Whoops?

Was this intentional?

We cannot underestimate the excitement generated by this eight-game duel between two leading players in the world of chess, Péter Lékó and the world champion, Vladimir Kramnik.

In case they change that third word, there's the quote as it stands. The famous "world championship" between the two in 2004 led to such insipid, dull draws as this and ended in a pathetic 7-7 tie, succeeding in making people miss Bobby Fischer (briefly).

More sloppy reporting:

Last year Lékó’s opponent was the twelfth world champion Anatoli Karpov who, during his carrier is said to have won 166 tournaments, setting a record that is not likely to be broken.

Yeah, and Alekhine is said to have played a game with five queens. That a chess news site should fail to do its damn research and find out not what's said but what's true is more than a bit annoying.

Wait, "carrier?" "During his carrier"

Stunning.

Disgust Heaped on Despair

An unfortunate event occured in class on Friday. One of the class favorites, an outspoken shell of worthlessness (in other words, a law student), was called upon to explain the Scooter Libby affair to the class. Apparently, it is the belief of students and professors at nationally-ranked, well-regarded law schools that Karl Rove was responsible for the Plame leak. Of course, it's a matter of well-established fact that Richard Armitage was the guilty party. However, my intellecually-challenged classmate said it - Rove was the guy. The professor did not correct her.

This professor, an expert on administrative law, also does not understand how U.S. attorneys are hired and fired.

Oh, and I'm paying $30000 a year for this; isn't that wonderful?

We Need Breathing Room

Germans pay fond tribute to its past.

There was a rather obscure and not well-known leader of Germany in the past century that vehemently campaigned against smoking, drinking, and eating meat. I think his name was Adolf something. It is good to see that the Germans are celebrating their rich cultural heritage by reviving the ideas of that beloved man.

Even smokers can agree that this is a Good Move:

JMTC system administrator Kris Sharon, a smoker, said he was not bothered by moves to ban smoking in public places.

“I’m not one of those people who will sit in a restaurant for a long time. The only time I would smoke is when I’m waiting for my meal so it is not a big deal for me,” he said.

First they came for the smokers...

Still Stupid?

Yes, health researchers still are.

Let's be honest, basic logic is tough for some people. In fact, some colleges have done away with even offering Symbolic Logic (Auskunft and I remember fondly when our alma mater used to offer the course, but all the professors qualified to teach it got better jobs. Wee.). But wow. I mean, wow. When you are trying to sift data, you might want to have some elementary grasp on what those data mean.

Let's crush these intellectual midgets point-by-point.

First, this laughable crap:

Tobacco causes 40 percent of all hospital illnesses, while alcohol is blamed for more than half of all visits to hospital emergency rooms. The substances also harm society in other ways, damaging families and occupying police services.

That is what happens when these drugs are legal and many people use them, because it's socially acceptable. If marijuana were socially acceptable and exactly as many people used it as alcohol and tobacco, I just bet we'd see some changes in the numbers. But damn, that was logic I just used. And logic is wrong. And hurtful. Let's proceed.

Nutt hopes that the research will provoke debate within the UK and beyond about how drugs — including socially acceptable drugs such as alcohol — should be regulated.

Secret message decoded! "Let's bring back Prohibition." Hey, England, I know you guys didn't make that awful mistake yourselves, but take it from us - it doesn't work. Just like us, you'd probably get Irish mobsters smuggling in illegal hooch anyway, with a big spike in violent crime. Then some guy in a wheelchair would come along and repeal the whole shebang.

"This is a landmark paper," said Dr. Leslie Iversen, professor of pharmacology at Oxford University.

Lollerskates. I bet the author of this article searched long and hard for a quote that supported this ridiculous position. And why? I mean, you don't even have to search to find someone who supports Hitler, or any number of evil, anti-intellectual beliefs. Funny. Next line in the article:

Iversen was not connected to the research.

I am stunned that this made it into the final draft. The author doth protest too much.

While experts agreed that criminalizing alcohol and tobacco would be challenging...

Yeah, good luck with that. I am sure the soccer hooligans in England are just going to embrace the idea fully. Oh, and did I mention, we tried this once across the pond? Didn't work out so well.

Nutt called for more education so that people were aware of the risks of various drugs. "All drugs are dangerous," he said. "Even the ones people know and love and use every day."

Is being a pseudo-intellectual teetotal a drug? Because the danger is that I will break your nose with my bottle of Guinness. FYI.

I love how the whole point of this was to say that smoking is still bad for you. In case you forgot, I guess.

I guess I will have to point that out to my grandfather, who is in his late 80's and smoked for decades. Yep, if it weren't for smoking, he might be...even more alive.