- As Science Evolves, So Does Pluto Pluto's status nowadays as a so-called plutoid and former planet may be official in the latest textbooks, but someone forgot to tell the astronomers.
- Telescope Captures Grouping of Oddball Galaxy and Supernova
Monday, March 16, 2009
More Science News
More Science News:
New North American Dinosaur Was Smaller Than Housecat
Tyrannosaurus rex and other massive Mesozoic creatures might have had a little predator nipping at their ankles and pilfering their young. Scientists have described the smallest dinosaur in North America, and it was a carnivore.
The new carnivorous dinosaur was smaller than a modern housecat and likely hunted insects, small mammals and other prey through the swamps and forests of the late Cretaceous Period (75 million years ago, precisely) in southeastern Alberta, Canada.
Weighing approximately 4 pounds (2 kilograms) and standing about a foot and a half tall (50 centimeters), Hesperonychus elizabethae resembled a miniature version of the bipedal predator Velociraptor, to which it was closely related. Hesperonychus walked on two legs and had razor-like claws and an enlarged sickle-shaped claw on its second toe. It had a slender build and slender head with dagger-like teeth.
Read the rest at LiveScience.
A clean house - 5 ways to fake it
Oh, great.
Your mother-in-law is on her way over (unexpectedly, of course) and your house is an absolute sty. It looks like a bomb went off in the living room and you haven't even had time to empty the kitchen sink.
Don't panic.
Here are five tips from Real Simple to help you fake a clean house in record time.
1. Hide the dishes. When the dishwasher is full and the sink is overflowing, stash dirty dishes and silverware in a stockpot. Shove the pot in the pantry or the oven until guests leave.
2. Light a candle. Everything looks better (and cleaner) by candlelight.
3. Camouflage spots. Drape a clean blanket neatly over a stained sofa. Strategically placed throw pillows can also cover up soiled upholstery.
4. Move laundry. Dump any laundry that needs to be folded into baskets. Place them on the washing machine to be sorted later.
5. Stack books. Pile books neatly on the floor, largest to smallest, next to a chair or a desk. Arrange catalogs and magazines in a deep decorative basket.
Headlines
Headlines for March 16, 2009:
- Obama berates AIG for 'recklessness and greed'
- Madagascar's president vows to resist rebel troops
- North Korea commits torture in prison 'death traps,' expert says
- Mexico slaps tariffs on U.S. products in retaliation to truck feud
- New test can detect Alzheimer's disease in its earliest stages
- Study: High-voltage power lines can disorient cows and deer
- Kiss guitarist Paul Stanley makes transition to serious painter
- Cheap booze? British tradition under threat
DNA origami comes to life
Chemists have managed to create artificial DNA that can controllably build itself into larger, more complex structures, like a simplified version of what real DNA does.
DNA origami comes to life
Personality tests reveal the flip side of comedy
Climbing up on stage to tell jokes to a bunch of strangers may seem like the most extroverted of activities, but comedians have revealed a surprising shy side.
Will democracy bring the demise of the hangman?
Politics means the vast majority of the world's executions take place in Asia – but that will eventually change, say David Johnson and Franklin Zimring.
Will democracy bring the demise of the hangman?
Science News
Science News:
Gravity may venture where matter fears to tread
Volcanic roar may reveal jet physics at work
Fumigating your greenhouse could drive climate change
New York will bear brunt of uneven sea level rise
Gravity ripples may reveal traces of supersymmetry
Watery asteroids may explain why life is 'left-handed'
And now ... the bookkeeper
Now they are going after Bernie's bookkeeper ... his wife.
In a turn for equal rights prosecutors are going after the 'assets' in Ruth Madoff's name.
Also, doesn't she know the bookkeeper always goes to jail ...
In a turn for equal rights prosecutors are going after the 'assets' in Ruth Madoff's name.
Bernard Madoff's wife could theoretically claim more than $100 million in assets -- and should forfeit it all, according to federal prosecutors.Of, course, she is whining that she is a 'victim' of her husband's scam. After all these years of demanding 'equal rights' - and getting them - why do some insist they are just the poor female victim of their dishonest male partners when they are caught with their hands in the cookie jar?
the move by prosecutors seeks the court's help in recovering $22 million in Madoff properties, all of which are solely in Ruth Madoff's name except for one $3 million property. it also seeks $62 million in cash and securities in her name, $10 million in furnishings in the properties and $10 million for a yacht and other boats. - More
Also, doesn't she know the bookkeeper always goes to jail ...
AIG in the news
President Obama declared Monday that insurance giant American International Group is in financial straits because of "recklessness and greed" and said he intends to stop it from paying out millions in executive bonuses. - MoreNew York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo told American International Group he wanted a list on his desk by the end of the day of employees set to receive millions of dollars in bonuses. - More
Gardening Industry Booms
Gardening Industry Sees Boom as Families Grow Their Own Veggies to Save on Groceries
With the recession in full swing, many Americans are returning to their roots — literally — cultivating vegetables in their backyards to squeeze every penny out of their food budget.
Industry surveys show double-digit growth in the number of home gardeners this year and mail-order companies report such a tremendous demand that some have run out of seeds for basic vegetables such as onions, tomatoes and peppers.
“People’s home grocery budget got absolutely shredded and now we’ve seen just this dramatic increase in the demand for our vegetable seeds. We’re selling out,” said George Ball, CEO of Burpee Seeds, the largest mail-order seed company in the U.S. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Gardening advocates, who have long struggled to get America grubby, have dubbed the newly planted tracts “recession gardens” and hope to shape the interest into a movement similar to the victory gardens of World War II.
Other ways to use plastic
I like the idea of pancake batter in a ketchup bottle (providing there is no ketchup in it at the same time).
Not sure a coin purse made from plastic bottles though.
CNBC: Hold Wall Street accountable!
Aaron over at aaronsw.com says, "Did you see Jon Stewart's smackdown of Jim Cramer last week? Today, some friends and I are launching an 'Open Letter to CNBC' with dozens of respected economists, journalists, and progressive political leaders demanding that CNBC start holding Wall Street accountable, starting by hiring someone who was actually right about the economic crisis. We're trying to get everyone we can to sign on. When 5,000 people sign the open letter, we'll deliver it to CNBC's headquarters. Will you sign?"
Americans need CNBC to do strong, watchdog journalism – asking tough questions to Wall Street, debunking lies, and reporting the truth. Instead, CNBC has done PR for Wall Street. You’ve been so obsessed with getting “access” to failed CEOs that you willfully passed on misinformation to the public for years, helping to get us into the economic crisis we face today.You screwed up badly. Don’t apologize – fix it!
CNBC should publicly declare that its new overriding mission will be responsible journalism that holds Wall Street accountable. As a down payment, we ask you to hire some new economic voices – people who have a track record of being right about the economic crisis and holding Wall Street executives’ feet to the fire.
EFF's searchable archive of secret government documents
Richard from the Electronic Frontier Foundation has this to say,
March 15-22 is Sunshine Week, an annual, non-partisan initiative to promote government transparency and the public's "right to know." EFF is celebrating by posting a heap of uncovered government documents online and launching a new search tool that lets the public search through them all by keyword. The documents cover cutting-edge digital civil liberties issues, like the Department of Homeland Security's data-mining projects, and FBI's surveillance technology, for example.
Information about these shadowy programs and policies would remain secret if EFF wasn't filing Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and lawsuits to pry the documents out of the government's hands and into the sunlight, and we need people's support to keep it going! Please donate to EFF during Sunshine Week and help shine a light on government secrets!
Traffic linked to heart attacks
New research suggests that driving in traffic might increase the risk of heart attacks.
Scientists from Germany's Institute of Epidemiology, Helmholtz Zentrum Muchen, studied a group of patients who had suffered heart attacks. Apparently, they were three times as likely to have been in traffic during the hour before the cardiac event.
From Science Daily:
Scientists from Germany's Institute of Epidemiology, Helmholtz Zentrum Muchen, studied a group of patients who had suffered heart attacks. Apparently, they were three times as likely to have been in traffic during the hour before the cardiac event.
From Science Daily:
Driving a car was the most common source of traffic exposure, but taking public transportation or riding a bicycle were other forms of exposure to traffic. Overall, time spent in any mode of transportation in traffic was associated with a 3.2 times higher risk than time spent away from this trigger. Females, elderly males, patients who were unemployed, and those with a history of angina were affected the most by traffic.
“Driving or riding in heavy traffic poses an additional risk of eliciting a heart attack in persons already at elevated risk,” said Annette Peters, Ph.D., lead author of the study and head of the research unit at the Institute of Epidemiology, Helmholtz Zentrum Muchen, Germany.
While this study wasn’t structured to pinpoint the reasons that being in traffic may have increased the risk of heart attack, “one potential factor could be the exhaust and air pollution coming from other cars,” Peters said. “But we can’t exclude the synergy between stress and air pollution that could tip the balance.”
They planned snitch's murder?
At the Oklahoma State Penitentiary, a snitch was assigned to share a cell with the murderer he had testified against.
You'll never guess what happened.
It's outrageous and terrifying when, as often happens in American prisons, inmates are denied health care, beaten or raped by guards or other inmates, but this isn't ordinary incompetence -- at first glance it raises suspicions that prison officials flat-out planned the murder of Paul Duran Jr.
You'll never guess what happened.
It's outrageous and terrifying when, as often happens in American prisons, inmates are denied health care, beaten or raped by guards or other inmates, but this isn't ordinary incompetence -- at first glance it raises suspicions that prison officials flat-out planned the murder of Paul Duran Jr.
More in The Oklahoman.
What really wiped out the dinosaurs
In the wake of our asteroid near-miss, people keep claiming that an asteroid wiped out the dinosaurs.
But we all know it was the Cybermen.
Or time-traveling hunters ...
Here are some of the more imaginative theories from our Science-Fiction writers.
There are some doozies.
But we all know it was the Cybermen.
Or time-traveling hunters ...
Here are some of the more imaginative theories from our Science-Fiction writers.
There are some doozies.
Ambassadors of Cute
Foreign envoys come in all shapes and sizes but rarely decked out in miniskirts, schoolgirl uniforms and polka-dot dresses adorned with bunny rabbits. Until now.
A dramatic new look for Japan’s diplomatic corps was unveiled by the country’s ministry of foreign affairs yesterday, part of a plan to boost its soft power abroad with what it called “ambassadors of cute”.
More in the Irish Times.
The Deepest Step Well in the World
Chand Baori is a famous stepwell situated in the village Abhaneri near Jaipur in Indian state of Rajasthan. This step well is located opposite Harshat Mata Temple and is one of the deepest and largest step wells in India. It was built in 9th century and has 3500 narrow steps and 13 stories and is 100 feet deep. It is a fine example of the architectural excellence prevalent in the past.
Find out more and see a lot more pictures of this well, here.
Teenagers and Dinosaurs
Like teenagers today, some juvenile dinosaurs used to hang out together, according to research announced today.
Also like teens, the dinos sometimes hung out in places they shouldn't have.
Bear and Wolf play
In this remote-camera footage from Glacier National Park in Montana, a bear and her cubs play an amazing long game of cat-and-mouse with a wolf.
And I Quote
- It is well that war is so terrible - otherwise we would grow too fond of it.
- ~ Robert E. Lee
The Last Keffiyeh Factory in Hebron
French journalist Benoit Faiveley visits the last Palestinian Keffiyeh (the iconic headscarf made famous by Yasser Arafat) factory in Hebron on the West Bank.
Faced with Israeli military checkpoints, the complexity of exporting goods from the West Bank and now competition from Chinese Keffiyeh manufacturers, the factory might not outlive its 76-year-old owner.
Funny
Helpful advice for travelers
If you are going to get on a commercial flight, take a bomb with you.BECAUSE: What are the odds of TWO guys being on the SAME PLANE at the SAME TIME with a bomb?
*****
Not too sure that is all that helpful in the advice department. It will get you places quickly though.
The Battle of New Orleans
With tomorrow being Saint Paddy's Day this video seems appropriate:
The Irish really don't like the British. They take any opportunity to poke fun at the British. In fact, they'll even sing about other people fighting the British.
This video was filmed at the Danny Mann, in Killarney, Ireland on Saint Patrick's Day 2008.
An Irish band sings 'The Battle of New Orleans'
The Irish really don't like the British. They take any opportunity to poke fun at the British. In fact, they'll even sing about other people fighting the British.
This video was filmed at the Danny Mann, in Killarney, Ireland on Saint Patrick's Day 2008.
Trends
For what ever reason the trend is Wednesday. That is the peak day for the number of readers here at Carolina Naturally in terms of returning regulars and new readers.
Not sure why, Wednesday, but it seems that is the day everyone likes to read.
Not sure why, Wednesday, but it seems that is the day everyone likes to read.
Our Readers
Some of our readers today have been in:
Puebla, Puebla, Mexico
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Leiria, Leiria, Portugal
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Longueuil, Quebec, Canada
as well as Sweden, Brazil Scotland, Wales, Poland, Germany and Spain
Puebla, Puebla, Mexico
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Leiria, Leiria, Portugal
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Longueuil, Quebec, Canada
as well as Sweden, Brazil Scotland, Wales, Poland, Germany and Spain
Daily Horoscope
Today's horoscope says:
You see people as they truly are and are not afraid to let them know what they are.
Boy, do I!
(and some actually don't like it. Imagine that.)
You see people as they truly are and are not afraid to let them know what they are.
Boy, do I!
(and some actually don't like it. Imagine that.)
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