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Latest Articles: Science/Tech
Ringing the alarm for Earth
Post Date: 2005-07-17 23:48:55 by 1776
5 Comments
Peter Raven is a botanist. He knows about photosynthesis, primary productivity and sustainable growth. He knows that all flesh is grass; that the richest humans and the hungriest alike depend ultimately on plants for food, fuel, clothing, medicines and shelter, and that all of these come from the kiss of the sun on warm moist soils, to quicken growth and ripen grain. So botanists such as Raven begin with the big picture of sustainable growth and can calculate to the nearest planet how much land and sea it would take to sustain the population of the world if everybody lived as comfortably as the Americans, British or French. The answer is three planets. The global population is about to ...
Want to Listen to Internet Audio Away From Your Computer? Get This Great Gadget!
Post Date: 2005-07-16 21:50:46 by Arator
7 Comments
It's called Rocket FM and it's slick. Just plug it into your USB port and BAM...you can listen to Audio from your computer on FM from any radio/stereo in a 30 ft radius.
Works like a charm.
Human Feces Powers Rwandan Prison
Post Date: 2005-07-16 19:35:19 by RickyJ
3 Comments
Imagine eating food that was cooked using natural gas generated from your own human waste. Thousands of prisoners in Rwanda don't have to imagine it -- they live it. Prisoners' feces is converted into combustible "biogas," or methane gas that can be used for cooking. It has reduced by 60 percent the annual wood-fuel costs which would otherwise reach near $1 million, according to Silas Lwakabamba, rector of the Kigali Institute of Science, Technology and Management, where the technology was developed. Last month, the Rwandan prison biogas facilities received an Ashden Award for sustainable energy. The award, which comes with a prize worth nearly $50,000, is given by the Ashden ...
Sea life in peril - plankton vanishing - Usual seasonal influx of cold water isn't happening
Post Date: 2005-07-16 11:45:51 by Red Jones
3 Comments
Sea life in peril - plankton vanishing - Usual seasonal influx of cold water isn't happening Glen Martin, Chronicle Environment Writer Tuesday, July 12, 2005 Oceanic plankton have largely disappeared from the waters off Northern California, Oregon and Washington, mystifying scientists, stressing fisheries and causing widespread seabird mortality. The phenomenon could have long-term implications if it continues: a general decline in near-shore oceanic life, with far fewer fish, birds and marine mammals. No one is certain how long the condition will last. But even a short duration could severely affect seabird populations because of drastically reduced nesting success, scientists say. ...
Natural Petroleum: NO Connection With Biological Matter; abiotic oil noted by oil industry
Post Date: 2005-07-16 10:04:12 by Grumble Jones
3 Comments
"The claims which have traditionally been put forward to argue a connection between natural petroleum and biological matter have been subjected to scientific scrutiny and have been established to be baseless." However, the Rockfeller family and their ilk recommend you continue to be duped because your attempt to believe otherwise endangers their political power and their profit margins. So if you want to endanger their political power, read on. Assorted PIMC links from the very hot debate (or rather the angry denial) of this phenomena. Understanding this really helps you grasp the whole power structure of the world at present: corporate fascist, fake environmentalist, eugenic ...
Tapping Gushers Beneath The Gushers
Post Date: 2005-07-16 09:51:47 by MUDDOG
13 Comments
Many people think of oil deposits as vast underground lakes, and oil wells as big straws that suck up the liquid gold. Eventually, the lake is drained, so the oil company packs up its gear and moves on. If this were really how things worked, the dwindling size of recent oil and natural gas discoveries would be alarming -- feeding gloomy predictions that crude oil production is approaching its peak. In fact, when major oil outfits abandon wells, they usually leave a lot behind. The reservoirs under most U.S. wells drilled in the past century may still hold twice the amount of oil that has been sucked to the surface. The reason is Geology 101: Oil is locked in the pores of rock layers deep ...
Mouse study suggests Alzheimer's damage reversible
Post Date: 2005-07-15 08:20:18 by gengis gandhi
3 Comments
Mouse study suggests Alzheimer's damage reversible By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent Thu Jul 14, 2:06 PM ET WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Tests on mice suggest the brain damage caused by Alzheimer's disease may be at least partly reversible, researchers reported Thursday. Their genetically altered mice regained the ability to navigate mazes after the genes that caused their dementia were de-activated. This suggests that the brain damage caused by Alzheimer's is not permanent, they wrote in their report, published in the journal Science. "I was astonished. I didn't believe the results when I saw them," said Alzheimer's researcher Karen Ashe of the University of ...
Hunting for Cops
Post Date: 2005-07-15 07:42:57 by historian1944
4 Comments
Hunting for Cops by William S. Lind Until very recently, an article titled "Hunt for Cops" might have described a city's effort to recruit more police officers. Sadly, that was not the message of an article in the July 3, 2005, Cleveland Plain Dealer, my hometown newspaper. "Residents of the capital of the poor and chaotic Russian province of Dagestan have come to call it 'the hunt for cops' – more than two years of bold and brutal attacks on police. … 26 police officers have been killed in gun and bomb attacks this year alone." What is true in Dagestan is also true in Iraq: Iraqi police are being hunted and killed in large numbers by the Iraqi resistance. ...
In smarts, she's a perfect 10
Post Date: 2005-07-14 11:41:17 by Mr Nuke Buzzcut
2 Comments
In smarts, she's a perfect 10'Pakistan's girl wonder' is likely the youngest certified Microsoft expert By TODD BISHOP SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER Sitting down for a personal meeting with Bill Gates this week, 10-year-old Arfa Karim Randhawa asked the Microsoft founder why the company doesn't hire people her age. Under the circumstances, the question wasn't so unreasonable. Arfa, a promising software programmer from Faisalabad, Pakistan, is believed to be the youngest Microsoft Certified Professional in the world. The designation, given to outside experts who prove their ability to work with Microsoft technologies, has also been achieved by some teenagers. But it's far more ...
CIA-backed tech can instantly spot terrorists in a crowd
Post Date: 2005-07-13 13:54:44 by timetobuildaboat
3 Comments
WASHINGTON — The U.S. intelligence community is investing in new technology meant to provide instant recognition of insurgency fugitives in such crowded facilities as airports and subways. A Los Altos, Calif. company, Pixlogic, has been developing technology meant to search for fugitives and insurgency suspects in a crowd. Pixlogic has employed new software based on visual pattern recognition and search technologies to match archived still or video images with those gathered from security cameras or other sources, Middle East Newsline reported. Executives said the CIA has been an investor in the development of technology by Pixlogic and other U.S. companies. "It does a ...
The Jobs Problem is Worse Than the War Problem [Full Thread]
Post Date: 2005-07-13 08:58:30 by Zoroaster
43 Comments
July 12, 2005 The Jobs Problem is Worse Than the War Problem The No-Think Nation By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS Thought is not an American forte. Consider the speed with which our government got us trapped in two quagmires, Iraq and Afghanistan. The CIA says that Bush's invasion of Iraq has created ideal conditions for training insurgents and terrorists. The longer we are there, the worse it gets. Our military is being worn down by a gratuitous war of no benefit to anyone except Osama bin Laden. Bush's war has provided substance for bin Laden's propaganda and radicalized the Middle East. Bush's war is being financed by debt, and the result is to give our foreign bankers more control over our ...
Amazing Find in Volcanic Ash-The fossils of human footprints preserved in volcanic ash may do nothing short of rewriting history.
Post Date: 2005-07-13 07:38:03 by gengis gandhi
8 Comments
Amazing Find in Volcanic Ash The fossils of human footprints preserved in volcanic ash may do nothing short of rewriting history. Found in an abandoned quarry near Puebla, Mexico about 80 miles southeast of Mexico City, the footprints--definitively shown to be human--number in the hundreds. A third of them were made by children. Using radiocarbon testing, optically stimulated luminescence and several other testing methods, an international team led by researchers at Liverpool's John Moores University has shown that the footprints are about 38,000 years old. In what is sure to be a controversial conclusion, the scientists have determined that human settlers arrived in the Americas some 30 ...
Unexplained Hot Spot Heats Up Ground in SoCal
Post Date: 2005-07-13 00:42:14 by Axenolith
1 Comments
In Southern California, a unique and still unexplained hot spot the size of two football fields is producing temperatures above 400 degrees at the surface, and has started at least one brush fire. The geologic mystery is 15 miles north of Santa Barbara, in the Dick Smith Wilderness area, deep within the Los Padres National Forest. The hot spot was discovered by fire crews putting out a fire last summer, and the source of the fire was traced to intense heat from the ground itself. USGS hydrologist Dr. Robert Mariner hiked out to the hot spot, and found temperatures of 583 degrees Fahrenheit in fumerals -- or steam vents -- about ten or eleven feet down. That's hot enough to ignite wood, ...
Zen . . . And the Art of Debunkery (Insight into DISINFO-INTERESTING)
Post Date: 2005-07-11 08:34:29 by gengis gandhi
9 Comments
Zen . . . And the Art of Debunkery excerpts http://www.tcm.phy.cam.ac.uk/~bdj10/scepticism/drasin.html "Equate the necessary skeptical component of science with *all* of science. Emphasize the narrow, stringent, rigorous and critical elements of science to the exclusion of intuition, inspiration, exploration and integration. If anyone objects, accuse them of viewing science in exclusively fuzzy, subjective or metaphysical terms." " Portray science not as an open-ended process of discovery but as a holy war against unruly hordes of quackery- worshipping infidels. Since in war the ends justify the means, you may fudge, stretch or violate the scientific method, or even omit ...
A next generation Personal Securer 3.0 for personal tracking appears on market
Post Date: 2005-07-10 23:38:00 by toddbrendanfahey
4 Comments
[Nuked]
Will US keep letting Israel arms?
Post Date: 2005-07-10 10:11:07 by Zoroaster
17 Comments
Will US keep letting Israel sell arms? By Mounzer Sleiman Thursday 07 July 2005, 23:44 Makka Time, 20:44 GMT Despite optimistic reports in the Israeli press about Tel Aviv's bid to end a crisis with the US over arms exports in general and arms sales to China in particular, Israel's "compliance" with Washington's demands is not convincing. Haaretz reported that even Israel's friends in the US Congress and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee have criticised its management of the crisis and urged it to avoid exacerbating the conflict. Sources in Washington familiar with Israeli tactics of deception are sceptical of any new memorandum of understanding that may be ...
Microsoft Offers Download Workaround For IE Bug
Post Date: 2005-07-09 14:47:40 by RickyJ
4 Comments
Microsoft on Tuesday posted a temporary workaround to a bug in Internet Explorer that could let an attacker grab control of a PC. A patch to actually fix the problem, however, is not yet available. The vulnerability, which first surfaced last week in a security advisory, involves the "Javaprxy.dll" file, which is part of the Microsoft Java Virtual Machine, and handles ActiveX controls. A hacker could exploit the bug to make IE crash or even insert his own code onto the system. The workaround, which users can download from Microsoft's Download Center, disables Javaprxy.dll by modifying the Windows registry. The same can be done manually, but most users are unfamiliar with that ...
Avian Flu Moves
Among Wild Geese
Post Date: 2005-07-09 00:16:40 by Coral Snake
6 Comments
Avian Flu Moves Among Wild Geese BBC News 7-7-5 An outbreak of avian flu in wild geese in western China has raised fears that the virus responsible could soon spread beyond its Asian stronghold. Researchers say evidence of the H5N1 pathogen in the geese is a big concern because of the migratory animals' ability to fly huge distances. Their reports, in the Science and Nature journals, are the first to show viral transmission between wild birds. Previously, the flu was only seen to move to wild birds from domestic fowl. World health officials are worried avian influenza virus (AVI) could cause a pandemic of human disease if it ever acquires the ability to pass easily from human to ...
Man Charged With Stealing Wi-Fi Signal
Post Date: 2005-07-07 13:23:49 by Mr Nuke Buzzcut
2 Comments
Man Charged With Stealing Wi-Fi Signal Wed Jul 6, 8:15 PM ET ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Police have arrested a man for using someone else's wireless Internet network in one of the first criminal cases involving this fairly common practice. Benjamin Smith III, 41, faces a pretrial hearing this month following his April arrest on charges of unauthorized access to a computer network, a third-degree felony. Police say Smith admitted using the Wi-Fi signal from the home of Richard Dinon, who had noticed Smith sitting in an SUV outside Dinon's house using a laptop computer. The practice is so new that the Florida Department of Law Enforcement doesn't even keep statistics, according to the St. ...
Oregon researchers make breakthrough discovery
Post Date: 2005-07-07 12:13:05 by Mr Nuke Buzzcut
0 Comments
Oregon researchers make breakthrough discovery EUGENE, Ore. - University of Oregon chemists have discovered how to make active nitrogen at room temperature, a process that has eluded scientists for years. The discovery is a step toward one of the holy grails of chemistry. The process could make an important plant fertilizer easier to produce. The finding by University of Oregon chemistry professor David Tyler and graduate students John Gilbertson and Nate Szymczak will be published later this month in the Journal of the American Chemistry Society. Even though 70 percent of the earth's atmosphere is made of nitrogen, the molecules are bonded so closely together that they are inert. To ...
U.S. Air Force Prepares To Buy Near Space Vehicles
Post Date: 2005-07-06 21:03:13 by tom007
0 Comments
U.S. Air Force Prepares To Buy Near Space Vehicles By JEREMY SINGER, COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. May 06, 2005 The U.S. Air Force intends to establish by 2008 a program office for buying high-altitude atmospheric vehicles that provide satellite-type services, according to service officials. One such vehicle that could be pressed into the field quickly is a balloon-mounted communications relay that could dramatically expand the range of radios used by ground forces, said Maj. Steven Staats, deputy chief of demonstration initiatives at Air Force Space Command's Space Battlelab at Schriever Air Force Base here. A prototype of that vehicle, dubbed Combat SkySat, was demonstrated March 14-17 near ...
Boy who nearly crashed the world
Post Date: 2005-07-05 21:10:56 by robin
2 Comments
A GERMAN teenager is facing a jail term after admitting yesterday to creating and unleashing the "Sasser" computer virus that crashed systems across the world, wreaking havoc in big businesses and homes. Sven Jaschen, 19, confessed to all the charges against him when he appeared before a German court. Katharina Kruetzfeldt, the judge at the court in the western town of Verden, said Jaschan admitted data manipulation, computer sabotage and interfering with public corporations in one of the biggest internet attacks of its kind. After emerging around May last year, versions of the Sasser "worm", named after 1sass, the crucial Windows service it attacks, went on to knock ...
Footprints of 'first Americans'
Post Date: 2005-07-05 00:56:11 by tom007
1 Comments
Footprints of 'first Americans' Footprint People left traces of their presence in the sediments of a shoreline Human settlers made it to the Americas 30,000 years earlier than previously thought, according to new evidence. British scientists came to this controversial conclusion by dating human footprints preserved by volcanic ash in an abandoned quarry in Mexico. They say the first Americans may have arrived by sea, rather than by foot. The currently accepted theory is that the continent's early inhabitants arrived 12,500 years ago, by crossing a land bridge between Siberia and Alaska. Details of the latest findings were unveiled at the UK Royal Society's Summer Science Exhibition. ...
Unflattery Can Get You Anywhere
Post Date: 2005-07-01 16:27:46 by Mr Nuke Buzzcut
1 Comments
Unflattery Can Get You Anywhere By Regina Lynn 02:00 AM Jul. 01, 2005 PT Last week, Fark linked to my column about where my photos might have gone after I lost touch with the cyber lovers I shared them with. If you've ever read a Fark community thread, you know how clever Farkers can be when they decide to comment on a story. What got my attention this time was that someone found a photo of me online that I had not seen before. He posted the link along with the comment, "who would want to see this naked?" I'd have been insulted if I didn't know what I look like in real life, naked or otherwise. And the picture is truly unflattering. This is not the photographer's fault. I ...
Doing It Right
Post Date: 2005-06-29 20:23:43 by historian1944
20 Comments
On War #123 June 29, 2005 Doing It Right By William S. Lind [The views expressed in this article are those of Mr. Lind, writing in his personal capacity. They do not reflect the opinions or policy positions of the Free Congress Foundation, its officers, board or employees, or those of Kettle Creek Corporation. An article in the June 23rd Christian Science Monitor, “A US patrol gains trust in Baghdad neighborhood,” tells the story of an American unit that gets Fourth Generation war. When the patrol (in Humvees) passes a busy street, Lieutenant Waters . . . tells his men to get out and start walking. As the foot patrol makes its way through the streets, an old Shiite woman in ...
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