Friday News Bucket

12 Comments

1. 

   Knoxville Progressive on February 16, 2007 at 10:25 am

   We have new evidence that fluids, likely including water, once flowed widely through underlying bedrock in a canyon that is part of the great Martian rift valley. New color images from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter show an equatorial landscape of hills composed of dozens of alternating layers of dark- and light-toned rocks, and crossed by dark sand dunes.  Within those layered deposits, the exquisitely detailed images show, there are a series of linear fractures, called joints, that are surrounded by “halos” of light-toned bedrock. Researchers say the “halos” offer clear evidence of past fluid flow through the bedrock.

   Scientists have successfully generated electricity from heat by trapping organic molecules between metal nanoparticles, an achievement that could pave the way toward the development of a new source for energy.  “Generating 1 watt of power [currently] requires about 3 watts of heat input and involves dumping into the environment the equivalent of about 2 watts of power in the form of heat,” said Arun Majumdar, UC Berkeley professor of mechanical engineering and principal investigator of the study. “If even a fraction of the lost heat can be converted into electricity in a cost-effective manner, the impact it would have on energy can be enormous, amounting to massive savings of fuel and reductions in carbon dioxide emissions.”

   Giant “blisters” containing water that rapidly expand and contract have been mapped beneath the Antarctic ice sheet.  Fed by a complex network of rivers, the subglacial reservoirs force the overlying ice to rise and fall. By tracking these changes with NASA’s Ice Cloud and land Elevation Satellite, scientists were able to map the extent of the subglacial plumbing, which affects the rate at which glaciers flow to the sea, and thus future sea level rises due to global warming.

   Indonesia Playing Bird-flu Poker:
   Indonesia has launched a high-stakes bid to ensure it gets a vaccine against pandemic flu. Last week, David Heymann, the man in charge of pandemic flu at the World Health Organization, revealed that Indonesia – current epicentre of H5N1 flu outbreaks – has refused to send WHO labs any samples of H5N1 virus since the start of the year. Its complaint: the samples are used to make commercial vaccines from which the country will get nothing.

   Indonesia’s challenge has worried flu experts. Unless Indonesian viruses are sequenced abroad, scientists cannot track the evolution of the virus in the very country where an H5N1 pandemic now seems most likely to emerge. The WHO has been in talks with the Indonesian government since last November trying to settle the dispute, and this week flu experts will meet in Geneva to discuss the issue further.

   But the Indonesians may have already found their own solution: last week they signed an agreement with US vaccine maker Baxter, based near Chicago. A Baxter spokesman refused to divulge details, but reports suggest that researchers will have free access to Indonesian H5N1, while Baxter will hold the sole commercial rights – in return for helping to build Indonesian vaccine plants.

   It is widely expected that if a serious pandemic strikes, countries with vaccine plants will commandeer vaccine for their own citizens. Indonesia’s move seems calculated to ensure its own supply.

   And, finally, a story with a lot of food for thought:

   When making tough choices about terrorism, troop surges or crime, researchers have found most people usually go with their gut.  The human brain is set up to simultaneously process two kinds of information: the emotional and the factual. But in most people, emotional responses are much stronger than the rational response and usually take over.  Researchers asked individuals to consider two risk scenarios common in many state parks. One involved crime — vandalism and purse snatching — and the other involved damage to property from white-tailed deer, such as auto-deer collisions. The participants were asked to indicate which problem required more attention from risk managers.  While the actual risks were roughly equal, people consistently gave crime more attention, even when the numbers showed that the risks from deer were much worse. Researchers had to ratchet up the deer damage until it was ridiculously high before people noticed that it was a higher risk than crime.

   • 

     CabinGirl on February 16, 2007 at 11:00 am

     Thanks for putting the bucket up Knox…I slept in and got busy with other stuff this morning.

     Happy Friday!

2. 

   CabinGirl on February 16, 2007 at 10:57 am

   (who performed at Bush’s inaugurations festivities, BTW), gives W the finger: ABC

   At a recent concert, the 35-year-old singer stuck up his middle finger when he sang the president’s name in his song “Asignatura Pendiente,” which includes the words, “a photo with Bush.” The gesture last Friday prompted cheers from thousands of fans in the San Juan stadium.

   On Thursday, the Puerto Rican heartthrob repeated his criticism of the Iraq war and explained his changed position on Bush.

   “My convictions of peace and life go beyond any government and political agenda and as long as I have a voice onstage and offstage, I will always condemn war and those who promulgate it,” Martin said about his action in an e-mail statement sent to The Associated Press via a spokesman.

   Now, why is Ricky Martin expected to defend giving Bush the finger, when Bush gives the whole world the finger every day he’s president and gets a free pass from the lapdog press (see Steven D’s shrill and vituperative takedown of Broder’s lunacy on the front page for an example)?

3. 

   CabinGirl on February 16, 2007 at 10:59 am

   that extraordinary rendition is a crime: WashPo

   A judge Friday indicted 26 Americans and five Italians in the abduction of an Egyptian terror suspect on a Milan street in what would be the first criminal trial stemming from the CIA’s extraordinary rendition program.

   The judge set a trial date for June 8, although the Americans, who have all left the country, almost certainly will not be returned to Italy.

   Prosecutors allege that five Italian intelligence officials worked with the Americans to seize Muslim cleric Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr on Feb. 17, 2003.

   Nasr was allegedly transferred by vehicle to the Aviano Air Base near Venice, then by air to the Ramstein Air Base in Germany, and on to Egypt, where his lawyer says he was tortured. Nasr was freed earlier this week by an Egyptian court that found his four years of detention in Egypt “unfounded,” and he is at a family home in Alexandria.

   Too bad it’s Italy and not the US.

4. 

   CabinGirl on February 16, 2007 at 11:18 am

   I missed this news Wednesday, and I like chicklet’s write up at Blue House Diaries.

5. 

   idredit on February 16, 2007 at 3:17 pm

   Anyone read Bob Dreyfuss’ new piece?

   Breakdown At The Iraq Lie Factory

   It was, President Bush must have been thinking, a heck of a lot easier five years ago. Back in 2002, the president had a smoothly running lie factory humming along in the Pentagon, producing reams of fake intelligence about Iraq, led by Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Doug Feith and his Office of Special Plans. Back then, he had a tightly knit cabal of neoconservatives, led by I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, based in Vice President Dick Cheney’s office, to carry out a coordinated effort to distribute the lies to the media. And he had a chorus of yes-men in the Republican-controlled Congress ready to echo the party line.

   In 2007, Bush stands nearly alone, and he never looked lonelier than during a bumbling, awkward news conference on the Iraq-Iran tangle Wednesday.

   Feith is long gone, and last week his lie factory was exposed by the Pentagon’s own inspector general, who told Congress that Feith had pretty much made up everything that his rogue intelligence unit manufactured. Libby is long gone, apparently about to be sentenced to jail for lying about Cheney’s frantic effort to cover up the lie factory’s work…”[.]

   Unlike 2002, when the White House fired salvo after salvo of fake intelligence about Iraq, today it can’t even stage its lies properly. Like the incompetents who couldn’t organize a two-car funeral, the remaining Iran war hawks in the administration held a briefing in Baghdad on Sunday to present alleged evidence that Iran is masterminding the insurgency in Iraq. But it was a comedy of errors that convinced no one.

   It gets better, read on.

   • 

     olivia on February 16, 2007 at 3:28 pm

     Thanks for the link idredit …

     Heh:

     Like the incompetents who couldn’t organize a two-car funeral, the remaining Iran war hawks in the administration held a briefing in Baghdad on Sunday to present alleged evidence that Iran is masterminding the insurgency in Iraq. But it was a comedy of errors that convinced no one.

     Unfortunately, the ending isn’t as strong:

     The rest of us can only shake our heads in wonder that the president thinks he can get away with this.

     There has to be more than head shaking — cause that’s precisely how he has gotten away w/ everything.

6. 

   Man Eegee on February 16, 2007 at 5:37 pm

   A miner in the state of Chiapas found a tiny tree frog that has been preserved in amber for 25 million years, a researcher said. If authenticated, the preserved frog would be the first of its kind found in Mexico, according to David Grimaldi, a biologist and curator at the American Museum of Natural History, who was not involved in the find.

   The chunk of amber containing the frog, less than half an inch long, was uncovered by a miner in Mexico’s southern Chiapas state in 2005 and was bought by a private collector, who lent it to scientists for study. – linkage (with cool pic)

   • 

     ask on February 16, 2007 at 6:46 pm

     Cool!
     Here’s a real big copy of the picture that I saw in a Norwegian paper, just before leaving work (advantage this timezone).

     curly’s just back, we’re having friends over for tapas and wine (lots).

7. 

   Man Eegee on February 16, 2007 at 5:48 pm

   The Smoking Gun has Rudy’s demands when speaking at events.

8. 

   AP on February 16, 2007 at 10:28 pm

   …but why did I glance at the diary list, saw your name and “Friday” and thought you had penned a jazz jam?

   Not that I’m trying to throw big, obvious hints around, because you, I’d never do that, but I swear, my face just lit up.

   That’s all. Gotta go check on the parents tomorrow so I’m off to bed!

   I’m just sayin’…!!!

   • 

     olivia on February 16, 2007 at 10:43 pm

     🙂