Wednesday, June 29, 2005

If I have kids, guess where I'm moving to...

BBC

So the article is about Iceland and Denmark, but the same is true for Sweden. These countries have really good paternity leave policies, 3 months of paid leave, minimum. I've got to meet a cute Swedish girl now.

Monday, June 27, 2005

Flag Burning Amendment

House of Representatives

The bill proposing an amendment to the Constitution passed in the House last week. While the bill has usually failed to get support in the Senate, I think it's important for us to voice our opinions.

Senate

Go to senate.gov to find a way to contact your senators. I know that currently, Dole and Burr are co-sponsors of the bill. If it passes the senate, it then has to be approved by 3/4s of state in seven years.

Fusion Reactor Deal

BBC

It appears that a deal has been reached that will lead to the construction of a fusion reactor in the south of France. Japan is reportedly going to drop its bid to host the project after large concessions from the EU.

Sunday, June 26, 2005

War President

NY Times

Kate e-mailed this article to me, and thought I would share it here. It's a rather concise op-ed piece on the war in Iraq.

Thursday, June 23, 2005

Lefty Christians

Christian Alliance for Progress

In response to the rightist rhetoric of evangical Christians, several left-wing Christrians groups have joined together to oppose them. I'm very happy to hear of this move as most of what I've been hearing about the current religious movement has been dismal. From their "About" page:

"...there are millions of Christian Americans who share progressive views, or, at a minimum, are increasingly turned off by the extreme rhetoric and political agenda of the Religious Right."

I certainly fall into the latter category in that I've been growing distant from the church as it continues to grow more repressive, political, and intolerant.

Wednesday, June 22, 2005

Supercomputing Madness

Top 500

Top500, a site that updates a list of the fastest supercomputers every six months, came out with its lasted update. Between November 2004 and today, the fastest supercomputer has nearly doubled from 70.72 to 136.8 teraflops. The low mark has increased from .85 to 1.166 teraflops. I did not expect such a massive change in just six months. Twelve years ago, when the list started, the fastest computer was only 59.7 gigaflops. I wonder how fast my computer is.

Monday, June 20, 2005

Political Simulation

Particracy

For those that like political strategy games, you should check-out Particracy, a new online multiplayer game. The basic idea is, you join a nation and start your own political party and try to gain votes based on how you vote on bills. It's fairly new, so doesn't encompass all possibilities, but it's swiftly becoming a first-class simulation.

Thursday, June 16, 2005

Twins for Poland

BBC

Identical twin brothers Lech and Jaroslaw Kaczynski, currently mayor of Warsaw and head of the Crime and Justice Party, respectively, are currently front-runners in upcoming elections for the positions of president and prime minister, respectively. I was trying to think of an American equivalent, but I don't even know who the Speaker of the House is.

Tuesday, June 14, 2005

About Music

I was thinking the other day, for someone who likes music so much, I rarely post about it. So here's a little something about a band I saw recently.

The Brunettes

The Brunettes are a band from New Zealand and they opened for Rilo Kiley when they played at Cat's Cradle a few weeks ago. They were quite fun so I bought their CD. They play pop music with silly lyrics, which is just up my alley. I haven't done a CD review, because I'm lazy, I figure you should go to their site and listen to them yourself.

Monday, June 13, 2005

Freedom Fries and Giggling Trash Cans

BBC

North Carolina representative, Walter Jones, who coined the term "freedom fries" has had a change of heart and now is calling for troops to be withdrawn from Iraq. This is a surprising about face from someone who was once so supportive of the war. However, this does reflect a growing sentiment. A bill calling for Bush to set a plan for withdraw failed with only 30-some votes a few months ago. The same bill garnered 4 times as many votes recently, but still did not pass.

BBC

Trash cans and benches that can talk have been unleashed on the unsuspecting public living in Cambridge, UK. Their aims are unclear, but they seem to be having a good time.

Tuesday, June 07, 2005

Bach Piece Discovered

BBC

A previously unknown piece by Bach was discovered among various manuscripts saved during a fire at a library in Weimar, Germany. I was going to ask Robert to get a copy and perform it, but it's a vocal piece. I guess he still could, but I don't think he would.

In other news, I now know what the Classical Station's callsign, WCPE, stands for.

Monday, June 06, 2005

Ebola Vaccine!

BBC

An ebola vaccine has been shown to protect monkeys from the virus. Go tell your less evolved friends to get vaccinated today!

BBC

In unfortunate headline news, the Sun has swallowed Storagetek! Oh the humanity!

Sunday, June 05, 2005

Switzerland opens up

BBC

Swiss residents have voted to join the Schengen states, a passport-free zone encompassing 15 other European nations. They have also voted to give the same tax rights to same-sex couples as heterosexul couples.

Wednesday, June 01, 2005

The Dutch and the Japanese say "no", but to different things

BBC

In a surprising turn of events, the Dutch overwhelmingly reject the EU constitution. Most anti-constitution rhetoric seemed to be coming from France and England, no one thought to check with the Dutch. At this point, it appears highly unlikely that the UK and the Nordic countries will approve the constitution.

BBC

In other news, in a brilliant ploy to reduce energy costs in the summer, office workers are being asked to not wear suits. The last two sentences of this article are also brilliant.