Mr Krugman is a fierce critic of President George W Bush

American academic Paul Krugman has won this year’s Nobel economics prize, it has been announced.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said the award recognised Mr Krugman’s analysis of trade patterns and where economic activity takes place.

It said Mr Krugman, 55, a Princeton University professor, had formulated new theories that answered questions about free trade and globalisation.

Mr Krugman said he hoped the $1.4m win would not change his life greatly.

"The prize will enhance visibility but I hope it does not lead me into going to a lot of purely celebratory events, aside from the Nobel presentation itself," he said.

We are now witnessing a crisis that is as severe as the crisis that hit Asia in the 90s. This crisis bears some resemblance to the Great Depression Paul Krugman Nobel prize winner

Mr Krugman teaches economics and international affairs at Princeton University in New Jersey, and also writes a regular column for the New York Times.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7667190.stm

The proposal, which does not require the approval of Congress, would reduce the mandatory, independent reviews that government scientists have been performing for 35 years. Developers welcomed the plan, while environmentalists derided it.

Well, here’s the latest and greatest:  The Sony Classics film, "Who Killed the Electric Car? ":
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_Killed_the_Electric_Car%3F

The film covers the GM car called the EV1, of which about 1000 were sold and driven from 1997 to 2003… They were owned by many VIP’s including Mel Gibson, Tom Hanks and Alexandra Paul of Baywatch fame.

In 2003, they were repossessed by GM and crushed .   …The vehicles had plenty of power and would drive 110 - 160 miles on a charge… for the equivalent of of $0.60 / gallon (!!!)

http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=who%20killed%20the%20electric%20car&ie=UTF-8&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&sa=N&tab=wv#

An ancient custom in Egypt (and in several other countries), is the surgical removal of the clitoris in girls during the ages from 10 - 13 years old. Supposedly, the reason is to keep them “cleaner” and prevent “homosexuality”.

Of course, the practice is revolting, but it is so ingrained that it won’t be stopped anytime soon without a vary major effort. In fact, according to one survey by the N.Y. Times, in 2005 96% of all married, divorced, or widowed women in Egypt had undergone the procedure.

When Ms. Ibrahim (now 24), was 11 years old, she said, her parents told her she was going for a blood test. The doctor, a relative, put her to sleep and when she woke, she said she could not walk.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/20/world/middleeast/20girls.html?ex=1347940800

Technorati Profile

Times to Stop Charging for Parts of Its Web Site

By RICHARD PÉREZ-PEÑA

The New York Times will stop charging for access to parts of its Web site, effective at midnight Tuesday night.

The move comes two years to the day after The Times began the subscription program, TimesSelect, which has charged $49.95 a year, or $7.95 a month, for online access to the work of its columnists and to the newspaper’s archives. TimesSelect has been free to print subscribers to The Times and to some students and educators.

In addition to opening the entire site to all readers, The Times will also make available its archives from 1987 to the present without charge, as well as those from 1851 to 1922, which are in the public domain. There will be charges for some material from the period 1923 to 1986, and some will be free.

Permalink:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/18/business/media/18times.html?ex=

The U.S. farm subsidies are truly amazing…  If you’d like to know why we’re a nation of obese people, look no further than this article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/22/magazine/22wwlnlede.t.html?ex=1335067200&

The Earth from space: Travelers describe our planet - CNN.com
“If people can see Earth from up here, see it without those borders, see it without any differences in race or religion, they would have a completely different perspective. Because when you see it from that angle, you cannot think of your home or your country. All you can see is one Earth….” — Anousheh Ansari, Iranian-American space tourist who flew last year to the international space station.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/space/04/20/earth.day.view.ap/index.html 

M.I.T.’s “Open Courseware” is a program by which they have their full curricula online and accessible to anyone for 1500 of their 1800 classes (aiming for all 1800 by the end of 2007).  OCW.MIT.edu
Article states that, at present, about 29 of the general courses have full video lectures online and many more have audio, coursework, quizzes, etc.   They call it “intellectual philanthropy”.  Check it out
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0104/p13s02-legn.html

http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2006/10/23/science/20061024_ILLO_GRAPHIC.html

After over 100 years, a whole new way to look at chemistry.

This was absolutely fascinating to read:

http://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/2005/