By Mike Robbins
Hydrogen -- Star Gas, Everywhere, Yet Unseen. Sunlight is its Child.
(Haiku by Stephen Wetlesen)
October
28, 2014
Americans have become huge.
Between the 1960s and the
2000s, Americans grew, on
the average, an inch taller
and 24 pounds
heavier. The average
American man today weights
194 pounds and the average
woman 165 pounds. The
growing girth has led to the
creation of special-sized
ambulances, operating tables
and coffins as well as
bigger seats on planes and
trains. Almost a third of
American children and teens
are overweight, but 84
percent of parents believe
their children are at a
healthy weight in one study.
Why? The adults are probably
overweight too.
Lockheed Martin's Skunk
Works Division has announced
their plans to build a
compact nuclear fusion based
reactor prototype within
five years. The LENR or Cold
Fusion E-Cat – which
actually exists today as a
commercial product – offers
more benefits with none of
the drawbacks. Did the
positive findings of the
Lugano report force
Lockheed's hand?
-
Sulforaphane, found in
high amounts in broccoli
sprouts, can
significantly improve
your blood pressure and
kidney function by
normalizing a process
called DNA methylation
-
Preliminary research
suggests sulforaphane
may also be of
particular benefit for
those with
autism—improving verbal
communication and
decreasing repetitive
behaviors
-
Broccoli has the ability
to affect gene
expression and promote
detoxification of
harmful environmental
pollutants
-
Sulforaphane influences
bacteria as well.
Broccoli sprouts have
been shown to inhibit
Helicobacter pylori, the
bacteria thought to
cause gastric ulcers. H.
pylori may also play a
role in autism
-
Autistic children are
known to have higher
levels of environmental
toxins in their system,
as well as fewer
health-promoting gut
bacteria
Most Californians favor a
ballot initiative
authorizing spending $7.5
billion on projects to shore
up the drought-parched
state's water supply,
including a new reservoir
and underground storage
projects, a poll shows.
The proposal to pay for
the projects by selling
bonds comes as California
struggles through a third
year of a catastrophic
drought that has forced
farmers to leave a
half-million acres of land
fallow and threatens
drinking-water wells for
thousands of residents.
Concerned about slow
sales of electric cars and
plug-in hybrids, automakers
are increasingly betting the
future of green cars on
hydrogen fuel cell
technology.
Even Toyota Motor Corp. ,
maker of the popular Prius
gas-electric hybrid, will
use hydrogen instead of
batteries to power its next
generation of green
vehicles.
The city of Detroit urged a
judge on Monday to approve
its plan to get out of
bankruptcy, calling it a
sweeping effort to "solve
some really bad problems" by
wiping out billions in debt
and spending $1.7 billion on
better services in a
long-term prescription for
the Motor City.
It has long been
understood that feeding
animals antibiotics can
create resistant bacteria –
bacteria that can cause
problems for human health.
That’s why the Food and Drug
Administration has been
concerned for decades over
the practice of giving
livestock subtherapeutic
doses to promote growth.
While the agency has yet to
do much of anything to curb
the problem, save for some
voluntary regulations, new
research suggests that the
steady supply of drugs could
make animals sicker – and
cause disease to spread more
rapidly.
The new study, published
this week in the journal
PNAS, looked at how
salmonella bacteria was
spread in a population of
mice.
Currently, the Walnut Ridge
Wind Farm is under
development with
approximately 14,500 acres
and up to 225-MW in the
total projected footprint.
The PPA is estimated to
produce nearly 500GWh of
power annually, which would
eliminate about 499,973
metric tons of carbon
dioxide equivalent emissions
annually.
Japan warned on Friday
that a volcano in southern
Japan located roughly 64 km
(40 miles) from a nuclear
plant was showing signs of
increased activity that
could possibly lead to a
small-scale eruption and
warned people to stay away
from the summit.
The warning comes nearly
a month after another
volcano, Mt Ontake, erupted
suddenly when crowded with
hikers, killing 57 people in
Japan's worst volcanic
disaster in nearly 90 years.
A massive sunspot, larger
than any since November of
1990, has been churning out
solar flares with abandon
over the past week. And it
didn’t take the weekend off.
Since Friday, the sunspot
(AR2192) has exploded with
four X-class and eight
M-class solar flares, though
none of the flares from this
region have yet produced a
coronal mass ejection (CME),
which would lead to a
geomagnetic storm here on
Earth. The most recent
X-class flare occurred
around 10:45 a.m. ET on
Monday.
Ladies and gentleman, the
stage has been set since
around early 2011 for
Monsanto’s corruption to
truly be exposed. An
increasingly large number of
intellectually powerful
individuals have decided
that they simply will not
stand for the genetic
manipulation of the food
supply.
SMAP will provide the most
accurate, highest-resolution
global measurements of soil
moisture ever obtained from
space and will detect
whether the ground is frozen
or thawed. The data will be
used to enhance scientists'
understanding of the
processes that link Earth's
water, energy and carbon
cycles.
South Carolina is
celebrating recent news that
Yucca Mountain has been
deemed safe as a nuclear
waste repository. But
officials and residents of
Nevada are echoing similar
sentiments of those near the
Savannah River Site, stating
that they don't want nuclear
waste in their backyards.
"Chip packets are
everywhere and once used,
usually get thrown out,"
said engineer Cris Birzer,
who helped guide the
project. "The idea is that
chip packets, which are made
from metallized plastics
have a highly reflective
surface."
The system, known as
solar disinfection, uses UV
radiation from the sun to
produce oxygen radicals in
the water. These, in turn,
kill pathogens in the water,
according to the report.
-
The widespread use of
genetically engineered
crops has led to
chemical resistance
among weeds and insects
alike. Weed resistance
has been documented on
60 million farm acres
across the US
-
The US Department of
Agriculture (USDA)
recently deregulated Dow
Chemical’s
next-generation GE
crops, which are
resistant to both
glyphosate and 2,4-D—a
component of Agent
Orange
-
The US Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA)
has also approved Enlist
Duo—a new herbicide to
be used on Dow’s 2,4-D
and glyphosate-resistant
corn and soybeans
-
In response to the US
government’s failure to
protect the American
public, the Center for
Food Safety has
announced it will
“pursue all available
legal options to stop
the commercialization of
these dangerous crops”
Most of the concerns
about climate change have
focused on the amount of
greenhouse gases that have
been released into the
atmosphere.
But in a new study
published in Science,
a group of Rutgers
researchers have found that
circulation of the ocean
plays an equally important
role in regulating the
earth’s climate.
The drugs included the
diabetes drug metformin, the
acid reflux drug ranitidine,
and the diuretic
hydrochlorothiazide. "The
levels detected have never
been found before in North
America," the report said.
As the military takes
control of what had been
insurgent-dominated areas of
North Waziristan, the
militants who’d thrived in
that area are searching for
a new group with which to
affiliate. Many are expected
to choose the Islamic State,
driven in part by a
reluctance to accept al
Qaida’s leader, Ayman al
Zawahiri.
Poland
is planning a major
realignment of its military
structure because of the
conflict in neighboring
Ukraine, the country's
defense minister said
Monday, a move that could
shift thousands of troops to
its eastern border.
A worldwide one-child
policy would mean the number
of people in 2100 remained
around current levels,
according to a study
published in the Proceedings
of the National Academy of
Sciences.
Even a catastrophic event
that killed billions of
people would have little
effect on the overall
impact, it said.
There may be 12 billion
humans on Earth by 2100
he conclusion? "The
researchers found that while
the vegetables did
accumulate commonly
occurring pharmaceutical and
personal care products
(PPCPs)—including
antidepressants, DEET,
triclosan and caffeine—they
were present only in very
small amounts,"
Smithsonian reported.
X2 event observed.
Solar activity is likely to
be high on days one, two,
and three (28 Oct, 29 Oct,
30 Oct). The
geomagnetic field is
expected to be at quiet to
unsettled levels on days
one, two, and three (28 Oct,
29 Oct, 30 Oct). Protons
have a chance of crossing
threshold on days one, two,
and three (28 Oct, 29 Oct,
30 Oct).
The Seattle Times reacted
Monday night to a report
revealing that the FBI used
a phony webpage aimed at
resembling the news outlet’s
website to plant software on
the computer of an
individual they suspected of
making bomb threats to a
school in 2007.
“We are outraged that the
FBI, with the apparent
assistance of the U.S.
Attorney’s Office,
misappropriated the name of
The Seattle Times to
secretly install spyware on
the computer of a crime
suspect,”..
The classification of
marijuana as a Schedule I
drug was upheld as recently
as last year, but now,
defense attorneys in a
criminal case have the
opportunity to argue in a
three-day hearing that the
status should change.
A lab-created cocoa drink
appears to improve normal
age-related memory loss, a
small study suggests.
After three months
of consuming the special
cocoa concoction,
someone with the typical
memory of a 60-year-old
improved their memory to
that of a 30- or
40-year-old, the
researchers reported.
On Tuesday, Eikeland's
latest venture, Alevo, will
unveil a battery that he
says will last longer and
ultimately cost far less
than rival technologies.
The technology, which is
meant to store excess
electricity generated by
power plants, has been
developed by Eikeland in
secret for a decade.
A biosensor recently
developed at Lund University
can detect substances at
10,000 times lower
concentrations than what is
currently possible. PhD
student Lesedi Lebogang
found a practical
application that could be
particularly helpful in warm
climates such as Africa,
Australia and the southern
United States, where
drinking water is affected.
According to Deutsche Bank,
the Saudi government can
sustain itself for almost 8
years with Brent crude at
$83/bbl. The nation's
government has accumulated
sufficient "rainy day funds"
to withstand a prolonged
period of budget deficits
driven by low oil prices.
There are millions of people
in the United States who are
still ‘asleep at the wheel’
when it comes to awareness
about geo-engineering
programs for weather control
and chemtrails. While
Americas celebrate one of
the most important dates for
‘freedom,’ we allow our
governments to continue to
pollute the planet with
chemtrail dumps and aerosol
spraying. There is evidence
around the world that proves
this phenomenon is
happening, even if the
con-job of the military
industrial corporatocracy
continues to leave most of
us hoodwinked.
Thousands of Hungarians
protested in Budapest on
Sunday against a planned new
tax on Internet data
transfers, which they said
would not only increase the
tax burden but would also
curb fundamental democratic
rights and freedoms.
Emissions reductions in
the electric power sector
lead a decline in carbon
dioxide (CO2)
emissions in five of the
past eight years, according
to analysis from the U.S.
Energy Information
Administration (EIA).
Total emissions from the
electric power industry
totaled 2,053 million metric
tons (MMmt) in 2013, about
15 percent below 2005
levels.
The United States is
lobbying against an
amendment to an
international nuclear safety
pact proposed by
Switzerland, which Berne
argues could help prevent
Fukushima-style disasters
but which may also increase
industry costs, diplomats
said.
Atomic energy powers
Russia and Canada have also
signaled opposition to the
measure...
There have already been
several dire warnings
from Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon
Musk in recent months
regarding the perils of
artificial intelligence, but
this week he actually
managed to raise the bar in
terms of making AI seem
scary.
We are dealing with Star
Wars. It involves the
combination of chemtrails
for creating an atmosphere
that will support
electromagnetic waves,
ground-based,
electromagnetic field
oscillators called
gyrotrons, and ionospheric
heaters. Particulates make
directed energy weapons work
better. It has to do with
"steady state" and particle
density for plasma beam
propagation.
Mercom Capital Group , llc,
a global clean energy
communications and
consulting firm, released
its report on funding and
merger and acquisition (M&A)
activity for the wind sector
during the third quarter of
2014. Wind venture capital
(VC) funding came in at $140
million in one deal,
compared to $48 million in
four deals in Q2 2014.
Salt-spoiled soils
worldwide: 20% of all
irrigated lands — an area
equal to size of France;
Extensive costs include $27
billion+ in lost crop value
/ year. UNU study identifies
ways to reverse damage, says
every hectare needed to feed
world’s fast-growing
population.
Every day for more than
20 years, an average of
2,000 hectares of irrigated
land in arid and semi-arid
areas across 75 countries
have been degraded by salt,
according to a new study ...
October
24, 2014
The map below comes from the
Nuclear Emergency Tracking
Center. It shows that
radiation levels at
radiation monitoring
stations all over the
country are elevated. As you
will notice, this is
particularly true along the
west coast of the United
States. Every single day,
300 tons of radioactive
water from Fukushima enters
the Pacific Ocean. That
means that the total amount
of radioactive material
released from Fukushima is
constantly increasing, and
it is steadily building up
in our food chain.
Federal energy regulators
have ruled that transmission
rates in New England are too
high and ordered power
companies like Connecticut
Light & Power and United
Illuminating to issue in
estimated $70 million in
refunds to ratepayers.
The decision comes more than
three years after
representatives from all six
New England states filed a
complaint to the Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission
about the companies' 11.14
percent base profit margin.
Illegal immigrants charged
with violent crimes and
serious felonies were among
the hundreds of criminals
the Obama administration
released from jails across
the country in February
2013, newly released
documents show.
According to records
obtained by USA Today, the
government released inmates
charged with offenses
ranging from kidnapping and
sexual assault to drug
trafficking, armed assault,
and homicide.
Syrian
President Bashar Assad is
taking advantage of the
U.S.-led coalition's war
against the Islamic State
group to pursue a withering
air and ground campaign
against more mainstream
rebels elsewhere in the
country, trying to recapture
areas considered more
crucial to the survival of
his government.
As
U.S. and allied jets swoop
freely over towns and cities
under control of extremists
in northern Syria, the
Syrian army has scaled back
its air activity over areas
of IS control, doing as
little as possible there to
avoid confrontation.
Instead, Assad's troops are
now focusing their energies
on the country's two largest
cities, Damascus and Aleppo.
For years, the utilities
responsible for providing
electricity to the nation
have treated residential
solar systems as a threat.
Now, they want a piece of
the action, and they are
having to fight for the
chance.
If utilities embrace home
solar, their deep pockets
and access to customers
could transform what has
been a fast-growing, but
niche industry. Solar powers
only half a million U.S.
homes and businesses,
according to solar market
research firm GTM Research.
But utility-owned rooftop
systems represent a change
the solar installation
companies who dominate the
market don't want, and
whether the two sides can
compromise may determine if
residential solar truly goes
mainstream.
Lofty targets contained in a
new report show that China
intends to push ahead with
ambitious plans to build up
its renewable energy sector.
But perhaps the most
interesting thing about this
new report is word that
Beijing finally intends to
sharply reduce the inflated
state-set fees now paid for
solar and wind-produced
power, in one of the
sharpest indicators that it
expects the industry to stop
depending on government
support and become
commercially viable on its
own. Such state support
through a wide array of
measures, which also include
export credits and
low-interest loans, have
become a huge sticking point
that has led to a series of
trade wars between China and
the west.
China's total crude supply
exceeded refinery throughput
in September, implying
665,000 b/d of crude was
added to domestic storage,
according to Platts
calculations Wednesday based
on government data.
The stockbuild last month
was more than double the
August addition to stocks of
279,000 b/d, although it was
35.5% lower than in
September 2013.
The
level of stocks held by
refiners in China is not
disclosed.
A new study from the
Nuclear Energy Institute
says Illinois could lose
$3.6 billion in output and
as many as 13,300 jobs if
Exelon Corp.'s Clinton ,
Byron and the Quad Cities
nuclear plants close
prematurely.
The Washington, D.C.
-based research group said
"a combination of economic
and policy factors has
created potentially fatal
economic headwinds for these
three plants." As part of
the study, the group
calculated the effects on
the Illinois economy if the
plants closed in 2016 _
eight to 16 years before
their licenses are scheduled
to expire.
-
According to statistics
collected by the US
Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention
(CDC), 2.5 million
Americans wound up in
the emergency room as a
result of a car accident
in 2012
-
While there are many
factors that make
driving risky, including
the use of cell phones,
texting, drunk driving,
and not using a seat
belt, there’s also the
issue of prescription
drug side effects
-
A CDC report reveals
that between 1993 and
2010, the number of
drivers involved in
fatal car crashes found
to have three or more
medications in their
system nearly doubled,
increasing from 11.5 to
21.5 percent
-
Prescription drugs were
involved in fatal car
crashes at three times
the rate of marijuana
-
If you take psychoactive
medications, or drugs
that impair judgment and
reaction time either by
itself or in combination
with other drugs, please
exercise good judgment
and avoid getting behind
the wheel
The emergency operations
center is part of a biannual
exercise evaluated by the
Federal Emergency Management
Agency for the Susquehanna
Steam Electric Station in
Luzerne County . Schuylkill
County also supports the
evacuation of Dauphin County
residents living near Three
Mile Island and participates
in similar biannual
exercises for that.
...allowed the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) to
proceed with a plan that
effectively exempts eight
coal-fired power plants in
Wyoming , Utah and New
Mexico from federal
requirements to reduce
emissions of haze-causing
sulfur dioxide (SO2) that
pollutes national parks and
wilderness areas.
Calling solar "critical
to the United States " when
it comes to meeting its
future carbon reduction
goals, Department of Energy
Secretary Ernest Moniz today
delivered the keynote
address at Solar Power
International (SPI), the
largest solar trade show in
America, co-sponsored by the
Solar Energy Industries
Association (SEIA).
"Cost reduction, as we
have seen dramatically in
solar energy, is very much a
part of shaping our clean
energy future," Moniz said.
"We've seen costs of modules
decline by nearly 80
percent.
Duke Energy is readjusting
its focus with a
recommitment to operational
excellence in the aftermath
of the coal ash spill from
its Dan River Steam Station
in North Carolina this
February and continuing to
shift toward a cleaner, more
diverse mix of energy
sources.
In a utility rate dispute
that has exposed a political
rift on the N.C. Utilities
Commission , Duke Energy
said Tuesday that it has
decided not to overcharge
its customers for corporate
income taxes the company
doesn't pay.
The decision will mean
that the $56 billion
Charlotte utility company
won't overbill customers to
the tune of $19 million a
year between Duke Energy
Carolinas and Duke Energy
Progress .
Serum made from the blood of
recovered Ebola patients
could be available within
weeks in Liberia, one of the
countries worst hit by the
virus, says the World Health
Organization.
It is not appropriate to
give people cell-destroying
chemotherapy drugs when they
don’t have cancer. That
should be obvious. It
shouldn’t even need to be
said. But it’s happening
every day when people are
prescribed fluoroquinolone
antibiotics –
Cipro/ciprofloxacin,
Levaquin/levofloxacin,
Floxin/ofloxacin
andAvelox/moxifloxacin – to
treat ear, bladder,
prostate, sinus and other
infections. Fluoroquinolones
are chemotherapy drugs. They
have just been mass marketed
as antibiotics by the FDA.
You may be thinking
something along the lines
of, “WHAT? Cipro isn’t a
chemo drug, it’s an
antibiotic. Everyone knows
that.”
A federal judge has
dismissed on procedural
grounds lawsuits filed by
several tea party groups
against the IRS, USA Today
reported.
The judge,
in his opinion issued
Wednesday, stressed that he
was not ruling on the
merits of the cases
...
Top bureaucrats in Ottawa
have muzzled a leading
fisheries scientist whose
discovery could help explain
why salmon stocks have been
crashing off Canada’s West
Coast, according to
documents obtained by
Postmedia News.
The documents show the
Privy Council Office, which
supports the Prime
Minister’s Office, stopped
Kristi Miller from talking
about one of the most
significant discoveries to
come out of a federal
fisheries lab in years.
Nearly all air samples
collected from coal mines in
August and September
complied with stricter new
limits on dust even though
the industry had argued it
would have trouble meeting
the standards, federal
regulators announced.
Of the 4,255 valid
samples collected by federal
inspectors in the first 60
days of the new rule, only
20 -- less than 0.5 percent
-- contained enough dust to
warrant a violation, the
U.S. Mine Safety and Health
Administration said in a
news release.
-
The Illinois Department
of Public Health is
presently pushing for
burdensome and
restrictive rules on raw
milk sales that would
affect producers with
even just one cow or
goat. An estimated
400,000 Illinois
residents drink raw
milk, and may be
adversely impacted
should the new
restrictions be put in
place
-
Raw milk supporters in
Wisconsin are
petitioning the state’s
Supreme Court to rule on
whether obtaining and
consuming raw milk is a
constitutional right
-
Raw milk bans have
nothing to do with
public safety, and
everything to do with
controlling the dairy
market and eliminating
competitive threats
-
Kentucky Congressman
Thomas Massie plans to
introduce a series of
“food freedom” bills.
The first two, HR 4307
and HR 4308, could be a
major step forward for
the raw milk movement.
The first nationwide bulk
solar purchase program has
been launched to give North
American homeowners easier
access to more affordable,
clean, renewable energy.
Developed in conjunction
with 3M, Cisco,
Kimberly-Clark and the
National Geographic Society,
and created by the World
Wildlife Federation (WWF),
the Solar Community
Initiative presents a new
approach to purchasing,
financing and installing
solar panels at a uniform
discounted price.
Florida Power & Light
Co.'s request to charge
customers for "lobbying"
against proposed revisions
to the Clean Water Act is
outrageous, an environmental
coalition said Thursday.
FPL is asking the Florida
Public Service Commission to
allow it to collect $228,500
from its ratepayers for
advocacy against the
proposed water rules. The
U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency and the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
are in the midst of a
rulemaking process that
would more clearly define
streams, wetlands and other
bodies of water.
Here is a quick
follow-up to the
discussion on the
looming rental crisis in the
US. The gap in growth rates
of rental costs vs. wages
continues to widen. This
divergence is creating a
drag on the GDP growth by
suppressing household
formation, consumer
spending, and labor
mobility. Over time this
trend will also increase
homelessness.
WHO officials also
reportedly called off a
trial at an Ebola isolation
ward where local health
authorities were set to
begin administering the
silver, which the U.S.
government previously
demonstrated is highly
effective against Ebola. WHO
ordered the trial not to
proceed despite the fact
that it had earlier voiced
support for experimental
treatments.
While the Hendo Board does
indeed hover, and without
the high-speed fans employed
on the Hoverskater, it
relies on technology similar
to that found in maglev
trains, with opposing
magnetic forces between the
board and the surface
providing the hovering
capabilities...
The judicial review is
unlikely to see Tepco
executives go to jail, legal
experts say, but rehashing
details of the meltdowns and
explosions that followed an
earthquake and tsunami will
cast a harsh light on the
struggling utility and will
not help Prime Minister
Shinzo Abe's unpopular
effort to restart Japan's
nuclear reactors.
Japan’s newly appointed
Minister of Economy, Trade
and Industry says he will
continue with restarting
nuclear reactors in the
country that are deemed
safe.
The trade minister,
Yoichi Miyazawa, said he
would also move toward
restarting Kyushu Electric’s
Sendai nuclear plant,..
US consumers remain
jittery. As expected,
households actually paid
attention to last week's
market volatility and the
Ebola fears. As many have
pointed out, some of what
we've heard last week was
blown out of proportion. But
any increased uncertainty,
perceived or real, can have
an immediate and a very real
impact on the economy these
days.
Two out-of-state
companies are suing Los
Angeles after their plan to
install an array of 3,500
solar cells on the northeast
edge of the San Fernando
Valley was thwarted by a
local commission.
The proposed project in
Lake View Terrace worried
neighbors, who thought that
the expanse of solar cells
slated for a vacant lot off
Foothill Boulevard would
clash with a tranquil, rural
area speckled with horse
stables and homes.
he world's biggest coal
company, Peabody Energy ,
lost $US135 million through
lower coal prices over the
past year.
The company's third
quarter revenues were
$US1.72 billion compared
with $US1.8 billion in the
previous year primarily on
lower realised pricing in
Australia . Peabody took
over Queensland's Macarthur
Coal in 2011.
After warning in August that
hundreds of miners could
lose their jobs, Boone
County -based Coal River
Energy has laid off 130 mine
workers. Coal River Energy
spokesman James "Skeets"
Loving confirmed the layoffs
Tuesday.
A new high-performance water
treatment system has begun
testing at the Fukushima
Daiichi Nuclear Power
Station, and is expected to
boost water treatment
capacity by 500 tons a day
while reducing its
radioactive waste output by
90 percent, according to a
release from Tokyo Electric
Power Co. (TEPCO).
X1 event observed.
Solar Activity Forecast:
Solar activity is likely to
be high on
days one, two, and three (23
Oct, 24 Oct, 25 Oct).
The geomagnetic field is
expected to be at quiet to
active levels on day one (23
Oct), unsettled to active
levels on day two (24 Oct)
and quiet to unsettled
levels on day three (25
Oct). Protons have a chance
of crossing threshold on
days one through three
(23-25 Oct).
The 30 percent solar
investment tax credit (ITC)
is set to be reduced to 10
percent for business and
zero for residential in
2016, so the Solar Energy
Industries Association
(SEIA) has launched a new
campaign for a long-term
extension. SEIA President
Rhone Resch explained the
importance of such an
extension in Solar Central
at Solar Power International
2014, and called for
industry support.
In her opening speech at
Solar Power International in
Las Vegas this week, Julia
Hamm asked attendees to
Imagine a future in which
solar energy and all the
industry stakeholders --
from utilities to installers
and manufacturers to
customers -- were unhampered
by existing regulatory and
market structures, as well
as the challenges and, at
times, divisive debates they
have created.
The trial of the four
anti-nuclear activists,
charged with trespassing on
the Pilgrim Nuclear Power
Station property on Mother's
Day, continued Monday with
Plymouth District Court
Judge James Sullivan
listening to testimony from
state Sen. Daniel Wolf,
D-Harwich, and Dr. Richard
Clapp, former director of
the Massachusetts Cancer
Registry.
"Dan spoke about the
dangers of the aging reactor
and lack of oversight by the
Nuclear Regulatory
Commission and legislative
avenues," said Diane Turco,
one of the defendants and
the founder of the Cape
Downwinders citizens group.
"Clapp discussed cancer
rates around the plant,"
Turco said. Those rates are
considerably higher for some
forms of cancer than state
averages, she said.
Regulators in Texas and New
Mexico discussed Thursday
the growing conflict between
the federal and state
governments.
Their focus at the kick-off
breakfast for the Permian
Basin Petroleum
Association's annual meeting
was power plant regulations
proposed by the
Environmental Protection
Agency to cut greenhouse gas
emissions from existing
power generation plants by
30 percent. The target date
is 2030.
-
New environmental
research shows waterways
are widely contaminated
with antibiotics,
pesticides, caffeine,
acetaminophen, and other
pharmaceuticals
-
There are about 84,000
chemicals registered for
commercial use and of
those 2,400 are
high-production volume
chemicals (meaning more
than 1 million pounds
are produced per year);
the vast majority have
yet to be tested for
safety
-
Many environmental
chemicals cause
disturbances to
hormonal, reproductive
and immune systems, and
have been linked to
cancer, birth defects,
learning disabilities,
asthma, reproductive
problems, and more
-
The American Chemistry
Council, which
represents chemical
giants like Dow, DuPont,
BASF Corp., and 3M, is
lobbying for federal
regulations that would
preempt states from
being able to tighten up
chemical regulations
-
The American Chemistry
Council has spent nearly
$6 million on lobbying
in the first half of
2014 alone
Each year you have to drive
a little farther out to find
it. Slowed by traffic,
through tangled
intersections, past rows of
houses that seem to have
sprouted from the field,
finally, you can see the
bountiful farmland. For the
past two decades, we've
paved over our farmland for
roads, houses and malls.
Wasteful land use puts
America's farmland at risk,
especially our most fertile
and productive—our most
valuable—farmland.
Papp, who became the first
ever U.S. special
representative for the
Arctic in July, said he only
needs to remember the first
time he visited New York
Harbor in 1970 for
encouragement on tackling
complicated issues. "It was
disgusting," he said about
the industrial and other
waste that wrecked the
city's shores.
New guidelines will force
travellers from affected
countries to fly via US
airports with screening
procedures in place.
The Obama administration has
announced America’s first
Ebola-related travel
restrictions, forcing
passengers originating from
affected countries in west
Africa to fly via US
airports with screening
procedures in place.
Air strikes by U.S.-led
forces have killed 521
Islamist fighters and 32
civilians during a
month-long campaign in
Syria, a monitoring group
which tracks the violence
said on Thursday.
The Britain-based Syrian
Observatory for Human Rights
said the vast majority of
the deaths, 464, were
militants from Islamic
State, an al Qaeda offshoot
which has grabbed large
areas of Syria and
neighboring Iraq.
The attacks also killed
57 members of the al
Qaeda-affiliated Nusra
Front, the Observatory said.
Six of the civilians were
children and five were
women, it added.
Freddie Mac yesterday
released the results of its
Primary Mortgage
Market Survey®
(PMMS®), showing average
fixed mortgage rates hitting
fresh lows for the year for
the second consecutive week
amid declining bond yields.
At 3.92 percent the average
30-year fixed rate is at its
lowest level since the week
of June 6, 2013.
October
21, 2014
-
Honey is a blend of
sugar, trace enzymes,
minerals, vitamins, and
amino acids that has
antibacterial,
anti-fungal, and
antioxidant properties
-
Honey works as well as
dextromethorphan, a
common ingredient in
over-the-counter cough
medications, to soothe
cough and related
sleeping difficulties
-
Unprocessed honey can
help treat skin
infections, helps wounds
heal, and improves
dandruff and itchy scalp
-
It takes about 60,000
bees, collectively
traveling up to 55,000
miles and visiting more
than 2 million flowers,
to gather enough nectar
to make one pound of
honey
-
Choose raw, unfiltered
honey for medicinal
properties; most honey
on the market is highly
processed and may even
contain additives like
corn syrup
The new “A List” of leading
climate performance
businesses from around the
world, released Friday by
the Climate Disclosure
Project, numbers 187
companies, including several
that have drawn vehement
environmental protests, such
as TransCanada Corporation
and Bayer AG.
A new analysis of global
energy use, economics and
the climate shows that
without new climate
policies, expanding the
current bounty of
inexpensive natural gas
alone would not slow the
growth of global greenhouse
gas emissions worldwide over
the long term, according to
a study appearing today in
Nature Advanced Online
Publication.
If you own a computer
or a mobile phone, chances
are you have done something
very risky with
it—connected, perhaps
without even knowing that
you have, to a public Wifi
network. Most coffee shops
or trains or hotels don't
have hackers hanging out in
them and snooping over their
Wifi networks. But some do,
and those people can find
out a disturbing amount of
information about anyone
whose Wifi-enabled device
happens to be overly
friendly.
Tiny, cratered Mimas is
wobbling way more than it
should be, hinting that it
might contain either an
oddly shaped core or a
subsurface ocean
A compost experiment that
began seven years ago on a
Marin County ranch has
uncovered a disarmingly
simple and benign way to
remove carbon dioxide from
the air, holding the
potential to turn the vast
rangeland of California and
the world into a weapon
against climate change.
A 60-foot-long articulated
bus scheduled for roll-out
in mid-2015 will be the
first in North America to be
powered by a hydrogen fuel
cell/battery combination
electric drive.
Images shows the unnamed
teenager being crucified in
central Raqqa Sign around
his neck accuses him
of apostasy - abandoning his
religion.
A global low-carbon energy
economy is not only feasible
- it could actually double
electricity supply by 2050,
while also reducing air and
water pollution, according
to new research.
Even
though photovoltaic power
requires up to 40 times more
copper than conventional
power plants, and wind power
uses up to 14 times more
iron, the world wins on a
switch to low-carbon energy.
Scientists are no longer
even sure how antibiotics
work. We have the latest
research.
According to Dr. David
Williams, antibiotics may
prevent the body from
excreting mercury, which is
found in fish and in many
vaccines. This was
documented in a study by
Boyd Haley, PhD, from the
University of Connecticut
Medical Center. Mercury is
highly toxic. In animals
studies, researchers can
mimic the exact same
physiological changes to the
brain along with the signs
and symptoms of Alzheimer’s
disease by simply adding
mercury to the system.
Williams reports that
increased mercury levels are
also a known causative
factor in cardiovascular
disease.
t 3:30 a.m. in the
world's biggest Ebola
treatment center, Daniel
Lucey found the outbreak
reduced to its essentials:
patients lying on mattresses
on the floor and vomiting in
the dark, visible only by
the wavering flashlight beam
of a single volunteer
doctor.
"I don't see a light at
the end of the tunnel,"..
Invoking tribal health
and cultural survival, the
Eastern Band of Cherokee
Indians has declared a ban
on fracking on its sovereign
land in what is today North
Carolina...
Tribal officials cited
the importance to
preservation of the woodland
habitats that are the
underpinning of tribal
health and culture.
A fire at a British power
station close to London has
closed a power generation
unit, which could exacerbate
Britain's already
constrained electricity
supply as winter approaches
and demand rises.
Abengoa recently celebrated
the grand opening of a new
biomass-to-ethanol facility
-- a "first of a kind"
commercial scale biorefinery
that will allow Abengoa to
produce renewable liquid
fuel from one of the most
abundant organic feedstock
sources, plant fiber or
cellulosic biomass. The
Abengoa Bioenergy Biomass of
Kansas (ABBK) facility,
located about 90 miles
southwest of Dodge City in
Hugoton, Kansas, will be
sold into the ethanol
commodity market and used to
fuel light duty vehicles.
My daughter, Skylee, was a
healthy young lady prior to
vaccination with Gardasil –
she had the occasional cold
but no major health issues.
Like many of her peers, she
enjoyed music and going to
concerts. She enjoyed being
a teenager simply hanging
out with friends in and out
of school. All of this
changed after she was
vaccinated with Gardasil.
The rule does not specify
use of any particular
certification system, but
rather establishes criteria
that promote
energy-efficient building
designs and that focus on
energy and water management.
"As the number and size of
offshore wind developments
increases, there is a
growing need to consider the
consequences and cumulative
impacts of these activities
on marine species," said
Helen Bailey, lead author
and research assistant
professor at the University
of Maryland Center for
Environmental Science's
Chesapeake Biological
Laboratory. "It is essential
to identify where whales,
dolphins and other species
occur to help avoid adverse
impacts and to continue to
monitor their response to
the construction and
operation of wind turbines."
Ebola fears began to ease
for some Monday as the
monitoring period passed for
48 people who had close
contact with a victim of the
disease, and after a patient
being treated for the virus
at an Atlanta hospital was
discharged.
The government watchdog
group Judicial Watch alleged
Friday the Obama
administration is
formulating plans to admit
Ebola-infected non-U.S.
citizens into the United
States for treatment.
The group, which cited
one unidentified source,
said the administration
would aim to bring Ebola
patients into the United
States for treatment within
the first days of diagnosis,
and that it’s not clear
who’d pay either for the
transportation or treatment.
U.S. Secretary of State John
Kerry said Monday the Obama
administration decided to
airdrop weapons and
ammunitions to "valiant"
Kurds fighting Islamic State
extremists in the Syrian
border town of Kobani
because it would be
"irresponsible" and "morally
very difficult" not to
support them.
After a dramatic,
one-in-a-million-years
close encounter between
Mars and comet Siding
Spring on Sunday, all
five functioning US Mars
probes survived and are
reportedly healthy. NASA
confirms that the Mars
Odyssey, Mars
Reconnaissance Orbiter
(MRO), and the Mars
Atmosphere and Volatile
Evolution (MAVEN)
orbiter, along with the
rovers Curiosity and
Opportunity came through
without a scratch and
are returning valuable
data on the comet.
Significant negative
economic impacts could
result from the U.S.
Environmental Protection
Agency's (EPA) proposed plan
to regulate carbon dioxide
(CO2) emissions from
existing fossil-fuel power
plants under section 111(d)
of the Clean Air Act,
according to a new analysis
from NERA Economic
Consulting.
-
A new documentary
chronicles how a major
cancer research center
covered up positive
studies about Laetrile
in the 1970s, as told by
insider Ralph Moss
-
New York’s Memorial
Sloan Kettering Cancer
Center brushed positive
Laetrile studies under
the rug, bowing to
politics and conflicts
of interest
-
Laetrile, banned in the
US since 1963, is made
from amygdalin, a
natural compound derived
from the seeds of many
fruits such as apricot
pits
-
Sloan Kettering’s highly
respected cancer
scientist Kanematsu
Sugiura found that
Laetrile significantly
reduced the spread of
lung cancer in mice
-
Contemporary Laetrile
studies support Dr.
Kanematsu’s findings,
but Sloan Kettering
still refuses to
acknowledge the truth
about the cover-up
Water laced with salt and
sugar, and gallons of the
nasty-tasting stuff.
Doctors who survived
Ebola in Nigeria credited
heavy doses of fluids with
saving their lives as the
World Health Organization
declared the country
Ebola-free Monday, a rare
victory in the battle
against the disease that is
ravaging West Africa.
In the end, Nigeria — the
most populous country in
Africa, with 160 million
people — had just 20 cases,
including eight deaths, a
lower death rate than the 70
percent seen elsewhere
across the stricken region.
China's GDP growth is
gradually slowing as
expected - at least
according to the official
reports.
In “The Great Lightbulb
Conspiracy,” Markus
Krajewski wrote that in 1924
a group of leading
international businessmen
gathered in Geneva for a
meeting that would alter the
lighting world for decades
to come. They were
representatives from the
major lightbulb
manufacturers.
This group founded the
Phoebus cartel, whose goal
was to control the worldwide
incandescent lightbulb
market. By 1925 the cartel
established a limit of 1,000
hours for a household
bulb...
OPEC could in the future
take action to respond to
the recent fall in oil
prices, Algerian energy
ministry official Ali Hached
said in Paris Tuesday.
"Collectively OPEC can
respond to the excess supply
that we have on the market,"
he said.
M4 event observed.
Solar activity is likely to
be moderate with a slight
chance for an X-class flare
on days one, two, and three
(21 Oct, 22 Oct, 23 Oct).
The geomagnetic field is
expected to be at unsettled
to minor storm levels on day
one (21 Oct), quiet to
active levels on day two (22
Oct) and quiet to unsettled
levels on day three (23
Oct). Protons have a slight
chance of crossing threshold
on days one, two, and three
(21 Oct, 22 Oct, 23 Oct).
We're still a far cry from
Star Trek's
ship-towing and repelling
technology, but laser
physicists at the Australian
National University (ANU)
have built a tractor beam
that can repel and attract
objects. The beam moved
spherical glass shells one
fifth of a millimeter in
diameter across a distance
of up to 20 centimeters
(7.87 in), which is around
100 times further than
previous experiments at this
scale, using only a single
hollow laser beam that's
bright around the edges and
dark in its center.
Perhaps no other city in
the United States is as
well-suited as New Orleans
to wed a scientific
discussion of environment
with a celebration of the
occult.
That's exactly what
unfolded on Saturday at
"Anba Dlo," an annual New
Orleans festival where
prominent scientists joined
with practitioners of the
voodoo religion to look for
answers to the challenges of
dealing with water.
Arizona's electrical load is
growing more slowly than
forecast, leading to delays
in high-voltage transmission
projects in the state,
according to an Arizona
Corporation Commission
report.
Still, the
existing and planned Arizona
high-voltage system is
adequate to support a robust
wholesale market, ACC said
in its Biennial Transmission
Assessment approved
Thursday.
“Drinking would shut
down my seeing and my
hearing and my feeling," she
used to say. "Why would I
want to be in the world if I
couldn't touch the world
with all of my senses
intact?”
As Halloween approaches and
our TV screens fill with
frights of all kinds, water
managers have a real-life
monster to worry about — a
parasite (Naegleria
fowleri) that’s been
dubbed the “brain-eating
amoeba.” The scary-sounding
name is hardly unfounded
considering the role of
N. fowleri in causing
primary amoebic
meningoencephalitis (PAM), a
brain disease that is nearly
always fatal. Although PAM
is still uncommon, recent
news and developments are
more concerning than
comforting.
The recent correction
in the price of crude oil
should have an immediate
positive impact on the US
consumer as well as on a
number of business sectors.
However there also may be a
significant economic
downside to this adjustmen
A few reasons given to show
why the mysterious mouse
component of the high
temperature E-Cat may very
well be the inconel
resistance wires themselves.
Biofuels may indeed offer a
greener alternative to
fossil fuels, but they do
raise at least one concern –
crops grown as biofuel
feedstock could take up
farmland and use water that
would otherwise be used to
grow crops for much-needed
food. That's why some
scientists have looked to
seaweed as a feedstock. Kelp
is particularly attractive,
in that it's abundant and
grows extremely quickly,
although its fuel yields
haven't been particularly
impressive. That could be
about to change, however,
thanks to a newly-developed
hydrothermal process.
Crude prices came
under pressure again today.
According to Reute(from
last week), the Saudis
“will accept oil prices
below $90 per barrel, and
perhaps down to $80, for as
long as a year or two”.
Their goal is to shake out
some of the high-cost
competition (such as the
US).
Just nine percent of those
surveyed in a national poll
by EnviroMedia report that
they currently participate
in a renewable energy or
green power program with
their electricity provider,
but a whopping 69 percent
are interested in these
types of programs. Further,
a large majority say they
are definitely or somewhat
interested in solar leasing
programs that offer solar
panel installation for
little or no money down and
a low monthly fee.
"Parents who don’t vaccinate
their kids may have the most
heartfelt reason in the
world: fear for their own
children’s safety. But the
basis for that fear is
simply unfounded, and their
decisions are putting other
kids directly at risk. The
bottom line is that the
government’s interest in
protecting children from
getting the measles should
trump parents’ interest in
making medical decisions for
their kids"
International sanctions and
the recent sharp fall in
crude oil prices may have
prompted Russia to seek a
compromise in talks with
Ukraine about natural gas
supplies, Prime Minister
Arseniy Yatseniuk said
Sunday.
The EU and US
should continue to pressure
Russia in order to achieve
even greater results,
Yatseniuk said in an
interview aired late Sunday
by TSN-Tyzhden, a television
news show.
If you live in the US,
there’s a good chance your
bathroom does not
contain a bidet. Yet, if you
travel to certain parts of
Europe, South America, the
Middle East, or Japan,
bidets are commonplace – and
they wouldn’t have it any
other way.
'Cause Your Old One is Fine
-
It doesn’t matter if
your computer is
2-months old or 5-years
old, it’s literally
programmed to be thrown
out and replaced.
-
For the average user,
who uses a computer for
web browsing, email and
other normal day-to-day
usage, a computer built
in 2008 is just as
capable of operating at
the same speeds as a
computer built in 2014
-
PC manufacturers, as
well as software
companies like Microsoft
are under tight pressure
to continuously sell
consumers on purchasing
“the next big thing”
-
Even technology from
over 5 years ago can
handle 95% of normal
processes just as quick
as the newest hardware
on the market
October
17, 2014
Reflective of the growing
popularity and increasing
growth of solar nationwide,
many of America's leading
Fortune 100 companies
continue to significantly
ramp up their use of clean
solar energy, according to
the 3rd annual Solar Means
Business report , which was
released today by the Solar
Energy Industries
Association (SEIA).
Residential solar just keeps
soaring but what about the
other markets? Find out next
week at Solar Power
International.
The outlook for the
residential solar market in
the United States remains
strong, with policymakers
looking to reduce the
regulatory burden for new
installations and major
downstream players focusing
on continued installed
system cost reduction.
Australia's prime minister
said on Wednesday that
Australian special forces
sent to Iraq haven't been
able to enter the country
yet because the Iraqi
government has not provided
the necessary legal
guarantees.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott
said he wanted the same
indemnity from prosecution
under Iraqi law for 200
Australian special
operations troops as
American troops already had
in Iraq.
The fan on the terrace of
their home at Neelagund
Layout in Gamanagatti
village on the outskirts of
Hubli has been catching the
fancy of passersby. The
advocate couple has also
been advocating the benefits
of this power saving
equipment among their
friends and relatives. "It
is a wonderful tool with
which we can achieve
self-sufficiency in power.
The government should
encourage such novel ways of
producing and saving energy
by announcing incentives,"
Mohammed Ali said.
Almost 3 billion gallons of
oil industry wastewater have
been illegally dumped into
central California aquifers
that supply drinking water
and farming irrigation,
according to state documents
obtained by the Center for
Biological Diversity. The
wastewater entered the
aquifers through at least
nine injection disposal
wells used by the oil
industry to dispose of waste
contaminated with fracking
fluids and other pollutants.
U.S. packaged foods
containing corn or soy and
labeled “natural” sampled by
the product testing group
Consumer Reports were found
to contain genetically
modified ingredients, the
group reported Tuesday.
Water, water everywhere
but not a drop to drink
I moved to San Francisco
six months ago and my
umbrella hasn’t left its
dusty sleeve yet. Scientists
and politicians, everyone
agrees: California is in
deep trouble. As the state
enters its fourth year of
drought and the soil has
never been drier. Some look
at the sky with hope that El
Niño will bring much needed
rain. But most are starting
to wonder if this is just
the beginning. Are we
entering a mega-drought that
could last for more than a
decade?
Italian consumer
inflation remains in the
negative territory, as the
nation's economy struggles
to grow. But Italy is not
unique - the rest of the
world is catching the
Eurozone's disinflationary
flu. China's latest CPI
print for example came in
below that of the US -
something we haven't seen
until recently ..
The Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention has
more safeguards against
secondhand smoke than it
does regarding Ebola, Dr.
Jane Orient, director of the
Association of American
Physicians and Surgeons,
said on Thursday.
A new study by a team of
scientists from Italy,
France, Columbia University
and the University of
California, Berkeley,
demonstrates that the
Earth's magnetic field could
change polarity in less than
100 years. The last magnetic
reversal occurred some
786,000 years ago and was
previously thought to have
taken several thousand years
but, if the researchers are
right, the real time it may
take for the flip to occur
could actually be closer to
the span of a human life.
Once again, the specter of
airborne Ebola is being
raised.
No virus that
causes disease in humans has
ever been known to mutate to
change its mode of
transmission. This means it
is highly unlikely that
Ebola has mutated to become
airborne. It is, however,
droplet-borne — and the
distinction between the two
is crucial.
Nearly every African nation
has instituted travel bans
on West African countries
with significant Ebola
outbreaks.
Though the
Obama administration has
insisted travel bans are not
necessary, even countries
outside of Africa are
beginning to start such
travel bans, with Colombia
and the Caribbean island of
St. Lucia on Wednesday
adding their names to a
growing list of nearly 30
countries that block
travelers from
virus-stricken Liberia,
Sierra Leone, and Guinea.
Egypt deepened its
involvement in the fight
against Islamist militias
who have taken over key
parts of Libya on Wednesday,
with officials saying
Egyptian warplanes have
bombed their positions in
the eastern city of
Benghazi.
The EPA is registering the
herbicide, Enlist Duo with
first-time ever restrictions
to manage the problem of
resistant weeds. The
pesticide is for use in
controlling weeds in corn
and soybeans
genetically-engineered (GE)
to tolerate 2,4-D and
glyphosate. The agency’s
decision reflects a large
body of science and an
understanding of the risk of
pesticides to human health
and the environment.
The 2014 World Food Day
theme – Family Farming:
“Feeding the world, caring
for the Earth” – is intended
to focus world attention on
the importance of family
farming in eradicating
hunger and poverty,
providing food security and
nutrition, improving
livelihoods, managing
natural resources,
protecting the environment,
and achieving sustainable
development.
Following in the FHA's
footsteps, Fannie Mae has
reduced the mandatory
waiting period for a
mortgage after bankruptcy,
short sale, or foreclosure.
Borrowers no longer need to
wait 4 years before
re-applying to get a
mortgage.
Energy storgage technologies
are increasinly being used
to boost the amount of
renewable energy that the
grid can use.
At a windy mountain pass on
the edge of the Mojave
Desert, North America’s most
potent collection of
batteries used for storing
unused power is humming its
way toward an electricity
revolution.
It is early September as
I steady our small canoe (jiiman),
keeping my left foot in and
my right foot out, while my
cousin climbs aboard. It is
time to harvest the wild
rice.
We are on the banks of
the eastern edge of Rice
Lake, within the boundaries
of the Sokaogon Chippewa
Indian reservation, in
northeast Wisconsin. Our
Rice Chiefs have carefully
examined the golden crop and
officially declare that this
small 320-acre lake is ready
for the harvest.
Global wildlife populations
have declined, on average,
by 52 percent in the 40 year
period since 1970, reports
the global conservation
nonprofit WWF. Habitat loss
and degradation are the
greatest threats to
biodiversity, with
exploitation of wildlife and
climate change close behind.
The chief executive's
fortunes appear tied to a
peaceful resolution of the
'Occupy Central' protests.
Leung Chun-ying has remained
largely quiet during
democracy protests and today
cancelled an appearance
before Hong Kong's
legislature.
Hong Kong's most
prominent tycoon, Li
Ka-shing, on Wednesday urged
protesters who have occupied
parts of the city since late
last month to go home, after
police mounted their
toughest action against the
democracy activists in more
than a week.
You can’t blame hydraulic
fracturing for every
natural disaster, but newly
published research has
linked 400 small earthquakes
in Ohio last year to the
geology-busting technique.
Let me emphasize that the
earthquakes were small. So
small, in fact, that every
one is believed to have gone
unfelt by anyone on Earth’s
surface.
That being said, the
earthquakes represent the
first known instance of
seismic activity in the
area. They were also three
orders of magnitude larger
than expected...
"The Islamic State militants
who have rampaged across
northern Iraq are
increasingly using water as
a weapon, cutting off
supplies to villages that
resist their rule and
pressing to expand their
control over the country’s
water
infrastructure," the Washington
Post reported.
Japan’s Nuclear Regulation
Authority (NRA) has reported
that the Kyushu Electric
Power's two-reactor Sendai
plant in southwestern Japan
could make changes to the
reactor installations of the
two units with a view to
restart, with the approval
of local authorities.
This fracked oil boom
is, after all, about money.
Money that provides
compensation to tribal
members for leases and
royalties—and money, in a
way, which makes everyone
feel better. There are
tribal millionaires, there
are oil barons, there are
tribal leaders who are oil
barons, and the state of
North Dakota is looking
pretty robust in its
economic plan. Not everyone
is doing so well, however,
as not every tribal member
has mineral rights. And
those who do may have been
cheated out of hundreds of
millions of dollars in
royalties by a complex
scheme.
Lithium, a mood-altering
drug, is present in the
water supply. "Although this
fact has been largely
ignored for over half a
century, it appears to have
important medical
implications," Anna Fels, a
psychiatrist and faculty
member at Weill Cornell
Medical College, recently
wrote in an op-ed piece in
the New York Times. Should
we be worried?
Lockheed Martin Corp said on
Wednesday it had made a
technological breakthrough
in developing a power source
based on nuclear fusion, and
the first reactors, small
enough to fit on the back of
a truck, could be ready for
use in a decade.
The sediment-based microbes
form an important methane
"sink," preventing much of
the chemical from reaching
the atmosphere and
contributing to greenhouse
gas accumulation. As a
byproduct of this process,
the microbes create a type
of rock known as authigenic
carbonate, which while
interesting to scientists
was not thought to be
involved in the processing
of methane.
American troops were exposed
to chemical weapons multiple
times in the years following
the 2003 invasion of Iraq,
while the Pentagon kept
their discoveries of the
expired or degraded weapons
secret from investigators,
fellow soldiers, and
military doctors, according
to a published report.
As the California Coastal
Commission meets in Newport
Beach recently, Center for
Biological Diversity
protesters in gas masks and
hazmat suits are delivering
a letter urging
commissioners to press the
federal government for
greater oversight of
fracking in federal waters
off California’s coast.
The Russian government is
embracing Chinese plans to
develop solar in the
country. ..
China has encroached so
strongly into Russia this
year — a shift meant mainly
to mollify the U.S. impact
on the countries’ economic
interests and the world
stage — that the dominance
made even prominent Russians
fearful of the Asian giant.
M4 event observed.
Solar activity is expected
to be low with a chance for
M-class flares on days one,
two, and three (17 Oct, 18
Oct, 19 Oct). The
geomagnetic field is
expected to be at quiet to
unsettled levels on days one
and two (17 Oct, 18 Oct) and
quiet levels on day three
(19 Oct).
Modern critics would
probably hail the up and
coming rock artists that
once inhabited Indonesia.
About a hundred caves
outside Moras, a town in the
tropical forests of
Sulawesi, were once lined
with hand stencils and
vibrant murals of abstract
pigs and dwarf buffalo.
Today only fragments of the
artwork remain, and the
mysterious artists are long
gone.
Methane is very efficient at
trapping heat in the
atmosphere and, like carbon
dioxide, it contributes to
global warming. The hot
spot, near the Four Corners
intersection
of Arizona, Colorado, New
Mexico and Utah, covers only
about 2,500 square miles
(6,500 square kilometers),
or half the size
of Connecticut.
Researchers have discovered
a formerly undetected impact
of space weather on the
polar atmosphere, which may
explain some previously
unexplained variations in
winter weather patterns.
Their results, published
today (Tuesday 14 October),
in the journal Nature
Communications could have
important implications for
seasonal weather
forecasting.
The working mom said that
she would be the first to
admit that the yard around
their house could use some
maintenance, but she was
utterly shocked on Monday
when Judge Terry Vann handed
down a five-day jail
sentence.
“It’s not right,”
Holloway said. “Why would
you put me in jail with
child molesters, and people
who’ve done real crimes,
because I haven’t maintained
my yard.
For sodium, the
sixth-most abundant element
on the planet, is being held
up as the key to one of
several new types of nuclear
reactor being developed as
governments grapple with the
problem of making atomic
energy more environmentally
friendly, safe and
financially viable.
The 2011 Fukushima
disaster in Japan
effectively brought a global
nuclear boom to a halt, but
a decade-old research
program into new reactors
has regained relevance of
late.
Seven months after
Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
vanished, searchers continue
to hunt for the missing
aircraft.
But, while experts carry
out an unprecedented search
for the plane’s wreckage,
other discoveries are being
made. Moreover, officials
say that it is possible the
hunt for MH370 will also
solve other decades-old
mysteries.
Tucson residents may
start drinking recycled
water in the next few years.
"Tucson Water has
completed a master plan for
the development of recycled
water as a future drinking
water resource. Additional
planning and study will
begin soon, including
discussions with Tucson
Water customers," KVOA
reported.
In a fresh test for U.S.
coalition-building efforts,
Turkey is launching
airstrikes against Kurdish
rebels inside its borders
this week despite pleas from
the Obama administration to
instead focus on an
international campaign to
destroy Islamic State
militants wreaking havoc in
the region.
Secret space missions tend
to be, as the term implies,
secret, so it’s no surprise
that the Air Force is
playing its cards close to
its chest about the third
X-37B mission. The 29-ft
(8.8-m) long, Boeing-built
X-37B was launched on
October 25, 2012 from Cape
Canaveral, Florida and has
spent over 600 days in
space; breaking the previous
orbital duration record for
a reusable space vehicle set
during a previous X-37B
flight.
...overall economic
activity continued to expand
at a “modest to moderate”
pace since the last report.
Six of the 12 Federal
Reserve Districts reported
that growth continued at a
“moderate” pace, unchanged
from the previous report,
while five reported a
“modest” rate of expansion.
The plan calls for the
department to identify and
assess effects of climate
change on the military,
integrate climate
considerations and
collaborate with other
federal agencies and state
governments on meeting
challenges.
In an effort to find the
most effective way to remove
tritium from contaminated
water at the Fukushima
Daiichi plant, Japan has
selected three overseas
companies to construct
demonstration projects to
verify the suitability of
their technologies.
The merchandise trade
surplus widened slightly on
a monthly basis in August,
from €2.9bn to €3.1bn, but
the value of goods exports
and imports both declined
sharply. The value of goods
exports fell by 10.7% over
the month, while the import
bill slumped by 12.3%.
As the global oil price
plunge continues mostly
unchecked, analysts have
begun to focus squarely on
how low the price can go and
what -- if anything -- could
halt the decline.
With crude futures on
October 15 falling to new
four-year lows, the market
is still getting its
direction from a weakening
demand picture, as described
by the International Energy
Agency on Tuesday, and the
fact that oil producer group
OPEC has shown no sign of
reining in supply.
Since the start of the
year, the average 30-year
conventional fixed rate
mortgage is down close to a
half-percentage point, and
the 15-year fixed rate
mortgage has made similar
gains.
Home buyers have more
purchasing power than during
any period since last May;
plus, there are now
millions of existing
U.S. homeowners who have an
opportunity to refinance to
a lower mortgage rate.
Rising home values are
helping homeowners, too.
U.S. residents can
anticipate spending less
money to heat their homes
via natural gas,
electricity, heating oil or
propane than last winter,
which was 11 percent colder
than the 10- year average
nationally.
A new analysis by the
U.S. Energy Information
Administration said the
decreased demand plus a cut
in prices are driving the
cost of propane and heating
oil down 27 percent and 15
percent, respectively.
October
14, 2014
Despite the claims of
politicians and experts,
Ebola likely will keep
spreading in the weeks and
months ahead – and at rates
that only can be described
as frightening.
The question we may need
to be asking is not “will
Ebola will reach your
hometown?” — but when.
The times they are
a-changing for Christopher
Columbus. In 1990, only
three states failed to honor
the genocidal and delusional
navigator. The word is
getting out, though, and
this year, 16 states will
not celebrate him. One by
one, cities are also taking
matters into their own
hands. Seattle will now
recognize Indigenous
Peoples’ Day, following
Minneapolis and San
Francisco.
Not only did the recent
report show clear and
credible evidence of
anomalous heat as well as
isotopic ratio changes,
proving that Andrea Rossi's
Energy Catalyzer is a clean
nuclear process, with no
externally measurable
radioactivity involved, but
it also divulged some
important information that
may enable replication.
A short film by a
government advisory body
carries a stark message: the
nation faces a crisis over
storing its spent nuclear
fuel after running reactors
for decades.
The world's fifth-largest
user of nuclear power has
around 70 percent, or nearly
9,000 tonnes, of its used
fuel stacked in temporary
storage pools originally
intended to hold it for five
or six years, with some
sites due to fill by the end
of 2016.
A Cherokee blessing greeted
the bison upon their
arrival. The tribe owned
several heads of bison in
the 1970s as a tourist
attraction. In centuries
past, some bison roamed east
of the Mississippi River
where Cherokees hunted them.
According to a CN press
release, the Cherokee people
have a long, deep connection
and history with bison as a
source of food, tools and
clothing and in traditional
ceremonies.
“Our main
purpose is to return bison
back to Indian Country, and
that’s what’s happening
here. It’s a big part of our
culture since we are
connected to them
spiritually.
Over the last three decades,
Burkina Faso's poorest
farmers have produced food
for half a million people by
restoring some 300,000
hectares of degraded land
with innovative techniques
to conserve water and soil,
according to a report on
Wednesday.
Monkeys, bats and a
menagerie of animals can
spread Ebola. Now there's
worry that dogs - or one dog
in particular - might spread
it, too. Officials in Madrid
got a court order to
euthanize the pet of a
Spanish nursing assistant
who has the deadly virus.
Here are some facts about
how Ebola spreads:
Most models predict El Niño
to develop during
October-December 2014 and to
continue into early 2015
In the Four Corners area,
where the boundaries of
Colorado, New Mexico,
Arizona, and Utah meet,
satellite data has detected
an alarming amount of
methane leaking from the
Earth. From 2003-2009 the
area leaked 0.59 million
metric tonnes of the
greenhouse gas into the
atmosphere each year,
according to a new study
published in the journal
Geophysical Research
Letters.
Large numbers of fish will
disappear from the tropics
by 2050, finds a new
University of British
Columbia study that examined
the impact of climate change
on fish stocks. The study
identified ocean hotspots
for local fish extinction
but also found that changing
temperatures will drive more
fish into the Arctic and
Antarctic waters.
An unexpectedly high amount
of the climate-changing gas
methane, the main component
of natural gas, is escaping
from the Four Corners region
in the US Southwest,
according to a new study by
the University of Michigan
and NASA.
France's lower house of
Parliament voted Friday to
cut nuclear's share of the
power generation market to
50% by 2025, from 75%, the
AFP Parliamentary newswire
reported.
MPs agreed
an article in the the
government's "Energy
transition for green growth"
bill, which also sets
long-term targets to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions by
40% by 2030 and reduce
national energy consumption
20% by 2030.
The accident-stricken
Fukushima nuclear power
plant was bracing itself for
the arrival of powerful
typhoon Vongfong that made
landfall in southern Japan
on Monday and could reach
the plant on Tuesday,
authorities said.
Unhappy about not being
consulted about the proposed
dismantling of a floating
nuclear power plant at the
Port of Galveston , the
Galveston City Council has
voted unanimously to request
an environmental impact
statement before work
proceeds.
Governments, citizens and
taxpayers, rather than
private investors and
corporations, face the
majority of risk linked
assets becoming stranded in
the fossil fuel industry,
according to a report
released Thursday by
non-profit group, the
Climate Policy Initiative.
Historical groundwater
withdrawals have caused the
loss of land-surface
elevation, or subsidence, in
the Houston-Galveston
region.Loss of surface
elevation is a concern as it
may increase the potential
for more intense flooding in
the study area according to
the latest annual report
conducted by the U.S.
Geological Survey.
Hong Kong police cleared
more barricades Tuesday from
pro-democracy protest zones
that have choked off traffic
in key business districts
for more than two weeks,
signaling authorities'
growing impatience with the
student-led activists.
The plant is one of
hundreds of projects, many
of which were repeatedly
rejected in the past, that
have been approved since
Modi came to power in May.
That trend has alarmed
environmentalists, who say
the country's natural
habitat is under assault in
the name of industrial
development.
Health officials scrambled
to learn how a Dallas health
care worker caught Ebola at
a Texas hospital where she
had cared for a man who died
from the deadly virus...
By evening, she had received
a transfusion of plasma from
Kent Brantly, a Texas
physician who survived the
virus, according to her
pastor and the nonprofit
medical mission group
Samaritan's Purse,
Associated Press reported.
An unexpectedly high amount
of the climate-changing gas
methane, the main component
of natural gas, is escaping
from the Four Corners region
in the U.S. Southwest,
according to a new study by
the University of Michigan
and NASA.
A new study suggests
fracking may not be as big a
threat to the water supply
as was previously thought.
A new study "exonerates
fracking from the most
serious environmental risks.
The study blames the water
contamination on leaky well
shafts near the earth’s
surface, not on the process
of hydraulic fracturing
itself, which takes place
thousands of feet
underground," The News &
Observer reported.
Under pressure to improve
working conditions at
Fukushima after a series of
radioactive water leaks last
year, Tokyo Electric Power
Co President Naomi Hirose
promised in November to
double the hazard pay the
utility allocates to its
subcontractors for plant
workers...
Only one of the more than
three dozen workers
interviewed by Reuters from
July through September said
he received the full hazard
pay increase promised by
Tepco.
Rising sea levels create a
higher platform for tides
and storm surges. Scientists
compare the effect to slam
dunks in basketball: Raising
the gymnasium floor would
increase the number of slam
dunks per game.
Currencies of most
emerging economies rallied
against the dollar today, as
expectations for the first
rate hike in the US shift
out to a year from now.
There was one major
exception - the Russian
ruble.
In recent years,
scientists have become more
adept at working out whether
climate change caused by
greenhouse gas emissions is
exacerbating wild weather
and its impacts around the
world, but the task usually
takes months.
"In the media, we are
seeing this notion that you
cannot attribute any
individual events to climate
change, but in fact the
science has really evolved
over the past decade," said
Heidi Cullen, chief
scientist with Climate
Central.
Zoomable maps reveal the
scope of humanity’s
influence on Earth—and the
innovations aiming to create
a more sustainable future
Ebola, Marburg, Enterovirus
and Chikungunya – these
diseases were not even on
the radar of most people
coming into 2014, but now
each one of them is making
headline news. So why is
this happening? Why are so
many deadly diseases
breaking out all over the
world right now? Is there
some kind of a connection,
or is the fact that so many
horrible diseases are
arising all at once just a
giant coincidence? And this
could be just the beginning.
For example, there are now
more than a million cases
of Chikungunya in Central
and South America, and
authorities are projecting
that there will be
millions more in 2015.
-
Curcumin, a bioactive
ingredient in the curry
spice turmeric, exhibits
over 150 potentially
therapeutic activities
-
Curcumin is capable of
crossing the blood-brain
barrier, which is one
reason why it holds
promise as a
neuroprotective agent
-
Recent animal research
suggests another
bioactive compound in
turmeric called
aromatic-turmerone can
increase neural stem
cell growth in the brain
by as much as 80 percent
at certain
concentrations
-
The findings suggest
aromatic-turmerone may
help in the recovery of
brain function in
neurodegenerative
diseases such as
Alzheimer’s and stroke
-
Previous research has
also shown that curcumin
may help inhibit the
accumulation of
destructive
beta-amyloids in the
brain of Alzheimer's
patients, as well as
break up existing
plaques
-
Curcumin also has the
most evidence-based
literature supporting
its use against cancer
of any other nutrient
studied, including
vitamin D
Two years ago Chinook
salmon made a triumphant
return to the lower Elwha
River just six months after
the dam of the same name was
demolished. Now they have
been spotted spawning in the
upper Elwha, for the first
time in 102 years.
Engineers that the
University of Washington
(UW) are working on a fusion
reactor that, when scaled
up, could produce energy on
a practical scale, yet at a
cost rivaling that of a
conventional coal-powered
plant.
The cold waters of
Earth's deep ocean have not
warmed measurably since
2005, according to a new
NASA study, leaving unsolved
the mystery of why global
warming appears to have
slowed in recent years.
Scientists at NASA's Jet
Propulsion Laboratory in
Pasadena, California,
analyzed satellite and
direct ocean temperature
data from 2005 to 2013 and
found the ocean abyss below
1.24 miles ...
"The sea level is still
rising," Willis noted.
"We're just trying to
understand the nitty-gritty
details."
The Ebola outbreak is the
"most severe acute health
emergency in modern times,"
the head of the World Health
Organization warned Monday.
The agency's
director-general Margaret
Chan said the epidemic had
proved "the world is
ill-prepared to respond to
any severe, sustained, and
threatening public health
emergency".
New
cases of Ebola are now
"rising exponentially" in
the three hardest-hit
countries, Guinea, Liberia,
and Sierra Leone,"..
Many rare species face a
mounting risk of extinction,
forests are being cleared by
farmers at an alarming rate,
and pollution and
over-fishing are continuing
despite the U.N. push agreed
in 2010 to reverse harmful
trends for nature.
"There has been an
increase in effort (by
governments) ... but this
will not be enough to reach
the targets,"..
October
10, 2014
Is it a solar cell? Or a
rechargeable battery?
Actually, the patent-pending
device invented at The Ohio
State University is both:
the world’s first solar
battery.
Fighting against the
militants continued today,
but it does not appear to be
working in Anbar province
where leaders said the
region would soon fall to
the militants. Across the
country, 112 people were
killed and 37 were wounded.
-
Three decades ago,
autism affected one in
10,000 children. Today,
autism is estimated to
afflict as many as one
in 50
-
Researchers are now
starting to understand
how a child’s microbiome
can play an important
role, either by
exacerbating or even
causing autistic
symptoms. New studies
suggest restoring
microbial balance may
alleviate autistic
symptoms
-
Autistic children have
distinctly different
microbiome compared to
healthy children.
Studies show they have
fewer healthy bacteria,
and markedly higher
levels of toxic volatile
organic compounds (VOCs)
-
The Gut and Psychology
Syndrome (GAPS)
Nutritional Program is
designed to promote
healthy gut flora and
restore the integrity of
your gut lining
-
Recent research also
reveals that increases
in autistic disorder
correspond with the
introduction of vaccines
using human fetal cell
lines and retroviral
contaminants
A new scientific report on
the E-Cat has been released,
providing two important
findings from a 32-day test
run of the reactor —
together leading to the
clear conclusion that the
E-Cat is an energy source
based on some kind of
nuclear reaction, without
radiation outside the
reactor.
and last
into the Northern Hemisphere
spring 2015.
During
September 2014,
above-average sea surface
temperatures (SST) continued
across much of the
equatorial Pacific
The Earth’s
gravity field is not
uniform. Instead, it mounds
in some spots due to the
density of rock or ice
below, the flow of
groundwater or ocean
currents and other factors.
To measure those variations,
the European Space Agency
launched the Gravity field
and steady-state Ocean
Circulation Explorer (GOCE)
in 2009.
During its
four-year run, GOCE was able
to make a number of
observations that showed
gravity changes over time —
including the gravity
scar left by the 2011
Japanese earthquake. And,
with the help of an older
satellite
called GRACE, GOCE's
observations showed that
melting glaciers in West
Antarctica have lost so much
mass that there's been a dip
in gravity over the region.
(GOCE provided detail about
individual glacial systems.)
The U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA)
recognized the 2014
WaterSense Partners of the
Year for their commitment to
promoting water efficiency
and strengthening the
drought resiliency of
communities across the
country, during the
WaterSmart Innovations
Conference today in Las
Vegas, Nev.
Beyond disapproval of
President Obama and his
policies, the impetus for
this trend lies in the
renewed focus on national
security, terrorism and
foreign policy issues that
have suddenly gripped the
nation. A content analysis
of the daily news shows
that, with each beheading,
the focus on the disastrous
events in the Middle East
grows. With attack
helicopters now flying
missions against the Islamic
State in Iraq and Syria
(ISIS), we are, effectively,
in our third Iraq war.
-
If you notice memory
lapses, you may want to
consider making some
immediate lifestyle
changes to help reverse,
or at least minimize
further damage that
might lead to dementia
or Alzheimer’s disease
-
Stress is an important
factor that can have a
direct effect on brain
function. One recent
study found that higher
levels of stress
hormones can speed up
short-term memory loss
in older adults
-
Lack of restorative
sleep can lead to loss
of brain volume, and may
accelerate onset of
Alzheimer’s disease
-
Those who exercise the
most tend to have the
least amount of brain
shrinkage over time. Not
only that, but exercise
actually causes your
brain to grow in size
-
Mental stimulation is
also an important
lifestyle factor for
keeping your memory
sharp. Ten apps aimed at
reducing stress and
increasing cognitive
function are included
Looking rather like a
10-meter (33 ft) tall
sunflower, IBM's High
Concentration PhotoVoltaic
Thermal (HCPVT) system
concentrates the sun’s
radiation over 2,000 times
on a single point and then
transforms 80 percent of
that into usable energy.
Using a number of
liquid-cooled microchannel
receivers, each equipped
with an array of
multi-junction photovoltaic
chips, each HCPVT can
produce enough power, water,
and cooling to supply
several homes.
The number of US job
openings is now running
materially above the
pre-recession levels. One
would think the nation's
unemployment rates should be
at pre-2008 levels as well.
Fraunhofer IFF has
demonstrated the
functionality of a mobile 1
MW storage system by
temporarily disconnecting a
building from the grid in
Magdeburg, Germany. The
battery will be used to
compensate the fluctuations
in the supply of energy from
renewable sources.
Ebola is now a big enough
concern that the American
people deserve some straight
answers. And judging from
the latest polling, plenty
of people will be listening
to what they are.
M1 event observed.
Solar activity is likely to
be low on days one, two, and
three (10 Oct, 11 Oct, 12
Oct). The geomagnetic
field is expected
to be
at quiet to unsettled levels
on days one and two (10 Oct,
11 Oct)
and quiet levels
on day three (12 Oct).
In a recent experiment, a
person in India said “hola”
and “ciao” to three other
people in France. Today, the
Web, smartphones and
international calling might
make that not seem like an
impressive feat, but it was.
The greetings were not
spoken, typed or texted. The
communication in question
happened between the brains
of a set of study subjects,
marking one of the first
instances of brain-to-brain
communication on record.
All the disinformation being
spread about Ebola by the
U.S. government and the
complicit mass media will
unfortunately make the Ebola
pandemic far worse. That’s
because the public isn’t
being told the truth about
how Ebola spreads and how
individuals can help prevent
transmission of the disease.
New vehicles achieved an
all-time-high fuel economy
in 2013, the Environmental
Protection Agency announced
today. Model year 2013
vehicles achieved an average
of 24.1 miles per gallon
(mpg) ‑-- a 0.5 mpg increase
over the previous year and
an increase of nearly 5 mpg
since 2004. Fuel economy has
now increased in eight of
the last nine years. The
average carbon dioxide
emissions are also at a
record low of 369 grams per
mile in model year 2013.
It’s true that the U.S.
Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention does hold a
patent on one strain of
Ebola.
However,
it is not the type that is
causing the current
outbreak, said David
Sanders, professor of
biological sciences at
Purdue University.
Retail residential
electricity prices across
the U.S. rose in the first
half of this year, averaging
12.3 per kilowatt hour, a
3.2 percent price hike from
the same period last year.
This is the largest
six-month rise since 2009,
the U.S Energy Information
Administration has reported.
[ED: GO OFF
GRID!!!!]
The unveiling of a new
four-banger engine wouldn’t
normally garner much
attention, but Volvo's High
Performance Drive-E
Powertrain Concept is an
exception. The 2.0 liter,
gas-powered unit features
"triple boost" technology
capable of generating no
less than 450 hp.
Unlike regular
turbocharged engines which
rely on engine exhaust to
spin the turbos, thus
forcefeeding additional air
into the engine...
October
7, 2014
Correspondent Leslie Stahl
and a crew from the CBS
newsmagazine were in
Charlotte Sept. 18 and 19 to
interview Good and film two
Duke plants with ash ponds
in Gaston County, the
decommissioned Riverbend
plant and the Allen Steam
Station, which uses modern
emissions equipment to curb
sulfur dioxide emissions.
The firefighters "used the
department's 2,500-gallon
water tender to take water
from a hydrant in Poway.
That water was then
delivered to the well of a
friend of a department
official," according to
sheriff's deputies cited in
the CBS 8 report.
It began with a few small
strange patches of slime,
clinging to the rocks of the
Heber River in Canada.
Within a year, the patches
had become thick, blooming
mats. Within a few years the
mats had grown into a giant
green snot. And within a few
decades this snot had spread
around the world, clogging
up rivers as far away as
South America, Europe and
Australasia.
It goes against
everything we’ve been
thinking for 50 years
This snot, which is still
flourishing today, is caused
by a microscopic alga, a
diatom that goes by its
scientific name
Didymosphenia geminata.
Former CBS News
investigative reporter
Sharyl Attkisson says she
pitched a story two years
ago that terrorists were
becoming adept at using
social media, but her bosses
weren't interested.
-
People who told only the
truth for five weeks had
an average of seven
fewer symptoms, such as
sore throats, headaches,
nausea, and mental
tension, than the
control group
-
The average person lies
about 11 times a day,
and will slip in at
least two dishonesties
in a 10-minute
conversation
-
Honesty really is the
best policy, and you can
take the five-week
sincerity challenge to
see if it makes a
difference in your
health and well-being
-
If you find lying has
become a habit, you can
break it by prominently
displaying your new
moral code: honesty is
the best policy; people
reminded of moral codes
tend to lie less
The wind is so strong in
Iowa and Kansas that more
wind farms there could power
the country's largest cities
if only there was a way to
move that electricity to
where most people live.
Enter Michael Skelly , a
Houston businessman who
envisions building five
superhighways --
transmission lines -- to
carry vast amounts of
wind-generated power across
more than 3,000 miles,
multiple states, hundreds of
jurisdictions and thousands
of pieces of privately owned
land.
Authorities around the
country are investigating
reports of Ebola-like
symptoms among patients. But
so far, there is just one
confirmed case of the
disease in the US, and the
head of the CDC says, "We
can stop it in its tracks."
From a coal perspective,
it's clear that we'll wind
up in a situation where coal
will be more of a peaking
application because
everything else is going to
fit in before coal-fired
generation. We've already
moved so far on the mercury
rules, retiring 25 percent
of the coal fleet in the
country. Now there is
additional pressure placed
on coal-fired generation,
but it remains to be seen
what the full impact will
be.
The ongoing
strengthening of the US
dollar could shift the FOMC
further into dovish
territory. While the labor
situation continues to
improve, the dollar's recent
appreciation has contributed
to declines in inflation
expectations (based on TIPS
breakevens) to multi-year
lows.
Due to wasteful spending
regulations, federal
agencies are not permitted
to carry over surplus funds
from one fiscal year to the
next.
So as the year's end
approaches, the agencies go
on a wild spending spree to
use up any unspent funds
before they are forfeited to
the Treasury.
"Agencies are encouraged
to spend every last dime in
their budgets to justify
their current funding
levels, in an attempt to
avoid becoming a target for
future spending cuts in
Congress," said Diana
Furchtgott-Roth, former
chief economist of the U.S.
Department of Labor and
current director of
Economics21 at the Manhattan
Institute.
Will the crazy
GMO-creations ever come to a
halt? Are our crops not
enough for biotech? GM
mosquitoes developed by
Oxitec, a UK company, were
already released in other
countries as a means to
control disease. The company
is also trying to release
them in the Florida Keys,
while working to release GM
olive flies in Spain.
But it gets even
more bizarre – now Oxitec
wants to release GM moths in
New York.
Spiny damselfish study
suggests it would take at
least several generations
for fish to start coping
with climate change
Rising carbon dioxide levels
in oceans adversely change
the behaviour of fish
through generations, raising
the possibility that marine
species may never fully
adapt to their changed
environment, research has
found.
The researchers said on
Thursday they used gravity
measurements of the seafloor
from radar equipment aboard
the European Space Agency's
CryoSat-2 satellite and
NASA's Jason-1 satellite to
capture underwater
geological features in
unprecedented detail.
"The pull of gravity
reflects the topography and
tectonics of the seafloor,"
said David Sandwell, a
geophysicist at Scripps
Institution of Oceanography
at the University of
California, San Diego who
led the study.
The key to creating a
material that would be ideal
for converting solar energy
to heat is tuning the
material’s spectrum of
absorption just right: It
should absorb virtually all
wavelengths of light that
reach Earth’s surface from
the sun — but not much of
the rest of the spectrum,
since that would increase
the energy that is
reradiated by the material,
and thus lost to the
conversion process.
Cracks have been found in
bricks that make up the core
of one of the two reactors
at the Hunterston B nuclear
power station in North
Ayrshire .
EDF Energy said two
cracked bricks were found
during a planned inspection
of 6000 that make up the
reactor's graphite core.
The operator said that
the cracks were predicted
and did not pose any safety
risks.
Tens of thousands of
villagers fled their homes
in Kashmir on Monday, as
Indian and Pakistani troops
bombarded each other with
gunfire and mortar shells
over the border separating
their portions of the
disputed region. At least
nine civilians were killed.
Using satellite
observations and a large
suite of climate models,
Lawrence Livermore
scientists have found that
long-term ocean warming in
the upper 700 meters of
Southern Hemisphere oceans
has likely been
underestimated.
"This underestimation is
a result of poor sampling
prior to the last decade and
limitations of the analysis
methods that conservatively
estimated temperature
changes in data-sparse
regions," said LLNL
oceanographer Paul Durack,
lead author of a paper
appearing in the October 5
issue of the journal Nature
Climate Change.
It’s an irony that has
perplexed health experts for
decades: As more Americans
have embraced low-fat foods
to lose weight, the nation’s
collective waistline has
greatly expanded since the
1970s — driving an epidemic
of obesity and higher rates
of heart disease and
diabetes.
The deep ocean may not be
hiding heat after all,
raising new questions about
why global warming appears
to have slowed in recent
years, said the US space
agency Monday.
Scientists have noticed
that while greenhouse gases
have continued to mount in
the first part of the 21st
century, global average
surface air temperatures
have stopped rising along
with them, said NASA.
Some studies have
suggested that heat is being
absorbed temporarily by the
deep seas, and that this
so-called global warming
hiatus is a temporary trend.
But latest data from
satellite and direct ocean
temperature measurements
from 2005 to 2013 "found the
ocean abyss below 1.24 miles
(1,995 meters) has not
warmed measurably," NASA
said in a statement.
The findings present a
new puzzle to scientists,
but co-author Josh Willis of
NASA's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory (JPL) said the
reality of climate change is
not being thrown into doubt.
"The sea level is still
rising," said Willis.
"We're just trying to
understand the nitty-gritty
details."
In the demonstrations, as
many as 13 small unmanned
patrol boats were escorting
a high-value Navy ship. Then
as many as eight of the
self-guided vessels broke
off and swarmed around a
threat when a ship playing
the part of an enemy vessel
was detected, the office
said, calling the
demonstrations a success.
-
A new documentary shows
how soil is one of
Earth’s greatest
treasures, and how
healthy soil is the key
to a sustainable
nutrient dense food
system that truly
nourishes you and your
family and prevents
disease
-
It takes the earth
hundreds to thousands of
years to transform
weathered rock into a
rich organic soil that’s
teeming with life and
beneficial to plants
-
The modern food system,
based on monoculture,
agricultural chemicals,
and GE seeds, is
decimating Earth’s soils
at an alarming rate
-
Chemical agriculture
depletes soils of
nitrogen, destroying
their biome, and leads
to soil erosion,
salinization, massive
runoff, and pollution
-
Organic farming and
properly managed grazing
builds the soil, rather
than destroying it, and
uses much less water and
fuel than monoculture
You probably think of matter
and antimatter as mortal
enemies, since their
equivalent particles (such
as protons and antiprotons)
normally destroy each other
on contact. However, there
are now hints that the two
might get along just fine in
the right circumstances.
Researchers claim to have
successfully imaged a
Majorana particle, which
exists as both matter and
antimatter at the same time.
The team created it by
placing a string of iron
atoms on top of a lead
superconductor, forming
pairs of electrons and
antielectrons -- except for
one lone electron at the end
of the chain, which
exhibited properties of both
Under an international
program begun in 2000, and
that started producing
useful global data in 2005,
the world’s warming
and acidifying seas have
been invisibly filled with
thousands of these bobbing
instruments. They are
gathering and transmitting
data that’s providing
scientists with the
clearest-ever pictures of
the hitherto-unfathomed
extent of ocean warming.
About 90 percent of global
warming is ending up not on
land, but in the oceans.
Just a few grains of the
newly synthesized material
could allow us to stay
underwater without scuba
tanks ... or yoga...
Using specially synthesized
crystalline materials,
scientists from the
University of Southern
Denmark have created a
substance that is able to
absorb and store oxygen in
such high concentrations
that just one bucketful is
enough to remove all of the
oxygen in a room. The
substance is also able to
release the stored oxygen in
a controlled manner when it
is needed, so just a few
grains could replace the
need for divers to carry
bulky scuba tanks.
Over the past few weeks I
have been receiving calls
and emails from CSP tower
lovers asking for
clarification on the market
landscape for their
technology. ..
I hate to be the bearer of
bad news, tower lovers, but
your job just became a lot
harder. On Friday 26th
September we received the
news that Palen, the largest
project proposed in the
U.S., had been withdrawn by
Palen Solar Holdings, the
consortium formed by
BrightSource Energy and
Abengoa to develop the
project.
In the spring of 2011,
Ginnie Peters' “calm,
rational, loving” husband
suddenly became depressed
and agitated. “He told me ‘I
feel paralyzed’,” she said.
“He couldn’t sleep or think.
Out of nowhere he was
depressed.”
Extracting energy from
“processed poo” to help
power homes in the
Birmingham area is what
Severn Trent Plc, Britain’s
second-largest publicly
traded water company, is now
doing to generate a
cost-saving renewable gas.
C3 event observed.
Solar activity is likely to
be low on days one, two, and
three (07 Oct, 08 Oct, 09
Oct). The geomagnetic
field is expected
to be
at quiet levels on days one,
two, and three (07 Oct, 08
Oct, 09 Oct).
Before there was fry bread,
there were sage, white pine,
chokecherries and wild
buffalo.
Before Europeans unloaded
wheat and sugar cane and
introduced beef to Turtle
Island, Natives hunted and
fished. They planted
potatoes, squash and corn,
and they flavored their food
with purslane, rose hips and
dandelion.
Is Mexico messing with
Texas?
As a Texas-Mexico water
feud heats up, the backdrop
is a major drought affecting
both countries and tension
over how to enforce a
longtime water agreement.
It's been fun to watch
the growth of Tesla Motors.
I remember when they first
started out, if you Googled
"Tesla Motors", our Tesla
Motors page was the first
page to come up, even before
their website. It was that
way for about two years --
at least in the top three.
We were paying attention to
them long before they became
popular in the mainstream.
Now, they are so big that
there are enough stations
distributed around the US
that one could travel pretty
much anywhere in the country
and have access to one of
their Supercharger stations.
There's one 15 minutes from
me here in rural Nephi,
Utah.
Salt Water Powered Car
Gets European Approval –
Yes, It’s Real - In a
breakthrough that is bound
to catch the attention of
the oil industry and even
electric car makers, a
company has just gained
approval for its ‘salt
water’ powered car in
Europe.
When a Fukushima power plant
was hit by the tsunami, it
began releasing the largest
amount of radioactive
materials since the
Chernobyl disaster of 1986.
Now, three years later,
there are serious concerns
about the levels of
radiation contamination
leaking not only into Japan,
but also into the Pacific
Ocean and beyond. This video
brings you an inside look
into what’s really going on
in Fukushima – and you may
be extremely surprised by
what you see and hear.
Please SHARE with others.
"The outage is a routine and
carefully planned activity
so fuel can be replaced and
maintenance can be safely
performed on key equipment
and systems," Keith Polson,
Browns Ferry Plant site vice
president, said in a
statement today. "Browns
Ferry Units 2 and 3 will
both continue to safely
operate during the outage."
The U.S. Department of
Energy issued a presidential
permit approving
construction and operation
of a 1,000-MW transmission
line to carry Quebec
hydroelectric power to
customers in New York City.
After reviewing and testing
mixed fuel that was run
through it we believe we can
run traditional hot water
heaters, boiler systems,
cooking stoves, blast
furnaces, Plasma cutters,
anything that deals with a
fire flame etc. For us to
add this mixed fuel would be
little or no changes to the
actual burner head assembly.
Today the dollar gave
up much of its Friday's
gains that were driven by
stronger than expected US
employment situation report.
We haven't seen such
volatility in currency
markets in some time. What
happened?
When California water
regulators authorized $500
fines for water wasting, the
public marveled at how far
the state was willing to go
to face down the drought.
But one city is going
beyond that. In Shasta Lake,
water wasters can now be
punished with jail time,
according to a report.
Reports show that
traditional breeding
techniques are years ahead
of GM technologies in
developing crops to
withstand drought and poor
soils, writes Lawrence
Woodward. Yet GM advocates
are sticking rigidly to
their script even as the
evidence mounds against
them.
-
In 2010, two Merck
virologists filed a
federal lawsuit under
the False Claims Act
against their former
employer, alleging the
vaccine maker lied about
the effectiveness of
their mumps vaccine
-
A US District Court
Judge has now given the
lawsuit the green light
to proceed. The
Department of Justice
has also submitted
documents to the court
affirming its “strong
interest in the outcome”
of the case
-
A senior scientist at
the CDC recently
admitted he and CDC
co-authors of a widely
cited MMR vaccine safety
study “omitted
statistically
significant information”
and that “the final
study protocol was not
followed”
-
A recent study reported
a correlation between
autism and vaccines
manufactured using human
fetal cell lines
contaminated with
retroviruses, including
certain MMR, chickenpox,
and Hepatitis-A vaccines
-
A Boston nurses’ union
is suing to block a
policy that would
require nurses to get
flu shots in order to
maintain employment
Lithium batteries have
revolutionized consumer
electronics and made EVs a
mainstream reality...
“Lithium ion was not
fundamentally designed for
grid scale storage,” said
Andrew Chung, a partner at
Khosla Ventures, during a
panel at the conference.
“Even with the Gigafactory,
the cost won’t come down
enough.”
Researchers at Ohio State
University (OSU) have
created a dye-sensitized
solar cell that stores its
own power by "breathing" air
to decompose and re-form
lithium peroxide. Its
creators believe the device,
which effectively combines a
battery and a solar cell in
one, could reduce renewable
energy costs by 25 percent.
October
3, 2014
The U.S. Department of
Energy (DOE) has made
available $25 million in
funding to advance
concentrating solar power
(CSP) system technologies'
research and development,
performance and efficiency,
with the ultimate goal of
lowering the cost of solar
electricity and producing
affordable, clean and
renewable energy, even at
night, by storing the heat
generated by the sun.
The draft of the
long-awaited Desert
Renewable Energy
Conservation Plan (DRECP) is
"an unprecedented
opportunity to provide a
framework for "smart from
the start" planning efforts
that guide renewable energy
development to areas with
low environmental and
wildlife risk, and conserve
the desert's wildlife,
wilderness and treasures
landscapes," according to
the Natural Resources
Defense Council (NRDC)
As people get older,
there are changes in an
individual’s sexual response
cycle, but these changes do
not necessarily impact the
quality of one's sex life in
a negative way.
Men and women have
different changes to their
sexual response cycles with
age.
The Natural Resources
Defense Council (NRDC) is
not happy with the American
Legislative Exchange Council
(ALEC). In fact, NRDC is
demanding that ALEC
immediately cease
misrepresenting NRDC's
position on renewable energy
on the ALEC website --
calling it an "erroneous
reference" -- and stop
making other false claims.
"We need EPA and those
involved in the power
generation industry to
recognize that algae and
other technologies can
convert waste carbon into a
range of valuable products,"
said Matt Carr, Executive
Director of the Algae
Biomass Organization. "Algae
need CO2 in order to grow,
making waste CO2 from power
plants a valuable input. We
believe the EPA should
recognize this value and
encourage the recycling of
waste CO2."
A new study suggests that
fracking is occurring closer
to drinking water sources
than researchers had
previously realized.
The study by Stanford
University researchers found
that oil exploration is
likely "bringing fracking
fluids into direct contact
with groundwater drinking
sources by fracking at
shallower depths than
generally believed and
most-often
reported," according to the
North Denver News.
-
Those who switch to
artificial
sweeteners are
typically carrying
extra pounds and/or
are diabetic. Most
are unaware this may
be the absolute
worst diet change
they could implement
-
Both artificial
sweeteners and
certain gut microbes
have previously been
linked to obesity,
and artificial
sweeteners may raise
your risk of
diabetes by
disrupting your
intestinal
microflora
-
Artificial
sweeteners alter
certain metabolic
pathways associated
with disease, and
can induce gut
dysbiosis and
glucose intolerance
in otherwise healthy
people very quickly
-
Previous research
has shown that diet
soda users
experienced 70
percent greater
increases in waist
circumference over a
decade compared with
non-users
-
Those who consumed
two or more diet
sodas a day
experienced waist
circumference
increases that were
500 percent greater
than those of
non-users, over the
course of a decade
...does it make sense to you
that a wind system at my
home could theoretically
generate as much power in
one or two days of 40 to 50
mph winds than could be
generated over the rest of
the year’s average winds of
less than 5 mph? After all,
a 50 mph wind would generate
(again, theoretically) 1,000
times the power that a 5 mph
wind would generate over the
same time span.
According to the federal
Greenhouse Gas Reporting
Program, coal-fired power
plants are still the largest
producers of carbon dioxide
in North Dakota but natural
gas facilities are the
largest growing
contributors.
Carbon emissions from
large carbon producers in
the state totaled nearly 37
million tons in 2013. Power
plants made up more than 30
million of that, 29.9
million of which was coal
power. The remainder, 12,387
tons came from new natural
gas fired plants in the
west.
Despite coal's looming
presence, power plant carbon
emissions fell by 1.8
percent from 2012 levels.
Emissions from natural gas
processing and transporting
facilities rose 9.8 percent
from 2012 and 22 percent
from 2011 levels.
The Colorado Supreme
court on Tuesday heard
arguments over whether
employees can be fired for
using medical marijuana,
which is legal in the state
but illegal under federal
law.
The case was brought by
Brandon Coats, a former
customer service
representative for
Englewood, Colo.-based Dish
Network who was fired in
2010 after testing positive
for marijuana. Coats is
quadriplegic as a result of
a car accident and has a
license to use marijuana to
treat painful muscle spasms.
Is water so scarce that
it could lead to war between
the U.S. and Canada over
ownership of the valuable
substance?
Post Media's Canada.com
recently reported: "Canada
must prepare for diplomatic
water wars with the U.S., as
demand on both sides of the
border grows for this vital
but ultimately limited
resource, says Gary Doer,
Canadian ambassador to the
United States."
Wall Street watches Non-Farm
Payrolls closely. The report
affects today's mortgage
rates. Among the reasons
why is that the Federal
Reserve's stimulus programs
are linked to the U.S. jobs
economy, and the Fed has
actively held current
mortgage rates down.
President Barack Obama has
missed 58 percent of the
national security
intelligence briefings
during each of his terms in
office, political
commentator and author Dick
Morris said Wednesday on
"America’s Forum" on Newsmax
TV.
"When you miss an
intelligence briefing, it
takes some effort," Morris
explained. "They come to you
and usually it's the first
thing in the morning and
always an aide that comes
in."
The world's environment
ministers agreed in 2010 to
cap a rise in average
surface temperatures at 2
degrees Celsius (3.6
Fahrenheit) above
pre-industrial times as the
yardstick to avoid more
floods, heat waves, droughts
and rising sea levels.
"Politically and
scientifically, the 2 degree
C goal is wrong-headed,"
David Victor and Charles
Kennel, both professors at
the University of California
in San Diego, wrote in the
Nature article entitled
"Ditch the 2C Warming Goal".
Americans love their dogs,
but they don't always love
to pick up after them. And
that's a problem. Dog feces
left on the ground wash into
waterways, sometimes
carrying bacteria —
including
antibiotic-resistant strains
— that can make people sick.
Now scientists have
developed a new genetic test
to figure out how much dogs
are contributing to this
health concern, according to
a report in the ACS journal
Environmental Science &
Technology.
Federal regulators
announced Friday that they
have formally approved a
plan to reduce haze from the
coal-fired San Juan
Generating Station in the
Four Corners region by
shuttering two of the
plant's four units by 2017.
The plan also will help
the state of New Mexico meet
new carbon emissions
standards the EPA has
proposed for existing power
plants.
Today, the U.S.
Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) released its
fourth year of Greenhouse
Gas Reporting Program data,
detailing greenhouse gas
pollution trends and
emissions broken down by
industrial sector,
geographic region and
individual facilities. In
2013, reported emissions
from large industrial
facilities were 20 million
metric tons higher than the
prior year, or 0.6 percent,
driven largely by an
increase in coal use for
power generation.
The federal Government
Accountability Office (GAO)
recently called out the EPA
for not doing enough to
protect drinking water from
risks posed by oil and gas
companies.
"Congress’ watchdog
agency faulted the [EPA] for
its oversight of hydraulic
fracturing wastewater
injected into the ground,
saying the agency doesn’t
adequately work to mitigate
emerging risks to drinking
water," The Hill
reported.
Direct FuelCell(R) (DFC(R))
power plants solve energy,
environmental and
business-related power
generation challenges by
providing ultra clean,
efficient and reliable
distributed power
generation. The fuel cells
combine a fuel such as
natural gas or renewable
biogas with oxygen from the
ambient air to efficiently
produce ultra-clean
electricity and usable high
quality heat through an
electrochemical process.
Virtually no pollutants are
emitted due to the absence
of combustion.
The world populations of
fish, birds, mammals,
amphibians and reptiles fell
overall by 52 percent
between 1970 and 2010, far
faster than previously
thought, the World Wildlife
Fund said on Tuesday
General Motors plans to
introduce an all-electric
Chevrolet, global product
chief Mark Reuss confirmed
today.
This would be a different
powertrain than the
Chevrolet Volt and Cadillac
ELR, which GM calls
"extended range electric
hybrids," because they rely
on a gasoline-fueled motor.
Reuss disclosed the new
battery-only car during a
presentation to investors at
GM's Milford Proving Ground.
-
New carpeting is a
primary source of
volatile organic
compounds (VOCs), which
can include highly toxic
chemicals such as
formaldehyde and
acetaldehyde
-
The largest release of
VOCs from new carpeting
will occur in the first
72 hours after
installation. However,
low levels can continue
to be emitted for years
later (adding to the
other VOCs in your
home’s air from paints,
varnishes, furniture,
and other sources)
-
New carpet installation
is associated with
wheezing and coughing in
babies during their
first year of life
-
Carpeting, including its
backing, adhesives, and
padding, is often
treated at the factory
with toxic flame
retardants, stain
protectors, and moth
repellants
-
Consider carpeting and
rugs made from natural
materials like wool,
which will (typically)
not contain
flame-retardants or
stain-resistant
chemicals and will
naturally repel insects
-
Make sure you regularly
ventilate your home by
opening windows on
opposite sides of the
house so the toxic fumes
can be exchanged for
outside air.
"A decade's old
California law prevents the
general public from viewing
records of water wells at a
time when critics say the
information could help
scientists and water policy
specialists better protect
the state's groundwater
supply," the Associated
Press reported.
Every other states in the
West make "well completion
reports" (well logs)
available, but years ago,
California approved
legislation restricting who
can see these records. Only
a limited set of agencies
can access the data.
The cyberattack on JPMorgan
Chase & Co., first announced
in July, compromised
information from 76 million
households and 7 million
small businesses, the
company revealed Thursday in
a filing with the Securities
and Exchange Commission.
A federal judge in Oklahoma
has ruled that Obamacare
subsidies cannot go to
residents of states that are
not running their own
insurance exchanges, a
second blow to the Obama
administration on a issue
that threatens a key element
of the health law’s coverage
expansion.
Until more people start
using the electric vehicle
charging station in town,
the city of Lodi will not
charge a fee to plug into
them.
With aging might come a loss
of some eyesight or hearing,
but it’s the loss of the
sense of smell that a new
study says could indicate
death could be looming.
The state Supreme Court
heard nearly two hours of
arguments Thursday in
McDaniel's appeal of a
circuit court's dismissal of
his election lawsuit. The
court gave no indication
when it might rule.
-
Deaths from overdoses of
drugs like hydrocodone
(Vicodin), morphine, and
oxycodone (Oxycontin)
rose from 1.4 per
100,000 in 1999 to 5.4
per 100,000 in 2011
-
Among people aged 55 to
64, deaths from
prescription narcotic
overdoses increased from
one per 100,000 people
in 1999 to more than 6
per 100,000 in 2011
-
Benzodiazepines such as
Xanax, which are
sedatives used to treat
anxiety and insomnia,
accounted for 31 percent
of the narcotic overdose
deaths in 2011 (up from
13 percent in 1999)
-
Separate research shows
that the use of
benzodiazepines has
risen alongside the use
of opioids, and the
sedatives are often used
alongside the
painkillers to enhance
the “high”
-
Opioid painkillers and
benzodiazepines topped
the list of medications
most often responsible
for young children’s
hospitalizations (after
accidental ingestion)
Given they aren't covered by
oceans, it's maybe not so
surprising that we know more
about the topography of the
Moon and Mars than we do
about Earth's ocean depths.
But researchers have evened
the score at least a little
with the creation of a new
map of the world's seafloor.
Twice as accurate as the
previous version produced
almost 20 years ago, the new
map details thousands of
previously uncharted
mountains and provides new
clues on the formation of
the continents.
Summit Power Group announced
a new CEO Wednesday who said
his team is "focused on,
excited about and committed
to the rapid closure" of the
deal to build the Texas
Clean Energy Project as
local leaders who still want
to see the $2.5 billion
coal-based plant materialize
remain in a state of
wait-and-see.
A mass of thousands of
walruses were spotted hauled
up on land in northwest
Alaska during NOAA aerial
surveys earlier this week.
An estimated 35,000 occupied
a single beach — a record
number illustrating a trend
in an unnatural behavior
scientists say is due to
global warming.
The Nuclear Energy Institute
(NEI) recently released a
report on the impact of
Exelon's nuclear fleet on
Illinois' economy,
highlighting a number of
economic benefits. Now,
Nuclear Matters -- of which
Exelon, among other
utilities, is a member -- is
weighing in, especially on
the risks associated with
closing nuclear plants
prematurely.
The energy behemoth used
about 25 billion gallons of
water for fracking between
2011 and 2013 out of nearly
100 billion gallons used
nationally , according to
the Midland
Reporter-Telegram.
And Halliburton has been
adding more crews to its
fracking business in North
America this year,
Bloomberg reported.
The company appears to be
investigating technology
that could reduce the amount
of fresh water used in its
processes.
Advocates of nuclear energy
have long been predicting
its renaissance, yet this
mode of producing
electricity has been stalled
for years. Renewable energy,
by contrast, continues to
expand rapidly, even if it
still has a long way to go
to catch up with fossil fuel
power plants, writes
Worldwatch Institute Senior
Researcher Michael Renner in
the Institute's latest Vital
Signs Online analysis.
M7 event observed.
Solar activity is expected
to be low with a chance for
M-class flares on days one
and two (03 Oct, 04 Oct) and
expected to be low with a
slight chance for an M-class
flare on day three (05 Oct).
The geomagnetic field is
expected to be at quiet to
unsettled levels on days one
and three (03 Oct, 05 Oct)
and quiet levels on day two
(04 Oct).
Islamic State militants are
reportedly within a mile of
Baghdad despite battling
Iraqi forces and U.S.-led
airstrikes, and there is
"immense fear among
everybody," the vicar of the
only Anglican church in Iraq
said Tuesday.
"We are
at a crisis point," Canon
Andrew White, vicar of St
George's Church in Baghdad,
told Sky News.
"People know ISIS are coming
nearer."
he Ground Water Protection
Council has released an
analysis of state
regulations which reports
that a growing number of oil
and gas producing states
have updated or created new
rules and policies to better
protect water sources.
When compared to a similar
analysis from 2009, a
positive trend emerges among
the 27 states, which produce
more than 95 to 98 percent
of nation's oil and gas, to
tighten measures and
increase oversight and
regulations pertaining to
oil and gas exploration and
production that will
minimize the risks of local
groundwater contamination.
Taiwan, an island that
China's ruling Communist
Party has long sought to
bring into its fold under
the same "one country, two
systems" arrangement it has
for Hong Kong, has thrown
its support behind Hong
Kong's pro-democracy
movement....
Taiwanese
leaders also
have urged
Beijing to
live up to
its pledges
for autonomy
in the
former
British
colony or
risk further
alienating
the
Taiwanese
public.
The highest criminal court
in Texas refused Wednesday
to reinstate two
money-laundering convictions
against former U.S. House
Majority Leader Tom DeLay,
ending a nearly decade-long
criminal case against the
one-time GOP heavyweight.
New U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency Greenhouse
Gas Reporting Program data
released Tuesday show
that nationwide, greenhouse
gas emissions from
industrial sources in 2013
rose 0.6 percent over 2012,
an increase of about 20
million metric tons of
greenhouse gases, totaling
3.18 billion metric tons
overall.
Did you know you don’t
actually need to be charged
with a crime for the
government to seize your
financial and property
assets?
Under U.S. law, it can
take only the suspicion of a
crime to turn lives upside
down and seize the property
of innocent citizens.
One
question has been really
bothering me as of late: Is
there such a thing as USDA
certified
organic honey?
Despite
the picture you see above,
there is good reason for me
to have serious doubt.
Here is why.
In the past,
I have spoken to numerous
local beekeepers and when I
asked them if their honey is
organic, they have all told
me that there is no such
thing as USDA certified
organic honey.
More news about the Dallas
Ebola patient — the first
patient to be diagnosed with
the deadly viral disease in
the U.S. — emerged
Wednesday, including that he
“was throwing up all over
the place” outside of the
apartment complex where he
was staying before he was
transported to the hospital.
Turkey's parliament gave
the government new powers
Thursday to launch military
incursions into Syria and
Iraq, and to allow foreign
forces to use its territory
for possible operations
against the Islamic State
group.
The move opens the way
for Turkey, a NATO member
with a large and modern
military, to play a more
robust role in the U.S-led
coalition against the Sunni
militants. However, Turkey
has yet to define what that
role might be.
The Tennessee Valley
Authority will raise its
rates for electricity
Wednesday, and will equate
to a 1.5 percent, or $2,
increase to the average
residential member of Middle
Tennessee Electric Member
Corp.
Wow! What a month for
celestial spectaculars—a
total eclipse of the Moon
(for those who were clouded
out at the one in April) and
a partial eclipse of the Sun
just two weeks later! Both
will be readily visible to
the unaided eye and
thrilling sights in
binoculars and small
telescopes (given proper
safety precautions in the
case of the Sun).
Beware – the following facts
about the herbicide 2,4-D
and a newly published
scientific research study
proposing using this toxic
herbicide as a human
pharmaceutical drug just
might twist your mind into a
pretzel. Let’s start with a
few facts before we begin
stretching the dough into a
twistable string.
The residential and
commercial segments
accounted for nearly half of
all solar PV installations
in the quarter, the
association noted in a Sept.
4 statement. The residential
market has seen the most
consistent growth of any
segment for years, and its
momentum shows no signs of
slowing down.
Some water utilities are
working hard to become more
energy efficient. "It’s a
sign of the times. Between
severe droughts in much of
the country and strained
operating budgets, more and
more utilities are
recognizing the need to
conserve,..
An energy supplier has
agreed to refund customers
whose services were switched
to the company without their
authorizations.
Criminal activities of
pharmaceutical companies are
frequently reported on in
the mainstream media. The
largest criminal settlements
in U.S. history are cases
against pharmaceutical
companies, such as Johnson &
Johnson’s $2.2 billion
criminal settlement late
last year for illegally
marketing drugs to the
elderly, children and the
mentally disabled.
When it comes to criminal
activities involved with
marketing vaccines, however,
there is a near total
blackout in the mainstream
media. So here at Health
Impact News we will
highlight a sampling of some
of the biggest stories of
fraud and criminal
activities involved with
marketing vaccines so far
here in 2014.
A new analysis of studies,
led by researchers at the
Albert Einstein College of
Medicine of Yeshiva
University and Montefiore
Medical Center, has found
that seniors whose walking
pace begins to slow
noticeably and who also have
cognitive impairments are
more than twice as likely to
develop dementia within 12
years.
A new study published
Sunday in Nature Geoscience
documents that the source of
fresher Nordic Seas since
1950 is rooted in the saline
Atlantic as opposed to
Arctic freshwater that is
the common inference.
This is an important
finding as it shows that the
Gulf Stream is not about to
short circuit. A halting
Gulf Stream has been a
concern with ongoing climate
change...
In the park's northeast
section, elk have decreased
in number in their historic
winter range in the Lamar
Valley and are now more
numerous outside the park.
This change in elk numbers
and distribution can be
traced back to the
reintroduction of wolves in
1995-96. Scientists have
hypothesized that wolves
affect both the numbers and
the behavior of elk, thereby
reducing the impact of
browsing on vegetation, a
concept known as a "trophic
cascade."
Rising grizzly bear
numbers are also taking
their toll on elk. As a
result, lush vegetation is
growing back in many but not
all areas.