Hot Leg

For my colleague, Jovel. Sorry it took so long to get this up!

The 'Obama Before Obama' (first black elected official in US)- washingtonpost.com

Fascinating:

The 'Obama Before Obama' - washingtonpost.com: "Langston's father was Ralph Quarles, a slaveowner; his mother, Lucy Langston, was an ex-slave and bondswoman. Both parents died when he was 4, and an Ohio friend of Quarles's ended up caring for him. He was the fifth black man to graduate from Oberlin College, was elected to several local offices in Ohio, was active in the black freedom movement with Frederick Douglass, served as educational inspector for the Freedmen's Bureau and was the U.S. minister to Haiti. In 1888, he ran for Congress in Virginia's 4th Congressional District as an independent. Denied a victory, he contested the election results and finally won his seat, but it was so late in the term that he served but three months. He was unseated in the next election."

How We're Wrecking Our Feet With Every Step We Take -- New York Magazine

I'm extremely flat footed, so I'm still reading this article to see if I can figure out what it has to say for people like me.

How We're Wrecking Our Feet With Every Step We Take -- New York Magazine

To be a Cuban in exile is to ache, to yearn - 05/17/2008 - MiamiHerald.com

On Cuban's and those of Cuban descent--in the first person:

To be a Cuban in exile is to ache, to yearn - 05/17/2008 - MiamiHerald.com: "In private, we are awed by Cuban culture: the glory of its literature, visual arts, dance, music. And though most Cuban Americans fervently believe regime change on the island is long overdue, more than one secretly chuckled each time Fidel pulled Uncle Sam's beard. He was, after all, the shameless leading man on the world's stage of Cuban exceptionalism."

Platypus Genome Found Fittingly Strange - washingtonpost.com

Platypus Genome Found Fittingly Strange - washingtonpost.com: "There are genes for egg laying -- evidence of its reptilian roots. Genes for making milk, which the platypus does in mammalian style despite not having nipples. Genes for making snake venom, which the animal stores in its legs. And there are five times as many sex-determining chromosomes as scientists know what to do with."

15 Philadelphia Officers Removed After Taped Beating

I like the viewer "discretion" part. I guess they want to make sure you don't let your kids riot over such things!

MyFox Philadelphia | 15 Philadelphia Officers Removed After Taped Beating: "Fox Exclusive Video: Chase Ends Violently (Viewer Discretion Advised)
Slideshow:"

Technology Review: Weather Engineering in China

Technology Review: Weather Engineering in China: "peasant farmers. . .on call to blast away at clouds with 7,113 anti-aircraft guns and 4,991 rocket launchers."