Nathan Young

"For those voters whose minds were long ago made up, and see stark differences between the candidates, undecided voters seem a curious lot. Often it seems they are not waiting to hear the candidates weigh in on a particular issue, or feel torn over any particular point. They often can’t say anything particularly warm or scathing about either man, and can name no revelation they seek. It is almost as if they are standing before two suitcases, one empty and one full of cash, and just fear desperately they will make the wrong choice." - Nathan Young via Bookmarklet

"A grueling survey of vast tracts of forest and swamp in the northern Congo Republic has revealed the presence of more than 125,000 western lowland gorillas, a rare example of abundance in a world of rapidly vanishing primate populations." - Nathan Young via Bookmarklet

"It's time for a new New Deal - one that invests more money, more wisely. It is as impossible to imagine America without FDR's New Deal as it is to imagine the country without Eisenhower's interstate highway system. Those massive public investments epitomized both the vision and courage that are desperately lacking in today's Washington." - Nathan Young via Bookmarklet

Like the cartoon - j1m

"Working out is tough. So why not skip the exercise and pop a few endurance-boosting pills? That dream, cherished by millions of sedentary couch potatoes, just got a little bit closer. Today, researchers are reporting that an experimental drug can mimic the results of an exercise regimen -- with no exercise required. After four weeks of taking the pill, mice who hadn't worked out displayed a 44 percent increase in their running endurance." - Nathan Young via Bookmarklet

"India has always had its upper classes, as well as legions of the world’s very poor. But today a landscape dotted with Hamilton Courts, pressed up against the slums that serve them, has underscored more than ever the stark gulf between those worlds, raising uncomfortable questions for a democratically elected government about whether India can enable all its citizens to scale the golden ladders of the new economy." The pictures bring to mind the beginnings of a Margaret Atwood novel. - Nathan Young via Bookmarklet

This is making me so hungry! Must mean it's time to go back home for a visit. The review of Mr. B's, one of my favorites, at: http://blog.nola.com/brettande... - Nathan Young via Bookmarklet

Looks pretty awesome - j1m

"Because we know that dinosaur bones were really planted by Beelzebub." - Nathan Young

"In 1934, Otlet sketched out plans for a global network of computers (or “electric telescopes,” as he called them) that would allow people to search and browse through millions of interlinked documents, images, audio and video files. He described how people would use the devices to send messages to one another, share files and even congregate in online social networks. He called the whole thing a “réseau,” which might be translated as “network” — or arguably, “web.”" - Nathan Young

Arguably the most dramatic game of a great day for watching sport. Down 0-2, Turkey scored three goals in the last 15 minutes to advance to the quarters of Euro 2008. Missing from this video is the fact that Turkey played a man down (their keeper no less) during stoppage time! Classic reaction from the announcers after the game winner. - Nathan Young

"Obama raised $18 million in Northern California - $1.5 million more than he raised in the southern half of the state. He collected $1 in Northern California for every 17 cents raised by McCain and for every 62 cents raised by his primary contender Sen. Hilary Clinton, who did most of her fundraising in the southern part of the state. In Southern California, Obama raised $1 for every 41 cents raised by McCain and every 97 cents raised by Clinton." - Nathan Young

"Scientists argue that the brain has evolved to see a split second into the future when it perceives motion. Because it takes the brain at least a tenth of a second to model visual information, it is working with old information. By modeling the future during movement, it is “seeing” the present." - Nathan Young

"...partly shrouded on the trailer of a red Peterbilt truck, sat a sculpture made of hundreds of thousands of [Erector Set truss] pieces, painstakingly screwed together into a sturdy, almost crystalline creation. In essence, he had transformed a toy inspired by Manhattan buildings into a toy building approaching the size of some real buildings in Manhattan." So cool. My childhood dream come true... - Nathan Young

"All Hindus know that Hanuman can lift mountains and leap oceans, but ancient texts make no mention of his business acumen." Ah yes, another candidate for: http://wtfcnn.blogspot.com/ - Nathan Young

"Among the top 10 picks is an ornate sleeper ray -- Electrolux addisoni -- whose name reflects "the vigorous sucking action displayed on the videotape of the feeding ray" from the east coast of South Africa that "may rival a well-known electrical device used to suck the detritus from carpets."" - Nathan Young

The answer's not really a surprise, but I'm fan of all the wooly animals (mammoths, rhinos, monkeys...), so I couldn't pass this one up. - Nathan Young

"This week, it’s unlikely that there will be much good news coming from China. But the rescue crews will, one hopes, make progress, and there may be reason for some Sichuan-style optimism." - Nathan Young

I feel really sad whenever I think about the earthquake. I visited some of these exact towns just last fall. It's hard to imagine how different it must all look now. - Ana

Story about the experience in and around the Wolong Nature Reserve: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05... - Nathan Young

Some beautiful pictures of these weird sea creatures. Be sure to check out the photo gallery. - Nathan Young

Wow, cool. I thought these were plush toys at first. - Ana

WOW! Unbelievable! - Maryam Ardakani

"Politics in the 21st century relies heavily on spin, the Internet and heavy-rotation television advertisements, but you still win on the ground — and Obama’s ground game in Allen County trampled Clinton’s." - Nathan Young

I love it! Go Fort Wayne! "Obama supporters signed up 5,676 people to vote, according to Allen County Voter Registration board member Deb Morrone. Clinton supporters signed up 49." - Ana

"An elaborate phenotypic architecture can be produced by the interplay of a relatively small number of components. The difficulties evolution faced in generating your teeth—those lovely permutations on a theme—are minimized by the use of subtle algorithmic variations, by rules and formulas that can only be discerned by looking beyond the genome to the epigenetic processes that shape the actual tissues." - Nathan Young

One of my favorite bits: "An Obama Presidency may approach both government bureaucracy and obstacles to Obama’s policy prescriptions the same way the Obama campaign has come to dominate caucuses against the Hillary Clinton campaign: provide supporters (and citizens) in depth information on how to team up and then explain to them the steps they have to take to prevail." - Ana

I've liked all the movies scripted by Kaufman, so it'll be interesting to see how he does as a director. - Nathan Young

Wow, I can't wait for this movie. Eternal Sunshine is one of my favorite movies ever. That said, I read the line "spoilers ahead" in this review and stopped reading. I want to be as surprised as I was for every bit of Adaptation :) - Ana

Plus [geek alert!], "synecdoche" was always one of my favorite words growing up... - Ana

You would've been awesome in my seventh grade english class then. I have bad memories of needing to remember and identify a parade of figures of speech... - Nathan Young

For those of you still manning the phones this weekend...keep up the good work :-) - Nathan Young

"If turnout for the primary is 50%, as some analysts expect, these new converts would account for about 3% of the total vote -- and presumably a larger share of Obama's tally." - Nathan Young

Woohoo! Made 250 calls today :) - Ana

Ana++, Nathan++ - j1m

Turns out this morning was not the best time to try and get my visa... - Nathan Young