One Celled People
This has to be one of the best ever commentarys on those who oppose stem cell research:
WHAT'S NEW Robert L. Park Friday, 13 Apr 07 Washington, DC
1. STEM CELLS: PRESIDENT BUSH VOWS TO PROTECT ONE-CELLED PEOPLE.
The Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act passed the Senate 63-34,
but President Bush promises a veto. He said the use of embryonic
stem cells in research "crosses a moral line." In case you're
wondering where this "moral line" is drawn, WN has looked into
it. George W. Bush and other conservative theologians believe a
"soul" is assigned to the fertilized egg at the instant of
conception. That makes it a person, even though it's not counted
in the census. In-vitro fertilization makes a lot more of these
one-celled people than it needs; leftovers are stacked in the
freezer until it starts filling up. President Bush cares deeply
about these helpless one-celled people and wants to ensure they
are properly flushed down the disposal rather than exploited by
godless scientists interested only the reduction of suffering.
Commentary
Astronaut to Run Marathon in Space
At first, it just sounds silly. Indian-American astronaut Sunita Williams plans to run the 26.2 mile Boston Marathon April 16, 2007 on a treadmill while aboard the International Space Station. Yes, at first it just sounds silly. Then you realize it is the ISS, after all, so it is not as if she has anything better to do.
Commentary
Internet Growth
In 1993 the number of internet users was a trivial percentage of the world population. Today there are over a billion users, nearly 17% of the world population[1], and some 440 million host computers on the internet [2].
Initially the rate of growth of users and hosts greatly exceeded the "Moore's Law" rate of doubling every 18 months (equivalent to 59% annual growth). Today the number of users is increasing about 13%/year and the number of hosts about 24%/year. Apparently more people are getting their own dedicated internet connections. The DNS (Domain Name System) lists all computers (hosts) connected to the internet. Presumably because many people use dialup connections with dnynamic IP, the ratio of users to hosts has varied from about 1.7 in 1995 to a peak of about 5.5 in 2001 and has been decreasing since then to about 2.4 today. Over time I should think the user and host growth rates will both approach the population growth rate. References: [1] Internet User Growth [2] Internet Host Growth
Commentary
Iraq Body Count
The latest US Military death toll from http://www.edstephan.org/USfatalities.html

The latest Iraqi civilian toll from http://www.iraqbodycount.net/