Politics

The NY Times is reporting on a few cases of gay animals including two male penguins, Ray and Silo, who have incubated and raised another penguin together. click here

A Canadian magazine is publishing a poll that shows only 15% of Canadians would definitely vote for Bush. Other numbers on Bush were similiarily low. David Frum, (the Bush speech-writer who coined 'Axis of Evil') claims that Canadians are seeing Bush through the 'distorted lens' from which the public sees him. Seems to me that the US is the one viewing Bush through a distorted lens, and that the Canadian neighbors see things clearly. <link>

A scientist has set back projections for the develpment of nano-technology by having his work subject to claims that results were falsified. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3459769.stm

Excerpts from PopularScience.Full article available here The safety of cellphones has been called into question, again. This time the scientific community is paying very close attention. Last summer neurosurgeon Leif Salford and colleagues at Lund University in Sweden published data showing for the first time an unambiguous link between microwave radiation emitted by GSM mobile phones (the most common type worldwide) and brain damage in rats. If Salford's results are confirmed by follow-up studies in the works at research facilities worldwide, including one run by the U.S. Air Force, the data could have serious implications for the one billion?plus people glued …

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/3457823.stm "'If anyone's anger has no measure, it is the wrath of internet zealots who believe that code should be free to all (open source). So, it seems likely that the perpetrators of the MyDoom virus and its variants are internet vandals with a specific grudge." The slashdot crowd is not happy, at all.

As I understand it, the Us's war on Iraq was waged for three reasons: 1. Saddam Hussein is/was a tyrant, guilty of atrocities. 2. Iraq has/had WMD. 3. There is/was a link between Iraq and Al-Qaida. Obviously no sane person could argue against reason #1, but seeing as no WMD (as of yet) have been found and even more importantly no Iraq-Al Qaida link has been discovered, President Bush has set a dangerous standard for the US as the world's police force. The US is now responsible for invading any country found to have: 1. A tyrant, guilty of atrocities. 2. WMD. Using these guidelines, it is the US's duty to invade North Korea. Not only do th…

http://blugg.com/stuff/foxs_view_of_the_bbc_player.htm Oh. My. God. What is wrong with him? Who is he?

how do you guys feel about the controversial PATRIOT Act (i know thats an acronym, but im too lazy to look it up)? Doesn't this "Big Brother" type government make you nervous? hmm, looks like George Orwell was 20 years early on that one. This act makes it possible for government to virtually watch everything you do (including taking a shower or dropping a load for suspected persons, im sure) in your everday life. Can't remember how many gallons of milk you bought last week? just call up big brother himself, donald rumsfeld, and he can let you know! and with their electronic surveillance in place, who knows...maybe im getting monitored for writing this thread on this …

Anyone watching a speech by President Bush will notice the conspicuous references he makes to his religion and his God. He had ended his speeches with “God Bless America”, and he has often declared himself a ‘born again Christian’. He even told Palestinians that God told him to ‘attack’ Al-Qaida and to attack Iraq. And, Bush has consulted his faith in determining some of his principles such as Gay Rights or stem cell research. Yet in other areas, GW’s faith has seemed to have entirely left him. After the attacks of 9/11, Bush did not ‘Turn the other Cheek’ as commanded by his Lord. He took vengeance for himself, also a no-no with his savior. Bush’s speeches that su…

Not one , not two , but three different inquiries in the space of three days! Why has the Janet Jackson thing "sparked feverish debate in the US"? Who seriously cares? (Apart from Concerned Women for America. What are they concerned about, anyway?) Why isn't the whole country up in arms about bombing a country for, as it turns out, no real reason? This sort of thing makes me so mad.

I was wondering the other day, which president was the most pollitically incorrect?---I did a survey in my E/P science class, and came out with people saying bush, 8 clintion, 1 washington, and 1 JFK---I was wondering what you thought---I'm all washington---Oh well---

Georgia has now proposed that the term "evolution" be replaced with "biological changes over time." Decision scheduled for May

Seem's as if the BBC is in a bit of hot water recently. I guess this hits closer to home for the british folk. What do you guys make of it?

The original and the remix At least you'll never see a Republican acting like that

The second of the two mars rovers, opportunity, landed safely last night at 5:05 GMT. Continuing work on Spirit, which seemed to break down recently has pointed to an error in the flash memory. NASA engineers now have it booting up from the main RAM and it seems alot healthier now. http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/home/

In a theoretical situation, do you believe that if Iraq or Afghanistan had had a million-man army and a nuclear program, that the US would have invaded?

could someone explain to my how clinton got impeached for getting his dick sucked and impeachment was never even discussed when good ol' dubya sent thousands of troops overseas for a fabricated war on terror? it just doesn't add up.

Hello! I'd like to ask what people think of Bush's recently introduced tax cuts. Do you feel they have benifited you at all? Is it a good thing that most of the money will be going to the wealthiest Americans? How is the record budget defecit that has been created going to be dealt with? Has the tax plan made you more or less likely to vote for Bush in the coming elections?

The European Space Agency's Mars Express probe has produced strong evidence of frozen water and frozen carbon dioxide at Mars' southern polar cap. This evidence was confirmed by the new PFS spectrometer, which has significantly better accuracy than any to come before it. The find was made with Mars Express' OMEGA camera, which contains a traditional camera and an infrared spectrometer. The probe will not reach its final orbit for a few more weeks, but has already produced this amazing discovery. The probe also contained an instrument called SPICAM, which is an ultraviolet and infrared spectrometer, that confirmed the presence of water vapor and that there is more of it wh…

News just in, the NASA mars Rover "Spirit" is unable to send usefull data OR receive commands, it`s suspected a memory or a software error may have occured I`ve got no more info as yet Edit: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3421071.stm thanx to sayonara for the link

PASADENA, Calif. -- Scientists are puzzled about a patch of soil near the Mars rover Spirit lander that they now call "Magic Carpet". The intrigue has been stirred up by how soil behaved when the lander’s airbags scraped across the martian soil. That soil appears to have been peeled away. This odd performance of the soil, some speculate, could provide a window into the existence of subsurface water and, maybe, clues about whether Mars could sustain life. There’s one thing for sure. Whatever the lander’s airbags have caused, the result is a "spirited" debate. http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/spirit_gusev_040116.html http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/mer2004/rover…

Now you can (somewhat) easily build your own STM thanks to the SXM Project's Scanning Tunneling Microscope Construction Kit that includes blueprints, circuit diagrams, software, etc... all for free. The ultimate nerd project.

Nature is reporting that researchers have identified the protein, named amyloid beta, which causes plaque to form in the brain. It has long been known that Alzheimer's patients have buildups of plaque in their brain, but the link between protein and plaque was not clear. New research indicates that mice who have low levels of this protein do not exhibit dimentia in later years. Study Information: Ohno, M. et al. BACE1 deficiency rescues memory deficits and cholinergic dysfunction in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease. Neuron, 41, 27 - 3, (2004).

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3392143.stm another article from the New York Times: and the article abstract:

Today, around 03:52 CET, Beagle 2 was expected to land on Mars surface. Also, the European Mars Express space probe entered Mars orbit at 03:47 CET. But no communication from Beagle 2 has been recieved(ESA). Although the probe may have crashed on the surface, there are also other possibilities. As Mike Healey from Beagle 2's constructor Astrium UK says, " it could have landed in the wrong place or it may not have opened successfully, and the aerial may be pointing in the wrong direction." BBC also has an article on it. I hope they manage to get contact with Beagle soon.