What Caught My Eye Today

Physics - It's not everyday that we see the world's largest particle collider in action--especially for the first time. The world's largest particle collider passed its first major tests by firing two beams of protons in opposite directions around a 17-mile underground ring in what scientists hope is the next great step to understanding the makeup of the universe. Physicists around the world now have much greater power to smash the components of atoms together in attempts to learn about their structure. Eventually two beams will be fired at the same time in opposite directions with the aim of recreating conditions a split second after the big bang, which scientists theorize was the massive explosion that created the universe. How naive have I been? All this time I was assuming that the Big Bang Theory was true. Thank goodness, we'll now have the means to definitively prove this theory once and for all. Unless, of course, you happen to subscribe to creationism, in which case, all this scientific mumbo-jumbo is a complete waste of time and money.

North Korea - North Korea's Kim Jong Il is on the road to recovery from a stroke and still in control of his isolated country's communist regime, South Korea said in disputing reports that the leader is gravely ill. Well, we can always hope, can't we? South Korea's spy agency told a closed door meeting of lawmakers it had intelligence showing the 66-year-old Kim's condition had much improved. South Korea's optimistic view of Kim's health came as North Korea moved to try and dispel fears about his health after he failed to appear for a key national ceremony. A senior North Korean diplomat, called reports of Kim's illness "worthless" and a "conspiracy plot," adding that Western media "have reported falsehoods before." Excuse me, put how is the fact that Kim Jong Il suffered a stroke evidence of some conspiracy by the Western media? First of all, most Western media outlets are busy digging up dirt on Republican Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin. And secondly, the reports that Kim Jong Il suffered a stroke appear to be entirely accurate. So where is the conspiracy?

Hurricanes - Okay, so we made it through Gustav and Hanna, and it looks like Josephine has dissipated harmlessly in the Atlantic, so that just leaves that troublesome lad, Ike. Hurricane Ike strengthened in the Gulf's warm waters and churned toward the Texas coast, and officials started to evacuate the first of millions of residents who could be in the storm's path. Ike strengthened into a Category 2 storm and is likely to grow even stronger before its predicted strike on the Texas coast this weekend. Ike has already killed at least 80 people in the Caribbean and ravaged homes in Cuba. You would think that getting out of harm's way would be folks primary concern. Turns out, that isn't the case. Federal authorities gave assurances they would not check people's immigration status at evacuation loading zones or inland checkpoints. But residents were skeptical, and there were worries that many illegal immigrants would refuse to board buses and go to shelters for fear of getting arrested and deported. Back in May, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said the Border Patrol would do nothing to impede an evacuation in the event of a hurricane. But when Hurricane Dolly struck the Rio Grande Valley in late July, no mandatory evacuation was ordered, and as a result the Border Patrol kept its checkpoints open. Agents soon caught a van load of illegal immigrants. Well that's nice. Some choice. Risk death or deportation.

2008 Presidential Race - More evidence that the run-up to the U.S. presidential election lasts way too long. Barack Obama accused John McCain's campaign of using "lies and phony outrage and Swift-boat politics" in claiming he used a sexist comment against vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. In his initial comments Tuesday, Obama was delivering a dissertation about McCain and President Bush when he used the lipstick aphorism — not Palin. In fact, his reference to the Alaska governor later on was a defense of her strong belief in religion. The lipstick maxim is hardly new to either Obama or McCain. The Democrat has used it in the past, and McCain repeated the folksy metaphor when he criticized Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton on health care. McCain was never accused of being sexist when he uttered those words. Yesterday, Obama criticized McCain's policies as similar to those of President Bush, saying: "You can put lipstick on a pig. It's still a pig. You can wrap an old fish in a piece of paper called change. It's still going to stink after eight years." The McCain campaign immediately jumped on the comments, arguing they were directed at Palin, the GOP's first woman on a presidential ticket. If this wasn't campaign season, I would say jumping to this conclusion was proof positive that these folks aren't playing with a full deck of cards. In her acceptance speech last week, she had referred to herself in a joke about lipstick being the only difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull. Accusing Obama of "smearing" Palin in "offensive and disgraceful" comments, the McCain campaign demanded an apology. Obama's campaign has accused the GOP camp of engaging in a "pathetic attempt to play the gender card." How about charging both campaigns (and the media while we're at it) with needlessly wasting the time of voters with all this nonsense. If you are going to subject us to all this campaign rhetoric, could you at least do us the courtesy of focusing on the issues that cause us to lose sleep at night?

Cycling - It would appear, as is occasionally the case, that the rumors of Lance Armstrong'r return to professional cycling are well founded. Lance Armstrong is breaking out of his three-year retirement and aiming to win yet another Tour de France in 2009, a move sure to shake up things across the Atlantic and give a boost to a sport that has missed its biggest star. In a formal statement, Armstrong called his comeback an attempt to raise global awareness in his fight against cancer. I'm sure the prospects of winning an 8th Tour de France didn't enter his thoughts in the slightest. Professional cycling and particularly the Tour have missed Armstrong's allure, even though skeptics refused to believe he could win without the help of performance-enhancing drugs. Tour director Christian Prudhomme noted the suspicions of drug use that followed Armstrong, and suggested that it wasn't guaranteed that the former champion would make it to the start line next July. How about producing a shred of evidence that links Armstrong to blood doping before assuming his guilt, you putz. The cycling journal VeloNews reported on its Web site that Armstrong would compete with the Astana team in the Tour and four other road races — the Amgen Tour of California, Paris-Nice, the Tour de Georgia and the Dauphine-Libere. I'm betting tickets for those races just became a lot more appealing.