CNN reports Job growth rocks again.  This is good news, but I find it surprising.  The largest growth sector was business and professional services.  This will spur inflation, which will hasten higher interest rates.  Bad news for some, but I say a badly needed reversal of the pendulum.

TV news is bad for your brain.  "A new study has revealed that people who rely on television to get their news are more likely to be misinformed on the facts about Iraq, WMD's and Iraq's ties to 9/11 than those who get their news from other sources or even who don't follow the news at all."  I'm shocked.  [ via Adam Curry ]

Well, so that's what the Lakers look like when they're trying.  They blew out the Spurs today, winning by 24 points so convincingly that the last 20 minutes were extended garbage time.  Now we know they're capable of playing that hard.  But will they?  Who shows up next Tuesday?  We'll see...

Hey, the Dodgers no longer have the best record in baseball, they've slipped to #2.  The new #1 team is the Angels.  Both teams are playing well and surprising critics, and delighting their fans.  An all-L.A. World Series?  Could happen...

FuturePundit notes DNA Ultra-Conserved Sequences Found Between Humans, Mice Rats.  "Hundreds of stretches of DNA may be so critical to life's machinery that they have been “ultra-conserved” throughout hundreds of millions of years of evolution.  Researchers have found precisely the same sequences in the genomes of humans, rats, and mice; sequences that are 95 to 99 percent identical to these can be found in the chicken and dog genomes, as well."  Reusable code - the key to life :)

This is pretty amazing: DNA bot targets cancer.  "Researchers from the Weizmann Institute in Israel have constructed a molecular-size computer that is programmed to find signs of cancer cells, and when they are present, dispense DNA molecules designed to eradicate those cells."  The other day I noted that I'm reading - and enjoying - Richard K. Morgan's latest sci-tech thriller, Broken Angels.  It is amazing how the similar the advances of the present day mirror the imagined [25th century] future.

And here's some important scientific research: Genetic secrets of good wine.  "Discovering the genetic secrets of good wine is at the heart of a project launched by Spanish and Canadian scientists, who are conducting the first large-scale, integrated genomics effort focused on single-model cultivars for wine and table grapes.  The genetic determinants of grape quality are practically unknown, and how local environmental factors interact at the cellular and molecular levels to cause differences in fruit quality is not understood."  Studying grape genomics, that's what I was doing yesterday, poolside...

More important scientific research: Students at Cornell have designed a wireless beer pitcher monitor.  "We created a wireless device to affix to the bottom of a pitcher that alerts the wait staff when the pitcher is empty.  By affixing an accelerometer to the bottom of a pitcher we can detect the angle of the bottom in relation to the ground.  The signal from the accelerometer is transmitted from the pitcher to the server station."  Sounds like important work.  Left undecided is whether, when half the beer has been poured, the pitcher is half-empty or half-full.

The latest update from SpaceX is out...  more good news as the company continues to move inexerably forward.  In this update Elon Musk, the company's founder and CEO, say his eventual goal is to build "the Saturn VI".  I wouldn't put it past them!

If you're interested in living in Star Trek conditions but don't want to wait for SpaceX's Saturn VI, check out this apartment, at auction on eBay, from 24th century interion design.  The pictures look awesome!  [ via Cory Doctorow ]

Have you been thinking about sticking your toe in the Linux water?  Consider Ignalum Linux.  "Ignalum Linux OS version 9 is an intuitive graphical environment that works right out of the box and offers unrivaled compatibility with Microsoft Windows.  This new release is one of the most advanced and powerful Linux systems currently available, with industry-leading usability features such as single sign-on authentication for a mixed Unix-Windows environment and Ignalum's advanced Internet-sharing and IPv6-over-NAT capabilities."  Apparently you can run Microsoft Office unchanged!  I'll have to check this out - need...  more...  time...

Adam Curry linked this amazing video of a New York newschopper crash.  Amazingly, no one was seriously injured.  According to Adam, a helicopter pilot himself, "the pilot made several life-saving decisions".  Wow.

Ottmar Liebert is running a Subscription Survey, regarding your online music preferences.  Go over there and tell him what you think!

Applied memetics: Wired reports How the Word Gets Around.  "The blogosphere has a strange ability to push a seemingly obscure idea into the forefront of people's minds in a heartbeat. How this happens is a bit of a mystery."  Mystery?  No, I post it, you read it, and that's how it gets around :)