Monday, October 4, 2010
Mashable: 10 Incredible Inventions from the Maker Fair
Some really interesting stuff, including a robot who solves Rubik's cube in seconds.
Friday, October 1, 2010
2010 Ig Nobel Prizes
The Ig Nobel Prizes are given for most humorous research done in the previous year. I have to admit the sex lives of fruit bats have their humorous aspects.
Eye on Justice
The system of justice in the U.S. is broken pretty badly, as this example shows. Our nations ideals are Justice for All, and we are not living up to it. The recent revelations about the crime lab in North Carolina where many cases were tainted by sloppy or intentionally wrong results, including in three cases where the convicted person was executed, are simply unacceptable.
D'Souza and De Toqueville
Post from Ed Brayton on Dinesh D'Souza's distortion of what De Toqueville said about American exceptionalism. De Toqueville was making fun of it.
I really despise the concept of American exceptionalism. I think the United States has given the world much, in particular the ideals of what a nation can be. We can take pride in that. BUT the whole concept of exceptionalism has been used to justify horrible abuses, including Manifest Destiny and the accompanying genocide of American Indians. In recent years it has been used to justify actions by our government, including torture, that we don't accept when done by other nations.
Gail Collins on Education
Interesting column on education, which offers some intriguing facts and opinions.
Tea Party in Historical Perspective
Kevin Drum of Mother Jones has an interesting article on the Tea Party and its similarities and differences with other previous conservative movements.