Today’s news brings an interesting mix of chum:
- From the “But I Always Thought They Wore Ties” Department: It appears that a publisher has gotten into trouble with his alma mater and his church because of a calendar he published. The calendar: “Men on a Mission”. The school: BYU. The church: LDS. The LA Times is reporting on the situation of Chad Hardy, whose calendar provides photographs of hunky former missionaries in poses, characters and settings familiar to the Mormon faithful. A calendar of Mormon mothers (who Hardy calls “Mormon Muffins”) styled as sexy (though clothed) pinups is set for release this summer. The “Men on a Mission” calendar has a shirtless Mormon for each month, and its first publication in 2007 was applauded by liberal-minded churchgoers…. but then the Mormon church received some unflattering publicity, and adherants complained that the calendar was damaging the image of the faith. As a result of publishing the calendar, he has been excommunicated by the church, and although he has earned sufficient credits to graduate BYU, they will not issue him the degree.
In somewhat related news, the New York Times is reporting the growth of the atheist movement, which is speaking out more, banding together, and flourishing.
- From the “And Don’t Ask About Their Cheerleaders” Department: The New York Times is reporting that MIT is dropping 8 of its athletic teams, as a result of a need to trim $1.5M from its budget. Cut were the alpine skiing, competitive pistol, golf, wrestling, and men and women’s ice hockey and gymnastics teams. Disgruntled students, demanding that all 41 teams be kept, kidnapped Tim the Beaver, the institute’s mascot (the student playing Tim was released unharmed, although the costume’s head eventually ended up on the John Harvard statue in Harvard Yard).
- From the “Builds Strong Bones Seven Ways” Department: Two interesting science articles today. One, from the Washington Post, explores using nanotechnology to make silk stronger. Specifically, scientists used atomic layer deposition (ALD) to deposit microscopic metals on silk strands, which drastically strengthened the material. More interesting is that it didn’t just coat the silk–it infiltrated the substructure and rebound with the silk at the molecular level.
Turning to another strong material: bone, one of your bodies most important organs. The New York Times has an interesting article on bone and its elasticity. We think of bone as this inert material (probably from all those skeletons we see)… but your bones are actually continually microfracturing and repairing themselves, and interact with your homonal and digestive systems to obtain what they need to do this. The article is a real interesting read.
- From the “Nummi, Nummi” Department: As folks know, I drive a Toyota Matrix, which is a wagon version of the Toyota Corolla. The Matrix has a twin — the Pontiac Vibe. I’ve always been surprised that Toyota doesn’t advertise the Matrix more, but evidently it sells well enough that they don’t need to advertise. The Matrix is made in Canada, but the Vibe is made in Fremont at the NUMMI plant. I mention this because the Vibe is one of the few well-made Pontiac cars, and one of the few that doesn’t share a platform with any other GM car (as with the G8, another Pontiac getting good reviews). So, I’m wondering… with the death of Pontiac, what will become of the Vibe:
ETA: Well, it turns out there are some answers in this article. Some, but not all. More here and here.
