This week in Pittsburgh...

It's been quite the interesting week in Pittsburgh...

Monday, we saw the triumphant return of Sidney Crosby to the Pens lineup, scoring 2 goals and 2 assists. It's good to have him back!

Tuesday, we find another school (Pine-Richland HS) evacuated due to an empty bomb threat by an unknown source. Luckily the police didn't find anything, but this type of occurrence appears to be increasing in frequency over the years. Hopefully the police are able to develop ways of tracking down the culprits more effectively and perhaps harsher punishments would deter this type of event from happening.

Wednesday, a black flood of tar-like roofing sealant was spilled along the turnpike as the tanker truck drove from New Castle to Oakmont with an open valve allowing the substance to spill along the turnpike. Nearly 300 cars reported getting stuck in the goo and having to be towed due to damage from the sealant. Crews spent all night and the next day scraping sealant off of the road.

Thursday, we all celebrate Thanksgiving...except for those who have to work at any of the retailers who decided to open their doors at midnight rather than early on Black Friday. Sucks to be the person who needs to catch a few Z's in the middle of Thanksgiving so that they can stay awake while they work at midnight.

Friday, a lot of people celebrate Black Friday by camping out the night before and rushing in the doors of their favorite retailers to get some of the best deals of the year. Black Friday originally got its name for being the most disruptive day of the year for pedestrian and vehicle traffic, but it later turned more into explaining the day that retailers start turning a profit for the year, ie. being "in the black".

The political block

What was the "super committee"? and does it really matter that its members failed to reach a compromise?

The committee itself was one of the most over the top and ridiculous attempts at bi-partisanship ever attempted. Last summer, as the U.S. faced a debt default the 11th hour agreement reached called for a bicameral, bipartisan committee of eight (two House Republicans, two House Democrats, two Senate Republicans and two Senate Democrats) to agree on a plan to reduce the national debt. If they did not agree on a plan by Thanksgiving automatic spending reductions of $1.2 Billion would go into effect (split about evenly between defense and social programs).

As one might expect failure is exactly what happened.

But does it really matter? I say no. The mere fact that this committee existed shows the national dialogue has shifted from "what can the government do for me?" to "we need to get spending under control!". The reason for failure was not for a lack of effort. The Republicans on the committee actually presented two distinct proposals, one of which would have closed numerous loop holes in the tax code, essentially raising taxes on the rich. I believe this failure presents a great opportunity for the electorate to decide (rightly or not) how to reduce our national debt. With the current debt near $15 Trillion (yes with a "T") I think America will once again prove Winston Churchill prophetic when he said "Americans can always be counted on to do the right thing...after they have exhausted all other possibilities."

It is now up to the American people to determine what the right course of action will be.

NOTW (Nostalgia of the Week)

DINO-RIDERS...PURE AWESOME!!!

For those of you who don't remember, Dino-Riders was a short lived television show that was mainly created to spawn a Tyco toy line that featured two future races that accidentally traveled back in time and outfitted dinosaurs with armor and lasers to battle one another! Awesome!

Science Talk

Recently, there was a study conducted by an Italy particle accelerator research laboratory (OPERA) that laid claim to the possibility that certain particles exhibited a testable ability to travel faster than the speed of light, which would contradict Einstein's theory of relativity that sets the speed of light as an ultimate speed limit, so to speak. Although the scientists claimed they were merely announcing their observations on one test and not announcing a discovery, the social media machine has continued its proud tradition of taking one statement and blowing things out of proportion; however...

a few days ago, another laboratory run by Italy's National Institute of National Physics, which also was testing neutrinos beamed by the CERN laboratory, claimed that their measurements were not superluminal (faster than light) and that their observations met their calculated expectations. Whether or not human error is to blame for the contradicting observations, more experiments studying the possible phenomenon are currently planned at Fermilab and at the KEK laboratory in Japan.

In the end, I hope that the general public doesn't become even more jaded to science news due to the manner these announcements have been handled. So much of the general public already seem to have an aversion to the science community, especially those studying the concepts of global warming and fossil fuels. Scientific communities, such as the scientists at CERN laboratory, have worked tirelessly to promote an environment of understanding free of political bias, and it is my hope that all of us can eventually come to appreciate the work they've done in trying to understand the universe.

Consider the following...

As we approach Black Friday, I always debate whether or not it's worth going out for the exciting deals found in some of my favorite stores, like Best Buy, Target, Walmart, etc. Does the reward of saving money on vanity items that I probably don't really need outweigh the annoyance of fighting my way through hordes of consumers and apparent dangers that have arisen from this day (the risk of being trampled or robber at gun/knife point).

Which brings me to today's thought:

Are the stores that create the situations where stampedes of shoppers trample over individuals responsible for creating hazardous environments for both workers as well as consumers?

Or are the deal greedy consumers who can't control their basic instincts to blame for the hazards of Black Friday shopping?

What can stores do to create a safer environment

HOTW (Hero of the Week)

Sidney Crosby is back!!!

After missing 61 regular season games in a row, it has been announced today that Sidney Crosby is returning to the ice for the Pittsburgh Penguins against the New York Islanders on Monday. Coach Bylsma stated he's planning on starting him with wingers Chris Kunitz and Pascal Dupuis. Regardless of whether or not you feel like the Pens have been playing great without their captain, you have to admit that it's great to have Sid back!