I was reading an article from the The Scotsman this morning about the agreement between the US and the UK not to allow the death penalty for certain UK citizens who are detained at Guantanamo Bay and found myself feeling empty on this issue. I understand that 9/11 was …

According to an article in the Scotsman, the number of crashes and fatalities involving commercial aircraft is down significantly since last year. With 12 crashes accounting for 362 deaths (worldwide) instead of 18 crashes with 716 fatalities, the skies were certainly safer during the first six months of this year …

Not wanting to be left out of the online music game, buy.com will introduce today their BuyMusic.com service, intended to compete with Apple's iTunes Music Service, according to this report from the Associated Press (carried by Yahoo!). When I am able to actually access the system, I will …

The New York Times has an article about the latest trend in caviar in the United States, domestic caviar. Made from paddlefish instead of sturgeon, the caviar doesn't taste the same as the expensive Russian and Iranian caviar, but it is gaining popularity in the US. According to the article …

In order to protect the sanctity of the French language, the government of France has officially outlawed the use of the words "email" and "e-mail" in deference to the word "courriel." A story from the Associated Press, carried by the Washington Post tells the tale. Not surprisingly, outside of the …

Those interested in snorkeling and diving will find an article (subscription required) in this week's Science of concern. It sounds the alarm about a regional decline (which is paired with a worldwide decline) in coral population. The article is mostly an analysis of 65 studies covering 263 sites across the …

According to an article in this week's Science (subscription required), summarized in the New York Times, there is evidence for a genetic predisposition towards clinical depression triggered by high degrees of stress. The articles are interesting, but the main gist is that depression is commonly brought on by acute trauma …

Citing second amendment concerns and personal safety issues in DC, Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) is calling again for the repeal of the stringent gun control laws in the District of Columbia. An article from the Washington Post describes his position (also available in his press release) Senator Hatch has introduced …

This story from the Washington Post is just funny. It appears that our intrepid would-be thieves decided that they would steal the money from an ATM using brute force... they were wrong. After prying it from its concrete base and dropping it to the ground a number of times, the …

An article from BBC News this morning indicates that researches in the US have determined that so-called "male menopause" is not due to hormonal changes, but is instead due to unhealthy habits, such as too much drinking, or perhaps just laziness. Professor John McKinlay, of the New England Research Institutes …

An article in the Scotsman describes the planned slaughter this week of about 3,000 genetically modified (GM) sheep from the firm that cloned Dolly. The sheep were being used by PPL Therapeutics to test AAT, a drug intended to slow the progress of diseases such as hereditary emphysema and …

With the announcement by Apple that they have sold approximately 6.5 million songs and are basically break-even in their new music service yesterday during their quarterly conference call, many people are announcing their intention to follow Apple's lead and compete with it. An article from Australian IT discusses EMI's …

An article in the Washington Post indicated that staff in the Metro's planning and architecture group will be cut over the next six years to 10% of its current level. You read that right, not cut by 10%, but cut to 10%. It appears that plans to expand the public …

In a country such as Norway with strong social welfare system and emphasis on equal rights, it isn't too surprising that the government has decided to take on inequities in board representation. However, their first step, reported in the New York Times, is a pretty big one. The country will …

The International Herald Tribune reports that the World Trade Organization (WTO) has ruled that the US tariffs imposed by the Bush (II) administration are protectionist and therefore not compliant with the WTO agreements on tariffs and treaties. This isn't surprising, since the tariffs are protectionist, and were shocking to most …

The ninth Nimitz class aircraft carrier, the USS Ronald Reagan, will be dedicated today at 11am in a ceremony at the Norfolk Naval Station in Virginia. The carrier will be the penultimate Nimitz-class carrier (the final one being the USS George H W Bush) to be built, with the Navy …

The Washington Post is reporting that US Department of Health and Human Services has announced that starting January 1, 2006 all food labels must contain listings for trans-fatty acids. This is considered a success for the heart-conscious, as trans-fats are believed to be a significant contributor to to obesity, heart …

We're all familiar with NIMBY (not in my back yard). Well, according to an article in the Washington Post, residents of Loudoun and Facquier Counties in Virginia are trying to stop a large truck from rolling through their neighborhoods. To be fair, the truck is really large, as in 16-axles …

Reuters has article quoting a new article from the Journal of the Royal Society for Medicine entitled "Stonehenge: a view from medicine." The author claims to have determined that Stonehenge is actually an enormous scale model of the female genitalia. Although I couldn't get the actual article, I did at …

An interesting article from The Scotsman tells of a school in Leicester, The Midlands, UK that has decided not to accept free fruit from the government because the food is to be funded by the National Lottery. The school's students are 96% Muslim and the parents were surveyed before the …