Author Archives: ErgoOne

Why the Public Needs Critical Thinking Skills #1: “Churnalism”

Posted on March 3, 2011 by ErgoOne

In today’s Columbia Journalism Review is a excellent article on “churnalism”, their term for articles posted on news sites as news articles that are, in fact, simply press releases with little or no additional material. The article discusses who issues … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, Internet, Meta, Politics, Science | 1 Comment

Mohamed Yunus Forced Out of Grameen Bank

Posted on March 3, 2011 by ErgoOne

For the past few weeks I’ve been following talk that Nobel Laureate Mohamed Yunus, founder of Grameen Bank and the guy who mostly started the micro-credit revolution, was under pressure to retire. The talk is that this was due to … Continue reading →

Posted in Charity, Politics | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

U.S. Air Force X-37B Space Plan Flies on Friday

Posted on March 3, 2011 by ErgoOne

According to a story posted today in Space.com, the United States Air Force X-37B unmanned space plane is due to take off Friday to some unnamed location, presumably outside the 100 km boundary to space, on an unspecified mission for … Continue reading →

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New Hampshire Considers Criminalizing TSA Scanners, Patdowns

Posted on March 1, 2011 by ErgoOne

Today the New Hampshire state legislature is considering a bill that would make using the now-standard TSA “nudie scanners” and “enhanced pat downs” constitute sexual assault, a class III felony. The bill covers any agent of any government at any … Continue reading →

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Bored with Business as Usual

Posted on March 1, 2011 by ErgoOne

In elementary school I saw a movie that took place in an office, where men went to work.  I do not remember what the movie was about, but remember the deadly boring, stifling, grey, scene.  It was an open office, … Continue reading →

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Indian Government Denies Workers Medical Test Results

Posted on March 1, 2011 by ErgoOne

According to the Times of India, in 2007 an agency of the Government of India, the National Institute of Occupational Health, tested 126 mine workers for silicosis.  The institute later published a research paper that stated that some of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Medicine, Politics | Leave a comment

When Imitation is NOT Flattering…

Posted on February 28, 2011 by ErgoOne

My undergraduate alma mater, Reed College, is struggling with an unusual problem.  A scammer in China thinks so well of the college that they created the University of Redwood out of whole cloth by repurposing much of the data and … Continue reading →

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The “Stalinist State” of the Modern UK?

Posted on February 27, 2011 by ErgoOne

Sunday the UK Telegraph posted a horrifying story about a single mother whose children were taken from her permanently, and who is barred under pain of imprisonment from approaching within 500 meters until they are eighteen years of age.  This … Continue reading →

Posted in Human Rights, Personal | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Why You Should Pay Attention at School

Posted on February 26, 2011 by ErgoOne

Below is an image of a page from the front of what I believe must have been a high school science textbook. I couldn’t possibly improve on it, so without further comment: NOTE: Sunday a reader emailed me the link … Continue reading →

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Serendipity: Discovery Launch as Seen from Airplane

Posted on February 26, 2011 by ErgoOne

This video is “trending” around the Internet, but I couldn’t resist showing it here.  Gorgeous!

Posted in Science, Space | Tagged , , | Leave a comment