Lady Gaga may seem outrageous but everything about her is meat dresses and crazy hair is so pre-planned it's downright...conservative.Conservatives like the way it was and, for everyone who has listened to "Born This Way", her new single, she likes the way it was too - namely when Madonna did "Express Yourself."Tris McCall at the Star-Ledger says what everyone has been thinking yet radio (and music) people won't say, lest she last as long as Madonna and ignore them in the future for present-day slights:

The concept of ‘phylogenetic inertia’ is routinely deployed in evolutionary biology as an alternative to natural selection for explaining the persistence of characteristics that appear sub-optimal from an adaptationist perspective.

We can complain about the knowledge of Americans (while simultaneously complaining that modern school efforts 'teach the test' and focus on facts rather than on critical thinking) but Russians are farther behind.   One in every three Russians thinks Sol revolves around the Earth, rather than the Earth orbiting the sun.  29% believe man and dinosaurs co-existed.Maybe they are really good at critical thinking, though, and just don't know some facts.

Sure, it will be fodder for the "Republicans hate science' segment of science blogging (i.e. 98% of science blogging) but the days of pretend money are officially over.  No more just printing new greeenbacks and throwing it around and pretend that is governance.As a practical matter, given the deep hole the government is in, it will not be possible to both cut spending and reduce taxes and gain any ground but at least someone is trying to do something.

Pas de Calais was the smart choice for an invasion by the Allies in 1944 - it had a port that could easily be used for the largest ships and was a short distance to England.

We've all heard of the Wright Brothers, the father of flight, as it were.  But early in their day there was some understandable skepticism about what they claimed to have done.Here, from Feb. 10th, 1906 is the New York Herald commentary:“The Wrights have flown or they have not flown. They possess a machine or they do not possess one. They are in fact either fliers or liars. It is difficult to fly. It is easy to say, ‘We have flown.’”From the National Air&Space Museum

Kathy Weston's personal tale of how a promising academic career gradually went off the rails as her interests changed.   No discrimination, she has no white, male privilege to blame, the job ending up being different than what she wanted as she matured.It's interesting stuff.  Give it a read.

You may remember a short while ago the concerns about the metered Internet experiment in Canada, courtesy of the government.    Usage-Based Billing may be leaving as quickly as it came.   The Canadian Radio-Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) approved usage-based billing for Bell Canada but a senior Conservative government official said Wednesday that the CRTC could reconsider or it would be done for them.

The early reviews of the iPhone on Verizon are that it's much better if you use the iPhone as a phone.    Data may be something else.    Solution: Wait for the iPhone 5 unless you truly want this thing or use it all of the time and hate AT&T.Sample - Laptop Mag's Mark Spoonauer:The iPhone 4 on Verizon Wireless delivers the reliable data and voice
coverage AT&T has failed to provide, making this device a dependable
partner for work and play. Everything we love about Apple's smart phone

Some professional racers drive like crazy people on the streets but they are a special sort of crazy because they know what they are doing.   You never hear about professional racers getting into wrecks off the track.Compare them to these guys, who, aside from trying to show off with lousy cars, apparently can't look left and right.