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Monday, December 13, 2004

Gary Webb

reporter

posted by roj at 6:58 pm  

Tuesday, December 7, 2004

keep the methylisothiazolinone away from your rats

a news release from the university of pittsburgh medical college suggests that methylisothiazolinone interferes with neuron development in rats.

methylisothiazolinone is “an antimicrobial agent found in many shampoos and hand lotions and widely used in industrial settings.” so, before you go shampooing your smart rats, read the label on the shampoo.

personally, i think the whole anti-bacterial anti-microbial thing is a bad idea.

posted by roj at 6:28 am  

Monday, December 6, 2004

the contra-creation museum

i couldn’t help but put these two things together when they crossed my attention within 24 hours of each other….

from the right, we have the creation museum in kentucky, near cincinnati…

… and from the left, we have the history of contraception museum at case western reserve in cleveland.

i propose a merger. the contra-creation museum. and of course, it should be in columbus.

posted by roj at 10:37 pm  

Monday, December 6, 2004

roots of peace

roots of peace, founded by heidi kühn, is about the business of converting minefields to vineyards.

with operations in croatia, serbia, afghanistan, cambodia, iraq, roots of peace is making a difference, and making some wine along the way.

the first harvest from a vineyard in croatia was this past september.

go check them out. they’re doing good things.

posted by roj at 4:45 am  

Monday, December 6, 2004

alex reaches $1 million

in a long-overdue followup to this and this, i just need to briefly mention that alex’s lemonade stand reached it’s $1 million goal about a month ago, and alex’s parents are expecting the 2004 fundraising to reach about $1.5 million.

before she died, she told her parents that she wanted to raise $5 million in 2005.

posted by roj at 4:40 am  

Monday, December 6, 2004

21 reasons to invade iraq

with a nod to devon largio recently of the university of illinois, and via foreign policy, i direct your attention to the chart included in this story.

between september 2001 and october 2002, george w. bush, dick cheney,richard perle, colin powell, condoleezza rice, donald rumsfeld paul wolfowitz, tom daschle, joseph lieberman and john mccain came up with no fewer than 21 reasons to go to war with iraq. the foreign policy article gives you a handy graphic representation. i’m going to put them on the text record here:

1. to prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
2. for regime change.
3. to further the war on terror.
4. because of iraq’s violation of united nations resolutions.
5. because of saddam hussein’s evil dictatorship and actions.
6. because of a lack of weapons inspections in iraq.
7. to liberate iraq.
8. because of iraq’s ties to al qaeda.
9. because iraq was an imminent threat.
10. to disarm iraq.
11. to conclude the gulf war of 1991.
12. because hussein was a threat to the region.
13. for the safety of the world.
14. to support the united nations.
15. because the united states could (easy victory).
16. to preserve peace around the world.
17. because iraq was a unique threat.
18. to transform the region.
19. as a warning to other terrorist nations.
20. because hussein hates the united states and will act against it.
21. because history calls the united states to action.

with hindsight, it seems that we’ve pretty much settled on #18 for now. interestingly, this justification seems to have been presented only by richard perle back in the day.

posted by roj at 4:33 am  

Monday, December 6, 2004

stephen hawking on war crimes

i think this guy needs to get back to figuring out the universe. it bothers me that he’s compelled to address issues like this at all.

Scientist Stephen Hawking Decries Iraq War [ap via abc news, november 2, 2004]

“The war was based on two lies, ” said Hawking. “The first was we were in danger of weapons of mass destruction and the second was that Iraq was somehow to blame for Sept. 11.

“It has been a tragedy for all the families that have lost members. As many as 100,000 people have died, half of them women and children. If that is not a war crime, what is?”

if stephen hawking can get out and speak at a demonstration, i should be doing more myself.

posted by roj at 4:21 am  

Monday, December 6, 2004

we won. it’s over.

the war on terror? piece of cake.

Al Qaeda will begin to disintegrate within two years as its various factions start to squabble and militants return to their local roots, a senior British parliamentary adviser predicted on Wednesday.

then again, senior american advisors on the defense science board seem to disagree.

i suppose they can’t both be right…

posted by roj at 4:14 am  

Monday, December 6, 2004

ashcroft’s handwritten resignation

i expected to see more about this, but i haven’t – and that’s probably because i haven’t been seeing much of anything lately, but… i want to raise the question with the changing of the guard over at the department of justice with this thought:

ashcroft’s resignation letter was handwritten “so its confidentiality can be maintained.” [text of the letter from cnn]

does this mean that ashcroft can’t even trust his own staff? how can we have any faith in a federal department that is populated by untrustworthy staff? how many people does it take to type a resignation letter? one? three? and in the whole department, ashcroft couldn’t find them?

or is it just paranoia?

and then how do you feel about living under the ‘protective custody” of the paranoia of the nation’s chief law enforcement officer for four years?

posted by roj at 4:08 am  

Monday, December 6, 2004

diesel fuel cells

some people over at the idaho national engineering and environmental laboratory have cooked up a way to double the energy they can squeeze from diesel.

Scientists Develop Clean Diesel System [ap via abc news, october 29, 2004]

The system converts diesel fuel into a 30 percent hydrogen mixture. By using the diesel to run a fuel cell instead of burning it, the system produces twice the energy output, without sulfur or nitrous oxide pollution.

you can see a fairly detailed presentation [pdf] from the lab.

it’s still running diesel, but if you can get twice the bang per gallon, it’s a step in the right direction.

the lab is also doing feature on other hydrogen production work, including a video clip for your entertainment (and that one looks like it takes a nuclear reactor).

posted by roj at 3:43 am  
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