Insert a Trite Metaphor for a Corral #49

Posted on February 9, 2007 in Roundup

One piece of news that got buried at the end of the Los Angeles Times article about the decision by Nancy Pelosi to use a larger military jet to make a nonstop trip home to her California district is the announcement by House Sergeant at Arms Bill Livingood to the effect that he was the one who suggested using the larger plane instead of a smaller one which would need to stop and refuel. “I regret that an issue that is exclusively considered and decided in a security context has evolved into a political issue,” he said in a press release. In an age when they are the nonreformers, the Republicans will just grasp at anything to assail the first woman Speaker of the House.

• Undoing the Harm: Scientists discovered that an autism-like disorder called Rett’s Syndrome can be reversed by activating a single gene. Researchers say “It had been thought the disorder was caused by abnormal development – but activating the MECP2 gene, even in adulthood, proved to be effective in reversing neurological symptoms.” Let us not forget that what made this possible was the theory of evolution with its notion of inherited characteristics.
• Fellowship of the Sea: Japanese whalers and anti-whaling activists joined in a search for two activists who became separated from their group.
• Reality Gaming: Check out the game “Peacemaker” which is a simulation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from both sides of the wall. Elsewhere, in California, doctors are using a video game to try to help Iraq War veterans suffering from PTSD.
• No rest for the innocent: Dannielynn Stern, infant daughter of Anna Nicole Smith, will probably spend her whole life in the public eye thanks to the continuing battle over the estate of Texas oilman [[J. Howard Marshall]].
• Film Recommendation: This film is not yet rated Read how this film induced the MPAA to change some of its rules.
• Site Recommendation: Stop Sylvia Brown.
• Good Work Coming Home: If James Gray is found, the fruits of his own research may be the key that saves him. The computer scientist disappeared on a sailing trip to the Farallons for the purpose of scattering his mother’s ashes.
• Don’t touch that wall: Here’s a challenge for you — “How do you come here with equipment that doesn’t exist, solving a problem of seeing through walls without touching anything?” asks Maurizio Seracini, the expert who is assigned the task of peering behind a fresco by [[Vasari]] to see if it hides [[Leonardo Da Vinci|Leonardo Da Vinci’s]] long lost The Battle of Anghiari.

If you find any articles worthy of mention in these roundups, send the URL to gazissax at best dot com. And feel free to comment!