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Re-Oxygenating the Oceans

Sat, 03 Nov 2007 11:08:06 GMT

clipped by: abailart

A Californian firm has found a way of re-oxygenating the world’s oceans, which it firmly believes will help combat global warming. Using the latest technology, leading eco-restoration firm, Planktos, is planning to replenish the sea’s floating plankton forests, which absorb half the Earth’s carbon dioxide and generate half the Earth’s oxygen.

Simply restoring the marine plankton that has been lost since 1980 could sink and sequester billions of tons of carbon dioxide each year. It can also regenerate billions of tons of lost ocean nourishment for collapsing fisheries, birds and whales.

Tags: global warming, oceans, co2

10 year old boy masters 10 languages using CD-Roms

Fri, 02 Nov 2007 21:31:58 GMT

clipped by: Amergin

Clip Source: www.mirror.co.uk

A boy genius of 10 has stunned teachers by learning to speak 10 languages.

Arpan Sharma taught himself French, Spanish, German, Italian, Swahili, Mandarin, Polish, Thai and the difficult Lugandan language of Uganda. He also learned Hindi from his mum and dad.

The gifted primary school pupil from Oldbury, West Mids, studied using CD-roms.

He learned Italian fluently at seven, German at eight, and Spanish when he was nine.

But he admitted: "Learning Swahili was probably one of the biggest challenges I've faced and Mandarin Chinese was hard too."

Deputy Headmaster Richard Lynn, of Blue Coat School, Edgbaston, Birmingham, said: "Arpan is a language genius, a natural when it comes to listening to an exact pronunciation and repeating it perfectly."

Arpan wants to be a surgeon and work in hospitals abroad and speak each country's tongue.

Tags: language genius, modern technology.

Brain stimulation sparks out-of-body experience

Sat, 03 Nov 2007 13:01:49 GMT

clipped by: Djiezes

Clip Source: www.reuters.com

Brain stimulation sparks out-of-body experience

BOSTON (Reuters) - Electrodes implanted into the brain to treat a man with a stubborn case of ringing in the ear instead sparked an out-of-body sensation, doctors in Belgium reported on Wednesday.

Stimulating the electrodes made the 63-year-old patient feel like he was outside his body twice, for 15 and 21 seconds, and allowed the doctors to use a PET scanner to track which parts of the brain became active during the experience.

Only a certain pattern of stimulation, involving a portion of the superior temporal gyrus, located on the right side of the brain, produced the sensation.

Positron emission tomography, or PET scans, showed that other parts of the brain became active as a result, including the supramarginal gyrus, which processes information from the inner ear designed to detect head movement and position.

Tags: brain, mind, neuroscience, science, out of body experience, obe

US Troops Will Be In Middle East For 50 Years

Fri, 02 Nov 2007 21:12:52 GMT

clipped by: debbyski

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

US troops could be in the Middle East for another 50 years, according to the longest serving commander of the Qatar-based US Central Command.

General John Abazaid, who retired in May, said the "strategic situation" in the region - the rise of extremism and the global dependence on oil - would necessitate a long-term presence

"Over time, we will have to shift the burden of the military fight from our forces directly to regional forces, and we will have to play an indirect role.

"But we shouldn't assume for even a minute that in the next 25 to 50 years the American military might be able to come home, relax and take it easy."

Tags: maybe, even, longer

Musharaf declares State of Emergency in Pakistan

Sat, 03 Nov 2007 15:56:26 GMT

clipped by: pokkets
clipper's remarks: A supreme court decision, on whether to overturn his recent election win, is to be made soon, the State of emergency was declared for the sake of rising Islamic militant violence. A state of emergency suspends the constitution, and calls for the election of new judges The state of emergency was immediately rejected by eight supreme court judges

Clip Source: www.mail.com

MATTHEW PENNINGTON

President Gen. Pervez Musharraf declared a state of emergency in Pakistan on Saturday ahead of a crucial Supreme Court decision on whether to overturn his recent election win and amid rising Islamic militant violence

Eight Supreme Court judges immediately rejected the emergency, which suspended the current constitution. The government blocked transmissions of private news channels in several cities and telephone services in the capital, Islamabad, were cut

"The chief of army staff has proclaimed a state of emergency and issued a provisional constitutional order,"

Private Geo TV network reported the eight judges rejected the declaration of emergency and ordered top officials, including the prime minister, and military officers not to comply.

Shahzad Iqbal, an official at a cable TV news provider in Islamabad said authorities were blocking transmissions of private news channels in Islamabad and neighboring Rawalpindi. State TV was still on the air.

Tags: musharaf, pakistan, emergency, constutution, election

Nature to 'Grow' Computer Components

Fri, 02 Nov 2007 09:27:56 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Clip Source: physorg.com

Computers don't grow on trees, but with a little prodding from engineers, nature can produce computer components.

At the University of Maryland's A. James Clark School of Engineering, Ray Phaneuf, associate professor of materials science and engineering, has developed a template that nature can follow to produce "self-assembling" structures. The template causes atoms to be arranged in a defined pattern that can serve a variety of purposes - a semiconductor in a laptop, a component in a cell phone or a sensor in a wearable device.

The idea of self-assembly in nature has long been known - crystallization is one such process; the formation of shells into spirals is another. However, researchers have been limited to the designs that nature already knows how to make. Phaneuf's work introduces a man-made template that nature then follows, addressing a number of manufacturing difficulties.

"The same template can be used thousands of times," Phaneuf said. "This results in enormous savings."

Tags: computers, nature, self assembly, engineering, science

Priest destroys 'ox testicles' fresco

Sat, 03 Nov 2007 11:46:33 GMT

clipped by: tabsey
clipper's remarks: Celibacy destroys another mind?

Clip Source: www.abc.net.au

A French priest has gone on trial for destroying a fresco in his village chapel on the grounds it depicted Saint Luke as an ox with testicles.

The village of Saint Etienne du Gres, near the southern city of Avignon, commissioned a fresco of the Four Evangelists for the choir of its 11th-century Roman chapel.

The fresco depicted Mark as a lion, John as an eagle, Luke as an ox and Matthew as an angel.

But parish priest Michel Cicculo took deep offence at painter Jacques Descordes' depiction of the bull's testicles, and of the angel as a woman with small, nude breasts, and in February 2006 he destroyed the entire work with a rock hammer.

Cicculo, who faces two years in jail and a 30,000 Euro ($47,100) fine for destruction of property, defended his act in court.

"No-one has the right to paint such horrors in a fresco," he said.

Tags: odd, religion

Tim Russert, Journalist Extraordinaire.....NOT

Sat, 03 Nov 2007 08:13:29 GMT

clipped by: zasel
clipper's remarks: This column by Paul Waldman, in the American Prospect is a must-read for anyone who finds themselves baffled by the ridiculous level of questions asked at the presidential debates, and other face-to-face interviews. He chooses Tim Russert as his primary target in this piece, which is quite apt considering the way Russert handled the questioning during the Democratic debate October 30. I was only able to clip a tiny bit to give you an idea of what it is about, but I urge you to read the entire piece. It is well worth your time in my rarely to be humble opinion.

Clip Source: www.prospect.org

Tim Russert: Stop the Inanity

Last month, near the end of the Democratic presidential debate in New Hampshire, moderator Tim Russert -- known as "Washington's toughest interviewer" and perhaps the most influential journalist in America -- had one last chance to pin the candidates down with his legendary common sense, persistence, and no-bull style. This is what he asked, first to Barack Obama:

"There's been a lot of discussion about the Democrats and the issue of faith and values. I want to ask you a simple question. Senator Obama, what is your favorite Bible verse?"

When Obama finished his answer, Russert said to the other candidates, "I want to give everyone a chance in this. You just take 10 seconds." Predictable banality ensued. A foreign visitor unfamiliar with our presidential campaigns might have scratched her head and said, "This is how you decide who will lead your country?"

Indeed it is, because the process is controlled by Tim Russert and people like him.

Tags: debate, politics, journalism, presidential, campaigns, elections, questions, inanity

You Can't Have A Free Republic And An Empire

Thu, 01 Nov 2007 21:31:52 GMT

clipped by: debbyski

Clip Source: www.lewrockwell.com

Most politicians, when they talk about reducing spending, chatter on about cutting waste and fraud. That's OK, but it's a mere nick on the federal budget. If you really want to reduce spending, you must dismantle the overseas empire.

At the present, there are only two countries in the world that have the capability of waging war against us. Those are China and Russia. In both cases, the war would be fought with intercontinental ballistic missiles. We are never going to see a land war with either of those countries. It should be the No. 1 priority of our foreign-policy establishment to see that we never have a war at all with either of these countries.

If we could only learn to mind our own business and see to the needs of our own people, we could lead a peaceful, prosperous and happy existence. As for the terrorists, they are mainly a problem for intelligence and police. If any military force is necessary, one company of Rangers or Marines would be enough.

Tags: its, time, to, choose

The Church of the Non-Believers

Sat, 03 Nov 2007 04:18:15 GMT

clipped by: syncopath
clipper's remarks: worth read all the article interviewing: Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris and Daniel Dennett. they cross all the way from ancient beliefs thru today`s demand of `getting out of the closet` 4 the new intellectual atheist and till speculating questions like: "Would intelligent robots be religious?" .... ??

Clip Source: www.wired.com

A band of intellectual brothers is mounting a crusade against belief in God. Are they winning converts, or merely preaching to the choir?

MY FRIENDS, I MUST ASK YOU AN IMPORTANT QUESTION TODAY: Where do you stand on God?

It's a question you may prefer not to be asked. But I'm afraid I have no choice. We find ourselves, this very autumn, three and a half centuries after the intellectual martyrdom of Galileo, caught up in a struggle of ultimate importance, when each one of us must make a commitment. It is time to declare our position.

Dawkins looks forward to the day when the first US politician is honest about being an atheist. "Highly intelligent people are mostly atheists," he says. "Not a single member of either house of Congress admits to being an atheist. It just doesn't add up. Either they're stupid, or they're lying. And have they got a motive for lying? Of course they've got a motive! Everybody knows that an atheist can't get elected."

Tags: new atheists, intellectual martyrdom, commitment, faith

27 Aquatic lifeforms you never caught while fishing

Fri, 02 Nov 2007 23:04:31 GMT

clipped by: boozich

Clip Source: www.bountyfishing.com

27 Aquatic lifeforms you never caught while fishing

Robot Fish

Tags: weird, fish, never, rarely, seen