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POPSWhere bombs were born, birds now flock More than 4.7 million tons of low-level waste remain at Fernald in a fenced-off, 110-acre pile encased in thick liners and caps made of synthetic material, clay, rock and clean soil. The 65-foot-high, grass-covered mound snaking along an edge of the preserve is about the length of two Empire State Buildings laid end to end. The rest of the radioactive waste - more than a million tons - was shipped to storage and disposal sites in Nevada, Utah and Texas. I'm not sure how I feel about this. I can express a naughty thought, that I hope the toxic waste sent to Texas goes near Bush's home, and far away from Wiccan Texan.
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POPSOceans running low on oxygen These dead zones occur when fertilizer runoff dumps excess nutrients, such as nitrogen and phosphorous, into coastal waters, providing food for algae. When these microscopic plants die and sink to the ocean bottom, bacteria feed on them and subsequently consume all the oxygen dissolved in the water. This leaves fish and other bottom-dwelling sea creatures without enough oxygen to survive, causing mass die-offs and displacements. Typically, the researchers noted, these events aren't noticed until they threaten valuable fish stocks.
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POPSIs our universe fine-tuned for life? The Anthropic Principle Under Scrutiny Adams selected a range of possible values for each of these constants, then put them into a computer model that created a multitude of universes, or a virtual "multiverse". Each universe within the multiverse used different values for the three constants and was subject to slightly different laws of physics. About a quarter of the resulting universes turned out to be populated by energy-generating stars. "You can change alpha or the gravitational constant by a factor of 100 and stars still form," Adams says, suggesting that stars can exist in universes in which at least some fundamental constants are wildly different than in our universe.
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POPSEverything Dolphin The Endangered Species Act requires the US federal government to identify species threatened with extinction, identify habitat they need to survive, and help protect both. In doing so, the Act works to ensure the basic health of our natural ecosystems and protect the legacy of conservation we leave to our children and grandchildren.
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POPSEPA Refuses to Cut Ethanol Requirements "Response to the decision fell along predictable lines: The Environmental Working Group's director of government affairs, Sandra Schubert, called the mandate "misguided" and said it was "forcing farmers to plow up marginal land and wildlife habitat while increasing global warming and dumping toxic fertilizers and pesticides into our precious water sources." "America should be focusing on viable clean energy solutions like conservation, solar and wind," she said. The president of the Biotechnology Industry Organization, Jim Greenwood, said the decision sent "a strong message that we must continue moving forward toward sustainable production of advanced biofuels" to cut dependence on important oil and to increase biofuel production from non-food sources. His organization represents biotech companies, among others involved in expanding the use of biofuels.""
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POPSAre Meerkats Naturally Altruistic?
For centuries, there's been a debate over whether true altruism exists among humans. Helping others at our detriment is risky behavior, evolutionarily speaking. Say you're overcome with an urge to give your last piece of bread to someone else. The other person eats, but you don't. Ultimately, after enough of these selfless acts, you'll starve and die, and your dangerous habit of helping others should die along with you. In the animal kingdom, altruism poses an equally prickly problem to explain. Why some animals exhibit generosity is a real mystery to biologists. It's not like they're thinking about the tax write-off they can get by donating money. Meerkats have one of the most cooperative societies in the animal kingdom. These African desert dwellers are perfect subjects for an investigation into altruism. For one, they live in a harsh habitat, quite a long way from easy street. Danger lurks around every corner because they sit at the bottom of the food chain.
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POPSExtinction Is Forever! Desperation for food and profits, shear greed and absolute shortsightedness is ruling the world. Let's change the rules, NOW!
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POPSGorilla 'mother lode' found in Congo I can't help thinking that they are there, because we didn't know about them, but there are other species that have been downgraded from critically endangered to endangered due to conservation efforts. However the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) found that 48% of the 634 known species and sub-species of primates, humankind's closest relatives such as chimpanzees, orangutans, gibbons and lemurs, are at risk of extinction. Primates are suffering most in Asia, with 71% of all species at risk, against 37% in Africa.
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POPSIs our universe fine-tuned for life? Claims of fine-tuning have generally been based on what happens when you vary a single characteristic of the universe, say the strength of gravity, while holding all others constant. That, says Adams, is too artificial a scenario to tell you anything about whether there are other universes that can support life. "The right way to do the problem is to start from scratch," he says. "You have to turn all the knobs and find out what happens."
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POPSObama is a retread from the past Continuing: Wallace's May 1947 political rally in Los Angeles was the biggest political event there in years. Twenty-eight thousand people paid admission to it... The keystone of the Wallace campaign was of course its advocacy of an American foreign policy consistent with that of the Soviet Union. Wallace defended the Communist coup in Czechoslovakia...O'Neill quotes Macdonald: Wallaceland is the mental habitat of Henry Wallace plus a few hundred thousand readers of the New Republic, the Nation, and PM. It is a region of perpetual fogs, caused by the warm winds of the liberal Gulf Stream coming in contact with the Soviet glacier. Its natives speak "Wallese," a debased political dialect. Here, O'Neill notes, Macdonald had fun with progressive jargon: Wallese is always employed to Unite rather than to Divide (hence the fog), and to Further Positive, Constructive Aims rather than Merely to Engage in Irresponsible and Destructive Criticism.
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POPSECOCITY Builders An ecocity is a human settlement that enables its residents to live a good quality of life while using minimal natural resources. Its buildings make best use of sun, wind and rainfall to help supply the energy and water needs of occupants. Generally multistory to maximize the land available for greenspace. It is threaded with natural habitat corridors, to foster biodiversity and to give residents access to nature for recreation. Its food and other goods are sourced from within its borders or from nearby, in order to cut down on transport costs. The majority of its residents live within walking or cycling distance of their workplace, to minimise the need for motorised transport. Frequent public transport connects local centres for people who need to travel further. Local car sharing allows people to use a car only when needed. Ecocity Builders PO Box 697 Oakland, CA 94604 Phone/Fax 510-444-4508
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POPSBook- Clean Your Air Plants can clean the air? Fancy that. Never knew. The things we learn, maybe there is something to old wives tales, ritual, and common sense after all. hmm...
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POPSGive Me A Fracking Break! Good Grief, Don't the Naples, Florida Police have better things to do than arrest a man for taking 46 cents from a wishing well? And for the silly Naples' Mall Shopper who snitched to police to go after this notorious penny thief. How Low Can You Stoop? Maybe, next time they'll give you a Big Fat 5 cent reward. :mad:
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