Friday, May 18, 2012

Weekly Reading List [5.18.12]

1. Belgian Congo Pale Ale: Yes the horror! - I'm a little on the fence about this one. A Virgininan brewing company put out a line of brews all named after acts of genocide or other atrocities. As the author summarizes, "At the very least, they've decided to attract attention in one of the most cheap, cynical and distasteful ways I can imagine. At worst -- and, under the circumstances, this is plausible -- they are indeed celebrating genocide."

2. Dear Einstein, Do Scientists Pray? - Great little article from a sixth grade Sunday School class to Einstein and his reply back to them. I was going to share a couple of quotes, and then realized I was about to write nearly his entire letter. So just read it.

3. What would a Greek exit from the eurozone look like? - I've heard rumblings about this for a couple of weeks now. My impression is that the austerity measures imposed by Germany and the rest of the EU are too great for the Greek's to bear, and ultimately may not solve their problem. So what would it look like if Greece left the Eurozone, and what does that mean for other struggling countries, and ultimately for the EU.

4. Simulated Mars mission "lands" back on earth & 6 Guys in a Capsule: 520 Days on a Simulated Mars Mission - All I can say is wow. A year and a half pretending to be on Mars, or on the way to Mars. The first article is short, sweet, to the point. If you really want to nerd out on what the crew did, what was learned etc. read the second article.

5. Explaining Why Minority Births Now Outnumber White Births & Whites Account for Under Half of Births in U.S. - This is not the first time people have talked about the dropping birthrates in U.S. and in Europe. But as the NYTimes article points out "After years of speculation, estimates and projections, the Census Bureau has made it official; White births are no longer a majority in the United States." I have to say, I think this means great things for us. More interracial marriages, an opportunity for us to expand the meaning of the American melting pot. Senior demographer at the Brookings Institution described the shift as a "transformation from a mostly white baby boomer culture to a more globalized multiethnic country."

*Congrats to Facebook for finally IPO'ing*


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