20 Essential Tips Every Ubuntu User Should Know

Police Officer Uses Taser On 10-Year-Old Girl

Air potato taking the wind out of local ecology
http://www2.highlandstoday.com/content/2009/nov/18/la-air-potato-taking-the-wind-out-of-local-ecology

SEBRING - The air potato, an invasive exotic plant, is attacking Highlands County's native plants and animals, and a few local super heroes are needed to fight it off.

Highlands County resident Clara Wyatt said that her mother has it growing on her backyard fence. 

 "Unless someone puts a stop to it, it will take over every piece of vegetation in its path. It is like a blanket. The plants underneath it can only survive so long without sunlight."

Burgess wants to start a neighborhood group with residents in the county to fight invasive species, with emphasis on the air potato.

The group will map out areas in the neighborhood with air potato plants and report them.

Burgess will get permission for volunteers to pull up the vines and pick up the air potatoes.

"All it will really cost you is some of your time and labor," she added.

The air potato has no natural enemies, and nothing can eat it.

This poses a threat to animals because it is killing off the plants they eat, Burgess said.

"It is a food-chain thing," Burgess said. "If there is nothing at the bottom of the food chain, everything will eventually be affected."

According to the University of Florida Center for Aquatic and Invasive Plants' Web site, the plants are very toxic and should not be consumed.

They can grow up to roughly 8 inches a day.

Many Florida counties are recruiting volunteers to help protect and conserve Florida's natural areas through the removal of air potato.

During the air potato roundup, citizens, organizations and local businesses get together to collect vines and bulbils.

 About time Pentagon reviews policies after massacre

The Pentagon has announced it is reviewing policies following the tragic murders of 13 people at Fort Hood a few weeks ago. We're glad this review is under way and hope better checks and balances will catch people with murderous intentions long before there is a problem.

http://www2.highlandstoday.com/content/list/news

 

 ( Reassure the people. They don't really want to know that when you take youngsters and put them in gangs, they constitute natural predators which rape and steal and destroy. The military just have organized 'reporting' to remove the juicy parts of accounts of 'engagements' and provide 'justifications' for the exercise. 

There remains the small problem of the participants' remorse : which provokes bringing the behaviour home,family violence, and suicides. Training with electronic games and giving troops remote killing opportunities helps preserve conditioning and mental acceptance of pretense.The stimulation of 'running amok' is addictive to many : even when it is controlled by a structure of ruthless suppression of individual initiative.

 All the while 'defense' is the public cry to cover aggression upon the defenseless. 'Leaders' use any and all means of 'motivation' to steer events in their chosen paths : which are opportunism and profit for them and theirs. 

'Catching people with murderous intentions': Low humour. )

SWAT regroups its tobacco prevention effort
http://www2.highlandstoday.com/content/list/news

Police as Military doing Community Relations / Drug Suppression

Amphibians As Environmental Omen Disputed
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091111092051.htm

AMPHIBIAWEB
http://amphibiaweb.org/declines/lit/index.html 

This reference list is compiled by Professor Tim Halliday (formerly DAPTF International Director) (tim.halliday@homecall.co.uk). It lists papers on amphibian declines and their causes and papers on amphibian conservation, with an emphasis on those that describe methods for monitoring and conserving amphibian populations. Tim is always delighted to receive details of forthcoming papers from their authors.

Major Advance in Organic Solar Cells
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091019123011.htm

synthesis of organic polymers

reduced reaction time by 99%, from 48 hours to 30 minutes, and increased average molecular weight of the polymers by a factor of more than 3.

The reduced reaction time effectively cuts production time for the organic polymers by nearly 50%, since reaction time and purification time are approximately equal in the production process, in both laboratory and commercial environments.

The higher molecular weight of the polymers, reflecting the creation of longer chains of the polymers, has a major benefit in increasing current density in plastic solar cells by as much as a factor of more than four. Over polymer batches with varying average molecular weights, produced using varying combinations of the elements of the new methodology, the increase in current density was found to be approximately proportional to the increase in average molecular weight.

The methodology, detailed in a recent Nature Chemistry paper, "will greatly accelerate research in this area," stated Bazan, "by making possible the rapid production of different batches of polymers for evaluation."

Nuclear power: less effective than energy efficiency and renewable energy?
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/greenspace/2009/11/nuclear-power-less-effective-in-american-than-energy-efficiency-and-renewable-energy-says-report.html

The Environment California Research & Policy Center concluded that launching a nuclear power industry nearly from the ground up is too slow and expensive a process. Energy efficiency standards and renewable energy options are better solutions.

Peter Bradford, a former U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission member, made this comparison in a statement: “Counting on new nuclear reactors as a climate change solution is no more sensible than counting on an un-built dam to create a lake to fight a nearby forest fire.”

What Afghanistan Can Teach Us About Reproductive Freedom
http://www.chelseagreen.com/content/what-afghanistan-can-teach-us-about-reproductive-freedom

If the mullahs decide to approve spacing their children and keeping both mothers and babies healthy, the transformation could be dramatic. Islam has one advantage: the mullahs are obeyed. “If the clerics will support this, no one will oppose it, “ one trainer said.

If spacing children takes hold, not only would the maternal mortality rate plunge, but the average family income would rise. It may seem strange to have to ask for the approval of the mullahs to enable women to survive childbirth. But as I think about it, we in the United States of America, who do not suffer like women in poor countries, still have to ask for the approval of the 83% male Congress for the right to have insurance plans cover abortions.

( But the United States does not acknowledge the influence of religion on public policy : nor lobbying. There is an interesting commentary on Islam which shows them natural antagonists of the current regime :

Title:

http://assets.emeraldinsight.com/Insight/viewContentItem.do?contentType=Article&hdAction=lnkhtml&contentId=1718349&history=false

 Abstract:

Purpose – In the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region several factors contribute to corruption with a consequence of savings being squandered away and funds withheld from productive investments. This paper aims to argue that Muslim countries have a competitive advantage over the industrialized world in that the Islamic faith is important to the populace, which the west lacks and is trying to replace it with substitutes like for instance moral education in schools.

Design/methodology/approach – The paper examines corruption in the light of the Qur'an and Hadith. It looks at related issues and corrupt practices in the industrialised world based on secondary sources and a few primary data.

Findings – Moral renovation in Muslim societies appears to be easier to realize than in western societies once its underlying cause, notably poverty, is tackled. Self-restraint is an absolute prerequisite for a successful fight against corruption. Organizational instruments against corruption can only succeed to eliminate corruption only through political leaders committed to weeding out corruption.

Originality/value – The paper informs educationalists, policy makers, entrepreneurs in the MENA region that Islamic ethics must be the guiding force behind all good economic attitudes.

Do you see similar 'Christian' or 'Jewish' reports ? I'm not saying they are not there : but if so, they are poorly reported...and implementation frustrated. )

The Daily Star

http://www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=61091