It added that the Domain Name System should continue to be administered by a nongovernmental body -- not turned over to an intergovernmental organization, as has been suggested by some nations and international agencies.

Key Internet System Faces Technical and Political Challenges

Brian Greene explains the quintessential example of a "paradigm shift." So don't belittle Einstein by throwing the term around willy-nilly about every Great New Business Idea With A Fabulous Value Proposition.

Physicists call 1905 Einstein's "miracle year" not because of the discovery of relativity alone, but because in that year Einstein achieved the unimaginable, writing four papers that each resulted in deep and formative changes to our understanding of the universe.

With these three papers, our view of space, time and matter was permanently changed.

So the next time you use your cellphone or laptop, pause for a moment. Recognize that even these commonplace devices rely on our greatest, yet most puzzling, scientific achievement and - as things now stand - tap into humankind's most supreme assault on the idea that reality is what we think it is.

One Hundred Years of Uncertainty

In chronicling how Al Qaeda's brand of Islamic fundamentalism came to thrive in the chaos left by the Soviet pullout from Afghanistan, Mr. Coll, 46, an associate editor and former managing editor at The Washington Post, pieced together the period of ignorance and inaction that led to the worst terrorist attack on American soil.

The 2005 Pulitzers

The exhibitions are the creation of Dr. Gunther von Hagens, a German who developed "plastination," a means of removing fluids and fats from bodies and replacing them with polymers. Some body parts on display -- a coal miner's lung, a metastasized liver -- look essentially like plastic models. But what drew more than 900,000 visitors to the California Science Center were dissected corpses posed in lifelike attitudes: skateboarding, ski-jumping, dancing, roping.

Some Thoughts on Seeing the Polymerized Remains of Human Cadavers

Cutting just a few calories overall, but feeding intermittently, may be a more feasible eating pattern for some people to maintain than making small reductions each and every day.

All you can't eat | Economist

"This system is smarter than we are."

Drug Makers Race to Cash In on Nation's Fight Against Fat

Elonka wrote:
] Health posts, I've been following. I saw your other obesity
] posts, and agree with them. Yes, obesity is a crisis in our
] country. The numbers I've been seeing in the health magazines
] are actually higher than what you found -- More like 75% of
] our country is overweight or out of shape, not 60%.

I would readily believe a statement like "75% of Americans don't get enough exercise." I got the 60% obesity figure from supersizeme.com, so that figure may already be two years old. And if you've looked at the Census data, you know what a dramatic difference two years can make on the nation's waistline.

] So in any case, yes, I agree with you. But no, I don't think
] the new reports are going to change behaviors.
]
] As for where to place the blame, I agree that everyone has a
] personal responsibility to take care of their own lifestyle,
] but I also think that fast food chains and heavy marketing
] share a lot of the blame.

Personal responsibility is a key component, but fighting obesity is not a purely selfish consideration. There is also an altruistic component that draws on an individual's sense of civic duty. Further, we share a social responsibility to protect each other, not just on a person-to-person basis, but on a collective level, as well.

When it comes to obesity in the US today, I don't expect many people to readily accept my arguments about civic duty and social responsibility. Obesity is already a true crisis in the United States, but its detrimental effect on GDP is not yet widely acknowledged by the general public. Even for smoking, no one really talked about this. But with smoking, the US was not distinguished in this regard; it was a world-wide problem. Today, obesity is a singularly American problem in a way that smoking never was. Because of this great disparity among nations, we may be at a significant competitive disadvantage, but it is one whose effects may be difficult to measure because we're dealing with a long term (life long) investment.

This is why I drew comparisons to AIDS in Africa. Although the communicability of AIDS gives it epidemic properties that obesity does not exhibit, I observe that within two decades the incidence of drug-resistant adult-onset diabetes in a first-world country (the US) may exceed the incidence of AIDS in even the worst-afflicted third-world countries. I expect some people may be offended by that comparison; these people miss my point. I am not saying they are equal. I am simply trying to demonstrate that pervasive chronic illness has a major depressive effect on the national economy and on the national well-being in societal terms. I observe as well that because first-world countries have so much more at stake -- meaning so much more to lose -- they have even more reason to be vigilant against such dangers. And yet we are not.

If you think healthcare in the US today is out of control, just you wait. When 50% of Americans suffer from diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol, and 25% have had a heart bypass operation by age 40, then maybe I'll be able to get your attention.

RE: 'Diabesity,' a Crisis in an Expanding Country

terratogen wrote:
] The 25 years get cut right from the social security budget.
] Let smokers smoke, drunks drink, and drug addicts do their drugs.

It's funny because it's true. Right on.

Although I will point out that the government and the public also invests a lot of time, money, and resources in people when they're young, and society's return on that investment is sacrificed when we let those people die early.

It's problematic to attempt generalizations. I think both ideas make sense, but in different circumstances. It's not just single mothers on welfare who are obese. When 25% of the US population is obese, and 60% of the population is overweight, we're talking about a significant number of highly productive individuals who are in large part collectively responsible for our national well-being.

Your taxes are higher, and America is less competitive globally, because otherwise smart and productive people die early. Whether they die because of smoking, heart disease, obesity, or random gang violence is immaterial for the purposes of this argument, although I am focusing here specifically on obesity because it is a huge and growing problem, well on the way to becoming the leading cause of preventable death in the US.

] Not everyone wants to live forever. That's the religious ...

Actually the fundamentalists often look forward to mortal death with great anticipation. Did you see the Rapture story on the Daily Show recently? Have you seen those "The Rising" books at the book store and at the top of the best seller lists?

They can't wait! They're so excited they daydream about it, and those of them with deficient imaginations resort to reading books in order to conjure up the desired imagery.

] Try to tell them that they live wrong.

It's this line of investigation that is wrongheaded ... it's not a moral question. Nothing I wrote was intended to give that impression. I was making an economic argument. It's a question of our very viability as a nation.

RE: 'Diabesity,' a Crisis in an Expanding Country

I have recently begun to wonder whether I am completely out of touch with the mainstream, and if so, what that implies.

When Sentiment and Fear Trump Reason and Reality

Are our schools, our parents, our national leaders blind to what is happening -- a health crisis that looms even larger than our former and current smoking habits?

I can't believe no one responded to my previous posts about obesity. I understand. Between the smoke breaks, the french fries, and the Big Gulp, your time is precious. (Little do you know how right you are; read on.)

To the extent you think about America's global competitiveness in the decades ahead, you fixate on our ability to fabricate the best techno-gizmos, music, and movies.

You are missing the point. The US may well lose out to China and India simply because of pervasive ill health among the population.

You may look at statistics on the prevalence of AIDS in Africa and say to yourself, "what are they thinking?" Well, the rest of the world is saying the same thing about you and your fat friends.

Unless we change our eating and exercise habits and pay greater attention to this disease, more than one-third of whites, two-fifths of blacks and half of Hispanic people in this country will develop diabetes.

Hello?!? Do I have to go back and give the Census data a gold star in order for you to look at it?

You know that team of four illegal Mexican robot hackers? Two of them are going to get diabetes, and it is going to steal a combined 50 years from their lives.

My fellow MemeStreamers: look to your left. Look to your right. One of you will be a diabetic soon. (But not for long.)

'Diabesity,' a Crisis in an Expanding Country