Clipmarks | deb2012's clips

Here's where your money is going!

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 22:03:24 GMT

clipped by: deb2012
clipper's remarks: oil profits

Clip Source: www.globalconstructionwatch.com

Dubai Will Be Home To The World’s Largest Fountain

Magnetic Movie

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 14:21:40 GMT

clipped by: deb2012
clipper's remarks: fascinating 4 min video at site showing how magnetic fields look, act, sound....

Clip Source: semiconductorfilms.com

The secret lives of invisible magnetic fields are revealed as chaotic ever-changing geometries . All action takes place around NASA's Space Sciences Laboratories, UC Berkeley, to recordings of space scientists describing their discoveries . Actual VLF audio recordings control the evolution of the fields as they delve into our inaudible surroundings, revealing recurrent ‘whistlers' produced by fleeting electrons . Are we observing a series of scientific experiments, the universe in flux, or a documentary of a fictional world?

Awarded Best Film at Cutting Edge at the British Animation Awards 2008.
Awarded Best Experimental Film at Tirana International Film Festival 2007.

Tags: science

nuclear tidbits from the G-8 summit

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 13:52:38 GMT

clipped by: deb2012
clipper's remarks: Germany and USA agree to disagree

Clip Source: www.iht.com

"A country that has the capability to responsibly use nuclear energy in my view has a responsibility to do so, if we want to get serious about not just cutting greenhouse gas emissions, but also improving public health through reduced air pollution," said James Connaughton, chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality.

Asked if that was a dig at Germany, since Merkel is sticking to her predecessor's plan to phase out Germany's 17 nuclear power plants in the coming years, Connaughton did not respond directly.

Merkel countered: "I don't think that climate protection is decided by the question of nuclear energy alone."

"The decision that many countries count on nuclear power is OK," Merkel said. "But to say that the future for climate change and careful use of energy can be solved by that alone — I don't see it that way."

Tags: nuclear, energy

U.S. Nuclear Report

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 13:48:38 GMT

clipped by: deb2012
clipper's remarks: nuclear plants popping up 'round the world

Clip Source: www.thaindian.com

A US State Department report, prepared two months earlier, has warned that as new countries have begun nuclear energy generation, the US must ensure that these nations adopt adequate safeguards against the risk of nuclear proliferation involved therein.

The report said 435 nuclear reactors are operating around the world, 28 more are under construction and an additional 222 are planned. Its a pretty depressing prospect, said Robinson, an arms control negotiator in the Reagan and first Bush administrations, who is the primary author of the report.

Nations considering nuclear power include the former Soviet republics of Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan , Muslim giants Indonesia , Egypt and Turkey , Poland and the three Baltic states . According to the State Department list, 15 other nations including Algeria , Ghana , Libya , Malaysia , Syria , Venezuela and Yemen have “longer term plans or studies under way.

Tags: energy, nuclear

nuclear Eurobarometer

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 22:35:39 GMT

clipped by: deb2012

Clip Source: www.maltamedia.com

Italy registered an increase to 43% of Italians in favour of nuclear energy since the previous 30% registered in winter 2005. Around 46% are “quite or definitely against” nuclear energy.

The most fervid nuclear energy supporters are the Czech Republic and Lithuania with 64% followed by Hungary and Bulgaria with 63%. Sweden and Finland follow closely with 62% and 61% respectively.

Malta registered one of the lowest percentages of interest with regards support of nuclear energy according to a Eurobarometer survey with just 15%. Other low percentages were registered in Cyprus (only 7% in favour), Austria (14%) and Greece (18%).

Tags: nuclear, energy

Iran's monkey business

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 22:27:33 GMT

clipped by: deb2012
clipper's remarks: germ warfare or vaccination research?

Clip Source: www.timesonline.co.uk

Hundreds of endangered monkeys are being taken from the African bush and sent to a “secretive” laboratory in Iran for scientific experiments.

Rubibira indicated that finding out what the Iranians wanted the monkeys for would be difficult. “They cannot say, you know. They are secretive. They wouldn’t tell the truth.”

According to US intelligence, the pharmaceutical industry in Iran has long been used as a cover for developing a germ warfare capability.

— America, Russia, China andIran are among the countries still using wild monkeys

Tags: iran

Stop Mugabe

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 13:10:36 GMT

clipped by: deb2012
clipper's remarks: http://www.avaaz.org/en/
The World in Action

Clip Source: www.avaaz.org

After a terror campaign and a sham 'election' last Friday, Robert Mugabe has declared himself President of Zimbabwe. The country is in crisis and its fate depends on talks between Mugabe and the winner of the first round election -- Morgan Tsvangirai.

If Governments from around the world do not recognise Mugabe, his position will be weakened, and he could be pressured into a deal with Tsvangirai that reflects the will of the Zimbabwean people.

We must inundate our leaders with messages calling on them not to recognise Mugabe's government. If they have made that statement already, call on them to strongly push other governments to do the same. Please use the tool below to send a message to your own leader. Just select your country and it will automatically fill in the recipient's name and email address:

Select your country below to send your leader a message!

Tags: social action, politics

Improved shopping with RFID

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 22:03:32 GMT

clipped by: deb2012
clipper's remarks: Here is a new German product called the Tip 'n Tell, a PDA with plug in RFID interrogator. There a youtube vid on it at the article source

Clip Source: www.rfid-weblog.com

Fitted with passive RFID tag whenever Tip 'n Tell is brought near the product the RFID tag attached to them sends back product information to the handset. It will get you involved with the product as you will be able to access information such as its cost, any related product, video or any other interesting information which you may not be able to get while shopping normally.

The system is aimed at making your shopping further interactive so that you enjoy every moment at the store and end up purchasing products which you might hesitate to buy on the first count.

Tags: rfid, technology

Auditors: Nuclear plants not following fire rules

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 17:17:47 GMT

clipped by: deb2012
clipper's remarks: with all the nuke plants planned around the world, is it really realistic to think there will never be a catastrophic accident?

Clip Source: ap.google.com

The Government Accountability Office said there were 125 fires reported at 54 power plants since 1995, an average of nearly 10 a year, although none threatened safe emergency reactor shutdown or posed any significant safety threats. The fires were mostly electrical or maintenance related.

But the GAO study said the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has been unable to resolve "several long-standing issues

The NRC did not immediately return a phone call for comment.

And the GAO report said the risk-based approach itself faces significant challenges including a shortage of "people with fire modeling, risk assessment and plant-specific expertise" to assure the safety efforts are focused on the right priorities.

Tags: nuclear, energy

The new leader of Coca Cola

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 12:49:44 GMT

clipped by: deb2012
clipper's remarks: As of today, Coke is run by a Turkish man of interesting background and lineage who started with the company at the bottom.

Clip Source: en.wikipedia.org

Muhtar Kent was born 1952 in New York City, New York, USA as his father Necdet Kent, was the Turkish consul-general. His father was called "Turkish Schindler" for risking his life to save Jews in France during the Holocaust.

After completing the high school at Tarsus American College in Adana, Turkey in 1971, he went to the United Kingdom to study at the University of Hull, and graduated in 1978 from the Department of Economics. Subsequently, he attended the graduate program in administrative sciences at the City University, London and earned his MBA degree at the Cass Business School.

Muhtar Kent returned then to Turkey to attend active military duty. Following his military service, he moved with US$1,000 in the pocket to the United States, where he was accommodated by his uncle in New York City.

found a job at the Coca-Cola Company through a newspaper ad. He toured the country in trucks to sell Coca-Cola, and thereby learned its distribution, marketing and logistics systems

Tags: business

The End of the Inflation Scare

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 12:33:06 GMT

clipped by: deb2012
clipper's remarks: hard to clip the highlights on this one, as a full read of the article is necessary to understand this viewpoint

Clip Source: www.investorsinsight.com

are now in a situation where a) The Fed is not printing money and b) US financials are de-leveraging rapidly. Thus, if inflation is "always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon", one may conclude that what we are now seeing in the inflation numbers is the echo of the 2003-2007 credit boom, but that looking ahead, the inflation picture should start improving rather dramatically.

But such a conclusion would miss out on the other big contributor to global liquidity growth, namely the US current account deficit.

should oil prices start pulling back, we would move extremely rapidly into a situation where the US current account deficit was deflating the whole world

Will an ever growing US trade deficit continue to force other countries to reflate and lead to an ever lower US$? We tend to believe that the answer to that question is a very firm "no".

should oil prices roll over, we could witness the most rapid improvement in the US current account deficit ever seen

Tags: economics

Arctic Sea Ice images

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 19:31:18 GMT

clipped by: deb2012
clipper's remarks: Arctic ice extent from satellite photos. The picture on the left was taken in September 1979; the picture on the right was taken on September 9, 2007--most of you have seen the news in 2008-we continue to have big break-offs of ice

Go here for current projections of 2050 and 2100
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2007/06/vanishing-sea-ice/sea-ice-interactive

Clip Source: environmentaldefenseblogs.org

Tags: environment

China's plastic bag ban mostly works

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 22:11:19 GMT

clipped by: deb2012
clipper's remarks: except among smaller vendors

Clip Source: english.people.com.cn

China's ban on free plastic bags has met with a mixed response since it took effect on June 1. However, the ban has been implemented fairly well, especially in supermarkets and large department stores across China.

Some supermarkets have reported an 80 percent drop in bags consumed

The ban is likely to change consumer habits

The ban, in effect, was largely ignored or unheard of among small-time wet market vendors, who said charging for the plastic bags would repel many customers.

"My vegetables are only worth 50 cents- 100 cents a piece. It will be very hard to sell if I have to charge 20 cents for the plastic bag," one Shanghai vendor said.

Tags: environment

Cancer Sniffing dogs

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 22:06:51 GMT

clipped by: deb2012
clipper's remarks: cloned ones, that is
ISTHISFORREAL?

Clip Source: english.people.com.cn

A South Korean biotech firm announced it has successfully cloned four dogs capable of sniffing out human cancers by using tissue from a Labrador retriever in Japan, media reported Wednesday.

The cloning, requested by the Japanese stemcell company Seems, was conducted by a team led by Seoul National University professor Lee Byeong-Chun and has been verified by the medical school.

Researchers in several countries are investigating whether dogs have the ability to detect lung, breast, prostate and skin cancer at an early and treatable stage.

They believe cancer cells create a scent not present in healthy cells, which can theoretically be picked up by dogs in breath or urine samples.

Tags: science, cancer, cloning

495 million for Yucca Mountain

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 13:23:43 GMT

clipped by: deb2012
clipper's remarks: Will completion of Yucca mean trains and trucks all over the U.S transporting radioactive nuclear waste there? (coming to a town near you?)

Clip Source: blog.heritage.org

The House Appropriations subcommittee on Energy and Water approved an increase in Energy Department spending to continue work on Yucca Mountain. The $494.7 million budget request was approved for the fiscal year 2009 despite much talk that Yucca Mountain will never be opened.

there is virtually no more important issue than managing the growth of nuclear power around the world as more nations look to nuclear energy to help solve their energy problems

Tags: nuclear, yucca mountain, energy