coquina

Here's a USGS web page about it - http://water.usgs.gov/wid/html/bioremed.html It's using bacteria to break down toxic waste into non-toxic substances. Biologists, geologists, and environmentalists are all studying ways to do this more effectively. Your state and locality should have some professionals with whom you can talk. If there is a specific hazardous waste in your area, maybe you can expose samples of it to several different kinds of bacteria in a controlled experiment to see if one of them will effectively metabolise it.

I'm already left-handed. However, I had the misfortune to break my left middle finger several years ago - there were serious complications and I was in a splint from October to April. The only thing funny was that I walked around in perpetual bird-flipping mode for 6 months. At any rate - I had to learn to do everything right handed, and I am still quite ambidextrous. It does come in handy when doing many tasks - expecially when you have to use a power tool in a tight corner and it's on the wrong side. It does teach you to use much more of your brain, and pretrains some additional neural pathways which will come in quite handy if you suffer a brain injury.

My dad started the company back in the 60's, when I was a teenager. We used to machine a lot of magnesium for NASA - you have to be very careful to keep the temperature down, and you can't use coolant on it, it will explode if you do. We had to keep tubes of dry chemical by the machines in case it caught on fire. I used to take the turnings outside put them on the concrete driveway, set them on fire, and sprinkle water on the flames, and jump back. The mg burns so hot, when you through water on it, it separates it into hydrogen and oxygen. If I recall correctly, magnesium is the material used for underwater welding.

A "Lectrosan" Is an alternative marine toilet used for boats that are kept in salt water. (It is what I have). It uses electricity to break down the sodium chloride in seawater into chlorine gas and treats the sewage with that. The drawback is that it is an electricity hog. When the boat is plugged into shore power at the dock, you're ok - if you have a generator, you're OK too - if you have to depend on a 12 volt battery, you're rapidly in deep poop - literally. http://www.raritaneng.com/products/waste_treatment/lectrasan.html - Seems like there ought to be a way to extract the methane and use it to burn the waste. There have been cases of holding tanks exploding - Ewwww Yuck!!!

is to use "gray water systems". Gray water is non-sewage waste water - ie, rinse water from washing machines, dishwashers, etc. It requires two sets of piping, but gray water is superficially treated to remove soap and other non-sewage contaminants and sent to a holding tank where it is used to flush toilets in the house. In a gray water subdivision, the excess gray water can be sent to a containment pond where it can be used for irrigation. This means that only sewage has to go through the full treatment process, cutting the the volume way down, which in turn cuts the cost of treatment. It is also important not to allow runoff from storm sewers to get mixed in with "real sewage". The biggest expense is the upfront cost of a dual piping system. If there was enough support, a tax credit could be allowed for those who agree to spend the extra money. When I was growing up in southeast Virginia - everybody had a "graywater system". There were no city sewers, so everybody had a septic tank, and everybody knew not to run washing machine water into the septic tank. The typical fix was to dig a large trench running to the ditch - the trench was filled with oyster shells (which were available in abundance). The oyster shells filtered the soap scum out of the washing machine water, so what hit the ditch was clean. It was, at least far superior to running washing machine water into the septic tank, which caused the tank to overflow and send solid waste down the drain fields, which then broke out in the yard. Then - in the 70's, the "powers that be" decided it was unsanitary to run washing machine water to the ditch. Following that, there was a very distinctive odor of "Eau de pooh" whenever it rained.

If cats were active more hours of the day, they'd have to hunt more often to fuel their metabolism, if they hunted more often, they'd eat themselves out of existance. It's much more efficient for them to sleep, wake up, chase down a rabbit, eat it, and go back to sleep. With regard to the balance of nature in Australia - if the feral cats weren't killing the small marsupials, what would? Haven't people already wrecked the natural order of things by eliminating the tasmanian tiger, and bringing in rabbits that have multiplied out of proportion. How much does the encroachment of the marsupial's niche by rabbits have to do with their plight? What about dingoes - when did they arrive on the scene? Not trying to be argumentative here - just trying to understand the world "down under" a little better.

I drive a '99 Chevy Venture van.

I wonder if there could be more than the "nature vs nurture" controversy as regards genetics. Suppose identical twin embryos were promulgated in vitro as a result of artificial insemination, and were subsequently implanted into two different surrogate mothers. How much influence would the hormones of the two mothers affect the offspring? Another example - there has been talk of cloning a mammoth from frozen DNA and implanting it in an elephant - IF it could be carried to term without rejection, what influence would elephant hormones have on a mammath fetus?

I turned 55 in March. Female - (widow), Southeast US. Hey - I made it to 56, that puts me in the oldest category but I didn't revote.

"An individual should have the right to swing his fist as hard and as fast as he can - as long as in doing so, he doesn't connect with someone else's nose." Glider - I've never watched the show to which you refer. I have seen a couple of other "makeover" shows. The client ended up wearing clothes that looked like they'd been left in the dryer too long - pulling at all the buttons. That's supposed to look good? It looks like the person gained 20# since they bought the clothes and can't afford to buy more. 'Course - I've never been one to consult others on what to wear or how to decorate my home. With regard to clothing - I would rather go shopping with a trusted friend who knows my likes and dislikes and my lifestyle. With regard to decor - I want my abode to reflect me, not to look like a hotel room. I know how to paint and paper, make drapes and upholster furniture. My husband and I used to buy old boats, strip them to the bulkheads and redo them. Although people were usually very complimentary of our efforts, I didn't give a big fat hairy rat's patooty whether they liked it or not - they were only there for a brief time - my primary requirements were that I liked the colors, and that the materials were durable and easy to keep clean.

Glider - Yeah - their mannerisms can be very annoying - so are those of lots of other people. I would far rather have a conversation with a gay person than a loud-mouthed, arrogant bore. More than anything else - I think we are uncomfortable among people we don't understand. That doesn't mean we have to make an effort to understand them - we can just acknowledge the differences and move on. Trying to change an individual's makeup or personality is about as beneficial as trying to teach a pig to sing. It's a waste of your time, and it annoys the pig.

From this site: http://www.fact-index.com/c/ca/candiru.html Kinda makes you want to cross your legs or wear a chastity belt, doesn't it?

Based on some things I have read, it is my belief that homosexuality is physiological in nature. For example - here's an abstract of an article from "Pub Med" If hermaphrodites - people born with both male and female sexual organs exist, then it stands to reason this can occur to a lesser degree on a hormonal level. Whether it is due to fetal exposure to hormones, or a chance mutation - who knows. But what sense does it make to be "anti" anything that is normal for that individual. When the same traits appear world-wide, throughout history, and across cultures, and even across species (see this National Geographic article: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/07/0722_040722_gayanimal.html) it stands to reason that there is more going on than "choice". I have also read quite a bit about the Native American "Berdache" http://www.msu.edu/~lees/Kristina/Berdache.htm In any event - what's the point in being "anti" a natural occurrance? Isn't acceptance of differences among us much more productive?

It would enable intergalactic travel, but YIKES, it brings a whole new meaning to "Are we there yet?"

When I first started finding it. One of the pieces I found looked vaguely charred - I thought for sure I'd found a meteorite - I took it to the Virginia Dept. of Mines and Minerals and they identified it as limonite. What's really interesting is that you sometimes find extremely detailed casts of shells in it.

YT2095 - I am very sorry about the death of your friend. I participate in a forum for the "involuntarily unspoused". There has been much discussion among the participants about the horrors of chemotherapy. Some folks have said their spouse was urged to have it and given the impression it would extend lives. In actuality, the reverse seems more likely. Many people have said that the cancer had not made their spouse that sick at the time of detection. They have indicated that if they had it to do over, they would encourage their spouse to let nature take its course. Many of them are bitter regarding the degree to which chemo was almost forced on them by the medical profession. I am glad that neither my husband nor myself had to make that kind of decision - he died in his sleep.

Peroxide will remove blood from fabric. People used to use it to bleach their hair - it was not all that attractive, and those who used it were known as "peroxide blondes".

It is very probably limonite. http://mineral.galleries.com/minerals/oxides/limonite/limonite.htm I find loads of it on the beaches of southeast Virginia. It is commonly called "bog iron" http://www.britannica.com/ebc/article?eu=382897&query=groundwater&ct=

The Chesapeake Bay Impact Crater is buried 400' below the surface in Southeast Virginia. It is currently under study by the US Geological Survey. The main web page is here: http://geology.er.usgs.gov/eespteam/crater/ For an overview check out "Ancient Cataclysm" by Dr. Wylie Poag: http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/epubs/bolide/

I would major in Biology and minor in Geology. I think that one of the biggest uses in the future of genetic engineering will be using chemosynthetic bacteria - the "Archaea" to convert toxic substances into non-substances. Google "bio-remediation" and "hyperthermophiles". Here's one article on Bioremediation from the USGS Website: http://water.usgs.gov/wid/html/bioremed.html

Don't loose your apatite(s). Teeth are composed of the mineral apatite. Here is information about it from the Mineral Gallery: http://mineral.galleries.com/minerals/phosphat/apatite/apatite.htm As to tooth decay, there is some good information here at the Newcastle University School of Dental Science. http://www.ncl.ac.uk/dental/oralbiol/oralenv/tutorials/calciumphosphate.htm There is more information on dental caries at another page from the same site: http://www.ncl.ac.uk/dental/oralbiol/oralenv/home.htm More on dental caries can be found at the web site of the UCLA School of Dentistry - here: http://www.dent.ucla.edu/ce/caries/index.html#A4

I've never been overseas before. My mother's family is from England and I'm going to a wedding. (Suffolk, near Woodbridge, if anyone knows the area). I'm leaving from Dulles and arriving at Heathrow, and will be gone from the last week in September thru the first week of October. I've checked Expedia, Travelocity and Yahoo - I can get a Continental flight round trip for $426, British Airways has one for about $550. I have heard BA has better service, which has some importance to me, since I will be flying alone. I applied for my passport a couple of weeks ago - I should have it in plenty of time. The tickets are non-refundable, should I wait for my passport before I buy them? What about travel insurance - should I buy it? I'll be staying with family, so I don't have to worry about booking a hotel or renting a car. This is a big first for me. My husband died two years ago, and this will be the first time I have traveled or flown alone. Any words of wisdom will be greatly appreciated.

This page: http://www.bigelow.org/foodweb/chain4.html gives the chemical reaction for the synthesis of hydrogen sulphide into carbohydrate and sulphuric acid. Here's another page http://www.odp.usyd.edu.au/odp_CD/volcis/viindex.html form the Ocean Drilling Program of Australia that discusses "sulphidation" of minerals at deep ocean vents. The above made me wonder whether the sulphuric acid produced by the bacteria might naturally produce native gold. Well - here's a page from "Yes Technologies" that discusses using sulphate reducing bacteria to extract gold from ore, rather than than using cyanide, which is far more toxic. http://www.yestech.com/tech/gold1.htm So - I would think that genetically engineering bacteria to be more efficient in this process would be a very economically feasible and beneficial enterprise.

There is no land beneath the North Pole, unless you count the ocean floor. I have read that Atlantis maybe have been inundated as a result of the Santorini Volcano. There was an extremely sophisticated civilization on Prehistoric Thera, the town of Akrotiri was abandoned when Santorini erupted. http://www.culture.gr/2/21/211/21121a/e211ua08.html Here's a page about the geologic history of the area: http://www.decadevolcano.net/santorini/santorini_volcanism.htm

Better you than me. I just got over being "Isabeled" - Hang in there!