One thing you have to grant McCain is that he is persistent. Whether he is persistently truthful, is another matter. He was persistent about claiming outright that Palin sold the Alaska government’s jet on eBay, and at a profit. Even after it had been proven to be a lie, McCain continued the farce. At a campaign stop in Wisconsin, with a cheering and applauding Palin standing behind him, McCain said: You...

In a long and serious article on food policy in today’s NYTimes Magazine, Michael Pollan writes that the era of cheap and abundant food is coming to a close. He says the next American president, no matter which man is elected, is going to find that the health of our nation’s food system is a critical issue of national security. His argument is that, unless we address the industrial food system, we will...

Recently I was served a kangaroo dish by my daughter at her home in Adelaide, the capital of South Australia. It so happens that the fascinating kangaroo is the national animal of Australia and finds a place of honour on the country’s coat of arms. On seeing my raised eyebrows, my son-in-law explained: “Don’t worry dad, we are also serving a national cause by opting for a kangaroo dish. It...

‘THE RETURN OF FAITH’ [Het Parool, The Netherlands] With finger-pointing over the global financial crisis rapidly spreading, William Waack of Brazil’s O Globo warns that developing countries are in no way shielded from the effects – and that blaming others won’t do a thing to help Brazil or the world emerge from the hole they are in. Waack writes in part: “‘Contagion’...

The Chronicle reporters and editors analyze the fallout from the money crisis. Short version: WINNERS Colleges with big endowments, low debt, and strong name brands Community colleges, affordable public colleges that can handle the demand, and distance-education programs Deep-pocket institutions that can expand programs, poach faculty members, or buy up stocks on the cheap Colleges that focus on doing a few...

The HIV virus that causes AIDS was first thought to have emerged in the 1930s, but recent research indicates that the virus may be even older: Scientists trace AIDS virus origin to 100 years ago NEW YORK (AP) — The AIDS virus has been circulating among people for about 100 years, decades longer than scientists had thought, a new study suggests. Genetic analysis pushes the estimated origin of HIV back...

On Monday morning, when the future of the American Dream was teetering under the Capitol dome, George W. Bush was in the East Room of the White House presenting the National Medal of Science and Technology and Innovation to men and women “whose discoveries have changed America and the world.” Their names ranged from Willson to Lefkowitz to El-Sayed to O’Malley, a mosaic of the ethnic and cultural...

It’s done by transcranial magnetic stimulation and a side effect is that it’s apparently helpful in treating depression. Maybe we should order a few hundred for Congress! Or one for Sarah Palin… CNet News: Mirroring the way savants are both brilliant and mentally not quite there (remind you of any techies you know?), the Thinking Cap’s scientific milliners use tiny magnetic pulses to...

The concept of civilian spaceflight continues to take root this week with the launch of Elon Musk’s new orbital payload rocket, Falcon 1. The craft is currently orbiting the Earth carrying a 165 kg test payload. “This is a great day for SpaceX and the culmination of an enormous amount of work by a great team,” said Musk, who is CEO and CTO of SpaceX. “The data shows we achieved a super...

While our attention is focused on the economic bailout and the November elections, China is moving forward with an active space program that could thrust them into leadership in that field. The Shenzhou 7 spacecraft carries three men into space, one of whom will become the first Chinese space-walker on either Friday or Saturday. This is a major step as so far only the US and USSR/Russia have accomplished the...

OPTIMIZATION ERROR!! You really ever look at how you drive your car to a destination? Not necessarily how you handle the vehicle but how you handle the situations going from point A to B. I know I’m a one-hand eater/driver in my car. I’ll set up a bag of fresh onion rings (yes FRESH) in the passenger seat, send the ol’ right hand into the bag, and pop the tasty fried rings into my mouth...

The Chronicle: If conservatives and liberals can’t see eye to eye, it may be because their brains are wired differently from birth, according to researchers who have for the first time found a link between people’s political leanings and their physiology. The researchers’ report, published in today’s issue of the journal Science, suggests that genetic differences may help explain why...

Toilet paper manufacturers sometimes come under fire for flimsy one- or two-ply rolls and they used to have to turn the other cheek, but now there’s good news for those concerned with the real bottom line: three-ply toilet paper. If two-ply toilet paper is good, then three-ply tissue must be better. At least that’s what toilet-paper researchers in northeastern Wisconsin hope. Yes, there is such a...

Once again, the inimitable Khadir Taahar has thrown a textual grenade into the Iraqi body politic by suggesting to his readers that – horror of horror – Israel would be a far better friend to Iraq than Iran ever will be. Again, I remind people that Taahar, who writes for Iraq’s Sunni-leaning Kitabat newspaper, is responsible for previous articles we have translated, such as, ‘Iraq Would...

Once again we have an article by that inimitable columnist from Iraq’s Kitabat newspaper, Khadir Taahar. Taahar is responsible for previous articles we have translated, such as ‘The American CIA:’Defender of Humanity‘; ‘Security Deal With America is Iraq’s ‘Opportunity of a Lifetime‘; ‘Teheran ‘Infiltrating’ and ‘Poisoning’ Iraqi...

Google sure picked some interesting inspirations for its new browser logo.

Some of our readers have questioned why we are posting about the weather and asking if it is some way political. Well, speaking for myself I have been posting because I think TMV is here to bring our readers news and information and when natural disasters threaten our fellow citizens it is worth reporting. I realize that we are all increasingly partisan these days but I think there are certain areas where we...

We have no idea and, thanks to the Bush administration, we legally can’t find out: A federal appeals court has ruled that the government can prohibit meat packers from testing their animals for mad cow disease. Because the Agriculture Department tests only a small percentage of cows for the deadly disease, a Kansas meatpacker, Creekstone Farms Premium Beef, wanted to test all of its cows, but the government...

Since we haven’t done one of these for a while and both of the major party candidates have popped up on the subject recently, let’s take a look at how the candidates stack up on the future of NASA. One of the more recent entries is a bit of tit-for-tat between Obama and McCain in the Florida press. Sen. Barack Obama has detailed a comprehensive space plan that includes $2 billion in new funding to...

This is the first in a planned series of posts on energy policy, arguably one of the most critical, long-term problems facing not only the United States but the world, and an issue that is already being discussed in the current electoral campaigns. Fundamentals – The nature of energy What do we mean when we talk about energy? Most people think of oil, and when they think of oil they think of gasoline...

Andrew Sullivan points to The Economist suggestion that Religious diversity may be caused by disease: SOME people, notably Richard Dawkins, an evolutionary biologist at Oxford University, regard religion as a disease. It spreads, they suggest, like a virus, except that the “viruses” are similar to those infecting computers—bits of cultural software that take over the hardware of the brain and make it do...

It’s been a big week for NASA, no doubt about it. Not only did we find liquid lakes on Titan, but we have now finally proven beyond doubt that there not only was water on Mars, but it’s still there today. Laboratory tests aboard NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander have identified water in a soil sample. The lander’s robotic arm delivered the sample Wednesday to an instrument that identifies vapors...

This is an exciting story coming out of NASA this week. Using the Cassini spacecraft, we have now determined that liquid lakes exist on the surface of Saturn’s moon Titan. PASADENA, Calif. — NASA scientists have concluded that at least one of the large lakes observed on Saturn’s moon Titan contains liquid hydrocarbons, and have positively identified the presence of ethane. This makes Titan the...

Well, ok… I know what it’s doing right now. It’s reading TMV. But there may be a fair amount of time when your computer is sitting around unproductively contributing nothing to society. Perhaps you would like to get that lazy processor off of its butt and help in the search for ET! SETI@home is a scientific experiment that uses Internet-connected computers in the Search for Extraterrestrial...

Among the oddities that has emerged during the course of the present Presidential election, is that both candidates – John McCain and Barack Obama – are left-handed. Previously, we translated an Arabic article from Iraq about the phenomenon, and today we have this from France’s Rue 89. Alluding to the unlikelihood of such a turn of events, Guillemette Faure writes: “When Obama or McCain...