Iranian President Ahmadinejad visits Columbia University Amongst a Wave of Controversy

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the raving lunatic who believes that Israel "should be wiped off the map," and that the Holocaust was a "myth," visited Columbia University in New York City this morning to give a speech. Obviously, this resulted in a torrent of controversy all across the United States -- hundreds near Columbia marched in protest to the Iranian leader's visit. Columbia's president, Lee Bollinger, publicly denounced Ahmadinejad immediately prior to the Iranian leader's speech. I found this bizarre in that it was Bollinger who allowed Ahmadinejad's entrance onto his campus. Apparently, Bollinger's rant against the Iranian president resulted in a massive applause, likely augmenting tensions between both parties (U.S. and Iran, or Columbia vs. Ahmadinejad). When asked about homosexuals and women living in Iran, Ahmadinejad insolently replied "we don't have homesexuals."

And yet, there are some people in this world who absolutely admire the guy. Entire factions of people worship him. He's gained respect worldwide as a key Islamic leader. It's disturbing, but at the same time, it makes sense in this day and age that there would be pockets of support for a radical and pugnacious leader such as Ahmadinejad.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/09/24/us.iran/index.html

Yankees continue sizzling surge; Red Sox continue pitiful plummet

The Red Sox have been just atrocious as of late, losing 6 of their last 10 games. The offense continues to play in a passionless pursuit of imperfection (the anti-lexus?) Scoring runs has literally been a painstaking task for this team, and their main goal as of now is to keep the Yankees from overtaking them in their division, whereas a few weeks ago, this wasn't even a concern. In addition, our pitching as been surprisingly mediocre. Dice-K is having an "ok" season at best, Papelbon isn't playing with the intensity he usually has in those super-clutch situations, Wakefield has been sucking, and Eric Gagne continues to make Theo Epstein look like a complete jackass. Despite these recent pitching malfunctions, Beckett continues to shine and deserves all the praise in the world for his Cy Young-award-worthy year on the mound.

The Yankees, on the other hand, have been playing mercilessly well in the past few weeks -- when they're not pounding their opponents, they're toughing it out into extra innings. This team just won't give up, and you have to admire them for their valiant efforts considering their position in the division standings just a few weeks back. Their pitching has turned out to be solid, their offense has been torrid, and they've managed to overcome any previous injuries to their lineup.

The Red Sox have 6 games left in the regular season. They will be in the playoffs, as it is a statistical impossibility for them to be anything less than the AL wild card leader. But that would be a supreme disappointment considering their otherwise phenomenal season.

The Yankees have 7 games left in the regular season. Though they have not clinched even the wild card yet, it's almost inevitable that they will. They are 5.5 games ahead of the Detroit Tigers... so basically, the Yankees would have to have some kind of a trainwreck, while the tigers would have to simultaneously have a miracle finish. Not gonna happen, folks.

Funny advertisement...

Apologies for the blurriness... you can click on the image to see it clearer. Anyway, isn't this kind of a weird advertisement? I was reading an article on CNN.com, and I saw this at the top of my screen and was just like "uhh... what?" These random advertisements show up all the time on the internet, but this one has to be one of the weirdest (and funniest) I've seen in awhile.

"Scandalous" Patriots look to go 2-0 tonight against San Diego

My New England Patriots, aptly re-named "The Cheaters" by some discouraged football fans, will be taking on the San Diego Chargers in about 5 minutes from now. If you haven't heard, someone in the Patriots organization was caught spying on the Jets a couple weeks ago. The league slammed The Pats organization as well as NE Coach Bill Belichick with hefty fines, and apparently, the league has also taken away a future 1st-round pick for the Pats. I was disappointed to hear about the Pats recent troubles, since they have always come across as a completely professional organization. I feel that the penalties were not overly severe, but at the same time, I really hope that the Patriots learn from this and proceed to tear up the season without any more distractions.
I will be willing to completely forgive them if they can come up with a convincing win tonight against the Chargers.

O.J. Simpson under arrest in bizarre robbery probe

You'd think after barely escaping a double homicide conviction, OJ Simpson would've gained a little more respect for the American judicial system. Well, guess who's headed back to the courtroom?? OJ was arrested today with, get this... 6 counts of burglary, robbery, assault, and conspiracy. Apparently, he broke into some guy's room with his posse (who happened to be carrying armed weapons), in an attempt to locate some old memorabilia which he would then, presumably, sell on Ebay for cash. This story is pretty much too weird to be true. Simpson, a former NFL star and occasional actor, has also been in the news lately for his uber-controversial book entitled, "If I Did It." The book takes on a "hypothetical" depiction of the Nicole Simpson/Ronald Goldman murders from OJ's perspective. Yeah, right. That's like Barry Bonds writing a book titled "If I Juiced Up." We know OJ did it, the courts know OJ did it, and obviously, OJ knows he did it. It pisses me off when these washed-up celebs from the past try to make a few bucks off of a book. But this really takes it too far. If I were OJ, I'd be thanking some higher authority every day for not convicting me back in '94, and I would stay away from the media like it was the plague. I mean, is he really that stupid?

OJ under arrest

$5 Meatballs and some fuckin' expensive soda

I thought this was a pretty interesting article.. we all know that our $ is covering a bunch of government rubbish, but wow.. $5 meatballs? Guess it's more important to feed our corrupt govt.'s members some gourmet meat spheres than fix up our inner cities, improve our country's globally-lagging education, reform our health care system, or revamp our environmental position in the world.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Hungry attendees at Justice Department conferences have been enjoying millions of dollars in meatballs and other goodies courtesy of U.S. taxpayers, according to an inspector general's report released Friday.

The Justice Department paid more than $13,000 for cookies at conferences, says a report released Friday.

The report cited $5 meatballs and cans of soft drinks each costing $4.55 among reasons 10 conferences during 2005 and 2006 cost nearly $7 million.

One four-day conference of 1,500 people in Los Angeles cost the Justice Department $394,000 in August 2005.

"Overall this conference's daily food expense averaged $64 per registrant, which exceeded the approved federal per diem rate of $51 for meals," the report said.

The 128-page report does not suggest laws were broken, although it questions the Justice Department's judgment when it comes to the cost of its events.

In addition to the platters of Swedish meatballs and soda pop, the Justice Department paid more than $13,000 for cookies, according to the inspector general's office.

A Senate committee requested the report on Justice Department conferences, which, in fiscal year 2006, cost taxpayers nearly $46 million, including travel, programming, food and associated costs. Year to year costs show such meetings have totaled from $33.8 million in 2001 to a high of $58 million in 2004.

Don't Miss

• Report on conferences (PDF)
• Gonzales' term at Justice coming to a close

The report reviewed the nine most expensive U.S. conferences between October 2004 and September 2006 and the most expensive international conference during that same time.

The 2005 Los Angeles event -- which was called the "Weed and Seed" national conference -- attracted particular attention from the audit's authors.

It "included a $53 per person two-entree and dessert lunch for 120 attendees, a one-hour $64,000 'Stars and Stripes' themed networking reception and a post-conference meeting for 30 DOJ employees who were provided a sandwich buffet lunch at a cost of $44 per person and an 'At the Movies' theme snack (candy, popcorn, and soft drinks) for an additional $25 per person," the report said.

The report, from the Office of Inspector General, Glenn Fine, expressed concern that most of the conference attendees failed to deduct their allowable per diem meal costs because they received free meals.

"When component managers do not systematically review vouchers to ensure that such deductions are made, the government effectively pays for the meals twice," the report said.

Another meeting detailed in the report was a 2006 COPS National Conference in Washington. Some 1,100 attendees were offered daily breakfast buffets, two lunches, a networking reception, and two "themed breaks."

"The networking reception itself cost more than $60,000 and included a chef-carved roast beef and turkey, a penne pasta station, and platters of Swedish meatballs at a cost of nearly $5 per meatball," the report said. "The average food and beverage cost per day for the COPS conference was $83 per attendee -- $19 dollars over the $64 federal per diem meal rate for Washington."

Among the report's recommendations: Planners should compare costs in multiple sites in multiple cities unless there is a special reason a meeting needs to be held in a particular city.

The report also called for developing conference food and beverage policies "to ensure adequate justification of significant food and beverage costs."

The Justice Department said it agreed with the recommendations.

9/11 Mystery Plane

Watch this video.

Honda redesigns Accord for 2008

Honda has redesigned their flagship sedan and coupe for 2008. Looking much different (and larger) than the previous Accord, I am having a difficult time deciding whether or not I like what Honda has done with what is essentially their 'pride and joy.' I find the Sedan to be a rather ugly mix between a Toyota Camry and a Dodge Charger. My mom has an '03 Accord sedan, and it took me awhile to get used to the "new looks," as the 03 was the first year for the 7th generation, so we'll see. Anyway, the V6 model has a 268 HP V6 which gets up to 29 mpg... not bad, but I'll have my eye open for the new Accord Hybrid, which is bound to come out shortly after the release of the new '08's, and will compete well with the Camry Hybrid.




The Coupe, from some angles, is somewhat sexy.
Not as sexy as the 99 Toyota Solara (my babes), but sexy nonetheless. It's kind of like a mix between a Saturn and a Hyundai Tiburon... not exactly a "sexy" image by some people, but it's definitely sportier looking than the previous Accord coupe.

Red Sox beat Orioles 3-2; Beckett wins # 18

Went to the Orioles game today with my buddy Colin. I got 2 tickets to the game from a friend of mine who couldn't go. It was pretty much a guarantee from the start that the Red Sox would pull away with the W. A) Beckett pitched. This guy's money in the bank - he is now 18 and 6 on the season with an incredibly low 3.27 ERA. B.) We're the Red Sox. Self-explanatory. C.) They're the Orioles. Also self-explanatory.

So Colin and I drove down to the game, and got there a bit early to get some free food, which happened to be a part of the ticket plan. The food was pretty good, though we were still left with about an hour of time after we finished eating. We walked around for a bit and found our seats, which, though only a few rows away from the last possible row, gave us a fantastic vantage point for the game. After about a half an hour after sitting down, some familiar college faces showed up to the game, which was cool.

Beckett pitched a pretty phenomenal game, but oddly gave up 2 home runs, the only 2 runs the O's scored in the game. He had only given up somewhere in the vicinity of 15 homers all season, so to give up 2 in one game was kind of bizarre. But whatever, we won!

Yet another tough day on Wall St.

If you've been following business news for the past, oh... couple months, you'd know that the stock market has been dipping faster than Lindsay Lohan's future acting career (ok, sorry, no more cheap-shot analogies... I promise). Sparked largely by America's current and quite possibly worst-ever housing credit crunch, the market's sheer volatility has been illustrated over the past couple months in a very unsettling display of falling stock prices. In the past couple weeks, however, the market has returned (slightly), yet it is still as volatile as ever, and today's rough day on Wall St. manifests this trend:

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Stocks tumbled Wednesday, as investors eyed reports showing slumping pending home sales, anemic private sector employment and the latest woes for the financial sector.

Also dragging on stocks: the afternoon release of the Federal Reserve's 'beige book' report on the economy, which added to confusion about whether the central bank will cut short-term interest rates anytime soon.

Video More video Money Magazine's Walter Updegrave gives advice on the steps you should take right now, to ensure a secure retirement down the road. Play video Mattel announced a recall of 844,000 toys that contain excessive levels of lead paint. CNN's Allan Chernoff reports. Play video

The Dow Jones industrial average (down 143.39 to 13,305.47, Charts) lost 143 points, or almost 1.1 percent. The broader S&P 500 (down 17.13 to 1,472.29, Charts) index fell 1.2 percent. The Nasdaq Composite (down 24.29 to 2,605.95, Charts) lost 0.9 percent.

Treasury bond prices jumped, lowering the corresponding yields, as investors sought the relatively-safer-haven investments. Oil prices rose.

Thursday brings the weekly jobless claims report, the revised reading on second-quarter productivity, the weekly oil inventories report and the Institute for Supply Management's report on the services sector of the economy.

The housing gloom grows

Stocks rose Tuesday as investors welcomed upbeat economic news and continued to bet that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates if necessary when it meets later this month. Such bets fueled a big rally at the end of last week.

But the advance petered out Wednesday following a weak July pending home sales report, a surprisingly tepid employment reading and signs of more problems for the credit and mortgage markets.

The afternoon release of the Fed's periodic 'beige book' report on the economy added to the day's weakness, said Tom Schrader, managing director of U.S. equity trading at Legg Mason.

Released at around 2:00 p.m. ET, the 'beige book' showed that the economy continued to grow throughout August, although tighter credit requirements hurt the housing market.

Wall Streeters didn't like the report, Schrader said, because they are interpreting it as implying that the central bank may not see a need for an interest rate cut at the Sept. 18 policy meeting, since growth seems to be holding up.

"I think we're probably in for another few weeks of choppy market action," Schrader said. "We've got to get through the September Fed meeting first before stocks can really make an attempt to move higher."

The pending home sales index, a measure of contracts to buy existing homes, fell to its lowest level since the month that included the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, a trade group reported Wednesday.

Also weighing on stocks: the ADP employment report, which showed surprisingly weak growth in private sector jobs in August. The report could be a negative indication for the broader August employment report, expected Friday morning.

I think I have the best on-campus job...

Ok, so I'm currently sitting at my desk in a lobby at one of the main buildings on my campus. My job title is "Switchboard Operator," but it mine as well be "Person who gets paid to sit at a desk, go on the internet, and do homework." Seriously, the only actual duty I have to fulfill is answering phone calls, which occurs at the nice, leisurely pace of about one per 15-minute time frame. Not to mention, the phone calls are ridiculously easy to handle -- the typical caller might ask to be put in touch with Financial Aid, which for me, involves about a 5 second gander at a sheet of telephone extension listings. A simple press of the telephone buttons matching up to the extension finishes the deal. I mean, this job is too cushy to be true. Plus, since I offered to work today (Labor Day), they are paying me for 2.5 hours worked instead of the 2 hours that I'm scheduled to work. This totally kicks the crap out of my last campus job, which entailed me being the campus post office's bitch for several hours a week... though I did get to drive a golf cart around campus as part of that job, so it wasn't all bad! Anyway, I've been sitting here now for about an hour and 40 minutes, and I've gotten 3 calls. That's less than one per half-hour worked! The rest of the time has been heartily fulfilled with reading, listening to streaming online radio, reading baseball scores, and writing on my blog. Not too shabby, eh?

Artificial Life: A Possibility?

Recently read this article on CNN.com, and found it to be quite interesting. This is why we need a president who is more concerned with science, the environment, and the American health care system -- more funding is needed in these sectors so we can advance further in the areas where we are currently lagging behind!

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Around the world, a handful of scientists are trying to create life from scratch and they're getting closer.

Experts expect an announcement within three to 10 years from someone in the now little-known field of "wet artificial life."

"It's going to be a big deal and everybody's going to know about it," said Mark Bedau, chief operating officer of ProtoLife of Venice, Italy, one of those in the race. "We're talking about a technology that could change our world in pretty fundamental ways -- in fact, in ways that are impossible to predict."

That first cell of synthetic life -- made from the basic chemicals in DNA -- may not seem like much to non-scientists. For one thing, you'll have to look in a microscope to see it.

"Creating protocells has the potential to shed new life on our place in the universe," Bedau said. "This will remove one of the few fundamental mysteries about creation in the universe and our role."

And several scientists believe man-made life forms will one day offer the potential for solving a variety of problems, from fighting diseases to locking up greenhouse gases to eating toxic waste.

Bedau figures there are three major hurdles to creating synthetic life:

- A container, or membrane, for the cell to keep bad molecules out, allow good ones, and the ability to multiply.

- A genetic system that controls the functions of the cell, enabling it to reproduce and mutate in response to environmental changes.

- A metabolism that extracts raw materials from the environment as food and then changes it into energy.

One of the leaders in the field, Jack Szostak at Harvard Medical School, predicts that within the next six months, scientists will report evidence that the first step -- creating a cell membrane -- is "not a big problem." Scientists are using fatty acids in that effort.

Szostak is also optimistic about the next step -- getting nucleotides, the building blocks of DNA, to form a working genetic system.

His idea is that once the container is made, if scientists add nucleotides in the right proportions, then Darwinian evolution could simply take over.

"We aren't smart enough to design things, we just let evolution do the hard work and then we figure out what happened," Szostak said.

In Gainesville, Florida, Steve Benner, a biological chemist at the Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution is attacking that problem by going outside of natural genetics. Normal DNA consists of four bases -- adenine, cytosine, guanine and thymine (known as A,C,G,T) -- molecules that spell out the genetic code in pairs. Benner is trying to add eight new bases to the genetic alphabet.

Bedau said there are legitimate worries about creating life that could "run amok," but there are ways of addressing it, and it will be a very long time before that is a problem.

"When these things are created, they're going to be so weak, it'll be a huge achievement if you can keep them alive for an hour in the lab," he said. "But them getting out and taking over, never in our imagination could this happen."

I once read a book called 'The Island of Dr. Moreau', in which a scientist, Dr. Moreau, performs vivisections (live dissections) on various wild animals, and essentially transforms them into hominid creatures. For some reason, this article evoked memories from reading that book... either that or Jurassic Park.

Obviously, this will present a morality issue for certain pockets of individuals, but I believe that it's seriously time to lay our morals to rest to gain way for what's really important: the future of our healthcare, scientific research, and environment. It's possible that, with the correct allocations of funding, we could be making a stronger push into the still-mysterious realm that is stem cells, and subsequently, discover cures for diseases. It's certainly time to begin focusing on these issues, and I will make sure my vote goes to a president who holds these issues high on his or her platform.