In the next 25 years 'Chances that we'll find ET are pretty good'

Proof of aliens could come within 25 years, scientist says

I wonder why 25 years? Why not 20 years? Heck, why not ten years? Do you ever get the feeling these scientific-types are “shinning us on?” 

“Proof of extraterrestrial intelligence could come within 25 years, an astronomer who works on the search said Sunday.

"I actually think the chances that we'll find ET are pretty good," said Seth Shostak, senior astronomer at the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Institute in Mountain View, Calif., here at the SETIcon convention. "Young people in the audience, I think there's a really good chance you're going to see this happen."

Remember when Pat Robertson told us the world would end in 1982?

With the upcoming disaster film “2012″ and the current hype about Mayan calendars and doomsday predictions, it seems like a good time to put such notions in context.

Most prophets of doom come from a religious perspective, though the secular crowd has caused its share of scares as well. One thing the doomsday scenarios tend to share in common: They don’t come to pass.

Remember when Pat Robertson guaranteed the world was coming to an end in 1982?

“In May 1980, televangelist and Christian Coalition founder Pat Robertson startled and alarmed many when – contrary to Matthew 24:36 (”No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven…”) he informed his “700 Club” TV show audience around the world that he knew when the world would end. “I guarantee you by the end of 1982 there is going to be a judgment on the world,” Robertson said.”

Here are 10 that didn’t pan out, so far:

‘Gentlemen – charge your engines!’ Teams set off on global 'zero emissions' race

Participants will be measured in points for style, technology and popularity

Two drivers, three wheels, $350 and zero carbon emissions.

That's how Australian father-and-son team Nick and Jason Jones hope to circle the globe in their custom built electric vehicle.

The duo joined teams from Germany and Switzerland on Monday for the start of a round-the-world race aimed at showcasing green technologies.

The aim is to complete the 18,642-mile (30,000-kilometer) trip without pumping carbon into the atmosphere, a goal that Louis Palmer, the race organizer, believes can be done.

Teams from Australia, Germany and Switzerland have set off from Geneva for what they hope will be the first carbon neutral race around the world. Participants are using custom built two-seater electric vehicles that will be charged from regular power outlets along the way.

Preparing for economic doomsday: here’s seven rock-solid careers from the Stone Age that deserve consideration

If we end up bombing ourselves back to the Stone Age the survivors are going to have to make a living somehow.

That brings us to this article:

Factory work and dentistry were among jobs of a prehistoric lifetime

If nuclear war, the Great Recession or some other calamity turns the economy back to the Stone Age, what kind of jobs and industries will pay the bills? Archaeologists, for reasons more to do with academic curiosity than preparing for doomsday, have been hard at work looking for an answer.

As It Stands: Atrazine threatens public health like another Agent Orange

By Dave Stancliff/For the Times-Standard

Posted: 08/15/2010 01:32:27 AM PDT

Once upon a time, Agent Orange (AO) and all of its synthetic peers were widely sprayed to kill weeds throughout the land, and overseas where Americans fought in Vietnam. The manufacturers of AO assured the people that all was well. So everyone smiled.

Soon however, dark warnings trickled into the mainstream. Soldiers came back from the bad place with cancers and other terrible diseases. The men and women in the military suffered for years until they finally got recognition and treatment from the Veterans Administration. Many veterans are still struggling today.

When enough doctors and scientists came together and pored over mountains of studies not considered important by the EPA, they discovered that AO was responsible for a wide variety of serious health conditions.

The chemical manufacturers turned to the courts with their own industry-funded studies that showed AO was safe. After years of bitter court battles the manufacturers lost and had to pay for their sins.

  This is not the end of the story. It seems we have not learned from this sad chapter in our history, when greedy chemical companies got away with poisoning people in the name of profit. As baseball great Yogi Berra once said, “It's deju vu all over again.”

This time the culprit has a new name, Atrazine. It's an herbicide like AO, and an estimated 76 million pounds of it are sprayed on corn and other fields in the U.S. every year, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) records.

The problem; the EPA failed to notify people last fall when Atrazine was discovered in drinking water at 10 times the national safety limits. Those levels should have automatically triggered notification of customers, but that didn't happen.

Four states, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Kansas are being monitored because their farmers rely heavily on Atrazine. The Huffington Post Investigative Fund found the amount of weed-killer was excessive in about 150 watersheds from 2003 through 2008, after obtaining the information under the Freedom of Information Act.

The company that makes Atrazine, Syngenta, says over 6,000 studies have been done and they claim it's safe to use. Oh really? I recall Monsanto and Dow saying the same thing about AO. And, once again no surprise, most of the companies that did the research on the herbicide's safety have financial interests in the outcome.

We shouldn't be surprised when the fact that many (at least half) of those studies have never been published or subjected to independent peer review. Why aren't the independently funded academic research papers published in major scientific journals considered by the EPA? The excuses given are about as credible as the chemical industry safety claims.

In 2003, the EPA was criticized for ignoring those studies when making safety decisions on the herbicide, and because representatives from Syngenta participated in closed-door negotiations with the agency, according to documents obtained by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).

Jennifer Sass, a senior scientist specializing in health issues at NRDC, argues that relying on a company test of its own safety is an “inherent conflict of interest.” Yet the EPA says Atrazine is OK.

 The reasoning behind this claim comes from the EPA's senior analyst, William Jordan, who says they have a limited budget, and it's necessary to rely on research provided by the industry testing companies. He insists they have a strong incentive to follow guidelines.

That's not very encouraging. I'm skeptical of the safety claims when four states have already found their waterways have unsafe levels of Atrazine. We've been down this road before. There will always be a problem when you have industry influence in the federal regulatory process.

I think the EPA is finally feeling the pressure because officials are going to re-examine their stance on how much health risk the weed-killer poses. Sometime in September, the EPA will announce the results of their re-examination of Atrazine. The stakes are high. They could outright ban the use of Atrazine, or put more restriction on it. Or, they can continue to allow the staus quo, in which case the public loses.

As It Stands, my disgust with the EPA is only surpassed by my concern that once again the health of thousands of Americans is endangered because of corruption and greed.

Web sites carrying this column as of 10:03 a.m. PST

Namviet.net

ALL VOICES

Environmental Health News – Front Page – See column under OPINION

Skippy the Bush Kangaroo

One hour later…

NewsFeed – see articles under ENDOCRINE DISRUPTION

One hour later…

Vaccination News

OHIO CITIZEN ACTION under Health News (Aug 15)

My Weed Killer 

 Schema-root

 ALL BUSINESS

 

 

 

As It Stand’s Sunday – Atrazine and Agent Orange. Once and Future Killers

Take a look. Just another weed killer right? Wrong.

Four states are finding unacceptable levels of Atrazine, a deadly herbicide in their waterways.

People are drinking about ten times the safe level (EPA standards). 

If you live in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, or Kansas, you already know the EPA should have warned you about this last Fall.

Atrazine is a descendant of Agent Orange. We all know what damage AO has caused, and is still causing. Will Syngenta (the company that produces Atrazine) take us down that same long ugly path?

See ya Sunday.

There’s One in Every Barrel - ‘Bad Apple’ Manager Indicted

Apple manager indicted on kickback charges

CUPERTINO, Calif. — A manager at Apple Inc. has been indicted by a federal grand jury in an alleged kickback scheme involving suppliers of iPhone and iPod accessories.

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Dog Gone! Spencer shredded Terry’s hope for school board position

Labrador mix chews up petition with almost 200 signatures

The Beaufort Gazette reported Friday that Terry Thomas of Lady’s Island had a petition with almost 200 signatures when he went out to check the mail. But when he returned from the mail box, Spencer, his 8-month-old Labrador and bull mastiff mix, had chewed up the petition.

Note - this isn’t Spencer shown here. It’s his body-double “Tank.” Go here to learn more about this inquisitive fellow.

Okay Now…Who Doesn’t Belong in this lineup?

image source

On the way to Ethics committee:view hypocrites feigning indignation

David Fitzsimmons / Arizona Daily Star, Politicalcartoons.com

Environmental solution - China's New Bus "Straddles" Cars

The finished project is known officially as the "3D fast bus," but the nickname "straddling bus" is no misnomer. 

The bus will literally straddle the road and carry a shocking number of people -- around 1300 passengers -- over cars and under overpasses.

Shenzhen Hashi Future Parking Equipment Co., Ltd, proposed the bus idea. They say the bus will travel at up to 60 km/h (about 37mph). Construction of the 186 km of rails that will carry the bus will begin at the end of the year.

TAKE ACTION: Don't let public transportation in the United States fall behind in environmental awesomeness.

Robot to expose hidden secrets of the Great Pyramid of Giza

I’m a sucker for Egyptian history and stories.

I love it when stuff like this is in the news.

Device will unlock Egyptian room that has been sealed for 4,500 years

Following in the footsteps of Howard Carter and Abbot and Costello, a specialized robot will penetrate deeper into the Great Pyramid of Giza than ever before. The robot, part of a years long exploration called the Djedi Project, will explore a shaft inaccessible to a previous robot, unlocking a room that has remain sealed for 4,500 years.

Related stories:

The Seven Ancient Wonders of the World

Amazing Egyptian Discoveries

How Were the Egyptian Pyramids Built?

Poison patrol: NOAA, FDA to test seafood for dispersants

Agencies hope to reassure public, but some scientists remain skeptical

PASCAGOULA, Miss. — Amid undying criticism over the large-scale use of Corexit in the Deepwater Horizon response, NOAA and the Food and Drug Administration are developing a lab test to detect traces of the chemical dispersant in seafood. The test, they hope, will finally put to rest concerns that poisons from the compounds used to break up the oil will linger in the food chain.

Photo: A mixture of dispersant and fresh crude oil on ocean surface nine miles from the Deepwater Horizon oil well spill source in the Gulf of Mexico on May 6. In the effort to break up oil before it could hit beaches and marshes, oil spill responders applied more than 1.8 million gallons of chemical dispersant on the surface and at the source of the oil gusher.

An unlucky day today? Friday the 13th and other superstitions

Who doesn't look forward to Friday? People spooked by Friday the 13th.

On this supposedly unlucky day, let's investigate some associated myths, plus a few other superstitions.

Not worried or anything, but when is the next Friday the 13th?

Next Search: Start nothing new

Birth order: Sorry, kid, first-borns really are smarter

Birth order makes a difference when it comes to brains, personality, study finds

Birth order within families has long sparked sibling rivalry, but it might also impact the child's personality and intelligence, a new study suggests. First-borns are typically smarter, while younger siblings get better grades and are more outgoing, the researchers say.

The findings weigh in on a long-standing debate: What effect if any does birth order have on a person's life? While numerous studies have been conducted, researchers have yet to draw any definitive conclusions.

The results lend support to some previous hypotheses — for instance, that the eldest sibling tends to have higher aptitude. But the study also contradicts other proposed ideas, for example, that first-borns tend to be more extroverted.

Eyes in the sky tonight – Perseid meteor shower visable

Look to the skies between midnight tonight and dawn on Friday. Perseid meteors should be visible every night from now until next week.

The Perseids are produced by trails of grit left behind by Comet Swift-Tuttle during its 133-year orbit. Earth starts plowing through the Swift-Tuttle debris in late July, and the height of the shower comes annually around… Aug. 12-13th.

The Perseids are so named because they appear to emanate from a point in the constellation Perseus, also known as a "radiant." Because the radiant is in northern skies, Northern Hemisphere observers are in a more favorable position to see the shower. The strength of the shower varies from year to year, depending on what part of Swift-Tuttle's debris trail our planet moves through.

Go to this NASA chat page and talk with Bill Cooke, the head of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office at Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama. He says this year is going to be a good viewing year.

Guest Blog - Six Months to Go Until The Largest Tax Hikes in History

I found this blog – Americans For Tax Reform – this morning. This article was written a month ago, but it’s still very timely.

I’m interested in non-partisan assessments of our tax system. If this article would have stayed away from some Conservative catch phrases like “ObamaCare” it would have more validity. Talking about “Three Great Waves” crashing down on the economy sounds a bit too partisan to me. Biblical even.

However, after reading the entire document (link provided below) I do agree with the contention that our taxation system is only going to stink more in 2011.  

From Americans For Tax Reform:

In just six months, the largest tax hikes in the history of America will take effect.  They will hit families and small businesses in three great waves on January 1, 2011:

(N.B. This version of the document contains even more tax hikes than the original version did)

Harlem Democrat Rangel's night for ethics amnesia

Charlie’s “What me worry” attitude reflects a confidence that he’s going to get away with 20-terms of corruption.

And why not? That’s the culture in Washington, where the powerful don’t pay for their sins.

New York pols show up - some reluctantly - to congressman's bash

It was the antithesis of Chelsea Clinton's wedding — a glittering social event on the New York political calendar that many prominent politicians wished (very privately) they did not have to attend and hoped (very secretly) would somehow be canceled.

But Charlie Rangel's 80th birthday party and campaign fundraiser in the Grand Ballroom of the Plaza Hotel went off without a hitch Wednesday night . . . if you don't count the formal ethics charges filed against the 20-term Harlem Democratic congressman last month, his rambling and defiant defense of his conduct on the House floor Tuesday, and the last-hurrah aura to his re-election campaign. Grabbing a microphone at the beginning of the evening and abandoning any pretence of stiff formality despite the lavish setting, Rangel declared, "I've been to a lot of funerals, but this damn sure ain't no funeral, is it?"

Frozen Gourmet: corpse of renowned French chef found in freezer

Maybe the headline should be:

“Daughter Rats out Mom who put Boyfriend in the Deep Freezer”

Or, “Woman endures Cold Shoulder from Boyfriend for Two Years before Telling Her Story” 

Here’s the story:

Body of Jean-Francois Poinard may have been hidden by girlfriend for two full years

“The corpse of renowned French chef Jean-Francois Poinard has been found in a freezer after his girlfriend confessed to her daughter that “something unfortunate” had happened to him.”

top image source

Slasker strikes again: Is Flint man the 17th victim of serial knifer?

UPDATE BELOW

I’ve been doing research lately on serial killers (for a column) and have been following this sicko (police sketch shown here). So far, it’s hard telling what motivates him. The police are hesitant to say the attacks are racially motivated.

One of the most terrifying aspects of being attacked by someone like him, is that you can’t prepare yourself. He’s good at getting people off-guard by asking them for directions or other ploys. He picks older, and weaker, targets for his wrath. Then he strikes.

Somewhere, prowling the streets, this serial killer will meet his match (despite selecting apparently harmless victims). The night will come when he’s not going to be able to get away - and the police will confront him. Will he go down fighting? Or, will he quietly give up and go to prison? Once he’s behind bars, he’ll probably get someone to ghost write a book about his experiences. Someday, someone might make a movie about him.

But right now, he’s still prowling the streets looking for a victim to senselessly stab. His single-mindedness speaks of cold anger. Maybe he’s reading the newspapers, and what they’re saying about them. Maybe he likes the publicity. Maybe he just doesn’t care. If that’s the case, then he’ll die with his knife in his hand…cursing the world. 

Stabbing victim: Assailant resembled police sketch, but had an accomplice

“A 47-year-old man who was stabbed multiple times Saturday in Flint, Mich., may be the 17^th victim of a serial killer prowling the city.”

UPDATE 8/12

Israeli held in investigation of serial stabbings

Looks like the cops got their man. The guy wasn’t even an American. There’s one thing this story doesn’t mention: twice, after attacking people, he was seen getting a ride from someone. Where’s that guy?