Once again, science proves the obvious, and once again, it's ignored.
All these researchers could have saved themselves a whole lot of time by talking to my high school Geometry teacher, who also taught Trig/Intro Anal (that's how the name appeared in the course schedule, snicker snicker) the next year. Same teacher, same hour of the day, but two consecutive years.
For geometry I was wide awake, attentive, and got the best grades in the class. The next year, however, I slept almost every day. Drove Mrs. Margrave crazy. I also fell asleep pretty regularly in physics (right after lunch), but Mr. Jaeger seemed to be much less disturbed by this. I was not an after-school napper either.
I still did pretty well in Trig/Intro Anal, but not as well as I'd done in geometry the previous year. This is entirely sleep-related.
It's always bothered me that so many people blame sleep deficiency on the supposed poor habits of the sleep-deprived person. I'm 30 now. I think if it were possible for me to fall asleep at 10 every night (or even just at a consistent time from night to night) I would have learned to do so by now. I'm not an insomniac by choice.
link
(11:23 EST, Sunday, 25 February 2001.)
"For example, in 21 percent of the 550 flight delays that were observed, the flight-information display said the flight was on time, when it was actually delayed more than 20 minutes. In addition, airlines made flight status announcements at the gate 66 percent of the time, but only 57 percent of those announcements were accurate."
"... The report found that more than a quarter of flights are delayed or canceled. Airlines need to 'address steps they are taking on matters within their control to reduce over-scheduling, the number of chronically late or canceled flights and the amount of checked baggage that does not show up with the passenger upon arrival,' [Inspector General Ken] Mead wrote."
Aha! So I'm not the only one who thinks that a large part of airline delays is poor scheduling by the airlines themselves. I've said for years that if you know that a particular airport or flight is going to be "late," then schedule that in. And pulling away from the gate "on time" only to sit on the tarmac for 20 minutes shouldn't count as "on time."
link
(9:53 EST, Tuesday, 13 February 2001.)
"In addition to the Apollo, a legendary jazz venue, the revitalized 125th Street corridor has a Starbucks coffee shop and a Krispy Kreme doughnuts franchise."
I really can't add anything to that.
link
(9:44 EST, Tuesday, 13 February 2001.)
"The actual numeric risk of mad cow is not high at all, but the concern understandably is," said Murray Lumpkin, a senior Food and Drug Administration medical adviser. "This is a disease that is life-threatening, that involves food eaten frequently and fed to our children, and is invisible to the consumer. It hits all the hot buttons."
What I don't get is why anybody would still be feeding their cattle animal protein in the first place. It's been shown to be dangerous in several countries in Europe (every one of them, of course, certain that "it could never happen here") and yet ranchers seem unwilling to discontinue the practice.
"... The FDA stopped the practice of feeding bits of cows, sheep and related animals to American cattle in 1997, and officials say these precautions have so far protected American animals and consumers from the disease.
"But the FDA has found that compliance with the regulations is inconsistent. The agency announced last month, for instance, that 28 percent of the rendering plants that grind cattle parts into bits were not able to entirely prevent "commingling" of those bits with cattle feed. In feed mills, which prepare ground food for many different animals on different diets, 20 percent of plants did not have proper labels cautioning handlers of the presence of ground animal parts.
I'm not a vegetarian, and I likes me a good burger, but this sort of thing really makes me wonder about our cattle industry.
link
(23:09 EST, Thursday, 8 February 2001.)
I always wondered what a network like Comedy Central was doing showing a program like
Battlebots. I see I'm not the only one.
"This is a classic example of Cable TV demo-drift. Like the mobility of professional sports franchises that leaves teams celebrating the Mormon jazz of Utah or the splendid lakes of Los Angeles, cable niche markets begin to drift almost as soon as they're identified."
link
(12:44 EST, Monday, 5 February 2001.)
This appeared in the Post while I was busy being sick with the flu, so I just found it tonight.
In a city where the mayor was derided during his campaign for not being "black enough," the view from here is that McWhorter is right on the money.
link
(22:11 EST, Sunday, 4 February 2001.)
