My Southern Backyard

News.com.au | News Online from Australia and the World | NewsComAu

2012-02-21T09:42:00.000+11:00

News.com.au | News Online from Australia and the World | NewsComAu

Yosemite Waterfall Turns To Lava

2012-02-21T07:17:00.000+11:00

Yosemite Waterfall Turns To Lava: "A window of time just opened in Yosemite National Park when nature photographers wait, as if for an eclipse, until the moment when the sun and earth align to create a fleeting phenomenon.

This marvel of celestial configuration happens in a flash at sunset in mid-February — if the winter weather cooperates. On those days the setting sun illuminates one of the park's lesser-known waterfalls so precisely that it resembles molten lava as it flows over the sheer granite face of the imposing El Capitan.

Every year growing numbers of photographers converge on the park, their necks craned toward the ephemeral Horsetail Fall, hoping the sky will be clear so they can duplicate the spectacle first recorded in colour in 1973 by the late renowned outdoors photographer Galen Rowell."

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Power or popularity I Hilary Clinton I Julia Gillard

2012-02-21T06:20:00.000+11:00

Power or popularity I Hilary Clinton I Julia Gillard: "It’s hard not to like Hillary Clinton. She works phenomenally hard, is canny, warm, clever and funny. She ran for President, came extremely close, and went on to be a competent secretary of state. She has endured relentless sniping about her marriage, her face, her ankles, her clothes, her hair, her voice - oh yeah, and her politics - and kept going. Respect."

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Experts disturbed by frontline bushfire strategy - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

2012-02-19T18:59:00.002+11:00

Experts disturbed by frontline bushfire strategy - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation): "Scientists have raised new concerns about the frontline strategy to reduce the impact of bushfires in Australia.

As Victorian authorities strive to triple the amount of prescribed burning they do in response to the Royal Commission recommendations after the Black Saturday fires, other states are also adopting the policy.

But several scientists have told Radio National's Background Briefing program they may be adopting a deeply flawed policy.

Michael Clarke, who heads Zoology at LaTrobe University, was on the Royal Commission's expert panel on fuel reduction"

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How much can the koala bear?

2012-02-17T14:41:00.003+11:00

How much can the koala bear?: "Imagine the Australian bush without koalas. With development, disease and political inaction ravaging their numbers, it's a real possibility, writes Nikki Barrowclough.

Here is a terrible truth. Koalas are vanishing from Australia. There are probably fewer than 100,000 left on the continent. Once, there were millions. Their deaths, from a number of causes, range from poignant to pointless to grotesquely violent. Even so, when I started this story I still had a quintessential image in my mind of a koala asleep in the fork of a gumtree. That has been replaced by another more graphic and indelible image: a badly burnt koala clinging to a blackened eucalypt in south-east Queensland.

Rian is the koala's name. She was trapped by a controlled fuel-reduction "bushfire" that ripped through her habitat last September, after the area had supposedly been cleared of wildlife. When she was found in that tree, 2½ weeks after the fire, every one of her footpads had been roasted. She'd also lost her eyelids, as well as the tips of her ears."

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The New York Times

2012-02-16T16:10:00.001+11:00

The New York Times: "
Doug Mills/The New York Times
Vice President Xi Jinping of China arrived for a meeting on Capitol Hill on Wednesday.

BY KIRK JOHNSON
February 16, 2012
MUSCATINE, Iowa — Twenty-seven years ago, a young man named Xi Jinping, on an agricultural research trip from his home in China, came to rural eastern Iowa and slept in Eleanor and Thomas Dvorchak’s sons’ room. The boys had just gone off to college — their room still stuffed with the things of childhood — and Ms. Dvorchak said she felt bad. She had grown up reading Pearl S. Buck novels about the travails in rural China, and now here was a visitor, perhaps from that same hard place, and they had put him in there with the Star Trek action figures.
“He did not complain,” said Ms. Dvorchak, 72, who is now retired and living in Florida. “Everything, no matter what, was very acceptable to him — he was humble.”"

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Peak People? Are We Actually Running Out Of Our Most Valuable Resource? : TreeHugger

2012-02-14T12:13:00.001+11:00

Peak People? Are We Actually Running Out Of Our Most Valuable Resource? : TreeHugger: "Population growth is a major concern; Andy Revkin has gone so far as to suggest that it, more than climate, is the story of our time. But do we have this backwards? Author Doug Saunders suggests that we might, in fact have the opposite problem. Like Peak Oil and Peak Food, there are a lot of us around, and the numbers being produced are still growing. But have we reached the top of a sort of Hubberts Curve of people? Saunders writes:

People around the world are living longer, and having far fewer children — a consequence of increased female education rates and declining absolute poverty. Countries like Bangladesh, Indonesia and Iran are now having so few children that their populations are on the verge of shrinking..."

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UT Law - Sanford Levinson - Our Undemocratic Constitution

2012-02-08T09:27:00.000+11:00

UT Law - Sanford Levinson - Our Undemocratic Constitution: "Our Undemocratic Constitution:
Where the Constitution Goes Wrong
(And How We the People Can Correct It)

The Constitution is one of the most revered documents in American politics. Yet this is a document that regularly places in the White House candidates who did not in fact get a majority of the popular vote. It gives Wyoming the same number of votes as California, which has seventy times the population of the Cowboy State. And it offers the President the power to overrule both houses of Congress on legislation he disagrees with on political grounds. Is this a recipe for a republic that reflects the needs and wants of today's Americans?"

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Critically endangered parrot on brink of extinction - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

2012-02-05T10:53:00.000+11:00

Critically endangered parrot on brink of extinction - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation): "The critically endangered orange-bellied parrot appears to be moving closer to extinction.

Researchers in Melaleuca in south-west Tasmania say the number of birds in the wild is now down to 21, including just eight females.

The endangered parrot makes an annual journey to the region for the breeding season.

Mark Holdsworth from the orange-bellied parrot recovery team says the drought has contributed to a steady decline in the population."

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Genetically Modified Foods Not Served in Monsanto Cafeteria -- Health & Wellness -- Sott.net

2012-02-03T19:38:00.000+11:00

Genetically Modified Foods Not Served in Monsanto Cafeteria -- Health & Wellness -- Sott.net: "The fight to ban genetically modified foods has won more converts - some employees of Monsanto - the company that is doing the most to promote GM products.

The Independent newspaper reports that there is a notice in the cafeteria of the Monsanto pharmaceutical factory is High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, advising customers:
"as far as practicable, GM soya and maize (has been removed) from all food products served in our restaurant. We have taken the steps to ensure that you, the customer, can feel confident in the food we serve."
The notice was posted by the Sutcliffe Catering Group. "

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Norway to bring cancer-gene tests to the clinic : Nature News & Comment

2012-02-03T19:10:00.001+11:00

Norway to bring cancer-gene tests to the clinic : Nature News & Comment: "Norway is set to become the first country to incorporate genome sequencing into its national health-care system. The Scandinavian nation, which has a population of 4.8 million, will use ‘next-generation’ DNA sequencers to trawl for mutations in tumours that might reveal which cancer treatments would be most effective."

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Tears

2012-01-31T18:38:00.000+11:00

Tears

Windows Error Box Floating in the Air (5 pics) - Izismile.com

2012-01-25T06:34:00.000+11:00

Windows Error Box Floating in the Air (5 pics) - Izismile.com: "In the city of Odessa, Ukraine this Windows error box was floating. It looks weird but it was not photoshopped or whatsoever.
Actually, there was a big fog that night in Odessa and what you see in the sky was an advertisement projection with this Windows error message.
"

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HowStuffWorks "How Dragons Work"

2012-01-24T00:47:00.000+11:00

HowStuffWorks "How Dragons Work": "Sightings of fire-breathing, flying reptilian creatures have been documented all over the world and in many different cultures. Whether a dragon sighting is considered a good thing (or a very, very bad one) varies according to the mythology associated with it. For some people, dragons were cursed creatures known to ferociously devour fair maidens. For others, dragons could be a good omen. In Japanese culture, for example, most dragons were seen as benevolent creatures that protected people's earthly treasures.
Dragons have captured people's imaginations around the world-- and have been immortalized in their art -- since ancient times. Dragons' likenesses have appeared on stoneware vessels, paintings, woven tapestries and other artifacts. Some of the most famous dragon-themed artworks are the three Nine Dragon Walls located throughout China. "

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We the People Call On Congress To Stop Obstructing The Closure Of GITMO

2012-01-23T21:34:00.000+11:00

We the People Call On Congress To Stop Obstructing The Closure Of GITMO: "Guantanamo Bay continues to be a blight on our national conscience. Its proponents make all sorts of arguments to defend what is ultimately indefensible. Chief among them: We have to keep “the worst of the worst” at Guantanamo Bay in the name of national security. Of course, most of Gitmos detainees haven’t been charged, nor have they been tried.

Without trials, let alone public ones, it’s sort of difficult to know whether we are holding the worst of the worst or with we’re holding innocents.

The counter to that point is: We know they are the worst of the worst because they were detained and are held as “enemy combatants” under the President’s authority."

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The Roberts Court and Free Speech « JONATHAN TURLEY

2012-01-23T19:28:00.000+11:00

The Roberts Court and Free Speech « JONATHAN TURLEY: "We have all certainly heard of the important Freedom of Speech cases that the Roberts led Supreme Court has decided. Citizens United is probably the most prominent one that comes to my mind. Of course, the Citizens United case promoted the ability of corporate entities to enjoy full Free Speech rights. Other important Free Speech cases that were decided by the Roberts Court include the military funeral case of Snyder v. Phelps, et al,(131 S. Ct. 1207 (2011) ) and the Brown v. Entertainment Merchants case (131 S. Ct. 2729 (2011) ) in California which overturned a California law which required parental consent for minors to rent or buy violent video games. Because of these decisions and others, some scholars and constitutional law experts make the claim that the Roberts Court is the most pro-free speech Supreme Court in history!"

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Project Bifrost: Rockets of the Future? : Discovery News

2012-01-23T17:30:00.000+11:00

Project Bifrost: Rockets of the Future? : Discovery News: "Project Bifrost is an ambitious study examining emerging space technologies that could lay the foundation for future interstellar flights and investigates the utility of fission for future space missions.

Project Bifrost was initiated by Research Lead Tabitha Smith (Strategic Officer of General Propulsion Science) and Brad Appel (Program Manager of Nuclear Propulsion at General Propulsion Science), working in collaboration with Icarus Interstellar Inc. a nonprofit foundation dedicated to achieving interstellar flight by the year 2100."

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Pets battle the bulge | Lismore Pets | Animal and Dog News in Lismore | Northern Star

2012-01-12T15:53:00.000+11:00

Pets battle the bulge | Lismore Pets | Animal and Dog News in Lismore | Northern Star: "SHEDDING some kilos is a popular New Year's resolution but people should look in their own backyards - at their pets - when weighing up their goals for 2012.

While many people are battling the bulge, a Mackay veterinarian estimates about one in four of the region's cats and dogs have their own weight issues.

Some are weighing in at around twice their ideal weight."

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Koalas could be tourism booster | Lismore Pets | Animal and Dog News in Lismore | Northern Star

2012-01-12T15:48:00.001+11:00

Koalas could be tourism booster | Lismore Pets | Animal and Dog News in Lismore | Northern Star: "WITH the preservation of urban koalas high on the local political agenda, Lismore City Council's acting tourism co-ordinator Andrew Walker reckons it may be more a case of the iconic critters bolstering our tour-ism industry.

The council's koala plan of management for south-east Lismore is now on public exhibition.

It endeavours to help what is believed to be the largest urban population of koalas in NSW co-exist with townies and farmers long into the future."

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Minnesota Public Interest Research Group: MPIRG applauds EPA’s new mercury rule

2012-01-12T03:58:00.000+11:00

Minnesota Public Interest Research Group: MPIRG applauds EPA’s new mercury rule: Most of us assume someone is protecting our air and water from becoming unhealthy, even toxic. We expect the air we breathe and the water w...

Edward Linacre: it's possible to get water from thin air | Technology | The Observer

2012-01-10T06:06:00.000+11:00

Edward Linacre: it's possible to get water from thin air | Technology | The Observer: "Edward Linacre from the Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne is the winner of the 2011 James Dyson award for his Airdrop – a low-cost, low-maintenance aid to the problems of farming in arid areas.

James Dyson said: "Airdrop shows how simple, natural principles such as the condensation of water can be applied to good effect through skilled design and robust engineering." Linacre and his university department each received a £10,000 prize."

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Vote Democrat 2012 -- end right-wing Republican obstruction, disinformation

2012-01-10T04:28:00.000+11:00

Vote Democrat 2012 -- end right-wing Republican obstruction, disinformation: "Please vote, and please ask your friends to vote on November 6th. Even if you are a moderate Republican, voting Democrat this election is best for our country.
WHY ELECT A DEMOCRATIC CONGRESS?

We must:

Break the GOP legislative blockade and Move America Forward.
Stop moneyed interests from buying elections.
Prevent giving Congressional control to right and ultra-right extremists."

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BBC News - Nasa's gravity twins now circling Moon

2012-01-02T12:14:00.000+11:00

BBC News - Nasa's gravity twins now circling Moon

A Win for Aussie Cats & Dogs - Shane Stone - Dale & Co.

2012-01-02T12:12:00.000+11:00

Quarantine rules are changing for aussie cats and dogs travelling to the UK....

A Win for Aussie Cats & Dogs - Shane Stone - Dale & Co.

2011: The Year The Republican Party Repeatedly Humiliated America

2012-01-01T22:28:00.000+11:00

2011: The Year The Republican Party Repeatedly Humiliated America: "t is beneficial, and often distressing, to look back over the past year and attempt to rationalize the conduct of politicians elected to serve the American people to predict where the country is headed. The biggest news of 2011 is not the various Republican assaults on job creation, or holding the debt ceiling hostage nearly sending America into a credit default, or their extremist presidential candidates, but their sustained assault on the poor, women, children, and senior citizens. There is a famous quote that says; “The measure of a society is how it treats its weakest members” and although there is questionable attribution related to those few words, it certainly is relevant to the lack of humanity inherent in a major segment of the population and especially the Republican Party."

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Bloggers: SOPA's the end of us

2011-12-28T09:54:00.000+11:00

Bloggers: SOPA's the end of us: Some argue that it would criminalize pages and blogs that link to websites dedicated to online piracy.

Great Barrier Reef petition delivery to UNESCO, Paris! | GetUp Campaign Blog

2011-12-18T15:55:00.000+11:00

Great Barrier Reef petition delivery to UNESCO, Paris! | GetUp Campaign Blog: "Just over a month ago, we launched a petition asking the Government to halt dredging in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area until UNESCO completes their assessment of the area next year. Lincoln, a GetUp member who lives in France, emailed us offering to help deliver the petition to the UNESCO offices in Paris. He suggested visually representing the now over 74,800 signatures and the Great Barrier Reef and taking this poster to UNESCO, via World Heritage sites in Paris. Here’s his story of how it went — Justine, GetUp!

I decided to help GetUp’s Great Barrier Reef campaign because that part of Australia has always inspired me. It’s sometimes hard for Australians, who are surrounded daily by such powerful landscapes, to realise how amazing their country is, the way its wild places give them such inspiration and strength. As much as I love the complexity of life in France and its gorgeous countryside, I miss the connection I felt with wild nature when I lived Down Under."

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fractal tree

2011-12-11T12:43:00.001+11:00

Sea Shepherd lawsuit 'could end whaling' - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

2011-12-10T11:35:00.000+11:00

Sea Shepherd lawsuit 'could end whaling' - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation): "Greens leader Bob Brown says a Japanese whaling action in the US federal court could backfire and help bring an end to whaling in the Southern Ocean.

Japanese whalers are seeking an injunction against the Sea Shepherd leader Paul Watson in the US federal court in Seattle.

The Institute for Cetacean Research and the owner of two of Japan's whaling ships want an injunction against Mr Watson and Sea Shepherd because the anti-whaling group "puts lives at risk"."

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Rustic Italian food from the heart | The Australian

2011-12-10T11:19:00.000+11:00

Rustic Italian food from the heart | The Australian: "ANNAMARIA Simili, the cook at Azienda Trinita, is using a cheese grater to peel off long, thin slices of zucchini to mix with golden olive oil, lemon juice, walnuts, mint and parmesan cheese to create a carpaccio de zucchini salad. Fourteen eager observers are crowding around the island bench in the airy kitchen of this Sicilian family estate, hoping to soak up the culinary ambience like the zucchini is absorbing the flavour of the oil."

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Michael Kazin: Why A Gingrich Vs. Obama Matchup Would Be Good For The Country | The New Republic

2011-12-10T11:01:00.000+11:00

Michael Kazin: Why A Gingrich Vs. Obama Matchup Would Be Good For The Country | The New Republic: "I sincerely hope Newt Gingrich wins the Republican nomination for president: It could bring a healthy candor to our politics and end up boosting the fortunes of liberalism as well. Now, I realize the former Speaker may not be able to convert his current polling spurt into triumph over his main rival, that dodgy I’m-all-businessman, whose too-perfect hair and smile remind me of a middle-aged Ken doll. "

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Coming up Trumps?

2011-12-09T14:38:00.000+11:00

The Dish | By Andrew Sullivan - The Daily Beast

2011-12-07T11:39:00.000+11:00

The Dish | By Andrew Sullivan - The Daily Beast: "Plants reshape themselves — extending, growing, opening, closing, altering leaf size, etc — in direct response to what they need, what they have good reason to shun and to a broad range of local conditions. In developing underground networks of roots, they show sensitivity to obstacles in the ground, and there is evidence that they differentiate their response to the roots of other plants from their response to their own roots.

Granted, by human and animal measures, plants are very slow. But surely it is prejudice to think that only movements and responsiveness that occurs on time scales that seem natural to us count as legitimately expressive of intelligence and mind."

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Be Grateful You Were Born When You Were - The Dish | By Andrew Sullivan - The Daily Beast

2011-12-07T11:31:00.001+11:00

Be Grateful You Were Born When You Were - The Dish | By Andrew Sullivan - The Daily Beast: "Tomatoes are in season in the late summer. Lettuce is in season in in the fall. Mammals are slaughtered in early winter. The process of making such a burger would take nearly a year, and would inherently involve omitting some core cheeseburger ingredients. It would be wildly expensive-requiring a trio of cows-and demand many acres of land. There's just no sense in it.

A cheeseburger cannot exist outside of a highly developed, post-agrarian society"

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Ban pleads for Kyoto in warning of climate deadlock | The Jakarta Globe

2011-12-07T11:05:00.000+11:00

Ban pleads for Kyoto in warning of climate deadlock | The Jakarta Globe: "UN chief Ban Ki-moon warned climate talks on Tuesday that failure to overcome deadlock placed the world in peril, and begged countries to spare the endangered Kyoto Protocol.

"Without exaggeration, we can say: the future of our planet is at stake -- people's lives, the health of the global economy, the very survival of some nations," Ban told environment ministers at the start of a four-day meeting."

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Clueless, leaderless and blind | The Australian

2011-12-07T10:57:00.001+11:00

Clueless, leaderless and blind | The Australian: "THE Labor Party faces a governing crisis. Its dismal national conference at the weekend exposed not just a political institution in decline but a party that cannot govern effectively any more.

Labor remains in complete denial of this reality. Its arrogance is breathtaking as it sits on a 31 per cent primary vote and pretends recovery is around the corner.

It is beset by a complex malaise. It suffers both a leadership crisis and a grassroots membership crisis. There are no saviours: no Gough Whitlam or Bob Hawke to inspire a new generation. In truth, Labor is clueless about what to do"

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CSIRO slams authority's target | The Australian

2011-11-29T08:36:00.000+11:00

CSIRO slams authority's target | The Australian: "THE federal government's science body has found the new draft Murray-Darling Basin plan fails to provide enough water to keep the river system healthy.

"The evidence is clear it won't meet ecological and hydrological targets," said Bill Young, an eco-hydrologist with the CSIRO Water for a Healthy Country Flagship program, and chairman of the scientific review of the plan."

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Egyptians flock to vote in peaceful poll | The Australian

2011-11-29T08:25:00.000+11:00

Egyptians flock to vote in peaceful poll | The Australian: "MILLIONS of Egyptians took part in their first democratic elections yesterday in a poll that was both peaceful and well attended.

The success of the election day came despite violence over the week leading up to the poll which left 42 people dead and more than 2000 injured across Egypt.

While there were administrative problems at some booths, election officials extended voting by two hours to accommodate the larger-than-expected turnout."

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Britain's promotion of Canada's tar sands oil is idiotic | Environment | guardian.co.uk

2011-11-28T09:23:00.000+11:00

Britain's promotion of Canada's tar sands oil is idiotic | Environment | guardian.co.uk: "Here's the essential fact to bear in mind. The tar sands of northern Alberta are the second-largest pool of carbon on earth, second only to Saudi Arabia. It's burning Saudi Arabia, more than any other single thing, that has raised the temperature of the planet by a degree so far. But when oil was discovered in the Middle East, we knew nothing about climate change – it's not surprising that we started pumping. In the case of Canada, however, we've taken 3% of the oil from the sands. We're still at the start. If, knowing what we now know about climate change, we just keep going, then we're idiots."

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BBC News - Robotic prison wardens to patrol South Korean prison

2011-11-26T10:15:00.000+11:00

BBC News - Robotic prison wardens to patrol South Korean prison: "Robot wardens are about to join the ranks of South Korea's prison service.

A jail in the eastern city of Pohang plans to run a month-long trial with three of the automatons in March.

The machines will monitor inmates for abnormal behaviour. Researchers say they will help reduce the workload for other guards."

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Global warming rate less than feared › News in Science (ABC Science)

2011-11-25T14:45:00.000+11:00

Global warming rate less than feared › News in Science (ABC Science): "High levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere may have less of an impact on the rate of global warming than feared, a new study suggests.

The authors of the study stress that global warming is real, and that increases in atmospheric CO2, which has doubled from pre-industrial standards, will have multiple serious impacts.

But more severe estimates that predict temperatures could rise up to an average of 10°Celcius are unlikely, the researchers report in the journal Science."

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The slow hopeless horse who took 86 starts to bloom | Lightweight | The Punch

2011-11-25T09:42:00.000+11:00

The slow hopeless horse who took 86 starts to bloom | Lightweight | The Punch: "This is a story about a 74 year old bush harness racing trainer, an 84 year old owner and the slow, hopeless horse they wouldn’t send to the knackery, despite the fact it had raced 85 times without winning.

It’s a story of persistence, of friendship, and of the remarkable thing that happened just the other Thursday in Ararat, Victoria, in the lengthening twilight shadows of the Grampians.

The story begins in Mt Gambier, South Australia, at the stables of retired dairy farmer Tony Glynn."

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The Single Most Important Robert Reich Clip You Can Share Today

2011-11-24T09:54:00.000+11:00

The Single Most Important Robert Reich Clip You Can Share Today

Farmer develops sustainable grazing system | The Australian

2011-11-19T13:48:00.000+11:00

Farmer develops sustainable grazing system | The Australian: "IN the NSW regional food scene these days, it's the old story of the good news and the bad news. The good news, they'll tell you, is that there's a bloke out Wellington way who is producing the best lamb they've tasted. The bad news is that they can't get enough of it.

The bloke turns out to be Tim Woods, whose property, Mount Nanima, is about 10 minutes from the central tablelands town of Wellington. But Woods is also about 10 light years ahead of most farmers. He has the zeal of a full-on born-again farmer. And what has got tastebuds excited and tongues wagging in the food world is the result of his revelation."

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You’re a Bad Person if You Laugh at This | I Can Has Internets

2011-11-19T09:30:00.001+11:00

You’re a Bad Person if You Laugh at This | I Can Has Internets

This Is What Revolution Looks Like | Common Dreams

2011-11-18T08:14:00.000+11:00

This Is What Revolution Looks Like | Common Dreams: Welcome to the revolution. Our elites have exposed their hand. They have nothing to offer. They can destroy but they cannot build. They can repress but they cannot lead. They can steal but they cannot share. They can talk but they cannot speak. They are as dead and useless to us as the water-soaked books, tents, sleeping bags, suitcases, food boxes and clothes that were tossed by sanitation workers Tuesday morning into garbage trucks in New York City. They have no ideas, no plans and no vision for the future.

Republican 2012 candidates debate and Barack Obama just smiles - Roger Simon - POLITICO.com

2011-11-16T08:42:00.000+11:00

Republican 2012 candidates debate and Barack Obama just smiles - Roger Simon - POLITICO.com:
These guys are just peddlers in snake oil.
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Rare turtle on the mend | Tweed News | Local News in Tweed | Daily News

2011-11-07T19:04:00.000+11:00

Rare turtle on the mend | Tweed News | Local News in Tweed | Daily News: A RARE turtle found in distress on a Fingal beach on the weekend is now in expert care and showing promising signs of making a recovery.

Once a target for turtle-shell jewellery and now listed as a vulnerable species, the Hawksbill turtle was having troubles in the surf.

Fingal artist David Galloway came across the reptile at Dreamtime beach early on Saturday afternoon.

"Quite often I go down to check out the mood of the beach for my paintings," Mr Galloway said.

Endlessly snapped but rarely exposed

2011-11-05T08:52:00.000+11:00

Endlessly snapped but rarely exposed: "There's actual life: having it, managing it, sorting it and putting it behind you. Quite a tricky business, as you know. Then there are other people's lives: sharing them, avoiding them, managing them, keeping track of them. And then, lying flat and smooth between pages, stored in ones and zeros on hard drives, Blu-Tacked to the walls, set in frames or carried in wallets, jumping to the screen on Facebook and Flickr and other sites, is a shadow, silent, strobe-flicker version of our lives: our photographs"

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NASA Discovers Youngest Pulsar, Publishes All-Sky Map | TPM Idea Lab

2011-11-04T09:13:00.000+11:00

NASA Discovers Youngest Pulsar, Publishes All-Sky Map | TPM Idea Lab: "Here come the pulsars! On Thursday, NASA announced the discovery of 10 new pulsars, ultra-dense, ultra-fast-spinning dead stars that emit powerful beams, or “pulses,” of electromagnetic radiation. That brings the total number of pulsars discovered by the agency’s Fermi gamma-ray space telescope to 100. Better yet, one of the new dead stars discovered was the youngest, and one of the fastest-spinning, pulsars discovered yet.

“What this means is that we’re looking at the tip of the iceberg of a totally new class of short-lived pulsar,” said Paulo Freire, an astrophysicist at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Bonn, Germany, in a conference call Thursday announcing the discoveries.

To commemorate the finds, NASA released a new interactive all-sky map allowing users to see the 100 dead stars using the Fermi telescope’s gamma-ray view. The map, which requires Flash, is viewable here."

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Tom Toles: Political Cartoons from Tom Toles - The Washington Post

2011-11-04T05:49:00.000+11:00

Tom Toles: Political Cartoons from Tom Toles - The Washington Post

Second baby wombat thrills rangers

2011-11-03T18:16:00.000+11:00

Second baby wombat thrills rangers: "A second northern hairy-nosed wombat joey has been caught on film emerging from a burrow at a nature refuge in south-west Queensland.

Rangers were thrilled last month when the first joey was caught on film at the refuge, which was set up to try to save the species from extinction.

Their excitement was doubled when a second newborn emerged last week at the Richard Underwood Nature Refuge near St George, Environment Minister Vicky Darling said today."

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This Asteroid Is Getting Way too Close to Earth

2011-11-03T10:34:00.000+11:00

This Asteroid Is Getting Way too Close to Earth: "This pixelated grayscale image was taken by the Arecibo Planetary Radar Facility in Puerto Rico on April 2010. It shows an asteroid the size of an aircraft carrier on direct interception course with Earth's orbit.

The arrival day: November 8. This is its trajectory.
[Check the animated GIF below]

Pretty damn close. In fact, The 1300-foot-wide (400-meter) asteroid called 2005 YU55 will get closer to our home planet than the Moon itself: 201,700 miles (324,600 kilometers). That's 0.85 the distance from our silver satellite. So no, it will not kill us. But it will get close enough to get uncomfortable."

'via Blog this'

Fracking 'probable' cause of Lancashire quakes | Environment | The Guardian

2011-11-03T10:30:00.000+11:00

Fracking 'probable' cause of Lancashire quakes | Environment | The Guardian: "Two earthquake tremors in north-west England earlier this year were probably caused by controversial operations to extract gas nearby, a report by the company responsible has concluded.

The two tremors - magnitude 2.3 and 1.5 - which were felt by people just outside Blackpool, but did not cause any known damage, were reported in April and May. Since the second event, Cuadrilla Resources has stopped "fracking" operations – where water and chemicals are injected into rocks at high pressure to extract gas from the cracks."

'via Blog this'

The Sound Waves of Solar Wind Are Beautiful

2011-11-03T10:19:00.000+11:00

The Sound Waves of Solar Wind Are Beautiful

This Future Iceberg Would Be Able to Sink a Thousand Titanics

2011-11-03T10:11:00.000+11:00

This Future Iceberg Would Be Able to Sink a Thousand Titanics: "You're looking at Pine Island Glacier in Antarctica. It pushes more ice to the sea than any other glacier in the world. See that gigantic 18-mile-long canyon? That's the birth point of a new gargantuan iceberg, larger than New York City.

The huge crack has been discovered by NASA's Operation IceBridge team, who took this photo aboard their retrofitted DC-8. The 18-mile-long crack goes as deep as 190 feet at some points and stretches 240 feet wide. It's opening faster than expected and, when it completes the process, scientists expect that it will originate a 300-square-mile iceberg."

'via Blog this'

OWS and the Recovery of Democracy « Jeffrey C. Goldfarb's Deliberately Considered

2011-10-27T22:22:00.000+11:00

OWS and the Recovery of Democracy « Jeffrey C. Goldfarb's Deliberately Considered: Like a whole lot of other people, I am trying to get a handle on Occupy Wall Street. It’s obvious that this is a very special movement, but I am trying to figure out what makes it so special. The one-month-old movement is being accused of being unclear, directionless, fragmented, vague, fuzzy. Indeed, it is not made up of disciplined cadres marching with mass-produced banners. It does not have a Central Committee, and though it is an expression of what one Zuccotti Park woman veteran calls an Economic Civil Rights Movement, it stays away from specific demands. These are there, too, but not easy to list or prioritize. It is not just about jobs, not only about mounting poverty, or student debts that now total more than all our credit-card debts; it is not only about corruptibility of the political system, and not only about accountability of the banks and bankers. It is – not unlike the Civil Rights Movement – about something much more fundamental. And I think it has something to do with the way we are locked in to rigid ways of thinking and talking about democracy.

A Ranch With Room for Cattle and Capybara - NYTimes.com

2011-10-27T07:21:00.000+11:00

A Ranch With Room for Cattle and Capybara - NYTimes.com: Here’s a Dot Earth Postcard from Rhett Butler, the founder of the essential Mongabay.com blog tracking issues related to conserving forests and biological diversity worldwide. Butler took the images above while visiting a ranch in Colombia that is managed to accommodate both livestock and wildlife. Whether in South America, the Adirondacks, the Serengeti or Asia, there’s enormous logic in finding ways to mesh human livelihoods and wildlife that don’t involve fences. The card was prompted indirectly by my recent coverage of raids of Gibson Guitar facilities under environmental laws. His dispatch is below (I’ve added some contextual links):

I’m writing from Casanare in eastern Colombia. The region is known for the llanos, an area of tropical savanna that could be described as a cross between two ecosystems in South America: t

Best of the ABC

2011-10-23T07:47:00.000+11:00

You must watch 'Riot of wildflowers'. It is rather beautiful.

Best of the ABC:

'via Blog this'

Water Appears to be Plentiful in Solar System and Beyond - Kenneth Chamberlain - NationalJournal.com

2011-10-22T22:59:00.000+11:00

Water Appears to be Plentiful in Solar System and Beyond - Kenneth Chamberlain - NationalJournal.com: "Water, it turns out, is not just common on Earth and throughout the solar system, but apparently in other solar systems as well.
NASA released evidence Thursday from the Herschel Space Observatory that a vast ocean of water vapor is enveloping a nearby disk of dust that surrounds a young star.
Although scientists previously have found evidence of warm water near developing stars, this is the first time water vapor has been found out towards the cold edge of the star's dust disk, which will eventually become planets. The water in this region may eventually form comets, which will rain down on young planets, seeding their future oceans."

'via Blog this'

"The Three of us" or "Family"

2011-10-22T01:33:00.002+11:00

Critical diagnosis: pharmacists put credibility on the line

2011-10-22T01:32:00.000+11:00

Critical diagnosis: pharmacists put credibility on the line: "After a 'pills and fries' PR disaster, another deal risks public trust, writes Mark Metherell.

For years pharmacists have scored first or second in the rankings for most trusted profession.

The presence in every suburb of a health professional able to offer qualified advice at no direct cost, appeared to trump any mutterings about higher prices flowing from their monopoly status."

'via Blog this'

America today

2011-10-21T04:23:00.000+11:00

Lincoln points Obama to the high ground - The Washington Post

2011-10-21T04:16:00.000+11:00

Lincoln points Obama to the high ground - The Washington Post: Can President Obama take advantage of the egalitarian sentiment let loose in the country by the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations? Would doing so be consistent with the moderate, conciliatory persona he has cultivated?

The best response comes not from polls but from history. Eric Foner’s magnificent book on Abraham Lincoln’s evolving views on the slavery question, “The Fiery Trial,” offers some surprisingly relevant lessons.

Space 'snakes' revealed in first images - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

2011-10-07T05:52:00.000+11:00

Space 'snakes' revealed in first images - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation): "Astronomers have produced the first images of gas "snakes" spiralling in the Milky Way.

The pictures are of the swirling and churning gas that makes up the interstellar space of our galaxy.

A group of universities has taken 10 years to map the images from radio waves recorded 12 years ago.

Scientists have been trying to capture the image for more than 30 years.

"Understanding the dynamics of this turbulence has been one of the last great unsolved problems of physics," said Professor Bryan Gaensler from the of the University of Sydney.

"Turbulence is everywhere, in your coffee cup, around airplanes and in space."

'via Blog this'

Denmark levies world's first fat tax - Yahoo! News

2011-10-02T03:39:00.001+11:00

Denmark levies world's first fat tax - Yahoo! News: Denmark on Saturday became the first country in the world to impose a fat tax after a week in which consumers hoarded butter, pizza, meat and milk to avoid the immediate effects.

"We have had to stock up with tonnes of butter and margarine in order to be able to supply outlets," Soeren Joergensen of Arla Distribution told AFP.

The new tax, designed by Denmark’s outgoing government as a health issue to limit the population’s intake of fatty foods, will add 16 kroner ($2.87, 2.15 euros) per kilo (2.2 pounds) of saturated fats in a product.

Reporter threatens to identify News hackers

2011-10-02T03:39:00.000+11:00

Reporter threatens to identify News hackers: A REPORTER who was among the 16 people arrested and then freed on bail in the phone hacking case that has shaken Rupert Murdoch's media empire has warned that he planned to name those responsible in a civil court case.

Neville Thurlbeck, 49, who was chief reporter for the now-defunct tabloid News of the World, gave the warning in a statement issued through his lawyers in connection with his wrongful-dismissal lawsuit against News International, the British newspaper arm of Mr Murdoch's News Corp.

Thurlbeck was one of the first people arrested in a renewed investigation of the phone hacking this year, but he has denied having played any part in the illegal interception of mobile phone voicemails.

Denmark levies world's first fat tax - Yahoo! News

2011-10-02T03:38:00.000+11:00

Denmark levies world's first fat tax - Yahoo! News

Dick Cheney's Wars: The Former Vice President on 9/11, Iraq and the Future - WSJ.com

2011-08-31T12:42:00.000+10:00

Dick Cheney's Wars: The Former Vice President on 9/11, Iraq and the Future - WSJ.com

Running in the red: How the U.S., on the road to surplus, detoured to massive debt - The Washington Post

2011-08-08T09:27:00.000+10:00

Running in the red: How the U.S., on the road to surplus, detoured to massive debt - The Washington Post: "The nation’s unnerving descent into debt began a decade ago with a choice, not a crisis.
In January 2001, with the budget balanced and clear sailing ahead, the Congressional Budget Office forecast ever-larger annual surpluses indefinitely. The outlook was so rosy, the CBO said, that Washington would have enough money by the end of the decade to pay off everything it owed.
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From surplus to debt
Video
Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner discusses the U.S. budget deficit. Geithner, speaking with Peter Cook on Bloomberg Television's ‘’In the Loop,’’ also discusses banking regulation and the European debt crisis. (April 19)
More on this Story
Running in the red: How the U.S. detoured to massive debt
Gallery: Battle over the budget
Budget, debt ceiling glossary: A guide to the debate
Video: Geithner urges enforcement on enforceable limits
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More Democrats threaten to vote against raising borrowing limitTreasury quietly plans for failure to raise debt ceilingWhat’s the debt ceiling and why do people care?
Running in the red
Part 2: How the GOP’s no-tax orthodoxy came to be
Voices of caution were swept aside in the rush to take advantage of the apparent bounty."

Search engines replacing memory, study shows - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

2011-07-16T05:36:00.000+10:00

Search engines replacing memory, study shows - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation): "It's official. The internet has become part of our extended intelligence, and we are coming to depend on it.

For most of us, the answer to just about anything is a few keystrokes away, and relying on the internet as a quick fact-checking tool is becoming more and more commonplace.

Columbia University's Betsy Sparrow and her colleagues looked into the trend and have provided evidence that our minds have become primed to look at the internet when we want to find the answer to a question."

McClatchy blog: Planet Washington

2011-07-13T08:06:00.000+10:00

McClatchy blog: Planet Washington: "President Obama says he can't guarantee Social Security checks if the U.S. defaults
Interviewed today by CBS News, President Obama said the federal government wouldn't be able to promise it could cut checks for Social Security payments if leaders don't reach an agreement to lift the debt ceiling.

'Can you tell the folks at home that the Social Security checks are going to go out on August the 3rd,' reporter Scott Pelley asked. 'There are about $20 billion worth of Social Security checks that have to go out the day after the government is supposedly going to go into default.”"

News without ethics: media the Murdoch way - The Drum Opinion (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

2011-07-12T15:17:00.000+10:00

News without ethics: media the Murdoch way - The Drum Opinion (Australian Broadcasting Corporation): "Fish rot from the head down. So do unethical businesses and corrupt societies. This is as true when the fish is an unethical business as one of the arm of liberal democratic government – executive, judicial or legislative. It is also true of the fourth estate or free press, the often forgotten power-centre that is the key to a functioning democracy.

Revelations that Rupert Murdoch’s tabloid The News of the World was bribing police and listening to, and ever interfering with, the phone messages of average British citizens struck by tragedy – including the parents of murdered schoolgirls and relatives of those killed in the London underground bombings - has sparked a revolt by UK citizens and consumers of News media around the world.

After nearly six years of senior News executives claiming that the scandal was contained to the tabloid and a few rogue hirelings, the paper has been shut down from this week. Around 160 jobs have been lost, though Rebekah Brooks, chief executive of News International and editor of the News of the World when phones were being hacked, has managed to keep her post and boss Rupert Murdoch's favour."

Obama Says Last Space Shuttle Launch Ends One Era, But Opens Another | President Obama & NASA | Final Shuttle Mission & Atlantis STS-135 Flight | Space.com

2011-07-11T08:02:00.000+10:00

Obama Says Last Space Shuttle Launch Ends One Era, But Opens Another | President Obama & NASA | Final Shuttle Mission & Atlantis STS-135 Flight | Space.com: "President Barack Obama lauded NASA's final space shuttle launch Friday (July 8), saying that the blastoff marks the end of one chapter of human spaceflight, but also the start of a new one.

'Today's launch may mark the final flight of the Space Shuttle, but it propels us into the next era of our never-ending adventure to push the very frontiers of exploration and discovery in space,' Obama said in a statement.

Atlantis launched into space at 11:29 a.m. EDT (1529 GMT) from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, marking the final flight of the space shuttle program, which NASA is shutting down after 30 years of spaceflight. The shuttle is carrying four astronauts on a 12-day delivery mission to the International Space Station."

Clinton Calls on Obama Not to 'Blink' on Debt-Ceiling Deal with GOP - Ronald Brownstein - NationalJournal.com

2011-07-04T18:53:00.000+10:00

Clinton Calls on Obama Not to 'Blink' on Debt-Ceiling Deal with GOP - Ronald Brownstein - NationalJournal.com: "ASPEN, Colo.—Former President Clinton on Saturday night urged President Obama not to “blink” at Republican demands to exclude revenue increases from any agreement to extend the government’s debt ceiling.
If Republicans maintain their opposition to revenue increases, Clinton said, Obama should pursue a short-term deal to extend the debt ceiling based on spending cuts both sides have already accepted in the negotiations between the administration and congressional leaders from both parties"

10 Reasons to Be Stoked True Blood Is Back

2011-06-27T12:09:00.000+10:00

10 Reasons to Be Stoked True Blood Is Back: "Vampires, werewolves, maenads, shape-shifters, weird panther-type creatures and now witches -- True Blood has them all. The show, which begins its fourth season Sunday on HBO, is quickly amassing every manner of nonhuman in its menagerie of otherworldly characters."

Obama gave commanders leeway on Afghan pullout

2011-06-27T12:00:00.000+10:00

Obama gave commanders leeway on Afghan pullout: "

In promising a U.S. military pullout from Afghanistan will begin in July, President Barack Obama is permitting his commanders to decide critical details, including the number of troops to depart first and whether any of those will be combat forces, administration and military officials said Sunday.

Internal reform won't fix Labor's crisis | The Australian

2011-06-15T10:08:00.001+10:00

Internal reform won't fix Labor's crisis The Australian: "LABOR veteran John Faulkner is right to argue the party faces political eclipse unless it achieves meaningful internal reform - but his agenda is neither the most urgent nor most important test facing the party. The Labor Party confronts a governing crisis. And it is the governing crisis that counts. This crisis, while related to the internal reforms demanded by Faulkner, transcends them and is more complex. Indeed, it would be nice to think such internal reform would solve the bigger problem but that is not believable"

Project aims to boost wetlands' health - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

2011-06-06T09:15:00.000+10:00

Project aims to boost wetlands' health - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation): "Work will start soon on a $87 million project to improve the efficiency of the River Murray wetlands in South Australia.

Federal and state Water Ministers have announced the plan.

An inquiry led by Independent MP Tony Windsor last week called for an immediate end to non-strategic water buybacks."

Socceroos head to Melbourne on a high - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

2011-06-06T09:07:00.000+10:00

Socceroos head to Melbourne on a high - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation): "The Socceroos will head into Tuesday's clash with Serbia full of confidence after a makeshift side proved too strong for New Zealand in a 3-0 win at Adelaide Oval on Sunday.

Australia coach Holger Osieck was encouraged about the future after a host of fringe players stepped in for absent stars Lucas Neill, Tim Cahill, Harry Kewell and Mark Schwarzer with a solid performance.

Returning striker Josh Kennedy scored a double while young gun James Troisi marked a rare start with his first international goal in front of his hometown crowd."

History-maker Li wins French Open - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

2011-06-05T08:03:00.000+10:00

History-maker Li wins French Open - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation): "Li Na made sporting history at the French Open on Sunday morningwhen she became the first player from China to win a major singles title.

The 29-year-old from Wuhan defeated defending champion Francesca Schiavone of Italy 6-4, 7-6 (7-0) to take her place in the pantheon of Chinese sports stars.

Li clinched the watershed win with a superb 7-0 tie-break performance in the second set, falling onto her back in the red dirt when Schiavone hit long on match point"

Thousands protest against coal seam gas drilling - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

2011-05-30T06:35:00.000+10:00

Thousands protest against coal seam gas drilling - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation): "Organisers of two beachside protests in New South Wales say they have sent a clear message against the coal seam gas mining industry.

They say more than 2,000 people gathered for a vocal protest to spell out 'No CSG' on Byron Bay's main beach.

Around 1,500 people held a separate but similar protest on Austinmer Beach, north of Wollongong, to spell out 'Stop Coal Seam Gas'.

Apex Energy has been given permission to drill 15 wells in the region."

BBC News - China auction sees Qi Baishi painting sell for $65m

2011-05-24T09:59:00.000+10:00

BBC News - China auction sees Qi Baishi painting sell for $65m: "A modern Chinese painting has been sold at auction in Beijing for more than $65m (£40m).

The picture by the artist Qi Baishi depicts an eagle on a pine tree, surrounded by two calligraphy scrolls

The high price paid for the painting shows the strength of the art market in the world's second-largest economy.

According to one survey China overtook the US last year to become the most valuable art market in the world, accounting for 33% of total sales."

When push comes to carbon shove | Alan Kohler | Commentary | Business Spectator

2011-05-23T14:37:00.000+10:00

When push comes to carbon shove | Alan Kohler | Commentary | Business Spectator: "It won’t happen before the next election, but what we need is a combination of the climate change policies of the Gillard government and the Opposition.

That is, what’s required for Australia to make any kind of smooth transition away from coal-fired electricity generation is both a price on carbon and an industry policy that involves extra money from the budget, as proposed by the Coalition.

What we have instead are two political parties using each of these policies to fight a desperate war – one to survive, the other to prevail. The result is that each side of politics ridicules as utterly hopeless one of the two policies that are needed in combination."

200 years since Australia put on the map - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

2011-05-23T13:45:00.000+10:00

200 years since Australia put on the map - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation): "Hundreds of history buffs are descending on the NSW State Library as it marks 200 years to the day since the first map of Australia's coastline was published.

Matthew Flinders, the first person to circumnavigate Australia, was also the first to map its coastline, however the first published map was produced by French naturalist Nicolas Baudin.

The two crossed paths during their long voyage around the coastline, meeting unexpectedly in the waters of Encounter Bay near Victor Harbor in South Australia."

Cartoons | National Times

2011-05-23T12:33:00.000+10:00

Cartoons | National Times

yfrog Photo : http://yfrog.com/gya022j Shared by yfrogPics

2011-05-21T18:59:00.000+10:00

yfrog Photo : http://yfrog.com/gya022j Shared by yfrogPics

How a Gas- and Oil-Rich Area of Montana Wilderness Was Saved From Drilling | Environment | AlterNet

2011-05-11T13:44:00.000+10:00

How a Gas- and Oil-Rich Area of Montana Wilderness Was Saved From Drilling | Environment | AlterNet: "May 5, 2011 |

Chief Mountain is another sacred place to the Blackfeet, and the tribal council has banned development—including oil and gas—within five miles of the place. Gary Comes At Night, a Bureau of Land Management inspector for the tribe, says that everyone “is on the same page” when it comes to protecting archeological sites.
Photo Credit: Andrea Peacock

BROWNING, MT -- Nowhere in the West does the rolling sea of the high plains meet the mountains with such dramatic effect as in northwestern Montana. State Highway 2 stretches through the northern Hi-Line for miles of coulees and intermittent creeks, antelope, buffalo and Plains Indian country, crossing the seemingly endless, expansive prairie that gives the Big Sky Country its name, before crashing abruptly into the Rocky Mountain Front. A patchwork of national park and national forests, reservation and rangeland, the"

NASA concludes Gravity Probe B space-time experiment, proves Einstein really was a genius

2011-05-09T09:12:00.000+10:00

NASA concludes Gravity Probe B space-time experiment, proves Einstein really was a genius: "

Well, it looks like Einstein knew what he was talking about, after all. Earlier this week, researchers at NASA and Stanford released the findings from their six-year Gravity Probe B (GP-B) mission, launched to test Einstein's general theory of relativity. To do so, engineers strapped the GP-B satellite with four ultra-precise gyroscopes to measure two pillars of the theory: the geodetic effect (the bending of space and time around a gravitational body) and frame dragging (the extent to which rotating bodies drag space and time with them as they spin on their axes). As they circled the Earth in polar orbit, the GP-B's gyroscopes were pointed squarely at the IM Pegasi guide star, while engineers observed their behavior. In the universe outlined by Einstein's theories, space and time are interwoven to create a four-dimensional web, atop which the Earth and other planetary bodies sit. The Earth's mass, he argued, creates a vortex in this web, implying that all objects orbiting the planet would follow the general curvature of this dimple. If the Earth's gravity had no effect on space and time, then, the position of NASA's gyroscopes would have remained unchanged throughout the orbit. Ultimately, though, researchers noticed small, but quantifiable changes in their spin as they made their way around the globe -- changes that corroborated Einstein's theory. Francis Everitt, a Stanford physicist and principal investigator for the mission, poetically explained the significance of the findings, in a statement:

'Imagine the Earth as if it were immersed in honey. As the planet rotated its axis and orbited the Sun, the honey around it would warp and swirl, and it's the same with space and time. GP-B confirmed two of the most profound predictions of Einstein's universe, having far-reaching implications across astrophysics research. Likewise, the decades of technological innovation behind the mission will have a lasting legacy on Earth and in space.'

The GP-B mission was originally conceived more than 50 years ago, when the technology required to realize the experiment still didn't exist. In fact, the experiment didn't actually get off the ground until 2004, when the satellite was launched into orbit 400 miles above Earth. After spending just one year collecting data (and an impressive five years analyzing the information), NASA has finally confirmed something we always quietly suspected: Einstein was smart. Head past the break to see a more in-depth diagram of how the GP-B gathered its data.

Continue reading NASA concludes Gravity Probe B space-time experiment, proves Einstein really was a genius

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Google Reader (1000+)

2011-05-07T15:39:00.000+10:00

Google Reader (1000+): "Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's ultimatum widens rift between leaders and increases pressure on president

An unprecedented power struggle at the heart of the Iranian regime has intensified after it emerged that the supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, had given an ultimatum to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to accept his intervention in a cabinet appointment or resign.

A member of the Iranian parliament, Morteza Agha-Tehrani – who is described as 'Ahmadinejad's moral adviser' – told a gathering of his supporters on Friday that a meeting between Ahmadinejad and Khamenei had recently taken place, in which the president was given a deadline to resign or to accept the decision of the ayatollah."

Some black holes may be older than time - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

2011-05-06T18:55:00.000+10:00

Some black holes may be older than time - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation): "An intriguing new hypothesis suggests some black holes could have formed before the formation of our universe.

The work by Professor Bernard Carr from Queen Mary University in London and Professor Alan Coley from Canada's Dalhousie University, examines a cosmology in which the universe goes through cycles of birth and death.

According to their work published on the pre-press website arXiv.org, some black holes could be remnants of a previous universe that collapsed in a big crunch and was then reborn in the big bang - 13.7 billion years ago."

Where wrong is right and false is true: The inverted moral world of the American Right

2011-04-28T09:16:00.000+10:00

Where wrong is right and false is true: The inverted moral world of the American Right: "

Click here to view this media

Digby, commenting on Rick Perlstein's marvelous piece in Mother Jones on the rise of our current 'mendocracy' and the legitimation of lying by the modern media, added this:

This history provides an important foundation for my ongoing quest to understand the right's ability to operate without the constraints of hypocrisy or consistency in an environment of epistemic relativism so extreme that we end up believing that wrong is right. It's literally mind-boggling.

There are a couple of mechanisms by which this is occurring. An example of the first kind was this truly mind-boggling exchange between Monica Crowley and Stuart Varney the other day on Fox News, wherein Crowley leapt upon the recent releases of intelligence from Guantanamo via WikiLeaks to declare that they established once and for all that, by golly, torture really did work!

VARNEY: I want your judgment. Do you think President Obama would order it done?

CROWLEY: I think if there were an imminent threat, the commander in chief, regardless of who it was, would order it done, yes.

VARNEY: And you think it should be done.

CROWLEY: I absolutely think it should be done. Listen, the commander-in-chief has one job, and that's to protect American lives. You need to do what's necessary when faced with an imminent threat to do it.

Nevermind that Crowley's evidence that torture works is dubious at best. But it's breathtaking how quickly Crowley and Varney leap over the question: If torture works, should you do it?

What seems not to cross either Crowley's or Varney's minds is the notion that the president might have a higher calling to the nation than simply keeping Americans alive -- that preserving the Constitution and, concomitantly, both our long-term security and our standing in the world as a moral beacon, might be such a higher purpose. The president has an obligation not to make America into a nation of torturers, too. (Of course, it's worth observing that the previous president -- an object of ardent admiration by both these pundits -- not only had a disastrous record on this latter obligation, he was also an abject failure in terms of preserving American lives, too.)

This really is a simple and clear moral issue: Does America torture or not? It is not just a cliche but a great truth that 'the torturer is the enemy of all mankind'. Which side are we on?

But in the inverted moral world of conservatives, that is not even an issue. All that is at stake for them is criticizing any liberal politician or policy and ardently defending any conservative or Republican. That's their moral compass.

This same imperative is what drives the second mechanism by which the Right's world is turned inside out. And that is a simple and uncomplicated refusal to accepts facts as realities and to embrace lies in their place -- if those lies burnish the emotional narratives upon which the Right ultimately relies for its appeal.

This is manifest particularly in the case of the Birthers, who are singularly immune to fact, logic, reason, or rationality, and ultimately reality. Instead, they've built their little bubble world and nothing, NOTHING will draw them out.

Here's Michelangelo Signorile dealing with a Birther on his radio show the other day, which provides a classic example of this:

Click here to view this media

This is why President Obama's release this morning of his long-form birth certificate will not be the air-clearing catharsis he hopes it will be -- it's just the beginning of the next phase in the Birthers' conspiracism.

Because the overriding narrative in all this is what matters to these folks -- namely, that Barack Obama is not a legitimate president.

They absolutely need to believe this, you see, because these folks are all right-wing authoritarians. As I've explained previously:

Right-wing populism is always fueled and populated by right-wing authoritarians -- people who believe that the nation/state needs strong rulers and that it's the duty of citizens to obey them assiduously. This why they suffer so much cognitive dissonance when the nation's top authority is a Democrat/liberal/socialist/Marxist/fascist -- and why their first impulse, in such situations, is to embark on a vicious campaign of delegitimization (see, e.g., Bill Clinton). It's why they basically go insane.

And it's true not merely of the Tea Partiers, but of Beltway Village Establishment conservatives too:

Nothing Obama does will ever satisfy the likes of Liz Cheney. Right-wing authoritarians believe above all in bowing and adhering to those in authority -- and the thought of bowing to a Democratic president, liberal or otherwise, as a legitimate president is too much cognitive dissonance for them to handle.

So they turn the world upside down: Torture is hunky-dory, truth is falsehood, facts are fiction. It's the only way they can continue to cling to a worldview that constantly runs aground on the hard shoals of reality.

Fatah, Hamas in unity govt 'understanding' - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

2011-04-28T09:07:00.000+10:00

Fatah, Hamas in unity govt 'understanding' - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation): "Rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah have reportedly reached a landmark agreement to settle their differences and set up a transitional government ahead of elections in Gaza and the West Bank.

The two factions have been in conflict for four years, leaving Hamas in power in Gaza and Fatah in the West Bank.

But protests in both Palestinian territories last month helped bring pressure on both sides to reconcile.

The deal will see an interim unity government formed until Palestinian elections can be held later this year.

Most Palestinians believe the long-running split has undermined the chances of a peace deal with Israel.

And yet Israel refuses to negotiate with Hamas, which it and many western nations regard as a terrorist organisation.

The Israeli prime minister has told Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas he cannot have peace with both Israel and Hamas."

Coffee Joulies: Keep Your Coffee or Tea Hot For Hours

2011-04-28T08:40:00.000+10:00

Coffee Joulies: Keep Your Coffee or Tea Hot For Hours: "

When I first saw this, I thought for sure it was a belated April Fool's joke. Over-sized metal coffee beans that can keep your coffee at perfect temperature for hours without reheating? Yeah, right. But believe it or not, these magic beans are real.

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Roll cloud spotted over Toronto

2011-04-25T09:45:00.000+10:00

Roll cloud spotted over Toronto: "

A rare roll cloud was spotted over Toronto yesterday evening. We don't normally post about weather — unless it's extreme — but given how spooky-looking these things are, I'll break that rule. Formed by downdrafts associated with thunderstorms, these clouds detach from those around them and appear to "roll" slowly around a horizontal axis. Although they look like tornadoes turned horizontal, they're not actually dangerous (nor will they suddenly turn vertical).

Nevertheless, they're damn cool looking. That is all.

Update (April 24th):

Here are some very cool photos from Billybee57 on Flickr, who caught the cloud just as it arrived at Toronto's skyline.

Photos one and two by dieburg401 and Jim Bartlett, respectively.

Daily Kos: Tea party fizzle across the nation

2011-04-19T11:27:00.000+10:00

Daily Kos: Tea party fizzle across the nation: "Politicians, political operatives and members of the media came close to outnumbering attendees at a much-hyped Columbia, S.C. Tea Party rally starring U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann and S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley on Monday.
Only 300 people (including a horde of Palmetto political operatives) attended the event in downtown Columbia, S.C. – which is a generous estimate in our book. That attendance figure – confirmed by other media outlets – amounts to less than one-tenth the size of multiple crowds that have gathered at the S.C. State House in recent years in support of parental choice.

It’s also roughly a tenth the size of the crowd that attended this same event in 2009."

BBC - Earth News - Humpback whale song spreads to other whales

2011-04-18T23:11:00.001+10:00

BBC - Earth News - Humpback whale song spreads to other whales: "Recordings of male humpback whales have shown that their haunting songs spread through the ocean to other whales.

Researchers in Australia listened to hundreds of hours of recordings gathered over more than a decade.

These revealed how a specific song pattern, which originated in Eastern Australia, had passed 'like Chinese whispers' to whale populations up to 6,000km away in French Polynesia.

The findings are reported in the journal Current Biology."

The Value of an Educated Mind in a High-Tech World | Truthout

2011-04-14T09:57:00.000+10:00

The Value of an Educated Mind in a High-Tech World Truthout: "And now for something completely different. About 15 years ago, before I became a regular columnist, The New York Times asked me and other people to contribute to a special edition celebrating the 100th anniversary of its Sunday magazine. The stated rule was that the pieces should be written as if submitted in 2096, looking back at the magazine’s second century."

Two Clouded Leopards Born at Zoo’s Virginia Campus, April 2011 - National Zoo| FONZ

2011-04-13T18:04:00.000+10:00

Two Clouded Leopards Born at Zoo’s Virginia Campus, April 2011 - National Zoo| FONZ: "A female clouded leopard at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (SCBI) in Front Royal, Virginia, gave birth to a litter of two cubs Monday, March 28. Staff had been on a pregnancy watch of the two-year-old Sita for one day. Sita gave birth to the first cub at 1:15 p.m. and the second cub at 1:25 p.m. The male cub weighed 9.48 ounces and the female cub weighed 7.76 ounces. This is the first litter for Sita, who came from the Nashville Zoo, and the father, two-year-old Ta Moon. The cubs are being hand-reared by SCBI staff."

US Heading For New Financial Meltdown

2011-04-07T11:39:00.000+10:00

US Heading For New Financial Meltdown: "The man who brought us the global financial crisis, Alan Greenspan, has spoken out on how to fix the system. Of all the advice he might give, he has given the most unexpected. In essence, he has said: 'Don't even try.'

In one of the most remarkable statements of our time, the former chairman of the US Federal Reserve has argued that it is inherently impossible to usefully regulate a modern financial system, telling us to relax because 'the global invisible hand' of the free market has created a stable economy over the longer run."