Technopolis

America's Failing Grades on Infrastructure The American Society of Civil Engineers, not known for being especially radical in outlook, h...

Brutal, indifferent, scornful and ruthless...also very clever Harold Pinter's lecture, "Art, Truth and Politics," presented by...

Members of the American public ponder George W. Bush's latest defense of his "policy" on the Iraq war. Hey, this guy makes Ric...

Chemical Spill in Harbin, China -- "bad" facts denied by authorities An explosion and major chemical spill last week near city of ...

For torture, but against the arts and humanities: an emerging pattern? In a bold move presumably based upon deeply held principles, nine U.S...

Intelligent design -- not working well in the U.S.A.? If the Creator is beneficently leading the world onward and upward to a more "int...

Virtual War: We get 'em coming and going! Although declining recruitment figures indicate that the tactic hasn't been working very w...

Chris Gibson: thinker, raconteur, restless soul, friend to many (1954-2005) He was the most intense person I've ever known, someone who...

A truly democratic technology in action Using digital cameras and streaming video on the Internet, one of the participants prepared a portra...

Parents speak out on (the latest) war Cindy Sheehan’s vigil in Crawford, Texas renews questions about why America has gone to war in Iraq. ...

Beyond Alan Sokal -- the randomly generated science paper! In the grand tradition of hoaxes and spoofs, a field of excellence that holds a s...

"That's not an alien tripod! It's the the Lafarge cement plant burning TIRES!" Much of the fire and smoke shown in Spielb...

Global warming? What me worry?

Scientist says humans cause global warming Ralph J. Cicerone, president of the National Academy of Sciences, testified to the Senate Energy ...

Ethanol: A good liquid fuel alternative? A new study by ecologist David Pimintel at Cornell (shown above) and engineering prof. Tad Patzek ...

Terrorism and engineering education A peculiar wrinkle from investigations on the London bombings is speculation that terrorists have been r...

Strangling the "American Dream" -- important unreported news Here via Xymphora are complementary stories about the death of the A...

The Live 8 agenda questioned The millions of people who enjoyed the Live 8 concerts in person and on television yesterday were repeatedly ur...

Rocket science -- the new arms race in Iraq Although the Bush administration tells us that the insurgency is dwindling and in its "last...

Botero paints scenes of Abu Ghraib Columbian painter Fernando Botero has long painted the violence and suffering of political struggles in h...

Software design for totalitarian regimes A story in the L.A. Times notes the helpful role that a Microsoft program plays for the Chinese go...

Downing Street memo and other evidence that the Iraq War was based on bogus intelligence and political deceit While the US Congress, the med...

Profiles in cowardice: Senators who did not co-sponsor the resolution apologizing for not passing anti-lynching laws Lamar Alexander (R-TN)...

Dinosaurs on Noah's Ark? To keep America safe from the theory of evolution and yet explain the embarrassing presence of ancient fossils,...

When foxes run the hen house (greenhouse): a familiar Bush Administration tale A NYT story , "Bush Aide Softened Greenhouse Gas Links t...

"Grocery Store Wars" -- 0rganic food video satire The Organic Trade Association has released an amusing satire, "Grocery Stor...

No clear purpose for the "war on terror" -- Army War College states the obvious An interesting report by Stephen D. Biddle of the...

Dancing in the streets of Hudson: a victory for democracy, community and environment in the Hudson Valley: the stunning defeat of Saint Lawr...

Are things getting better? -- the idea of progress reconsidered Which criteria would one use to decide? Which kinds of evidence? Which arg...

Scientific American yields to Creationist/Intelligent Design pressures? A tongue-in-cheek editorial in the current Scientific American deliv...

Godel’s lost proof – authoritarian government in America? A wonderful essay, “Time Bandits” by Jim Holt in a recent New Yorker , describes t...

Ostrich replaces eagle as national bird Around the globe the U.S.A. is fast becoming known as the nation that habitually avoids confronting ...

How to ruin a perfectly good "brand" -- America A survey by the GMI World Poll find growing "anti-American sentiment...

Today's riddle: How is the U.S. Missile Defense Shield different from a high school football team? Answer #1: The shield doesn...

Outsourcing the C.E.O.? -- high tech rumor The following press release has been circulating in Silicon Valley and other high tech commu...

St. Lawrence Cement named to prestigious "Dirty Dozen" list It's always good to see a local company gain recognition for ...

TV journalists revolt, refuse to parrot government line! (but only in the Ukraine) Imagine what would happen if this spread to the Unit...

Does the atrocity of 9/11 justify endless atrocities in response? The Lancet study (noted here previously) estimates there have been 100...

Crackdown coming? Writing in the journal Conservation Biology recently, I called attention to a looming conflict. Here's a segment...

Best estimate of civilian casualties due to the Iraq war -- 100.000 A Reuters summary of a recent report from The John Hopkins Bloomberg...

Jobs for U.S. programmers evaporate During the presidential debates G.W. Bush held out the promise of community college education for t...

Science labs for Iraqi in surgents A little noticed a feature of the report released last week by CIA weapons inspector Charles Duelfer...