The USA Today thinks that the debate over global warming has concluded:

Link

I'm not so sure that those who reject science and it's conclusions are going to give up so easily, but I do agree that there has been a major shift in recent months toward the obvious truth.  General Electric and other corporations are finally getting the message.

Many of us in the United States are still in denial, clinging to the hope that our fossil fuel dream world can belch carbon endlessly without repercussions.  The US has fallen way behind the rest of the world in our response to this crisis, even though we are responsible for 25% of carbon emissions.  We have apparently chosen the path of least resistance -- do nothing and deny responsibility.

Years from now our children and grandchildren will look back at this debacle with disgust and shame.  They will be paying the cost of the crisis we selfishly ignored.  They will wonder why our country, the worst offender, was unwilling to face the facts and take action with the rest of the world to protect their future by adhering to the Kyoto Protocol.

April was the 2nd warmest on record, and so far 2005 looks to be in the running for the 2nd or 3rd warmest year on record.  Here is a link to the latest global temperature trends:

Link

For the last several months I've been noticing that My Yahoo has been extremely slow.  I think it's the banner ads that inhabit the top portion of that page that are slowing down.

For a refreshing change, try the new personalized home pages offered by Google:

http://www.google.com/ig

There isn't as much content available, but it's very fast.  And it will display your Gmail inbox right on the home page, in addition to your local weather, RSS feeds from Wired, Slash Dot, NY Times, and the BBC.  That'll do!

Link

A few months ago Bill Gates gave a speech to our nations governors, warning them that our high schools are obsolete.  Frightening, to say the least:

When I compare our high schools to what I see when I’m traveling abroad, I am terrified for our workforce of tomorrow. In math and science, our 4th graders are among the top students in the world. By 8th grade, they’re in the middle of the pack.  By 12th grade, U.S. students are scoring near the bottom of all industrialized nations. 

Bill goes on to say that our school systems are puposefully designed to limit the upward mobility of most of our students:

Our high schools were designed fifty years ago to meet the needs of another age.  Until we design them to meet the needs of the 21st century, we will keep limiting – even ruining – the lives of millions of Americans every year. Today, only one-third of our students graduate from high school ready for college, work, and citizenship. The other two-thirds, most of them low-income and minority students, are tracked into courses that won’t ever get them ready for college or prepare them for a family-wage job – no matter how well the students learn or the teachers teach.  This isn’t an accident or a flaw in the system; it is the system.  

It's a recipe for disaster.  Countries like India are pulling ahead of us:

In 2001, India graduated almost a million more students from college than the United States did. China graduates twice as many students with bachelor’s degrees as the U.S., and they have six times as many graduates majoring in engineering. In the international competition to have the biggest and best supply of knowledge workers, America is falling behind. 

We clearly have to design our schools to prepare every student for college.  We have low expectations for many of our less fortunate children.  Apparently that's not an excuse in China and India.  At this rate we are in for a serious re-allignment of intellectual and economic power in the coming century.   But we'll have the best damn high school sports teams in the world!

This is a fun quiz that opened my eyes to a few expressions that are specific to the western Great Lakes.

Link

From the Onion, here are some tips on how to be a good house guest:

• Always help your hosts after dinner: Offer to clear the table, wash the dishes, or teach them to cook.
• Ensure that you do not overstay your welcome by asking your host if you are overstaying your welcome every couple of minutes.
• Avoid an awkward moment later on by telling your host upfront that you're a bedshitter.
• Playing your host's stereo at top volume after midnight is rude. Bring your own boombox.
• Don't just act like a guest in someone's house. Be a guest in someone's house. 
• It's considered good form to replace any cats you drown.
• Cooking a meal for your host is a nice gesture, but ordering a pizza and offering to chip in for your part is way easier.
• Should an unfamiliar household situation arise, do not speak. Stare blankly at a fixed point on the wall until it all blows over.
• Don't monopolize the bathroom: Take sponge baths in the kitchen sink, and pee in a bottle and hide it under the bed.
• It's customary to take a souvenir from your host's home as a reminder of your wonderful stay.

I recommend this free software download from Google:
Picasa is software that helps you instantly find, edit and share all the pictures on your PC. Every time you open Picasa, it automatically locates all your pictures (even ones you forgot you had) and sorts them into visual albums organized by date with folder names you will recognize. You can drag and drop to arrange your albums and make labels to create new groups. Picasa makes sure your pictures are always organized.

Picasa also makes advanced editing simple by putting one-click fixes and powerful effects at your fingertips. And Picasa makes it a snap to share your pictures – you can email, print photos home, make gift CDs, instantly share via Hello™, and even post pictures on your own blog.

http://www.picasa.com/

Remind you of anyone?

http://www.compfused.com/directlink/636/

This just in from The Onion...

EPA To Drop 'E,' 'P' From Name
WASHINGTON, DC—Days after unveiling new power-plant pollution regulations that rely on an industry-favored market-trading approach to cutting mercury emissions, EPA Acting Administrator Stephen Johnson announced that the agency will remove the "E" and "P" from its name. "We're not really 'environmental' anymore, and we certainly aren't 'protecting' anything," Johnson said. "'The Agency' is a name that reflects our current agenda and encapsulates our new function as a government-funded body devoted to handling documents, scheduling meetings, and fielding phone calls." The change comes on the heels of the Department of Health and Human Services' January decision to shorten its name to the Department of Services.

From Slate.com:

To attain the rank of grand master of memory, you must be able to perform three seemingly superhuman feats. You have to memorize 1,000 digits in under an hour, the precise order of 10 shuffled decks of playing cards in the same amount of time, and one shuffled deck in less than two minutes.

Wow.  Ten shuffled decks of playing cards.  Knowing my drivers license number by heart no longer seems impressive.

Later in the article they mention the advice of the Frank Felderbaum, who is recognized as one of the worlds leading memory experts.  His advice to contestants:  Eat a large helping of wild Alaskan salmon the night before the contest - high in Omega 3 fatty acids.

Update:  Apparently my two year old daughter chews fish oil tablets like they are candy.  My wife decided to give one to her, just on a whim.  She chewed it up and asked for another one.  We expect her to reject Teletubbies shortly and start earning a living on the intellectual talk circuit. 

Wired has a good article about the largest encyclopedia on the planet.

Link

He is the best musician around today, in my estimation.  I find myself referring to the complicated and meaningful memes that he weaves into his music frequently.  His piano talent is unmatched in todays popular music scene -- except for the mighty Vanessa Carlton.  Ha.

Here is a video that looks more like a home movie of his 3 year old son:  Link

My horoscope for this week, thanks to The Onion:

Cancer: (June 22—July 22)
It's true that secret agents have crossed international borders with microfilm hidden in their colons, but you should've known better than to try it with three liters of duty-free scotch.

Stephen Colbert of Comedy Central's Daily Show has provided a critique of "The Gates", which is a 21 million dollar art installation in Central Park.

"The gates is a triumph of contemporary installation art, each gate redefining it's section of the park as not a public place for private reflection, but a private place for public reflection, juxtaposed with the bareness of mid winter, the gates posits a chromatic orgy, this riot of color achieves a rare re-defamiliarization with the nature of place time, the whatness of our whereness, no longer framed ... (pause) ... I'm sorry ... (pause) ... I've run out of crap."

Here is a link to the entire Stephen Colbert audio clip (6MB download):

Link

Adware and Spyware might be the two most frightening developments in technology yet.  Worse than viruses, which are obvious and easy to spot.  Adware infects your machine and subtly releases pop up ads designed to look like they are coming from the Website you happen to be surfing.

So they're influencing your behavior against your will, without you knowing it.  Manchurianized. 

Here's a link to remove adware and spyware off your Windows machine:  Away, ye demons of pop up ads!

Careful, this software is still in beta with Microsoft.