Headline du jour

Earth Day co-founder killed, composted girlfriend

What more can you say after that....

Hat tip to Proof Positive.

Titanic

More proof that American education isn't what it used to be.

Travel and Americans

From The House of Eratosthenes comes this piece of analysis:

Another thing I’ve been hearing is that Americans have a reputation around the world for being boorish, poorly-mannered, arrogant, intellectually stilted, incurious, et cetera. I’m seeing Americans criticized for reaching middle age without ever having held a passport, meaning they haven’t traveled outside their country’s borders. And it occurs to me: If these are the ones who have not traveled outside the country’s borders, shouldn’t we be looking to the enlightened, sophisticated, well-traveled nuanced-thinking blue-bloods as we try to figure out how we got our reputation? Some of them can act pretty boorish. Why blame the people who haven’t traveled anywhere?

He has a point.

Where's the Rally Bear??

Some days, you can't make up stuff like this:

Back in October, a squirrel invaded Busch Stadium during the St. Louis Cardinals run to the 2011 World Series. Fredbird let it live out of kindness, and the rodent would become so popular, it took the place of Skip Schumaker on one of his baseball cards.

Finally, the mascot has been immortalized for all time on jewelry commemorating the Cardinals 11th world championship.

This is not satire: The Cardinals made "The Rally Squirrel" part of the design of their World Series rings, which they received on Saturday. You can clearly see it in the photo, under the "StL" logo and above the crest of the bats and home plate with Chris Carpenter's No. 29. If Schumaker thought a squirrel on his baseball card was "ridiculous," what must he think of the rodent on the most symbolic piece of bling a ballplayer can own?

 Here's the photo:

Read the whole story, and more, at Yahoo Sports.  Hat tip to I Own the World.

Frightening news on "settled science"

We hear so often about "settled science".  About research that "proves".  Now comes some troubling news.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A former researcher at Amgen Inc has found that many basic studies on cancer -- a high proportion of them from university labs -- are unreliable, with grim consequences for producing new medicines in the future. 

During a decade as head of global cancer research at Amgen, C. Glenn Begley identified 53 "landmark" publications -- papers in top journals, from reputable labs -- for his team to reproduce. Begley sought to double-check the findings before trying to build on them for drug development. 

Result: 47 of the 53 could not be replicated. He described his findings in a commentary piece published on Wednesday in the journal Nature.
...
Begley's experience echoes a report from scientists at Bayer AG last year. Neither group of researchers alleges fraud, nor would they identify the research they had tried to replicate. 

But they and others fear the phenomenon is the product of a skewed system of incentives that has academics cutting corners to further their careers.

Read the whole story from Reuters at THIS LINK.

Now batting....Methuselah

Actually, it's pitching.  But since the Colorado Rockies are in the National League, he'll be batting as well.  Who?  Jamie Moyer, that is.

Moyer, entering his 25th major league season, posted a 2.77 ERA this spring and beat out 22-year-old Tyler Chatwood and 28-year-old Guillermo Moscoso for a rotation spot.  If Moyer wins one game, he will become the oldest player to win a game in the majors.  At 49 years of age, Moyer is older than eight current MLB managers and 16 general managers.

Sorta reminds me of George Blanda.