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Friday News Bucket

by blueneck
Fri Feb 2nd, 2007 at 09:08:59 AM EST

Men fear thought more than they fear anything else on earth -- more than ruin, more even than death. Thought is subversive and revolutionary, destructive and terrible; thought is merciless to privilege, established institutions, and comfortable habits; thought is anarchic and lawless, indifferent to authority, careless of the well-tried wisdom of the ages ... But if thought is to become the possession of many, not the privilege of the few, we must have done with fear. It is fear that holds men back -- fear lest their cherished beliefs should prove delusions, fear lest the institutions by which they live should prove harmful, fear lest they themselves should prove less worthy of respect than they have supposed themselves to be.
-Bertrand Russell

Friday News Bucket | 17 comments (17 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

Science news (4.00 / 8)

Since Knoxville Progressive is not posting today, I thought I'd offer up some science news:

Panel Says Humans `Very Likely' Cause of Global Warming
International scientists and officials hailed a report Friday saying that global warming is ''very likely'' caused by man, and that hotter temperatures and rises in sea level ''would continue for centuries'' no matter how much humans control their pollution. The head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Rajendra Pachauri, called it a ''very impressive document that goes several steps beyond previous research.'' A top U.S. government scientist, Susan Solomon, said ''there can be no question that the increase in greenhouse gases are dominated by human activities.''

You can visit the The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to stay informed about their important work. I'm sure the latest report will be available for download soon, though I couldn't find a link for it yet.

Crude oil lingers from Exxon Valdez spill
Lingering crude from the nation's largest oil spill has weathered only slightly in some places almost 18 years after the tanker Exxon Valdez ran aground and fouled hundreds of miles of Alaska shoreline, a new federal U.S. study released Wednesday concludes.

Site for Next Mars Mission Debated
The original landing spot was nixed after images beamed back by the eagle-eyed Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter unexpectedly showed scores of bus-sized boulders littered over old crater rims on flat plains....Scientists scouring images of the Martian arctic have narrowed options down to three possible candidates for where the spacecraft can safely touch down. They have until March to choose a destination. The three sites are clustered around the north pole, which is believed to have a huge amount of ice just below the surface.

Flies live longer if they can't smell their food
Eating less can lengthen an animal's life. But now it seems that -- for flies at least -- they don't have to actually cut down on the calories to benefit. Fruitflies can boost their lifespan just by not smelling their food.

Granny's tree is tasty find
A Dorset granny's apple tree could be a unique variety that is over 200 years old....83-year-old Diana's great, great grandfather...planted it around 1803 when he bought the house in Beaminster.

Coffee could cure baldness
Scientists say coffee could hold the secret to curing male baldness. They discovered caffeine stimulates the growth of tiny follicles in the scalp in men who are starting to lose their hair.

Quantum mechanics may explain how humans smell
Quantum mechanical tunneling, a process often exploited in technology, occurs when a particle passes through a barrier despite being forbidden by classical physics. This is possible for small-scale objects, such as electrons, due to their wave-like properties. If an odorant molecule's vibrations (or phonons) cause electrons in a nasal receptor to tunnel between energy states, nerve signals are sent to the brain. Different vibrational frequencies are detected by different receptors, so because different odorants have different frequencies, odorants smell different.

Yellow-orange snow falls in Siberian province
Snow ranging in colour from light yellow to orange and carrying a distinctive "musty" odour was observed Wednesday in five districts of Omsk province, which lies in western Siberia and borders Kazakhstan, ITAR-TASS said.

Research Links Change in Brain with Addiction
Repeated abuse of drugs results in long-lasting changes in the function of the reward pathway that leads to craving for drugs and the compulsion for more drugs....the persistent or long-lasting nature (3-6 weeks in animal models equivalent to approximately two years in humans) of this effect helps to explain why it is so difficult to abstain from using cocaine, nicotine, amphetamine and alcohol. In addition, [Roh-Yu Shen, Ph.D] added, it is a time-dependent effect that is not seen immediately after drug use, but rather manifests over a period of time following drug use and intensifies over time.

Time spent driving may up cancer risk
"Our initial findings confirm that there is a correlation between more time spent driving and a higher incidence of left-sided skin cancers, especially on sun-exposed areas in men,"...

The winners of the Olympus BioScapes Digital Imaging Competition have just been announced

And in tech news:
NFL Wants To Remind You That Having People Over To Watch The Super Bowl On A Big Screen Is Copyright Infringement
The NFL apparently nastygrammed a church for planning to host a Super Bowl party.

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. -Margaret Mead

by blueneck on Fri Feb 2nd, 2007 at 09:10:52 AM EST

Re: Science news (4.00 / 6)

Excellent science roundup, blueneck. Those images are really wild. They remind me of fractals.

GREAT quote today.

In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock.- Thomas Jefferson

by Nag on Fri Feb 2nd, 2007 at 09:26:18 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Science news (4.00 / 6)

Thanks. Glad you liked it!

I only do these news buckets when I know one or both of the regulars are out of action and 9am EST goes by without one. I'm glad to step in when I can be of service. I'm a real fan of both CabinGirl and Knoxville Progressive and I really appreciate the news buckets...

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. -Margaret Mead

by blueneck on Fri Feb 2nd, 2007 at 09:33:52 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Science news (4.00 / 4)

Me too! Knox and CG are the best and I also love the newsbucket.

In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock.- Thomas Jefferson

by Nag on Fri Feb 2nd, 2007 at 09:50:49 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Science news (none / 1)

If you love this kind of news - you might want to sign up for the Arlington Institute newsletter. they have a free newsletter called "Future Edition" filled with breaking science news items that are just fascinating. Here's the lastest one. You can sign up from this page as well.

http://www.arlingtoninstitute.org/futuredition/futuredition_05.asp

"If you look for the social economic motive, you will not have to wait for history to tell you what was propaganda and what was truth." - George Seldes

by Real History Lisa (lpeaseRemoveThis@gte.net) on Sat Feb 3rd, 2007 at 03:24:57 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Science news (4.00 / 2)

So two questions:

Does that mean that science will eventually figure out a way to give us smells through a visual image by somehow finding away to stimulate the appropriate neurons??? I can just imagine going to the movies and - oh no, yuck!!!!
Is there wind on Mars? I was trying to imagine a large ice cap "just below the surface" and wondered if wind blew dust over it, and if there was a wind at all there.

"If you look for the social economic motive, you will not have to wait for history to tell you what was propaganda and what was truth." - George Seldes

by Real History Lisa (lpeaseRemoveThis@gte.net) on Fri Feb 2nd, 2007 at 07:36:54 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Science news (none / 0)

1)Hmmm, not sure about that! It still seems to me that some sort of molecule or another would have to make direct contact with those nerves in our noses. I guess I could envision some sort of ray beams, but that is kinda way out there, I think?

2)Wind on Mars is a little easier, because I happen to know a lot more about Mars than I do about quantum ray beams :)

And yes, you are correct that the ice cap on Mars is covered by wind blown dust. It is also quite probable that the ice cap is similar to our "permafrost" in the tundras of the far northern latitudes of earth, where the moisture is contained within the upper layers of sediments. Also, some of the water and CO2 at the poles evaporates/sublimates into the atmosphere and then recondenses and freezes on a seasonal cycle. We'll know a lot better when we get landers on the surface there...

Here's a nice movie of a dust-devil on Mars, captured by the Spirit Rover:

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. -Margaret Mead

by blueneck on Fri Feb 2nd, 2007 at 10:03:50 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Science news (none / 1)

Totally cool moving image!

I got to see Mars up close one time through the huge telescope at Griffith Park in Los Angeles. I was the very last one in line at the end of the night, and the guy running the 'scope let me take my time. Then he brought me a pad and pencil and asked me to sketch what I saw.

He opened a book of images of Mars so we could try to find what part of Mars we were looking at. It was one of the coolest little adventures. He was so nice.

I've been waiting for the reopening of the observatory. It was closed for three years, starting not long before I moved back to Los Angeles. But it's open again. I just haven't had the time. Maybe this weekend, come to think of it. I love that place!

"If you look for the social economic motive, you will not have to wait for history to tell you what was propaganda and what was truth." - George Seldes

by Real History Lisa (lpeaseRemoveThis@gte.net) on Sat Feb 3rd, 2007 at 03:22:54 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Science news (none / 0)

I've spent uncountable hours with my eye to a telescope, as an amateur and as an academic. There is nothing so wondrous as the ability to extend our vision into the universe. I encourage everyone to seek out the local amateur astronomy clubs and attend public nights at the local institutions of higher learning that may have a telescope available. To me, it is like the need for everyone to travel to another country other than their own. It is liberating and broadening and your life will be changed forever.

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. -Margaret Mead

by blueneck on Sat Feb 3rd, 2007 at 04:14:51 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Friday News Bucket (4.00 / 7)

Another smackdown of Bush's EPA:

Link

Court Overturns EPA Approval of Idaho Field Burning
SEATTLE, Washington, February 1, 2007 (ENS) - A federal appeals court Tuesday agreed with public health and environmental groups that a U.S. EPA decision to allow open grass field burning in Idaho was legally flawed.
The ruling came in response a lawsuit challenging a 2005 EPA decision to allow field burning statewidebrought by the Idaho group Safe Air For Everyone, SAFE, and the American Lung Association of Washington.
"This ruling is a victory for clean air," said Earthjustice attorney David Baron, who represented the appellant groups. "The smoke from field burning is so thick it sends people to the hospital and forces people out of their homes."
Even though physicians and doctors in the area have called for an end to open field burning because of its severe health impacts, EPA's 2005 decision allowed the practice to continue.
Washington banned all grass burning in 1998 with no loss to production, but Idaho still allows thousands of acres to be burned every year. Some of the most intensive burning occurs in northern Idaho, particularly in Kootenai and Benewah counties.

Fear will keep the local systems in line. -Grand Moff Tarkin Survivor Left Blogistan

by boran2 (blogistan@yahoo.com) on Fri Feb 2nd, 2007 at 09:34:25 AM EST

Surge= 50,000 troops, up to $13 billion (4.00 / 5)

This will be plastered all over the internet today, but it's important. Last week I reported here that if Bush sends a total of 21,000 troops, at a cost of $5.6 billion, most of those would have to be support troops. Well, here's the real scoop:

Breaking: Double the Troops in "Surge" (Updated)

President Bush and his new military chiefs have been saying for nearly a month that they would "surge" an additional 21,500 troops to Iraq, in a last, grand push to quell the violence in Baghdad and in Anbar Province. But a new study by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office says the real troop increase could be as high as 48,000 -- more than double the number the President initially said.

That's because the combat units that President Bush wants to send into hostile areas need to be backed up by support troops, "including personnel to staff headquarters, serve as military police, and provide communications, contracting, engineering, intelligence, medical, and other services," the CBO notes. [snip]

According to the study, the costs for the "surge" would also be dramatically different than the President has said. The White House estimated a troop escalation would require about $5.6 billion in additional funding for the rest of fiscal year 2007. Of that, about $3.2 billion was supposed to go to the Army and Marines for their escalated activity.

But that figure appears to have been grossly underestimated. The CBO now believes "that costs would range from $9 billion to $13 billion for a four-month deployment and from $20 billion to $27 billion for a 12-month deployment." There's a more detailed analysis of the numbers on pages 3 and 4 of the study, which was sent to House Budget Chairman John Spratt today.

Here's the report from the budget office

So this escalation will have twice as many troops and cost almost three times as much as Bush said. His capacity for deceit is endless.

In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock.- Thomas Jefferson

by Nag on Fri Feb 2nd, 2007 at 09:49:20 AM EST

U.N. - All Female Peacekeepers to Liberia (4.00 / 5)

Liberia gets all-female peacekeeping force

A unit of United Nations peacekeepers with a difference has arrived for work in Liberia - they are all women.

More than 100 female peacekeepers from India are there to work as an armed police unit to help stabilise Liberia which, after years of war, is trying to rebuild its own police force from scratch.

Stepping off the chartered plane in immaculate blue uniforms and berets, the 103 women were immediately on parade and probably bewildered by the media frenzy.

It is just a coincidence that the first all-female peacekeeping force is in Liberia, the first African country to elect a female president, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf.

The first all-female unit of United Nations peacekeepers stand at attention as they arrive at Roberts International Airport outside Liberia's capital Monrovia.

"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."

by Oui on Fri Feb 2nd, 2007 at 09:56:01 AM EST

Pa has a real energy plan! (4.00 / 5)

Link

Rendell unveils energy strategy for Pa.

Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell announced a new energy initiative on Thursday that is designed to reduce the state's dependence on foreign fuels and cut energy bills for consumers and businesses by $10 billion over the next 10 years.

Called the Energy Independence Strategy, the initiative includes the creation of an $850 million fund which would be paid for with an additional charge to electric bills. The charge would be 45 cents per month for the average residential customer, about $3 per month for the average commercial customer, $74 per month for the average industrial customer, and would be capped at a maximum of $10,000 per year for large industrial customers.[snip]

The bulk of the fund, $500 million, would be used to support clean energy projects employing solar, advanced coal, energy efficiency and other technologies. The remaining funds would be used to provide rebates and grants to consumers toward the purchase of energy-efficient appliances and solar panels ($244 million) and for venture capital, grants and loans to support expansion of energy companies ($106 million).

WooHoo! There is also a state law that states that solar/wind/alternative energy systems added to homesteads cannot be assessed or taxed. With these incentives in place, I'm hoping to have some sort of wind/solar system in place here on the farm by the end of this year. Perhaps Congress can also come through with some federal incentives for homeowners. I have a feeling that homeowners will be adding solar/wind in droves here in Pa.

In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock.- Thomas Jefferson

by Nag on Fri Feb 2nd, 2007 at 10:01:15 AM EST

Re: Friday News Bucket (4.00 / 6)

Bad news for Darfur.

Chinese leader boosts Sudan ties

Chinese President Hu Jintao has agreed a series of economic deals in Sudan, which China has protected from UN sanctions over the Darfur conflict.
The deals include grants and loans, a new presidential palace, as well as schools and roads. China already buys most of Sudan's oil.
Western countries want China to press Sudan to end the Darfur violence but it is not clear whether it was discussed.

John McCain - Less Jobs More War

by ask on Fri Feb 2nd, 2007 at 10:02:32 AM EST

Bush's plan to escalate and expand the war (4.00 / 5)

I know you've read and heard a lot on this subject, but this piece from Consortium News is quite frightening and well worth the read.

Iran Clock Is Ticking

[snip]

But there is growing alarm among military and intelligence experts that Bush already has decided to attack and simply is waiting for a second aircraft carrier strike force to arrive in the region - and for a propaganda blitz to stir up some pro-war sentiment at home.

One well-informed U.S. military source called me in a fury after consulting with Pentagon associates and discovering how far along the war preparations are. He said the plans call for extensive aerial attacks on Iran, including use of powerful bunker-busting ordnance.

Another source with a pipeline into Israeli thinking said the Iran war plan has expanded over the past several weeks. Earlier thinking had been that Israeli warplanes would hit Iranian nuclear targets with U.S. forces in reserve in case of Iranian retaliation, but now the strategy anticipates a major U.S. military follow-up to an Israeli attack, the source said.

Both sources used the same word "crazy" in describing the plan to expand the war to Iran. The two sources, like others I have interviewed, said that attacking Iran could touch off a regional - and possibly global - conflagration.

"It will be like the TV show `24'," the American military source said, citing the likelihood of Islamic retaliation reaching directly into the United States.

According to Robert Parry, the author, Bush may well see a widening of the war as a way to blame his Iraq mistakes on Iran, turn around war support in the US, and get the upper hand on a hostile Congress. So the escalation in Iraq is only a ploy to widen the war into Iran. He thinks that his legacy will be saved if he attacks Iran. More than ever, Bush is delusional, misguided, and has set himself up as all powerful. It's going to be a rough 2 years.

In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock.- Thomas Jefferson

by Nag on Fri Feb 2nd, 2007 at 10:18:54 AM EST

Turkey to Probe Assassin Video (4.00 / 3)

Turkey to probe journalist Dink killer video

Turkey has launched an inquiry into video footage showing the teenager charged with the murder of a Turkish-Armenian journalist posing with the Turkish flag and security officials after his arrest.

Turkish media reports said that images from the released footage suggested that Ogun Samast was treated like a hero for killing Hrant Dink.

The suspect posed with a Turkish flag next to security officials (AFP)

In a press conference, Turkish police promised to investigate the footage and punish those responsible.

Samast, a 17-year-old unemployed youth, had confessed to the murder of Hrant Dink who was shot dead outside his Istanbul office last month.

Turkey's leading television channels showed video footage of Samast posing in front of a Turkish flag and also holding anther flag next to security officials dressed in para-military and regular police uniforms shortly after his arrest on January 21.

"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."

by Oui on Fri Feb 2nd, 2007 at 12:24:20 PM EST

Cervical Cancer Vaccine Mandatory for Girls (4.00 / 2)

Texas Requires Cancer Vaccine for Girls

AUSTIN, Texas Feb 2, 2007 (AP)-- Bypassing the Legislature, Republican Gov. Rick Perry signed an order making Texas the first state to require that schoolgirls get vaccinated against the sexually transmitted virus that causes cervical cancer.

Beginning in September 2008, girls entering the sixth grade meaning, generally, girls ages 11 and 12 will have to get Gardasil, Merck & Co.'s new vaccine against strains of the human papillomavirus, or HPV.

Merck is bankrolling efforts to pass state laws across the country mandating Gardasil for girls as young as 11 or 12. It doubled its lobbying budget in Texas and has funneled money through Women in Government, an advocacy group made up of female state legislators around the country.

The New Jersey-based drug company could generate billions in sales if Gardasil at $360 for the three-shot regimen were made mandatory across the country. Most insurance companies now cover the vaccine, which has been shown to have no serious side effects.

GARDASIL is given as 3 injections over 6 months and can cause pain, swelling, itching, and redness at the injection site, fever, nausea, and dizziness. Only a doctor or healthcare professional can decide if GARDASIL is right for you or your daughter.

"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."

by Oui on Fri Feb 2nd, 2007 at 05:01:38 PM EST

Friday News Bucket | 17 comments (17 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

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