News That Stays News

Liu Xiaobo October 8, 2010

Wins the Nobel Peace Prize. Courtesy of my dad’s blog.

Meh kinda day October 8, 2010

Consider it an interpersonal transfer of utility.

There’s a study about rats in here somewhere, and a note about the redefinition of PTSD in the VA system that are interesting:

An unexpected thought on Michelson-Morley.

And I didn’t read the profiles, but there are some charts on who owns congress here.

Also, a link to 30 centuries ago:

The son of Oïleus quickly raced in front,
with godlike Odysseus really close behind,
as close as the weaving bar comes to the breast [760]
of a well-dressed woman when she deftly pulls it
in her hands to pass the weaving spool through thread,
keeping the rod against her chest—that’s how close 940
Odysseus ran behind, his feet hitting Ajax’s footprints
before the dust could settle there.  Godlike Odysseus
ran so close, his breath touched the back of Ajax’s head.

What American Exceptionalism Looks Like to Foreigners October 7, 2010

There’s a debate in China over whether the government should try to create a Chinese ideology or seek to uphold universal values. So what’s a Chinese value? Well, so far, candidates include a centralized state, an obedient populace, and respect for academic attainment.

What happened after the reunification of Germany? October 4, 2010

An interesting chart and the accompanying article.

AI October 4, 2010

Pretty cool article about an automated language learning system that is gaining the ability to parse phrases.

Science and Morality, part II October 4, 2010

It’s always interesting to revisit old ethical debates that have apparently been resolved. One of the founders of In Vitro Fertilization won this year, and the safety concerns raised by ethicists at the time have been addressed. But it isn’t clear that the critics were wrong, all things considered. Does the existence of four million people justify the inadvertent abortions and failed embryo transfers at the beginning? Does a live birth rate of 27% make up for the fertilized embryos that die, or are set aside?

Science and Morality October 1, 2010

The Tuskegee Syphilis Study wasn’t the only such study performed by the US government.

Background on the News September 29, 2010

This is the same NYT North Korea article we’ve read for years, but it alludes at the end to a 1968 North Korea commando raid on the South Korean “Blue House” (which is what you guessed it might be), which led to an incredibly unfortunate South Korean response. They were probably trying to be this fellow.

Vehicle Death Rates September 29, 2010

I’m looking to buy a car, and I’m fairly paranoid when it comes to safety. Luckily, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety publishes a breakdown of driver mortality rates by model. I’m still looking for the data for newer cars- if you find it, please let me know.

Driver Death Rate by Make and Model

Poor people are really poor September 28, 2010

Estimates of wealth by class differ significantly from reality