2006.02.28
CNN:
New Orleans cheers up for Mardi Gras.
"One reveler dressed as a sandbag. Others came as maggots. There were costumes fashioned from blue tarps like those used to cover damaged roofs, and a group of people dressed as blind men with T-shirts that read: ‘Levee Inspectors.’
"New Orleans' first Mardi Gras since Hurricane Katrina evoked wicked satire in the Big Easy on Tuesday, six months after the storm struck the Gulf Coast in a catastrophe that ultimately killed more than 1,300 people."
Seattle Times:
Octavia Butler, brilliant master of sci-fi, dies at 58.
> She was Black? I never knew.
> But I still get goosebumps when I remember her story "Bloodchild."
2006.02.25
USA Today:
Supernova bursts with opportunity for astronomers.
"The supernova is 440 million light-years away in the direction of the constellation Aries.... The cosmic explosion will reach its peak brightness next week. Amateur astronomers in the Northern Hemisphere should then be able to see it using high-power telescopes."
LA Times:
Oh goody, another SUV.
"But wait, you say, I thought Americans had finally gotten sick of full-size sport-utility warthogs.... Actually, no. It turns out Americans are only sick of American SUVs."
2006.02.19
Jim Hansen, NASA Scientist:
Climate Change -- On The Edge.
"The last time the world was three degrees warmer than today
-- which is what we expect later this century -- sea levels
were 25m higher.... I think sea-level rise is going to
be the big issue soon, more even than warming itself."
NYT:
In Mardi Gras, a City Learns to Party Again.
"While this city tradition of celebration continued, things looked and felt different. The crowds were far thinner than usual, and not because the chilly day had the gray cast of a fish's belly. No more than 200,000 residents have returned to what had been a city of 465,000, and those who ventured to the parade route were joined by only a scattering of tourists."
Lost Camera:
Camera unlost, but not quite found.
2006.02.11
Chicago Tribune:
Churches to mark Darwin's birthday.
"Nearly 450 Christian churches around the country plan to celebrate the 197th birthday of Charles Darwin on Sunday with programs and sermons intended to emphasize that his theory of biological evolution is compatible with faith and that Christians have no need to choose between religion and science."
> Apparently they are taking action to stem the defection of believers from
Christianity to Pastafarianism.
AP:
Whale meat glut has officials scrambling. Japan now kills more mammals than diners want.
"‘To put it simply, whale meat tastes horrible,’ said 30-year-old Kosuke Nakamura, one of the diners at a Hana No Mai restaurant in Tokyo who turned their noses up at whale meat."
2006.02.06
Slate:
Super Bowl Special. The best and worst ads this year.
"Each year, the ads have gotten progressively worse. I'm not sure this new batch offered a single watercooler-worthy moment."
> Personally, I was struck by the contrast between Ford's pleasant ad for a hybrid SUV, which featured Kermit the Frog proclaiming, "Maybe it is easy being green," and the GM ad with the city-crunching monsters that cross-breed and spawn a new model Hummer.
Also, the one with the woman trying to climb over another passenger during a night flight was hilarious, but I have no idea what it was advertising.
