It's one of the last untapped energy sources, and one in which the United States the world. It's not just renewable, but almost impossible to get rid of. We're talking about fat. At about 3,500 calories to the pound, a 300-pound American contains the energy equivalent in fat of roughly 15 gallons of gasoline. How long will we let this resource go unused?
OK, no one is proposing drilling fat people for fuel. But when most of us are looking over our shoulders at our carbon footprints, the obese seem a, well, fat target. Americans persist in the belief that it's fat people who consume more than their share of resources, rather than, say, movie stars flying private jets to Cannes. And since existing social disincentives to obesity haven't worked, people keep suggesting ways to enhance them, including weight surcharges for airplane tickets and higher rates for medical insurance.
It is indisputable that heavy people are more expensive to fly. A study concluded that the 10 pounds Americans gained on average during the 1990s required an additional 350 million gallons of fuel a year. But as much as the airlines could use the revenue, it's highly unlikely they will start charging passengers by weight, according to a spokesman for the Air Transport Association. Peggy Howell, of the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance, agrees. "I don't believe people are willing to stand on a scale in public," she says. She happens to weigh 300 pounds, but points out that even thin people would probably object. One of the few experts who endorse a penalty for fat fliers is Laurie Zoloth, who heads the bioethics center at Northwestern University—but for her it's a question of fairness to the person in the next seat, rather than carbon emissions. In fact, Southwest Airlines already requires passengers who can't fit in a seat without raising the armrest to pay for two seats. (The extra cost applies only if the flight is oversold.)
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
A Native American Family Fights Against Hair Length Rules
When five-year-old Adriel Arocha ran afoul of the Needville school district, getting cut off wasn't an option for his parents
Five-year-old Adriel Arocha has been mistakenly called a pretty girl.
"No, I'm a boy," Adriel told one stranger. "I have a penis."
Adriel's long, ink-black hair caused the confusion. He's never had a haircut.
His father, Kenney Arocha, is part Native American. He teaches spiritual beliefs to his son that his grandfather and uncles taught to him. Michelle Betenbaugh, Arocha's wife and Adriel's mother, isn't Native American, but she supports raising her son as such.
"I'm an Indian," Adriel says. "How long my hair is, it tells me how long I've been here."
Currently living in Stafford, Arocha plans to move his family to Needville, a town of about 3,000 residents, 40 miles southwest of Houston. The family owns about 50 acres in Needville, and Arocha and Betenbaugh want to turn the land into a sustainable farm, teaching Adriel where food comes from and the importance of conservation.
"We like the idea of trying to minimize our impact," Arocha says.
Adriel's parents want to enroll him at Needville Elementary School. Betenbaugh sent an e-mail to the principal, asking about kindergarten and explaining Adriel's long hair. The principal replied that the district doesn't allow long hair on boys.
On June 9, the family met with Curtis Rhodes, the Needville superintendent. Rhodes asked what religion upheld that Adriel could not cut his hair. The family explained there wasn't a church or doctrine they followed, but they believe that Adriel's hair is sacred.
Arocha said that his belief is to cut his hair after life-changing events, such as mourning the death of someone he loves.
Rhodes told the family Adriel's hair would have to go.
"I've got a lot of friends that are Native-American Indians from Oklahoma, South Dakota, lot of places, some over in Louisiana in the Choctaw Nation, and they all cut their hair," Rhodes says. "We're not going to succumb to everything and just wash away our policies and procedures."
Since the meeting, Arocha and Betenbaugh have been preparing to fight Rhodes and the school district. The family contacted the American Indian Movement, which has offered to speak to district officials. They also contacted the American Civil Liberties Union, which is deciding whether to take the case.
Five-year-old Adriel Arocha has been mistakenly called a pretty girl.
"No, I'm a boy," Adriel told one stranger. "I have a penis."
Adriel's long, ink-black hair caused the confusion. He's never had a haircut.
His father, Kenney Arocha, is part Native American. He teaches spiritual beliefs to his son that his grandfather and uncles taught to him. Michelle Betenbaugh, Arocha's wife and Adriel's mother, isn't Native American, but she supports raising her son as such.
"I'm an Indian," Adriel says. "How long my hair is, it tells me how long I've been here."
Currently living in Stafford, Arocha plans to move his family to Needville, a town of about 3,000 residents, 40 miles southwest of Houston. The family owns about 50 acres in Needville, and Arocha and Betenbaugh want to turn the land into a sustainable farm, teaching Adriel where food comes from and the importance of conservation.
"We like the idea of trying to minimize our impact," Arocha says.
Adriel's parents want to enroll him at Needville Elementary School. Betenbaugh sent an e-mail to the principal, asking about kindergarten and explaining Adriel's long hair. The principal replied that the district doesn't allow long hair on boys.
On June 9, the family met with Curtis Rhodes, the Needville superintendent. Rhodes asked what religion upheld that Adriel could not cut his hair. The family explained there wasn't a church or doctrine they followed, but they believe that Adriel's hair is sacred.
Arocha said that his belief is to cut his hair after life-changing events, such as mourning the death of someone he loves.
Rhodes told the family Adriel's hair would have to go.
"I've got a lot of friends that are Native-American Indians from Oklahoma, South Dakota, lot of places, some over in Louisiana in the Choctaw Nation, and they all cut their hair," Rhodes says. "We're not going to succumb to everything and just wash away our policies and procedures."
Since the meeting, Arocha and Betenbaugh have been preparing to fight Rhodes and the school district. The family contacted the American Indian Movement, which has offered to speak to district officials. They also contacted the American Civil Liberties Union, which is deciding whether to take the case.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Humans Predicted to Contact Extraterrestrial Civilization
Some leading astronomers are quite confident that mankind will make contact with intelligent alien life within two decades. The search for extraterrestrial life will leap forward next year when NASA launches the Kepler space telescope.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Monday, July 28, 2008
Wild orangutans treat pain with natural anti-inflammatory
Four individuals have been seen rubbing a soothing balm onto their limbs, the first known examples of orangutans self medicating. Great apes have never before been seen using drugs in this way. Remarkably though, local people use the same balm, administering it in a similar way to treat aches and pains.
Primatologist Helen Morrogh-Bernard, of the University of Cambridge, UK, made the discovery while studying Bornean orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus) in the Sabangau Peat Swamp Forest in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia.
In 2005, she witnessed an adult female pick a handful of leaves from a plant and then chew them, mixing the leaves with her saliva to produce a green-white lather. The female then scooped up some of the lather with her right hand and applied it up and down the back of her left arm, from the base of the shoulder to the wrist, just as a person would apply sunscreen.
"She was concentrating on her arm only and was methodical in the way she was applying the soapy foam," says Morrogh-Bernard. "I knew this must be some form of self-medication."
After using the leaves, the orangutan dropped them, allowing Morrogh-Bernard and her assistant to find out what they were. The leaves belong to a genus called Commelina, a group of plants that orangutans do not eat as part of their normal diet. However, local indigenous people know the plant well, grinding it into a balm and applying it to their skin to treat muscular pain, sore bones and swellings
DOJ fired "outstanding" attorney because she was a lesbian
Today’s Office of Professional Responsibility report confirms that Goodling, a graduate of Pat Robertson’s Regent University, did discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation. In the case described by the report, Goodling stalled an assistant U.S. attorney’s advancement because of rumors of a gay relationship with her superior, a U.S. attorney.
As the report notes, the assistant U.S. attorney (AUSA) received “outstanding” performance reviews, the highest possible rating, and was subsequently granted a work extension in 2006. Goodling, however, opposed it. Deputy Director John Nowacki, who supported the extension, described a meeting with Goodling:
Goodling brought up the issue of the attorney’s “relationship in progress” with her U.S. Attorney “and made it clear just that she thought that was inappropriate.”
Several other officials report witnessing the same discrimination from Goodling. When Executive Office for U.S. Attorney Associate Counsel Natalie Voris told Goodling she supported the extension, Goodling “responded that Voris did not know the AUSA as well as she thought she did“:
Voris said that Goodling then told her that the [assistant U.S. attorney] had a homosexual relationship with the U.S. Attorney in the AUSA’s USAO and that the two took trips together at government expense. Voris told us she believes that the AUSA’s alleged sexual orientation was a factor in Goodling’s decision not to extend the detail.
Furthermore, when the assistant U.S. attorney sought a detail in the Office of Violence Against Women, Goodling objected “because it would look like the Department was sanctioning the homosexual relationship.”
The OIG report also implicates Michael Battle, a key figure in the US. Attorney scandal, for sitting on the sidelines. Battle “should have raised concerns about Goodling’s actions with Goodling’s supervisor, Kyle Sampson, the OIG [Office of Inspector General], or OPR,” the report states.
“We concluded that Goodling’s actions violated Department policy and federal law, and constituted misconduct,” the report adds. Both the assistant U.S. attorney and the U.S. attorney denied the relationship.
Muslims attack Christian school in Indonesia
The attack on the Christian school that have taken place not in one of the remote provinces of this most populated Muslim country, but right in its capital - Jakarta - leaving 256 people wounded:
Jakarta (AsiaNews) – Police evacuated the Christian Theological Arastamar Institute (STT SETIA) which is located in an eastern district of the Indonesian capital after it suffered damages during clashes between Christians and Muslims over the week-end. At least 1,500 students were moved to nearby police headquarters and a local Christian-based political party. The situation remains critical and further violence between opposite factions cannot be ruled out.
“The school foundation urged us to intervene to protect people,” said East Jakarta District Police Chief Senior Superintendent. “For this reason we moved everyone out.”Last night hundreds of residents from the village of Kampung Pulo had taken up arms threatening to storm the school after being instigated by an imam at a local mosque who claimed that a bunch of Christian gangsters were coming to “protect” the school after it was attacked on Saturday by a Muslim mob, causing damage to the building and hurting hundreds.
In an attempt to solve the problem East Jakarta District Chief Murdani held a close door meeting with the warring parties to discuss the issue. At the same time though, he said that police would conduct a thorough investigation and check if the school’s legal status was in order and that it respected all building regulations. In case of violations he would issue orders to demolish the unlawful structures.
At present hundreds of agents are guarding the school and have orders to stop any act of violence and disarm people.
You just got to love the "religion" of peace
One third of British Muslim student say it's okay to kill in the name of Islam
ALMOST a third of British Muslim students believe killing in the name of Islam can be justified, according to a poll.
The study also found that two in five Muslims at university support the incorporation of Islamic sharia codes into British law.
The YouGov poll for the Centre for Social Cohesion (CSC) will raise concerns about the extent of campus radicalism. “Significant numbers appear to hold beliefs which contravene democratic values,” said Han-nah Stuart, one of the report’s authors. “These results are deeply embarrassing for those who have said there is no extremism in British universities.”
Scary eh?!
The Coming Prison Meltdown
We're locking up 1 in every 100 American adults—and going bankrupt in the process. Are there alternatives to a total meltdown? Inside America's broken—and broke—prison system.
The number first appeared in headlines earlier this year: Nearly one in four of all prisoners worldwide is incarcerated in America. It was just the latest such statistic. Today, one in nine African American men between the ages of 20 and 34 is locked up. In 1970, our prisons held fewer than 200,000 people; now that number exceeds 1.5 million, and when you add in local jails, it's 2.3 million—1 in 100 American adults. Since the 1980s, we've sat by as the numbers inched higher and our prison system ballooned, swallowing up an ever-larger portion of the citizenry. But do statistics like these, no matter how disturbing, really mean anything anymore? What does it take to get us to sit up and notice?
The answer is so simple: Decriminalize drugs and prostitution
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Art gallery faces court for 'insulting' statue of Jesus
An art gallery is being taken to court for displaying a statue of Jesus with an erection.
The sculpture by controversial artist Terence Koh, was part of an exhibition at the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art in Gateshead.
As well as the Christ sculpture, the exhibition which ran from September 2007 to January this year included other Koh pieces, Mickey Mouse and ET with erections.
A private prosecution has now been launched with legal documents claiming the gallery has both offended public decency and breached Section 5 of the Public Order Act 1986.
The maximum fine for outraging public decency is six months prison and a £5,000 fine. Legal experts say the hearing would be the first test of public decency legislation since the Government scrapped Britain's ancient blasphemy laws in May.
The prosecution has been launched by 40-year-old Emily Mapfuwa, an NHS administrator from Brentwood, Essex. She argues had the statue been of Mohammed rather than Christ, there would have been a far greater outcry.
"I don't think this gallery would insult Muslims in this way, so why Christians?", she asked.
Father Christopher Warren, of the Roman Catholic cathedral of St Mary's in Newcastle upon Tyne, said: "For Christians the image of Jesus is very special and to interpret it in a sexualised way is an affront to what we hold dear."
The Baltic, has been involved in controversy before - police visited in September, about a photography owned by Sir Elton John, of two naked girls, which was later removed.
Koh has also found himself in trouble previously, in 2006 two of his works were withdrawn from an exhibition at the Royal Academy, one of them showing a Virgin Mary with a phallus at a urinal.
The Baltic were unable to comment due to legal proceedings.
Seattle Magazine: The Case For Pot
What do a Seattle cop, an Edmonds travel writer and the ACLU have in common? They all want to legalize marijuana, and not just for medical purposes. As Seattle’s annual Hempfest returns to Myrtle Edward Parks August 16-17, these odd bedfellows are putting Seattle at the center of a national conversation about marijuana reform.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Why it sucks to be a kid in the 21st century
I was watching TV and one of those commercials came on that encourage kids to get out of the house and play. Now that strikes me as bizarre. Things have definitely changed since I was kid. Don't get me wrong, I spent plenty of time watching my share of TV and reading(a little too much time reading sci-fi and comic books according to my mom),but I also spent plenty of time outside. There is such a contrast between life for kids in the fifties and what goes on today.
The first biggest difference is the amount of time that children are supervised now. When we lived in the city I walked the dozen or so blocks to and from school. I didn't ride the bus until Jr. High and after eighth grade I went back to walking. Nary an adult in sight. As you might guess I seldom took a direct route home. We lived in a suburb of Cincinnati called College Hill. If you have been there lately,it is not the place I grew up. Things have changed. Walking home from school I usually hit every drug store on the way home,sometimes to get a phosphate at the soda counter(yes they still had them when I was a kid). I would peruse the the latest comic book arrivals or men's magazines(not porn smart ass).
The one drug store I stopped at on a regular basis was called The Brothers at Brother's Corner at Hamilton avenue and Cedar. The sales clerk and some times soda jerk was an unusual looking homely middle aged woman that wore a severe hairdo, coke bottle glasses and lipstick so red that it bordered on the infrared. But the really creepy thing about her (other than her speech impediment) was that no matter when you went in day or night, Monday thru Saturday (yes in those days stores closed on Sundays) she was there. Later on I found out she had a twin and lived in the up stairs apartment above the drug store. Not only did they dress alike and wear the same make up, they had the same speech impediment. They also had little patience with prepubescent boys.
After the Brothers I would go to Woolworth's. I loved browsing at the Dime store. All of the neat little glass partitioned spaces filled with little objects. Woolworth's had a distinctive smell and all of them had wooden floors that squeaked when you walked. I usually found something I could afford there with the money managed to scrounge from the couch or pennies I picked up on the way. From there I would cross the street to look at the movie posters on the front of the Hollywood Theater. If there was a Monster movie playing that weekend I would start planning my strategy on how to get Mom to let me go(for a dollar you could get in the movie, a medium pop corn and a coke to drink on the way home fished out an icy barrel that made it so cold it made your teeth hurt).
Next stop was Whitey's Variety Store. At Whitey's you could buy Halloween masks in July. Whitey's was a kind of store that doesn't exist anymore. Strange little toys, jimcracks and geegaws. Things that you wind up, things you blew in one end out came an amazing ear shattering sounds. And squirt guns(much to my sisters chagrin). Whitey by the way was really white, I mean like transparent white. He was tall and had a weird high pitched voice. He was very patient with kids, he probably had to be seeing as 90% of his business came from kids.
Next time: The week ends!
The first biggest difference is the amount of time that children are supervised now. When we lived in the city I walked the dozen or so blocks to and from school. I didn't ride the bus until Jr. High and after eighth grade I went back to walking. Nary an adult in sight. As you might guess I seldom took a direct route home. We lived in a suburb of Cincinnati called College Hill. If you have been there lately,it is not the place I grew up. Things have changed. Walking home from school I usually hit every drug store on the way home,sometimes to get a phosphate at the soda counter(yes they still had them when I was a kid). I would peruse the the latest comic book arrivals or men's magazines(not porn smart ass).
The one drug store I stopped at on a regular basis was called The Brothers at Brother's Corner at Hamilton avenue and Cedar. The sales clerk and some times soda jerk was an unusual looking homely middle aged woman that wore a severe hairdo, coke bottle glasses and lipstick so red that it bordered on the infrared. But the really creepy thing about her (other than her speech impediment) was that no matter when you went in day or night, Monday thru Saturday (yes in those days stores closed on Sundays) she was there. Later on I found out she had a twin and lived in the up stairs apartment above the drug store. Not only did they dress alike and wear the same make up, they had the same speech impediment. They also had little patience with prepubescent boys.
After the Brothers I would go to Woolworth's. I loved browsing at the Dime store. All of the neat little glass partitioned spaces filled with little objects. Woolworth's had a distinctive smell and all of them had wooden floors that squeaked when you walked. I usually found something I could afford there with the money managed to scrounge from the couch or pennies I picked up on the way. From there I would cross the street to look at the movie posters on the front of the Hollywood Theater. If there was a Monster movie playing that weekend I would start planning my strategy on how to get Mom to let me go(for a dollar you could get in the movie, a medium pop corn and a coke to drink on the way home fished out an icy barrel that made it so cold it made your teeth hurt).
Next stop was Whitey's Variety Store. At Whitey's you could buy Halloween masks in July. Whitey's was a kind of store that doesn't exist anymore. Strange little toys, jimcracks and geegaws. Things that you wind up, things you blew in one end out came an amazing ear shattering sounds. And squirt guns(much to my sisters chagrin). Whitey by the way was really white, I mean like transparent white. He was tall and had a weird high pitched voice. He was very patient with kids, he probably had to be seeing as 90% of his business came from kids.
Next time: The week ends!
Blogged with the Flock Browser
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Voodoo Dolls terrorize Florida officials
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A menacing voodoo doll with an official's face attached and pins stuck in its body has prompted extra sheriff's protection for city commissioners, Local 6 has learned.Denizac's face was taped to the doll's head and several pins were stuck in its body.Since the discovery, the sheriff's office has increased its presence outside of Denizac's home and those of other commissioners over the weekend.Volusia County deputies said they are trying to ensure the safety of Deltona city commissioners.A commissioner learned of the added security when he found a deputy looking in his recycle bin, Local 6 reported."I feel totally violated. Somebody came into my property," Denizac said during an earlier interview. "For me it’s very difficult."
Cue the Sci-fi Woo Woo music, there's a mutant fungi in Chernobyl that eats radiation
......"Our findings suggest that [the fungi] can capture the energy from radiation and transform it into other forms of energy that can be used for growth," said microbiologist Arturo Casadevall from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine at Yeshiva University in New York, USA.
Fungi are weird, yes. They chow down on everything from decaying plant matter to the more exotic fare of asbestos and jet fuel. But being able to produce their own energy, independent of an actual food source, and use dangerous ionising radiation to boot? That's very new and very exciting, Casadevall says.
In 1999, a robot sent to map the inside of the reactor returned with samples of a particularly black fungi, indicating an abundance of the biological pigment melanin, which also colours your skin.....
Can giant lizards be far behind
Thursday, July 24, 2008
The Pope got himself a Fax machine
Does this mean that god will be communicating with the Pope via fax? Wouldn't email or IM'ing
have been more efficient? I wonder if god uses a Mac? Jesus strikes me more of an Ubuntu kind of guy.
Woman stabs herself during Wiccan ceremony
LEBANON, Ind. - A woman accidentally stabbed herself in the foot with a 3-foot-long sword while performing a Wiccan good luck ritual at a cemetery in central Indiana.
Katherine Gunther, 36, of Lebanon, pierced her left foot with the sword while performing the rite at Oak Hill Cemetery, police said.
Gunther said she was performing the ceremony to give thanks for a recent run of good luck. The ceremony involves the use of candles, incense and driving swords into the ground during the full moon.
Gunther said was aiming to put the sword in the ground, but hit her foot instead.
"It wasn't the first time I performed the ritual, but it was the first time I put a sword through my foot," she said.
Gunther immediately pulled the sword out of her foot, and her companions took her to Witham Memorial Hospital, where she was kept a couple days for treatment.
No charges were filed, police said. The Wiccans were warned that being in the cemetery in the city about 20 miles northwest of Indianapolis after posted visiting hours constitutes trespassing.
Wicca is a nature-based religion based on respect for the earth, nature and the cycle of the seasons.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Apollo 14 astronaut claims Government has made Alien contact - but it has been covered up for 60 years
Edgar Mitchell was the Lunar Module Pilot for Apollo 14
Aliens have contacted humans several times but governments have hidden the truth for 60 years, the sixth man to walk on the moon has claimed.
Apollo 14 astronaut Dr Edgar Mitchell, said he was aware of many UFO visits to Earth during his career with NASA but each one was covered up.
Dr Mitchell, 77, said during a radio interview that sources at the space agency who had had contact with aliens described the beings as 'little people who look strange to us.'
He said supposedly real-life ET's were similar to the traditional image of a small frame, large eyes and head.
Chillingly, he claimed our technology is 'not nearly as sophisticated' as theirs and "had they been hostile", he warned 'we would be been gone by now'.
Dr Mitchell, along with with Apollo 14 commander Alan Shepard, holds the record for the longest ever moon walk, at nine hours and 17 minutes following their 1971 mission.
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