Category: In The News

UT professor says mass death is imminent

UT professor says death is imminent
He points to an 85 percent swell in the population during the last 25 years and insists civilization is on the brink of its downfall – likely at the hand of widespread disease.

"Although [Ebola Zaire] Kills 9 out of 10 people, outbreaks have so far been unable to become epidemics because they are currently spread only by direct physical contact with infected blood. However, a closely-related virus that kills monkeys, Ebola Reston, is airborne, and it is only a matter of time until Ebola Zaire evolves the capacity to be airborne."

This article, about a 45 minute lecture, has ignited a fire-storm of controversy in the Scientific Community.

Dealing with Doctor Doom

Doctor Doom, Eric Pianka, Receives Standing Ovation from Texas Academy of Science

And now has been picked-up by the Political Class

Eco-Sacrifice is Closer Than You Think

FBI INVESTIGATES PROFESSOR WHO ADVOCATES POPULATION WIPE-OUT...

The Universe is Trapped in its Own Web

RedOrbit – Space – The Universe is Trapped in its Own Web
Astronomers from the University of Nottingham, UK, and the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias (Spain), have found the first observational evidence that galaxies are not randomly oriented.

This discovery confirms one of the fundamental aspects of galaxy formation theory and implies a direct link between the global properties of the Universe and the individual properties of galaxies.

Galaxy formation theories predicted such an effect, but its empirical verification has remained elusive until now. The results of this work were published the 1 April issue of Astrophysical Journal Letters.

Hispanic immigrants do the 3D jobs – dirty, dangerous and difficult.

From Tom Barnett's Blog:

Nice piece by David Brooks today on immigration ("Immigrants to Be Proud Of," NYT, 30 March 2006). All sorts of arguments about how Hispanic families tend to be–relatively speaking–paragons of family values.

My arguments tend to be more grubby. Hispanic immigrants do the 3D jobs a lot–as in, dirty, dangerous and difficult. They earn every year upwards of a half trillion in wages. They spend over 90 percent here in the States and sent a mere fraction to families back home, yielding a cash flow that, in Latin America alone, is roughly ten times what America sends the entire Gap annually in Official Developmental Aid.

Just when you thought that glass of wine did you good!

Just when you thought that glass of wine did you good!
Initially it appeared the abstainers were at higher risk for heart disease because they refrained from drinking alcohol, and so did not get its protective benefit, when in fact Fillmore says those in the abstainer category were often already frail and predisposed to death.

Tom Friedman Interview on NPR

Tom Friedman may be best known for his best-seller about globalization "The Earth is Flat", but his 3 Pulitzer Prizes have come from his Middle East Expertise.

The most frightening thing the United States could do to Iran, short of attacking it, is to leave Iraq, says New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman. The second most frightening thing for Iran, he says, would be a U.S. success in Iraq.

Listen to this interview with Terry Gross on NPR's "fresh Air".(In Windows Media PLayer)

And if you would like to hear some earlier interviews. 

Reactionary revolutions

Venezuela News And Views: Reactionary revolutions
No, the title is not an oxymoron.

I came up with it watching the news from France where for the first time perhaps in its history people are rioting in the streets to make sure that nothing changes. (C)havismo is very much a reactionary movement, a look to our past and a desire to go back to “halcyon” days that were never halcyon. In Chavez we have a caudillo, just as those who gave peace to Venezuela by imposing their will.

Controversy Grows Over Brokeback Ban

Controversy Grows Over Brokeback Ban
The Bahamas Plays and Films Control Board banned the controversial gay movie, Brokeback Mountain, not just because of its homosexual content, but because it promotes bisexuality, according to the board’s director, Dr. Olga Clarke.

I spoke to Javaz Turnquest, the chairperson of the Board who said the Board did not ban the movie but rather the distributors in the U.S. simply did not sent it here. Really? Interestingly, the movie was sent and approved last week in Jamaica, the most homophobic country on earth. Brokeback Mountain opened on Friday in a theater in Kingston and another in Montego Bay.

"The board chose to ban it because it shows extreme homosexuality, nudity and profanity, and we feel that it has no value for the Bahamian public," Chavasse Turnquest-Liriano, liaison officer for the control board, said Wednesday. Amazingly, the supposedly "Christian conscious" Board has allowed the 50 Cent movie, "Get rich or die trying" to be shown here.