August 23, 2008 – 5:18 pm
SF Giants Pitcher Matt Cain
On August 20, San Francisco Giants starter Matt Cain, after an excellent seven and two-thirds innings against the Florida Marlins, left the game ahead 5-2. Giants reliever Tyler Walker got the last out in the eighth, and with the score unchanged, closer Brian Wilson came in in the top of the ninth. His job: save Cain’s victory.
But Wilson gave up a lead-off double, retired the next two batters, and then gave up a single and a three-run homer to tie the game. … Continue Reading »
August 22, 2008 – 7:15 pm
After several weeks of negative comment throughout the blogosphere, and embarrassingly scant notice in the traditional media, a leaked Department of Health and Human Services draft ruling (HHS-45-CFR) that defined contraception as abortion (see my previous post on this subject) has been finalized.
The text of the final ruling (HHS 45 CFR Part 88) is here.
HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt had previously protested in his self-written blog that the brouhaha was completely off-base: … Continue Reading »
August 18, 2008 – 8:35 am
Commander Whitehead
Mixers…and medicine.
In 1968, Commander Edward Whitehead came to Harvard Business School to give a talk on the continuing importance—in the face of computers and other rapidly advancing technologies—of people in industry. (A similar, and rather drier talk he gave in 1955 is here.)
Perhaps the first CEO to become his company’s advertising spokesman, Commander Whitehead (1908-1978), a World War II veteran of the South Pacific campaign in His Majesty’s Navy, was the President of Schweppes (USA) and … Continue Reading »
August 15, 2008 – 2:14 am
HHS Secy. Mike Leavitt
In mid-July, a draft ruling (HHS-45-CFR) defining contraception as abortion leaked out of the Department of Health and Human Services. Considering its import, the ruling, which would not require congressional approval to become operative, was given remarkably little notice in the press until the Houston Chronicle editorialized on it this week (“Redefining Abortion”) and various pro-choice, pro-life, family planning, and political organizations jumped into action. HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt, the only Cabinet-level official with a self-written blog, commented (way too cavalierly, IMO), “I’m delighted to announce that with the help of Planned Parenthood, my blog—for the first time—received more visits than my teenage son’s MySpace page.”
… Continue Reading »
August 9, 2008 – 11:44 am
Egypt's Library of Alexandria
In a guest editorial published in the 8/8/08 issue of Science, the magazine of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Director of Egypt’s Library of Alexandria, Dr. Ismail Serageldin, states:
“Throughout the Muslim world we are witnessing an increasingly intolerant social milieu that is driven by self-appointed guardians of religious correctness, who inject their narrow interpretation of religion in all public debate. Rejecting rationality or evidentiary approaches, they increasingly force dissenting voices into silence and into conformity with what they would consider accepted behavior and speech. Of course, Muslim zealots are not the only ones who try to challenge the scientific enterprise, and in the US, the battles over evolution and creationism continue to rage.” … Continue Reading »
August 3, 2008 – 12:47 am
On July 31, researchers at MIT announced a “revolutionary leap that could transform solar power from a marginal, boutique alternative into a mainstream energy source. Requiring nothing but abundant, non-toxic natural materials, this discovery could unlock the most potent, carbon-free energy source of all: the sun.”
Funded in part by a $10 million grant from the Chesonis Family Foundation, the work was described by MIT’s Daniel Nocera, the Henry Dreyfus Professor of Energy at MIT in a paper published in the July 31 issue of Science. … Continue Reading »
August 2, 2008 – 10:59 pm
From the RWA website:
Romance Writers of America proudly sponsors the romance-publishing industry’s highest award of distinction — the RITA Award. RITA awards are presented annually to the best published romance novels of the year. The award itself is a golden statuette named after RWA’s first president, Rita Clay Estrada, and has become the symbol for the best in published romance fiction.
It’s Julia Quinn’s second RITA Award.
She’s my daughter.
July 31, 2008 – 5:35 pm
RWA's authors
Armadas of publishing house execs, editors, and marketing staffers, agents working and being worked, 500 or so published authors, even more wannabes, and lots of book-toting and book-buying fans converged on SF’s Marriott Hotel for the RWA’s yearly conference.
Romance books account for more than half of all paperback sales in the U.S., and according to Business of Consumer Publishing 2006, net revenue for romance book sales in 2006 from U.S. retail sources accounted for an astonishing $1.37 billion … Continue Reading »
July 29, 2008 – 9:38 am
There is now hard data for those on both sides of the media’s “liberal bias” controversy.
George Mason University’s Center for Media and Public Affairs (CMPA) released the results of a study on July 28 showing that “Barack Obama is getting more negative coverage than John McCain on TV network evening news shows, reversing Obama’s lead in good press during the primaries.”
These results are based on content analysis of 249 election news stories (7 hours 38 minutes of airtime) … Continue Reading »
