True story: two summers ago, I saw a Compsognathus. I mean, I thought it was a Compsognathus, because it was the size of a chicken. Of course no one believed me. But maybe it was a Hesperonychus elizabethae?
In related news, it turns out that some dinosaurs may also have been fuzzy. Not like real fuzz though, but like the little bits of leftover feather you find on a turkey (and get really grossed out by.)
I promise to go back to actual learning and not just linking dumb articles soon, but who doesn’t want to read about a chimp attack?
Something about twelve hour work days – I’m pretty sure I’ve learned new stuff every day, but the blog suffers. Alas, here’s an article that freaked me right out: HIV/AIDS on the rise in DC.
I also can say that I was not surprised by this one: Obama’s popularity decreases.
Read this article if you want to know about the future of education
Fact: It is unlikely that I will spend enough time learning anything of value in the next two weeks. So here’s some trivia…
Cat urine glows under a black light. Fresh stuff is bright yellow and old stuff is pale yellow or green. Pretty!
Seriously, I learned how to make one of these this weekend, and I’m going to do it regardless of the time and effort it takes:
A little tidbit that almost sneaked (snuck?) past me in the news today:
Sanjay Gupta (you know, from CNN), who has been Obama’s main choice for surgeon general just withdrew his name from consideration. It’s not a hot seat for policy making, but with Obama’s big healthcare plans, it would be a great place for America to see a trusted face.
Gupta turned down the job, claiming he wanted to spend more time focusing on medicine and his family.
More on that from NPR if you are interested
Also, as it turns out, sneaked or snuck is just fine.
Plagiarised directly from this site:
From the 1800s, India was ruled by Great Britain. In 1947, they gained independence as the Republic of India. At this time, the sub-continent was divided into Hindu India and and Muslim Pakistan. And, as situations like this always breed discontent (cough-Israel-Palestine-cough), war broke out between the two separate countries, largely focused on the territory of Kashmir (cough-Gaza-cough.) It’s been a roller-coaster of tension between the two countries since. Most recently they were involved in some peaceful talks, but at the end of 2009, India called a pause in the peace process.
One thing that makes the hostility between India and Pakistan so important is that they are both nuclear states. (Mom, don’t click that link!) In 2006, George W Bush made an agreement with India to share US nuclear technology in exchange for India’s cooperation in allowing their nuclear program to be more closely monitored. Bush also approved a law allowing India to buy nuclear reactors and fuel for the first time in over thirty years.
India’s economy, in contrast to much of the world, is doing really well right now. This is in large part due to the fact that their huge population 1.2 billion (spread over 1.2 million square miles) allows them to outsource workers internationally (which you probably know if you ever had to call someone about a computer problem.) The Bollywood Industry also serves to bolster the economy. But despite the country’s overall well-being, there is still widespread poverty throughout the rural areas, primarily because of the caste system that keeps people from rising socially or amassing wealth.
Okay, that’s really just scratching the surface, but I’m calling it a good start.
So I took a couple of weeks off from this thing for personal reasons, but since I’m back on the learning wagon, I decided today would be a good day to tackle one that I’ve been avoiding since I started, and not just because it’s hard to spell Ahmadinejad.
At the age of 49, in 2005, Ahmadinejad was elected President of Iran. He rose from relative obscurity, although he served as an Iranian Revolutionary Guard, and as the mayor of Tehran for four years. He campaigned as a strong conservative, and built a platform on fighting corruption. He was voted into office by an overwhelming majority of voters, most of whom were younger and had their political values informed by the Iran-Iraq war of the 80s. (Although it is worth noting that some discredit the legitimacy of the election.)
Criticism of Amadinejad is strong. He has fought hard for Iran’s freedom to enrich uranium and pursue a nuclear program. His argument is that he believes Iran should have the freedom to use nuclear power and that they have no hostile intentions, but past-disingenuity on the part of Iran makes this claim suspect. He also has made harsh statements concerning Israel. Shortly after his election he said publicly that Israel should be moved to Alaska* or somewhere in Europe. He is also one of those jerks who claims that the Holocaust did not occur.
It is pretty hard to find any acclaim of his policies, but he has allowed women to attend sporting events for the first time since 1979.
In more recent news, his supporters have become scarcer. Iran’s economy (like so many others) is really hurt right now, primarily because of the decrease of gas prices and the rate of inflation. In January, Obama invited Ahmadinejad to join him in direct talks to ease tensions between our countries, and in February, Ahmadinejad accepted. It will be interesting to see how that works out, because it is a clear difference from the last eight years of foreign policy. That said, Amadinejad’s term is up in June, and it’s not clear who will win the next election.
Most useful for this post were The New York Times and GlobalSecurity.org, but I also referenced BBC (of course) and Time (and a little bit this article.)
*Actually he said Israel should move to “Europe, Canada, the United States, or Alaska.” Hm… geography lesson, anyone?
