phunkychic666
Blind Soldier Can ‘See’ With His Tongue
Craig Lundberg has become the first soldier to test a device that lets blind people “see” with their tongues. Report from ITN News:
Ex-Pfizer Worker Cites Genetically Engineered Virus In Lawsuit Over Firing
By Edmund H. Mahoney for the Hartford Courant:
Medical experts will be watching closely Monday when a scientist who says she has been intermittently paralyzed by a virus designed at the Pfizer laboratory where she worked in Groton opens a much anticipated trial that could raise questions about safety practices in the dynamic field of genetic engineering.
Organizations involved in workplace safety and responsible genetic research already have seized on the federal lawsuit by molecular biologist Becky McClain as an example of what they claim is evidence that risks caused by cutting-edge genetic manipulation have outstripped more slowly evolving government regulation of laboratories.
McClain, of Deep River, suspects she was inadvertently exposed, through work by a former Pfizer colleague in 2002 or 2003, to an engineered form of the lentivirus, a virus similar…
Lead Poisoning Lurks in Spices
Photo: warriorgrrl (CC)
By Alice Park for Time:
Most parents have already cleared their children’s toy boxes of playthings containing lead-laden plastics or paint. But according to a new study published on Monday in Pediatrics, the toxic heavy metal may continue to lurk in other, less expected sources in the home — like in the kitchen pantry.
After several reports of lead poisoning in Indian children in the Boston area were linked to consumption of Indian spices, researchers at Children’s Hospital Boston and the Harvard School of Public Health decided to measure the amount of lead in the seasonings as well as in ceremonial powders commonly used to mark newborn Indian infants for religious and cultural purposes.
The team visited 15 Indian specialty stores in the Boston area and purchased 71 cultural powders and…
People In Power Make Better Liars
By Eve Tahmincioglu for MSNBC:
New York Gov. David Paterson is embroiled in a scandal over whether he used his power and influence to intimidate a woman pursuing a domestic violence case against one of his top aides. As a result, the governor said last month that he would not seek a second term, and his communications director quit earlier this month citing “integrity” issues.
Former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling, who went to prison after the spectacular collapse of the company, is appealing to the Supreme Court his 2006 conviction on 19 counts of fraud, conspiracy, insider trading and lying. His lawyers argue that he didn’t get a fair trial and that Skilling’s conduct, “even if wrongful in some way,” was not illegal because he was not looking out for his…
Biden Conspires With Israel To Bomb Iran Back To The Stone Age
Kurt Nimmo for PrisonPlanet.com:
Joe Biden went to Israel not for the sake of peace or even to admonish the country for its plan to build 1,600 illegal settlement homes in East Jerusalem. Biden went there to talk about bombing Iran back to the Stone Age.
Gabriela Shalev, Israel’s U.N. ambassador, told the Associated Press earlier in the week that Biden’s visit to Israel and Israeli officials meeting in Washington are about agreeing on what to do about Iran. “Shalev said high-ranking Israeli and U.S. government and military leaders both in Washington and Jerusalem are currently discussing whether a military strike could stop Iran’s nuclear program.” Ms. Shalev said she “was encouraged that Biden said Iran poses a threat to the United States.”
Sort of like the same way Iraq posed a threat…
FEMA’s Sale of Katrina Trailers Sparks Criticism
Spencer S. Hsu writes in the Washington Post:
In a giant auction, the federal government has agreed to sell for pennies on the dollar most of the 120,000 formaldehyde-tainted trailers it bought nearly five years ago for Hurricane Katrina victims. But the sale of the units, perhaps the most visible symbol of the government’s bungled response to the hurricane, has triggered a new round of charges that it is endangering future buyers for years to come.
Consumer advocates and environmentalists are outraged that the government resold products it deemed unsafe to live in, saying warning stickers attached to the units will not keep people from misusing them.
Besides formaldehyde, units might be plagued by mold, mildew and propane gas leaks, FEMA acknowledged.
“Proceed with caution, extreme caution, if you are tempted to respond to…
NYC Schools Prohibit Sale of Home-Made Food and Allow Junk for Fundraising?!?
From NYC Green Schools:
Regulation A-812 prohibits home-baked foods from being sold at school fundraisers, while permitting Doritos and Pop-Tarts instead! Yes, this regulation mandates that if we want to raise money for our schools, we have to buy and sell junk food to our children!
VOICE YOUR OPPOSITION TO REGULATION A-812!
— Our schools cannot become venues for big food corporations, like Pepsi Cola and Kellogg’s to advertise and sell their processed foods to our children!
— Our children must not receive the message that junk food is healthier for them than foods cooked at home!
— We, as parents, must be allowed to participate in the discussion about our children’s health and nutrition!
$650m Compensation Settlement for Heroes of September 11
Nico Hines writes on the Times:
Rescue and recovery workers who were exposed to a toxic brew of smoke and dust in the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks have been awarded $650 million in a compensation deal struck in New York.
Thousands of 9/11 heroes, including firefighters, police officers, construction experts and emergency workers, have filed lawsuits since 2003 but last night’s agreement is expected to put an end to years of legal battles.
The settlement, worth up to $657.5 million (£434 million), was reached after negotiations between lawyers representing more than 10,000 people exposed to the debris from the World Trade Center and New York City’s federally financed insurer.
Some workers are likely to receive payments of only a few thousand dollars. Others could be in line to get more than…
Einstein’s Theory Of Relativity On Show
By Anne Barker for ABC News Australia:
The original manuscript of Albert Einstein’s famous theory of relativity is going on display in its entirety for the first time, almost 100 years after it was written.
Einstein’s groundbreaking theory helped explain a raft of scientific questions, from black holes to the big bang.
The former Nobel prize winner donated the manuscript to Israel’s Hebrew University in 1925.
Now, Israel’s Academy of Sciences and Humanities is putting it on show, in time for the 131st anniversary of Einstein’s birth…
Porn: Good For Us?
Peep Show Window. Photo: David Shankbone (GNU)
Milton Diamond for The Scientist:
Pornography. Most people have seen it, and have a strong opinion about it. Many of those opinions are negative — some people argue that ready access to pornography disrupts social order, encouraging people to commit rape, sexual assault, and other sex-related crimes. And even if pornography doesn’t trigger a crime, they say, it contributes to the degradation of women.
It harms the women who are depicted by pornography, and harms those who do not participate but are encouraged to perform the acts depicted in it by men who are acculturated by it. Many even adamantly believe that pornography should become illegal.
Alternatively, others argue that pornography is an expression of fantasies that can actually inhibit sexual activity, and act as a positive…
Scientists Discover New Way to Generate Electricity
This animation of a rotating carbon nanotube shows its 3D structure. By Schwarzm, made with C4D/Cartoonrenderer, GNU FDL
By Michelle Bryner for TechNewsDaily.com:
Researchers have found a way to produce large amounts of electricity from tiny cylinders made from carbon atoms.
The achievement could replace decades-old methods of generating electricity, such as combustion engines and turbines, the researchers say.
In the future, coated carbon nanotubes crafted from individual atoms could power everything from cell phones to hybrid-electric vehicles. The team envisions such nanotube-based power being available to consumers in the next five years.
Carbon nanotubes are thin sheets of carbon rolled up into teensy tubes each with a diameter about 30,000 times smaller than a strand of hair.
When carbon — one of the most abundant elements on Earth — is rolled up into tubes, it…
Food Security Threat: Goverment Set to Ban Public Fishing, Individual Food Production
By Mac Slavo for Deadline Live:
In yet another example of government overstepping its bounds, the Obama administration is preparing to ban fishing in coastal areas around the country, as well as the Great Lakes and other inland water resources.
This announcement comes at the time when the situation supposedly still is “fluid” and the Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force still hasn’t issued its final report on zoning uses of these waters.
That’s a disappointment, but not really a surprise for fishing industry insiders who have negotiated for months with officials at the Council on Environmental Quality and bureaucrats on the task force. These angling advocates have come to suspect that public input into the process was a charade from the beginning.
“When the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and International Fund for Animal Welfare…
The 9/11 Hijackers Are Alive
The chief of Japan’s Democratic Party says that the 9/11 hijackers are alive and that 9/11 was a complete hoax. Dr. David Ray Griffin is a professor and author of the book The New Pearl Harbor Revisited: 9/11, the Cover-Up, and the Exposé and he says that he agrees.
Iraq Snapshot – March 10, 2010
From www.uruknet.info:
Wednesday, March 10, 2010. Chaos and violence continue, the US military announces deaths, counting ballots continues in Iraq, Iraqi widows face huge problems, the US Congress hears about issues facing the children of parents deployed in foreign countries, and more.
Starting with yesterday evening’s US House Armed Services subcommittee hearing. The Military Personnel Subcommittee held a hearing chaired by US House Rep Susan Davis on the issue of military children. At the start of the hearing, Chair Davis explained, “Given the limited legislative calendar available to the committee, today we are embarking on a different hearing structure. This hearing will focus on a specific topic: the effects of deployment on military children and will only last approximately one hour, prior to our votes at six-thirty [p.m.].”
It is an important topic.…
9/11 Truth Goes Mainstream: Chris Wallace’s ABC News Report
Nightline profiles the 9/11 Truth Movement, needless to say with the requisite amount of skepticism necessary for a story like this to air on network television:
Splitting the Sky on Trial in Canada for Attempting to Arrest President Bush
Via YouTube:
A man named Splitting the Sky, tried to arrest former President George W. Bush for war crimes. He crossed police lines on one of President Bush’s visits to Canada and was arrested. He now faces criminal charges in court, the trial began today.
Waterboarding For Dummies
MARK BENJAMIN writes on Salon:
Self-proclaimed waterboarding fan Dick Cheney called it a no-brainer in a 2006 radio interview: Terror suspects should get a “a dunk in the water.” But recently released internal documents reveal the controversial “enhanced interrogation” practice was far more brutal on detainees than Cheney’s description sounds, and was administered with meticulous cruelty.
Interrogators pumped detainees full of so much water that the CIA turned to a special saline solution to minimize the risk of death, the documents show. The agency used a gurney “specially designed” to tilt backwards at a perfect angle to maximize the water entering the prisoner’s nose and mouth, intensifying the sense of choking — and to be lifted upright quickly in the event that a prisoner stopped breathing.
The documents also lay out, in chilling…
9/11 Truthers Could Be Locked Up For Life Under Proposed U.S. Law
A new bill quietly introduced by Congress last week is causing quite a stir among civil liberties groups. The brainchild of senators John McCain and Joe Lieberman, the bill would give the United States government the power to indefinitely detain terror suspects without charge or trial. It would also allow the government to interrogate them for the intelligence value and it doesn’t make a distinction between U.S. citizens and non-citizens.
Clitoraid: Restoring A Sense Of Pleasure
Clitoraid is a non-profit organization created by the Prophet Rael in 2006. Rael, founder of the Raelian Mouvement, launched the Clitoraid association to come to the help of Black African and non-African women around the world that have suffered from excision.
Now, thanks to science it is possible to help those women recover their sense of pleasure…
