Crucial oil spill evidence raised to surface as failed BOP replaced yesterday
2010 09 05
Yesterday, the blowout preventer (BOP) that failed on the Macondo well on April 20 was lifted to the surface and replaced with a new one. The former BOP is considered key evidence in the investigation into exactly what went wrong and how, and will be used to hold appropriate parties accountable in the legal investigation. |
US ’likely’ to keep troops in Iraq after 2011
2010 09 05
American officials privately acknowledge that the US military presence in Iraq will almost certainly be extended, even though a security agreement in force requires all US forces to depart by the end of 2011. |
Astronauts want plan ready for asteroid hits
2010 09 05
Canadian and American astronauts say the world should already be preparing for the big one — the asteroid that could some day strike the Earth causing death and destruction.
"You’re just sticking your head in the sand if you think the world will live out its entire natural life until the end of our sun and never be hit by another ... |
God did not create the universe, says Hawking
2010 09 03
God did not create the universe and the "Big Bang" was an inevitable consequence of the laws of physics, the eminent British theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking argues in a new book.
In "The Grand Design," co-authored with U.S. physicist Leonard Mlodinow, Hawking says a new series of theories made a creator of the universe redundant, according to the Times newspaper which ... |
Mass Extinction Threat: Earth on Verge of Huge Reset Button?
2010 09 03
Mass extinctions have served as huge reset buttons that dramatically changed the diversity of species found in oceans all over the world, according to a comprehensive study of fossil records. The findings suggest humans will live in a very different future if they drive animals to extinction, because the loss of each species can alter entire ecosystems.
Some scientists have speculated ... |
Deaths in Mozambique riots
2010 09 03
At least six people have been shot dead in Mozambique’s capital during clashes between police and demonstrators protesting against rising food and fuel prices.
Demonstrators burned barricades and tyres during protests over soaring prices in Maputo [Reuters]
Police opened fire on protesters throwing stones and setting fire to tyres and barriers, but it was not immediately clear whether their bullets were responsible ... |
El Salvador celebrates "Balls of Fire" festival
2010 09 03
For almost ninety years, people in the town of Nejapa - not far from the capital San Salvador - have gathered for the Balls of Fire festival. With their faces painted black and wearing wet clothes and thick gloves, two groups of locals launch cloth balls dipped in gasoline at each other, until the flames go out."The festival symbolises a ... |
Seeking the Illuminated Body
2010 09 03
The journey to enlightenment and unitary consciousness is a long one. Why is the road so uninviting and fraught with obstacles where so few seem to have reached the other side, much less have attained an illuminated body? Might we be holding out because the other side does not quite live up to our idea of enlightenment? |
Archeologists Find Gateway to the Viking Empire
2010 09 03
For a century, archeologists have been looking for a gate through a wall built by the Vikings in northern Europe. This summer, it was found. Researchers now believe the extensive barrier was built to protect an important trading route. |
Muslim-bashing televangelist Bill Keller to give sermon at Ground Zero
2010 09 03
Florida pastor Bill Keller plans to preside over his first sermon near the former World Trade Center site on Sunday as a direct challenge to Park51, the controversial mosque and community center planned nearby. "...we will preach against Islam and Mormonism and any other false religion." |
Oil platform bursts into flames off La. coast; crew rescued
2010 09 03
A fire on a Mariner Energy Inc. oil and natural-gas platform in the Gulf of Mexico has been extinguished in an event that may prolong the U.S. drilling moratorium imposed after BP Plc’s record crude spill.
The fire was put out at approximately 3:30 p.m. local time, and U.S. Coast Guard vessels and aircraft are scanning the sea around the platform ... |
Sacred Economics
2010 09 02
From at least the time that Jesus threw the moneychangers from the temple, we have sensed that there is something unholy about money. At the same time, no one can deny that money has a mysterious, magical quality as well, the power to alter human behavior and coordinate human activity. |
10,000-year-old boy’s bones found in underwater Mexican cave could rewrite history of the Americas
2010 09 02
The corpse was discovered in 2006 by a pair of German cave divers who were exploring unique flooded sandstone sinkholes.
He appears to have been a young boy and was found with his legs bent to his left side and his arms extended to either side of his body.
No other ancient skeleton has ever been found in this position. |
NC farm produces emerald shaped into massive gem
2010 09 02
American writer Nicholas Carr’s claims that the internet is not only shaping our lives but physically altering our brains. An emerald so large it’s being compared with the crown jewels of Russian empress Catherine the Great was pulled from a pit near corn rows at a North Carolina farm. |
Discovery Channel hostage crisis ends with gunman’s death
2010 09 02
Police shot and killed a gunman after he took three people hostage Wednesday afternoon at the Discovery Channel’s headquarters here, officials said.James J. Lee, who was protesting what he said was the network’s promotion of overpopulation, was fatally shot by police after taking three people captive at the company headquarters in Maryland.
Police shot and killed a gunman after he took ... |
Ohio restricting Puerto Rican birth certificates
2010 09 02
"We’re not illegal aliens, we are citizens of this country," Torres said. "We have everything, all the documents and all that, but we are not treated as such." Since early April, the bureau has refused to accept Puerto Rican birth certificates issued before Jan. 1 as proof of identity and date of birth. |
Feds fail to use land for solar power
2010 09 02
Not a light bulb’s worth of solar electricity has been produced on the millions of acres of public desert set aside for it. Not one project to build glimmering solar farms has even broken ground.
Instead, five years after federal land managers opened up stretches of the Southwest to developers, vast tracts still sit idle.
An Associated Press examination of U.S. Bureau ... |
Afghanistan bomb attacks kill twenty-one US soldiers in 48 hours
2010 09 01
Twenty-one American troops have been killed in Afghanistan since Friday in one of the bloodiest periods of the summer.
A U.S. army medic runs to the scene of a road side bomb explosion in Kandahar province. Photo: REUTERS.
A series of bomb attacks have badly hit US troops in eastern and southern Afghanistan in the past 48 hours.
The death toll among in ... |
A cautious Obama urges Americans to ‘turn the page’ on Iraq
2010 09 01
President Obama faced a major dilemma heading into Tuesday’s prime-time address on Iraq: How do you mark the milestone of a campaign promise fulfilled when what has happened in Iraq isn’t exactly "mission accomplished"? It was an obstacle that Obama never quite overcame in his 18-minute speech, which was remarkably disjointed for a president well known for his eloquence.
In ... |
The Risks and Rewards of Royal Incest
2010 09 01
When New England missionary Hiram Bingham arrived in Hawaii in 1820, he was dismayed to find the natives indulging in idolatry, hula dancing, and, among the ruling family, incest. The Hawaiians themselves did not share Bingham’s shock at the royals’ behavior. Royal incest, notes historian Joanne Carando, was "not only accepted but even encouraged" in Hawaii as an exclusive royal ... |
Dry weather reveals archaeological ’cropmarks’ in fields
2010 08 31
Hundreds of ancient sites have been discovered by aerial surveys, thanks to a dry start to the summer, English Heritage has said. The newly-discovered Roman and prehistoric settlements include a site near Bradford Abbas, Dorset. |
Cannibal Restaurant Has Berliners Disgusted: Looking for Body Part Donors
2010 08 31
A restaurant soon to open in Berlin has disgusted residents of the German capital by hinting that human flesh will be on the menu and asking for people to donate body parts. Local politicians are not amused and believe it is a tasteless PR stunt.
Yummy! What is it?....
What in the world is Wari cuisine? It is a question that many ... |
Dreamland UFOs: Sleep Paralysis and Alien Apparitions
2010 08 31
I have long felt that there is more to the alien abduction phenomenon than meets the eye, and though it may not be fair to completely dismiss the tangible aspects of what abductees relate, it would be silly to discount the less-tangible elements that begin to emerge with some consistency when studying the available literature. Many abductees report strange, archetypical ... |
Black Construction Worker Chased away from Ground Zero by Crazed Mob
2010 08 31
During an anti-mosque protest at ground zero, a construction worker walked through the crowd. Members of the protest, assuming that he was a Muslim, confronted him and shouted obscenities before escorting him out and telling him that he is not welcome. Their anti-Islam and anti-mosque posters inches from his face in multiple instances.
This man’s name is Kenny and he is ... |
An epidemic of ghosts
2010 08 30
Mozambique is being ravaged by an epidemic of spirit possession. These ‘outbreaks’ have traditionally been dismissed as superstition by commentators from afar, but it is becoming increasingly recognised that different cultures have different ways of expressing mental distress and social anguish – to the point where a team of medical scientists have just published the first large scale epidemiological study ... |
Tapping Tesla to Save Trapped Miners
2010 08 30
In early January 2006, a methane explosion tore through a coal mine in Sago, West Virginia, trapping 13 miners nearly 100 meters underground. Cut off from communicating with the miners, authorities could not determine where they were—or even if they were still alive. By the time rescuers reached the miners 2 days later, all but one had died. |
The ballooning shortage of helium
2010 08 30
We usually think of it as the funny, lighter-than-air gas that makes balloons float and our voices squeak.
But those helium-filled party balloons are about to get a lot more expensive. Like uranium and oil, helium is running out. Created over billions of years, the earth’s supply could be gone in 25 to 30 years if we continue to waste it ... |
100 Russian skinheads attack concertgoers
2010 08 30
Scores of bare-chested skinheads attacked a crowd of about 3,000 people at a rock concert in central Russia on Sunday, beating them with clubs, media reports said.
Skinheads give the Nazi salute during their training outside Moscow, in this June 16, 2004 file photo. (AP Photo/Sergey Ponomarev)
Dozens of people were left bloodied and dazed in the attack, television and news agencies ... |
US wasted billions in rebuilding Iraq (Contractors make a killing)
2010 08 30
A $40 million prison sits in the desert north of Baghdad, empty. A $165 million children’s hospital goes unused in the south. A $100 million waste water treatment system in Fallujah has cost three times more than projected, yet sewage still runs through the streets. |
Israeli Rabbi: "Palestinians should die"
2010 08 30
An influential Israeli rabbi has said God should strike the Palestinians and their leader with a plague, calling for their death in a fiery sermon before Middle East peace talks set to begin next week.
"Abu Mazen and all these evil people should perish from this earth," Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, spiritual head of the religious Shas party in Israel’s government, said ... |
Woman is Human Magnet
2010 08 28
A HOST of metal objects stick to human magnet Brenda Allison - making her look like a fridge door.
Brenda, 50, is thought to have a much more powerful electro-magnetic field than most people. Her highly-charged body can also blow light bulbs, trigger car alarms and knock out shop tills. |
The Government’s New Right to Track Your Every Move With GPS
2010 08 28
Government agents can sneak onto your property in the middle of the night, put a GPS device on the bottom of your car and keep track of everywhere you go. This doesn’t violate your Fourth Amendment rights, because you do not have any reasonable expectation of privacy in your own driveway — and no reasonable expectation that the government isn’t ... |
El Niños Are Growing Stronger, NASA/NOAA Study Finds
2010 08 28
The scientists say the stronger El Niños help explain a steady rise in central Pacific sea surface temperatures observed over the past few decades in previous studies-a trend attributed by some to the effects of global warming. While scientists observed a rise in sea surface temperatures during El Niño years, no significant temperature increases were seen in years when ocean ... |
Scientists: We’ve cracked wheat’s genetic code
2010 08 28
British scientists have decoded the genetic sequence of wheat -- one of the world’s oldest and most important crops -- a development they hope could help breed better strains of the global food staple.
Wheat is grown across more of the world’s farmland than any other cereal, and researchers said Friday they’re posting its genetic code on the Internet in the ... |
The world’s tallest teenager (Video)
2010 08 28
Elisany Silva is the tallest teen in the world. But rather than bringing fame and fortune, her 6’9" frame is causing serious problems.
She has been forced to leave school because she can’t fit on the bus and complains that she now has difficulty playing with friends. She also has trouble navigating her humble Brazilian home.
Her mother fears she has some ... |
Fidel Castro: Osama bin Laden is a US agent
2010 08 28
Fidel Castro says al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden is a bought-and-paid-for CIA agent who always popped up when former President George W. Bush needed to scare the world, arguing that documents recently posted on the Internet prove it.
"Any time Bush would stir up fear and make a big speech, bin Laden would appear threatening people with a story about what ... |
Antimatter Detector To Catch Last Shuttle To Space
2010 08 27
Antimatter, which the device was primarily designed to find, is sometimes referred to as the ’evil twin’ of ordinary matter and scientists believe the Big Bang created both in roughly equal amounts — meaning that, in theory, there could be an identical universe to ours out there made entirely of antimatter. |
Former FBI Agent Reveals New Angle On Kennedy Assassination (Video)
2010 08 27
It is a story the corporate media, with the notable exception of one lone Fox News affiliate, refuses to report. A former FBI agent, Don Adams, has compelling evidence Lee Harvey Oswald did not assassinate president John F. Kennedy. Adams was assigned to an FBI office in Thomasville, Georgia, on November 22, 1963. Adams was responsible for investigating Joseph Adams ... |
"Ordain women," London bus ads will urge Pope
2010 08 27
Pope Benedict will be confronted by posters on London’s famous red buses during his trip to the British capital next month which will call for the ordination of women priests.
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Saudi couple "hammer 24 nails" into Sri Lankan maid
2010 08 27
A Saudi couple tortured their Sri Lankan maid after she complained of a too heavy workload by hammering 24 nails into her hands, legs and forehead, officials said on Thursday.
Nearly 2 million Sri Lankans sought employment overseas last year and around 1.4 million, mostly maids, were employed in the Middle East. Many have complained of physical abuse or harassment.
L.T. Ariyawathi, ... |
Pentagon official reveals "most significant" military breach
2010 08 27
A top Pentagon official has confirmed a previously classified incident that he describes as “the most significant breach of U.S. military computers ever,” a 2008 episode in which a foreign intelligence agent used a flash drive to infect computers, including those used by the Central Command in overseeing combat zones in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Plugging the cigarette-lighter-sized flash drive into ... |
Ireland: Priest’s role in deadly bombing revealed
2010 08 25
Cover-up’A British Cabinet Minister and a Cardinal were certain that a Roman Catholic priest was responsible for one of the worst IRA atrocities of the Northern Ireland Troubles, but they colluded to allow him to continue his ministry preaching the Gospel.
Tracy Deans (L) whose great uncle was killed in the Claudy bomb in 1972, and Mark Aiken (R), whose sister ... |
Darpa’s Butterfly: Inspired sensors light up at chemical threats
2010 08 25
Last year, DARPA-backed researchers at Agiltron Corporation began implanting larvae with micromechanical chemical sensors.
Now, the agency has awarded $6.3 million to a group led by GE Global Research for developing chemical weapon sensors inspired by butterflies. |
Ultraviolet light reveals how ancient Greek statues really looked
2010 08 25
Original Greek statues were brightly painted, but after thousands of years, those paints have worn away. Find out how shining a light on the statues can be all that’s required to see them as they were thousands of years ago.
Although it seems impossible to think that anything could be left to discover after thousands of years of wind, sun, sand, ... |
FEMA’s "Brownie" Michael Brown Takes Offense at His Katrina Legacy
2010 08 25
Five years after Hurricane Katrina slammed the Gulf Coast, the man who has been vilified for the federal government’s bungling of the response effort wants to try to set the record straight.Brown, 55, now living in Colorado and hosting a radio talk show in Denver, said he is writing a book to tell his side of the story. |
New microbe discovered eating Gulf oil spill
2010 08 25
A newly discovered type of oil-eating microbe suddenly is flourishing in the Gulf of Mexico.
Scientists discovered the new microbe while studying the underwater dispersion of millions of gallons of oil spilled into the Gulf since the explosion of BP’s Deepwater Horizon drilling rig.
This image shows microbes degrading oil (upper right) in the deepwater oil plume caused by the explosion of ... |
Zapping Nerves Simulates Space-Flight Effects
2010 08 25
Astro-Brain Trickery:
Testing an electrical device that simulates an astronaut’s brain’s confusion returning to earth’s gravity.
A new device simulates the dizzying experience of returning from space, by zapping pilots with electrical current behind the ears.
“You can train for spaceflight tasks under normal conditions on Earth, but that will not give you an indication of what an astronaut feels like,” said ... |
Somali militants storm hotel, 31 dead includes MPs
2010 08 25
Insurgents in army uniforms stormed a hotel in Mogadishu frequented by Somali government officials on Tuesday, killing at least 31 people including members of parliament. |
Recycling Bins Go Big Brother
2010 08 24
Cleveland residents, beware: your recycling bins may be watching you. The city of Cleveland is introducing a $2.5 million Big Brother-like system next year to make sure residents are recycling.
Chips embedded in recycling carts will keep track of how often residents take the carts to the curb for recycling. If a bin hasn’t been taken to the curb in ... |
AIs, Superflies, and the Path to Immortality
2010 08 24
Why do we suffer poor health, disease, and limited healthspan? A wide variety of mechanisms are at play, but interpretation of genetic data from fruit flies bred for longevity suggests the major culprit may not be accumulated damage, or any particular mechanism, but rather the intersection of biological complexity with evolutionary adaptation. Long-lived flies demonstrate a huge breadth and depth ... |
"Superfloods, hellish heat normal, sellout science is not" (Video)
2010 08 24
"As Russia recovers from a record-breaking heatwave followed by fierce storms, RT talks to astrophysicist and solar weather forecaster Piers Corbyn to find out what it all means and if it has anything to do with global warming."
Video from: YouTube.com/RT
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Solar System May Be Older Than Thought
2010 08 24
The solar system may be up to two million years older than previously thought, a new study has found.
Researchers studying bits of a meteorite discovered that the space rock was 4.5682 billion years old, predating previous estimates of the solar system’s age by up to 1.9 million years. This adjustment, though ever so slight, should help astronomers better understand how ... |
Mexican Police Arrested Over Mayor’s Murder
2010 08 24
The killers came for Mayor Cavazos in the early hours of Aug. 16, when seven SUVs rolled up and men in police uniforms descended on his palatial home. Servants stood back terrified as their boss was forced away at gunpoint. On Aug. 18, his corpse was dumped on a nearby road. There was a mercy of sorts in the manner ... |
Mummified remains of babies linked to ’Peter Pan’ author
2010 08 23
Cops are following clues that suggest a link between the author of "Peter Pan" and the mummified remains of two babies found in a Los Angeles basement.
"Whether there’s a link to the author, whether these are relatives or whether it’s a freak coincidence, we don’t know," Lt. Joe Losorelli told the Daily News Thursday.
Peter Pan flying over London, illustration from ... |
The Long Road to The Hague: Prosecuting Former Prime Minister Tony Blair
2010 08 23
Ex-Prime Minister and post-Downing Street millionaire Tony Blair, to celebrate the publication of his book A Journey, is holding a ‘signing’ session. That this man, responsible for taking us into an illegal war, playing his part in the ruination of an ancient country because he ‘believed he was right’, should advertise himself in this way has caused outrage. |
"The Pain Chronicles": The science of pain
2010 08 23
Why are some people impervious to physical suffering while others can’t seem to escape it? An author explains
Melanie Thernstrom’s pain began inconspicuously, as a burning ache in her limbs after a long swim. But instead of drifting away over the next few days, the feeling dug in, traversing her neck and shoulder and eventually smothering her entire right arm. She ... |
Wikileaks man says Pentagon may be behind rape claims
2010 08 23
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, left, said in an interview published on Sunday that he believes the Pentagon could be behind a rape accusation against him that was later dropped by Swedish prosecutors.
The country’s prosecution service meanwhile justified the chaotic situation when authorities first issued an arrest warrant for the Australian whistleblower late on Friday night but then withdrew it ... |
Drugs don’t work: Top professor claims five in six new medicines have ’little benefit’ to patients
2010 08 23
Drug companies have been accused of conning the public by hyping up patented medicines with little new to offer while downplaying their potentially harmful side-effects.
A new study estimates that 85 per cent of new drugs offer few if any new benefits while having the potential to cause serious harm due to toxicity or misuse. |
US combat brigades still in Iraq: report
2010 08 23
The US military and the Obama administration loudly trumpeted the withdrawal of the "last combat brigade" from Iraq last week, but news reports suggest the move is purely semantic: The combat brigades are still there, but under a different name.
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Declassified: Massive Israeli manipulation of US media exposed (Video)
2010 08 21
Files declassified in America have revealed covert public relations and lobbying activities of Israel in the U.S. The National Archive made the documents public following a Senate investigation. They suggest Israel has been trying to shape media coverage of issues it regards as important. You can download the files from the web-site of the Institute for Research on Middle Eastern ... |
Digital ‘pet’ gains international acclaim
2010 08 21
Press Release: Victoria University of Wellington
A digital ‘pet’ developed by Victoria University researchers, has won first prize at an international electronic language festival.
The shiny brass device known as ‘Tardigotchi’ references the plastic handheld Tamagotchi, the digital pet from Japan that was popular in the mid-1990s, but with a twist—inside the Tardigotchi is a living microorganism.
A partnership of Doug Easterly, Senior ... |
’Ground Zero Mosque’: Latest In A Litany Of Killer Phrases
2010 08 21
The phrase sums up a controversy in terms so vivid and concise that neither journalists nor water cooler pundits can resist using them. Even if you put the words in quotation marks, on paper or in the air, the powerful combination works its magic.Of course, the phrase is also inaccurate and misleading. But how much does that constrain us when ... |
Dirty Tricks: Sweden seeks WikiLeaks founder arrest in rape case, then withdraws warrant
2010 08 21
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was accused of rape and molestation in a Swedish arrest warrant Saturday that turned the spotlight onto the nomadic former hacker who’s infuriated governments worldwide with his self-proclaimed mission to put secrets into the public eye.
The accusation was labeled a dirty trick by the 39-year-old Australian and his group, who are preparing to release the next ... |
Age Confirmed for ’Eve,’ Mother of All Humans
2010 08 21
A maternal ancestor to all living humans called mitochondrial Eve likely lived about 200,000 years ago, at roughly the same time anatomically modern humans are believed to have emerged, a new review study confirms.
The results are based on analyses of mitochondrial DNA. Found in the energy-producing centers of cells, mitochondrial DNA is only passed down the maternal line, and can ... |
Official: Satellite Failure Means Decade of Global Warming Data Doubtful
2010 08 20
US Government admits satellite temperature readings “degraded.” All data taken offline in shock move. Global warming temperatures may be 10 to 15 degrees too high. The fault was first detected after a tip off from an anonymous member of the public to climate skeptic blog, Climate Change Fraud. Caught in the center of the controversy is the beleaguered taxpayer funded ... |
Big Brother: Obama Demands Access to Internet Records, in Secret, and Without Court Review
2010 08 20
The Obama administration is seeking authority from Congress that would compel ISPs to turn over records of an individual’s internet activity for use in secretive FBI probes.The noxious warrants are not subject to court review, nor can a recipient even disclose they have received one. Because of their secretive nature, they are extremely difficult to challenge. |