Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Headlines that make you say: Hmmmm.....

Not all headlines are blood and guts. A lot of them hint to larger issues that remain undiscussed. Some examples:
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Sweden to consult Canada in study measuring methane emitted by belching cows
Hmmm...half a million dollars to see if feeding cows differently will lower methane, a greenhouse gas...most of which comes out in belching, not farts...
Not Discussed: Will vegetarianism stop global warming? How about using goat milk? How will diet changes effect milk and meat production? And how much "global warming" comes from agriculture, not industry? And will cutting back make things different (i.e. letting pastures go fallow lead to increased belching by deer and moose worse than cows, not to mention dead rotting vegetation).
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Frontline Blogger Coves war with a soldier's eyes.
A nice profile on Michael Yon.
Not discussed: Why the newspaper of record doesn't hire soldiers to write dispatches, or bother to publish those written by Mr. Yon.
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Zim issues 10 million dollar bills, but one won't buy you a hamburger.

not discussed: Why the UN and the African Union are so busy using "diplomacy" without backing it with threats. On the other hand, next to central Africa, whose wars so far have killed 3 million people despite UN peacekeepers, Zim and even Kenya is in good shape.
Again: Where is all that UN money going?
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Armed police in Nigeria threatened StatoilHydro
"police" in Nigeria go to Norse run oil/gas company and demand "taxes"...$800,000.
not discussed: Corruption in Nigeria...more money has been stolen by those in that government than all the foreign aid sent to Africa.
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Israeli satellite launched by Indian Missile...
A lot of US satellites are sent up by commercial Chinese missiles (and a lot of the technology transfer enabling them to do so was okayed by the Clinton administration). Does this headlines suggest India is not in satellite lauching business? Where did they get their expertise (China? US? Israel? Stolen? Home made?) Is there an Israeli/India defense pact? What are the implications of a new man in town (India) mean to commercial communication/agriculture/gps satellite networks?

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