This is an interesting discussion of the moral panic that ensues whenever new technology is unveiled to the public. The fear is that women and children will be jeopardized by the invention. The article notes that this fear has been constant since the invention of the railroad when some thought the speed of a train […]
Posted on July 12th, 2011 by admin
Filed under: Uncategorized | 188 Comments »
No one likes to be told the future is bleak. That, however, is the message the Obama administration is telling the American public. Note too that the Treasury Secretary is careful to blame the previous Republican administration for the difficulties the economy faces. He may be correct on both points, but one wonders what the […]
Posted on July 11th, 2011 by admin
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Long-distance bicycling (the Tour de France) has long been tainted. Riders have taken every kind of performance enhancing drug or potion available. That is why the success of this team is important to the future of the sport. The team wants to prove that one can win on the basis of athletic prowess alone. And, […]
Posted on July 7th, 2011 by admin
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South Korea has announced that it will have all of its elementary school textbooks completely digitized by 2015. Anyone who has seen young people lugging backpacks with 40 to 50 pounds of paper will recognize this as a major advance in education. The US should be asking why it can’t do the same. Digital textbooks will allow […]
Posted on July 6th, 2011 by admin
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Exxon Mobil is acting like a different company with its latest crisis — an oil spill in a Montana river. Those with long memories will recall that top management was scarce in crises of the past. This time the president of the pipeline division was front and center in talking to journalists and explaining the […]
Posted on July 5th, 2011 by admin
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It is not often that a 7th-Century invention has relevance in the modern day, but fireworks do. Today, the Fourth of July, hundreds of thousands of bombs, rockets and shells will go off throughout the United States. From a device meant to repel evil spirits, fireworks today communicate beauty, awe and celebration. About the only […]
Posted on July 4th, 2011 by admin
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Polls are showing that US citizens are losing hope in progress toward job creation. They see a permanent decline of the country. There are no words to motivate them. What they need is work, real work that accomplishes some productive end. That, of course, is the same need that Greece, Spain, Portugal, Japan and other […]
Posted on July 1st, 2011 by admin
Filed under: Uncategorized | 184 Comments »
