Decent News, November 2002

Some of the more decent news in the world: hopeful, courageous, funny, or just cool. A few are not pleasant, but are stories I think need to be heard. The following are all LINKS to external sites. Some links (e.g., many boston.com) stop working after a few days; some do not. URLs are added when appropriate (not necessarily daily).

Also on this page: News to Think Over

Trust between parent, child will ease stress Ask Beth column in the Boston Globe 11/28/02

Immigrant family works for a future Boston Globe 11/28/02

Art becomes therapy for children in tornadoes' wake CNN.com 11/28/02

After taking a bite out of crime, a top Customs drug dog retires CNN.com 11/27/02

Cultural evolution: With talent and hard work, Ha Jin has gone from semiliterate Chinese soldier to award-winning writer of novels in English Boston Globe 11/27/02

Wild species thriving again in the Bay State Boston Globe 11/27/02

U.S. should talk with Arab youth, not at them USA Today 11/25/02

For Solar Power, Foggy City Maps Its Bright Spots NY Times 11/24/02 (reg. req'd)

Million in US saved from HIV BBC News 11/22/02 (We often forget about how much good prevention does)

Did quark matter strike Earth? BBC News 11/22/02

15,000 years with man's best friend CNN.com 11/21/02

Nuns Bring Hope to Mississippi Delta Towns NY Times (reg. req.) 11/20/02

Puppies teach students obedience CNN.com 11/12/02

MIT's Magnificent Seven: Women faculty members cited as top scientists MIT News (plus Popular Science (Nov. 2002) and Discover Magazine (Nov. 2002)) 11/5/02 "a woman physicist stopped light in her lab at Harvard. Another woman runs the linear accelerator at Stanford. A woman discovered the first evidence for dark matter. A woman found the top quark...." (Discover)

In California, a City Begins Recycling Diapers NY Times 11/10/02

Afghan girls' schools defiant BBC News 11/10/02

The brave children of Afghanistan BBC News from way back in 1/19/02

Take-off for Uganda's own helicopter BBN News 11/5/02 "designed by boys from the Katwe Youth Development Project."

Cool science. A New View of Our Universe: Only One of Many NY Times 10/29/02 In Some Bird Species, Little Chance for an Empty Nest NY Times 10/29/02 Smile, Electron! Fast 'Camera' Captures Action Around Atom NY Times 10/29/02 The Universe Seems So Simple, Until You Have to Explain It NY Times 10/22/02 and New Theory on Dinosaurs: Multiple Meteorites Did Them In NY Times 11/5/02

Museum's Goal: Save the World's Wild Places NY Times 11/5/02

The Importance of Grandma NY Times 11/5/02 "...having a grandmother around sometimes improved a child's prospects to a far greater extent than did the presence of a father."

What Trumps a Desk at Yale? A Seat in Parliament NY Times 11/4/02 Last paragraph was just too funny if you know the Ivy League....

Bill Gates Views What He's Sown in Libraries NY Times 11/6/02 "The more I learned, the more I realized there is no time." -Gates.

Come Home, Little Squirrel: Parks Have Vacancies NY Times 11/5/02 (reg. req.) (Not that I like squirrels, but glad someone does...)

New heart comes with a miraculous story CNN.com 11/3/02

Families of sniper victims meet to comfort one another, share stories AP at Boston.com 11/3/02 ''Spreading the weight of it among all of our shoulders helps lighten the load a little bit.''

Kenyans wins NYC Marathon; legally blind Olympian Runyan top among U.S. women AP at Boston.com 11/3/02 Also, "For the first time, the top women started about 30 minutes ahead of the men."

School reimbursed for candy stolen 55 years ago CNN.com 11/2/02

Soft-spoken majority? Activists say forums ease tensions between pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian students on campuses AP at Boston.com 11/2/02

Taking pains: Hub hospitals lead way in hurt-free pediatrics Boston Globe 11/1/02

Ind. factory workers return lost cat to owner AP at Boston.com 11/1/02

A call for more house calls: Physician: In-home visits best for patients, doctors CNN.com 10/31/02

Comic goes outside the clubs to put Asian talent in spotlight Boston Globe 11/1/02

Shy bug may help clean pesky pollutant CNN.com 11/1/02

For Orthodox Jews, an Experiment in Farming and Faith NY Times 11/1/02 (Reg. req.)

News to Think Over
And Pray About....

Two Scientists Contend U.S. Suppressed Dolphin Studies NY Times 1/8/03 ... maybe minor on the human scale of things, but more indications of the usual politics, this time hurting other species.

Court says military may hold citizens: Panel finds broad powers for president during warfare Boston Globe 1/9/03 ... sure some stuff is necessary, but is the government so trustworthy this won't be abused?

Half a Million Afghan Refugees Left Homeless and Cold in Cities NY Times and Orangutans Said to Exhibit Hallmarks of Culture NY Times (reg. req'd) 1/2/03 - just as we begin to learn, we are destroying them....

Anthology examines Third World women's plight Boston Globe 12/19/02

What's in a Name? Perhaps Plenty if You're a Job Seeker NY Times 12/12/02 ... racial profiling at work

The Doors of Perception ... how propaganda runs public perception. Well, not quite a news article, but it goes hand in hand with "For Richer," below.

AIDS robbing African classrooms CNN.com 11/27/02

As Andean Glaciers Shrink, Water Worries Grow NY Times 11/24/02

Problem of Lost Health Benefits Is Reaching Into the Middle Class NY Times 11/25/02 Maybe now things will change???

Whose Hands Are Dirty? NY Times 11/25/02 ... what's THAT doing in the Homeland Security bill?!

Gap hit by 'sweatshop' protests BBC News 11/21/02 "I'm Paid $0.30 an hour to make GAP clothes" read some signs.

Voters advise lawmakers to ax Clean Elections law AP at Boston.com 11/6/02 ... I saw the ballot and was the wording ever skewed against Clean Elections, which might have helped some non-bigwig politicians get into office ... and then we find out that Big Business paid lots of money to have Clean Elections killed. There's a song that had the refrain "Justice for money, how much more can I pay?" ... another case of that, sounds like!

For Richer NY Times article 10/20/02 (registration required) "Twenty years ago, would a prominent senator have likened those who want wealthy people to pay taxes to Nazis?" "Plutocracy by some other name"

Analysis: Pyongyang's U-turn on abductions BBC News 9/17/02

Google sued as PetsWarehouse Lawsuit Continues. Slashdot.com 10/03/02 ... scary example of one person causing a ripple effect of negativity.

Lavatory and Liberty: The secret history of the bathroom break Boston Globe 9/29/02 "conservative commentator R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr. advised the workers to wear special diapers used by horses in New York's Central Park carriage trade." ... this is the US of A here!

It's time we looked toward the new power generation "So many of our current woes in the [Middle East] are rooted in our oil addiction.[....] What needs to follow the dot-com generation is the new power generation." But will business stand in the way? It's happened: read about GM and LA here and here.

Accord yields frustration for black farmers Boston Globe 9/7/02 "The ultimate irony for the farmers is that they are dealing with many of the same USDA employees who were in place when the alleged discrimination occurred."

Abortion politics holding up popular health center bill AP at Boston.com 9/7/02 ... I don't care what anyone's position is on abortion in this case... it has nothing to do with health care for millions of people.

Televisionary: Decades after the fact, the world is just tuning in to the work of TV inventor Philo T. Farnsworth Boston Globe 9/7/02 ... It's not just Farnsworth. Other inventors and contributors have been denied their proper place in history.

Parents' behavior linked to teen sex: Study cites influence of smoking, drinking Boston Globe 9/1/02

Growing coffee: It's black, no sugar... MSNBC.com 8/02 ... more argument for "Fair Trade" coffee. Oxfam launches 'Coffee Rescue' plan BBC News 9/17/02

US Won't Buy Sanitation Goal: Earth Summit II delegation again opposes new targets MSNBC 8/27/02 "The United States on Wednesday continued its policy of resisting new targets for global environmental action...."

Music industry targets Chinese download site via service providers digitalmass.boston.com 8/19/02 ... so large corporate conglomerations can censor what we can see and hear.

Slain woman's family describes tense relationship Boston Globe 8/17/02. The irony is that experts could have told these people this man was the type to kill his girlfriend. Experts know the traits of domestic violence murderers. Experts know why troubled, fragile men kill their girlfriends. Just reading the symptoms is like seeing warning flags. How many more "she never imagined that X could act violently toward Y"s will there be before we really stop these murders before they happen? Read the book The Gift of Fear!

FBI begins secretly observing library patrons Detroit Free Press 6/25/02 ... remember, the US government, OUR government, once did such things as spy on Martin Luther King Jr., and even tried to get him to commit suicide!

Fuel Cell Hold-up Government's go-slow approach promises to keep the technology on the shelf and Cold Fusion Rides Again Science magazine publishes more evidence of tabletop nuclear reactions, SF Gate, 6/20/202 and 3/25/02, respectively.

After Sept. 11, a Legal Battle Over Limits of Civil Liberty NY Times (registration req'd) 8/4/02

Congress to turn hacks into hackers The Register 7/24/02 "it will become legal to hack a network [in the name of protecting copyrights]" ....

No End to Their Woes: Allegations of sexual extortion by aid workers in Africa Newsweek 7/29/02 issue February Press Release

1970-85 Famine Blamed on Pollution AP at news.yahoo.com 7/21/02

Labels to Net Radio: Die Now ...MSNBC.com 7/15/2002 IMHO pretty outrageous.

What your doctor doesn't know could kill you Boston Globe Magazine 7/14/02

Idealized Women in TV Ads Make Girls Feel Bad Reuters health at news.yahoo.com 7/12/02

Clinton, Mandela: More money, determination needed to halt march of AIDS AP at Boston.com 7/12/02

Lutheran minister suspended over interfaith service after terrorist attacks AP at Boston.com 7/8/02

Dow Shall Be Liable CorpWatch India 4/8/02 ... I had forgotten the Bhopal, India chemical leak killed 16-20,000 and affected 150,000. That's sixteen to twenty thousand people. There are some parallels with this story about Aberfan, Wales.

The pop-up ad campaign from hell: It's the latest in Web marketing innovation: Hijacked Web surfers, exploited Web browser vulnerabilities and malicious spyware all wrapped up together. Salon.com 5/7/02

The outrageous Vincent Chin murder, where the assailants were "let off the hook" and Rededication to Justice.

Meeting the 'chocolate slaves' BBC News 6/13/02

BAH HAHAHAHAHA TV sex does not sell, study says: Viewers less likely to focus on ads Boston Globe 6/23/02

Current Decent News

Decent News for October 2002

Decent News for September 2002

Decent News for August 2002

Decent News for July 2002

Decent News for June 2002 (First "News to Think Over")

Decent News for May 2002

Decent News for April 2002