Science/Technology blog

by David Bradley

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Snipped from alternet.org.

I’ll be the first to admit that I have failed miserably in every foray of mine into the stock market. So, for those who know how to play the game, my hat goes off to you. With the huge loss yesterday in the market, I am wondering if it doesn’t foretell a future disaster in the making. So, with all the negativity in the country from the sub-prime market and housing taking a beating, I am concerned that yesterday may be just the beginning of a true stock market disaster. So when I came across the article in alternet.org concerning a repeat of the 1929 market crash, I just had to read it. The article is extremely well written because even I was able to grasp the dire situation that our “hyper-real” stock market is in. You may find this article will help your understanding of what is really behind this new term, but old strategy, called “naked shorting” and exactly what this means to giant hedge funds of today.

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How safe is your makeup, perfume or lotion? Surprisingly, no one really knows. Two years ago, California passed groundbreaking legislation requiring cosmetic companies to report if their products contained toxic or carcinogenic ingredients. This year, the Safe Cosmetics Act of 2005 goes into effect and other states are closely watching California as they consider similar proposals. QUEST explores cosmetic safety and the challenges of making this law a reality.

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Link to Tulare Lake Map for larger imageOnce upon a time, the San Francisco Bay watershed contained the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi. The lake is no more, but sometimes, in wet years, its spirit still haunts the cotton fields that have taken its place. Up until the last century, Tulare Lake was a broad, shallow body of water at the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley. At high water, it was estimated to encompass 790 square miles. Fed by the Kings, Kaweah, Tule, and Kern Rivers from the Sierra Nevada, it was a terminal lake with no natural outlet in dry years. In wetter years, its waters overtopped the basin into the San Joaquin River, from where they flowed northwest to the Delta and into San Francisco Bay.

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Editor’s Note: Producer Amy Miller, who was reporting the story on camera in tonight’s 7/24 episode on premature births titled “Born Too Soon: Preterm Births on the Rise“, was placed on bed rest for preterm labor 2 weeks after filming. She is at day 27 of mandatory bed rest at the hospital. In this post is an account of the prior week as well, day 21.

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Geologists say it’s likely that a major earthquake will hit
the Bay Area sometime in the next 25 years.

I woke up to what sounded like mumbling coming from my radio. I thought maybe the alarm had gone off, but it was only 4:40 a.m. and I get up at 6. I lay listening to the humming of the fan, in my bed at my apartment in Oakland on Friday, July 20.

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Snipped from AlterNet.org.

If you look at yourself and your life, if you’re married, would you say that marriage “seems” to be a natural thing or something imposed on you by our cultural norms? Perhaps in our current society the rules of the game have changed from our ancestors whose biggest priorities of the day were finding food and shelter. We now have a society in which food is as close as the nearest 7-Eleven and shelter is abundantly available. So where does that leave man when it comes to the reasons for pairing up and even more importantly, staying together?

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by David Bradley

.TPtable a {text-decoration:none; color:#05024F;} img.header{width:160px;height:1px;} img.bullet{width:0px;height:0px;} img.footer{width:160px;height:1px;} img.cover{width:65px;} .TPtable{font-size: 78%;font-family:”Lucida Sans Unicode”, Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif; background:#F2F2FF; width:160; height:250; padding:2px;} .TPcell{font-size:1em; color:#000000; padding-bottom:6px; vertical-align:top;} .TPcellH{font-size:1em; color:#000000; padding:2px 10px 10px 2px; vertical-align:top;} .TPbullet{padding-left:1px; padding:1px; width:0px;} .TPtitle{font-size: 78%;font-family:”Lucida Sans Unicode”, Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif; background:#F2F2FF; width:160;padding:2px;margin:0;padding-bottom:1em;} Free Computer Mags
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I can’t say I’m always a huge fan of NASA Watch (it too often seems like a snarky tabloid version of space news), but it has its uses. In particular, it’s good at pointing out the foibles of the politics behind NASA funding. Here’s an example: the U.S. house is trying to increase NASA funding for aeronautics, education, and science — and the White House has announced Bush will veto the increase if it makes it onto his desk:

The Administration supports the House’s full funding for NASA’s Exploration Systems and Space Shuttle. However, the Administration does not endorse funding in excess of the request for Aeronautics, Education, and Science…

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Geologists say it’s likely that a major earthquake will hit
the Bay Area sometime in the next 25 years.

I woke up to what sounded like mumbling coming from my radio. I thought maybe the alarm had gone off, but it was only 4:40 a.m. and I get up at 6. I lay listening to the humming of the fan, in my bed at my apartment in Oakland on Friday, July 20.

Read the rest of this entry »