tagged w/ The New York Times
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ALMOST without exception, scientists and policy makers agree that hybrid vehicles are good for the planet. To a small but insistent group of skeptics, however, there is another, more immediate question: Are hybrids healthy for drivers?
There is a legitimate scientific reason for raising the issue. The flow of electrical current to the motor that moves a hybrid vehicle at low speeds (and assists the gasoline engine on the highway) produces magnetic fields, which some studies have associated with serious health matters, including a possible risk of leukemia among children.
With the batteries and power cables in hybrids often placed close to the driver and passengers, some exposure to electromagnetic fields is unavoidable. Moreover, the exposure will be prolonged — unlike, say, using a hair dryer or electric shaver — for drivers who spend hours each day at the wheel.
Some hybrid owners have actually tested their cars for electromagnetic fields using hand-held meters, and a few say they are alarmed by the results.ALMOST without exception, scientists and policy makers agree that hybrid vehicles are... more
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The real price of fruits and vegetables between 1985 and 2000 increased by nearly 40 percent while the real price of soft drinks (AKA Liquid Corn) declined by 23 percent.
The Farm Bill essentially treats our children as a human disposal for all the unhealthful calories that the Farm Bill has encouraged American farmers to overproduce.
The public health community has come to recognize it can't hope to address obesity and diabetes without addressing the Farm Bill.The real price of fruits and vegetables between 1985 and 2000 increased by nearly 40... more
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Terrible news: possibly McCain-sexing lobbyist Vicki Iseman has dropped her lawsuit against the New York Times. Turns out it's not actionable to report on someone's possibly unethical relationship with a public figure!
Here is your background: Iseman was a lobbyist who was really flirty with McCain and some staffers thought their relationship was maybe a sex relationship though the Times certainly never reported that it was, just that some staffers thought it looked like that! And they put that story in a bigger, more boring (but more "newsworthy") story about how McCain will do any damn thing a lobbyist wants if he feels like he is friends with that lobbyist, even though he's Mr. Maverick.
So Iseman waited a couple months and sued for defamation to the tune of $27 million, which, hah, like the Times has $27 million! Does she want a floor of their building maybe? Turns out, no—she dropped the suit.
First the Times sent out an internal memo that is crowing about how they didn't have to "apologize" or "retract one word of the story," but here is an editor's note about it:
An article published on Feb. 21, 2008, about Senator John McCain and his record as an ethics reformer who was at times blind to potential conflicts of interest included references to Vicki Iseman, a Washington lobbyist. The article did not state, and The Times did not intend to conclude, that Ms. Iseman had engaged in a romantic affair with Senator McCain or an unethical relationship on behalf of her clients in breach of the public trust.
We'll point out that the note, like the original story, ends with an implied "WINK WINK" but still. Apology or no (and they insist, NO apology), Iseman's lawyers get a statement on the website. So really there are some concessions they made to this woman, who sued them for printing something that is probably true.Terrible news: possibly McCain-sexing lobbyist Vicki Iseman has dropped her lawsuit... more
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gooma2
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added this
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3 years ago
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Funny story: You know the New York Times story this morning on the protests at NYU? Written on the laptop of one of the protest leaders, by her "boy."
Twitter's "emilydont," a self-described organizer of the occupation of an NYU dining hall, seems to be doing her best to make Colin Moynihan's editors at the Times worry he's gone native inside of the food court:
Most journalists would be uncomfortable depending on a source to provide writing and publishing equipment, particularly in the form of a laptop used to log in to sensitive internal newspaper systems. But as any warzone-embedded reporter could tell you, it does happen.
Having covered (and been arrested in) New York protests before, Moynihan has perhaps become adept at smuggling stories out of occupied zones right here in the U.S. So we wouldn't put it past him to cozy up to some NYU co-ed and convince her he's her bud if it makes the difference between filing on deadline or not filing at all. It doesn't mean he's compromised his objectivity.
But it probably does mean he should start assuming that subjects, especially young students, will blog or tweet or Facebook any and every subject-reporter conversation, with absolutely zero regard for what the Times standards editor might think. (Kids these days.)Funny story: You know the New York Times story this morning on the protests at NYU?... more
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gooma2
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added this
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3 years ago
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Published: February 5, 2009
"BEIJING — Nearly nine months after a devastating earthquake in Sichuan Province, China, left 80,000 people dead or missing, a growing number of American and Chinese scientists are suggesting that the calamity was triggered by a four-year-old reservoir built close to the earthquake’s geological fault line."
"Chinese authorities have steadfastly dismissed any notion that reservoir-building in Sichuan Province placed citizens at any added risk, and they have blocked some Web sites of environmental groups that suggest that dangers have been overlooked."
I guess 80,000 people dead or missing is business as usual in China. :(Published: February 5, 2009
"BEIJING — Nearly nine months after a... more
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Finally someone has parodied the New York Times Weekender ad. You know the one ("It's like you get the Friday paper, and boom you're right into the weekend!"). Behold the all-star ensemble cast starring in Michael Showalter's version, created for the 92YTribeca
courtesy of: The GothamistFinally someone has parodied the New York Times Weekender ad. You know the one... more
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UYUNI, Bolivia — In the rush to build the next generation of hybrid or electric cars, a sobering fact confronts both automakers and governments seeking to lower their reliance on foreign oil: almost half of the world’s lithium, the mineral needed to power the vehicles, is found here in Bolivia — a country that may not be willing to surrender it so easily.UYUNI, Bolivia — In the rush to build the next generation of hybrid or electric... more
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In studies of what is called the hygiene hypothesis, researchers are concluding that organisms like the millions of bacteria, viruses and especially worms that enter the body along with “dirt” spur the development of a healthy immune system. Several continuing studies suggest that worms may help to redirect an immune system that has gone awry and resulted in autoimmune disorders, allergies and asthma.In studies of what is called the hygiene hypothesis, researchers are concluding that... more
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Drinking coffee may do more than just keep you awake. A new study suggests an intriguing potential link to mental health later in life, as well.Drinking coffee may do more than just keep you awake. A new study suggests an... more
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An Egyptian driver waited on Tuesday at the El Auja crossing on the border with Israel. The trickle of trucks that had been going through there has all but stopped, officials and drivers there said.An Egyptian driver waited on Tuesday at the El Auja crossing on the border with... more
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PRESIDENT BARACK: Thank you. Thank you.
CROWD: Obama! Obama! Obama! Obama!
My fellow citizens: I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors.
I thank President Bush for his service to our nation...
(APPLAUSE)
=) =) =) =) =) =) =) =)
Thank you and goodbye.
January 20th, 2009: The end of an ERROR!PRESIDENT BARACK: Thank you. Thank you.
CROWD: Obama! Obama! Obama! Obama!
My... more
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The lasting impression left by the Apollo missions is of a Moon that is gray, dusty, desolate and dead. But instruments left behind by Apollo astronauts recorded moonquakes and wobbles in its rotation that gave hints of a still molten core.
Now, a rock collected more than 36 years ago during Apollo 17, the last human visit to the Moon, reveals that the molten core may have once churned and generated a magnetic field.The lasting impression left by the Apollo missions is of a Moon that is gray, dusty,... more
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Al Jazeera English is the only international news network broadcasting from inside Gaza. So why can't Americans tune in? Is it time to call our cable companies and, like the "I want my MTV" campaign of the olden days, demand AJE?Al Jazeera English is the only international news network broadcasting from inside... more
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Ford was feeling pressure from competitors, and decided it could not afford to fall behind in the rapidly expanding race to put electric cars in dealer showrooms.
“Frankly, I think it’s a gamble not to do it,” William C. Ford Jr., the company’s executive chairman, said in an interview. “It’s clear that society is headed down this road.”Ford was feeling pressure from competitors, and decided it could not afford to fall... more
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THEY’RE either hapless pests or the very people capable of overthrowing Windows. Take your pick.
In December, hundreds of these controversial software developers gathered for one week at the Google headquarters in Mountain View, Calif. They came from all over the world, sporting many of the usual signs of software mercenaries: jeans, ponytails, unruly facial hair and bloodshot eyes.
But rather than preparing to code for the highest bidder, the developers were coordinating their largely volunteer effort to try to undermine Microsoft’s Windows operating system for PCs, which generated close to $17 billion in sales last year.
All the fuss at the meeting centered on something called Ubuntu and a man named Mark Shuttleworth, the charismatic 35-year-old billionaire from South Africa who functions as the spiritual and financial leader of this coding clan.THEY’RE either hapless pests or the very people capable of overthrowing Windows.... more
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AUTO engineers have been talking for years about the coming “electrification of the automobile.” But as the development of hybrids and pure-electric vehicles has accelerated rapidly across the industry, it’s increasingly difficult to separate the subject of batteries from the cars and trucks they’ll soon be powering.AUTO engineers have been talking for years about the coming “electrification of... more
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Herewith: a few suggestions for using tech to save money. These aren’t new ideas; the press has covered all of these technologies before. But when every $100 counts, it’s worth dusting them off for another look. (The savings estimates below are typical, but of course your mileage may vary; it all depends on what services you’re paying for now.)Herewith: a few suggestions for using tech to save money. These aren’t new... more
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The A123 module carries 5,000 watt-hours of usable energy, compared with about 1,300 watt-hours for the battery that is built into the Prius.
The module fits in the well normally occupied by the spare tire, with a charging port installed on the back bumper.
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I e-mailed Hymotion, expressing interest in their A123 module, but they never replied.
I'm not upset, because like the person in this New York Times Article says: “I don’t have $10,000; I have children.”The A123 module carries 5,000 watt-hours of usable energy, compared with about 1,300... more
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Forty years ago the G.O.P. decided, in effect, to make itself the party of racial backlash. And everything that has happened in recent years, from the choice of Mr. Bush as the party’s champion, to the Bush administration’s pervasive incompetence, to the party’s shrinking base, is a consequence of that decision.
If the Bush administration became a byword for policy bungles, for government by the unqualified, well, it was just following the advice of leading conservative think tanks: after the 2000 election the Heritage Foundation specifically urged the new team to “make appointments based on loyalty first and expertise second.”Forty years ago the G.O.P. decided, in effect, to make itself the party of racial... more
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