Every Monday I’m going to start posting some music to start the week off on the right foot.
The third Monday? Lyn Collins – Rock Me Again And Again (and again and again and again).
News stories the mainstream media missed 12/05/09
Here are some news stories from this week that I think the mainstream media completely missed out on. All links are from legitimate news sources and not the fringe / wacko sites.
* North Korea completely devalued their currency to fight runaway inflation. All North Koreans are now required to swap out any of their existing paper money (won) for brand new currency at an exchange rate of one to 100. 100 bucks of old money now gets you 1 buck in the new and improved currency. A government cap of 100,000 bucks (wons) per family (which the article says is about £475 at the current exchange rate) means anyone hording large amounts of paper money was completely wiped out. “There were reports of public outrage and confusion after the announcement of the measure. Loud sounds of weeping in every house have not ceased since the news was released… Weeping and fighting between couples has not stopped anywhere. The atmosphere of the city is terrible now.” This is definitely something to keep an eye on. [TIMES ONLINE . UK]
* Senior Goldman Sachs managers “have loaded up on firearms and are now equipped to defend themselves if there is a populist uprising against the bank.” Seriously. Not a joke. Someone high up on the fed chain needs to go knock on Goldman’s door and ask if there’s something we need to know. [BLOOMBERG]
* A secret copywright treaty in America? Caled the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, this sneaky way-under-the-radar treaty “..allows for criminal sanctions against noncommercial file-sharers, demands border-searches of laptop hard-drives and personal media players and phones for pirated material, requires ISPs to spy on their users, and gives movie and record companies the right to take whole households off the Internet with unsubstantiated allegations of piracy… Two US Senators, Bernie Sanders (I-VI) and Sherrod Brown (D-OH), have written to the US Trade Representative demanding that the text of the secret Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement be made public.” So far, no news. So now everyone is going to be subject to a law they can’t review and can’t see? That’s some pretty impressive change! [BOINGBOING and KEIONLINE]
* It’s nice to see that Iran is continuing to make giant strides toward freedom and democracy. They just sentenced five people to death and sentenced 81 others to 15 year long prison terms for having the nerve to protest the election results back in June. The state calls them “terrorist and armed opposition groups.” Naturally! [AL JAZEERA NEWS]
* Credit card companies are now planning to charge you if you don’t use their card for an extended period! Bank of America alone is looking at annual fees ranging from $29 to $99. And they still can’t figure out why comsumers are dropping them left and right. [BLOOMBERG]
US DOE
* How do you build something that needs to hold toxic waste for a million years? In a secure location that will always keep everyone safe? This link is an interview with Abraham Van Lui, geoscientist with the U.S. Department of Energy and a walkthrough of the proposed nuclear waste-entombment site at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. After the interview, check out the official US DOE fact sheet of the mountain project by clicking here.
* Spray-able liquid wound dressing technology is under development that will “forms a tough hydrogel in seconds that conforms directly to the wound without sticking to it when removed.” It is being upgraded for military use and is specifically being prepared for the “far-forward soldier…to complete his or her mission”. The one complaint I have is about the wording in the article. Every so often, they refer to soldiers as “warriors”. There’s a big difference in those two words, and I think keeping the US armed services under the “soldiers” definition is pretty important. [US Department of Defense Military Health System]
* A professional Swiss pilot, Yves Rossy, was testing out a jet-propelled wing by attempting to fly from Morocco into Spain. It konked out along the trip, but he parachuted into the ocean and was completely OK. He’s already made a succesful test flight from Calais to Dover at 125 mph, so it does work to a limited degree. If I was a millionaire, I would fund scientific research like this. So long as part of the funding, I would get one of my own. You know. For personal and ongoing research purposes. [DAILY MAIL . UK]
Rocket Man
Red Skies at dusk
A few days ago, the skies were a beautiful mix of crimson, orange and dark red with gentle swirls of white and blue mixed in.
I took a few photos around dusk just as the sun was setting below the horizon.
Red Skies 1
Red Skies 2
Red Skies 3
Red Skies 4
A Cold Tree Moon
My wife and I were out at one of our favorite restaurants a few days ago and saw the moon was shining brightly through the haze of another oncoming cold front. I took a few photos and my wife took a few as well. I like her perspective the best.
A Cold Tree Moon
Recall : Class 1 : ViperSheath Sheath Introducer
This is an update to a previous recall on a ViperSheath Sheath Introducer. It’s now reclassified as a Class 1 recall, which is as serious as it gets.
A ViperSheath Sheath Introducer is a “long-coiled, reinforced, kink-resistant catheter-like tube (sheath) that helps a physician insert a catheter into a blood vessel.” The problem is that every once in awhile this ViperSheath Sheath Introducer might just fracture once it is in place. And that would be all kinds of bad. Because then “patients may need unplanned surgery to remove the fragments or to control bleeding. Since this device is coil reinforced, any separation of the cannula (a flexible tube inserted into the body) has the potential to expose portions of the coil, creating the potential for vessel dissection or perforation.”
So if you have Lot ranges S28117 through S29174 and catalog numbers VPR-ISH 5 X 85, VPR-ISH 6 X 85, VPR-ISH 7 X 85, VPR-ISH 5 X 45, VPR-ISH 6 X 45, and/or VPR-ISH 7 X 45 you need to chunk ’em ASAP.
Clear Sky Moon
An old photo I had of a surprisingly clear dusk and a half-moon crossing the blue sky.
Clear Sky Moon
A cold front moving in
A few weeks ago, a cold front was moving into the area. It dropped the temperatures around here to a pleasant 50 something degrees (10 degrees Celsius) for a short while.
Cold front moving in
This new cold front we just got in actually dropped the temperature down to the low 40s (4.4 Celsius). That’s pretty impressive! It’s actually going to get in the mid thirties tonight. But, of course, tomorrow we’re going back up to the 70s (around 21.1 Celsius).
Recall: Slim-Fast Ready-To-Drink products
If you’re drinking a Slim-Fast, drop it right now and go get yourself a McRib.
The US Department of Defense Military Health System (An unusual recall source, but it’s valid!) just announced that “the maker of Slim-Fast meal replacement shakes has issued a voluntary recall of Slim-Fast Ready-to-Drink products sold in cans due to a possible contamination that may result in diarrhea and possibly nausea and/or vomiting.”
A McRib never did either of those things to me. Just sayin’.
The recall states that the affected products are “…packaged in paperboard cartons and contain four, six or 12 steel cans that are 11 FL OZ (325 mL) each. Individual cans are also sold in certain retail outlets. The recall involves all Slim-Fast RTD products in cans, regardless of flavor, Best-By date, lot code or UPC number. No other Slim-Fast products are affected by this recall.”
Here’s the link to the US Department of Defense Military Health System Blog on this.
Twitter test…
Twitter should now automatically update when I post here.
NASA program offers community college scholars a chance to design space rovers and visit the Johnson Space Center
NASA is messing with me again. Now they’re offering a semester-long scholars program directly aimed at all of us former science geeks.
45 lucky community college students will be selected for this program, which includes an on-site event at the Johnson Space Center in Houston from May 20-22 in 2010. NASA will even pay the travel expenses to get them there!
Once at the center, the 45 students will get to work with real NASA engineers and set up fictitious companies for Mars exploration that will developing and design a prototype Mars rover.
This just ain’t right. My college classes were never this entertaining educational.
Students in community and junior colleges can apply online at NASA’s National Community College Aerospace Scholars program. According to a press release, all applications are due no later than December 15 of this year. “To be eligible, students must be U.S. citizens enrolled at a community or junior college with an interest in science, technology, engineering, or math. Additionally, students must have access to the Internet and e-mail and be able to commit to full participation in the program, including a three-day residence at Johnson from May 20-22, 2010.”
I wonder if by “enrolled at a community or junior college” they would be OK with “a guy who just appeared at a community or junior college to audit a class last week”. Hmmmm…..