How I Chose My Winners and Losers For 2005

A few days out from my list of winners and losers for 2005, some of you may wonder why I chose whom I did and why some obvious candidates were left out.

Some of you may be wondering, for example, why I included Jane Fonda for making her first movie since 1990, even though Monster In-Law opened in the theaters in the spring and was out on DVD by the summer. That's a good point, to be sure, but the fact that Jane Fonda made a movie at all after fifteen years out of Hollywood - and apparently held her own opposite Jennifer Lopez, no slouch herself when it comes to being larger than life - was enough to grab my attention. Plus, she did publish her autobiography and also saw her father commemorated on a postage stamp. I couldn't ignore her. Some will ask why I didn't include newly re-elected New York mayor Michael Bloomberg or newly elected New Jersey governor Jon Corzine. Bloomberg was a close call, and he deserves credit for coming back from low approval ratings early in his first term to win a second term, but he's certainly not the first politician to make such a comeback and besides, re-elected incumbents are old hat these days. As for Corzine, he's inherited quite a mess by taking over the governorship of New Jersey. Plus, considering that the last three elected governors of my home state have left the office under dubious circumstances - two of them not even completing their terms - I feel more like I should offer Corzine condolences rather than congratulations.

As for the losers. . . . Why, you may ask, did I not include NBC after making fun of the once-proud "peacock" television network all year? Because I named two of its noted talents, Jason Lee and Steve Carell, as winners for their individual achievements; naming NBC a loser in that respect would have negated their "winner" status. Others may be surprised that I didn't name rock radio as a loser because of its alarming disappearance from the American landscape. It's worth noting, though, that many rock stations remain on the air, particularly on suburban stations in major metropolitan areas, and there are plenty of rock stations on satellite radio, which is booming, and Internet radio, which is also booming. And truth be told, all broadcast radio in America, not just rock radio, has been at death's door for a long time. Not surprisingly, it's starting to stink. :-O

I would, however, like to add one more loser to my list - the South Korean scientist Hwang Woo-suk, for faking stem cell research that claimed to have produced eleven new stem cell lines that could have been harnessed to find cures for various diseases. Not only did he needlessly get people's hopes up, bring disgrace upon himself, and create the biggest scientific fraud since two University of Utah scientists claimed that had created nuclear fusion at low temperatures in 1989 but couldn't back it up with hard evidence, he politicized an already politicized debate in the United States about stem cell research and whether it's practical or even ethical. For that, Dr. Hwang - he's a veterinary doctor - is clearly not only a loser of the year, but a big fat zero of this decade, the zeroes.

Naughty, naughty (pun intended!). The last thing science needs is a dose of science fiction.