Scientists are watching a rerun this week, and it’s not because of the writer’s strike. They’ve discovered the beginnings of galaxies 11 billion years ago. They’re looking back in time. Time travel, with our eyes. Cambridge University scientist Martin Haehnelt said his team used the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope and the Gemini Telescope Read more →
The Centers for Disease Control reported this week what many parents, and most school authorities figured out some time ago: bullying isn’t just for the schoolyard anymore. Much of it has moved to the Internet. Youth can use electronic media to embarrass, harass or threaten their peers. Increasing numbers of adolescents are becoming victims of Read more →
They’re aghast in Massachusetts today, because a report shows the state, which was the incubator of the computer industry, is now dead last in job creation. The report from the Center for Labor Market Studies and MassINC, identifies Minnesota as a “competitor state.” It says the Massachusetts economy has pretty well tanked; Minnesota is portrayed Read more →
There is a hint today in Minnesota — just a hint — that the blogosphere can police itself when it comes to ethics, a step toward meeting the medium’s apparent goal as “the new journalism.” True North is a conservative Minnesota blog with several contributors. One of them, who goes by the name of Seventh Read more →
The cable TV business channels have always seemed to have a love-hate relationship with ethics. A few years ago, CNBC regularly put “analysts” on the air hawking a particular stock or two, without disclosing that the analyst or the analyst’s firm had a significant interest in the company being hawked. Now upstart Fox Business Channel Read more →
Mark Cohen, the editor at Minnesota Lawyer, penned a fine column a week or so ago on diversity in Minnesota’s court system. After acknowledging the obvious requirements to be a Supreme Court justice, Cohen wrote… Diversity is probably the biggest other factor that is on the mind of the legal community. With Hanson’s departure, the Read more →
Back in 1999, when we were putting together The Surveillance Society project at MPR, privacy concerns were still in a quaint stage. We figured the threats to our privacy were surreptitious individuals mining the data after hacking into some giant mainframe somewhere and stealing nuggets about ourselves. It’s still true. It’s a threat. We didn’t Read more →
Et tu Johan? Major League Baseball’s Web site reports tonight that the Minnesota Twins and New York Yankees are talking trade over Johan Santana. It’s pretty clear the Twins can’t afford won’t pay Santana’s asking price when his contract is up after the ’08 season. The new stadium was supposed to allow the Twins to Read more →
The West Central Tribune of Willmar reports that a Prinsburg man has been sentenced today to six months in jail (served off and on) because he provided alcohol to a 16 year old girl at a party at his home. She was killed while driving home. What caught my attention is this additional note: …and Read more →
Since 2002, Cirrus Design’s SR22 has been involved in 17 accidents resulting in 35 deaths, according to the National Transportation Safety Board. Over the weekend, four were killed in Faribault when the plane flipped while trying to land in gusty conditions. When a Cirrus plane crashes, it usually ignites a debate — at least in Read more →
In the world of marketing, you can make something true, just by saying it is. Newsies working on a slow day usually blare, “the day after Thanksgiving is the busiest shopping day of the year,” except it isn’t. The Saturday before Christmas is. And getting up at 2:30 on Friday to go shopping isn’t normal. Read more →
Late last week, the Wall Street Journal had an idea: clean out the office. (reg. required). The blog, Minnesota Lawyer, has called attention to the leaking of information as a reason not to rush to pick an internal candidate. “The other thing that concerns me deeply is that a person or persons in the office Read more →
This has been a heck of a week for science. Today, researchers at Yale discovered that humans may be born with an innate ability to follow social norms. That follows yesterday’s big news out of Japan and Wisconsin than President Bush might’ve been right. And an end to animal testing — at least for the Read more →
When does this… Mean this… And when does it mean this? When is a noose a symbol of execution, and when is it a symbol of lynching of more than 5,000 African Americans in this country — including Duluth? That is what authorities in Minneapolis are trying to sort out. Gabriel Keith, 23, said, according Read more →
Duluth-based Cirrus Aircraft, probably the biggest success story in general aviation in decades, has been growing in leaps and bounds. But the company has decided not to get into a bidding war against rival Cessna for the assets of bankrupty Columbia Aircraft. “We have done our due diligence, and we think there are a lot Read more →
Bob Collins