By Zack Adams, RP Staff, on Thu Dec 15, 2011 at 3:00 PM ET
SOPA is going to the House for a vote today. I’ve posted a lot about it the last few weeks, but now is decision time. [Mother Jones]
GPS satellites are getting an upgrade! The new satellites currently being tested claim to be able to track within 3 feet, much more precise than the current 10 feet. [Discovery]
A 17-year-old named Angela Zhang has won $100k for discovering a cancer-killing nanoparticle. [Geek]
It has recently come to light that Download.com which is run by CNET (which I happen to like) has been secretly installing adware. Not cool. [EFF]
Here is a video of a light wave shown at 1 Trillion FPS. [Camera Culture]
By Grant Smith, RP Staff, on Thu Dec 15, 2011 at 1:30 PM ET
Ron Paul rising? [The New York Times]
Representative Paul Ryan set to release a new plan that would save Medicare. [The Washington Post]
How Jeff Bezos built Amazon.com [Forbes]
By Sandra Moon, RP Staff, on Thu Dec 15, 2011 at 10:00 AM ET
Acidulated, botrytis, chapuline–if you consider yourself a foodie, you should know these three words in addition to 47 others. [Huffington Post]
Are you hosting a holiday dinner? If so, prepare yourself for giving the toast by reading these simple guidelines. [Bon Appetit]
In order to be labeled”extra-virgin,” olive oil cannot been refined in any way by chemicals or high heat. The EVOO you buy at the store, however, may not actually meet those requirements. [NPR]
The RP’s Recipe of the Week: Kale Chips. They’re delicious, easy to make snack, and nutritious.
By Patrick Derocher, on Thu Dec 15, 2011 at 9:15 AM ET A man in Florida certainly gets points for trying, after he willed his home to the federal government to pay down the National Debt. James H. Davidson, Jr. passed away last December at the age of 87 and in his well, left his $1 million home in Coral Gables to the United States government, with the stipulation that its sale be used to chip away at the deficit. The home sold at auction for $1.175 million, and its contents will be auctioned off next month. Davidson had lived in the 1929 Spanish-style house since he was a teenager. [Miami Herald]
By RP Staff, on Thu Dec 15, 2011 at 8:30 AM ET Contributing RP Tom Allen, former Congressman from Maine is promoting local efforts to promote math and science education in public schools:
Former U.S. Rep. Tom Allen said providing Maine students with more engaging math and science programs is a pathway to a stronger economy Tuesday during the official unveiling of The Reach Center, a new organization aiming to do just that.
Allen headlined a media event at Southern Maine Community College’s Sustainability and Energy Alternatives Center in South Portland to mark the launch of The Reach Center. The new group comes from a partnership between the Augusta-based Maine Mathematics and Science Alliance and the Maine School of Science and Mathematics in Limestone, and is funded by a $3.2 million gift by an anonymous donor.
Allen touted the new organization, which hopes to provide individual student mentorships and a central clearinghouse for innovative math and science programs around the state, as poised to play a key role in Maine’s economic future.
Click here to read the full story from the Bangor Daily News.
By Zack Adams, RP Staff, on Wed Dec 14, 2011 at 3:00 PM ET  The Politics of Laughter Pure genius in the form of a Facebook status. [picture]
Are You Fired? [SMBC]
Being a man in the 50s was pretty rough. I, for one, was not cut out to live in the pre-Internet age. [picture]
Alma Mater [Abstruse Goose]
Dogs vs. Cats: An Illustration [picture]
Getting creative during a job hunt. [picture]
By John Y. Brown III, on Wed Dec 14, 2011 at 12:00 PM ET Today, we introduce an exciting new feature at The RP: John Y.’s “Musings from the Middle.” Contributing RP and former Kentucky Secretary of State John Y. Brown, III, has set Facebook on fire the past few months with his thoughtful, often hilarious posts on his Facebook page. Having reached the limit of 5000 friends, John Y. is now sharing his wit and wisdom with the RP Nation as well. Enjoy, and be sure to fire away in the comments section.
 New habits are almost always achieved incrementally.
A handy tool is the “stages of development” between an old habit and the adoption of a new habit. For example, the stages for adopting a fitness regimen. For me, the 8 Stages have been as follows.
- Disgust. Hitting bottom with one’s weight and/or appearance.
- Joining a gym. Purchasing a gym membership.
- Circling. Driving to the gym and circling it several times in your car before leaving.
- Entering. Going inside gym and meeting person at front desk and using restroom. Before leaving.
- Augmentation. Joining a second gym.
- Canceling. Terminating both gym memberships
- Acceptance. Making peace with your weight and appearance as it is.
- Contrition. Doing an act that salves a sense of guilt and failure (e.g., joining a morning mens accountability group—but one that serves doughnuts.)
By Grant Smith, RP Staff, on Wed Dec 14, 2011 at 10:00 AM ET
Shunning Facebook, and living to tell about it. [The New York Times]
Apple Computers’ founding documents fetch$1.6 million at auction. [Engadget]
Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen launches plan to send people and cargo into space. [CBS]
By Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, on Wed Dec 14, 2011 at 8:30 AM ET  Even though 98 percent of sexually active Catholic women use birth control during their reproductive years, U.S. bishops are fighting it
Last month, the Vatican issued a clarion call to all people of conscience. It wasn’t about contraception or masturbation or gay marriage or any of the other aspects of peoples’ love lives have drawn religious ire through the ages. Instead, the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace stepped forward to question the morality of a global economic system that relentlessly enriches a privileged few while the rest of humanity struggles to keep their heads above water.
The council reaffirmed the notion highlighted in Pope Benedict XVI’s 2009 encyclical on the economy, arguing that open markets — usually the engines of prosperity — can foster poverty and inequality when unscrupulously exploited for selfish ends. As a counterbalance, the council called for international standards and safeguards to stem the world’s worsening inequities in the concentration of wealth.
With millions of Americans looking for jobs and struggling in this economy, you might expect the nation’s Catholic bishops to join the Vatican’s quest to level the economic playing field. However, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) have other priorities. They are consumed just now with the subject of birth control. The bishops’ leadership is unhappy about a new national policy that includes birth control under preventive health care: a designation that requires new health plans to cover it in full, without the co-payments and deductibles that keep many women from using it effectively. This policy, which was adopted last summer and goes into effect next August, is both laudable and common-sense.
With yesterday, the 8th day of December, marking the Feast of the Immaculate Conception — which refers to Mary’s being conceived free of original sin, not the conception of Jesus — it would be wise of the bishops to realize that the conception of Mary by her human parents, Saint Joachim and Saint Anne, is a reminder that woman are people of conscience and can decide for themselves when it is best to conceive. In fact, birth control use is universal, even among Catholic women: 98 percent of sexually active Catholic women use birth control during their reproductive years.
Read the rest of…
Kathleen Kennedy Townsend: Out of Step With the Flock
By RP Staff, on Tue Dec 13, 2011 at 5:30 PM ET As the college age population, including those who take online college classes, enters into the final exam period of the semester across the country,many students feel the stress that accompanies excessive numbers of papers and exams. See here for a list of the schools that feel it the most. [Daily Beast]
There are countless causes of stress in college. See here for a brief overview of some reasons and methods for dealing with it. [Fox News]
As a way of coping with long nights of studying, many college students are turning to prescription medication to help retain their focus. Duke University recently changed its honor code to include unauthorized use of these drugs as cheating. See here for the effects of these drugs on college students, as well as an article on Duke’s newest policy. [OregonRXSummit] [Daily Tarheel]
We have often heard that people are either visual or auditory learners. It appears, however, that there is little evidence to support any real differences in an individual’s ability to learn using either technique. [NPR] [APS]
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