Keep up with State news. It’s all part of the PLAN.
The mission of the Progressive States Network is to pass progressive legislation in all fifty states by providing coordinated research and strategic advocacy tools to forward-thinking state legislators.
Hot here in Kaleeforneea. But it’s a dry heat.
Where in the world are CG and Knox?
Glad to know I was missed! ;-D
Work interrupted the compilation of Science Headlines this morning for a little bit, but they’re now up.
Sleeping in…thanks for putting this one up, rba!
Astronomers have studied a star on the brink of exploding as a spectacular supernova in unprecedented detail. The star flared up suddenly last February, briefly becoming 1,000 times brighter than normal. It has similarly flared up in the past, but the instruments to study it in detail were not available. In these flares, an explosion so energetic it actually throws an envelope of material off the surface of the star into space occurs – but the flare dies down, rather than mushrooming into a supernova explosion. For that to occur, the star needs to absorb just a bit more matter from a nearby companion. When the final explosion will occur is unknown, but it will be relatively soon: It could be today, or it could be in 10,000 years. We just don’t know. Supernovae of this type are so rare that the last one known in our galaxy was seen in 1572 by the great Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe, who first coined the term nova, for “new star”, not realizing he was in fact witnessing the violent end of an unknown star. Whenever it does happen, the star will be bright enough to be seen in daylight.
In a related story, the most detailed computer simulation yet of the turbulent motion inside an exploding star has been carried out by the world’s foremost supercomputer. The results help explain how nuclear reactions in a star’s core suddenly speed up to produce Type Ia supernovae – some of the most powerful explosions in the universe.
Engineers next month will begin building one of the world’s largest manmade reservoirs — the size of a small city — as efforts continue to restore natural water flow to the Everglades. The reservoir, roughly 25 square miles in area, is set for completion in 2010. The $400 million reservoir will allow water managers to redirect storm drainage, lowering Lake Okeechobee levels and reducing pressure on its aging earthen dike. The diversion will also minimize the need for damaging deluges let loose through the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee estuaries that feed into the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. The stored water will also provide nourishment for the Everglades during dry seasons.
Researchers have made semiconductor light-emitting diodes (LEDs) more than seven times brighter by etching nanoscale grooves in a surrounding cavity to guide scattered light in one direction. (From the photo, it looks similar to a Fresnel lens, used to send a directed beam of light from a lighthouse.) The novel nanostructure may have applications in areas such as in biomedical imaging where LED brightness is crucial.
Medical researchers have found cherry juice can reduce muscle pain and damage induced by exercise, suggests a small study published ahead of print in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. Cherries contain a variety of anti-oxidants and anti-inflammatory compounds.
As large parts of Europe and North America once again bake in an exceptionally hot summer, Reuters provides an analysis of the question many people are asking: “Is this global warming?”
The regions in robins’ brains responsible for singing and mating are shrinking when exposed to high levels of DDT, says new University of Alberta research–the first proof that natural exposure to a contaminant damages the brain of a wild animal.
An interesting ethical dilemma is presented in today’s Christian Science Monitor: Whether it’s better to buy locally produced goods, or imported. The choice is not as clear-cut as you might think…
And finally, since I haven’t had any volcano news for a few days, here are a series of photos of the growing eruption of Mount Mayon in the Philippines.
…Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe, who first coined the term nova, for “new star”…
Which contradicts what I learned in high school Spanish, that “no va” meant “[it] doesn’t go,” which terribly hurt the Latin American sales of a certain make of US car a few decades back…
;-D
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BEIRUT (BBC News) 1 hour ago — US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has said there is an “urgent” need for a ceasefire in Lebanon – but that conditions have to be right. Ms Rice, speaking en route to Israel, said there must be no place for “terrorist groups” like Hezbollah to launch attacks from Lebanese territory.
BEIRUT (AP) — Rice also said there are existing channels for talking with Syrian leaders about resolving the crisis — when they’re ready to talk.
Displaced Lebanese people walk past an anti-U.S banner depicting U.S President George W. Bush, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and the Statue of Liberty bearing a handgun, as they find temporary shelter in the grounds of the university in the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon. AP Photo/Lefteris PitarakisIn recent weeks, the Bush administration has blamed Syria, along with Iran, for stoking the recent violence in the Middle East by encouraging the Lebanese Hezbollah militia to attack northern Israel.
Rice noted that the United States still has a diplomatic mission and State Department officials working in the Syrian capital. “The problem isn’t that people haven’t talked to the Syrians. It’s that the Syrians haven’t acted. It’s not as if we don’t have diplomatic relations,” she said. “We do.”
≈ Cross-posted from my diary — Diplomacy Gaining Support in ME ≈
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."▼ ▼ ▼ MY DIARY
It’s funny how the Israeli’s can allow Condi’s helicopter safe passage, but they keep bombing civilians trying desperately to get out of the war zones.
According to Cheney, it is: AP/Yahoo
He really is a Dick.
Link
Family ordered to flee were targeted because they were driving minivan
Ali Sha’ita, 12, is distraught as he tries to comfort his mother, who was wounded when an Israeli missile hit their vehicle, killing three and injuring 16. Photograph: Sean Smith
The ambulanceman gave Ali the job of keeping his mother alive. The 12-year-old did what he could. “Mama, mama, don’t go to sleep,” he sobbed, gently patting her face beneath her chin. Behind her black veil, her eyelids were slowly sinking. “I’m going to die,” she sighed. “Don’t say that, mama,” Ali begged, and then slid to the ground in tears.
On the pavement around mother and son were the other members of the Sha’ita family, their faces spattered with each other’s blood. All were in varying shades of shock and injury. A tourniquet was tied on Ali’s mother’s arm. A few metres away, his aunt lay motionless, the white T-shirt beneath her abaya stained red. Two sisters hugged each other and wept, oblivious to the medics tending their wounds. “Let them take me, let them take me,” one screamed.heir mother was placed on a stretcher, and lifted into the ambulance. “God is with you, mama,” Ali said. She reached up with her good arm to caress his face.
The Sha’itas had thought they were on the road to safety when they set out yesterday, leaving behind a village which because of an accident of geography – it is five miles from the Israeli border – had seemed to make their home a killing ground. They had been ordered to evacuate by the Israelis.
But they were a little too slow and became separated from the other vehicles fleeing the Israeli air offensive in south Lebanon. Minutes before the Guardian’s car arrived, trailing a Red Cross ambulance on its way to other civilian wounded in another town, an Israeli missile pierced the roof of the Sha’itas’ white van. Three passengers sitting in the third row were killed instantly, including Ali’s grandmother. Sixteen other passengers were wounded. In recent days, families like the Sha’itas are bearing the brunt of Israel’s air campaign and its efforts to rid the area of civilians before ground operations. A day after Israel’s deadline for people to leave their homes and flee north of the Litani river, roads which in ordinary times wind lazily through tobacco fields and banana groves have been turned into highways of death.
I listened to Miles O’Brien on CNN excoriate a Syrian official this morning, insisting that Syria and Hezbollah bore all the responsibility. That kind of jingoistic “reporting” stands in stark contrast to the truth of Israeli planes targeting civilian cars, motorcycles, and even ambulances. Why are Israeli lives more valuable than Lebanese lives? Juan Cole is also on a tear this morning, claiming that both sides are guilty of blatant war crimes. The world is watching in horror and disgust as the US blesses Israel’s aggression with US bombs and jet fuel. Don’t forget, our taxdollars supply Israel with 20% of it’s yearly military budget. We are complicit in this war 100%.