At the worst, a house unkept cannot be so distressing as a life unlived.
– Dame Rose Macaulay
– Dame Rose Macaulay
Recent Posts
- Day 14: Louisiana Senator Approvingly Compares Trump to Stalin
- Day 13: Elon Musk Flexes His Muscles
- Day 12: While Elon Musk Takes Over, We Podcast With Driftglass and Blue Gal
- Day 11: Harm of Fascist Regime’s Foreign Aid Freeze Comes Into View
- Day 10: The Fascist Regime Blames a Plane Crash on Nonwhite People
about the War on Terra: AP/Yahoo
I guess Bush finally killed science enough so they have to revert to bluegill technology. Wierd.
This is exactly the fish that my dad used to say was a guide to whether we could eat the fish! If we caught a bluegill, then any other fish in the same water would be safe. I’m floored! I can’t believe they are using the fish in that manner. (and wonder how my dad knew that about bluegill)
True confession: My first fish, caught at the age of 5, was a bluegill.
Check this link! Auroras viewed from space
Great images.
Here are plenty more – check the slideshow (link on the top bar).
Thanks, ask… I was so ga ga over those pics that I totally missed that link.
Bill Moyers returns to PBS this October:
Three Documentary Series Investigates Key Issues Facing Democracy
NEW YORK, Sept. 8 /PRNewswire/ — Journalist Bill Moyers returns to
investigative reporting in October with three documentaries taking on
important issues facing the nation in the upcoming elections for control of
Congress. In Moyers on America, airing Wednesdays, October 4, 11, and 18 at
9 p.m. on PBS (check local listings), Moyers and his team travel the nation
to report on political corruption, Christians and the environment, and
democratic access to the Internet.
Here’s a preview of the three hard hitting investigative reports Bill has lined up. Oct 4: CapitalCrimes; Oct 11: Is God Green?; and finally Oct 18: The Net at Risk. I for one can’t wait for Bill’s return. Fire up the Tivo.
Link
Halliburton will help its combat-zone employees get the honors and recognition they deserve — if they promise not to sue the company. That’s according to new documents released today by Senate Democrats.
Ray Stannard was a truck driver in Iraq for Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown and Root. In 2003, he was part of a fuel convoy that was ambushed by insurgents. Seven Americans died in the attack and 26 were injured, including Stanner. He is suing the company.
His company knew the convoy’s route was dangerous and unprotected, he says, but sent the convoy through anyway. “What they did was murder,” Stannard told CBS News recently. “And I stick by that.”
The circumstances of his injuries qualified Stanner for the U.S. Defense of Freedom medal, the civilian equivalent to a soldier’s Purple Heart. In offering to forward Stanner’s medical records to the Department of Defense so they could confirm and appove his award, KBR required him to sign a release form. (You can see the document here.)
Just like the Bush administration: Shut your mouth – get a medal.
England’s warming ‘not natural’
No matter how many reports like this one come out, the US won’t lift a finger to improve greenhouse emissions until we kick out the corportist Republicans. (and weed out some of the corportist Democrats as well)
150 injured as Hungarians riot over PM’s lies
Eight new species of shrimp, 20 new species of coral, and 24 new species of fish, including two types of sharks, have been discovered in an aqueous Eden off the coast of Indonesia: Male wrasse fish that flash bright yellow, blue, and purple for their mates; bottom-dwelling epaulette sharks which get around by “walking” on their fins; and shrimp that resemble praying mantises. Conservationists called the 6,950-square-mile Bird’s Head Seascape “the epicenter of marine biodiversity on the planet”; researchers have counted 1,200 species of fish and 600 species of coral there, a greater concentration of species than is found at the Great Barrier Reef. Of course, the ecosystem is in danger, threatened by commercial fishing vessels, local fishers who use dynamite and cyanide, and erosion from mining and logging. Only 11 percent of the area is currently protected, but Indonesia’s Fisheries Ministry is hoping to increase the number of regional marine parks.
An MIT professor has designed a deep-sea floating wind turbine tethered to the sea floor capable of withstanding hurricane-force winds. The system is designed to be installed far enough offshore (up to 100 miles) that it cannot be seen or heard from land, addressing complaints of coastal residents and taking advantage of strong offshore winds to generate electricity.
The Mars rovers just keep going, like the Energizer Bunny. Here is a slide show of their 2006 excellent adventures. Here are views from the Opportunity rover at Beagle Crater, as it approaches the much larger and highly anticipated Victoria Crater in a few days.
In some places the smartest way to safeguard the water supply is to let it drain out of the reservoirs and soak into the ground, avoiding evaporative losses. That’s what been discovered in local water shortages in Kansas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico – all of which could be microcosms of water shortage issues looming throughout the Western U.S.
The creation of international nuclear fuel centers would ensure non-discriminatory access to nuclear energy, Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested Monday in a message sent to participants of the 50th International Atomic Energy Agency General Conference in Vienna; further improvement of the global nuclear energy infrastructure, under the supervision of the IAEA, will boost nuclear security, he said.
Weather conditions in the eastern Pacific Ocean have been found to predict the occurrence or failure of the Indian monsoons on which a billion people depend.
Don’t bet on it yet, but some astronomers are predicting the sun is about to enter a quiet period, with few sunspots. Such periods are believed to result in cooler weather on earth, such as the “little ice age”. Should this come to pass, we would gain a reprieve of a few decades – to possibly more than a century – to adopt non-global-warming energy technologies before disastrous changes hit. (Subscription needed for full story) But inaction would NOT be an option, as if we did nothing, the warming after the cool spell ended would be ferocious.
Get the lead out: Two new reports have been published on health problems associated with elevated blood lead – Blood lead levels generally considered safe may be associated with an increased risk of death from many causes, including cardiovascular disease and stroke, and about one-third of attention deficit disorder (ADD) cases among U.S. children may be linked with tobacco smoke before birth or to lead exposure afterward. The second study is available online here.
As reported on NPR this morning, a journalist reports on his chemical journey of discovering just how contaminated his body is by environmental chemicals – link to National Geographic story.
The state of Louisiana finally appears to be heeding the scientists and engineers calling for diversion of the Mississippi River to allow its sediments to naturally replenish eroding coastal wetlands, the NY Times reports.
Federal officials warned California farmers to improve produce safety in November, nearly a year before the current E. coli outbreak linked to spinach.
Moving the Mississippi: What wonderful news this is. I’m glad that Louisianna State offocials have seen the light. That article is fascinating.
“”It’s a lot,” she said, enough to cover 60 square miles half an inch deep every year, an amount that would slow or even reverse land loss in the state’s marshes, which have shrunk by about a quarter, more than 1,500 square miles, since the 1930’s.“
Instead of loosing land every year, they’d gain just a little.
More hypocricy from the regime; now in the face of genocide:
Bush blocks campaign to put pressure on Sudan over Darfur
Which emboldens the local rulers:
Sudan’s 2nd vice president confident UN won’t enter Darfur
Monday’s Democracy Now! broadcast included this segment on Darfur and they discussed this very issue. Excerpts:
JASON MILLER: So, the general concept of divestment is that right now there are no economic levers or pressure from the U.S. on Sudan, because the U.S. already had sanctions on Sudan because it’s a state sponsor of terrorism. But as U.S. citizens, we can exert pressure on companies that are significantly supporting the Sudanese government and allowing them to carry out their military campaign. And so, what we’re trying to do across the country is pull that economic lever so that Sudan has a buy-in into creating peace in Darfur.[snip]
AMY GOODMAN: Who is putting pressure, who pulled these sections of the bill out?
JASON MILLER: Well, the current Section 11, which helped to give federal protection to states divesting, was pulled out by Senator Lugar, who is chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. And he just introduced that – pulled that revised version last Monday.
AMY GOODMAN: And who’s putting pressure on him?
JASON MILLER: We don’t know the exact people. We do know that the National Foreign Trade Council, which is a coalition of the largest multinationals with a presence in the U.S., is actively against the Sudan divestment campaign.
Illinois currently has a divestment bill. The Trade Council mentioned above is suing Illinois. Who are they protecting? Those companies who do the most harm are mostly “oil and energy companies from China, Russia, India, Malaysia, and to some degree France. And not surprisingly, these are the same countries, especially China and Russia, that are impeding a lot of international action on the issue of Darfur. They’re protecting their commercial interests in the country.
So, worldwide, money trumps human lives hands down.