News Cut: August 2, 2010 Archive

8/02/10 - Five by 8: Kicking and screaming

Posted at 8:00 AM on August 2, 2010 by Elliot deBruyn (1 Comments)
Filed under: Five by 8

1) To start off your morning right...

The representative from New York is, quite obviously, very upset about ... something? A bill that would provide healthcare to thousands of 9/11 first responders exposed to toxins. I do have to respect his philosophy (vote yes if you think it's right), but he needs to work on his delivery.

2) An interesting article regarding plagiarism in the digital age from the New York Times states:

But these cases -- typical ones, according to writing tutors and officials responsible for discipline at the three schools who described the plagiarism -- suggest that many students simply do not grasp that using words they did not write is a serious misdeed.

As a young person, I'm offended -- of course we know it's not ethical to utilize someone else's work as our own. Or do we?

In surveys from 2006 to 2010 by Donald L. McCabe, a co-founder of the Center for Academic Integrity and a business professor at Rutgers University, about 40 percent of 14,000 undergraduates admitted to copying a few sentences in written assignments.

So, we don't know, apparently. The piece goes on to discuss the idea of a new age, where originality is, perhaps, dead and young people are increasingly willing to sacrifice their individual thought for a good grade, expedited process or simply because the information is there.

We had all better refrain from citing Wikipedia in our next projects.

(via the New York Times)

3) Oil update: After three months, this ongoing nightmare-theater production may be closing its curtains. BBC reports:

The U.S. official overseeing the federal response said engineers were preparing to pump mud and cement into the well in a procedure known as a "static kill".

BP tries to explain:

This is very exciting news, considering the damage the oil has wrought on the Gulf of Mexico, it's wildlife and ecosystem and the communities that thrive from those resources.

Of course, we might have to wait just a little bit longer.

"The static kill is not the end-all, be-all," Mr Allen said, downplaying the significance of the first part of the strategy.

Nope, the encore is yet to come.

4) Run for it!

In Arizona, three convicts escaped from a medium-security prison. Although not as glamorous as Steve McQueen's motorcycle-jumping, airplane-hijacking adventure, this quadruple-turned-trio-turned-duo has pulled off something remarkable (and ill-advised).

No motorcycles for these guys:

Police believe the two men who remain at large after escaping from a northwest Arizona prison are now in a silver Volkswagen Jetta.

Ah, yes. The famed Jetta getaway car.

(via Google News via AP)

5) And finally, for my last post as the interim Five by 8 blogger, I want to promote something great for the last days of summer.

Let me introduce Man Cave Worldwide and their "meatings".

If you like grilling (which, being Minnesotans, you probably do) and beer (also, we ARE Minnesotans), you should attend one of these. Or, even better, get some of your friends together and spark up the barbie, grab a beer, and have some old-fashioned fun in the sun. It won't last (we're in Minnesota).

The company, started by a 2010 University of Minnesota graduate, offers men what women have had for years. With a Man Cave adviser, men can host their friends for a barbecue, drink free beer, learn how to grill and sell products.

And to get you started:

http://www.twincities.com/food/ci_15633689

http://www.northwoodssmokeofmn.com/recipes_beef.htm

http://www.twincities.com/food/ci_15308949?source=rss

Those links will provide extensive recipes for meat and veggies on the grill, to help you hibernate through the upcoming arctic environment communally and annually suffered through by all, here in the land of 10,000 frozen lakes.

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