Thursday, April 27, 2006

Back in 1987 I couldn't watch Husker Du on the Joan Rivers Show because it was preempted for a sporting event. Now, thanks to YouTube, I can watch them play "Could You Be The One?" and get interviewed by Joan whenever I want. (She really wants to know why they aren't as "radical" as they used to be.)

Wednesday, April 26, 2006

Miss Pronouncer is a pronunciation guide to everything in Wisconsin, including Wisconsin cities, counties, and Indian tribes.

Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Roger Ebert lists his "102 Movies You Must See Before You Die," in this article. (I've seen 52.)

According to Ebert,"It's not my idea of The Best Movies Ever Made (that would be a different list, though there's some overlap here), or that they were my favorites or the most important or influential films, but that they were the movies you just kind of figure everybody ought to have seen in order to have any sort of informed discussion about movies. They're the common cultural currency of our time, the basic cinematic texts that everyone should know, at minimum, to be somewhat "movie-literate."

Monday, April 24, 2006

In this Slate article, Arthur Allen explains what's behind the Midwest mumps outbreak.

Thursday, April 20, 2006

Follow this link.

Look at the name of the school and the team's nickname (on their uniforms). They are the __________ __________.

Wednesday, April 19, 2006

Stephen Colbert explains why George W. Bush's low approval ratings are good for the president in this clip from the Colbert Report.

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

Amy Sullivan explains why the Democrats are "Not as Lame as You Think" in this Washington Monthly article.

Monday, April 17, 2006

Evan Anderson is a 6-foot-10, 217-pound basketball prospect from Stanley, Wisconsin who, as this Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article explains, is also a 14-year-old 8th grader.

Thursday, April 13, 2006

The Glenmary Research Center created these maps of religion in the United States. These county-level maps show the distribution of religions across the country. Geitner Simmons discusses the maps in this post from his blog Regions of Mind.

Wednesday, April 12, 2006

James Fallows explains why bombing Iran is a bad idea in this Atlantic Monthly article.

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

In 1964 the Rolling Stones recorded a Rice Krispies jingle for a TV commercial. You can watch that commercial here.

Monday, April 10, 2006

Lieutenant General Greg Newbold (Ret.) explains "Why Iraq Was a Mistake" in this Time Magazine column:

"From 2000 until October 2002, I was a Marine Corps lieutenant general and director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff. After 9/11, I was a witness and therefore a party to the actions that led us to the invasion of Iraq--an unnecessary war. Inside the military family, I made no secret of my view that the zealots' rationale for war made no sense. And I think I was outspoken enough to make those senior to me uncomfortable. But I now regret that I did not more openly challenge those who were determined to invade a country whose actions were peripheral to the real threat--al-Qaeda. I retired from the military four months before the invasion, in part because of my opposition to those who had used 9/11's tragedy to hijack our security policy. Until now, I have resisted speaking out in public. I've been silent long enough."

Thursday, April 06, 2006

Comparative Interactomics, Cognitive Radio, and Stretchable Silicon are three of Technology Review's 10 Emerging Technologies that they believe will "have a big impact on business, medicine, or culture.

Wednesday, April 05, 2006

Now that it looks like Arrested Development will not be returning for a fourth season on another network, it's time to look back at Arrested Development's 25 Best Moments.

Tuesday, April 04, 2006

Monday, April 03, 2006

According to this CNN article, doctors at Wake Forrest University have grown new human organs from patients' cells.

"In the new procedure, doctors extract muscle and bladder cells from a small piece of the patient's own bladder. The cells are grown in a Petri dish, then layered onto a three-dimensional mold shaped like a bladder.

In a few weeks, the cells produce a new bladder, which is implanted into the patient. Within a few more weeks, the new bladder has grown to normal size and has started functioning.

Atala is working to grow 20 different tissues and organs, including blood vessels and hearts, in the laboratory, according to the university.

"We're not using any type of stem cell population or cloning techniques, but mainly the patient's own cells that we're using to create these organs and put them back into the patient," Atala told CNN.

Because the bladders are grown from a patient's own cells, there is no risk of rejection, as in a traditional transplant."