Evan Brown’s Links of Interest

Link: Reuters

Link: New York Daily News

Link: Wall Street Journal

Link: Associate Press

This is creepy. A man in Venezuela who was declared dead following a car accident was taken to the morgue, and an autopsy was begun. The only problem was the fact that the guy wasn’t really dead!

Carlos Camejo, who doctors thought had died from injuries sustained in a highway accident, woke up in excruciating pain as medical examiners were making an incision in his face as part of an autopsy procedure. Apparently, the examiners realized something was amiss even before Camejo woke up because their presumed corpse began to bleed profusely. Fortunately, they were shrewd enough to immediately stop the procedure and stitch up the incision on the man’s face.

Camejo is alive and well, albeit with a distinguishable scar on his face. I imagine that the Venezuelan hospital will be paying for cosmetic surgery for the man rather quickly.

It is amazing to me that something like this could still happen even with the medical knowledge of today, and yet, here it is.

Link: Reuters

Google announced its presentation app back in April, and it is finally here. Actually, the online slideshow creator is not a stand-alone application; rather, it an integrated part of Google Docs and Spreadsheets (now with the much more simple name of Google Docs).

From first looks, the new presentation component of Google Docs seems to work well. I haven’t yet created a slideshow from scratch using the online tool, but I did upload one from a presentation I gave some time ago, and the slides look pretty much like they ought to (there are a couple of formatting problems which should be easy to fix).

Google’s presentation app does not have all the bells and whistles that Microsoft PowerPoint has, most people don’t need all the features which PowerPoint offers. The presentation functionality of Google Docs may work quite well for most people who need to create a simple slideshow, and with its price tag of $0, Microsoft ought to be concerned about what this means for its market share of office applications.

Link: Google Blogoscoped

The Values Voter Debate took place last night in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and included seven of the eleven Republicans now seeking the nomination for President of the United States: former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee; Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas; Representative Duncan Hunter of California; Representative Tom Tancredo of Colorado; Representative Ron Paul of Texas; Chicago businessman John H. Cox, who was making his first debate appearance; and former UN ambassador Alan Keyes, who just got into the race last week.

The four Republican candidates not attending were Rudy Giuliani, John McCain, Mitt Romney and Fred Thompson, and their absence was quite noticeable — and made all the more conspicuous by the fact that podiums were set up for them on the stage even though the organizers knew the four “top-tier” hopefuls would not be at the event. Even worse (that is, more idiotic), questions were posed to the missing candidates followed by a long, awkward silence.

I think that having a debate focused exclusively on family values was a great idea, but ridiculing those who did not attend seemed to me to be in incredibly poor taste, especially since those values being put forth during the event were Christian ones. The feelings of resentment and hostility directed at the absent candidates will probably work against the ValuesVoter group as it will make those who did not attend the forum even less likely to participate in any future events put on by that organization.

Link: WorldNetDaily

…which is exactly where he belongs. Let’s hope that this time, Simpson does not get away with his crime because of his celebrity status or his race.

Link: Miami Herald

Wow.

Alan Keyes has announced that he is in the race for the Republican nomination for President of the United States — for the third time (he also ran in 1996 and 2000).

I don’t know what else to say right now — except wow.

Link: United Press International

Google’s interest in space is going far beyond Google Moon and Sky in Google Earth. The Internet giant is going to offer up a total of thirty million dollars in prize money as part of a contest to reach the surface of the moon. The Google Lunar X PRIZE, put on by Google and the X PRIZE Foundation, challenges private groups to be the first to launch a robotic rover to the moon, land it safely on the surface, operate it over five hundred meters, and transmit video back to earth.

First prize for accomplishing the feat is twenty million dollars; second place receives ten million, and the rest of the money is for bonuses for performing additional tasks. The challenge will be open until the end of 2014.

Link: USA Today

It really has come to this: an article from the online magazine Slate is suggesting that Americans should have fewer children so that the population will decrease, and as a whole, we will produce less carbon dioxide emissions. Daniel Engber, the author of the piece, actually wonders if Americans ought to “cut back” on kids for the sake of the environment.

What a shame that the global warming alarmists have decided that their misguided attempts to save the planet are of more value than human life.

Link: Slate

There is some good news in the story of Kevin Everett, the tight end for the Buffalo Bills who sustained a life-threatening cervical spine injury during during the Bills’ first game of the regular season this past Sunday. Although doctors first thought that the football player would never walk again, Everett has since been able to voluntarily move his arms and legs a little, which is causing the experts to change their minds.

University of Miami neurologist Barth Green, who has been consulting with the doctors in Buffalo caring for Everett, stated, “Based on our experience, the fact that he’s moving so well, so early after such a catastrophic injury means he will walk again. … It’s totally spectacular, totally unexpected.”

I call it a miracle.

Link: Boston Herald