Scientists Encouraged to Risk Failure

Aug 28th, 2007 Posted in Uncategorized | no comment »

Chinese lawmakers have had to propose legislation to get their scientists to try.

In an effort to promote innovation and clamp down on fraud, China’s law makers are trying new laws to remove the stigma attached to failure.

If a scientist fails, they know longer will have to fear losing their funding.

“‘Scientists and technicians who have initiated research with a high risk of failure will still have their expenses covered if they can provide evidence that they have tried their best when they failed to achieve their goals,’ says the draft amendment to the Law on Science and Technology Progress.”

Until now, scientists have been pressured to report only successes resulting in research being stifled and theft and forgery of successes.

Thomas Edison was blamed once for the 50,000+ failed experiments he conducted.

He responded, “I did not fail 50,000 times. I learned 50,000 things that don’t work.”

Failure is essential to learn. Sometimes the best lessons in life are indeed learning what NOT to do.

A law?

What have you learned NOT to do?

Three Students Kill – Literally – for a Day Off

Aug 28th, 2007 Posted in Uncategorized | no comment »

Three students, ages 12 and 13, strangled to death an 8-year old boy and his 5-year old brother.

Reason – they were hoping the boarding school they were attending would suspend classes for the day.

Apparently the year before, the school had let the kids out for a day because another student had died.

The kids figured that if another kid died this year…they’d get another day off.

When the boys were confronted they appeared to be “proud of their act” as they “narrated the entire sequence of events quite vividly.”

The dirty deed was done in a bathroom and the dead bodies found the next day when their sister reported them missing.

Uh…where do kids get the inkling to kill?

How does that thought enter into their minds?

I am stumped here.

And, the parents likely thought that the boarding school was the best choice for their kids.

Do you know who your kids are going to school with?

90-year old fathers 21st child

Aug 28th, 2007 Posted in Uncategorized | no comment »

Now, we know why India has so many people.

Even 90-year olds, with nothing better to do, are fathering children.

90-year old Nanu Ram Jogi and wife just had a baby girl.

The old goat farmer can’t recall exactly how many children he has, but he recollects he has fathered 12 sons and 9 daughters with four wives beginning in 1942 when he was 25.

He married again at 50 and again at 70. His last marriage took place 10 years ago.

His current wife, 50, gave him seven children but only AFTER her first husband died. The first husband – the old goats son.

Let’s see, that would mean he has grandchildren and children who are brothers and sisters.

The world’s oldest father was an Australian who was 92 when his ninth child was born.

That record may be in danger….

Lesson learned – just because you can, doesn’t always mean you should.

Teacher Stars in Steamy Internet Video

Aug 28th, 2007 Posted in Uncategorized | no comment »

What are kids learning in schools these days?

Filmography – that’s good.

Screenwriting – that’s good, too.

Marketing – more goodness.

Putting your teacher in a steamy video and sticking it on Youtube – not so good.

The video has been removed from Youtube but not before it was seen by 200,000+ and then stuck on somebody’s MySpace site.

The teacher learned from a former student teacher that students at a 5th grade (those are 10-11 year olds!) graduation ceremony made the video which showed her face and her backside. OOOooo!

Which begs the question, how did the former student teacher find out?

Question – what do the fifth graders in your class know how to do?

And, just how steamy of a video can they make?

Mattel Sues China ‘Porno’ Barbie

Aug 28th, 2007 Posted in Uncategorized | no comment »

China Barbie is 34D-22-33 (all natural) and used to work behind the desks of some of the world’s leading investment banks and advertising agencies in New York. What she did behind those desks is another story.

Mattel Inc., the toy maker, doesn’t care. Mattel says the, um, lady is smearing 48-year old Barbie, Skipper, Midge and Kevin.

A lawsuit has been filed in a US District Court in Manhattan.

Gee, and I thought all the goofical (goofy + nonsensical) lawsuits were limited to California.

Mattel says that the reputation of the 1 billion or so Barbie dolls that have been sold for $2 billion or more is being dragged through Internet gutters.

Mattel wants:

1.  the domain name of the web site transferred to Mattel

2. damages awarded of up to $100,000

3. profits that Global China Networks has garnered to be handed over.

What Mattel will give is money to lawyers who have much lower morals than China Barbie AND a lot of publicity to a woman who otherwise nobody would never have noticed.

Lesson- perhaps sometimes it is better to NOT do anything.

Socrates – when men speak evil of you, live so that nobody will believe them.

That goes for Barbie, too.