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A new round of “climate gate” emails have gone viral on the web. [NPR] The web braces for 1,000 new top-level web domains a year. [Wall Street Journal] The internet: the final frontier. [The Daily Collegian] Lessons NASA can learn from the internet. [Science 2.0]
College football has an indisputable influence on citizens across America, both while in college and long after graduation. Recently, many questions have been raised about just how big these programs are becoming. In fact, collegiate presidents are beginning to speak out against the large emphasis that has been placed on football programs by university administrations. See here for an account on these issues from former San Diego State University President, Stephen Weber. [Washington Post] It has become widely known that athletes are afforded opportunities to attend universities that otherwise would not be options for them. With regard to football, reports from the NCAA show that this trend spreads across all conferences in the country, giving football recruits up to ten times better chances of admittance than students in the general population. [ESPN] In his controversial (and extensive) article, Taylor Branch discusses the case for pay-for-play college athletics, in which student athletes would be compensated for their time on the field. See here for the article as well as an interview with the author. [The Atlantic] [PBS] The enormity of the college football sector has resulted in extremely high expenses and revenues across Division I schools. See here for information on how these figures have changed dramatically since the turn of the century. [Matlab Geeks] Did you know that China is considering scrapping its one-child policy? Well, that’s according to “Chinese authorities” like the Deputy Director of the Committee of Population, Resources, and Environment (and I thought our government was bloated). I doubt changing the policy is a big priority in China right now… [Market Watch] A great song by one of the greatest bands of all time. Here is the Grateful Dead with “Liberty.” The Dead first performed it in 1993. Over the next two years, they jammed on it some 50 times. [YouTube]
Interesting blog post on Tim Tebow, “Tebowing,” and religious liberty. [Manhattan Declaration] BREAKING NEWS: Fashionistas go bonkers over Versace’s collection at H&M! [Boston Herald] Obsessed with Twilight? Check out the fashion at Breaking Dawn‘s premiere! [The Cut] It’s almost that time! Check out this chic holiday shopping guide – you never know what you may find! [Fashionista] Don’t expect to see Kim Kardashian on the cover of Elle anytime soon! [Styleite] Trouble at Gap? Say it isn’t so! [The Cut] The Politics of Pigskin This week in his MMQB article Peter King talks about Jay Cutler, what could happen if the Colts end up with Peyton Manning and Andrew Luck on the same roster, and much more. [Sports Illustrated] What happened to Jay Cutler, you might be asking. Well he fractured the thumb on his throwing hand, which will require surgery. This is a tough break for a surging Bears team. [ESPN] The winners and losers from Sunday include Bears’ wideout Johnny Knox representing the winners and the Bengals’ TE Jermaine Gresham in the loser’s column. [Yahoo! Sports] Rex Ryan generated another headline as the NFL fined him $75,000 for cursing at a fan. [CBS Sports] Here is a quick preview of the Monday Night Football matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and the New England Patriots. [SB Nation] After the weekend’s college football schedule wrapped up there were some changes at the top of the rankings. Currently, the top 3 teams in college football are 1. LSU, 2. Alabama, and 3. Arkansas. Not only are these three teams all from the SEC, they are from the same division of the SEC! LSU and Alabama are currently sitting pretty to match up in the national championship game. That is, unless Arkansas can play spoiler next week against LSU. [Sports Illustrated]
Are Christians in the U.S. being oppressed, like some church leaders claim? [LA Times] James Arthur Ray is sentenced to two years in prison for the deaths of two participants in his “Spiritual Warrior” seminar who died in a sweat lodge ceremony. [Time] Some faith leaders have been active in Occupy Wall Street, but others have been reluctant to support the movement because of its lack of central leadership and ambiguous list of demands. [Reuters FaithWorld] Wisconsin may have finally had enough of its toxic political climate– the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel put up a must-read piece yesterday about that state’s loss of civility. It cites, amongst other evidence, protests held outside of politicans’ homes, and the recently-launched effort to recall Republican Governor and Lieutenant Governor Scott Walker and Rebecca Kleefisch and four Republican State Senators. Democrat Tim Cullen, a State Senator who has been referred to in this blog before, said he never received a death threat until this year, in spite of having served in the Senate for several years in the 1970s and 80s. [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel] California, easily the country’s most financially-befouled state, finally has someone advocating for bipartisan solutions to the problem. Think Long, made up of business and labor leaders in addition to officials including former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, proposes a mostly tax-based fix to the Golden State’s budget woes. In particular, they advocate flattening tax rates and implementing a sales tax on more goods than are currently taxed. A draft report can be seen here, but a final report is expected some time today. [Sacramento Bee] Ohio Governor John Kasich, a Republican, appointed Democratic Senate Minority Leader Jason Wilson to head the Governor’s Office of Appalachia, a rare move of bipartisan goodwill for the embattled governor. Wilson, who would have had to move to run for Senate again as a result of redistricting, will continue to represent his far-eastern Ohio constituents in this position, intended to foster development in the economically-downtrodden Appalachian Mountains. [Columbus Dispatch] The internal revolt in New York’s Democratic Party continues. State Chairman Jay Jacobs stymied a move on Thursday to endorse a millionaires tax hike and a ban on natural gas extraction via hydrofracking in western and Upstate New York. Both of these positions would have put the party decisively to the left of Democratic governor Andrew Cuomo, a split that has left the party rank-and-file, especially its influential New York City members, frustrated over the past several months. [Newsday] Petty redistricting politics continue, as Democrats in the Florida House of Representatives tussle with their Republican counterparts about cancelled redistricting meetings across the state. [St. Petersburg Times]
The Obama Administration is dropping the “Christmas Tree Tax.” [Politico] How America should adjust to the coming “Pacific Century.” [The Financial Times] 20 job rules for Millenials. [Forbes] What makes Apple’s “Siri” so interesting? She understands us. [Fortune] In New Zealand, rats wiped out some native species. Instead of wreaking havoc on the ecosystem though the rats began to do the job of those species that they wiped out. [bbc.co.uk] As the world population rises and the idea of a nuclear family changes, architecture and laws about zoning and construction should also adapt. [nytimes.com] The Senate votes down a measure that would cut funding for walking and bike paths. For good reason too, as a bike path can add $9,000 in value to a nearby home. [theatlanticcities.com] In lighter news, instead of trying to solve actual problems PETA once again goes for a cheap publicity stunt where they lose more credibility. [latimes.com]
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