Daily Brief: 2006 Sept 07: Of Mice And Vast Right Wing Conspiracies

Because nothing you see on TV is allowed to be true, scientists discovered that mice don’t like cheese:

Researchers at Manchester Metropolitan University, backed by the Stilton Cheese Makers’ Association, have found that mice prefer foods with a high sugar content. What will really attract a mouse into the trap is muesli.

Following up the ABC “Path to 9/11” issue, Glenn Greenwald rounds-up some unlikely support, and notes:

Unlike CBS did for the much less consequential The Reagans, Disney/ABC, at least for now, is refusing to refrain from broadcasting this proaganda. C&L has the video (and transcript) of the statement from Disney/ABC here, in which they attack critics of the film by claiming: “No one has seen the final version of the film–because the editing process is not yet complete, so criticisms of film specifics are premature and irresponsible.”

That makes no sense. The only reason anyone knows anything about the content of the film is because they sent it around to the likes of Rush Limbaugh and Hugh Hewitt precisely to induce them to comment (favorably) on it. If it’s “premature and irresponsible” to comment on the film because it’s not complete yet, why did they send around screeners to (right-wing) commentators? It only became “irresponsible” once the commentary went from drooling partisan praise to critiques of the film’s fabrications and inaccuracies.

In addition to the obvious inequities, CBS’ quick and complete cave-in to conservative protests over The Regans, set next to ABC’s combative attack on critics of this film, tell you all you need to know about the merits of the incessent, petulant complaints from Bush supporters about the “liberal MSM.”

Scholastic, who prepared a classroom companion for the “docudrama”, pulled their existing guides:

Educational media giant Scholastic, Inc. announced it’s dropping its original classroom companion guides to a controversial new docudrama, and replacing them with materials stressing critical thinking and media literacy.

Instead, new materials will focus on:

1. Media Literacy - what is a docudrama; how does it differ from a documentary; what are the differences between factual reporting and a dramatization?

2. Background to 9/11 - what are some of the causes of unrest in the Middle East and other parts of the world that give rise to attacks on the U.S. and other countries?

3. Geography and Culture — there is a long history of conflict in the Middle East. How well do students understand each of the countries involved and what influences their behavior?

Actual dissemination of complex issues? Like media literacy? That’s just silly.

And from the TV Sometimes Helps department, a nice write-up of Steve Irwin:

A blond surfer-ish conservationist-cum-cable star who mugs for the camera and waxes poetic in the presence of venomous snakes can’t be a major force for good in the worldwide roulette game that is species survival. Or can he?

On the face of it, animals Down Under, especially the scary and uncuddly ones, seem to have had an easier time of it since Irwin went on the air. He strenuously protested wildlife hunts in his home country, and his personal objections to crocodile safaris had a lot to do with the Australian government’s decision to impose a ban.

Daily Brief: 2006 Sept 01: Sports & Science Friday

Live Science: 100 Years Ago: Football’s First Forward Pass

They called it the “projectile pass” back then.

On Sept. 5, 1906, Saint Louis University’s Bradbury Robinson tossed a pigskin to teammate Jack Schneider. It was a remarkably creative play for the era, one that ultimately became known as the forward pass.

The game was scoreless. According to SLU archives, head coach Eddie Cochems was frustrated with the team’s inability to move the ball. For weeks, they had been secretly practicing this new art of tossing the ball forward from a starting position behind the ear.

And so the football’s first air attack began.

And it started as you might expect, with an incompletion. Under the rules then, the ball was turned over to the opponent, Carroll College.

Live Science: Anger and Hostility May Damage Your Lungs

Researchers studied 670 men age 45 to 86. Initially, they gauged anger and hostility, ranking each man on a scale of 7 to 37. Then they measured lung function—how much air could be blown out in one second—on three separate occasions over an average of eight years.

Lung function was “significantly poorer” at the outset among those deemed more angry and hostile, and it got worse with these men at each examination. The findings held up after controlling for other factors, such as smoking and education, the researchers reported yesterday in the online version of the journal Thorax.

Naturally, in a study from last year:

Anger is good for you, as long as you keep it below a boil, according to new psychology research based on face reading.

New York Times: Greece Shocks U.S. Basketball Team

Fed up with its recent failures, USA Basketball assembled a new program with a new plan and a new coach in Mike Krzyzewski.

The end result was all too familiar.

Greece used a sizzling stretch of shooting across the middle two quarters to turn a 12-point deficit into a 14-point lead, and beat the Americans 101-95 Friday in the semifinals of the world championships.

”To lose any game is a shock to us,” U.S. star Carmelo Anthony said. ”We came in with the mentality to win the game and the gold medal.”

ESPN: Andre Agassi Still Likes To Win

Agassi was not supposed to have a chance against No. 8 seed Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus. This second-round U.S. Open match was supposed to provide the perfect stage for the graying ghost of tennis’ past to yield to the flesh-and-blood of tennis’ future. The tribute speeches had been delivered and folded back into pockets. Glasses were figuratively raised for the final toast.

Seth Wenig/AP Photo Although he went the distance, Agassi improved to 59-0 at the U.S. Open when winning the first two sets.

But Agassi opted to make the evening a competition rather than a ceremonial transition. He prevailed over Baghdatis in a 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 5-7, 7-5 thriller that surely will take over No. 1 on the list of Rain Delay Replays.

NASA: NASA Chooses Lockheed Martin To Build Orion

NASA chose the prime contractor Thursday for Orion, the shuttle successor that will return astronauts to the Moon.

On Thursday, NASA tapped Lockheed Martin to build its capsule-based Orion vehicle, seen here with circular solar arrays deployed in an artist’s interpretation of a flight to the International Space Station (ISS). Lockheed beat out the joint team of Northrop Grumman and Boeing in the Orion competition.

Like NASA’s current space shuttles, Orion vehicles are expected to ferry astronauts to and from the ISS, but are the core spacecraft for the agency’s Moon goals. The crew capsule will carry four-astronaut teams to launch toward the Moon. A secondary cargo or lunar lander carrier rocket will launch separately for Orion crews to dock with before leaving low-Earth orbit.

And college football kicks into full swing this weekend: Schedule.

In Other News…

Business Week: Nightmare Mortgages

For cash-strapped homeowners, it was a pitch they couldn’t refuse: Refinance your mortgage at a bargain rate and cut your payments in half. New home buyers, stretching to afford something in a super-heated market, didn’t even need to produce documentation, much less a downpayment.

Those who took the bait are in for a nasty surprise. While many Americans have started to worry about falling home prices, borrowers who jumped into so-called option ARM loans have another, more urgent problem: payments that are about to skyrocket.

The option adjustable rate mortgage (ARM) might be the riskiest and most complicated home loan product ever created. With its temptingly low minimum payments, the option ARM brought a whole new group of buyers into the housing market, extending the boom longer than it could have otherwise lasted, especially in the hottest markets. Suddenly, almost anyone could afford a home — or so they thought. The option ARM’s low payments are only temporary. And the less a borrower chooses to pay now, the more is tacked onto the balance.

Quick and the ED: Colleges Giving Even More Financial Aid to Wealthy Students

From 1999 to 2003, private colleges increased the average aid to students from families making less than $20,000 per year from $4,027 to $5,240, an increase of $1,213, or 30%.

During the same time period, private colleges increased the average aid to students from families making more than $100,000 per year from $3,321 to $4,806, an increase of $1,485, or 45%.

Thing That Doesn't Exist Said Not To Exist

But something else that didn't previously exist may now exist:

Gravity theory dispenses with dark matter

A modified theory of gravity that incorporates quantum effects can explain a trio of puzzling astronomical observations – including the wayward motion of the Pioneer spacecraft in our solar system, new studies claim.

...

In this case, a hypothetical particle called a graviton – which mediates gravity – appears in large numbers out of the vacuum of space in regions crowded with massive objects such as stars. "It's as if gravity is stronger" near the centres of galaxies, Brownstein told New Scientist. "Then, at a certain distance, the stars become sparse, and the gravitons don't contribute that much." So at larger distances, gravity returns to the behaviour described by Newton.

Dear Science:

Stop making things up. Fly out there on a rocket and figure it out yourselves.

Sincerely,
Scott.

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You used to be fun. You used to be warped and twisted and hilarious... and I mean that in the best way - I mean it as a compliment!