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Naughty baker
According to some sources, William Rich (a baker in Fleet Street) came up with the modern tiered wedding cake design in the 18th century by looking at the tiered spire of St Bride's church.
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This will eventually make an AWESOME video game
Over 75,000 gamers touching games, touching game controllers, touching other gamers. 75,000 gamers who perhaps don't all have the best hygiene, in conditions where it's hard to keep fresh (only going to the hotel room once every 30 hours or so). 75,000 gamers in one convention center for three days.
And one of them has swine flu.
And by the end of ( Read more... ) -
The Uninsured Congressman
One of Wisconsin's junior representatives, Steve Kagan, declined Congress's insurance plan and is currently uninsured. There's an interview about him, why he did it, and how lacking insurance forced his doctors to provide a little bit of transparency into the way they decide on prices for things (like why an MRI costs an uninsured person $1400 but ( Read more... ) -
Sports and sex
The hubbub about Caster Semenya has been percolating at the back of my mind, and today I was reminded again about it because of an email from the National Sexuality Resource Center. Caster's the South African runner who's shown a great deal of promise and won the 800m at the World Championships. Her biological sex has been questioned on the basis ( Read more... ) -
Does "interesting" mean something different in a scientific field than it does in normal life?
John Oliver ably schools two physical anthropologists, one of whom lacks the requisite sense of humour for mohawk-sporting. Seriously, this clip is On Fire. Someone's butthurt on the Facebook page for Bioanthropology, but all I've got to say is, I think people who agree to go on the Daily Show by now pretty much reap what they sow...
"So, in terms ( Read more... ) -
Family of Swine Flu Victim Suing NYC
The family of the assistant principal who was New York City's first swine flu victim has filed court papers with the intention of suing the city and its health and education departments.
Mitchell Wiener's widow and three sons said in a notice of claim last week that they intend to file a $40 million wrongful death lawsuit. The notice claims the ( Read more... ) -
The healthcare debate gets a bit more sucky every day...
In a recent editorial (objectively titled 'How the House Runs Over Grandma') the Investor's Business Daily states that:
"People such as scientist Stephen Hawking wouldn't have a chance in the U.K., where the National Health Service would say the life of this brilliant man, because of his physical handicaps, is essentially worthless."
Um. Oh. Hai. ( Read more... ) -
Pat Buchanan is Pat Buchanan, and he says...
"I think white men were 100% of the people who wrote the constitution, 100% of the people who signed the Declaration of Independence, 100% of the people who died at Gettysburg and Vicksburg, probably close 100% of the people who died at Normandy. This has been a country basically built by white folks."
That was Buchanan on Rachel Maddow defending ( Read more... ) -
Keep your hand upon your wages and your eye upon the scale
Yesterday was the Durham Miner's Gala, once the largest political gatherings in Europe that brought 250,000 people to the tiny, twisted streets of Durham. Durham was one of the coal centers of Britain along with south Wales, and many of the little villages around it wouldn't exist without it. Almost all coal mining has packed up in the last 25 ( Read more... )
