they lock up the power grid distribution system for phones?

2004-10-14T10:23:00.000-04:00

News -- This is a rather geeky joke: Cannot find server

Comment -- The joke is that the Web site address is http://the value of Pi. Since the value of Pi is infinite, it takes an infinite amount of time for the site to load (heh).

2004-10-14T08:49:00.000-04:00

News -- Lots of people much smarter than me are blogging all over the Web about last night's debate, but I do want to note an observation about Social Security: The New York Times > Washington > Campaign 2004 > News Analysis: A Crucial Test, but Not Final

"As a rule, Mr. Bush summoned sweeping, time-tested labels, as he did last night, to paint Mr. Kerry as sitting 'on the far left bank' of the American mainstream in an effort to appeal to core Republican supporters, while Mr. Kerry invoked the language that Bill Clinton used so successfully with swing voters, pledging to support 'people working hard, playing by the rules, trying to take care of their kids."

Comment -- On Social Security, there's a clear choice: President Bush recognizes that nothing needs to change for Grandma Weir or Grandma Rogers, probably nothing will need to change for Jennifer or I. But something in the system has to change for people the age of Vanessa and Brandon. The president wants to implement some privatization of the Social Security, so Vanessa and Brandon have ownership and control over at least some of the Social Security taxes that are taken out of their paychecks.

Kerry, on the other hand, says there is no need to do anything about Social Security. He's wrong, and he does us a disservice by being bitterly opposed to privatizing anything that's currently being done by government.

2004-10-13T13:01:00.000-04:00

News -- I thought you might all enjoy these "questions" that CBS allegedly has prepared for tonight's debate: ScrappleFace: Debate Questions Leaked, CBS Denies Internet Rumors

"To Kerry: Sen. Kerry, if an American earns more than $200,000 per year, and has $35,000 more than he needs to pay his bills: What should he do with the extra money? Choose the alternative which is best for America:
a) Spend it on a new Chrysler Crossfire.
b) Hire a new employee for his business.
c) Invest it in a stock mutual fund.
d) Send it to the Internal Revenue Service so President Kerry can use it to help people whose lives were ruined by the Bush administration.

To Bush: Mr. President, of all the mistakes you have made in the White House, which one made you look most stupid and unfit to be president?

To Kerry: Since your healthcare plan (available at JohnKerry.com) is not a federal government takeover of one-seventh of the U.S. economy, what hope can you really offer to save us from this horrendous crisis?

To Bush: After you leave the White House in January 2005, do you think you'll return to your privileged life of leisure or will you team up with former vice president Cheney to make confiscatory profits in the oil industry?

To Kerry: Given your failure, during two decades in the senate, to introduce legislation to provide healthcare for all Americans, tell us about your most heroic moment in combat in Vietnam?

To Bush: With your administration's track record of demanding accountability from public schools, does it ever embarrass you or the First Lady that you look so much like a chimpanzee?
To Kerry: As president, what will you do to ensure that Americans don't squander their opportunity to retire in luxury on Social Security?

To Bush: Mr. President, what's that thing on your back, under your jacket?

To Kerry: Sen. Kerry, since you're a child of privilege who attended private schools and married a wealthy heiress, does it shock you that President Bush lacks your sense of compassion for hard-working middle Americans?

To Bush: What's your favorite feature of Sen. Kerry's plan?"

Comment -- heh heh heh

2004-10-13T12:56:00.000-04:00

News -- Alexis was on QuizBusters! See her on WKAR TV at 11:30 a.m. on Oct. 31: QuizBusters

"In 2004-2005, students from 64 high schools are competing for even higher stakes, thanks to the MSU Office of Admissions and the Office of the Provost. Each Division Championship team will receive four $5,000 MSU tuition scholarships offers to Michigan State University. The two Division Champions will then compete in a season finale Grand Championship, with the winning team receiving five one-year textbook scholarships from the Student Book Store."

2004-10-13T09:14:00.000-04:00

News -- Would this be a cool job or what? Bing Gordon is chief creative officer for Electronic Arts: He's Got Games (washingtonpost.com)

"Here, there's a room with a pool table, foosball, air hockey, free arcade games. There's an in-house mini-Blockbuster, the Information Resource Center, with more than 12,000 items (DVDs, video games). There's a 24-hour gym. There's a huge lawn where employees, on their lunch break, play flag football (on Thursdays) and soccer (on Tuesdays) as co-workers, most of them in jeans and T-shirts, some in flip-flops, look on.

So when Gordon says he's the man "who goofs around to make EA a better place to work," you quickly figure out that he's not kidding."

Comment -- Electronic Arts has 4,400 employees, so it's a big operation. This lengthy profile of Gordon has a lot of speculation about the social and artistic impact of video gaming.

2004-10-13T08:04:00.000-04:00

News -- In this Slate article, almost all prominent U.S. novelists are voting for Kerry. An exception: sci-fi king Orson Scott Card: Roll Call - Who are novelists voting for?

"I'm a Democrat voting for Bush, even though on economic issues, from taxes to government regulation, I'm not happy with the Republican positions. But we're at war, and electing a president who is committed to losing it seems to be the most foolish thing we could do. Personal honesty is also important to me, and Kerry is obviously not in the running on that point, given that he can't keep track of the facts in his own autobiography."

2004-10-12T08:22:00.000-04:00

News -- Just like that movie "Faceoff" -- The New York Times > Health > Essay: A Stranger in the Mirror: Should Doctors Transplant Faces?

"This month in The American Journal of Bioethics, a team of transplant surgeons at the University of Louisville announced their intention to pursue the transplantation of faces. Last year, a task force at the Royal College of Surgeons of England cautioned against them."

Comment -- The article says face transplants are controversial because, unlike needing to replace a faulty liver, for example, you can live with a bad face. I know I certainly do! (heh)

On the other hand, I saw an old guy in the Petoskey casino Sunday who was extremely disfigured, either from cancer or an accident. I'll bet he would be willing to undergo the risks of a face transplant.

2004-10-11T11:01:00.000-04:00

News -- In a live chat today with political analyst Charlie Cook, he zeros in on Kerry's problem: he's not a very interesting candidate: washingtonpost.com - Live Online

"First and foremost, when an incumbent president is seeking re-election, it is a referendum on the incumbent. Having said that, when challengers have been successful, they have tended to be very interesting people, whose message was perfectly suited for the year in which they were running.

In 1976, Jimmy Carter was a very interesting person who had a message (integrity, I'll never lie to you) that was perfecting suited for the first post-Watergate, presidential election. Ronald Reagan was a fascinating person with a perfect message and approach for 1980. Same for Bill Clinton in 1992.

Kerry isn't the interesting, compelling person that these people were, in the context of the years in which they were running, I think that is a problem. The Kerry campaign is fine, not the best or worse I've ever seen, though they certainly have been making decisions quicker and made better decisions in last month than before. I also think that the Bush campaign is the best planned and executed, most disciplined presidential campaign that I have ever seen, which has helped keep the President afloat when Iraq and the economy have been real problems."

Comment -- Nevertheless, Cook says the presidential race remains too close to call.

After taking a drop following the Friday debate, Tradesports.com shows sentiment again flowing positive for Bush.

2004-10-10T22:42:00.000-04:00

This is a fish that escaped from the lake and is swimming up the fish ladder in Dave and Beth's cottage.

2004-10-10T22:00:00.000-04:00

The fall leaves were fantastic near Boyne Falls this weekend -- as nice as I've ever seen. As you can see from this photo, the crystal clear blue skies helped a lot.

2004-10-10T21:59:00.000-04:00

Here's a photo of Alexis performing at the Charlevoix Apple Fest. She sounded great!

2004-10-08T15:16:00.000-04:00

News -- Maybe I'll get Jennifer one of these new phones: infoSync World : Motorola i833, diamond-edition by Baby Phat

"For the fashion conscious with money to spend on fashion statements, Motorola has refitted their i833 model with pink and diamonds to create the ultimate chick phone."

2004-10-08T10:06:00.000-04:00

News -- Hmmm, this wouldn't be too shabby to drive to work: Autoblog - www.autoblog.com

"Only 1,500 of the AMG specials will hit the U.S. and that includes a supercharged 5.5 liter V8 producing a mind-blowing 469 horsepower and 516 lb-ft of torque. 516! Edmunds says that'll get you to 60 in 4.5 seconds. All those number mean bigger sticker numbers as well. Again Edmunds estimates $85-90,000 for the AMG."

Comment -- 469 horsepower! By comparison, our C240 is 175 horsepower.

2004-10-08T09:16:00.000-04:00

News -- With this star player on the roster, it's no wonder U of M's hockey team is expected to be very good: Michigan motivated to win NCAA title - 10/08/04

"With 14 players who have been drafted by the NHL, Michigan has one goal: the national championship."

Comment -- The article notes that one of Michigan's best players is a senior defenseman named Brandon Rogers.

2004-10-08T08:29:00.000-04:00

News -- President Bush notes that Kerry, in a speech two years ago, warned that Hussein might spread nuclear weapons around the world: The New York Times > Washington > Campaign 2004 > On the Trail: Arms Report Spurs Bitter Bush-Kerry Exchange

"The Kerry campaign said Mr. Bush had yanked its candidate's words out of context, and noted that in the same speech, Mr. Kerry had said: 'Regime change in and of itself is not sufficient justification for going to war, particularly unilaterally, unless regime change is the only way to disarm Iraq of the weapons of mass destruction pursuant to the United Nations resolution. As bad as he is, Saddam Hussein, the dictator, is not the cause of war."

Comment -- In regards to foreign policy, Kerry is deeply conservative and President Bush is very radical. Kerry acts as if 9/11 never happened. With his devotion to the U.N. and multi-lateral negotiations and sanctions, he fails to recognize that the world has changed.

Bush, on the other hand, understands that the U.S. is the most overwhelming military power in world history, that no other countries in the world have the ability to tackle fascist Islam terrorists, and that we have a responsibility to act.

We'll see how many voters agree with these significantly different world views.

2004-10-08T08:20:00.000-04:00

News -- There are many people who say we should have continued sanctions against Iraq instead of invading: The New York Times > Washington > The Sanctions: U.S. Report Says Hussein Bought Arms With Ease

"...the report raises fundamental questions about the effectiveness of sanctions, a tool the United States has frequently used as a foreign policy tool short of military action. Offered lucrative contracts by Mr. Hussein, both arms suppliers and government officials seem not to have hesitated to ignore United Nations trade restrictions, going so far as to disguise tank engines as agricultural parts."

Comment -- I'm sure Bush will bring this up in the debate tonight, just as Kerry will note that the report found that Iraq had no WMD at the start of the war.

I vividly remember that invasion of Iraq was the least bad of many bad options. I think the Democrats are playing a losing hand when they harp about the mistakes of the past. Voters want to know what we're going to do in the future.

2004-10-07T13:34:00.000-04:00

News -- Jennifer recently participated in some teamwork training at work: Speed Bump

2004-10-07T10:13:00.000-04:00

News -- Well, there's no getting around it. Hussein had no weapons of mass destruction (WMD) -- but he sure worked hard to make everyone believe he had them. And who doubts he would have hesitated to build a nuke if he could have?U.S. 'Almost All Wrong' on Weapons (washingtonpost.com)

"Among the most diplomatically explosive revelations was that Hussein had established a worldwide network of companies and countries, most of them U.S. allies, that secretly helped Iraq generate $11 billion in illegal income and locate, finance and import banned services and technologies. Among those named are officials or companies from Belarus, China, Lebanon, France, Indonesia, Jordan, Poland, Russia, Turkey, Syria, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen.
Duelfer said one of Hussein's main strategic goals was to persuade the United Nations to lift economic sanctions, which had devastated the country's economy and, along with U.N. inspections, had forced him to stop weapons programs. Even as Hussein became more adept at bypassing the sanctions, he worked to erode international support for them."

Comment -- As noted above, lots of countries were helping Hussein erode the sanctions. When the sanctions were finally ended, and that was certainly the direction they were headed, I believe Hussein would have gone after WMDs big time.

But regardless of why we went to war, we did go to war. Hussein's in jail now and we're in charge of Iraq...so where do we go from here? We get two choices about who's going to lead us forward: Bush or Kerry. I sure don't have much confidence that Kerry's got the strength of character to lead us effectively. Not that Bush hasn't made a lot of mistakes. But again, we have to choose one or the other, and it looks to me like Bush is the safest choice.

2004-10-06T13:20:00.000-04:00

News -- This is a lengthy, but I think very interesting, article about how the Internet has made it possible to make money by offering huge amounts of songs or movies -- even though almost all may have only a couple of listeners or viewers: Wired 12.10: The Long Tail

"For instance, the front screen of Rhapsody features Britney Spears, unsurprisingly. Next to the listings of her work is a box of 'similar artists.' Among them is Pink. If you click on that and are pleased with what you hear, you may do the same for Pink's similar artists, which include No Doubt. And on No Doubt's page, the list includes a few 'followers' and 'influencers,' the last of which includes the Selecter, a 1980s ska band from Coventry, England. In three clicks, Rhapsody may have enticed a Britney Spears fan to try an album that can hardly be found in a record store.
Rhapsody does this with a combination of human editors and genre guides. But Netflix, where 60 percent of rentals come from recommendations, and Amazon do this with collaborative filtering, which uses the browsing and purchasing patterns of users to guide those who follow them ('Customers who bought this also bought ...'). In each, the aim is the same: Use recommendations to drive demand down the Long Tail.
This is the difference between push and pull, between broadcast and personalized taste. Long Tail business can treat consumers as individuals, offering mass customization as an alternative to mass-market fare."

Comment -- Very thought provoking ideas in this article.

2004-10-06T11:00:00.000-04:00

News -- What's the rush to increase our state taxes? Granholm pushes for tax reform this year - 10/06/04

"It's possible," Granholm said. "I would like to (do that). I think clearly we're in a state that is seeing declining revenues because the tax structure is based on an industrial 20th century economy when we have evolved in the 21st century.
"So I would like to see our tax structure evolve in the same way our economy is evolving."
Proposals could include extending the sales tax to some services, retooling the state's main corporate tax and finding a way to cut the levy on business plants and equipment."

Comment -- Why try and push this through the lame-duck Legislature? Because the term-limited lawmakers, who are not up for re-election (and therefore cannot be punished by voters) are more likely to vote for a tax hike.

Attention Dave and Rick: note that one of the core proposals is to extend the sales tax to some services -- like dental care and appraisals?

SBAM is going to be fighting this tooth-and-nail.

2004-10-05T08:26:00.000-04:00

News -- The President looked awful in the debate, but still has lead in major poll: Bush Has 5-Point Lead in New Poll (washingtonpost.com)

"President Bush continues to lead Sen. John F. Kerry among likely voters despite surging enthusiasm for Kerry among Democrats and new doubts about whether the president has a clear plan to deal with terrorism and the situation in Iraq, according to a Washington Post tracking poll.

In the aftermath of last week's debate, Bush leads Kerry 51 percent to 46 percent among those most likely to vote, according to polling conducted Friday through Sunday."

Comment -- A professional pollster told me that surveys of "likely voters" are the surveys to pay attention to.

I think Kerry came out of the debate with good news/bad news. The good news is that he cleared up the confusion about his vision for U.S. foreign policy. The bad news is the only about 40% of voters like that vision. And nearly all those voters are in Democratic strongholds like New York and California.

2004-10-04T09:00:00.000-04:00

News -- News reporters like a "horse race": A Changed Political Landscape, or an Isolated Peak in the Polls? (washingtonpost.com)

"Conservatives believe many reporters are secretly rooting for Kerry, but there may be a more fundamental motivation, says John Harwood, political editor of the Wall Street Journal. For journalists, he says, 'having a rooting interest in having a race may have a positive effect on the coverage of Kerry right now, because people have an incentive to say, 'We still have a contest.' ' That, says Juan Williams of National Public Radio, is why political writers cast the debates 'as Kerry's last big shot,' while a loss would have been interpreted 'as the beginning of the end.'
Minutes before the debate, Time correspondent Matt Cooper said of the Kerry comeback scenario: 'Everyone in this room wants to write it. They're aching to write it. When the polls close up, you'll see more of it.'
He was right -- at least until the polls shift again."

Comment -- It's boring for reporters to write about Bush pulling away. It's much more exciting writing about Kerry's comeback.

But, it's certainly true that Tradesports shows somewhat less confidence in a Bush victory. The Bush victory contract was trading at about 69 before the debate. Today it's down to 59.

2004-10-04T08:21:00.000-04:00

News -- The sweet smell of success: The New York Times > International > Two Americans Win Nobel Prize in Medicine

"Axel and Buck clarified the intricate biological pathway from the nose to the brain that lets people sense smells. A whiff of an odor brings a mix of different molecules into the nose, where each molecule activates several odor receptors. This pattern of activation is interpreted by the brain, letting people recognize and form memories of about 10,000 different odors, the Nobel Assembly said."

Comment -- Linda Buck is a woman. This is the first time I can remember a woman winning a Nobel prize, other than Marie Curie.

I think it's interesting how an aroma can trigger a vivid memory. Whenever I smell cedar, it brings back memories of a cedar toy chest that my parents got for me at Christmas when I was about 4 years old. I remember climbing inside that chest and drinking in the smell of the cedar slats. Now, whenever I smell that, it reminds me of being a kid at Christmas.

2004-10-01T16:43:00.000-04:00

News -- These so-called "notes" are pretty hilarious: Bush's Debate Notes: "All throughout the debate, Bush was seen taking notes on a piece of paper at his podium. At great risk to life and limb, we were able to smuggle out the notes and present them so that they are available for everyone to see. Many bothans died to bring you this information ..."

2004-10-01T12:57:00.000-04:00

News -- Bush re-election contract on Tradesports.com takes a downward blip after last night's debate, but then starts to climb again: TradeSports Trading & Betting Exchange, Best Lines & Bonuses.

Comment -- I was disappointed that, at times, Bush looked confused and hesitant last night. Too often, he let himself get roped into responding to Kerry instead of making his own points.

I was impressed with Kerry's calm and control. He mostly did a good job explaining his foreign policy objectives. I'm not sure that's to his advantage, because voters are probably going to decide that his foreign policy objectives will not keep us safe. They're too meek and passive, in my humble opinion.

A column in the Wall Street Journal today makes a good point: who do you want to be in the presidency when, sometime in the near future, the Iranians (who have loudly proclaimed their goal of killing everyone in America) finally get nuclear weapons? I agree with the Journal -- only Bush is clear-eyed enough to handle that threat.

2004-10-01T08:29:00.000-04:00

News -- I did not realize that this was happening so quickly: The New York Times > New York Region > Area Codes, Now Divorced From Their Areas

"In this era of mobile telecommunications, calls now connect people, not places. Cellular phones, changing governmental regulations and new Internet technology have torn area codes from geography, allowing people to have phone numbers with area codes distant from where they live. Though not new, the trend has kicked up a pitched debate among a colorful collection of technological pundits, telephone historians and Web preachers who specialize in the topic.

'For many people this will come as a deeply confusing development,' said James E. Katz, a sociologist and director of mobile communication studies at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J. 'You delocalize area codes, and it's one less North Star and one less compass point that people have to help orient themselves in an increasingly complicated world."

Comment -- The main way I use area codes is to help me screen calls with caller ID. If I don't recognize the area code, I don't pick it up.

The article adds that "The dislocation of phone numbers has created logistical challenges. Technological barriers make it difficult for law-enforcement officials to tap into phone calls carried over the Internet. Emergency workers can no longer quickly pin down the location of certain calls for help. Pollsters are less able to depend on area codes to craft their target groups."

Ultimately, phone numbers are just strings of digits. Who cares what the digits are? I don't even care if I can't remember the number -- all my phone numbers are stored on my cell phone anyway.

2004-09-30T16:26:00.000-04:00

News -- What kind of monsters use car bombs to murder children? The New York Times > International > Middle East > Three Car Bombs in Iraq Kill Dozens, Including Many Children

"In the attack at the government-sponsored celebration, the bombers drove their cars into a crowd of children that had gathered for the ceremony, meant to mark the completion of a $400,000 project sponsored by the Army's First Cavalry Division. Ordinarily, Iraqi children would be attending school, but the chaos in the capital caused by the ongoing war has delayed the opening this year.

'These people want to kill innocent children,' said Ahmed Hussein, a 14-year-old wounded by the blasts. The boy spoke from his bed at Yarmouk Hospital, his arms and legs bandaged, while is his mother, seated next to him, shuddered and sobbed."

Comment -- I'm at a loss for words.

2004-09-30T08:24:00.000-04:00

News -- "Unscrewed" is a new show on Comcast cable: The New York Times > Technology > Circuits > TV Humor With a Digital Punch Line

"Judging by the heavily male audience at a recent taping, the show's viewers tune in for Mr. Sargent's deadpan locker-room humor. Features including 'Search Sperts' (short for Experts), where scantily dressed women guess the number of results Google search terms will turn up, and 'Girls Gone Unwired,' where Playboy-bunny look-alikes appear on the show by Web cam to talk about technology.

To satisfy hard-core geeks, Mr. Sargent and his sidekick, Laura Swisher, test odd products or try experiments like microwaving CD's, or freezing a hard drive and then shattering it by dropping it."

Comment -- It's interesting that someone has found a niche making fun of technology, which is usually treated as a deadly serious topic in most media.

2004-09-29T08:42:00.000-04:00

News -- Vanessa says she did not even feel this earthquake: The New York Times > National > Quake Hits California 11 Years Late

"Parkfield, a rural town of about 40 people, lies virtually atop the San Andreas fault, the largest and most active of California's seismic fissures. Because of its location, Parkfield is a virtual laboratory for seismologists, who have placed a large number of measuring instruments in the area, which has the reputation of California's earthquake capital."

News -- She reminded me last night that she has only felt one earthquake in the over three years she has been living in Fremont.

2004-09-28T17:03:00.000-04:00

News -- This article about oil prices contradicts itself: The New York Times > Business > Saudis to Boost Oil Production Capacity as Price Hits $50

Comment: First, it says "On the New York Mercantile Exchange, oil for November delivery closed at $49.90 a barrel today, a record high for a closing price when adjusted for inflation."

Then later in the article, it says the opposite: "...adjusted for inflation, oil prices are still historically lower than their peak of March 1981, when crude reached nearly $80 a barrel in today's dollars."

The reporter or editor messed up.

2004-09-28T15:13:00.000-04:00

News -- I better check Jennifer's jewelry box: Valuable diamonds stolen in Paris

The gems were taken from a display case at an antique and jewelery dealers' show at the Louvre Museum complex.

The thieves pounced when employees left the Chopard booth for about 15 minutes, police were quoted as saying.

The BBC's Allan Little, in Paris, says the theft happened in broad daylight in one of the most public places in the city, and that there was no violence.

It appears that the display case was not alarmed, although there are many security cameras in the complex, our correspondent says.

Police described the apparent lack of security as "rare".

The biggest diamond stolen was a 47-carat jewel worth an estimated six million euros. The other stone taken was about 30 carats, worth 5.5 million euros.

2004-09-28T11:19:00.000-04:00

News -- Health care spending is not a waste?: The New York Times > Week in Review > Venture Medicine: Health Care Costs Are a Killer, but Maybe That's a Plus
The New York Times

"...the main reason health care spending is rising is that modern medical technology has steadily made it possible to do more for more people. Hips and hearts can be fixed, while the ravages of schizophrenia and depression can be moderated.

The technological marvels of medicine, of course, are little comfort to most of the 45 million Americans who are not covered by health insurance. Yet among the insured majority, millions of people are being treated for physical and mental ailments that went untreated or undetected years ago."

"Even if you could take all the waste out of health care, the spending would still go up because we have a technology-intensive system that will continue and it is delivering a lot of benefits in terms of longer, healthier lives," said David Cutler, a health care economist at Harvard University.

MAYBE spending more on high-tech health care isn't so bad after all. Wring inefficiency out of the system where you can, advises Mr. Cutler, the Harvard economist, but get used to it.
"Having longer, higher-quality lives is a luxury that we as a society can increasingly afford," he said. "What's wrong with that? What would you rather be spending it on? More plasma TV's?"

Comment -- The point of this article is that health care is expensive but it's worth it because it's helping all of us have longer, healthier lives.

2004-09-27T16:30:00.000-04:00

News -- This survey asked people what you call that fizzy flavored liquid that comes out of a can: regionsofmind.blog-city.com

"What (is) people's 'generic term for a sweetened carbonated beverage'? The nationwide results:

Soda -- 52 percent

Pop -- 25 percent

Coke -- 12 percent

Soft drink -- 5 percent"

Comment -- A map on the Website shows use of of the word "pop" is heavily concentrated in the upper Midwest (i.e. Michigan).