Tuesday, February 26, 2013

So What Else Is New, Huh?

The Catholic Church in Germany got in more hot water by denying a morning after pill to a probable rape victim.

Last week, a women who suspected she was drugged and probably raped, sought treatment at two Catholic hospitals and was turned away. She finally was treated at a Protestant hospital.

So now the Catholic Church with qualifications will allow a morning after pill that prevents sperm from fertilizing an egg. The use of RU-486 is still banned.

Melissa Eddy, reports, "… the bishops said they had not been aware that various forms of emergency contraception were available…."

Now, I wouldn't expect the bishops to be up-to-date on contraception, but I would expect the Catholic hospital staffs to be aware of these protocols.

Sources:

Brown, Stephen. "German Catholics allow morning-after pill in rape cases." Reuters. February 21, 2013. Web.

Eddy, Melissa. "Germany: Morning-After Pill Allowed For the Victims of Rape, Bishops Say." New York Times; World Briefing; Europe. February 22, 2013. Print.


Monday, February 25, 2013

Stealing Time

Back in August of 2004, Christopher Clarey watched what turned out to be a flawed shot-put event at the summer Olympics in Athens. Turns out the gold and bronze winners cheated. Mr. Clarey is very bitter about this. Not only was it hot and uncomfortable, but it took eight years to right the wrong.

"Retroactive has become the new active in this polluted, convoluted sports era, in which you can rarely be sure whether the race or game or shot-put contest you just spent a few precious moments of your life observing was what it purported to be.
At this stage, it seems that all sporting events should come with a disclaimer: consumer discretion advised."

Some say there are no real victims. But as Mr. Clarey eludes to, the time in our life is being stolen. Sports are entertainment, a diversion, but that is its inherent value. It takes us away from Macbeth's 'life is but a poor player' soliloquy, for a little while anyway.

More recent frauds in big-time sports are cycling, baseball and now an international cartel that fixes professional soccer games.

Adam Nelson competed in the 2004 shot-put event and maybe he will be awarded the gold medal in a belated ceremony. Adam responds to those who say it is a victimless crime and so do I.

"Hell no, it's not."

Sources:

Associated Press. "FIFA extends Chinese match-fixing ban." February 25, 2013. Web.

Clarey, Christopher. "When Victory Leaves a Sport at a Loss." New York Times; On Track And Field. February 18, 2013. D8. Print.

Jolly, David and Pianigiani, Gaia. "Italian Police Arrest Man in Soccer Match-Fixing Inquiry." New York Times; Soccer. February 21, 2013. Web.

Sunday, February 24, 2013

Willow Glass Update

Apple has filed a patent for an iWatch, at least that's what iNick and iour calling it.



Sources:

Bilton, Nick. "On The Web; Technology."New York Times. February 22, 2013. B2. Print.

Bilton, Nick. "Apple Filed Patent for Flexible Wrist Display". nytimes.com/bits. February 21, 2013. Web. [Much more detail here.]

Blogger's Note: See my post of February 17, 2013, "Willow Glass."

Monday, February 18, 2013

Willow Glass


We don't know what we don't know but we do know that many products set on R&D shelves in various places around the world because a manufacturing process has not been created to produce for a world-wide market. This happened at Corning with the development of Willow Glass. That is, until one  member of the R&D team, Terry Ott, worked out a manufacturing process. Willow Glass could not practically be produced as sheet glass, it would be more useful to the market if produced on spools. Imagine, spools of glass! Well, you really don't have to imagine because here it is, thanks to the above mentioned Terry Ott.


And guess who challenged Corning's CEO Wendell Weeks to develop Willow Glass … Steve Jobs. 

"So what?" you say. 

Willow Glass may be be the next component for the next new thing. Wearable computers. 

As Shakespeare tells us, "What's past is prologue …"


Sources:

Bilton, Nick. "Where Apple and Dick Tracy May Converge." New York Times: February 11, 2013: B1. Print

Braga, Matthew. "What's So Special About iPhone 4's Aluminosilicate Glass." Jamie&Adam Tested, Tech, Smartphones, Featured. June 14, 2010 at 2:00 P.M. Web.

Fitzgerald, Michael. "Glass That Bends the Rules of Manufacturing." MIT Technology Review, Business Report, The Next Wave of Manufacturing. January 23, 2013. Web.

Gardner, Bryan. "Glass Works: How Corning Created the Ultrathin, Ultrastrong Material of the Future." Wired, Science. September 24, 2012. 6:30 A.M. Web.




Sunday, February 3, 2013

Against The Wind

Yesterday, I was watching John Allison on CSPAN discussing his book The Financial Crisis and the Free Market Cure. I am leery of people like Mr. Allison who speak of simple and too oblivious answers to complicated, multi-faceted, global causation factors resulting in the most recent financial crises. I also doubt that an entirely free market economy is in my, yours or your children and grand children's interest. We have seen this movie before. For example did you know that Henry Ford had to go to court to fight the ALAM (Association of Licensed Automotive Manufacturers). Never heard of ole George Selden huh? Mr. Selden was a free market kinda guy as long as he had no competition in the 'free market'.

 I am a firm believer that greed drives success in business. I am also a firm believer that that greed is not a bad thing … it just needs adult supervision. Some greedy businessmen like John Allison, supervises himself. Would that all capitalists followed Mr. Allison's creed.

During his talk, Mr. Allison discusses the win-win in business success. Any relationship that is win-lose, in Mr. Allison's opinion, inevitably evolves into a lose-lose outcome. I got to thinking on this and wondered why we can't reach win-wins in the big social issues facing us today. A few of these issues are immigration, reducing gun violence, birth control, reducing the income gap, fear of a rising minority political power etc. That's what we need to work on … win-win solutions. Because I firmly believe with Mr. Allison that win-lose is eventually a lose-lose. For example do you really think the poor and dependent among us will disappear if you do away with social programs? Would you allow your children and grandchildren to die for lack of medical care, to be illiterate because they happen to live in a poor school district? Do you really think that moving people off welfare because they test positive for drugs will reduce their dependence and cure their addiction? I don't think Mr. Allison does and he heads up the Libertarian CATO Institute. He is no 'bleeding-heart'. Far from it. Read his biography. This is an Ayn Rand guy.

So Mr. Allison and I will go on tilting at windmills in the fervent and decreasing hope that empathy will eventually prevail among the citizens of this nation and the win-win model becomes the moral law of the land. 

Yeah … right