November 2006
Thursday, 30 November 2006
Yahoo’s Big Win
Yahoo’s Big Win: “This wasn’t a war, it was a massacre, and a case study in why all this “Web 2.0 stuff” actually has legs when applied properly.”
Tuesday, 21 November 2006
Steelers (4-6) hanging on by a thread
Steelers (4-6) hanging on by a thread: “Clearly, the Steelers need the kind of desperation, late-season stretch drive that hasn’t been staged in the NFL since … well, last year.”
Tuesday, 14 November 2006
Did an Asteroid Impact Cause an Ancient Tsunami?
Did an Asteroid Impact Cause an Ancient Tsunami?: “Scientists in the working group say the evidence for such impacts during the last 10,000 years, known as the Holocene epoch, is strong enough to overturn current estimates of how often the Earth suffers a violent impact on the order of a 10-megaton explosion. Instead of once in 500,000 to one million years, as astronomers now calculate, catastrophic impacts could happen every few thousand years.”
Citizenship test to focus on democracy
Citizenship test to focus on democracy: “The current test is heavy on historical facts, and includes questions about the colors of the U.S. flag and the name of the form used to apply for citizenship. The new exam will ask about the Bill of Rights and the meaning of democracy.”
Monday, 13 November 2006
The Inherent Inaccuracy of Voting
The Inherent Inaccuracy of Voting: “Conley proposes to nullify any election where the margin of victory is less than 1%, and have everyone vote again.”
Sunday, 12 November 2006
Salt Lake Tribune - Long overdue: Pelosi as the first woman House speaker
Salt Lake Tribune - Long overdue: Pelosi as the first woman House speaker: “But why, when a leader as competent and experienced as Pelosi is about to take the third most powerful job in America (some would say second), did her earliest television interviews focus on her five children? Male politicians’ children are mostly mentioned only when they land in jail or marry someone of the same sex.”
Saturday, 11 November 2006
Did Life Begin In Space?
Did Life Begin In Space?: “One of the molecules, acetamide, is particularly exciting because it contains a peptide bond, the essential bond for connections between amino acids. ‘No one has ever found an amino acid in space,’ says Jan M. Hollis of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. ‘I’ve actually written several papers about not finding them.’”
Friday, 10 November 2006
Libraries in the sand reveal Africa’s academic past
Libraries in the sand reveal Africa’s academic past: “Written in ornate calligraphy, some were used to teach astrology or mathematics, while others tell tales of social and business life in Timbuktu during its Golden Age,’ when it was a seat of learning in the 16th century.”
Thursday, 9 November 2006
Zune Stinks
Zune Stinks: “The new Zune Marketplace is even stupider. Microsoft is trying to break open Apple’s near monopoly of the music market, so they’re launching an online music store that competes with iTunes. The only difference here is that iTunes is simple, elegant, and intuitive.”
Monday, 6 November 2006
Vote-by-Mail: The Real Winner Is Democracy
Vote-by-Mail: The Real Winner Is Democracy: “The answer to the nation’s voting anxiety is not a national standard that imposes new rules on an outdated system of polling places. The answer is a low-tech, low-cost, reliable and convenient system that makes it easier to vote and easier to count votes.”
Wednesday, 1 November 2006
The American economy | Slow road ahead
The American economy | Slow road ahead: “Since no one foresaw the productivity revolution of the mid-1990s, these predictions could prove too pessimistic.”