- Typo personalities
Jeff Deck and Benjamin Herson have not wasted their lives.
They fight a losing battle, an unyielding tide of misplaced apostrophes and poor spelling. But still, they fight. Why, you ask. Because, they say. Because, they must.
For the last three months, they have circled the nation in search of awkward grammar construction. They have ferreted out bad subject-verb agreements, and they have faced stone-faced opposition everywhere. They have shone a light on typos in public places, and they have traveled by a GPS-guided ‘97 Nissan Sentra, sleeping on the couches of college friends and sticking around just long enough to do right by the English language. Then it’s on the road again, off to a new town with new typos.
(Hat tip: Wesa)
- Inequalities
Over the last six decades, the real incomes of middle-class families in the United States grew twice as fast under Democratic presidents as they did under Republican presidents. The real incomes of working-poor families grew six times as fast under Democratic presidents. (Hat tip: Kottke)
- Ottawa high school student’s flu glue wins national prize
A 17-year-old Ottawa high school student has won a national student biotechnology competition by making a molecule that flu viruses stick to, which could potentially be used to diagnose or eventually prevent flu infections.
- Now GPS can tell you where the cops are
[N]ow the wonders of Web 2.0 and portable navigation systems can use motorists’ tips and Microsoft Virtual Earth to help keep you from appearing on your local police department’s version of candid camera. It’s a lot more effective than relying on a bleating radar detector.
- Screen Actors Guild to continue negotiations with Hollywood studios
Earlier this week, studio officials blamed rigid demands by SAG for the impasse.
The studios are particularly resistant to a SAG proposal that would restructure the formula for residual fees received by actors from DVD sales. The studios say the union’s proposal would double the fees.
Another key SAG proposition is to shorten the three-week window during which studios can stream certain TV programs online without paying residuals to actors.
The industry is jittery over a possible walkout, which would come on the heels of the writer’s strike last fall and winter. The Writers Guild of America was on strike for 14 weeks, derailing dozens of film productions and shutting down TV shows. The work stoppage ended in mid-February.
- Cuba puts first computers on sale to the public
“Hotels, cell phones, DVD, Cuba is changing a lot,” said Oscar Perez, who came to help his 14-year-old cousin carry his new computer to the car. “That’s positive. But we want more.”
- Blobs inside Earth like peanut butter
You know Earth’s schematic: core, mantle, crust, right? Sorry, not so simple.
Like the gooey center of a chocolate morsel harboring peanut butter and honey, inner Earth is far more nuanced than outward appearances would suggest. A new model is proposed in the May 2 issue of the journal Science.
- NASA predicts huge cosmic explosions
Astronomers can predict explosions on a neutron star like on a timer. The ability of the scientific method to allow us to work out how to consistently make specific, accurate predictions is one of its least appreciated but most important qualities. Bravo to the NASA team who figured this latest one out!
- Ketchup experiment recovered from Columbia crash
Using data recovered from a damaged computer hard-drive that was aboard the ill-fated Space Shuttle Columbia in 2003, scientists have recently learned more about why the act of shaking a material can quickly transform it into something completely different.
- Phoenix lander takes aim at Martian arctic
NASA’s Phoenix spacecraft is gearing up for its 25 May landing on Mars.
- China farms the world to feed a ravenous economy
Beijing has scoured the world for mining and logging concessions. Now, Chinese enterprises are snapping up vast tracts of land abroad and forging rubber-farming deals. Officials in poor countries tout the “miracle crops” that’ll lift struggling populations out of poverty, but some farmers are losing ancestral lands and not being compensated.