So I looked it up.

In short, morals just belong to you.  They depend on what you think and how you view the world.  They usually don’t fluctuate easily.  Ethics, on the other hand, are determine by the people you associate with–socially, nationally, whatever.

The example given on WiseGeek (yeah, I know) is that of a criminal defense lawyer.  Although his moral sense may make the crime seem offensive to him, his ethical sense will drive him to defend the criminal in order to uphold the judicial system.

Okay. That seems to be the common knowledge about it.  However.  There’s always a however.

There seems to be some general online dissent (oh no!  online dissent!) about the etymology of the words.  So… I tried the “Online Etymoligical Dictionary” out. Ethics comes from the Greek, ethos, meaning “custom” or “moral character.” So that sounds societal.  But it also sounds personal. Morals comes from the Latin, moralis, meaning “proper behavior in society” or from the Old French, meaning “temperment.”  And that sounds societal and/or personal too.  Which means that, uh, they’re pretty much the same.

You can get crazy philosophically too, and break it down into descriptive ethics, normative ethics, or metaethics.  But.  Let’s not.  I prefer the first definition.

Suffice it to say, but the end of this whole thing, I didn’t care much about that girl’s job anyway.

Also.  Yeah, I seem to have blogged.  Let’s see how it goes.

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 also can say that I was not surprised by this one: Obama’s popularity decreases.

Obama on charter schools and merit-based pay

Cat urine glows under a black light.  Fresh stuff is bright yellow and old stuff is pale yellow or green.  Pretty!

Han Solo cast in chocolate/carbonite

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.

• Portland, Oregon, where it rarely snows, is about 130 miles farther north than Toronto, and over 200 miles farther north than Boston.
• If you combine England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland, then together they are a bit smaller than the deceivingly large state of Michigan.
• France is about 30% larger than the state of California.
• About two-thirds of Africa is in the Northern Hemisphere.
• Rome, which is located in the center of Italy, is located at the exact same latitude as Chicago.

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.