1. iSkin
The future is now. Turn your skin into a touchpad. This could revolutionize human intimacy. Wait, what? I mean ergonomics.
2. Whoops! Fundamentalism!
This is about as alarming a debut as you could imagine for the new Libyan government, short of calling for the destruction of Israel and decapitating a Western journalist on live television. Still, from what I understand this Jalil guy is at best a more secular moderate and at worst an opportunist. He's likely doing this to keep the Islamist elements of the revolution appeased until the difficult work of drawing up a constitution begins. If this Sharia thing survives a constitutional convention or Jalil and company start talking jihad, death to America, etc then I'll be really ill at ease. At least we can still withhold Ghadafi's frozen assets (I bet you thought I was going to say "corpse") if they keep talking crazy.
24.10.11
Early Edition
1. Owning the Moon
This is absolutely ludicrous, particularly Bigelow’s claims that there are compelling and profitable reasons to stake out a claim on the moon. Owning the moon would without doubt not be profitable for the United States at all, at least not anytime this century. If private enterprise wants to make a go of it, I’m all for it. If they’re successful, the US can buy tracts of moon land from them on which to build whatever it likes. But for God’s sakes, no more space race nonsense!
2. Green Berets
I’m a bit torn on the US military contracting for alternative energy for strategic reasons. I absolutely understand the non-environmental motivation behind it, and in terms of government funding cutting-edge technologies or alternative energies, I’m of the mind that the military is really the only part of government that has any business doing it. But being intimately familiar with defense contracting and all the antics that go on in it, and coupled with the fiasco that the administration’s “green shoots” policy of alternative energy subsidies that essentially amount to kick-backs and crony capitalism, I have serious misgivings about how this will work out practically. And of course I’m extremely wary of the military being used to advance a political/environmental agenda.
3. Tunisian Elections
The latest on the Tunisian elections, the first free elections in the nation’s history. It’s too early to say anything with certainty, but the early leader seems to be a moderate Islamist party, which, from reports, seems to have been an expected development. The party’s willingness to join other coalitions, regardless of whether it wins an outright majority in the Parliament, in order to ensure this caretaker government is as broad and collaborative as possible is encouraging. Will continue to watch with interest.
4. School Report Cards to Include Your Child’s BMI?
This is insane, absolutely insane. An Ohio law that requires schools to measure their students’ BMIs and report them via the Ohio Health Department to their parents seems to be facing some broad resistance from state schools, with nearly 40% of the state’s school districts opting out of collecting the measurements. The argument, I would assume, for even involving the schools in this is that they provide lunch to the children five out of seven days of the week and so they’re in part responsible for the child’s health. But school lunch, which of course is in no way is required to be purchased at school, only constitutes 24% of the meals those children consume. The other whopping 76% comes from home. So why in the hell does this argument continue to gain traction (rhetorical question)?
This is absolutely ludicrous, particularly Bigelow’s claims that there are compelling and profitable reasons to stake out a claim on the moon. Owning the moon would without doubt not be profitable for the United States at all, at least not anytime this century. If private enterprise wants to make a go of it, I’m all for it. If they’re successful, the US can buy tracts of moon land from them on which to build whatever it likes. But for God’s sakes, no more space race nonsense!
2. Green Berets
I’m a bit torn on the US military contracting for alternative energy for strategic reasons. I absolutely understand the non-environmental motivation behind it, and in terms of government funding cutting-edge technologies or alternative energies, I’m of the mind that the military is really the only part of government that has any business doing it. But being intimately familiar with defense contracting and all the antics that go on in it, and coupled with the fiasco that the administration’s “green shoots” policy of alternative energy subsidies that essentially amount to kick-backs and crony capitalism, I have serious misgivings about how this will work out practically. And of course I’m extremely wary of the military being used to advance a political/environmental agenda.
3. Tunisian Elections
The latest on the Tunisian elections, the first free elections in the nation’s history. It’s too early to say anything with certainty, but the early leader seems to be a moderate Islamist party, which, from reports, seems to have been an expected development. The party’s willingness to join other coalitions, regardless of whether it wins an outright majority in the Parliament, in order to ensure this caretaker government is as broad and collaborative as possible is encouraging. Will continue to watch with interest.
4. School Report Cards to Include Your Child’s BMI?
This is insane, absolutely insane. An Ohio law that requires schools to measure their students’ BMIs and report them via the Ohio Health Department to their parents seems to be facing some broad resistance from state schools, with nearly 40% of the state’s school districts opting out of collecting the measurements. The argument, I would assume, for even involving the schools in this is that they provide lunch to the children five out of seven days of the week and so they’re in part responsible for the child’s health. But school lunch, which of course is in no way is required to be purchased at school, only constitutes 24% of the meals those children consume. The other whopping 76% comes from home. So why in the hell does this argument continue to gain traction (rhetorical question)?
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