Food for thought based on my class yesterday with a speaker from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA):
If we were take all the oil that we could possible get from ANWR and add it immediately to our oil supply, it would only supplement the supply by 490 days. 490 days vs. irreversible environmental loss and destruction. Tough choice huh?*
*No.
Do yourself a favor and click on this link to read a nice little blog entry on FoxSports.com. Now, scroll on down to the third paragraph. Rudy BLEEP? Who exactly is Rudy BLEEP. Oh, let’s see…it was the Minnesota Timberwolves (go Hakim!) and they have that up-and-coming player, Rudy Gay. Wait, does that mean that “gay” is one of the words that Fox thinks is necessary to censor? Wow, I had no idea that someone’s orientation can be considered “dirty” or “inappropriate.”
I recognize that “gay” is often used as an insult by adolescent boys who are uncomfortable with their own sexual preference, but come on! There’s just something about this that’s just plain wrong. I understand the need to censor swear words, but not “gay.”
The fact that Fox actually censored someone’s last name is just a sign of bad technology. The fact that they are censoring the word “gay” is a far bigger problem.
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As some of you may know, I’m currently pursuing my media and public policy Master’s degree at Rockefeller College. In addition to focusing on how media can influence public policy, I am also interested in the ways it can influence environmental policy in particular. This weekend, I am working my way through “Paths to a Green World: The Political Economy of the Global Environment.” As I’m reading the history of global reaction to environmental problems, I am struck by one recurring thought: what type of idiots place no importance on environmental concerns?
Clearly, anyone who doesn’t care what the world will be like beyond his immediate existence is stupid, foolish, and ignorant. And yet, the media constantly presents environmentalism as a liberally-biased viewpoint, not a fact of the world. We have debates over whether or not global warming is really happening instead of trying to find solutions (or at least countermeasures). At other times, we wonder whether we should be concerned at all with the extinction of entire species. All of this is due to those people who “don’t believe” in environmentalism.
Actually, I’m not sure if I really even want to send these people to Mars–they’ll probably destroy that planet too. However, given the ample history of who I’ve sent up there already, I guess that’s not a bad idea.
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Presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton criticized fellow hopeful Barack Obama for being “naive” after he said that he would sit down with leaders of “renegade” nations like Cuba and North Korea. Naive? Maybe. But is this worthy of criticism? Certainly not. If our country is going to change course and make the world a better place, the first step will be calm negotiations and opening up good channels of communication with all nations. Obama should not be criticized for making this claim–it is the only reasonable course of action if things are going to change for the better.
Hillary’s still not exactly doing it for me. I wish she would stop acting like a “veteran” politician to create her image–she needs to go back to her roots when she was young and idealistic, fighting for a better healthcare system.
I do like it when a product I fully support becomes so popular, but this is pretty ridiculous.
According to Dr. Julio Bonis in the New England Journal of Medicine, “Wiiitis” stems from the overuse of muscles stemming from playing Nintendo Wii Games. I love me some Nintendo Wii, but I haven’t had these pains. My suspicion is that a lot of very out-of-shape people are getting more exercise than normal and are hurting themselves. But still, this should prove to be even more buzz for the Wii.
If you don’t have one yet, make sure to go get one! It’s a blast.
This article ended up making me think quite a bit. Basically, Connecticut is considering passing a law that requires sex offenders to register their IM screennames and email addresses. If they do not register this information, they can face up to 5 years in prison. Read the rest of this entry »
I found this interesting article on MSN today about some of the rather “evil” practices that banks like to perform on their customers. One of the ones I hate is how long it takes for my bank to deposit money into my account. As the author writes, banks take out money almost immediately but take forever depositing. I also thought the part about banks charging overdraft fees on pending transactions was another “Oh yeah! That happened to so-and-so” moment. They love taking our money, don’t they?
I know that making fun of someone’s death is often rude and uncalled for. It can be disrespectful and can offend the family members of the deceased. However, in the case of Jerry Falwell, all I can feel is joy. Read the rest of this entry »
In one of the most idiotic examples of a “study” being reported in the media just for the sake of generating controversy, a study peformed by a professor at UPenn and a graduate student at Cornell has argued that white refs call more fouls on black players than white players. This would be a slight concern if it wasn’t for the fact that the NBA is predominantly black. Most of the white players just sit on the bench, ready to give water and slaps on the back to the black starters. To make things more interesting, 2 of the top 3 players with the highest number of fouls per game were white this year. Of course, none of this matters as long as we allow “researchers” to publish their studies without any regard for statistical correctness or design implementation. What a stupid story…
I just had the chance to read this very good article on Engadget about the idea of adding wind turbines to our highways. The theory is that the turbines could absorb the power generated from millions of cars travelling very fast, generating wind. I’m intrigued!
