If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.
– Henry David Thoreau
about completing his CME requirements for his medical license renewal:
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist will probably be fined and have to make up for failing to do continuing medical education that Tennessee requires of doctors with active licenses…
…In a license renewal form filed with the board earlier this year, Frist certified he had met the state’s continuing education requirement — 40 hours over the previous two years.
In response to several inquiries from The Associated Press, however, the Tennessee Republican acknowledged Tuesday that he had not done all the work.
For those who aren’t familiar, CME credits can be gotten by reading an article and answering 10-15 questions afterward, or by listening to a speaker and signing your name to an attendance card, among other things. It’s not difficult.
In a move to satisfy the GOP’s most conservative supporters,
President Bush on Wednesday nominated five people as appeals court judges, including one whom Democrats have threatened to block with a filibuster.[snip]
Jim Manley, a spokesman for Democratic Senate leader Harry Reid of Nevada, called the judicial nominations — an issue that has been a rallying cry of the conservative wing of the Republican Party — “extremely divisive.”
“We have a limited number of legislative days left before Congress adjourns for the year and much to do, but instead of working with Democrats on issues important to the American people, the president has, once again, chosen confrontation over cooperation with these extremely divisive nominations,” Manley said.
Ralph Neas, president of the liberal People for the American Way, agreed: “Pandering to his ultraconservative base always seems to trump any commitment to constitutional rights and liberties.”
This could get messy. These nominees are real doozies.
Electric Mini: 0-60 in 4 Seconds: It Has Motors In Its Wheels
A British engineering firm has put together a high-performance hybrid version of BMW’s Mini Cooper. The PML Mini QED has a top speed of 150 mph, a 0-60 mph time of 4.5 seconds. The car uses a small gasoline engine with four 160 horsepower electric motors — one on each wheel. The car has been designed to run for four hours of combined urban/extra urban driving, powered only by a battery and bank of ultra capacitors. The QED supports an all-electric range of 200-250 miles and has a total range of about 932 miles (1,500 km). For longer journeys at higher speeds, a small conventional internal combustion engine (ICE) is used to re-charge the battery. In this hybrid mode, fuel economies of up to 80mpg can be achieved.
Big tobacco’s been giving you extra nicotine…aren’t they sweet? WashPo
The amount of nicotine in most cigarettes rose an average of almost 10 percent from 1998 to 2004, with brands most popular with young people and minorities registering the biggest increases and highest nicotine content, according to a new study.
Nicotine is highly addictive, and while no one has studied the effect of the increases on smokers, the higher levels theoretically could make new smokers more easily addicted and make it harder for established smokers to quit.
The trend was discovered by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, which requires that tobacco companies measure the nicotine content of cigarettes each year and report the results.
Gee, do you think it was an accident? Time for those ‘Truth’ ads to come back.
Transferring knowledge through a chain of generations is a behavior not exclusive to humans, according to new findings by researchers – chimps have been shown to have culture, too.
The amount of carbon absorbed by plant plankton in large segments of the Pacific Ocean is much less than previously estimated, researchers say. US scientists said the tiny ocean plants were absorbing up to two billion metric tons less CO2 because their growth was being limited by a lack of iron, meaning global carbon sequestration is 4% lower than we had thought. And simply fertilizing the ocean with iron is not as simple as it sounds – studies show the initial bloom of plankton encourages the growth of creatures that feed on plankton, so the process quickly becomes self-limiting.
Lead ammunition threatens the multimillion-dollar recovery program for California condors. The proof is in the data: The blood lead levels of condors are so high they must periodically be caught and given chelation therapy for lead poisoning. And the fingerprint pattern of isotopes in their blood lead matches that in ammo tested by researchers. The condors consume the lead when eating carcasses or offal left behind by hunters or ranchers. Scientist expect the study to be a boost to those promoting a ban on lead ammunition in the state.
Europe’s first mission to the moon is due to crash-land in a cloud of dust and rock Sunday, ending a three-year voyage that gathered data about the lunar surface and tested a new engine intended to propel future spacecraft to Mercury and other planets. It will impact in a volcanic plain called the Lake of Excellence at 1:41 a.m. EDT, orbiting lower and lower as it makes its final approach at 4,475 mph. Amateur astronomers may be able to see the crash, and observatories will be watching as well.
I’m in too bad a mood to make my usual comments on today’s science headlines.
If I could have, I would have written something snarky suggesting that children here must be kept from consuming carcasses of deer filled with lead shot. As with California Condors, blood levels of lead in many inner city children are also quite elevated, e.g. here in Detroit. But I’m in no mood for humor. The children’s lead comes from several possible sources: an old lead smelter that continues to contaminate a big section of the east side; old ammo dumps scattered on the southwest side; lead pipes bringing water to most houses; old paint in the many thousands of rental properties that are not maintained by their absentee landlords.
The worst part is that our fair city gave back 12million to the feds earmarked for testing city children’s lead levels, to find kids who needed treatment. Yes, gave back the money. Why? There is no answer that is acceptable. None.
” [i]n their view, the decision to grant Khatami a visa to travel beyond the New York area is the latest in a series of State Department actions designed to reduce tensions between the two countries and encourage engagement.
(snip)
“By granting a visa to (Khatami), the Bush administration handed the Islamic Republic a propaganda coup,” stressed Michael Rubin, one of Ledeen’s AEI colleagues. “Journalists will fawn and diplomats celebrate Khatami’s talk of tolerance. They will be complicit in projecting a false image of the regime Khatami still represents,” he wrote.
(snip)
That concern was shared by Sen. Rick Santorum who called the visa issuance “at best foolish and at worst misguided. Mohammed Khatami is one of the chief propagandists for the Islamic Fascist regime.”
“I am opposed to granting a visa to such a man so that he can travel around the United States and mislead the American people,” he added.
(snip)
Is that kettle calling pot….? but happily,
Elsewhere, in Vermont free speech prevails and what was it about exactly?
“Zachery Guiles claimed that his right to free speech had been violated when he was told to cover up parts of the shirt showing the president surrounded by cocaine and alcohol, a reference to rumours about Mr Bush’s youth.
Text on the shirt also described the president as “Chicken-Hawk-In-Chief”, with his head superimposed on the body of a chicken.”
U.S. military leaders in Baghdad have put out for bid a two-year, $20 million public relations contract that calls for extensive monitoring of U.S. and Middle Eastern media in an effort to promote more positive coverage of news from Iraq.
The contract calls for assembling a database of selected news stories and assessing their tone as part of a program to provide “public relations products” that would improve coverage of the military command’s performance, according to a statement of work attached to the proposal.
OSLO (Reuters) – Norwegian police recovered “The Scream” and another stolen masterpiece by Edvard Munch on Thursday, two years after the works were seized from a museum by gunmen.
“We are 100 percent certain they are the originals,” police chief Iver Stensrud told a news conference. “The damage was much less than feared.”
“The Scream” depicts a terrified figure under a blood-red sky. The other, “Madonna,” shows a bare-breasted woman with long black hair.
Two armed men broke into the Munch Museum in Oslo in August 2004 and yanked the two works from the walls in front of dozens of terrified tourists.
about completing his CME requirements for his medical license renewal:
For those who aren’t familiar, CME credits can be gotten by reading an article and answering 10-15 questions afterward, or by listening to a speaker and signing your name to an attendance card, among other things. It’s not difficult.
What an idiot.
Link
Link
In a move to satisfy the GOP’s most conservative supporters,
President Bush on Wednesday nominated five people as appeals court judges, including one whom Democrats have threatened to block with a filibuster.[snip]
Jim Manley, a spokesman for Democratic Senate leader Harry Reid of Nevada, called the judicial nominations — an issue that has been a rallying cry of the conservative wing of the Republican Party — “extremely divisive.”
“We have a limited number of legislative days left before Congress adjourns for the year and much to do, but instead of working with Democrats on issues important to the American people, the president has, once again, chosen confrontation over cooperation with these extremely divisive nominations,” Manley said.
Ralph Neas, president of the liberal People for the American Way, agreed: “Pandering to his ultraconservative base always seems to trump any commitment to constitutional rights and liberties.”
This could get messy. These nominees are real doozies.
Just what we’ve come to expect from the Decider with No Clothes…
Link
A British engineering firm has put together a high-performance hybrid version of BMW’s Mini Cooper. The PML Mini QED has a top speed of 150 mph, a 0-60 mph time of 4.5 seconds. The car uses a small gasoline engine with four 160 horsepower electric motors — one on each wheel. The car has been designed to run for four hours of combined urban/extra urban driving, powered only by a battery and bank of ultra capacitors. The QED supports an all-electric range of 200-250 miles and has a total range of about 932 miles (1,500 km). For longer journeys at higher speeds, a small conventional internal combustion engine (ICE) is used to re-charge the battery. In this hybrid mode, fuel economies of up to 80mpg can be achieved.
Wow. I’ll take mine in fire engine red. 🙂
Red with a black ragtop for me, please. 🙂
You missed the part of the ad that mentions, (in 5pt type) that you have to weigh under 8 stone (104lb) to get the listed mpg.
Oh, Hell’s Bells. (have you been talking to my husband?) 😉
Big tobacco’s been giving you extra nicotine…aren’t they sweet? WashPo
Gee, do you think it was an accident? Time for those ‘Truth’ ads to come back.
Transferring knowledge through a chain of generations is a behavior not exclusive to humans, according to new findings by researchers – chimps have been shown to have culture, too.
Astronomers say they have witnessed for the first time a stellar explosion – or supernova – unfolding in real time. The details of what they learned are available here.
Lead ammunition threatens the multimillion-dollar recovery program for California condors. The proof is in the data: The blood lead levels of condors are so high they must periodically be caught and given chelation therapy for lead poisoning. And the fingerprint pattern of isotopes in their blood lead matches that in ammo tested by researchers. The condors consume the lead when eating carcasses or offal left behind by hunters or ranchers. Scientist expect the study to be a boost to those promoting a ban on lead ammunition in the state.
Europe’s first mission to the moon is due to crash-land in a cloud of dust and rock Sunday, ending a three-year voyage that gathered data about the lunar surface and tested a new engine intended to propel future spacecraft to Mercury and other planets. It will impact in a volcanic plain called the Lake of Excellence at 1:41 a.m. EDT, orbiting lower and lower as it makes its final approach at 4,475 mph. Amateur astronomers may be able to see the crash, and observatories will be watching as well.
…And speaking of dried “lakes,” it may be hurricane season, but many places have the opposite problem: Taps could run dry in the Spanish towns of Murcia and Alicante. Reservoirs which supply that part of the country are down to 10 per cent of their capacity after months of severe drought. And a well-known resort town in a Canadian Pacific rain forest must shutter its hotels and businesses this week because a prolonged drought has slashed water supplies, officials said Wednesday: Tofino, perched on the tip of Vancouver Island on Canada’s Pacific coast, is in a picturesque region that is popular with surfers and whale watchers. It relies on rainwater to fill its main reservoir, and officials ordered the shutdown because there has been no significant rainfall since June. Southwest China is suffering from its worst drought in 50 years and temperatures soared to 41 degrees Celsius (106 degrees Fahrenheit) on Wednesday with crops withering in the scorching heat, state media reported. And as diaried at Big Orange recently, much of the US is in a serious drought as well, although you’d not know it from the MSM coverage.
Wow. I had no iea there was such drought this year – that Tofino story is pretty severe.
El condor pasa, los niños pasarán.
I’m in too bad a mood to make my usual comments on today’s science headlines.
If I could have, I would have written something snarky suggesting that children here must be kept from consuming carcasses of deer filled with lead shot. As with California Condors, blood levels of lead in many inner city children are also quite elevated, e.g. here in Detroit. But I’m in no mood for humor. The children’s lead comes from several possible sources: an old lead smelter that continues to contaminate a big section of the east side; old ammo dumps scattered on the southwest side; lead pipes bringing water to most houses; old paint in the many thousands of rental properties that are not maintained by their absentee landlords.
The worst part is that our fair city gave back 12million to the feds earmarked for testing city children’s lead levels, to find kids who needed treatment. Yes, gave back the money. Why? There is no answer that is acceptable. None.
Sounds like you have the making of a diary there.
The public health policy matches the environmental policy: Don’t test and the problem goes away.
Neo-Cons Denounce former Iranian president Khatami Visit as “Appeasement”
Is that kettle calling pot….? but happily,
Elsewhere, in Vermont free speech prevails and what was it about exactly?
Positive Press on Iraq Is Aim of U.S. Contract
Instead of :”extensive monitoring of U.S. and Middle Eastern media”, shouldn’t that read
“extensive manipulation of U.S. and Middle Eastern media”????
Hmmmm?
Norwegian police find Munch’s “The Scream”