I live in the northeast U.S. which was hit by a fairly large snowstorm on the weekend of Dec 15th-16th. As I was snow-blowing about 8-10 inches off my driveway, I was reminded of a point given in a blog by user lindsay about the power of hydrocarbons. I kept looking at the little one-gallon tank on the side of the snow-blower thinking about how much work a gallon of gas can do. ... Read more.

Our school district is in an uproar over a recent decision to ban peanut based food which can cause severe reactions in people with this allergy, including anaphylactic shock which is potentially fatal. It seems that a fair number of children (about 7-10) in a school of approximately 500 have shown up with the allergy this year and the cases were deemed severe enough in the eyes of the administration to warrant the ban. The reaction of parents ranged from understanding compliance to shouting ... Read this and 61 comments.

After serving eight years in jail for administering a lethal injection to a disabled man; Jack Kevorkian, sometimes known as “Dr. Death”, is back in the news with his subsequent parole in June. During the 1990’s Kevorkian claimed responsibility for at least 130 assisted suicides, and was the most vocal and active proponent of the assisted suicide movement. The frail 78 year old Kevorkian claims he will not assist in any more suicides, and even claims shouldn’t have done so in the past, ... Read this and 38 comments.