Small Car

The Canadian Driver website has an article on a highly efficient VW prototype.

Potato Tips

Quick Tip of the Day: If you want to eat potato chips or similar no-nos while dieting, put a "reasonable" amount of them in a bowl and eat from the bowl. You are likely to eat far more than you intend if you eat directly from the bag.
Read this article (aimed at college students) for tips on surviving Thanksgiving.

Loosing Again

In other news decaf coffee might be bad for you, if you are over weight!!

For those who had body mass indexes (BMIs) of more than 25 (considered overweight), drinking decaffeinated coffee increased HDL2 by about 50 percent. But those in the decaffeinated group, who were not considered overweight according to BMI, saw their HDL2 drop by about 30 percent.

Down

Something that concerns me is that the US is losing ground as the technology world power. There is a steady stream of news articles on this that never seem to make it to the front page, for example this article on a recent Marconi Society report. I fear the recent success that the radical fundamentalists have had in "dumbing down" science classes in the US will only accelerate the problem. See the following articles for reference:

• Is ignorance bliss?
  
• Kansas School Board Vote
  
• Dover Votes out School Board
  
• Vatican Statement on Evolution
  

29.2

I found this link on teaching babies sign language and am starting to read it. I heard about this a couple of years ago on an NPR show.

Politicians

Yesterday I took the afternoon off and spent part of it at the local mall, where I ran into former Vice Presidential candidate John Edwards. I briefly spoke to him while he was shopping at J. Crew. I didn't get pictures, although being there with our 8 month old child we had both camera and video camera with us. Unlike the paparazzi I just think it would be rude to start snapping pictures while someone is trying to shop for cloths.

On the other hand I do wish I had spent a little more time discussing national politics and what I think the US needs in its next presidential administration. What I think we need is some one moderate enough to appeal to the moderate members of both parties and take the government away from its fractured extremism that is standard practice today.

Update

Diet Update: So I'm back to having lost a total of just under 29 pounds.

Sharing a few interesting news items today:

• In what might have been an effort to see how far off the mark The Day After Tomorrow was, Lawrence Livermore Lab released a report on extremes of global warming.
  
• A little good news on the educational front. More schools need to encourage the study of science like Sacred Heart Academy.
  
• And the topic of Ford and GM:SUV Sales Send Out An S.O.S.
  

Post Halloween

For Halloween the little babe went as the Great Pumpkin. Speaking of babes and diets, there was an interesting article on the rising interest in organic foods for children. Most baby food is much better than most food Americans eat, but the organic baby food does mean less exposure to pesticides.
I leave you with this link.