Here is an interesting article in the Times about how genes don’t appear to have that much to do with longevity or even what are generally considered to be hereditable diseases (e.g. cancer, heart disease, diabetes). I was surprised by these findings, but what had me really perplexed was this: Life spans, says James Vaupel, [...]
Archive for November, 2011
Take a look at some absolutely spectacular sidewalk paintings here and here. Links from LRC Blog. Update: Here are some more drawings by Julian Beever, the guy who did the painting in the second link above.
Since the Bush Administration has adopted the monumentally stupid phrase “Islamic fascism” to describe who America is fighting in the War on Terror, there has been much hooplah over whether the term is fitting. Naturally, loyal Republicans are defending the term. For instance, Republican pollster Ed Goeas offers up this little pearl of wisdom: “I [...]
One of my old roommates told me that when he was little, his dad would ask him to conjugate the verb “to be,” and whenever he couldn’t do it his dad would tell him that was going to end up writing for USA Today. I thought of that today when I was walking to class [...]
The indispensable James Bovard has come up with a modern day “Modest Proposal”: the American people should be allowed to use the same tactics to wrench the truth from their elected representatives as the White House has argued are necessary to protect us in the War on Terror. So, for instance, we could waterboard Mark [...]
The Washington Times is reporting that the Iraq War has cost each and every American $1,075 thus far. This figure brought an interesting question to my mind: just how much are war supporters willing to pay–in both blood and treasure–for their war? Let’s imagine for a minute that we could go back to March 18, [...]
You know how you can make any fortune cookie funny by adding the words “in bed” to the end of the fortune? Well, it turns out you can do the same with the pronouncements of neoconservatives. Click here to find out what three words you should add. Link from Hit and Run.
So it turns out that Albert Pujols really is just a remorseless hitting machine, as confirmed by tests run at my alma mater. ESPN reports: This spring, Washington University scientists….put Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols through a series of tests similar to those given to Babe Ruth 85 years ago–tests ranging from finger tapping, to visual [...]
All the things you never knew about our first president–like that he ate his opponents’ brains–in a two and a half minute animated music video. Link from The Agitator.
So the government fucked up and sent 230,000 Medicare recipients around $50 million in extra prescription drug reimbursements. But here’s the kicker: now they want it back. For what? They’re just gonna waste it on something anyway and retrieving this money will cost God knows how much in time, money, and grief. A better idea [...]
