It doesn’t smell right
In a story about the vigilante Web site that first exposed Rep. Mark Foley’s inappropriate relationship with congressional pages, The St. Petersburg Times, a Florida-based newspaper, sought comment from Barry Hollander, a professor in the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication. “If you want to get the word out, this is not the avenue,” he said. “Anyone who is suspicious of this blog has a reason to be. It just doesn’t smell right.”

Why we’re here
The Baltimore Sun quoted UGA geologist Paul Schroeder in an article about scientists examining eastern Russia’s soil for information about how life on Earth began. “We really think this is one of the few spots on Earth you can go to that kind of simulates the conditions of early Earth,” Schroeder said. “That’s really why we’re here.”

Skept-onomic forecast
As its city makes a bid to host the 2016 Olympic Games, Chicagobusiness.com ran an article on the possible economic impact. The Web site asked Jeffrey Humphreys, director of economic forecasting at the Terry College of Business, about Georgia’s bottom line benefits from Atlanta’s 1996 run. “I don’t know that it’s easy to measure the economic impact of an event like this,” Humphreys said. “I tend to look at them with some cynicism.”

Basic math
In a New York Times story summarizing a national report advocating teaching only a few basic math skills in each grade instead of many, mathematics professor Sybilla Beckmann, who helped author the report, helps to explain things. “We tried to identify the really key things, the things a student has to focus on to progress,” she said. “People like to paint this in terms of black and white, back-to-basics and constructivism, but I think there’s a lot of agreement about what students need to know.”

Asia’s critical mass
In an article entitled “Breaking Out of the Invisible Mode,” The Asian Journal quotes Jeffrey Humphreys, director of the Selig Center for Economic Growth at the Terry College of Business. “Asian buying power is attaining critical mass in a growing number of states,” Humphreys said, noting that Asian buying power will grow 434 percent between 1990 and 2011.

If you show it, ratings will come
A Hollywoodindustry.com story on the importance of telenovelas to U.S. Spanish language TV channels quotes Carolina Acosta-Alzuru, an advertising and public relations associate professor in the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication. “Right now, Univision cannot survive without Televisa’s telenovelas,” she said.

Working hard for the money
Roger B. Hill, an associate professor in UGA’s workforce education program, commented on the out-dated notion of Protestant minister’s spurring the economy by preaching salvation through hard work in the Belleville (S.C) NewsDemocrat. Some ministers have been cautious about extolling the virtue of work, he said, “because they didn’t want their parishioners taken advantage of by corporate giants.” But as more people shift from corporate jobs to self-employment, he added, hard work may yield more rewards for the worker.