By Mike Robbins
Hydrogen -- Star Gas, Everywhere, Yet Unseen. Sunlight is its Child.
(Haiku by Stephen Wetlesen)
July 29, 2014
What makes Janet
Yellen and a number of other
FOMC members so dovish with
respect to monetary policy
and in particular the
trajectory of rate
normalization? A Credit
Suisse report sites 3 key
factors, which Yellen calls
“unusual headwinds":
-
As a general rule,
organic foods are safer,
and probably healthier,
than conventional foods,
for the simple fact that
you’re ingesting fewer
toxins
-
If you can only afford
to buy some foods
organic, make it organic
grass-fed meats and
butter. This will cut
down on your exposure to
toxic pesticides,
hormones, and
antibiotics
-
Swapping adulterated and
pasteurized dairy
products, such as milk
and butter, for organic,
raw varieties will allow
you to reap the true
benefits of dairy
-
Soda tops the list when
it comes to promoting
obesity and related
health problems.
Swapping them out for
pure filtered water
and/or mineral water can
be one of the most
potent health changes
you could possibly make
-
Your best bet is to
filter your tap water.
About 40 percent of
bottled water is regular
tap water, which may or
may not have received
any additional
treatment, and the
plastic bottles only add
to the health hazards
While it is difficult to
envision a world without
“us,” there are multiple
scenarios staring at us,
right here, right now, not
far-fetched, that could wipe
out all or most of humanity,
leaving a wasteland for
Mother Nature to reclaim.
Here are some of the
possible ways the reign of
man- and womankind might
end, no zombies needed.
The WWF contracted RPS
Applied Science Associates
to model 22 different oil
spill scenarios and map the
spread of the oil, potential
impact on the water and
shoreline, and interaction
with sea ice, wildlife and
the surrounding ecology.
...as the Arctic gets warmer
and the ice retreats,
shipping lanes have opened
up and oil companies are
hungrily eyeing the 90
billion barrels of oil
equivalent reserves that the
U.S. Geological Survey
estimates lie beneath the
Arctic Ocean, amounting to
almost three years of global
demand.
The average person that
consents to a vaccine
injection, either for
themselves or for their
children, genuinely believes
it is for the betterment of
health. What they are not
aware of is that even their
doctor is likely unfamiliar
with the toxic ingredients
contained in vaccines which
can immediately begin to
degrade both short- and
long-term health.
A Fox News poll this week
reported that 58% of the
American people felt the
Obama Administration was
incompetent. That sense of
incompetence included 32% of
Democrats, 67% of
independents and 84% of
Republicans.
As president, having your
political opponents believe
you are incompetent is not a
shock. Having two out of
three independents find you
are incompetent is a shock.
Having one out of three of
your partisan supporters
consider you incompetent may
mean it is time for the
Obama team to panic.
China should boost imports
of food so it can dedicate
more of its scarce water
supplies to energy
production, especially in
arid but coal-rich regions
like Xinjiang and Ningxia, a
senior environmental
official said on Monday.
Sixty percent of Longmont,
Colo. voters favored the ban
in a 2012 ballot measure.
Activists say they will
appeal.
A Colorado court has
ruled that the city
of Longmont's ban on
hydraulic fracturing, or
fracking, is invalid.
Firefighters began to
gain the upper hand on
Monday against a Northern
California wildfire that has
destroyed 13 homes and
blackened nearly six square
miles in the drought-parched
foothills east of
Sacramento, officials said.
Crews had built
containment lines around
roughly two-thirds of the
so-called Sand Fire as of
Monday morning, up from only
35 percent on Sunday
evening, the California
Department of Forestry and
Fire Protection said.
Globally, residential and
commercial buildings account
for 35 to 40 percent of
total final energy
consumption. As the global
economy becomes increasingly
more constrained by energy
cost and availability -- as
well as energy-related
environmental regulations --
many countries are looking
to identify measures to
address energy demand
issues.
The uncertainty around the
future prices of natural
gas, oil, coal, uranium, and
others means uncertainty
regarding the cost to
produce electricity. A
diversified portfolio is the
most cost-effective tool
available to manage the
inherent production cost
risk involved in
transforming primary energy
fuels into electricity, and
a diverse power generation
technology mix is essential
to cost-effectively
integrate intermittent
renewable power resources
into the power supply mix --
IHS Energy explains in a new
report called "The Value of
U.S. Power Supply
Diversity."
A natural gas drilling rig
in Fairfield Township,
Pennsylvania in the
Marcellus Shale. David
Brown, a toxicologist and
founder of the Southwest
Pennsylvania Environmental
Health Project (SWPA-EHP),
said government agencies
haven't done enough to
study, analyze and mitigate
the risks people face from
drilling.
The Obama administration
later this week is expected
to fully delve into the
three-year process to
develop the next five-year
plan for offshore oil and
gas leasing, an effort
expected to center on
whether to allow drilling in
US Atlantic waters and
offshore Alaska.
-
Repeated blood donations
may help your blood to
flow better, reducing
viscosity, and possibly
helping to limit damage
to the lining of your
blood vessels, which
should result in fewer
arterial blockages
-
Every blood donor gets a
“mini physical” prior to
donation to check blood
pressure, hemoglobin,
and temperature, along
with testing for 13
infectious diseases
-
People who volunteer for
altruistic reasons, i.e.
to help others rather
than themselves, live
longer than those who
volunteer for more
self-centered reasons
-
For each unit of blood
donated, you lose about
one-quarter of a gram of
iron, which is one of
the best ways to avoid
the health risks
associated with iron
overload
-
Your body has a limited
capacity to excrete
iron, so it can easily
build up in and damage
organs like your liver,
heart, and pancreas;
many adult men and
postmenopausal women are
at risk for health
problems associated with
excess iron
The world's nuclear power
generation decreased in 2011
and 2012 in the aftermath of
the Fukushima accident, but
the market is gradually
recovering -- with
large-scale capacity
additions expected in the
Asia-Pacific (APAC) region,
GlobalData forecasts. In
fact, GlobalData sees global
nuclear installed capacity
increasing from 371 GW in
2013 to 517 GW by 2025,
driven by emerging markets.
Underground stores of
water in the southwestern
United States have receded
dramatically amid ongoing
drought that has parched
states from Oklahoma to the
Pacific Coast and is costing
California billions in lost
crops and jobs, a new study
shows.
The study released
Thursday by the University
of California, Irvine, shows
that groundwater in the
Colorado River basin has
dropped by 40 million
acre-feet over the past five
years, the equivalent of two
of the nation's largest
reservoirs.
To be fair, most utility
companies are inundated with
requests from people like
Rutledge, people living from
paycheck to paycheck. For
them, any unexpected expense
can disrupt their ability to
meet obligations, triggering
a need for frenzied,
last-minute phone calls for
assistance.
The deadly Ebola virus
continues to spread in West
Africa, claiming a Liberian
doctor among its more than
660 victims thus far and
infecting two Americans in
the country.
Libyan forces on Tuesday
battled Islamist militants
with rockets and warplanes
for control of an army base
in the eastern city of
Benghazi after at least 30
people were killed in
overnight fighting.
The project seemed simple
enough -- build a
waste-to-energy plant on the
Eastern Shore fueled by
poultry manure, keeping it
from flushing into and
polluting the bay, while
creating green jobs and
boosting Maryland's
fledgling renewable energy
industry
But 18 months after it
was heralded by Gov. Martin
O'Malley, the $75 million
project has been stymied
after prospective sites and
a potential partnership fell
through.
Maryland officials are
hoping that the prospect of
landing a record fish will
enlist anglers in the battle
against the northern
snakehead, a voracious
newcomer dubbed
"Frankenfish."
The invasive snakehead,
which can breathe air and
travel short distances over
land, has spread throughout
much of the Potomac River
basin in Virginia and
Maryland in the last decade,
snapping up anything in
front of it.
-
Mercury vapors from
amalgam fillings readily
pass through cell
membranes, across your
blood-brain barrier, and
into your central
nervous system
-
Once in your brain,
mercury can cause
psychological,
neurological, and
immunological problems
-
Children and fetuses,
whose brains are still
developing, are clearly
most at risk, but anyone
can be impacted, and the
health risks increase
the longer you have your
fillings
-
Even conventional news
outlets, like NBC
affiliate WCNC News in
Charlotte, are featuring
stories on the dangers
of amalgam fillings,
with headlines reading
“Metal fillings in your
teeth could make you
sick”
-
For those of you who
have mercury fillings, I
recommend that you have
them removed by an
experienced biological
dentist, but get healthy
prior to doing so
It's getting easier for
home buyers to get approved
for an FHA-backed home loan.
Major lenders
are approving FHA mortgage
applications for borrowers
with credit scores of 600 or
better, a 40-point buffer as
compared to last year, when
FHA lenders required credit
scores of at least 640.
The news comes at a time
when FHA loans are in
demand. Its 3.5% downpayment
requirement is among the
most lenient for today's
home buyers nationwide.
Boston communities are
expanding their solar reach,
as municipalities seek to
reduce their electricity
costs and carbon footprints,
and the Metropolitan Area
Planning Council (MAPC)
advances its Regional Solar
Initiative.
A class of insecticides
popular with corn and
soybean farmers in the U.S.
Midwest but feared as a
factor in the decline of
U.S. honey bee colonies and
other crop pollinators, has
been found to be widespread
through rivers and streams
in Iowa, according to a
government study released on
Thursday.
The Obama administration
on Tuesday will publish a
proposed rule that would
give thousands of temporary
and seasonal government
workers access to the
government’s health care
program, even though current
law would appear to prohibit
them from using that
program.
The rule from the Office
of Personnel Management
would let these federal
workers sign up for coverage
under the Federal Employees
Health Benefits Program, and
also allow some of them to
enjoy a government
contribution to their
insurance premiums. Both
steps would be done through
OPM’s proposed regulation,
and not through an act of
Congress.
An Oregon citizens'
initiative that would
require labeling of foods
made with genetically
modified ingredients has
garnered more than enough
signatures to gain a spot on
the state's November ballot,
a state government spokesman
said on Thursday.
If you want to help the
planet but can’t bring
yourself to give up meat
entirely, eliminating beef
from your diet is the
next-best thing.
There are several reasons to
give up meat, eggs and
dairy. For starters, there’s
the ethical argument:
animals born into the
livestock industry often
spend their entire existence
crammed into overcrowded
cages, and they fall victim
to mutilation and other
forms of cruelty prior to
being culled. There’s also
the human health argument:
Giving up meat—especially
beef—can help lower
cholesterol intake.
C2 event observed.
Solar activity is likely to
be low with a slight chance
for an M-class flare on days
one, two, and three (29 Jul,
30 Jul, 31 Jul). The
geomagnetic field is
expected to be at quiet to
unsettled levels on day one
(29 Jul) and quiet levels on
days two and three (30 Jul,
31 Jul).
For more than a year,
InsideClimate News and the
Center for Public Integrity
have been
reporting on air pollution
caused by the fracking boom
in the Eagle Ford Shale of
South Texas
. Despite hundreds
of complaints from
residents, many of them
about noxious air emissions,
we discovered that the state
knows almost nothing about
the extent of the pollution
and rarely fines companies
for breaking emission laws.
On our 11 trips to Texas we
encountered many residents
who asked what seemed to be
a reasonable question: If a
state regulatory agency—in
this case the Texas
Commission on Environmental
Quality—isn't doing much to
curb the industry's air
pollution, why isn't the
U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency stepping
in? The EPA, after all, is
ultimately responsible for
enforcing the federal Clean
Air Act.
Russian President Vladimir
Putin's government must pay
$50 billion for using tax
claims to destroy Yukos,
once the country's largest
oil producer, and its
Kremlin-critical CEO, an
international court has
ruled.
Monday's verdict by the
Permanent Court for
Arbitration increases the
economic and diplomatic
isolation of Russia at a
time when it faces new,
potentially painful
sanctions from Western
powers
Over 183,000 homes and
businesses in the U.S. East
and Midwest, mainly in
Michigan, remained without
power early Monday after
severe storms rolled through
the region over the weekend.
Walk through your local
grocery store these days and
you'll see the words "all
natural” emblazoned on a
variety of food packages.
The label is lucrative, for
sure, but in discussing the
natural label few have
remarked on what's really at
stake — the natural
ingredients and the
companies themselves.
If you take a look at
some of the favorite organic
and natural food brands,
you'll see they're owned by
some of the largest
conventional companies in
the world...
Why are so many plagues
hitting the United States
all of a sudden? Yes, one
can always point out bad
stuff that is happening
somewhere in the country,
but right now we are facing
a nightmarish combination of
crippling drought,
devastating wildfires,
disastrous viruses, dying
crops and superbugs that
scientists don’t know how to
kill. And as you will see,
we even have a plague of
flies down in Mississippi.
So what in the world is
going on? Is this just a
case of bad luck, or is
something else happening?
At the conclusion of this
article, please feel free to
tell me what you think. The
following are ten plagues
that are hitting America
right now…
Flooding is increasing in
frequency along much of the
U.S. coast, and the rate of
increase is accelerating
along the Gulf of Mexico and
Atlantic coasts, a team of
federal government
scientists found in a study
released Monday.
The study examined how
often 45 tide gauges along
the country's shore exceeded
National Weather Service
flood thresholds across
several decades. The
researchers found that the
frequency of flooding
increased at 41 locations.
Moreover, they found that
the rate of increase was
accelerating at 28 of those
locations. The highest rates
of increase were
concentrated along the
mid-Atlantic coast.
U.S. Energy Secretary
Ernest Moniz on Monday
defended his agency's
controversial move to
consider processing spent
nuclear fuel from Germany at
South Carolina's Savannah
River Site nuclear facility,
saying the proposal is
consistent with U.S. efforts
to secure highly enriched
uranium across the globe.
The United States has for
years accepted spent fuel
from research reactors in
various countries that was
produced with uranium of
U.S. origin as a part of
U.S. nuclear
non-proliferation policy and
treaties.
Money market fund
reform will have its largest
impact on institutional
prime and municipal money
funds while fundamentally
changing cash management for
corporate treasurers,
according to Fitch Ratings.
The new rules will reshape
the landscape of liquidity
products for cash investors.
US nuclear regulators and
industry officials must do
more to protect reactors
from extreme, but unlikely,
events like the earthquake
and tsunami that caused the
accident at Japan's
Fukushima nuclear plant, the
National Academy of Sciences
recommended in report issued
Thursday.
In its
report on the causes and
lessons from the Fukushima
nuclear accident, NAS also
urged regulators and
industry to incorporate
"modern risk concepts" to
increase reactor safety in
the US.
The deadliest Ebola outbreak
in recorded history is
happening right now.
And Reuters reports that the
head Ebola doctor in Sierra
Leone has contracted Ebola
and is receiving medical
care.
That doesn’t necessarily
mean he will die, though.
The death rate during this
outbreak has been roughly 60
percent. And it’s an
unfortunate blow in a
long battle that doesn’t
look like it’s slowing down.
July 25, 2014
In 2013, growth in the
global wind power market
slowed dramatically,
especially in the United
States and Spain, according
to Navigant Research.
Water has become the
central focus of an armed
hostage situation as bandits
demand a "water tax" from
villagers in a
drought-plagued region of
northern India.
The bandits "are
threatening to kill hundreds
of villagers unless they
deliver 35 buckets of water
each day to the outlaws in
their rural hideouts," the
Associated Press
reported. The area where the
conflict is underway is
sometimes referred to as
"bandit country."
Albert Einstein hypothesized
that the existence of human
life is contingent on the
existence of bees. These
divine insects pollinate
more than 100 types of crops
in the US and facilitate the
reproduction of vital
vegetation to feed our
livestock. Without bees, our
agriculture and ecosystem
would surely suffer, with
our economy and health
following close behind. But
in addition to these
circuitous effects, bees
also provide direct
benefits, yielding a variety
of bi-products that boast
powerful medicinal and
esthetic qualities. From
hive to health, here are the
most buzz-worthy remedies.
Beijing has closed the
first of four large
coal-fired power plants set
to be de-commissioned as
part of the city's efforts
to cut air pollution,
official news agency Xinhua
reported on Wednesday,
citing the local planning
agency.
Xinhua said the
authorities had shut down
the Gaojing Thermal Power
Plant's six 100 megawatt
generating units. The plant
is owned by the China Datang
Corporation, one of China's
big five state power firms.
Protesters fighting water
shutoffs in Detroit greeted
a convoy of Canadians who
traveled to the city with
hundreds of gallons of water
to help those who have been
cut off because of unpaid
bills.
A cancer-causing
industrial solvent known as
TCE continues to threaten
the water supply in Michigan
even though the government
has been trying to address
the problem for years, a
scenario that is hardly
unique to that part of the
country.
New infrastructure,
including wells, has been
constructed in Knapp, MI in
the last decade to safeguard
local drinking water
sources, costing millions of
dollars. But TCE "continues
to vex state officials and
residents as it creeps
toward new wells that Knapp
and others dug to replace
tainted ones,"..
Southwest Research Institute
(SwRI) is launching a
multi-million dollar joint
industry project to better
understand oil and gas
separation technology. Known
as the Separation Technology
Research (STAR) Program, the
objective is to combine
industry knowledge and
resources to advance
research that could lead to
better equipment and test
protocols.
A deal
that was in the works for
months is now official: The
last coal-fired unit at
Tucson Electric Power's
south-side power plant will
run totally on natural gas
by the end of 2017.
But plans are much
murkier for the short-term
use of coal vs. gas at the
Sundt Generating Station's
Unit 4, on East Irvington
Road just east of Alvernon
Way, which the EPA says has
no pollution controls.
With 24 great presentations
from leaders in the cutting
edge of technology, this
would be a great conference
in its own right. There is
no way that anyone should
walk away from Albuquerque
fully saturated with
information on the latest
technical developments on
the extreme cutting edge of
science and energy research
Critics, however, warn
against the risks of
navigating rough seas around
Cape Wrath and the Minch of
the west coast of mainland
Scotland.Highland MSP John
Finnie said he had
particular concerns given
the loss of the Coastguard's
Stornoway- based emergency
tug.It would not be the
first time radioactive
material has been shipped by
sea from Dounreay, with
controversy surrounding the
continued transportation of
waste to Belgium
Government authorities
should scrap a recent
decision halting Dan River
cleanup efforts and make
Duke Energy recover more of
the coal ash that spilled
this winter from its closed
power plant near Eden,
environmentalists say.
Contrary to what the U.S.
Environmental Protection
Agency said last week, there
are plenty of spots along
the river where coal ash
threatens the public health
by lurking just beneath the
surface of the riverbed,
said Pete Harrison, an
attorney for the Waterkeeper
Alliance conservation group.
Tokyo Electric Power
Company , operator of the
tsunami-crippled Fukushima
nuclear power plant, said
Wednesday it will accelerate
the process of freezing
irradiated water in
underground tunnels.
TEPCO will thus comply
with the requirements of
Japan's Nuclear Regulation
Authority , which has
expressed concern over the
delays in carrying out the
work, Japanese state
broadcaster NHK reported
Wednesday.
The objective is to
contain flows of radioactive
water into the ocean.
-
One in nine seniors over
the age of 65 has
Alzheimer’s, and the
disease is now thought
to be the third leading
cause of death in the
US, right behind heart
disease and cancer
-
A growing body of
research suggests
there’s a powerful
connection between your
diet and your risk of
developing Alzheimer's
disease, via similar
pathways that cause type
2 diabetes
-
Recent research shows
that sugar and other
carbohydrates can
disrupt your brain
function even if you’re
not diabetic or have any
signs of dementia
-
Long-term, sugar can
contribute to the
shrinking of your
hippocampus, which is a
hallmark symptom of
Alzheimer's disease
-
The researchers propose
that lowering glucose
levels, even if they’re
within the “normal”
range, may have a
positive influence on
cognition in older
people
Iraqi lawmakers elected a
veteran Kurdish politician
on Thursday to replace
long-serving Jalal Talabani
as the country's new
president in the latest step
toward forming a new
government. But a series of
attacks killed dozens of
people and Islamic militants
destroyed a Muslim shrine
traditionally said to be the
burial place of the Prophet
Jonah, underscoring the
overwhelming challenges
facing the divided nation.
A week after seizing a
major oilfield in an
offensive that left 270
Syrian government soldiers
dead, the extremist Islamic
State on Thursday targeted
two more key government
garrisons, posting photos on
the Internet of headless
bodies the group claims had
been soldiers killed in the
attacks.
Among the dead,
anti-government activists
told McClatchy, were Gen.
Samir Aslan, the head of
military intelligence in
Raqqa province, and Gen.
Miziad Salameh, the
commander of Regiment 121, a
major military installation
in Hasaka province.
Stanford Medical School
researchers have documented
the body's ability to
regenerate itself on the
cellular level with the
right nutrition. Now,
clinical study shows that
this superfood helps you
maximize your natural
regeneration process by
flooding your cells with ALL
of the nutrients your body
needs in the exact form it
recognizes.
The
recent push to modernize the
electric grid has increased
communication between
utilities and consumers,
enhanced reliability and
created more opportunities
for green energy producers.
But it also has raised
the risk of cyber attacks.
[Ed: All this is close
to nothing.]
NASA's Aura satellite,
celebrating its 10th
anniversary on July 15, has
provided vital data about
the cause, concentrations
and impact of major air
pollutants. With instruments
providing key measurements
of various gases - including
two built and managed by
NASA's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory: the Tropospheric
Emission Spectrometer (TES)
and Microwave Limb Sounder
(MLS) -- Aura gives a
comprehensive view of one of
the most important parts of
Earth -- the atmosphere.
North Dakota has suffered
severe blows to its safe
drinking water record in
recent years.
"Major violations of the
Environmental Protection
Agency's Safe Drinking Water
Act more than tripled
between 2008 and 2013 in
North Dakota," the
Associated Press recently
reported.
"The state Health
Department's Annual Drinking
Water Compliance Report says
there were 325 major
violations recorded in the
state's public water systems
in 2013. Just 98 were
registered in 2008," the
report said.
The federal government will
provide emergency assistance
to help restore electricity
in areas of Central
Washington where wildfires
have knocked out power, Gov.
Jay Inslee said Tuesday.
"The success of Hamas in
closing Israeli airspace is
a great victory for the
resistance, and is the crown
of Israel’s failure,” a
Hamas spokesman said today.
Charlotte city officials and
Duke Energy are still trying
to figure our where to put
millions of tons of coal ash
sitting on the banks of
Mountain Island Lake as they
consider sites at Charlotte
Douglas International
Airport other than under
runways.
According to the latest
"Energy Infrastructure
Update" report from the
Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission's Office of
Energy Projects, solar,
wind, biomass, geothermal,
and hydropower provided 55.7
percent of new installed
U.S. electrical generating
capacity during the first
half of 2014 (1,965 MW of
the 3,529 MW total
installed).
C2 event observed.
Solar activity is expected
to be very low with a chance
for a C-class flares on days
one and two (25 Jul, 26 Jul)
and likely to be low with a
slight chance for an M-class
flare on day three (27 Jul).
The geomagnetic field is
expected to be at quiet to
unsettled levels on days one
and two (25 Jul, 26 Jul) and
quiet levels on day three
(27 Jul).
It's an unfortunate fact
that every day around the
world, supermarkets throw
out tons of food that has
spoiled before it could be
purchased. While it would be
best if that spoilage could
be avoided in the first
place, British grocery chain
Sainsbury's is taking what
might be the next-best
approach – it's about to
start using that unsellable
food to power one of its
stores.
Here's how the system
should work ...
Scientists may have
overcome one of the major
hurdles in developing
high-efficiency,
long-lasting solar
cells--keeping them cool,
even in the blistering heat
of the noonday Sun.
By adding a specially
patterned layer of silica
glass to the surface of
ordinary solar cells, a team
of researchers led by
Shanhui Fan, an electrical
engineering professor at
Stanford University in
California has found a way
to let solar cells cool
themselves by shepherding
away unwanted thermal
radiation. The researchers
describe their innovative
design in the premiere issue
of The Optical Society's
(OSA) new open-access
journal Optica.
A new study finds that the
life-cycle of greenhouse gas
emissions for electric power
produced from shale gas are
on par with emissions from
conventional gas and on
average about half those of
coal.
The size and age of
plants have more of an
impact on their productivity
than temperature and
precipitation, according to
a landmark study by
University of Arizona
researchers.
UA professor Brian
Enquist and postdoctoral
researcher Sean Michaletz,
along with collaborators
Dongliang Cheng from Fujian
Normal University in China
and Drew Kerkhoff from
Kenyon College in Gambier,
Ohio, have combined a new
mathematical theory with
data from more than 1,000
forests across the world to
show that climate has a
relatively minor direct
effect on net primary
productivity, or the amount
of biomass — wood or any
other plant materials — that
plants produce by harvesting
sunlight, water and carbon
dioxide.
Six years ago the Social
Security Administration
embarked on an aggressive
plan to replace outdated
computer systems overwhelmed
by a growing flood of
disability claims. Nearly
$300 million later, the new
system is nowhere near ready
and agency officials are
struggling to salvage a
project racked by delays and
mismanagement, according to
an internal report
commissioned by the agency.
By 2023, an estimated
$158 billion will be
invested into solar energy.
With this rapid growth in
the solar energy market,
what will the demand be for
the natural resources vital
to these systems?
With the growth rate of
the solar energy market
expected to increase by
double-digits over the next
decade, so will the demand
for copper needed to power
and ground cabling for these
installations...
Company Chief Executive
Officer Tom Fanning
reportedly made the comments
at a conference in
Washington, according to
Reuters. Fanning said the
company is evaluating six
possible sites for more
reactors, including existing
power plants and greenfield
locations.
-
Backyard chickens are
growing in popularity,
and many US cities are
adjusting ordinances to
allow for this pastime
-
Requirements vary widely
depending on your
locale, with many
limiting the number of
chickens you can raise
or requiring quarterly
inspections (at a cost)
and permits
-
Chickens need at least
14 hours of daylight to
produce eggs, which
means they’re going to
produce far fewer eggs,
and maybe none at all,
during the darker,
colder winter months
-
You’ll need to carefully
consider the breed(s) of
your chickens, as they
each have unique
personalities, weather
tolerance, and
egg-laying potential
-
In addition to providing
fresh eggs, backyard
chickens help you
“biorecycle” food waste,
provide natural pest
control, improve the
health of your soil and
may even help you reduce
stress and improve your
mood
A new study, writes
Harvard behavioral economics
Prof Cass Sunstein, shows
that "the more informed you
are, the more likely you are
to choose store brands".
Tilburg University Prof
Bart Bronnenberg analysed
data from more than 77
million shopping trips from
2004-2011, matching the
items purchased with the
consumers' occupations.
Navajo President Ben
Shelly is calling for
answers in the gruesome
murders of two homeless
Navajo men last weekend in
Albuquerque.
The victims, whose names
have not yet been released,
were beaten so brutally with
a cinder block and other
objects that they were
unrecognizable. Their
bodies, one lying on a
mattress and one on the
ground, were found Saturday
morning in an open field in
northwest Albuquerque.
Whether you're a
homeowner or a renter, savvy
approaches to running your
home can save you money
according to house smart
experts.
These simple tips from
Homes.com, a leading online
real estate destination, and
sister site, ForRent.com,
won't take much time or
effort to execute.
He created an ice chest-air
conditioner that has a fan
on top that blows cold air
from inside through a couple
of PVC pipes. The fan is
powered by a 120 volt
rechargeable battery that
lasts up to nine hours. The
ice inside powers the air
conditioner on his ice
chests, whereas other models
need a radiator.
With
utility poles charred and
transmission lines down in
the trail of the Carlton
complex wildfire, about
7,000 Okanogan County
customers remained without
power Wednesday, according
to the Okanogan Public
Utility District.
And the thunderstorms
passing through North
Central Washington, as well
as logistical issues,
hampered efforts to restore
electricity to communities,
some of which have been
without power since this
past Thursday.
Ukrainian Prime Minister
Arseniy Yatsenyuk announced
his resignation Thursday,
creating new uncertainty in
his nation at a crucial
moment in its military
offensive against
pro-Russian rebels in the
east.
The
Department of Energy (DOE)
continues to clear hurdles
in its underground cleanup
at the Waste Isolation Pilot
Plant (WIPP), located 26
miles southeast of Carlsbad.
Crews finished replacing
all high-efficiency
particulate air filters --
or HEPA filters -- last week
and employees returned to
the salt mines 2,150 feet
below ground on July 18 for
the first time since June.
Farmers in important
crop-growing states should
consider the environmentally
unfriendly practice of
deeply tilling fields to
fight a growing problem with
invasive "superweeds" that
resist herbicides and choke
crop yields, agricultural
experts said this week.
Resistance to glyphosate,
the main ingredient in
widely used Roundup
herbicide, has reached the
point that row crop farmers
in the Midwest are
struggling to contain an
array of weeds, agronomists
say.
The cost of fighting
wildfires has eaten into
agency budgets meant for
forest management and fire
preparedness. Proposed
federal legislation would
treat such fires as natural
disasters like earthquakes
and hurricanes.
Initially, Chinese modules
were priced at $0.60-0.70
per Watt, however, according
to GTM Research, duties of
19-35 percent will place
approximately 14 percent of
tax incidence on customers.
As a result, they expect,
and we have heard in the
marketplace, a $0.10
increase in price to or
slightly above $0.70 per
Watt. This shrinks the gap
between Chinese and U.S.
panels, which cost about
$0.90-1.00 per Watt
What is FATCA?
FATCA was initially
introduced to target those
who evade paying U.S. taxes
by hiding assets in
undisclosed foreign bank
accounts. With such a noble
goal, and with the strong
backing of the
Administration, Congress
quickly drafted the FATCA
legislation and quietly
slipped it into the HIRE
(Hiring Incentives to
Restore Employment) bill
signed into law by President
Obama in March 2010. Most
members of Congress are
unaware of the unintended
negative consequences this
legislation will have when
fully implemented in 2014.
July 22, 2014
Ten people were killed,
including a mother and three
children, in a government
air strike on a
militant-controlled town
north of Baghdad on Monday,
hospital sources and
witnesses said.
The attack targeted the
town of Hawija, 230-km from
the capital, which is
controlled by Muslim
insurgents from the Islamic
State and other groups
opposed to Iraq’s
government.
No one
intentionally sets out to
become a bad boss. In fact,
many small business owners
are probably determined to
be better than bosses they
once had.
Watch out
for these negative traits as
you run your business:
For the first time in 14
years, the nation's crude
oil consumption in 2013 was
higher than China's, new
figures show.
Here's
something to be proud of:
Texas is a national leader
in wind energy. Wind
accounts for nearly 10
percent of power generation
in the Electric Reliability
Council of Texas' grid, or
so says the American Wind
Energy Association.
While wind energy is
clean, it's cultivated in
places where few people want
to live. Transmission to
population centers is costly
but worthy. A $7 billion
investment has been made in
transmission lines that
connect wind power
generators in rural West
Texas and the Panhandle with
urban areas to the east. And
as the Houston Chronicle's
Ryan Holeywell reported,
interest in wind power
generation is growing,
potentially straining the
transmission lines with $675
million in needed upgrades.
Australia has become the
first developed nation to
repeal its carbon tax, which
Australian Prime Minister
Tony Abbott has said was
"useless and destructive
[and] damaged jobs -- which
hurt families' cost of
living and which didn't
actually help the
environment." The Australian
government has estimated
that the repeal would save
families $550 per year.
-
Any time you cook meat
at high temperatures
carcinogenic chemicals
called polycyclic
aromatic hydrocarbons
(PAHs) and heterocyclic
amines (HCAs) are formed
-
Marinating pork in beer
prior to grilling cut
down on HCA levels by up
to 68 percent (with a
darker lager offering
the most benefit)
-
Other marinade
ingredients, including
olive oil, vinegar, and
lemon juice have also
been shown to cut down
on carcinogenic cooking
byproducts
-
Also effective are spice
rubs (garlic, oregano,
cinnamon, rosemary,
black pepper, turmeric,
and onions) and even
fruit (such as
cherries), which can be
added into ground meats
like burgers
-
The longer the cooking
time and the higher the
heat, the more HCAs, so
cook your meat at the
lowest temperature, and
for the shortest time,
possible
California had its
warmest winter and spring on
record this year, leading to
stresses on water resources
and agriculture, as well as
increased risk of wildfire
in the most populous U.S.
state, the National Weather
Service said Monday.
In an overview of the
nation's weather released on
the agency's website,
meteorologists said
temperatures in California
were about 5 degrees
Fahrenheit above normal
during the first six months
of 2014, and just over 1
degree hotter than the
previous record.
The death toll from a
super typhoon, the strongest
to hit southern China in 40
years, has risen to 33,
state media said on Monday,
after leaving at least 77
dead in the Philippines last
week.
Typhoon Rammasun struck
the island province of
Hainan on Friday and then
tore through parts of the
mainland, the official
Xinhua news agency reported.
“Our enormously productive
economy demands that we make
consumption our way of life,
that we convert the buying
and use of goods into
rituals, that we seek our
spiritual satisfactions, our
ego satisfactions, in
consumption. The measure of
social status, of social
acceptance, of prestige, is
now to be found in our
consumptive patterns. The
very meaning and
significance of our lives
today expressed in
consumptive terms. The
greater the pressures upon
the individual to conform to
safe and accepted social
standards, the more does he
tend to express his
aspirations and his
individuality in terms of
what he wears, drives, eats,
his home, his car, his
pattern of food serving, his
hobbies.
Ten projects aimed at
accelerating genetic
breeding programs to improve
plant feedstocks for the
production of biofuels,
biopower, and bio-based
products have been selected
by the U.S. Department of
Energy (DOE) and the U.S.
Department of Agriculture
(USDA) to receive funding --
in an effort to diversify
the nation's energy
portfolio and speed
development of new clean
energy technologies designed
to decrease dependence on
foreign oil. The projects
are located in California,
Colorado, Illinois,
Michigan, Minnesota,
Missouri, New York, Texas,
and Virginia.
As wide swaths of rural
America suffer through
historic drought, they're
being left further behind.
Every few hours, Anita
Pointon refreshes the Web
site that tells when it’s
coming, because the work
begins as soon as they know.
Her husband, Chuck, 62, will
set out to walk the farm
with a moisture probe to see
which fields are the driest.
One run of water covers only
about 18 acres of their 500,
so they have to choose
carefully.
Nearly 2,500 tons of coal
ash and river sediment had
been removed from the area.
Previously, Duke
completed the cleanup near
the water treatment
facilities in Danville and
South Boston, and near the
Dan River Steam Station and
Town Creek, two miles
downstream from the plant.
More than 500 tons of coal
ash and river sediment was
removed.
Workshops will teach
residents of the booming
Eagle Ford Shale how to
report emissions and
suspected water
contamination.
On July 15th, 2014, citizens
from Northern California
rallied to create the
largest attendance ever at
the Shasta County
Supervisors chambers (400+,
chairman Les Baugh confirmed
this attendance record at
the start of the meeting).
The primary purpose of this
meeting was to present
information that proves
there is a very dire heavy
metal contamination and UV
radiation issue across the
Shasta County region (and
the world). A list of 10
experts presented data to
the board to confirm the
legitimacy of the concerns
being addressed.
Glenn Beck began his radio
show Tuesday with a
startling account of how a
longtime friend of his
recently took him into a
hotel conference room and
revealed a secret: he is an
agent of the federal
government who rescues
children from international
trafficking rings.
“[The other restaurant]
had put up a sign that said
‘No Weapons Allowed’ and
they were robbed at gunpoint
two days later,” Floyd
recounted. “That got me
thinking.”
She posted a “Guns are
Welcome” sign on the front
door of her establishment
about a month ago, and since
then, she says business has
really picked up.
-
Exposure to
electromagnetic
radiation from cell
phones lowered sperm
motility by 8 percent
and sperm viability by 9
percent
-
Previous studies have
also found that cell
phone radiation can
affect men's sperm
count, and the quality
and motility of their
sperm
-
Prenatal animal studies
have shown exposure to
radiation from cell
phones alters DNA and
brain metabolism,
compromises spinal
cords, and affects
learning abilities
-
US and international
cell-phone safety
standards are based only
on the notion that
low-frequency
electromagnetic
radiation and microwave
radiation induce harm by
heating
-
At least 23 studies have
shown that microwave and
other low-frequency EMFs
act by activating
voltage-gated calcium
channels (VGCCs) that
cause adverse
non-thermal biological
changes
Rutgers researchers have
developed a technology that
could overcome a major cost
barrier to making
clean-burning hydrogen fuel.
The technology is intended
to replace cost-prohibitive
platinum for electrolysis
reaction. The resulting
hydrogen fuel could,
potentially, replace fossil
fuels.
Until 2013, chikungunya was
an Old World disease,
writes Maggie
Koerth-Baker.
Not any more
When the name of a virus
translates as “to become
contorted” (as in, with
joint pain) you know it is
not something you want to
catch. Unfortunately, your
chances of encountering
chikungunya are increasing.
Chikungunya is a
mosquito-borne illness that
has no cure. On the plus
side, it’s unlikely to kill
you. On the downside, if you
catch it, treatment is about
easing the discomfort of
symptoms and waiting for it
to pass. This is a virus
that exists on a spectrum.
Lots of people might have it
and never realize they have
contracted something
serious. But mosquitoes bite
those people, contract the
virus, and then spread it to
somebody else who could end
up with debilitating pain
lasting for weeks.
Construction of the 2-MW
thermal post-combustion
carbon dioxide (CO2)
capture pilot system is
expected to be completed
this fall, with testing to
follow shortly after. It
will consist of six modules
connected side by side. The
focus of the “catch and
release” style pilot system
will serve to demonstrate
the integration of carbon
capture technology at an
existing power plant.
Testing is expected to
finish by mid-2016.
A prayer service had just
ended at the Al-Masjid
Ur-Razzaq Ul-Karim mosque
Monday morning when Merv
Mitchell, the mosque’s emir
— along with the mosque’s
imam, whose name was not
released — confronted a man
who usually helps organize
prayer services, said police
Lt. John Walker.
New research at the
Weizmann Institute of
Science, conducted in
collaboration with
scientists in the US,
calculates these
environmental costs and
compares various animal
proteins to give a
multi-perspective picture of
what resources are really
being used.
The team looked at the
five main sources of protein
in the American diet: dairy,
beef, poultry, pork and
eggs. Their idea was to
calculate the environmental
inputs — the costs — per
nutritional unit: a calorie
or gram of protein.
Researchers at Aalborg
University, MIT and Caltech
have developed a new
mathematically-based
technique that can boost
internet data speeds by up
to 10 times, by making the
nodes of a network much
smarter and more adaptable.
The advance also vastly
improves the security of
data transmissions, and
could find its way into 5G
mobile networks, satellite
communications and the
Internet of Things.
Oil futures settled higher
Monday, boosted by a rising
geopolitical risk premium
amid violence in Ukraine and
Libya, where oil production
has once again fallen.
NYMEX August crude
settled $1.46 higher at
$104.59/barrel; ICE
September Brent settled 44
cents higher at $107.68/b.
-
In sharp contrast to the
US, where several states
have banned raw milk
sales, France, Croatia,
Switzerland, Austria,
the Netherlands, and
Italy sell raw milk in
vending machines
-
The vast majority of
foodborne illnesses in
the US are linked to
factory farmed and
highly processed foods,
not raw foods
-
Last year, Chobani Greek
yoghurt was recalled
following reports of
gastrointestinal
illness. The yogurt,
which is pasteurized and
not raw, was found to be
contaminated with a
fungus called Murcor
circinelloides
-
Disease-causing bacteria
are the result of
industrial farming
practices that lead to
diseased animals, which
may then in turn produce
contaminated milk
-
California has among the
highest standards for
raw milk for human
consumption, in which
farmers must meet or
exceed pasteurized milk
standards, without
pasteurizing
Solar activity has been at
very low levels. Solar
activity is expected to be
very low with a slight
chance for a C-class flare
on days one, two, and three
(22 Jul, 23 Jul, 24 Jul).
The geomagnetic field is
expected to be at quiet
levels on days one, two, and
three (22 Jul, 23 Jul, 24
Jul).
The
impending reactivation of
reactors shut down following
the 2011 nuclear crisis has
raised a difficult question:
Who will take responsibility
for the decision?
On Wednesday, the Nuclear
Regulation Authority
effectively finished
screening the two reactors
at the Sendai plant in
Kyushu, certifying they meet
the new safety standards
adopted after the Fukushima
meltdowns.
New Mexico Congressman Ben
Ray Luján and Vermont
Congressman Peter Welch have
introduced legislation that
will promote energy savings
through increased efficiency
standards and higher
investments in renewable
energy -- such as wind,
solar, geothermal, hydro,
and biomass. Known as the
American Renewable Energy
and Efficiency Act, or HR
5072, the legislation would
enact a renewable energy
standard to reduce carbon
emissions and drive clean
energy deployment in states
nationally. A renewable
energy standard will drive
the development of the clean
energy sector and the
economy.
The salty drilling waste is
said to contain heavy metals
in concentrations that might
not meet drinking water
standards, as well as
radioactive material.
In early July, a million
gallons of salty drilling
waste spilled from a
pipeline onto a steep
hillside in western North
Dakota's Fort Berthold
Reservation. The waste—a
byproduct of oil and gas
production—has now reached a
tributary of Lake Sakakawea,
which provides drinking
water to the reservation.
fter making a debut at the
2014 Geneva Motor Show, the
Quant e-Sportlimousine has
received approval from
Germany's TÜV Süd. The car,
which uses an electrolyte
flow cell power system, is
now certified for use on
German and European roads.
Business, industry and other
organizations will get help
to cut their energy costs
with £10 million made
available this year to
improve efficiency and
reduce energy demand,
according to U.K. Energy and
Climate Change Secretary Ed
Davey, who has unveiled new
plans that will remove
barriers to investment in
energy infrastructure.
A newly produced material is
believed to be the
"blackest" ever created.
Vantablack is a pure carbon
coating and absorbs 99.96
percent of incident
radiation (solar energy as
it hits the material's
surface). Manufacturer
Surrey NanoSystems believes
that is the highest such
figure ever recorded.
You have probably heard that
melting permafrost is a big
contributor to increasing
the levels of greenhouse
gases in our atmosphere, and
that melting permafrost may
even cause an unstoppable
acceleration of global
warming.
New
research, however, supported
by the National Science
Foundation (NSF), counters
this widely-held scientific
view that thawing permafrost
uniformly accelerates
atmospheric warming,
indicating instead that
certain arctic lakes store
more greenhouse gases than
they emit into the
atmosphere.
The United States Department
of Agriculture (USDA) is
awarding more than $2.5
million in grants to develop
wood energy teams in 11
states and an additional
$1.25 million for nine wood
energy projects using woody
material, such as
beetle-killed trees, from
National Forest System
lands.
In an international energy
efficiency ranking released
by the American Council for
an Energy-Efficient Economy
(ACEEE), Germany comes in
first, followed by Italy,
the European Union, China,
and France. The rankings
include 16 of the world's
largest economies --
Australia, Brazil, Canada,
China, France, Germany,
India, Italy, Japan, Mexico,
Russia, South Korea, Spain,
the United Kingdom, the
United States, and the
European Union --
representing more than 81
percent of global gross
domestic product and 71
percent of global energy
consumption.
Drinking Water on an Empty
Stomach.
A current trend in Japan
today is drinking water
immediately after getting
out of bed. Scientific tests
have confirmed the medical
value of this practice.
This water treatment has
been confirmed by Japanese
medical authorities to
completely cure certain
diseases, whether they are
more serious or simply mild
afflictions. A list of these
diseases are:
It came to them
bedraggled, burned and
covered in slime. Just weeks
later, a miraculous
transformation had taken
place as the bald eagle,
healed from its plunge into
a toxic chemical pond, once
again flew free.
July 18, 2014
Not every utility that
cleans wastewater views
itself as a wastewater
treatment plant.
“Some utilities have
started making the shift
from saying ‘we make clean
water’ to saying ‘we recover
resources from water,’” said
Matt Williams, an anaerobic
digestion/biosolids expert
from WesTech. “They are
seeing themselves as water
resource recovery
facilities.”
Jon Cohen Tom Frieden, head
of the U.S. Centers for
Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC), held an
alarming press conference on
11 July, describing lab
mistakes with three deadly
pathogens and vowing to "do
everything in my power to
make sure that nothing like
this happens again." ..
In separate incidents at CDC
in Atlanta, a dangerous
influenza virus unwittingly
contaminated a sample of a
benign one, and a supposedly
inactivated batch of anthrax
bacteria turned out to be
alive.
The mission of Aura, which
is Latin for breeze, centers
on obtaining measurements of
ozone, aerosols and key
gases throughout the
atmosphere. And after one
decade in space, the
satellite has provided vital
data about the cause,
concentrations and impact of
major air pollutants...
Near the ground, ozone can
damages plants and can
decrease lung function in
humans. Somewhat higher in
the atmosphere, ozone
affects climate as a
greenhouse gas. However, the
majority of ozone is located
in the stratosphere, 12 to
90 miles above the surface.
This ozone is good because
it shields us from the sun's
ultraviolet light.
Australia’s Senate has voted
to repeal the price on
emissions of the
climate-warming gas carbon
dioxide, a levy on the
biggest polluters passed by
the previous Labor
government...
A coal-producing country
that burns coal for most of
its power supply, Australia
emits more carbon dioxide
per capita than any other
developed country.
Residents of California have
been noting something
disconcerting when they hit
the grocery store this year:
it's a terrible year for
stone fruit. Despite the
fact that it's the height of
summer, peaches, nectarines,
apricots, plums, cherries
and their ilk are much more
expensive than unusual, and
of much poorer quality, too.
What's going on? The answer
lies in the state’s extreme
drought, which wreaked havoc
on numerous crops this year,
including stone fruit. The
state’s agriculture may be
undergoing some major shifts
in the coming years thanks
to climate change and
natural shifts in rainfall
levels, and it's not the
only region looking at a
drier future.
Colorado regulators said
on Thursday that the
disposal of oil and gas
wastewater at a well in Weld
County likely caused a
series of small earthquakes
this year, in another sign
that a U.S. drilling boom is
contributing to higher
seismic activity.
The issue of wastewater
disposal disturbing
underground faultlines has
become a national issue in
the United States where
drilling and wastewater
disposal have increased
sharply in recent years.
Tasmania's isolation and
wilderness once made it a
dumping ground for the
British Empire's convicts.
But these same qualities,
and a small population of
just over half a million
people, make the island one
of the cleanest places on
earth.
Now, with fewer and fewer
places in the world free
from genetically modified
farming and the innovations
it brings, the pristine
environment is under threat.
The world's grasslands
are being destabilized by
fertilization, according to
a paper recently published
in the journal Nature.
In a study of 41 grassland
communities on five
continents, researchers
found that the presence of
fertilizer weakened
grassland species diversity.
The researchers surveyed
grasslands in countries
around the world, such as
China, the U.S.,
Switzerland, Tanzania and
Germany, and discovered that
grassland communities that
had not been managed by
humans contained more
species. They also had
greater species asynchrony,
which means that different
species thrive at different
times so that the grassland
produces more consistently
over time, resulting in more
stable biomass production.
The Flare Pan is
based on jet
engine-cooling
technology
When the University
of Oxford's Dr. Thomas
Povey was on a
mountaineering trip
several years ago, he
became acutely aware of
how much fuel was
required to boil water
using his conventional
cookware. This inspired
the professor of
engineering to develop a
new type of cooking pan,
that would make better
use of available heat.
The result is the
"finned" Flare Pan,
which requires 40
percent less heat than a
regular pan to get just
as hot.
Google Inc's Street View
cars have captured the
world's roads, highways and
back alleys for years. Now
they are being used for
something entirely
different: detecting the
thousands of natural gas
leaks blighting major U.S.
cities.
Google cars fit with air
monitors have taken millions
of readings along the
streets of Boston, New York
and Indianapolis over the
past two years as part of a
program run by the
non-profit Environmental
Defense Fund to help reduce
methane emissions.
An umbrella group of
churches, which represents
over half a billion
Christians worldwide, has
decided to pull its
investments out of fossil
fuel companies.
The move by the World
Council of Churches, which
has 345 member churches
including the Church of
England but not the Catholic
church, was welcomed as a
"major victory" by climate
campaigners who have been
calling on companies and
institutions such as pension
funds, universities and
local governments to divest
from coal, oil and gas.
With current mortgage
rates nearing a 14-month
low, the government wants to
help you refinance.
A Federal Housing Finance
Agency (FHFA) outreach
program for its Home
Affordable Refinance Program
(HARP) has identified more
than 667,000 U.S. households
currently eligible for
a HARP loan refinance.
There are few topics more
controversial these days
than hydraulic fracturing
("fracking"). While the
debate rages on as to
whether fracking poses a
risk to water quality, a new
desalination technique
addresses two other
environmental concerns:
water scarcity and
greenhouse gas (GHG)
emissions. Developed by
researchers at the
University of British
Columbia (UBC), the
breakthrough technology uses
excess carbon dioxide
created in the fracking
process to desalinate the
process water, making it
available for water reuse.
It also generates chemicals
— hydrochloric acid and
carbonate salts — that are
valuable for many industrial
applications.
The House voted Monday to
cut more than $1 billion
from the IRS’s tax
enforcement budget, giving
Republicans a big helping of
revenge against an agency
they’ve battled all year.
Members of the House this
week are considering the
Financial Services and
General Government
Appropriations Act for
fiscal year 2015. The bill
being debated on the House
floor would already cut IRS
funding by $341 million
compared to the current
fiscal year.
Lighthouse Solar, a Boulder,
Colorado based solar
installation business,
announced today that it is
getting out of the
installation business in
Colorado. Market conditions
created by Xcel Energy and
the PUC have made operating
in Colorado too difficult
and unpredictable to do
business. In contrast,
Lighthouse Solar has two
additional installation
offices that are thriving in
Austin, Texas and New Paltz,
New York.
Microsoft Corp. will buy
wind power from a new
Illinois wind farm for the
next 20 years to offset its
power needs, part of a plan
by the technology company to
become offset its carbon
output.
The 175-megawatt wind
farm is under construction
60 miles outside Chicago at
the border of Kankakee and
Iroquois Counties. It's 96
percent owned by EDF
Renewable Energy, a U.S.
subsidiary of French utility
Electricite de France SA.
Torrential rains have
inundated several Chinese
provinces this week,
claiming at least 11 lives
and affecting over one
million people, both
residents and tourists.
In east China’s Jiangxi
province, officials reported
today that six people have
died from lightning strikes
since Friday, according to
the state news agency
Xinhua.
A new high-temperature
superconductor can trap a
record magnetic field of
17.6 Tesla, in an advance
that could bring us closer
to cheaper maglev and vacuum
trains, better electric
grids, and flywheel energy
storage
Oil futures pushed higher in
afternoon New York trading
Thursday on reports that a
Malaysian airliner had
crashed in eastern Ukraine.
A Ukrainian official
told the Associated Press
that an airliner was shot
down in the eastern part of
the country, according to an
ABC News report.
NYMEX August crude was $1.39
higher at $102.59/barrel.
ICE September Brent was 37
cents higher at $107.54/b at
1631 GMT.
The challenge of ensuring
future food security as
populations grow and diets
change has its roots in
soil, but the increasing
degradation of the earth's
thin skin is threatening to
push up food prices and
increase deforestation.
While the worries about
peaking oil production have
been eased by fresh sources
released by hydraulic
fracturing, concern about
the depletion of the vital
resource of soil is moving
center stage.
-
Diets loaded with
processed foods are
leading to increased
inflammation, reduced
control of infection,
increased rates of
cancer, and increased
risk of allergic and
auto-inflammatory
diseases
-
A poor diet causes
shifts in your body’s
microbiome that have
lasting effects on your
own health and the
health of future
generations
-
A mother’s diet may
shape her child’s taste
preferences in utero,
skewing them toward
vegetables or sweets,
for instance
-
There’s evidence that
children inherit their
microbiome from their
mother, and part of this
may be “seeded into the
unborn fetus while still
in the womb;” a father’s
diet may also impact his
child’s future health
-
Replacing processed
foods with whole and
fermented foods is
crucial for optimal
health
When it rains, where does
the water go? Well for one,
a lot of rainwater will
funnel its way off roads and
impermeable surfaces and
will make its way into storm
sewers. Another path might
be directly into rivers and
lakes. Or, rainwater might
get soaked up by soil where
it will then infiltrate into
the ground and replenish
aquifers. But just how deep
does this rainwater
infiltrate?
Solar activity is expected
to be very low with a slight
chance for a C-class flare
on days one, two, and three
(18 Jul, 19 Jul, 20 Jul)
should regions develop.
The geomagnetic field is
expected to be at quiet
levels on days one, two, and
three (18 Jul, 19 Jul, 20
Jul).
The gluten-free food craze
is fueling a
multibillion-dollar growth
industry. And as many as one
in three restaurant-goers
are asking for gluten-free
menu items in Los Angeles
and New York, by some
accounts. Facebook has more
than 1,000 groups with
"gluten free" in the name
and there’s even a dating
group called "Gluten-free
single
Ever since the Fukushima
nuclear reactor disaster,
there has understandably
been an upsurge in the sale
of consumer
radiation-detecting devices.
Most of these gadgets are
variations on the Geiger
counter, in that they alert
the user to the presence and
level of radiation, but not
the type of
radiation – which is very
important to know.
Researchers at Oregon State
University are hoping to
address that situation, with
the MiniSpec. Currently in
development, the handheld
device will additionally
tell its users what type of
radionuclide is creating the
radiation, and whether it
poses a risk.
There were smiles all
around Tuesday as
Cornelius-based O2 Energies
showed off the 5-megawatt
solar farm it's developing
in Montgomery County, about
60 miles east of Charlotte.
Dozens of such farms have
quickly catapulted North
Carolina toward the top of
national solar rankings. But
the next step in that
evolution, including larger
farms, is proving thorny.
The membership of the
Coalition for American Solar
Manufacturing (CASM) - a
broad consortium of U.S.
solar-industry employers
that supports domestic
manufacturing, sustainable
production and fair
competition and trade - has
grown to more than 250
employers of nearly 25,000
American workers, according
to SolarWorld, the
coalition's leader.
Why? To make sure Big
Pharma gets a monopoly on
new drugs connected to it!
Inflammation is the
body’s complex biological
response to harmful stimuli
such as pathogens,
irritants, or injuries. It’s
a natural, protective
attempt by the body to
remove the stimuli and start
the healing process. When
this inflammation becomes
too intense or chronic, the
inflammatory response itself
can damage tissues.
Atherosclerosis, asthma,
allergies, autoimmune
disorders, celiac disease,
rheumatoid arthritis,
sarcoidosis, and even cancer
are all triggered or caused
by or involve inflammation.
An Urdu-to-English
dictionary was not something
Mike Vickers expected to
find on the rocky earth
underneath the cattle
fencing around his
1,000-acre Texas ranch.
Two towers almost a
kilometer high have been
announced for Wuhan, China.
But they won’t just be
special because of their
height – the towers will
actually clean the polluted
lake next to which they will
sit.
People don’t really
think of starvation when
they’re about to toss a
perfectly fine batch of
vegetables into the trash
after dinner.
Furthermore, people don’t
think about all of the food
being wasted when they sort
through their refrigerators.
Perhaps what’s even more
frightening, is the fact
that no one thinks about the
fact that “spoiled” fruits
and vegetables found at
supermarkets can be used to
create juices and
supplements. Instead, they
just go unused and wasted.
I wish I could tell you
about the chemical makeup of
hydraulic fracturing
("fracking") fluids being
used at sites near you—and
whether you should be
concerned about their impact
on the local environment or
your health. But I can't. At
times, our own public safety
and health professionals do
not know, even when there
have been fracking-related
accidents or chemical
spills. Why is that? Because
in the interest of "trade
secrets," ..
Fracking in the US has
led to a greater reduction
in carbon emissions than all
the wind turbines and solar
panels across the entire
globe put together. This is
the stark fact presented at
a meeting at the Council of
Europe in Strasbourg last
week.
Chris Faulkner, who is
chief executive of Breitling
Energy Corporation based in
Texas, explained: "Fracking
has succeeded where Kyoto
and carbon taxes have
failed. Due to the shale
boom in the US, the use of
clean burning natural gas
has replaced much more
polluting coal by ten per
cent...
Housing starts dropped
by 9.3% to an annualized
893,000 in June 2014 from a
revised 985,000 units in May
(was 1,001,000), thereby
missing market expectations
for an increase to 1,020,000
units.
The number of building
permits issued also
declined, falling by 4.2% to
963,000 annualized units in
June after falling to
1,005,000 units in May from
a six-month high of
1,059,000 in April. Market
expectations had been for an
increase to 1,035,000
annualized units.
As a result of not
implementing best practices
for reducing solar
photovoltaic (PV) system
costs and accelerating
residential and commercial
customer adoption, the U.S.
continues to lag behind
global PV leaders Germany
and Australia, according to
a Rocky Mountain Institute
(RMI)/Georgia Tech Research
Institute (GTRI) report.
With solar module costs
relatively the same
everywhere, total soft costs
-- including customer
acquisition, installation
labor, permitting,
inspection and
interconnection -- now
comprise approximately 70
percent of the total
installed price for a U.S.
residential PV system,
making soft costs a prime
opportunity for drastic cost
reductions.
Eastern US over-the-counter
thermal coal prices fell for
a fourth straight session
Thursday on the back of a
weaker natural gas futures
market and an absence of
demand, sources said.
One broker said the
weakness in the gas futures
market "caused a sell-off"
in the coal market, adding
that the market sidestepped
any bullish knock-on
uncertainty from a Malaysian
Airlines jet being shot down
in Ukraine.
Westinghouse Electric Co.
sees something in the West
Coast that isn't all that
obvious to others: a nuclear
future.
When the Cranberry-based
company announced last month
that it has started the
federal approval process for
an AP1000 reactor that can
function in areas of high
earthquake risk, Rita
Bowser, Westinghouse'?s lead
on the effort, said the
firm'?s main target is the
U.S. West Coast.
Your nose isn’t the only
part of your body capable of
taking a whiff.
In the past decade,
scientists have discovered
olfactory receptors
lingering in strange
places—in sperm, in the
spine, and even in
the kidneys. Now researchers
in Hanns Hatt’s lab at
Germany’s Ruhr University
Bochumhave identified scent
receptors somewhere much
more accessible: the skin.
What’s more, these receptors
appear to be involved in
healing.
By now most will be
aware of the dreaded utility
“declining demand death
spiral”: As solar PV grows,
utilities' demand drops.
Utilities respond by raising
prices and/or network
charges—either for solar or
non-solar customers—further
incentivizing solar (and
battery storage), thus
further reducing demand.
You know what happens to
metal when it’s exposed to
the elements, right? It
rusts.
Rusting is
actually a chemical reaction
between the iron (Fe) and
the oxygen (O) in the air in
the presence of water or
moisture (H2O).
July 15, 2014
For 31 years, a Missouri
woman and her husband spent
their anniversary at Red
Lobster. This year was
different.
It's pretty rare that
members of Congress and all
the witnesses they've called
will declare out loud that
Americans are just too
ignorant to be given a piece
of information, but that was
a key conclusion of a
session of the House
Agriculture Committee this
week.
Most of us do not need a
whole lot of motivation or
prodding to eat chocolate,
whether it comes in the milk
or dark variety. And now new
research is giving you even
one more reason to give in
to your favorite chocolate
temptation! A recent study
indicates that the very
make-up of chocolate may be
able to reduce your stress
levels. Now what’s not
de-stressing about that?
Prices in China's domestic
thermal coal market slumped
dramatically in Monday's
Asian trading session as the
effect of Shenhua's cut to
its thermal coal prices late
last week and depressed
buying interest among
Chinese power plants took a
heavy toll on the market,
said sources.
Iraq's oil ministry
condemned Sunday the seizure
of crude oil production
facilities at the Kirkuk and
Bai Hassan oil fields in the
north of the country by
Kurdish Peshmerga armed
forces.
Peshmerga
forces, along with numerous
civilians, entered the crude
oil stations at the two
fields, driving out the
workers from state-owned
North Oil Company early
Friday, the oil ministry
said in a statement.
I believe this engraving is
especially communicative
Beijing will implement
strict controls and targets
for airborne sulphur from
coal, Xinhua said, citing
the Beijing Municipal
Administration of Quality
and Technology Supervision.
This is the first time
China has enforced the use
of low-sulphur coal across
all industries to tackle
pollution.
Brazil's ambitious plan to
auction 3.5 GW of
photovoltaic (PV) capacity
through 2018 is expected to
catalyze solar growth in
Latin America, according to
IHS Technology. The
Brazilian Electricity
Regulatory Agency has
announced a so-called
reserve capacity auction to
contract new
power-generation capacity to
hedge against unexpected
drops in power supply -- for
example, low hydroelectric
power levels during drought
years.
Amid relief that a dangerous
rift in the country’s
troubled democracy has been
averted, Afghan officials
praised a deal between
presidential contenders
brokered by U.S. Secretary
of State John Kerry and said
Sunday they hope to finish a
full ballot audit within
weeks.
On Mark Levin's radio show,
Sen. Cruz gave us some
crucial support when he
called for a full
investigation of what
happened here in Mississippi
and a criminal investigation
of anyone involved in
breaking the law. ..
"But even more troubling
Mark, in the past week or
so, we have seen serious
allegations of voter fraud
... these
allegations need to be
vigorously investigated, and
anyone involved in criminal
conduct should be prosecuted.
The voters of
Mississippi deserve to know
the truth.”
It was a decision that had
positive implications for
the ability of Goldcorp Inc
and other companies to
continue to mine on land
that natives had ceded to
Canada under treaty.
Goldcorp operates Canada's
largest gold mine in the
same region as the tract in
the forestry dispute, and
had intervened in the court
case.
cientists out of the
University of Exeter in the
U.K. said harnessing the
power of one particular
bodily function could
prevent cancer, among a host
of other diseases, the
Western Daily Press noted.
Which one, you ask? (We
know you’re asking…)
Flatulence.
More precisely…smelling
it.
Udall stressed the economic
ramifications of water
scarcity. “Water is critical
to our economy and our
ability to grow, but
scientists predict that
water scarcity will continue
years into the future. Doing
more with less is a
challenge I know we can meet
— but we have to work
together," he said in a
statement, per Business
First.
Citigroup will pay $4bn
(£bn) to the Department of
Justice and $2.5bn for
"consumer relief".
United Nations experts are
calling out Detroit for
human rights violations
after the city shut off
water service for thousands
of residents who failed to
pay their bills. "Detroit's
Water and Sewerage
Department began shutting
off water to customers who
were behind on payments this
spring, cutting service for
3,000 in April and 4,500 in
May. Around 45,000 shutoff
warnings were sent each
month," the Huffington Post
reported.
The emphasis by the FDA is
that “there is no cure for
autism.” So, any products or
treatments claiming to
“cure” autism do not work
and you shouldn’t waste time
trying any of them. Even
proven methods that are safe
and effective, with
significant benefits to
cognitive awareness and
executive function skills
are being labeled by the FDA
as carrying significant
health risks. Ironically,
the FDA is labeling
themselves as playing an
important role in “warning
these companies against
making false or misleading
claims.”
FingerReader uses a built-in
camera to scan pieces of
text, providing audio
feedback to the visually
impaired in real-time
It might seem a bit of a
jump - talking about
"fracking" and food
production in the same
article. However, when we
look at what's planned for
the next phase of intensive
agricultural development,
what we find is the same
economic and political
theories at the root of the
measures proposed.
Research and consulting firm
GlobalData is forecasting
that the global refining
capital expenditure (CAPEX)
will reach approximately
$333 billion between 2014
and 2020 -- an annual
average of almost $48
billion and 1.6 million
barrels per day (mmbd).
"Oh, Great Spirit, whose
voice I hear in the wind,
Whose breath gives life to
all the world. Hear me; I
need your strength and
wisdom.
- Thousands of
laboratories and
research centers are
working on the hydrogen
problem. They will need
another 20-30 years to
come within reach of
this problem. Even then
they will only be able
to repeat our results.
This is understandable,
because we know that 1
liter of water can only
get 1 kg of hydrogen and
not a single gram more.
- Solar Hydrogen
Trends has achieved this
results today. Hardly
anyone can ever surpass
performance of "Symphony
7A". Can you imagine
device with the size of
a 2 medium suitcases
produces about half a
ton hydrogen per day.
About 10,000 such "
suitcase bags" can
produce as much energy
as the infamous Japanese
Fukushima nuclear power
plant (4.7GW), which was
one of the largest power
plants in the world. Put
another way, in terms of
overall size, we need
half a football field
(2676 square meters),
20-30 feet high, to
produce as much energy
as the Fukushima plant.
[Compare that to the 3.5
million square meters
(865 acres) that the
Fukushima Daiichi
structure covers-- 1600
times more.]
A Southern Oregon wildfire
destroyed six homes and 14
other buildings, and dozens
of additional blazes ignited
after thousands of lightning
strikes lashed the state.
A key Republican said
Friday that President Barack
Obama’s multibillion-dollar
emergency request for the
border is too big to get
through the House, as a
growing number of Democrats
rejected policy changes
Republicans are demanding as
their price for approving
any money.
The developments
indicated that Obama faces
an uphill climb as he pushes
Congress to approve $3.7
billion to deal with tens of
thousands of unaccompanied
kids who’ve been arriving at
the U.S.-Mexico border from
poor and increasingly
violent Central American
nations.
For years, Japan has
struggled to find a site to
safely store highly
radioactive waste from
nuclear power plants for as
long as 100,000 years.
Tens of thousands of tons
of spent fuel stored at
nuclear power plants will
remain dangerously
radioactive for thousands of
years - a vexing problem
that nuclear-powered nations
around the world face. After
decades of studies,
scientists now agree that
underground storage is the
best option, but finding a
community willing to host a
radioactive dump site is
difficult.
Here is how some
countries have tackled the
issue:
Coming on the heels of
Apple’s announced 17.5-MW
solar project in Maiden,
North Carolina, spokespeople
for an innovative renewable
energy project involving two
universities, a hospital and
the largest non-utility
solar PPA in the U.S. have
said that it will also begin
construction in North
Carolina this summer.
The solar panels that
Idaho inventor Scott Brusaw
has built aren't meant for
rooftops. They are meant for
roads, driveways, parking
lots, bike trails and,
eventually, highways.
Brusaw, an electrical
engineer, says the
hexagon-shaped panels can
withstand the wear and tear
that comes from inclement
weather and vehicles, big
and small, to generate
electricity.
Iraq's deadlocked parliament
failed Sunday to overcome
the deep divisions hampering
the formation of a new
government, making no
progress on choosing new
leaders who could help hold
the nation together and
confront the Sunni militant
blitz that has overrun much
of the country.
A scientific study that
identified serious health
impacts on rats fed on
'Roundup ready' GMO maize
has been republished
following its controversial
retraction under strong
commercial pressure. Now
regulators must respond and
review GMO and agro-chemical
licenses, and licensing
procedures.
The one thing I would agree
with Mike on in this article
is what he says near the
end, that society is not yet
quite ready or mature enough
for the responsible roll-out
of free energy technologies.
The Fed has chosen the
interest rate on excess
reserves (IOER) as the
primary tool to control
interest rates during the
normalization process. While
working with IOER is
certainly more effective
than the Fed Funds rate,
there are a some drawbacks.
As banks pay nearly nothing
on deposits and earn an
increasingly higher rate on
reserves, the Fed will be
criticised for providing
banks with more riskless
profits (on some $2.5
trillion of excess
reserves).
Operators manually shut down
the reactor at 3:12 a.m.
after observing a reduction
in vacuum conditions in the
plant's condenser. That unit
cools down and condenses
steam produced by the
reactor after it has passed
through the power plant
turbine, which spins to
convert the energy to
electricity.
A study that involved
fitting bumblebees with tiny
radio frequency tags found
long-term exposure to a
neonicotinoid pesticide
hampers bees' ability to
forage for pollen.
The research by Nigel
Raine, a professor at the
University of Guelph, and
Richard Gill of Imperial
College, London, shows how
long-term pesticide exposure
affects individual bees'
day-to-day behaviour,
including pollen collection
and which flowers worker
bees chose to visit.
“This legislation takes
critical steps toward
protecting Lake Erie and
Grand Lake St. Marys from
harmful algae that has
become an increasing problem
for fresh water bodies in
our state,” said Portman.
“For the first time, we will
prioritize the protection of
Ohio’s fresh bodies of
water, which is critical for
our tourism and fishing
industries. I’m pleased the
President has signed this
important bill into law,
especially after visiting
Lake Erie last weekend and
meeting with local
stakeholders.”
Astrobiologists from the
United States and Germany
recorded the highest known
level of solar UV radiation
to reach Earth's surface.
This was around 10 years ago
On December 29, 2003, the
UV Index (UVI) peaked,
reaching the blistering
number of 43.3 over the
Andes Mountains in Bolivia.
To put this in context, a
beachgoer in the United
States would expect a UVI of
8 or 9 on a summer day. Even
with those numbers, one may
not escape the day without
sunburn.
Daines readily admits that
Republicans don’t always do
the best jobs at reaching
out to tribes, and he wants
to change that, modelling
good behavior for his peers.
In an interview with Indian
Country Today Media Network,
he explains his current
Indian-centric economic
focus, delves into his
state’s recent Indian voting
controversies, and he
explains his Cobell land
buy-back legislation.
“Several states have already
put a price on carbon
dioxide pollution, and their
economies are doing fine.
The bottom line: the economy
can handle – and actually
benefit from – these rules,”
said Analysis Group Senior
Advisor Susan Tierney.
Two Russian physicists
are fundraising to realize
their project for wireless
energy transmission once
proposed by brilliant
20th-century scientist
Nikola Tesla. Solar panels
and an upgraded Tesla Tower
could solve global energy
hunger, they say.
Industry dumped over 206
million pounds of toxic
chemicals into U.S.
waterways in 2012, according
to a new report by the
advocacy group Environment
America Research and Policy
Center.
Hauling company that dumped
toxic drilling waste over
eight miles of road and
never told authorities faces
formal enforcement action.
Guatemala and Mexico
agreed this week to make it
even easier for people to
show up at the American
border.
That's right: EASIER.
After all the public
outcry against thousands of
foreigners crossing our
border, you might have
thought the Mexican
government would help stop
the wave of people
traversing Mexico to get to
Texas. That would be a good
neighbor policy.
As vehicles become
more fuel efficient, the
savings one obtains by
further improving the
mileage decline
substantially. As an
example, assume a driver
saves $700 per year by
switching from a 12
mile/gallon car to a 15
mile/gallon one. Now if that
same driver has a car that
gets 30 miles/gallon, she
would need to switch to a 60
mile/gallon car in order to
achieve the same $700
savings. In fact the
incremental savings for each
additional mile/gallon
declines as the inverse
square of a car's fuel
efficiency.
Most [of these laws] remain
a a potential source of
virtually unlimited power
for a President should he
choose to activate them. It
is possible that some future
President could exercise
this vast authority in an
attempt to place the United
States under authoritarian
rule.
While the
danger of a dictatorship
arising through legal means
may seem remote to us today,
recent history records
Hitler seizing control
through the use of the
emergency powers provisions
contained in the laws of the
Weimar Republic."
--Joint Statement, Sens.
Frank Church (D-ID) and
Charles McMathias (R-MD)
September 30, 1973
Summary: The
organisations that are
looking to invent, and
dominate the next era of
computing are, at their
heart, based on advertising
revenue, and in the process
of owning the future, these
companies and their
device-based competitors
will treat the personal
information of consumers as
a prized commodity.
Super Moons are full moons
that are extra, well, super!
They are super because they
appear larger in the evening
sky than your run of the
mill full moon.
In
June of last year, a full
Moon made headlines. The
news media called it a
"supermoon" because it was
14% bigger and 30% brighter
than other full Moons of
2013. Around the world,
people went outside to
marvel at its luminosity.
Easington Rough, the UK's
largest gas storage
facility, could be full by
the end of August if recent
injection rates are
maintained, an analysis of
National Grid data showed
Friday.
The UK's only
long-range storage facility,
with a capacity of about 3.7
billion cubic meters, has
3.3 Bcm of gas in stock, or
88% of capacity, the highest
stock level for this time of
year for over four years.
Reindeer farms and
grazing Holstein cows dot a
vast stretch of rolling
green pasture here on
Japan's northern tip.
Underground it's a different
story.
Workers and scientists
have carved a sprawling
laboratory deep below this
sleep dairy town that,
despite government
reassurances, some of
Horonobe's 2,500 residents
fear could turn their
neighborhood into a nuclear
waste storage site.
"I'm worried," said
54-year-old reindeer handler
Atsushi Arase. "If the
government already has its
eye on us as a potential
site, it may eventually come
here even if we refuse."
Japanese utilities have
more than 17,000 tons of
"spent" fuel rods that have
finished their useful life
but will remain dangerously
radioactive for thousands of
years.
The United Nations on
Monday pulled its staff out
of Libya where at least 13
people have been killed in
fighting in the eastern city
of Benghazi and in Tripoli,
forcing the closure of the
international airport.
The decline in US coal
stockpiles for the week
ended Thursday, July 10,
slowed as lower temperatures
and increased coal
production, particularly in
the Powder River Basin,
meant US inventories ended
the week at 126 million st,
down 1 million st from the
prior week, Bentek Energy
said Friday.
A drop
in electricity demand during
the week resulted in a 5%
drop in daily US coal
consumption, according to
Bentek, which is a unit of
Platts.
The most
recent stockpile estimate
total is down 23% from both
the year-ago figure and the
five-year minimum range.
Freddie Mac (OTCQB:
FMCC) yesterday
released the results of its
Primary Mortgage
Market Survey®
(PMMS®), showing mortgage
rates little changed after
initially easing slightly
higher from the previous
week which was largely
fueled by a better than
expected jobs report showing
labor markets improving.
The US housing market
remains sluggish, as wages,
at least at the national
level, have not kept up with
the recent price
appreciation. The reason for
these higher prices is that
housing inventories remain
tight, particularly in the
more desirable areas. A
great deal of the inventory
has been picked up by "cash
buyers" that include
domestic and foreign
investors (including
professional investment
firms). These investors
accounted for over 40% of
the homebuyers in the first
half of 2014.
The
proposed ordinance would
limit gun purchases to one
per person per three months;
prohibit gun owners from
leaving firearms in an area
accessible to minors; and
create a registry in the
city that would require
convicted gun offenders to
register with police for
four years.
Some people fear the lack of
state and federal regulation
of wind energy could leave
Iowans vulnerable if the
industry sours or scientists
discover new consequences
for the environment or
health.
The World Trade Organisation
(WTO) has found the United
States violated global trade
rules when it imposed
tariffs on products from
China and India.
In response to a 2012
complaint, the WTO said the
US improperly imposed
tariffs on Chinese steel and
solar panels.
In a separate ruling, it
said the US must change the
way it imposes tariffs on
India steel products.
The World Trade
Organisation has ruled
against China and its export
restrictions on rare
minerals vital to the
production of smartphones,
cameras, steel and hybrid
cars in a significant
victory for the US, EU, and
Japan.
The WTO said Beijing had
for years used trade policy
to control key markets for
strategic commodities and
encourage manufacturers to
move their operations to
China.
The U.S. House of
Representatives voted down
two proposals to prevent
development of the Yucca
Mountain nuclear waste
repository in Nevada.
Rep. Dina Titus (D-Nev.)
proposed two amendments. The
first -- rejected in a
96-326 vote – would have cut
a section of the bill
preventing the use of funds
to remove the possibility
that Yucca Mountain could be
used as a repository,
according to The Hill.
A second amendment –
defeated in a 75-344 vote –
would have eliminated all
$150 million allocated for
nuclear waste disposal and
divert the funds instead
toward the national deficit.
July 11, 2014
Apple has made quite a green
turnaround in the past
couple of years.
After receiving a “D”
on Greenpeace’s “How
Green Is Your Cloud”
report back in 2011,
which ranks companies in
four categories that
consist of energy
transparency,
infrastructure siting,
energy efficiency, and
renewables and
advocacy, Apple
announced that it would
power its company with
100 percent renewable
energy.
Log books from British
whaling ships more than 200
years ago have given new
insights into the history of
the Arctic sea ice, reports
Tim Radford. A new study
reveals that the scale of
ice melt in the Arctic over
the last few decades is new
and unprecedented. The
retreat of the ice in the
last 30 years is part of a
more recent and new pattern
of climate change.
Federal regulators say
they've reached a $3.25
million settlement with an
Arizona utility over a 2011
blackout that left millions
of people without power in
California, Arizona and
Mexico.
The settlement approved
Monday between the Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission
and Arizona Public Service
Co. is expected to be the
first of several stemming
from the blackout that
involved a half-dozen
utilities and grid
operators.
The settlement requires
APS to pay $2 million to the
federal government and $1.25
million for improvements to
the electrical grid.
Babies whose moms lived
within a mile of crops
treated with widely used
pesticides were more likely
to develop autism, according
to new research published
today.
The study of 970
children, born in farm-rich
areas of Northern
California, is part of the
largest project to date that
is exploring links between
autism and environmental
exposures.
An emergency data law is
being passed in the UK to
allow police and security
services to continue to
monitor phone and internet
records of the British
public. The controversial
legislation is being rushed
through the British
parliament after the
European Court of Justice
struck down existing powers.
Snapguide user Rory Boyer
came up with a very simple
way to create a cheap and
rather uncomplicated air
conditioner. While it is
doubtful that you could cool
an entire house with this
ice chest AC unit, it does
appear to be an easy way to
add some cool air to any
room.
Coastal flooding along
the densely populated
Eastern Seaboard of the
United States has surged in
recent years, a Reuters
analysis has found.
During the past four
decades, the number of days
a year that tidal waters
reached or exceeded National
Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration flood
thresholds more than tripled
in many places, the analysis
found. At flood threshold,
water can begin to pool on
streets. As it rises
farther, it can close roads,
damage property and
overwhelm drainage systems.
Widely used pesticides known
as neonicotinoids hurt a
bee’s ability to forage for
pollen as well as impact
which flowers bees visit,
study finds
The Environmental
Protection Agency has
quietly claimed that it has
the authority to
unilaterally garnish the
wages of individuals who
have been accused of
violating its rules.
According to The
Washington Times, the agency
announced the plan to
enhance its purview last
week in a notice in the
Federal Register. The notice
claimed that federal law
allows the EPA to "garnish
non-Federal wages to collect
delinquent non-tax debts
owed the United States
without first obtaining a
court order."
A federal judge has
ordered the IRS to explain
"under oath" how the agency
lost a trove of emails from
the official at the heart of
the Tea Party targeting
scandal.
U.S. District Judge Emmet
G. Sullivan gave the tax
agency 30 days to file a
declaration by an
"appropriate official" to
address the computer issues
with ex-official Lois
Lerner.
No one has been infected,
and no smallpox
contamination was found in
the building.
A government scientist
cleaning out an old storage
room at a research center
near Washington made a
startling discovery last
week — decades-old vials of
smallpox packed away and
forgotten in a cardboard
box.
"For water resources,
agriculture and energy, the
old averages no longer
reflect the current
realities," Omar Baddour,
head of the data management
applications at the WMO,
told Reuters.
The darling of the
Democratic Party, Hillary
Rodham Clinton, says she
supports
genetically modified food,
making her no different from
most other American
politicians from both major
political parties.
A
swine virus that has already
caused a nationwide hog
shortage has turned up in
Arizona, where one farm
official worries it could
have “catastrophic effects
on the pork buying and
producing industry.”
Porcine epidemic
diarrhea virus can infect
any age pig, but has only
proven fatal to piglets, who
have a mortality rate of at
least 50 percent once
infected.
India’s new government that
was sworn in on 26 May has
roused hopes of an economic
revival driven by
wide-ranging reforms,
including the revitalisation
of the country’s somnolent
renewable energy sector.
India had once been
primed as one of the world’s
most vibrant markets for
renewables, as the
energy-starved country of
1.25 billion started
diversifying increasingly
into renewable energy. But
the decline of this sector
was spurred as much by the
general recession as by
policy uncertainty, an
inattentive, even
indifferent, Ministry of New
and Renewable Energy (MNRE),
and the inexplicable
withdrawal of incentives and
abrupt changes in the
macro-economic framework
governing the industry. It
was only towards the end of
its term that the
Congress-led government took
corrective measures to
breathe new life into this
business.
Policy mismanagement
does not appear
India-specific. The US has
been particularly affected
by this drawback that
decimated its wind farm
installations by 90 per cent
in 2013, from a record
13,000 MW the previous year,
according to new data
released by the Global Wind
Energy Council (GWEC).
Indian solar tariffs have
plunged over 40 per cent
over the past four years,
and for the first time have
attained grid parity. When
the first tender for solar
PV power was opened in 2010,
the lowest tariff was
Rs10.85 (18 cents) per kWh,
and it dropped to Rs7.49 (13
cents) the following year,
when new bids were opened
Terrorist groups in Iraq
have seized nuclear
materials used for
scientific research at a
university, the country’s
U.N. ambassador told the
U.N. Secretary General
Tuesday.
Iraqi security forces
found 53 corpses,
blindfolded and handcuffed,
in a town south of Baghdad
early on Wednesday, local
officials said.
They said the bodies had
been left in the mainly
Shi'ite Muslim village of
Khamissiya, about 25 km (15
miles) southeast of the city
of Hilla, near the main
highway running from the
capital to the southern
provinces.
The Kurdish political
bloc has stopped all
participation in Iraq's
national government over
prime minister Nouri
al-Maliki's comments that
Kurds were hosting Sunni
rebels in Erbil.
Iraq's foreign minister,
Hoshiyar Zebari, said on
Friday that Kurdish
politicians would stop
running their ministries, a
day after they had announced
a boycott of cabinet
meetings.
A USGS study showed that
alkalinity, a measurement of
a river's capacity to
neutralize acid inputs, has
increased over the past 65
years in 14 of the 23 rivers
assessed in the U.S.
Reduced acidity levels
were especially common in
rivers in the Northeast,
such as the Delaware and
Schuylkill Rivers; the
Midwest, such as the
Illinois and Ohio Rivers;
and the Missouri River in
the Great Plains.
The
National Security Agency and
FBI have covertly monitored
the emails of prominent
Muslim-Americans—including a
political candidate and
several civil rights
activists, academics, and
lawyers—under secretive
procedures intended to
target terrorists and
foreign spies.
According to documents
provided by NSA
whistleblower Edward
Snowden, the list of
Americans monitored by their
own government includes:
The bill signing Monday
comes as the federal
Environmental Protection
Agency has proposed rules
that would require Missouri
to cut carbon dioxide
emissions from
power plants by more than
one-fifth by 2030.
Missouri's electricity
production relies heavily on
coal-fired power plants,
which release greenhouse
gases that can contribute to
climate change.
Kyasanur forest disease
(KFD), a tick-borne
hemorrhagic fever known in
India as monkey fever, has
been a regular visitor to
southwestern India's
Karnataka state since the
virus first emerged in 1956.
Year after year, the region
would see, on average, about
400 cases and a couple dozen
deaths. Then, in late 2012,
the virus made a geographic
break, sickening forest
workers in the Bandipur
Tiger Reserve, a popular
ecotourism destination.
More than 700,000 people
are reported to have fled a
Pakistani military operation
against terrorists in North
Waziristan, straining nearby
towns and heightening
concern about a long-term
refugee crisis.
The operation is now in
its third week, and military
commanders stress that they
are making considerable
gains in their effort to
dislodge Pakistani Taliban
and other militants from the
restive region bordering
Afghanistan. But the
offensive also has led to a
massive displacement of
residents, creating new
burdens for humanitarian
groups already struggling to
help Pakistan fight a polio
epidemic and recover from
several recent natural
disasters.
In an analysis of 65 cities
across North America,
researchers found that
variation in how efficiently
urban areas release heat
back into the lower
atmosphere — through the
process of convection — is
the dominant factor in the
daytime UHI effect. This
finding challenges a
long-held belief that the
phenomenon is driven
principally by diminished
evaporative cooling through
the loss of vegetation.
This week the New York State
Court of Appeals upheld the
right of municipalities to
ban hydraulic fracturing for
natural gas within their
borders. In Norce Energy
Corp. USA v. Town of Dryden
and Cooperstown Holstein
Corporation v. Town of
Middlefield, the Court
of Appeals held that towns
and other municipalities may
ban hydraulic fracturing,
also known as fracking,
through the use of their
zoning laws. The decision by
the Court of Appeals is a
serious blow to the
possibility that fracking
will be used in New York
State.
NRA ordered the review
because the contaminated
water in the tunnel is
flowing too fast and is
making it difficult for the
freezing ducts inserted in
the soil around the tunnel
to freeze and create a wall,
according to The Yomiuri
Shimbun. TEPCO said in
the article it hopes to
remove the contaminated
water from the tunnel after
blocking the flow into the
tunnel, which connects the
turbine buildings for
reactors 2 and 3 and
contains about 11,000 tons
of radioactive water.
Seattle's trash will soon
generate even more clean
energy for Seattle City
Light customers. Waste
Management is doubling the
generating capacity of its
Columbia Ridge landfill gas
power plant in Oregon and
Seattle City Light will buy
all the electricity it
produces, maximizing waste
as a resource to find new,
alternative energy in a
sustainable way.
Rising supply from non-OPEC
producers will more than
meet expected growth in
world oil demand next year,
forcing OPEC to cut its
forecast of demand for its
own crude by 300,000 b/d,
the cartel's Vienna
secretariat said Thursday in
its latest monthly oil
market report.
Issuing its first estimates
for 2015, OPEC said it
expected demand for crude
produced by its 12 members
to fall to 29.4 million b/d.
It has kept the 2014
forecast broadly unchanged
at 29.7 million b/d.
It’s a sad fact that Native
populations have the highest
rates of obesity and
diabetes of any ethnicity.
The Centers for Disease
Control says obesity says
Native Americans are one and
half times more likely to be
obese than other ethnicIt’s
a sad fact that Native
populations have the highest
rates of obesity and
diabetes of any ethnicity.
Is it
feasible to separate
nutrient-rich urine before
it reaches the wastewater
treatment plant?
It might be a pipe dream,
but researchers are
investigating the potential
of keeping urine separate
from the rest of the
wastewater we humans
produce. The urine would be
diverted as close to the
source as possible — at the
toilet, via dedicated
plumbing — and then stored,
treated, and converted into
fertilizer. While it’s not
realistic to expect
urine-diverting (UD) toilets
in every home, they could
reasonably be installed in
high-occupancy buildings.
Public Service Company of
New Mexico's latest plan for
providing power to half a
million customers over the
next two decades is drawing
fire from renewable energy
and environmental advocates
over a proposal to add more
coal and nuclear power.
It is in this context of the
liberal fantasy — that we
owe the world everything, we
can do nothing to protect
ourselves and everyone else
is innocent while we
Americans somehow have an
extra burden to take care of
their problems — that you
have to view the President’s
current actions.
C5 event observed.
Solar activity is likely to
be moderate with a slight
chance for an X-class flare
on days one, two, and three
(11 Jul, 12 Jul, 13 Jul).
The geomagnetic field is
expected to be at quiet
levels on days one and two
(11 Jul, 12 Jul) and quiet
to unsettled levels on day
three (13 Jul). Protons have
a slight chance of crossing
threshold on days one, two,
and three (11 Jul, 12 Jul,
13 Jul).
Run-off from non-point
sources is a primary
contributor of excess
nutrients that impair
freshwater bodies and cause
hypoxia, or low oxygen
levels, in the northern Gulf
of Mexico. While land-grant
scientists and extension
educators have been helping
farmers, ranchers, state and
federal agencies, and others
with nutrient management
practices and policies
within their respective
states for decades, a
partnership with the Task
Force will help scientists
share their knowledge about
emerging technologies and
research developments across
state lines.
The British High Court has
ruled in favour of 14 solar
and construction companies,
who claimed damages against
the Government because of
its unlawful changes to the
Feed-in-Tariff (FiT) in
2011. The damage awarded
will be decided in the next
months, but the group are
suing for £ 132 million as
compensation.
Toledo
solar-panel manufacturer has
shut down and dozens of
employees are out of work.
Xunlight Corp., a
flexible solar-panel
manufacturer that uses
technology developed at the
University of Toledo and is
based on Nebraska Avenue,
closed its doors June 30 to
"resolve some matters,"
The third annual Locavore
Index includes some
surprises.
...though it’s worth noting
that the model doesn’t
measure per capita
consumption (that is,
ranking access to local food
doesn’t equate with ranking
how much of it is being
bought—a difficult thing to
evaluate, to be sure).
The double RCT standard is
used under the Food Drug and
Cosmetic Act (FD&C) to
establish disease claims for
drugs. This process is
overseen not by the FTC, but
by the FDA. And,
importantly, there is no
such requirement for health
claims for supplements.
A large part of this shift
is the skills mismatch.
Companies are increasingly
looking for skilled and
experienced workers and are
having a tough time filling
those openings. If you are
in retail for example, you
will have no problems
getting part and full time
workers to stock the shelves
in your store or run the
cash register. On the other
hand finding someone with
the skills to run a store,
even a really small one, is
becoming more of a
challenge. You'll get dozens
of resumes to be sure, but
very few with the right
qualifications.
Dunn and Hillam was asked by
its clients to design a
house that would allow them
to make the most of living
in Alice Springs, taking
into account its climate and
spectacular scenery. The
clients requested that the
house engage with the
surrounding landscape, that
it provide multiple places
to be use depending on the
time of day and weather, and
that it minimize energy
usage.
Last week, Brazilian
officials announced that an
isolated Amazonian tribe
took a momentous and
potentially tragic step.
Emerging from dense
rainforest along the Upper
Envira River in the state of
Acre, Brazil, the group
willingly approached a team
of Brazilian government
scientists on 29 June and
made peaceful contact with
the outside world. Officials
suspect that the tribe fled
illegal logging and drug
trafficking in their
traditional homelands in
Peru.
The United States warned
on Tuesday that it would
withdraw financial and
security support from
Afghanistan if anyone tried
to take power illegally, as
supporters of presidential
candidate Abdullah Abdullah
rallied in Kabul for a
parallel government.
Preliminary results
announced on Monday gave
Ashraf Ghani, a former World
Bank official, 56.44 percent
in the run-off on June 14,
but Abdullah immediately
rejected the outcome, saying
the vote had been marred by
widespread fraud.
-
Watching TV for three or
more hours a day doubles
your risk of premature
death compared to
watching TV for one hour
or less
-
For every two additional
hours spent watching TV,
a person’s risk of death
from heart disease rose
by 44 percent and risk
of death from cancer
climbed by 21 percent
-
Part of what makes TV
viewing so damaging to
your health is that it
increases your time
spent sitting
-
People who sit for the
longest periods of time
are twice as likely to
have diabetes or heart
disease compared to
those who sit the least
-
If you must watch TV,
engaging in intermittent
movement every 15
minutes or so can help
to decrease its negative
health effects
With the last concealed
carry report from the
Government Accountability
Office three years ago
indicating that about 8
million Americans held
permits, the research center
said its data analysis shows
concealed carry permitting
is “growing at faster and
faster rates.”
The report also notes
that based on data from 2007
and estimates from 2013
murder rates have fallen
about 22 percent and violent
crime rates have fallen by
the same percentage as well.
-
Between June 6 and June
13, as many as 84
scientists and staff
members at a US Centers
for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) biolab
were exposed to live
anthrax
-
The anthrax sample was
supposed to have been
inactivated prior to
transfer to a lower
biosecurity facility,
but for a variety of
reasons it wasn’t dead
on arrival
-
In 2004, a lab in
Maryland accidentally
sent live anthrax to a
California children’s
hospital
-
In the 1979 Sverdlovsk
incident, 94 Russians
were exposed to anthrax
through an accidental
release, and 64 of them
died
-
Incidents such as these
raise questions about”
experts’” ability to
contain the lethal
microorganisms being
studied (and created) in
labs around the world
Did you know the peels of
some fruits hold some of the
most powerful nutrients in
the world? There are many
uses, both medicinal and
practical, for orange and
banana peels that aren’t
known by many. So, next time
you think about throwing
away one of these peels, you
may want to remember this
information.
The New York Times
Magazine recently ran a
story about a fascinating
new product, a spray called
AO+ Refreshing Cosmetic
Mist, from a small biotech
company AOBiome. The spray
contains billions of
cultivated Nitrosomonas
eutropha, an
ammonia-oxidizing bacteria
(AOB).
AOBiome scientists
believe these bacteria act
as a kind of pro-biotic for
the skin. Once applied, they
become a built-in cleanser,
deodorant,
anti-inflammatory, and
immune booster by feeding on
the ammonia in our sweat.
More than half of the
world's seven billion people
live in urban areas, with
the top "mega cities" - with
more than 10 million
inhabitants - being Tokyo,
Delhi, Shanghai, Mexico City
and Sao Paulo, according to
a United Nations report on
Thursday.
That proportion is
expected to jump, so that
more than six billion people
will be city dwellers by
2045, the U.N.'s World
Urbanization Prospects
report said.
link.reuters.com/buj42w
July 8, 2014
Values and integrity
have always been respected
by traditional Native
peoples, but when
colonization forced its way
onto this land, dishonesty
and treachery took a
terrible toll. Even many
mainstream Americans are
tired of it, but still don’t
understand where they went
wrong.
-
Twenty percent of UK
children with persistent
cough were diagnosed
with whooping cough,
including 18 percent who
were fully vaccinated
against it
-
In the US, one out of
132 whooping-cough
patients, 81 percent
were fully up to date on
the whooping cough
vaccine
-
Whooping cough is a
cyclical disease and
natural increases tend
to occur every 4-5 years
no matter how high the
vaccination rates are in
a population.
-
Pertussis (DTaP/Tdap)
vaccines used in the
U.S. and many countries
lose much of its
effectiveness after just
three years, which is
much faster than
previously believed
-
The Tdap booster shot,
recommended for older
children and adults, is
only 53 percent to 64
percent effective, which
the researchers
described as only
“moderately” effective
By the 1920s, the
Bering Strait Theory, and in
particular the idea that
American Indians had settled
in the New World less than
5,000 years ago, had become
a rigid dogma that no
scientist who valued their
career would dare to
challenge.
In spite of the dovish
tone from Janet Yellen at
the press conference last
week, the short term rates
markets are betting that the
Fed will become even more
dovish in the months to
come. Fed funds rates
trajectory implied by the
futures markets is
significantly below the
median projection by the
FOMC.
China's trade ministry
repeated on Monday its
decision to levy
anti-dumping and
anti-subsidy duties on
polysilicon imports from the
European Union.
Many uncertainties surround
the future of coal. Can
other energy sources replace
it? When will the related
technology be ready? Can we
use coal cleanly? One thing
is certain about the future
of coal: research and
innovation in coal and
energy, in close
collaboration with industry,
policymakers and users, will
play a key role in shaping
the future.
There's more to trying to
slow down climate change
than just cutting greenhouse
gas emissions. Technology,
policies or plans that aim
to do so should also take
environmental factors such
as water usage into account.
A more integrated approach
might make some options
considerably more attractive
than others, especially when
implemented in arid
countries such as Australia,
advise Philip Wallis of
Monash University in
Australia and colleagues, in
an article in Springer's
journal Climatic Change.
Day-ahead natural gas prices
in the U.K. and continental
Europe continued to fall in
June after reaching
multi-year lows in May,
according to data from
Platts.
-
The documentary “Stress:
Portrait of a Killer”
illustrates how
prolonged exposure to
stress can ruin your
health in a multitude of
ways
-
You are more vulnerable
to the adverse effects
of stress if you feel
like you have no
control, no way out,
feel like things are
getting worse, and have
little social support
-
Common health conditions
caused or worsened by
stress include heart
disease, hypertension,
impaired immune
function, infertility,
and mental illness
-
EFT is an excellent
stress management tool
that has been
scientifically shown to
significantly reduce
cortisol levels and
psychological distress
It’s no secret that unwanted
chemicals lurk in
our food and drinks. But
what if a little pill could
warn us before we gulp down
pesticide-laced water?
Russian company Gazprom will
not be allowed to buy shares
in the Ukrainian gas
transportation system,
Andriy Kobolev, the head of
Naftogaz Ukrayiny, said
Sunday.
Widespread manufacturing
irregularities at drug
factories in India are
putting Americans’ health at
grave risk, according to a
top doctor.
The vast majority of
prescription drugs sold
in the U.S. – 85 percent
– are generic. And many
of these medications are
made in India where a
string of recalls has
been issued because of
manufacturing errors.
Wait – wasn’t the point of
making genetically modified
crops to make them pest
resistant? At least that is
what biotech companies tell
us. Monsanto’s own website
says, for example, that “Bt,
or Bacillus thuringiensis,
is a modern solution to
insect control.” So why
on earth would Brazil allow
for GMO Mediterranean fruit
flies (Ceratitis
capitata), which have
been planned to be unleashed
on millions of acres of
fruit trees?
A long-term study of the
links between climate and
marine life along the
rapidly warming West
Antarctic Peninsula reveals
how changes in physical
factors such as wind speed
and sea-ice cover send
ripples up the food chain,
with impacts on everything
from single-celled algae to
penguins.
Nine of 10 account holders
found in a large cache of
intercepted conversations,
which former NSA contractor
Edward Snowden provided in
full to The Post, were not
the intended surveillance
targets but were caught in a
net the agency had cast for
somebody else.
GMOs are created when a gene
from one species is combined
with another to create
something that would not be
found in nature or by
traditional cross-breeding.
Does this sound healthy to
you?
- "2013 the year we
made gold beads,
- 2014 the year we
will pour gold bars"
More than one-third of all
medium and heavy duty
commercial trucks registered
in the United States are now
equipped with newer
technology clean diesel
engines, according to IHS
Automotive research for the
Diesel Technology Forum
(DTF). That's 2.9 million
out of 8.8 million trucks.
Solar Hydrogen Trends just
got their third set of
third-party test results on
their hydrogen-production
from water technology. A
world-class engineering firm
measured 97% hydrogen output
(from H2O input), and much
more than 2800 liters per
minute output from 414 watts
input, making this perhaps
the most promising
technology on the planet.
Thad Cochran's campaign used
leftist tactics to steal the
runoff election by
soliciting illegal votes
from liberal Democrats.
The NRC extended Callaway
Energy Center's deadline to
have a portable generator
available to power spent
fuel pool instrumentation in
case of a natural disaster.
The requirement is on
behalf of a 2012 order
following the accident at
the Fukushima Daiichi
nuclear power plant in Japan
.
During a meeting and
conference call among
representatives from the
company, the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission , the
media and public on
Wednesday, PPL Strategic
Development Vice President
Jeremy McGuire , who will
become chief financial
officer of Talen Energy,
said PPL Corp. will have no
interest in the new company
when the transaction is
complete. Talen Energy will
have its own managers, board
of directors and
shareholders.
Litter is now found
in even the most remote
areas of the oceans, say
scientists trying to
understand how much
rubbish is lying at the
bottom of Europe's seas.
The new study, published
in Plos One, shows
for the first time that
there seems to be no area of
the ocean left untouched by
human litter.
Oil futures settled lower
Monday on expectations that
Libya will soon resume
exports of oil from two
major ports.
NYMEX
August crude settled 53
cents lower at
$103.53/barrel. ICE August
Brent settled 40 cents lower
at $110.24/b. In refined
products action, NYMEX
August ULSD settled 1.39
cents lower at $2.9145/gal
and August RBOB ended 3.08
cents lower at $2.9890/gal.
Temperatures in Peru's
Pacific peaked in June,
rising 3 degrees Celsius
(5.4 Fahrenheit) above
average levels, but have
since retreated and will
likely return to normal by
August, the state committee
that studies El Nino said.
-
Large-scale,
chemical-based
agriculture is posing a
threat to the world’s
food supply, an
international task force
warns, saying
neonicotinoid
insecticides must be
phased out
-
Three-quarters of our
food crops require
pollinators, which are
killed off by these
insecticides. Worms and
soil microorganisms are
equally important for
food production, and
pesticides are taking a
heavy toll on them, too
-
New research shows that
living within a mile of
pesticide-treated crops
increases your chances
of bearing children with
autism by at least 60
percent
-
Proximity to fields
treated with
chlorpyrifos during the
second trimester
resulted in a 3.3 times
greater risk of having
an autistic child
-
Exposure to pyrethroids
shortly prior to
conception increased a
woman’s risk of having
an autistic child by 82
percent. Exposure during
the third trimester
increased the risk by 87
percent
A strong earthquake shook
the border between Guatemala
and Mexico on Monday,
killing at least three
people, including a newborn
boy, damaging dozens of
buildings and triggering
landslides.
A Missouri man allegedly
stabbed a city water
department staffer after his
service was disconnected.
"A Caruthersville,
Missouri City Hall employee
was stabbed multiple times
on June 26, according to
police. Chief of Police Tony
Jones said the suspect was
mad his water was turned
off,..
C4 event observed.
Solar activity is likely to
be moderate with a slight
chance for an X-class flare
on days one, two, and three
(08 Jul, 09 Jul, 10 Jul).
The geomagnetic field is
expected to be at quiet to
unsettled levels on day one
(08 Jul), unsettled levels
on day two (09 Jul) and
quiet levels on day three
(10 Jul). Protons have a
slight chance of crossing
threshold on days one, two,
and three (08 Jul, 09 Jul,
10 Jul).
After months of frustration
with the IRS over the
targeting scandal and lost
emails, House Republicans
will exact some revenge next
week by passing legislation
that cuts the IRS operating
budget by $341 million
compared to current levels.
"Oleg Gritskevich - great
scientist who emigrated to
the U.S. from Vladivostok,
Ph.D., Mechanical
Engineering, Academy of
Natural Sciences. His main
invention - hydromagnetic
dynamo, where the liquid
rotor used ordinary water -
in the transformation of the
electrostatic field of the
Earth into electrical
energy.
The Secret Service has
said it has arrested what it
believes is one of the
world’s most prolific
traffickers of stolen
financial information.
On Saturday, the Secret
Service arrested Roman
Valerevich Seleznev, a
Russian national, in Guam on
charges that he hacked into
in-store cash register
systems at retailers
throughout the United States
between 2009 and 2011. The
Secret Service would not say
whether his arrest is tied
to the recent spate of
cyberattacks that affected
the in-store cash register
systems at Target, Neiman
Marcus, Michaels and other
retailers last year.
San Antonio Water System
(SAWS) is constructing what
will become the largest
inland desalination plant in
the country. The plant will
desalinate groundwater from
deep in the Wilcox Aquifer
in southern Bexar County in
Texas.
A federally funded
scientific study on regional
seagrass health recently
released by The Nature
Conservancy points to
nitrogen pollution — from
sewage and fertilizers — and
warmer water temperatures as
the killer threats to
seagrasses throughout the
coastal waters of southern
New England.
U.S. Bureau of Land
Management officials say
they agree with a Nevada
sheriff's position that
rancher Cliven Bundy must be
held accountable for his
role in an April standoff
between his supporters and
the federal agency.
Clark County Sheriff Doug
Gillespie said Bundy crossed
the line when he allowed
states' rights supporters,
including self-proclaimed
militia members, onto his
property to aim guns
at police.
Rumors had swirled among
anti-immigration activists
near a U.S. Border Patrol
station in Southern
California that the agency
would try again to bus in
some of the immigrants who
have flooded across the
U.S.-Mexico border.
EDF Renewable Energy (EDF
RE) announced today that the
161 MW Spinning Spur II Wind
Project in Texas has reached
commercial operation.
"The U.S. will never run out
of oil and natural gas.
Never. Same goes for the
rest of the world. Won't
happen," according to
Dallas-based oil and gas
executive and author of "The
Fracking Truth" Chris
Faulkner.
A day after the U.S.
Department of Energy
conditionally approved a
$150 million loan for Cape
Wind, two other federal
agencies on Wednesday filed
required paperwork that
seemingly gives the
project's developer another
in a string of legal
victories.
It also sets the stage
for an appeal of the
underlying federal lawsuit
decided almost entirely in
favor of the project four
months ago.
Gazprom switched to a system
of pre-payment for Russian
gas supplies to Ukraine on
June 16, after requests for
payment were repeatedly
refused and the two sides
failed to agree on a price
for the deliveries.
Historically, the
European Union (EU) has
taken a far stricter, more
cautious stance with regards
to genetically engineered
(GE) crops and foods. Not
only must GE foods be
labeled in the EU, but
resistance to growing GE
crops is high in general.
As reported two years
ago, an estimated 75 percent
of Germans oppose GE, and
few politicians are in favor
of genetic technology. Over
there, it’s actually
politically risky to
support GMOs.
The Pentagon says the
destruction of Syrian
chemical weapons on board
the U.S. cargo vessel MV
Cape Ray began Monday.
"The good news is
that...fewer large cities
than normally reported face
water stress (defined as a
city using more than 40
percent of their available
annual supply), when taking
into account water piped in
from distant
watersheds," according
to Adam Freed, director of
Securing Water Strategy, in
a blog post about the
study. ..
"The bad news is that...1 in
4 cities, accounting for
more than 5 percent of
global GDP, still face water
stress," Freed wrote. "This
is a serious challenge as
more than 2 billion people
will be moving into cities
in the next 30 years, with
regions such as Sub Saharan
Africa projected to double
their urban population while
urban water demand
quadruples."
(You Are — Maybe)
Initial findings show that
the average premium paid
during 2013 was $211.85 per
month for all types of
health coverage. The amount
paid by consumers to
privately held companies was
$188.44. In 2014, premiums
rose $5.16 or 2.7 percent on
average to $193.60, at these
private companies.
July 4, 2014
While the U.S. is
celebrating its Independence
Day this July 4th, others
around the world are
celebrating a personal
energy independence.
It’s a good time to reflect
upon the liberties and
unrivaled quality of life we
Americans enjoy. An
abundance of clean, fresh
air; access to water and
power; the pervasiveness of
amenities like paved, lit
roads and highways, good
schools, parks and public
libraries; a bounty of
fresh, healthy food and a
mind-boggling array of
affordable products make our
lives more productive and
comfortable. This all
serves to remind us that we
are a fortunate lot — sure,
we’ve worked hard for it,
but we also take it for
granted.
With the price of solar
continuing to fall and the
costs of fossil fuels
rising, solar is poised to
become a better investment
all the time. It’s already
outperforming the S&P 500 in
13 states in the USA, and
major investors are taking
note. And now, the chance to
invest in solar is becoming
even easier. Contact your
local Symtech Solar
Authorized Installer for
more information.Maybe
you’re convinced by now that
it makes sense to invest in
a solar project. But if you
need one more reason, we
have a good one for you.
Utility companies were
originally allowed as a
public service and were
not-for-profit. It was never
intended that this public
service be a money making
business, let alone one of
the largest and wealthiest
in the country.
Utilities were given
access to public lands
as a Public Utility
Easement (PUE) in order
to deliver power to each
house. The decision
allowed the utility to
be a monopoly in order
to prevent a
multiplicity of power
lines going to each
house.
Border Patrol agent
Hector Garcia on Thursday
accused the Obama
administration of “aiding,
abetting and facilitating
the smuggling of illegal
aliens across the border.”
In an interview with CNN,
Garza said the current
influx of illegal immigrants
is “organized” and
“orchestrated” by the drug
cartels. Additionally, he
said the federal government
is giving illegal immigrants
a “free pass.” He said the
feds are using the
equivalent of the honor
system in asking illegal
immigrants to later report
to an immigration hearing —
even though the majority of
them will never do so.
The U.S. Department of
Energy (DOE) is getting
closer to issuing a $150
million loan guarantee to
support the construction of
the Cape Wind offshore wind
project with a conditional
commitment to Cape Wind
Associates, LLC. With this
agreement, Cape Wind is
closer to completing its
financing and commencing
construction on what would
be the first
commercial-scale offshore
wind facility in the U.S. --
with a capacity of more than
360 MW of clean energy.
Each drought-afflicted state
is unhappy in its own way.
Possibly worst of all is
California, where the water
supply is rapidly
dwindling. "At [the current]
usage rate, California has
less than two years of water
remaining,” Rippey said.
“Reservoirs which are
generally fed by the Sierra
Nevadas and the southern
Cascades [are] where we see
the real problems," Rippey
said.
Planning fun summer
activities, such as beach
trips, hiking, and
gardening? Follow
Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) helpful tips --
good for your health, your
wallet, and your
environment.
A study by the British
Geological Survey and the
Environment Agency reveals
that almost all the the oil
and gas bearing shales in
England and Wales underlie
drinking water aquifers,
raising fears that
widespread water
contamination could occur.
Indian Country boasts an
impressive number of elders,
heroes, activists and
trailblazers who work for
the betterment of Indigenous
Peoples as a whole. This is
not an easy task, and those
who truly fulfill this
mission are worth
noting—especially during
this week as inhabitants of
the land known today as the
United States celebrate the
signing of the Declaration
of Independence
As the US prepares for 4th
of July fireworks here on
Earth, a nearby spiral
galaxy similar to our Milky
Way is putting on a
pyrotechnics display of its
own. The galaxy, NGC 4258
(also known as Messier 106
or M 106), is ejecting gas
and high-energy particles in
a spectacular display of
power that is rippling
across the face of the
galaxy with shock waves of
stellar energy.
Most coral reefs in the
Caribbean could vanish in
the next two decades, hit by
the loss of fish and sea
urchins that eat a slime of
coral-smothering algae, a
U.N.-backed study said on
Wednesday.
Despite stronger oil prices,
corporate returns on average
capital employed (ROACE) are
lower than in 2001, when oil
prices were less than $30
per barrel, according to
research from information
and insight provider IHS.
So far in 2014, Oklahoma has
seen more earthquakes than
California—and seismologists
are increasingly blaming
them on the injection of
wastewater from oil and gas
operations. A study
published online this week
in Science links
four of Oklahoma's most
prolific wastewater wells to
a swarm of 2547 small
earthquakes near Jones,
Oklahoma, by showing how the
wells sent a wave of water
pressure coursing through
the subsurface. The pressure
can reduce forces acting to
keep faults locked and
trigger earthquakes.
When it comes to
resolving a big global food
problem, a new breed of
farmers and their financial
backers are thinking small.
Work on the world's
largest fly farm has begun
in South Africa after the
European firm behind the
project won much-needed
funding from investors,
propelling the use of
insects as livestock feed
beyond academic theory to a
commercial venture.
As we listen to the Elders,
we keep hearing the same
thing—The world needs our
help now! They speak of the
prophecies. When water has
become like gold. Food
scarcity. Catastrophic
weather. Enormous imbalance
wrought by greed and
disconnection from spirit,
from source.
The president of Iraq's
autonomous Kurdish north
asked the region's
parliament on Thursday to
prepare the way for a
referendum on independence,
according to lawmakers who
attended the closed session.
Iraq's five million
Kurds, who have ruled
themselves within Iraq in
relative peace since the
1990s, have expanded their
territory by up to 40
percent in recent weeks as
Sunni Islamist militants
seized vast stretches of
western and northern Iraq.
Gov. Pat McCrory objects to
the legislature's plan to
name a new commission to
oversee hazard rankings and
closures of Duke Energy's 33
North Carolina ash ponds.
A small Missouri town
repeatedly threatened by a
rising Mississippi River is
choosing to let residents
fend for themselves this
year rather than face
potential bankruptcy to pay
for another municipally
organized fight against
flooding.
A long-awaited NASA
satellite to make the first
precise, global measurements
of carbon dioxide in Earth’s
atmosphere reached orbit on
Wednesday, setting the stage
for a more detailed
understanding of the
planet’s changing climate --
and if any mitigation
efforts are working.
Amanda Blackhorse, a Navajo,
was in Virginia June 19 to
argue to a trademark panel
that the Washington Redskins
should be denied a trademark
to their name because it is
racist...
Campaigns to change the name
have been gaining steam,
with political leaders, the
National Congress of
American Indians, the Navajo
Nation and other tribes
coming out against it.
The research team's method
relies on a metamaterial – a
material that exhibits
properties not usually found
in natural materials – that
consists of a
three-dimensional polymer
microstructure formed by
needle-shaped cones. This
metamaterial structure is
built around the object to
be hidden, with its
mechanical properties
dictated by those of the
object.
Earlier this month the House
Appropriations Committee
reconfirmed its support for
the Yucca Mountain nuclear
waste facility by pledging
another $205m to the
long-delayed program.
However, with $billions
already spent on Yucca
Mountain, alternative sites
coming to the fore and a
rise in early NPP shutdowns
increasing the need for
ISFSIs to hold spent fuel
indefinitely, the back-end
of the nuclear lifecycle is
facing more scrutiny than
ever before.
The flood of children
coming to the United States
is a much worse and more
alarming story than you
might imagine.
This disaster is a direct
result of deliberate Obama
administration policy that
encourages illegal
immigration. In August 2012
the administration
announced, basically, that
it would not deport most
children who come to the
United States illegally.
Baleen and sperm whales,
known collectively as the
great whales, include the
largest animals in the
history of life on Earth.
Though large in size, whales
have long been considered
too rare to make much of a
difference in the ocean, and
the focus of much marine
ecological research has been
on smaller organisms, such
as algae and planktonic
animals. While these small
organisms are essential to
life in the sea, they are
not the whole story. As
great whales recover from
centuries of overhunting,
scientists are beginning to
appreciate their roles as
ecosystem engineers of the
ocean.
Oil futures settled
marginally down to a
three-week low Thursday
after Libya declared an end
to the crisis that has
hampered its exports for
more than a year.
Microsoft has surrendered
the 23 domain names it
confiscated from dynamic
domain hosting service
No-IP.com, a move that
begins the process of
restoring millions of
connections that went dark
as a result of the highly
controversial legal action.
This paper explains how
atmospheric carbon is
introduced into the soil and
how it is stored in stable
forms. It identifies the
farming techniques that are
responsible for the decline
in soil carbon and gives
alternative practices that
do not damage carbon.
Increasing soil carbon will
ensure good production
outcomes and farm
profitability. Soil carbon,
particularly the stable
forms such as humus and
glomalin, increases farm
profitability by increasing
yields, soil fertility, soil
moisture retention,
aeration, nitrogen fixation,
mineral availability,
disease suppression, soil
tilth and general structure.
It is the basis of healthy
soil.
Welcome to America, land
of the Free?
Recently, a Pennsylvania
woman named Fatima Doumbouya
had doctors take away her
seven day old completely
healthy baby. They called
police and social workers
simply because she gave
birth at her own home. The
doctors from St. Joseph’s
Hospital then transferred
her baby to another hospital
without her permission. If
you are starting to get
upset that’s normal.
Something is seriously
wrong.
C2 event observed.
Solar activity is likely to
be moderate with a slight
chance for an X-class flare
on days one, two, and three
(04 Jul, 05 Jul, 06 Jul).
The geomagnetic field is
expected to be at quiet
levels on days one and two
(04 Jul, 05 Jul) and quiet
to unsettled levels on day
three (06 Jul).
Virtually all of the food
imported into the United
States reaches consumers
without being inspected by
the federal government,
putting the nation at risk
of exposure to food-borne
illnesses.
An investigation by
FairWarning and
Investigative News Network
(INN) found that Food and
Drug Administration (FDA)
inspectors allow nearly all
food imports to enter the
country without undergoing
visual examination.
Recent Southern Oregon
University graduate Sai
Weiss has shown solar panels
and crops can co-exist on
the same land -- and that
the combination can even
boost the productivity of
shade-loving plants such as
lettuce.
The results could have
far-reaching implications
for the emerging practice of
solar double-cropping, in
which farmers raise plants
amid solar panels that allow
some sunlight to reach the
ground.
Forget marsupials, the
world's strangest group of
mammals are actually those
in the Afrotheria order.
This superorder of mammals
contains a motley crew that
at first glance seems to
have nothing in common: from
the biggest land animals on
the planet—elephant—to tiny,
rodent sized mammals such as
tenrecs, hyraxes, golden
moles, and sengis.
Rising atmospheric CO2
levels can generally be
tackled in three ways:
developing alternative
energy sources with lower
emissions; carbon capture
and storage (CCS); and
capturing carbon and
repurposing it. Researchers
at Princeton University are
claiming to have developed a
technique that ticks two of
these three boxes by using
solar power to convert CO2
into formic acid.
Spark is a shaker that
produces kinetic energy to
power lights and charge
mobiles in rural
communities...
According to the World Bank,
around 70 percent of
Africans are not connected
to a power grid, relying on
kerosene lanterns and
candles for lighting. Spark
is designed to offer not
just an alternative to these
unreliable lighting
solutions, but better
connect residents of rural
regions with medical,
education and banking
services through mobile
charging capabilities.
Energy storage is the key
technology for unleashing
the full potential of
microgrids, the smart grid,
and renewable energy
sources. The energy storage
systems industry has a
market poised for
substantial growth and
multi-billion dollar annual
sales worldwide within a few
years, but that assumption
is based on removing some
current barriers. The 2013
DOE/EPRI Energy Storage
Handbook lays out the
three biggest hurdles to
broader adoption of energy
storage technologies --
including high cost,
difficulty in deployment,
and lack of standards.
-
A recent study reveals
that higher levels of
stress hormones can
speed up short-term
memory loss in older
adults. Previous
research has also linked
chronic stress with
working memory
impairment
-
Elevated levels of
cortisol affect your
short-term memory by
causing a gradual loss
of synapses in your
prefrontal cortex
-
Other research suggests
that stress may be a
trigger for the onset of
Alzheimer’s disease
-
Energy psychology tools
such as the Emotional
Freedom Technique (EFT)
can help reprogram your
body’s reactions to
everyday stress, thereby
reducing your chances of
developing adverse
health effects
-
Eco-therapy is becoming
increasingly validated,
with many proponents in
the mental health field.
Spending time in nature
can combat stress by
promoting a sense of
inner peace and
happiness
-
More heart attacks and
other cardiovascular
events occur on Mondays
than any other day of
the week. This “Monday
cardiac phenomenon” has
long been believed to be
related to work stress
-
Two recent studies shed
light on the persistent
link between stress and
sudden heart attacks
-
In one, a group of
German researchers found
that as your stress
level rises, so do your
levels of
disease-promoting white
blood cells. This can
lead to plaque rupture
and myocardial
infarction
-
The other study found
that stress hormones
cause the dispersal of
bacterial biofilms from
the walls of your
arteries. This dispersal
can allow plaque
deposits to suddenly
break loose, triggering
a heart attack
-
Preventing heart disease
involves reducing
chronic inflammation in
your body. Key tools are
diet, exercise, sun
exposure, and grounding
to the earth. Effective
stress management is
another important factor
Climate warming has produced
stronger winds along some
coasts, a result of growing
differences in temperature
and pressure between land
and sea. These winds cause
cold nutrient-rich seawater
to rise to the surface,
affecting climate and
fueling marine productivity.
New federal research
using data from southern
West Virginia show streams
affected by mountaintop
removal mining have fewer
fish species and fish
overall than other streams.
Research released Tuesday
from the U.S. Geological
Survey is the latest in a
series of reports from
federal agencies arguing
mountaintop removal mining
practices contribute to
pollution in streams
throughout Appalachia.
Less talked about in
the mainstream has been that
the court used an
Indian-centric law, the
Religious Freedom
Restoration Act (RFRA) of
1993, to help it come to its
opinion, which said that
some family-owned and other
closely held businesses,
like the Hobby Lobby craft
store, are allowed to opt
out of the federal Obamacare
mandate requiring such
companies to pay for
contraceptives in health
coverage for their workers.
Medical workers at a San
Antonio Air Force base where
illegal immigrant children
are being held and treated
are allegedly so disturbed
by the conditions that they
broke confidentiality
agreements, facing threats,
in order to share what they
say is going on there.
Residential solar is booming
in the U.S., driven
primarily by the lease/power
buying business model. This
model appeals to the energy
consumer’s desire for a
degree of independence from
utility rate hikes and
allows the consumer to
continue renting electricity
instead of making the shift
to owning the means of
electricity production.
-
US Agriculture Secretary
Tom Vilsack was formerly
the Governor of Iowa, at
which time he was given
a “Governor of the Year”
award by a Monsanto
group
-
Vilsack, who is in favor
of the trans-Atlantic
trade pact, claims it
needs to provide
“significant” new market
openings for American
farmers—most of which
grow GE crops
-
Vilsack has called for
the European Union (EU)
to ease restrictions on
GE foods and crops and
reconsider its labeling
requirements for GMOs
-
He also wants the EU to
reconsider its ban on
chlorine-washed chicken
and growth-hormone
treated beef
-
Researchers have raised
questions about the
safety of many American
food manufacturing
processes—the use of
drugs in particular
-
Overuse of antibiotics
in livestock has led to
the scourge of
antibiotic-resistant
infections, which now
claims at least 23,000
American lives each year
While continuing to insist
they are trying to keep
their involvement limited to
“advisory” operations, the
Pentagon continues to pour
military equipment into
Iraq, with US combat troops
on the ground to carry out
this new Iraq War.
It's not easy being
green, especially on the
road.
All-electric cars may
help the US become more
energy-independent and lower
pollution levels, but right
now they're not practical in
every situation, especially
in the West where people
often travel long distances.
The fear of running out of
power in an all-electric car
is common enough to have a
name -- "range anxiety."
Seneff was leading a
presentation that showed a
strong correlation between
the increased use of Roundup
starting in the early 1990′s
and the rising number of
autism diagnoses over the
past three decades. In 1975,
1 in 5,000 children were
diagnosed with autism. The
current rate is 1 in 68, and
it shows no sign of slowing
down.
July 1, 2014
The pace of US
consumer credit expansion
remains brisk. A quick look
at consumer loan balances at
large US commercial banks
shows a spike that started
in February of this year.
A study conducted by the
San Diego Association of
Governments (SANDAG) has
found that the direct,
indirect, and induced
economic impact of the algae
biotechnology research and
manufacturing industry in
the area generates $80
million in wages and more
than $175 million in
economic output to the San
Diego region.
By manipulating internet
traffic to push American
data outside of the country,
the NSA can vacuum up vast
amounts of US citizen data
for intelligence purposes, a
new report warns.
The sea ice coverage
around Antarctica over the
weekend marked a record
high, with the ice
surrounding the continent
measuring at 2.07 million
square kilometers, according
to an environmentalist and
author who says the ice
there has actually been
increasing since 1979
despite continued warnings
of global warming.
-
Recent research suggests
that broccoli sprouts
may help detox
environmental pollutants
such as benzene
-
Fresh broccoli sprouts
are FAR more potent than
whole broccoli.
Three-day-old broccoli
sprouts contain anywhere
from 10-100 times the
amount of
chemoprotective
compounds found in
mature broccoli
-
A diet of whole, organic
foods is one of the most
effective ways to
prevent disease and
achieve optimal health,
and sprouts may offer
some of the highest
levels of nutrition
-
During sprouting,
minerals, such as
calcium and magnesium,
bind to protein, making
them more bioavailable.
The content of vitamins
and essential fatty
acids also increase
during the sprouting
process
-
Watercress may be the
most nutrient-dense
vegetable out
there—scoring higher on
nutrient density tests
than both broccoli and
sunflower sprouts
Cargill
just announced its
introduction of a soybean
oil made from
identity-preserved
(IdP), conventionally-bred
(non-GM) soybeans for
“customers interested in
exploring a non-GMO claim on
their product label.” The
oil is refined in Cargill’s
Des Moines, Iowa plant in a
process certified by SGS, a
global inspection,
verification, testing and
certification company.
Does that mean Cargill is
distancing itself from the
food genetic modification
techniques of biotech?
Not by a long shot.
China's renewable energy
capacity increased from 27.8
GW in 2001 to 183 GW in
2013, and alternative
sources are expected to
account for more than 20
percent of the country's
total electricity generation
by 2020, according to
research and consulting firm
GlobalData. The country's
emergence as a major player
in the global renewable
energy industry, and the
leading country in the
Asia-Pacific region, has
been accelerated by a
combination of government
encouragement and market
guidance, GlobalData notes.
It took humans around
200,000 years to reach a
global population of one
billion. But, in two hundred
years we've septupled that.
In fact, over the last 40
years we've added an extra
billion approximately every
dozen years. And the United
Nations predicts we'll add
another four billion—for a
total of 11 billion—by
century's end. Despite this
few scientists,
policymakers, or even
environmentalists are
willing to publicly connect
incredible population growth
to worsening climate change,
biodiversity loss, resource
scarcity, or the global
environmental crisis in
general.
The Brattle Group is
examining the implications
of the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency's (EPA)
proposed CO2 emissions
standards for existing
fossil-fueled plants under
the Clean Air Act (CAA)
Section 111(d) in a new
report issued last week. The
report outlines key
questions for states and
electric industry
participants to ask while
assessing the reasonableness
of the EPA's proposed rule,
evaluating carbon abatement
options, and establishing
State Implementation Plans
(SIP) for meeting the
standards.
In support of President
Obama's Climate Action Plan,
the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) is
proposing to increase the
options for refrigerants in
the United States that offer
better climate protection
without harming the ozone
layer. This is the agency's
first action that addresses
refrigerants under the
Climate Action Plan, which
calls on EPA's Significant
New Alternatives Policy
(SNAP) Program to identify
and approve additional
climate-friendly chemicals.
The problem has come into
focus as procedures for the
first proposed restart enter
the home stretch in
Ichikikushikino, a town five
km (three miles) from Kyushu
Electric Power Co's Sendai
plant.
The government, facing
the first summer in 40 years
without nuclear power, is
fielding complaints from
residents who say key points
have been missed in planning
for any mass evacuation.
-
Dallas is considering
whether or not to renew
a three-year,
$1.8-million contract
that provides their
drinking water with
fluoride
-
Set to expire January 1,
2015, if Dallas ends
fluoridation, it will
become the largest city
in the US to stop
fluoridating its water
-
Dr. Paul Connett,
director of the Fluoride
Action Network (FAN),
recently testified
before the Dallas
council, giving expert
commentary on why water
fluoridation must be
challenged
-
The adulteration of the
public water supply with
fluoride violates your
right to informed
consent to medical
treatment
-
Fluoride is
fundamentally a poison,
with no beneficial
biological role in the
human body, and the
effectiveness of
swallowing fluoride to
reduce tooth decay has
never been demonstrated
by a randomized
controlled trial
"The U.S. Marshals
Service on Friday auctioned
off thousands of bitcoins
[stolen] when notorious
Internet black market Silk
Road was shut down. A total
of about 29,656 bitcoins
(worth nearly $18 million at
Friday's prices) were put on
the block at 6 A.M. ET, and
the sealed-bid auction
concluded at 3 P.M. ET.
There were 10 total lots:
nine groups of 3,000
bitcoins (equivalent to
around $1.8 million) and one
of the remaining 2,656 and
change. [Accessories to the
theft] had to put $200,000
down as a deposit to ensure
they were serious. The
[receivers of the stolen
property] will be notified
Monday." (06/27/14)
-
Ginger has
broad-spectrum
antibacterial,
antiviral, antioxidant,
and anti-parasitic
properties, to name just
several of its more than
40 pharmacological
actions
-
Ginger is
anti-inflammatory,
making it valuable for
pain relief for joint
pain, menstrual pain,
headaches, and more
-
Ginger shows promise for
fighting cancer,
diabetes, non-alcoholic
fatty liver disease,
asthma, bacterial and
fungal infections, and
more
-
Ginger is a thermogenic
substance with
beneficial impacts on
metabolism and fat
storage
-
Ginger can be used
fresh, dried, as a tea
or in extract form; for
serious issues, a
natural health care
provider can help you
get the maximum
therapeutic benefits of
ginger
U.S. home sales continue
to recover. According to the
National Association of
REALTORS®, 4.89 million
homes sold in the 12-month
period ending May 2014 --
the fastest pace since the
start of the year. In
addition, the homes which
sell are selling more
quickly.
Indonesia's losses of
virgin forests totaled
60,000 sq kms (23,000 sq
miles) - an area almost as
big as Ireland - from
2000-12, partly to make way
for palm oil plantations and
other farms, a study said.
And the pace of losses has
increased.
"By 2012, annual primary
forest loss in Indonesia was
estimated to be higher than
in Brazil," where clearance
of the Amazon basin has
usually accounted for the
biggest losses, the
scientists wrote in the
journal Nature Climate
Change.
Iraq's new parliament
deadlocked less than two
hours into its first session
when minority Sunnis and
Kurds walked out, dashing
hopes for the quick
formation of a new
government that could hold
the country together in the
face of a militant blitz.
Millions of tons. That's
how much plastic should be
floating in the world's
oceans, given our ubiquitous
use of the stuff. But a new
study finds that 99% of this
plastic is missing. One
disturbing possibility: Fish
are eating it.
Japan's household
spending fell sharply in May
as the consumption tax hike
took its toll. While some
decline was expected, the 8%
year-on-year drop puts the
BOJ's optimistic economic
forecast in doubt. As
inflation cools with the
diminishing impact of weaker
yen, the central bank is
likely to accelerate asset
purchases later this year.
A Mexican military
helicopter crossed the U.S.
border into Arizona and
fired on U.S. Border Patrol
agents during a drug
operation Tuesday before
flying back into Mexico,
Border Patrol officials
said.
The shift to renewable
energy sources in Michigan
-- particularly wind -- has
picked up in the past few
years and could get more of
a boost as the Obama
administration seeks a 30%
reduction in carbon dioxide
emissions by 2030, advocates
and utility companies say.
Small-scale miners say
their planned protest of
Environmental Protection
Agency regulations at
Riggins this week will be
peaceful, but will also
include the running of
suction dredges in defiance
of the federal agency.
It takes 12 hours to
recover from a distributed
denial of service attack on
average, according to recent
research...
A DDoS attack attempts to
overload a company system —
such as a web server — by
sending so many
communications requests that
legitimate traffic cannot
get through. It's the
digital equivalent of
jamming a postbox full of
leaflets so that real
letters can't get through.
Lithium-ion batteries
have made portable,
rechargeable electronics
commonplace. Unfortunately,
they do have some glaring
drawbacks, including heat
issues, being made with
rare, toxic elements, and
the fact the technology
doesn't scale up very well,
which limits applications. A
team of scientists at the
University of Southern
California (USC) is working
on an alternative in the
form of a water-based
organic battery that is not
only cheaper and more
environmentally friendly,
but also holds the potential
for scaling up for use in
wind and solar power plants
as a means to store large
amounts of energy.
"Big data" is playing an
increasingly big role in the
renewable energy industry
and the transformation of
the nation's electrical
grid, and no single entity
provides a better tool for
such data than the Energy
Department's Energy Systems
Integration Facility (ESIF)
(
http://www.nrel.gov/esi/esif.html
) located on the campus of
the National Renewable
Energy Laboratory (NREL).
Imagined by NREL leaders who
foresaw the possibilities
for high performance
computing (HPC), the ESIF's
HPC data center is
fulfilling the goal of
handling large and complex
datasets that exceed
traditional database
processes.
According to Ernst &
Young (EY)'s seventh annual
U.S. oil and gas reserves
study, the United States oil
and gas industry is emerging
from years of volatility
prompted by the global
financial crisis and
subsequent recession.
In mid-June, the
International Energy
Administration (IEA)
released its Medium-Term Oil
Market Report. Rystad
Energy, an independent oil
and gas consulting services
and business intelligence
data firm, has compared the
revised IEA demand outlook
with supply estimates
derived from its global
upstream database and
bottom-up analysis of 30,000
fields and 2,500 oil
companies in 150 countries.
Which state is the
current earthquake capital
of the United States? If you
guessed California, your
data is sadly out of date.
Believe it or not, Oklahoma,
the new center of quivering
land, has twice as many
earthquakes as California
does at this point. We're
not just talking minor
shaking, either. Oklahoma
averages one earthquake that
measures at least 3.0 on the
Richter scale every single
day.
PPL Electric Utilities
has asked the Pennsylvania
Public Utility Commission
for permission to replace
customers' automated
electric meters.
Engineers, manufacturers,
government personnel, code
officials, standards
developers and other
stakeholders are invited to
join ASPE and ARCSA in this
effort. The results of the
workshop will be used to
help develop U.S. positions
on the use of rainwater and
stormwater ...
Riding through rain, the
20 riders who participated
in this year’s “Remember the
Removal” bike ride arrived
the afternoon of June 19 in
Tahlequah to cheering family
and friends after traveling
nearly 1,000 miles along the
northern route of the Trail
of Tears.
C3 event observed.
Solar Activity Forecast:
Solar activity is expected
to be low with a chance for
M-class flares on days one,
two, and three (01 Jul, 02
Jul, 03 Jul). The
geomagnetic field is
expected to be at quiet
levels on day one (01 Jul)
and quiet to unsettled
levels on days two and three
(02 Jul, 03 Jul).
The ReWalk motorized
exoskeleton, which has been
available in the UK since
2012, has now been cleared
by the FDA for home use in
the US
Have you ever heard of a
star named after one of the
planets? Well there actually
is one! And it, along with
its namesake, is currently
visible in the evening sky
after sunset. Both objects
are unmistakably bright and
will jump out at you facing
south as the twilight fades.
The Waste Isolation Pilot
Plant, where drums of
radioactive refuse from
nuclear weapons sites and
laboratories are buried in
salt caverns 2,100 feet (640
meters) underground, has
been shut down since Feb. 14
when at least one drum
ruptured.
The mishap near the town
of Carlsbad exposed 22
workers at the facility with
low levels of radiation and
ranked as its worst accident
and one of the few blemishes
on its safety record since
it opened in 1999. The
facility is the nation's
only underground repository
for so-called transuranic
waste.
But this summer access to
the cooling waters of the
Mediterranean is gradually
being closed off to Gaza's
1.8 million residents, due
to pollution stemming from
the fuel shortages that have
halted work at sewage
treatment facilities.
The blighted shoreline
adds to the grind of Gazan
life so far unrelieved by
the reconciliation pact
which the dominant Islamist
group Hamas signed with
Western-backed President
Mahmoud Abbas.
-
If you’re lost
in a seemingly
bottomless-pit
of shock and
disillusionment,
exercise brings
a sense of
purpose and
focus that
requires nothing
more than
putting one foot
in front of the
other
-
Exercise
triggers the
release of
neurotransmitters
such as
endorphins,
serotonin,
dopamine,
glutamate, and
GABA, which are
well-known for
their role in
mood control
-
Exercise may
fight feelings
of depression
better than
antidepressants
while relieving
feelings of
anxiety, pain,
insomnia,
fatigue, brain
fog, and more
-
Exercise can
help you to
regain your
motivation for
work and other
activities while
installing a
greater sense of
inner calm
-
If you’re
currently
grieving, you
needn’t get
bogged down with
the details…
simply get
moving; any
activity that
appeals to you
is worth it –
hiking,
swimming, yoga,
group classes,
dancing, and
bicycling
For decades, climate
scientists have tried to
explain why ice-age cycles
became longer and more
intense about 900,000 years
ago, switching from
41,000-year cycles to
100,000-year cycles. In a
new study in the journal
Science, researchers found
that the deep ocean currents
that move heat around the
globe stalled or even
stopped, possibly due to
expanding ice cover in the
north. The slowing currents
increased carbon dioxide
storage in the ocean,
leaving less in the
atmosphere, which kept
temperatures cold and kicked
the climate system into a
new phase of colder but less
frequent ice ages, they
hypothesize.
-
The modern agricultural
system is responsible
for putting more carbon
dioxide into the
atmosphere than the
actual burning of fossil
fuels
-
One important factor
that some experts
believe is KEY for
reversing environmental
devastation is to return
to system of cattle
grazing
-
A new methodology to
measure carbon
sequestration on
sustainably managed
grasslands has recently
been granted
international
certification, which may
encourage farmers to
embrace sustainable
grazing methods
-
Returning to more
sustainable organic
farming methods is also
necessary in order to
support the regeneration
of soils, which,
ultimately, dictates how
nutritious the food
grown in it will be
-
Agriculture Secretary
Tom Vilsack has called
for the European Union
to ease restrictions on
GE foods, and to
reconsider labeling
requirements for GE
foods, in order to come
to an agreeable
trans-Atlantic trade
pact
How germy are
those lemon wedges we plop
into our water glasses at
restaurants?
A slice of lemon can
spruce up plain-old water,
but you might be drinking
more than you bargained for.
Turns out, those seemingly
innocuous water glass
garnishes (see also: iced
tea and diet soda) could be
serving up a host of
unappetizing organisms.
The BIS points out that
the global economy has shown
encouraging signs over the
past year but it has not
shaken off its post-crisis
malaise. Despite an
aggressive and broad-based
search for yield, with
volatility and credit
spreads sinking towards
historical lows, and
unusually accommodative
monetary conditions,
investment remains weak.
Debt, both private and
public, continues to rise
while productivity growth
has further extended its
long-term downward trend.
There is even talk of
secular stagnation.
Every country has
founding myths. The most
powerful of these stories
suggest a people are
particularly blessed by God.
In the United States, we too
have these stories, but
building a common national
identity is more difficult
because we are a nation of
immigrants. We have gotten
around this challenge by
having shared stories that
mythologize the immigrant
experience---whether
crossing the Atlantic Ocean
to overcome religious
oppression or the pioneers
crossing the prairie to
settle the west.
Massachusetts recently
became the first state in
the nation to issue a ‘grid
modernization’ strategy, a
move to make the electric
system amenable to new
technologies. More than
that, it’s a shift to
encourage utility
innovation.
The state is “remaking
the electric grid as it
might have been designed by
Steve Jobs: elegant,
customer-friendly, and with
functionality that was
previously unimaginable,..
Mining for precious
metals like gold, silver,
and copper is extremely
costly. Not only does it
require a huge amount of
energy and have a
devastating impact on the
environment, it also puts
human life at risk.
Still, these metals are
what enable our precious
smartphones and tablets to
work so efficiently, so we
have to get them from
somewhere. But what if that
somewhere was old gadgets we
no longer want instead of
deep within the Earth?
do you know the story
behind the song? If not, I
think you will be interested
to find out about its humble
beginnings.
Often when a technology
is introduced one never
considers why it was
introduced or what future
events and connections may
be put in motion. Clearly
the trend to global crop
production and marketing has
changed the face of
agriculture. Now we are left
to decide if it was a good
thing, this world changing
shift in crop production
brought about by GM crops.
The authors of the new
study found that 85 percent
of world's 4,118 threatened
mammals, birds, and
amphibian species are not
adequately protected in
existing national parks, and
are therefore vulnerable to
extinction in the near term.
The new study appears in the
esteemed international
journal PLOS Biology.
"With mounting costs
associated with replacing
aging infrastructure
nationwide, it is imperative
that local communities weigh
all options when developing
plans for providing new
water supplies and assessing
existing water service
delivery," said Steve
Anderson, chairman of the
Water Well Trust. "Choosing
wells to provide drinking
water in lieu of requiring
households to connect to
expensive centralized
systems can save federal,
state and local governments
millions of dollars."