Monday, August 30, 2010
Is the EPA to blame for the bed bug ‘epidemic’?
At Daily Caller:
"There were almost no bed bugs in the United States between World War II and the mid-1990s.
Around when bed bugs started their resurgence, Congress passed a major pesticides law in 1996 and the Clinton EPA banned several classes of chemicals that had been effective bed bug killers."
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Sunday stuff
The Government's New Right to Track Your Every Move With GPS. Related: Big Brother is Searching You and Cleveland's "Big Brother" high-tech trash cans tell the government if you aren't recycling enough!
Urine-powered fuel cells.
Urine-powered fuel cells.
Germans - the other other white meat.
Top 10 accidental inventions.
How to increase the money you get from eBay auctions.
The stories behind 8 back-to-school essentials.
Mug shot (and related story) of the week. Somewhat related distracted driving story.
Video: Hay bailing fun.
Inside a celestial super-volcano.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Tuesday stuff
Can You Really Open A Padlock With A Bullet?
Here's what happens when you edit Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” into a video of the Chinese Red Army performing the Long March Song Cycle.
Monday, August 23, 2010
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Tensions Rise in Greece as Austerity Measures Backfire
At Spiegel:
This dire prognosis comes even despite Athens' massive efforts to sort out the country's finances. The government's draconian austerity measures have managed to reduce the country's budget deficit by an almost unbelievable 39.7 percent, after previous governments had squandered tax money and falsified statistics for years. The measures have reduced government spending by a total of 10 percent, 4.5 percent more than the EU and International Monetary Fund (IMF) had required.
The problem is that the austerity measures have in the meantime affected every aspect of the country's economy. Purchasing power is dropping, consumption is taking a nosedive and the number of bankruptcies and unemployed are on the rise. The country's gross domestic product shrank by 1.5 percent in the second quarter of this year. Tax revenue, desperately needed in order to consolidate the national finances, has dropped off. A mixture of fear, hopelessness and anger is brewing in Greek society.
Monday, August 16, 2010
Teachers union calls for boycott of LA Times for publishing test-score analysis
"After a single year with teachers who ranked in the top 10% in effectiveness, students scored an average of 17 percentile points higher in English and 25 points higher in math than students whose teachers ranked in the bottom 10%. Students often backslid significantly in the classrooms of ineffective teachers, and thousands of students in the study had two or more ineffective teachers in a row."
Friday, August 13, 2010
Friday Stuff
Yeah, I know it's been a while. I'll try to do better.
Did Americans in 1776 have British accents?
World’s Strongest Drinks & Strange Liquor. Sort of related: New key to longevity: Alcohol. Also, Alcoholic Art: Liquor Under a Microscope.
Boy with 24 fingers and toes. "Strangely, three months before the birth of Guangchun, his family's sow also labored a weird shaped piglet, which had eight legs, two mouths and four ears. The pig died two days later. It possibly was a bad omen to the family, leading to the birth of my son with extra fingers and toes," the mother added.
Neat blog: Fake Science.
What Caffeine Actually Does to Your Brain.
Bugs that 'bully females' into having sex. These bugs are even worse: "Because the female bedbug has no genital opening, the male inseminates her by using his hardened, sharpened genitalia to punch a hole through her abdomen. With no elaborate courtship ritual, males in a frenzied pursuit of sexual congress often blunder into and puncture the bodies of other males, occasionally inflicting fatal wounds."
LEGO Tower Bridge of London, video interview with designer.
Visual illusions - keep hitting "next" to see them all.
Visual illusions - keep hitting "next" to see them all.
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Is Obama about to forgive billions in mortgage principal?
With the government fully in control of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Barack Obama may issue an order to forgive portions of underwater mortgages processed through the GSEs, where negative equity approaches $800 billion overall.
DoJ redirecting damage awards to favored groups (ie ACORN)?
In the past, when the Civil Rights Division filed suit against, say, a bank or a landlord, alleging discrimination in lending or rentals, the cases were often settled by the defendant paying a fine to the U.S. Treasury and agreeing to put aside a sum of money to compensate the alleged discrimination victims. There was then a search for those victims — people who were actually denied a loan or an apartment — who stood to be compensated. After everyone who could be found was paid, there was often money left over. That money was returned to the defendant.
Now, Attorney General Eric Holder and Civil Rights Division chief Thomas Perez have a new plan. Any unspent money will not go back to the defendant but will instead go to a “qualified organization” approved by the Justice Department. And if there is not enough unspent money — that will be determined by the Department — then the defendant might be required to come up with more money to give to the “qualified organization.”
New Chinese anti-carrier missile may be a game-changer
New Chinese anti-carrier missile may be a game-changer
"The emerging Chinese antiship missile capability, and in particular the DF 21D, represents the first post-Cold War capability that is both potentially capable of stopping our naval power projection and deliberately designed for that purpose."
"The emerging Chinese antiship missile capability, and in particular the DF 21D, represents the first post-Cold War capability that is both potentially capable of stopping our naval power projection and deliberately designed for that purpose."
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