August 30, 2008

“To refrain from imitation is the best revenge.”



Giant, Bulging-Eyed Roman Emperor Statue Found
National Geographic News, August 27, 2008

An "exquisitely carved" statue of the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius—with heavy-lidded, bulging eyes and a feathery beard—has been discovered in western Turkey, archaeologists announced.

The Turkish and Belgian team were not entirely surprised to find the sculpture of the Roman leader and philosopher, who ruled from A.D. 161 to 180, in Roman-era baths in the ancient city of Sagalassos.

That's because a rich repository of artifacts from the second century A.D. had already been unearthed at the baths, including the 2007 discovery of a colossal statue of the emperor Hadrian. . . .

~ Complete story here

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August 26, 2008

attraction


Moo North: Cows Sense Earth's Magnetism
by Nell Greenfieldboyce, All Things Considered, NPR Radio, August 25, 2008

A new study suggests that cows sense the Earth's magnetic field and use it to line up their bodies so they face either north or south when grazing or resting.

The discovery was made by a team led by Hynek Burda of the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany. "I think the really amazing thing is that hunters and herdsmen and farmers didn't notice it," Burda says. . . .

Eventually, his team used Google Earth to look at more than 8,500 cows, over 300 pastures all around the world, according to a report in this week's issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

By analyzing the images, the team found that cows tend to face either magnetic north or south when grazing or resting.

"Most of them actually align in a north-south direction," says Burda, and this held true regardless of where the sun was, or how the wind blew. . . .

~ Complete story here
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August 25, 2008

"haven't we had enough?"


Huffington, Silverstein to Ambush GOP Convention
Will Unveil Bus-Shelter Ads on Popular Routes in Twin Cities
Posted by Andrew Hampp, Advertising Age -- Campaign Trail, August 22, 2008

The number of protesters at the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis/St. Paul in two weeks could total up to 40,000. Add Rich Silverstein and Arianna Huffington to that list.

And Mr. Silverstein, co-founder of Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, will be bringing his Cannes Lions-award winning "Haven't We Had Enough?" posters featuring the names, slogans and events that played key roles in all eight years of the Bush administration as submitted by Huffington Post commenters. The ads will appear in 12 bus shelters across the Twin Cities, in an effort that Mr. Silverstein reluctantly describes as ambush marketing.

"I guess it's a little poke in the eye," he allowed. "There's nothing on these posters that is subjective. It's purely what's happened, it's fact. I guess the tagline is subjective, but the information is fact."

The posters are an extension of Mr. Silverstein and his partner Jeff Goodby's efforts to make an impact on the Democratic elections, having unsuccessfully tried to work on specific candidates' campaigns. "We went back to the Democrats so many years ago, and it was really frustrating. The marketers ... I don't believe they'll do anything as impactful as Hal Riney did for the Republicans," he said, pointing to the legendary 1984 Ronald Reagan re-election campaign that proclaimed it "Morning in America." Mr. Silverstein was hard-pressed to pinpoint a moment in the 2008 presidential race that's come close to having the same impact. . . .

~ Complete story here


August 20, 2008

tired institutional thinking


Debatable Choices
By Michel Martin, TheRoot.com

A trio of news veterans will moderate this fall's presidential debates, but who and what do they represent?

Aug. 19, 2008--In case you missed it, earlier this month, the Commission on Presidential Debates announced their picks to moderate the three presidential debates this fall. The chosen: NBC's Tom Brokaw, CBS's Bob Schieffer and PBS's Jim Lehrer.

So, in an election year in which race, gender and generational change have dominated politics and public discourse, the commission decided that these three white men, aged 68, 71 and 74, respectively, are our nation's best choices to question the candidates and represent voter consciousness about the issues? When one—and only one—of the candidates is also a 70-plus-year-old white man?

Don't get it twisted; this is not about hating the players, just the game. The chosen ones are all esteemed journalists and have not only paid their dues but supported a number of younger reporters in their own careers, myself included. No, my criticism is aimed at the tired institutional thinking that automatically defaults to older white men to bring gravitas and credibility to important national events and assumes—wrongly—that the men are somehow free of a perspective shaped by their own life circumstances and life stories.

Think about it. What if the commission, a non-partisan, non-profit group that has sponsored all presidential and vice presidential debates since 1988, had picked three 40-something African Americans to moderate all three debates? No matter how much experience and name recognition those journalists brought with them, people would question whether, as a group, they represent the full range of views and perspectives in the American electorate, and indeed whether such a lineup was fair to both candidates. . . .

~ Complete story here


August 19, 2008

in spite of suffering




Our peace of mind increases in spite of suffering; we become braver and more enterprising; we understand more clearly the difference between what is everlasting and what is not; we learn how to distinguish between what is our duty and what is not. Our pride melts away and we become humble. Our worldly attachments diminish and, likewise, the evil within us diminishes from day to day.

~ Mahatma Gandhi


August 18, 2008

now. only now.



Never upset your mind
With yes and no.
Be quiet.
You are awareness itself.
Live in the happiness
Of your own nature,
Which is happiness itself.


-Ashtavakra Gita 15:19


August 12, 2008

the price of naiveté

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.
(And greed is eternal.)



The new age of authoritarianism
By Chrystia Freeland, Financial Times, August 11 2008

In 1989, the Berlin Wall fell, democracy was on the march and we declared the End of History. Nearly two decades later, a neo-imperialist Russia is at war with Georgia, Communist China is proudly hosting the Olympics, and we find that, instead, we have entered the Age of Authoritarianism.

It is worth recalling how different we thought the future would be in the immediate, happy aftermath of the end of the cold war. Remember Francis Fukuyama’s ringing assertion: “The triumph of the west, of the western idea, is evident first of all in the total exhaustion of viable systematic alternatives to western liberalism.”

Even in the heady days of 1989, that declaration of universal – and possibly eternal – ideological victory seemed a little hubristic to Professor Fukuyama’s many critics. Yet his essay made such an impact because it captured the enormity, and the enormous benefits, of the change sweeping through the world. Not only was the stifling Soviet – which was really the Russian – suzerainty over central and eastern Europe and central Asia coming to an end but, even more importantly, the very idea of a one-party state, ruthlessly presiding over a centrally planned economy, seemed to be discredited, if not forever, then surely for our lifetimes.

That collapse brought freedom and prosperity to millions of people who had lived under Soviet rule. Moreover, the implosion of Soviet communism inspired hundreds of millions of others around the world to embrace freer markets and demand more responsive governments. The great global economic boom of the past 20 years, which has brought more people out of poverty more quickly than at any other time in human history, would not have been possible had the Soviet way of ordering the world not been discredited first.

Yet today, in much of the world, the spread of freedom is being checked by an authoritarian revanche. That shift has been most obvious in the petro-states, where oil is casting its usual curse. From Latin America to Africa to the Middle East, the black-gold bonanza has given authoritarian regimes the currency to buy off or to repress their subjects. In Russia, oil has fuelled an economic boom that prime minister Vladimir Putin, and some of his foreign admirers, mistakenly attribute to his careful demolition of the chaotic democracy of the 1990s. . . .

Complete essay here

cheesehead. literally.

Further proof that some football players are even more stupid than others


Is Brett a Bad Bet for the Jets?
By Allen Barra, The Wall Street Journal, August 12, 2008

Arriving in New York last Friday, Brett Favre sounded as if he had taken a page from Bull Durham's Nuke LaLoosh. "I'm here for one reason," he told reporters. "I'm here to help the Jets win."

It would have been refreshing if at least one of the worshipful media folk at the press conference had replied, "Well, actually, Brett, you're here because after months of vacillating on your retirement and putting the Packers through hell -- and forcing them into using a valuable draft pick on an extra quarterback because they didn't know whether you'd be playing for them this season -- you tried to bully them into either making you the starter or trading you to a team of your choice. Like a prima donna, you put your own desires ahead of the welfare of the organization to which you professed loyalty. Now you've been dumped on one of the NFL's most desperate franchises because no one else wanted you."

Instead, we're getting gush from a New York media that really ought to know better. Here's the Daily News's Mike Lupica on August 8: "The Jets became a viable franchise [by signing Favre], made you finally notice and talk about them and care about them." As if talking and caring translates into winning football games. And here's CBS's Phil Simms, former New York Giants quarterback and Super Bowl winner: "This is bigger than when Joe Montana left the Forty-Niners to go to Kansas City in 1993."

It would be if Brett Favre were as good as Joe Montana. Mr. Montana won four Super Bowls and was arguably the greatest quarterback in football history; Mr. Favre has won just one Super Bowl and is probably the most overrated, or at the very least overhyped, quarterback in the modern NFL. . . .

Complete story here

August 7, 2008

seeing eye

Kodak camera, 1888



Researchers craft curved, eyelike electronic camera
Curved screen resembles retina

By Jeremy Manier, Chicago Tribune, August 7, 2008

Drawing inspiration from the simple design of the human eye, Illinois engineers have invented a new kind of eyelike camera that avoids some pitfalls of ordinary cameras and could lead to a host of novel devices based on flexible electronics.

The electronic eye made by researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Northwestern University collects light on a curved screen resembling a retina, in contrast to digital cameras that use lenses to focus images on a flat sheet of light detectors. A curved surface reduces the need for multiple lenses and cuts down on distortion that comes from projecting the light on a flat surface.

That allows for a compact camera with low distortion and a wide field of view, much like a natural eye, according to a study published in Thursday's edition of the journal Nature.

Making curved arrays of electronics is far tougher than it sounds, experts say. Until now, nearly all complex electronics have been etched on flat wafers, with even slight curves posing a steep engineering and production challenge. . . .

Complete story here

August 6, 2008

yes, we can't





MAD's Obama and McCain, the movies
This is one cover position that a candidate for president might rather pass

by Mark Silva, The Swamp, Chicago Tribune, August 4, 2008

If Barack Obama and John McCain were movies...

That's MAD magazine's jumping-off point for a couple of spoofs on the presidential candidates of the two major political parties.

[MAD covers via DC Comics]

Complete story here

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August 5, 2008

the color of money

Ivy Leaguers' Big Edge: Starting Pay
by Sarah E. Needleman, The Wall Street Journal, August 1, 2008

Where people go to college can make a big difference in starting pay, and that difference is largely sustained into midcareer, according to a large study of global compensation.

In the yearlong effort, PayScale Inc., an online provider of global compensation data, surveyed 1.2 million bachelor's degree graduates with a minimum of 10 years of work experience (with a median of 15.5 years). The subjects hailed from more than 300 U.S. schools ranging from state institutions to the Ivy League, and their incomes show that the subject you major in can have little to do with your long-term earning power. PayScale excluded survey respondents who reported having advanced degrees, including M.B.A.s, M.D.s and J.D.s.

Even though graduates from all types of schools increase their earnings throughout their careers, their incomes grow at almost the same rate, according to the survey. For instance, the median starting salary for Ivy Leaguers is 32% higher than that of liberal-arts college graduates -- and at 10 or more years into graduates' working lives, the spread is 34%, according to the survey.

One reason why Ivy Leaguers outpace their peers may be that they tend to choose roles where they're either managing or providing advice, says David Wise, a senior consultant at Hay Group Inc., a global management-consulting firm based in Philadelphia. By contrast, state-school graduates gravitate toward individual contributor and support roles. "Ivy Leaguers probably position themselves better for job opportunities that provide them with significant upside," says Mr. Wise, adding that this is the first survey he's seen that correlates school choice to a point later in a career. . . .

Complete story here

Big Brother Olympics

In China, the Olympics are "not about sport and generosity in victory or defeat, but about showing the world that China is a powerful country that needs respect."

-- James Kynge, author of China Shakes the World



Beijing's welcome is mix of pride, spies and suspicion
By Calum MacLeod, USA TODAY, August 5, 2008

BEIJING — Standing guard in a Beijing alley decorated with dozens of red Chinese flags, Lu Ruzi, 80, proudly patrols his neighborhood to "help bring glory to our motherland."

The great-grandfather is among a half-million Chinese mobilized for the Olympics who include police, commandos, SWAT units — and retirees such as Lu, who acknowledge they are not-so-covert volunteer spies for the communist government, assigned to report suspicious people or protesters.

"If anyone tries to sabotage the Olympics, we will control them," Lu says. "We want to protect foreigners, too. If they are coming here, they must be our friends, right?"

As Beijing welcomes tens of thousands of athletes, dignitaries and tourists from around the world for the Summer Olympics that begin Friday, it's clear nearly everywhere you look that the government is meshing its role as gracious host with its tradition of controlling many aspects of daily life. In a nation known for its tight security and intolerance of dissidents, the security and surveillance — of Chinese citizens and visitors alike — has been increased noticeably. . . .

Complete story here

August 4, 2008

the first object

And yet they're still missing the point.


Researchers may have found cosmic Rosetta stone
By Randolph E. Schmid, Associated Press via USA Today, August 1, 2008

Star light, star bright. The first star grew fast, but began slight. The first cosmological object formed in the universe was a tiny protostar with a mass of about 1% of our sun, according to U.S. and Japanese researchers who spent years developing a complex computer simulation of what it was like after the Big Bang that formed the universe.

This protostar was surrounded by a giant mass of gas and it grew to 100 times the sun's mass over about 10,000 years, according to Naoki Yoshida of Nagoya University in Japan. That is very rapid growth on a cosmic scale.

"The first stars were very different from stars like the sun," explained Harvard astronomy professor Lars Hernquist, co-author of a paper describing the findings in Friday's issue of the journal Science.

While the sun is mostly hydrogen, it also contains oxygen and carbon, he said. The early stars were primarily hydrogen and helium, and were much more luminous and had a shorter life.

"These differences have important implications for what happened afterward," he said at a teleconference. . . .

Complete story here

good question



Separating Canadian Bottled Water From the Rest
By Jane L. Levere, The New York Times, August 4, 2008

A new campaign for a Canadian bottled water aims to educate the public about this resource and differentiate it from other waters.

The campaign, for ESKA natural spring water, features a new bilingual Web site, plus print, outdoor and online advertising, all created by the Toronto office of Zig, a unit of MDC Partners.

Some ads depict people who strike poses that indicate they are puzzled and ask questions like, “Am I drinking eight glasses of chemically processed water a day?” “Why do some bottled waters taste funny?” and “Why does my water have an ingredients list?” . . .

Complete story here