Welcome! "The Evening Blues - Weekend Edition" is a casual community diary (published Saturday & Sunday, 8:00 PM Eastern) where we hang out, share and talk about news, music, photography and other things of interest to the community.
Just about anything goes, but attacks and pie fights are not welcome here. This is a community diary and a friendly, peaceful, supportive place for people to interact.
Everyone who wants to join in peaceful interaction is very welcome here.
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Hey! Good Evening!
This evening's music is brought to you by guest VJ NCTim and features the four-piece jazz fusion and funk band from Leeds, England The New Mastersounds. Enjoy!
The New Mastersounds - MRG
The Great Spirit is in all things. He is in the air we breathe. The Great Spirit is our Father, but the Earth is our Mother. She nourishes us. That which we put into the ground she returns to us.
Big Thunder (Bedagi) Wabanaki, Algonquin
News and Opinion
More than two dozen killed in eastern Ukraine in only 24 hours
Thirteen government soldiers and at least as many civilians have been killed in 24 hours in eastern Ukraine’s separatist conflict after the collapse of peace talks, a spokesman for the Kiev authorities said.
Hopes of easing the situation evaporated on Saturday with Ukraine’s representative and separatist envoys accusing the other of sabotaging negotiations.
“Fighting continues across all sections of the frontline,” Kiev’s military spokesman, Volodymyr Polyovy, said in a briefing.
The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which took part in the talks in Minsk, Belarus, along with envoys from Ukraine and Russia, said rebel delegates had not been ready to discuss key points of a peace plan.
Deadly clashes rage in east Ukraine after peace talks fail
(Reuters) - Fighting raged in eastern Ukraine on Sunday as pro-Russian separatists used artillery fire to try to dislodge government forces from a strategic rail hub after peace talks collapsed.
Hopes of easing the situation evaporated on Saturday with Ukraine's representative and separatist envoys accusing each other of sabotaging negotiations.
"Fighting continues across all sections of the frontline," Kiev military spokesman Volodymyr Polyovy said in a briefing, noting that some 13 soldiers had been killed in the past 24 hours. Other Ukrainian authorities said at least 13 civilians had also been killed in attacks.
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which took part in the talks in Minsk, Belarus, along with envoys from Ukraine and Russia, said rebel delegates had not been ready to discuss crucial points of a peace plan.
Obama openly admits 'brokering power transition' in Ukraine
In an interview with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria, Barack Obama acknowledged that the United States had "brokered a deal to transition power in Ukraine," thus admitting to the highest level of democratic impropriety imaginable.
Before we consider Obama’s stunning remarks, and how the Ukrainian people sold their country for a song, let’s rewind to November 2013, when then-President Viktor Yanukovich had shocked western capitals (and, more importantly, western markets) by suspending plans for an association agreement with the European Union.
As if on command, thousands of Ukrainians suddenly poured into the streets of Kiev to protest the decision. Such a rapid reaction should not have come as a surprise. After all, a multitude of US government agencies – most notably, USAID - had been operating in Ukraine since the collapse of the Soviet Union, investing billions on its latest "democratic" pet project.
This is no conspiracy theory. On December 13, 2013, Assistant Secretary of State Victoria "F*ck the EU" Nuland, following her third trip to Ukraine in five weeks, told the National Press Club: "Since Ukraine's independence in 1991 the United States has…invested over $5 billion to assist Ukraine in needs and other goals."
Greece economy: PM Tsipras seeks to placate creditors
Submitted by: enhydra lutris
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has said he is confident that agreement can be reached with creditors over repayment of Greece's debts.
Mr Tsipras said in a statement issued to Bloomberg news agency that he had never intended to act unilaterally.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has ruled out debt cancellation, saying creditors had already made concessions.
Mr Tsipras' Syriza party won last weekend's election with a pledge to have half the debt written off.
Thousands of Hong Kongers march for democracy
submitted by: enhydra lutris
HONG KONG (AP) — Thousands of pro-democracy demonstrators marched through Hong Kong's streets Sunday in the first major rally since mass protests last year.
Chanting "No fake universal suffrage. I want genuine universal suffrage," the demonstrators held yellow umbrellas, which became a symbol of the earlier protests when the activists wielded them as a defense against police using pepper spray.
The event appeared orderly and peaceful throughout the day. The annual march usually is held on Jan. 1 but was delayed for a month this year to coincide with the government's second round of consultations on electoral reform.
The demonstrators oppose the Chinese government's decision that candidates in the 2017 election for Hong Kong chief executive will be vetted by a largely Beijing-controlled nominating committee.
Rights group: Egypt covering up protester deaths
Submitted by:enhydra lutris
CAIRO (AP) — Rights group Amnesty International on Sunday accused Egyptian authorities of intimidating witnesses and whitewashing evidence to cover up the role of security forces in the killing of more than two dozen people during protests last week.
The London-based Amnesty said at least 27 people were killed over three days during protests commemorating the fourth anniversary of the uprising against longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak. It said police used excessive force or failed to break up clashes between protesters and residents.
Those killed included a female protester, Shaimaa el-Sabbagh, whose shooting as police dispersed a small, peaceful protest was captured in widely-shared footage. A 17-year-old female protester and a 10-year-old were killed during clashes with police in Cairo and Alexandria. Two security men were also killed in the violence.
Based on testimony from protesters, lawyers, witnesses and video footage, Amnesty said security forces used excessive force, repeatedly firing tear gas, birdshot and sometimes bullets "at random into crowds of protesters and bystanders who were posing no threat."
It also said some among the protesters were armed.
Nigeria army 'repels' new Boko Haram attack on Maiduguri
The Nigerian army says it has repelled an assault by Boko Haram Islamist militants on the strategic north-eastern city of Maiduguri.
Defence Ministry spokesman Chris Olukolade is quoted as saying the attack was "contained" and the rebels suffered heavy casualties.
The militants attacked in the early hours of Sunday, and gunfire was reported on the streets of the city.
Last week's assault by Boko Haram on the city was also stopped by the army.
Free Trade Faults: Europeans Fear Wave of Litigation from US Firms
Submitted by: NCTim
With broad public resistance and a European Parliament majority against it, EU officials are rethinking their positions on the proposed free-trade agreement with Washington. Many fear investor protection rules will wreak havoc on national laws.
When Bernd Lange talks about the advantages of a free trade agreement with the US, he often cites the example of the VW bus. The hippy favorite has been the target of a 25 percent tariff since 1964, a punitive move after the European Economic Community raised levies on imported chicken, shutting the Americans out of the market. Sales have been hampered for decades as a result. But if the levy were significantly reduced, its price tag would plunge.
Lange is a classic car enthusiast -- and the chair of the European Parliament Committee on International Trade, which focuses on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) treaty. But despite the possible benefits for Volkswagen, the Social Democrat has had little choice but to emphasize the negative aspects of TTIP during his public appearances. In Europe's leading exporting nation, broad swathes of the population are opposed to the free trade agreement. You can even find anti-TTIP flyers in many churches.
The main sticking point is special rights given to investors, who would be able to challenge countries in special international dispute settlement panels that bypass national courts. It's a pill that even those who believe in the deal are having difficulty swallowing. Some 145,000 European citizens voiced their disapproval in a "public consultation" undertaken by the European Commission, with many expressing fear that US companies might seek to overturn EU laws on genetic engineering, environmental protection and food quality.
Africa agrees to send 7,500 troops to fight Boko Haram
Submitted by: enhydra lutris
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) — African leaders agreed to send 7,500 troops to fight the Boko Haram insurgency in northeast Nigeria, an African Union official said Saturday, as the international community, including long-time foes the U.S. and Iran, rallied in support of Nigeria against the militants.
The move came after the council urged heads of state to endorse the deployment of troops from five West African countries to fight the terror group, said the head of the African Union's Peace and Security Council, Samil Chergui.
African leaders who are members of the 54-nation African Union are meeting in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa for a two-day summit that ends Saturday.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon earlier said he supports the AU's move to send a force to fight Boko Haram. Boko Haram is increasing its attacks as Nigeria prepares for Feb. 14 elections. Thousands have been killed in the 5-year insurgency.
The World’s Largest Fracking Earthquake May Have Just Rocked Canada (VIDEO)
Submitted by: NCTim
On January 22nd, a 4.4 magnitude earthquake shook the town of Fox Creek in northwest Alberta, Canada. The provincial energy regulator in northern Alberta says the likely cause was hydraulic fracturing aka fracking. The quake was severe enough to cause minor damage.
Eaton and Gail Atkinson, seismologists at Western University, said that if the earthquake is proved to be caused by fracking, it would be the largest fracking related earthquake in the world to date.
As reported by CBCNews, Fox Creek resident Kelli Mcpheee was watching a scary movie in her living room at the time the quake hit. She shared her experience,
“It felt like a big gust of wind hit the house. The door flew open and the couch moved. My husband grabbed a bat and started walking around the house because we didn’t know what it was.”
Obama proposing $478 billion public works program in budget
submitted by: enhydra lutris
WASHINGTON (AP) — The $4 trillion budget that President Barack Obama sends Congress on Monday proposes higher taxes on wealthier Americans and corporations, and an ambitious $478 billion public works program for highway, bridge and transit upgrades.
The grab-bag of proposals, many recycled from past Obama budgets, already is generating fierce objections from Republicans, who control both chambers of Congress for the first time in his presidency. They will move ahead on their own, mindful they eventually must strike a deal with Obama, whose signature is needed for the budget to become law.
The spending blueprint for the 2016 budget year that begins Oct. 1 emphasizes the same themes as Obama's State of the Union address last month, when he challenged Congress to work with him on narrowing the income gap between the very wealthy and everyone else.
In documents obtained by The Associated Press, Obama lays out the country's first $4 trillion budget — $3.999 trillion before rounding — with proposed spending supported by $3.5 trillion in revenues.
Regulators prepare rules on payday loans to shield borrowers
Submitted by: enhydra lutris
WASHINGTON (AP) — Troubled by consumer complaints and loopholes in state laws, federal regulators are putting together the first-ever rules on payday loans aimed at helping cash-strapped borrowers avoid falling into a cycle of high-rate debt.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau says state laws governing the $46 billion payday lending industry often fall short, and that fuller disclosures of the interest and fees — often an annual percentage rate of 300 percent or more — may be needed.
Full details of the proposed rules, expected early this year, would mark the first time the agency has used the authority it was given under the 2010 Dodd-Frank law to regulate payday loans. In recent months, it has tried to step up enforcement, including a $10 million settlement with ACE Cash Express after accusing the payday lender of harassing borrowers to collect debts and take out multiple loans.
A payday loan, or a cash advance, is generally $500 or less. Borrowers provide a personal check dated on their next payday for the full balance or give the lender permission to debit their bank accounts. The total includes charges often ranging from $15 to $30 per $100 borrowed. Interest-only payments, sometimes referred to as "rollovers," are common.
Legislators in Ohio, Louisiana and South Dakota unsuccessfully tried to broadly restrict the high-cost loans in recent months. According to the Consumer Federation of America, 32 states now permit payday loans at triple-digit interest rates, or with no rate cap at all.
NYC to pay $5M to kin of man killed in 'Mafia cops' case
Submitted by: enhydra lutris
NEW YORK (AP) — Nicholas Guido was showing off his new car outside his mother's home on Christmas Day 1986 when he was gunned down because he'd been mistaken for a mobster with the same name. The bad information, prosecutors said, came from two decorated police detectives who would later be convicted of moonlighting as hit men for the mob.
Twenty-nine years later, the city has reached a $5 million settlement with Guido's family in part of the fallout from one of the most stunning police corruption cases in New York history.
"This tragic matter involves the murder of an innocent man. After evaluating all the facts, it was determined that settling the case was in the city's best interest," the Law Department said in a statement. The family's lawyer didn't immediately return a call Friday night seeking comment.
Guido's mother, Pauline Pipitone, was washing dishes after Christmas dinner when gunfire erupted outside her Brooklyn home.
China Boosts Buying For Oil Reserves Amid Drop in Global Prices
submitted by: enhydra lutris
As oil prices sink to five-year lows, China has been providing one of the few supports for the world market with record imports to fill its strategic petroleum reserve.
At least, that has been the conclusion of analysts who have tried to explain a 9.5-percent surge in China's imports of crude oil last year, when economic growth was the weakest since 1990 and domestic demand was relatively mild.
China has been taking advantage of last year's 43-percent drop in world oil prices with imports averaging nearly 6.2 million barrels per day (mbpd), whether its economy needs extra oil or not.
As the price slide accelerated, China's buyers responded by pushing imports to an all-time high of nearly 7.2 mbpd in December, a 13.4-percent jump from a year earlier, Platts energy news said.
Accountability, Not Surveillance': Group Raises Flags Over Police Body Cameras
NYCLU among the stakeholders called to testify before Presidential Task Force on policing reform
Police body cameras must be used as a tool for more police accountability, not a means of more surveillance, civil liberties advocates warned speaking before a President-appointed board on Saturday during a series of briefings to address policing reform.
Community leaders, activists and rights groups were among the witness stakeholders called to the University of Cincinnati this week to testify before the President's Task Force on 21st Century Policing on a broad swath of topics, from the 'use of force policy' to police body cameras to social media.
In the upheaval that followed the grand jury decision to not indict St. Louis police officer Darren Wilson in the August 9 shooting death of unarmed black teen Michael Brown, President Obama announced a series of initiatives aimed at stemming police violence including the increased use of police body cameras.
"We are concerned that, in the rush to adopt this new technology, departments and legislators are overlooking important privacy and accountability considerations," said Johanna Miller, advocacy director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, testifying before the panel Saturday.
For Henry McCollum and Leon Brown, freedom has a cost
Submitted by: NCTim
FAYETTEVILLE — Henry McCollum spent three decades in prison, an innocent man on death row, praying every day for his freedom.
But now, four months after he and his half brother were exonerated of a horrible rape and murder, McCollum is struggling in the free world.
He can’t drive. His family has no car and no income. He’d like to work as a janitor, but he feels he needs a pardon to clear his name before he can get a job.
“I can’t do nothing to help my family,” McCollum said. “They’re not able to pay their bills.”
Updated List of ADMITTED False Flag Attacks
Governments from around the world admit they’ve used the bully’s trick … attack first, and then blame the victim:
- Japanese troops set off a small explosion on a train track in 1931, and falsely blamed it on China in order to justify an invasion of Manchuria. This is known as the “Mukden Incident” or the “Manchurian Incident”. The Tokyo International Military Tribunal found: “Several of the participators in the plan, including Hashimoto [a high-ranking Japanese army officer], have on various occasions admitted their part in the plot and have stated that the object of the ‘Incident’ was to afford an excuse for the occupation of Manchuria by the Kwantung Army ….” And see this
A major with the Nazi SS admitted at the Nuremberg trials that – under orders from the chief of the Gestapo – he and some other Nazi operatives faked attacks on their own people and resources which they blamed on the Poles, to justify the invasion of Poland. Nazi general Franz Halder also testified at the Nuremberg trials that Nazi leader Hermann Goering admitted to setting fire to the German parliament building in 1933, and then falsely blaming the communists for the arson
Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev admitted in writing that the Soviet Union’s Red Army shelled the Russian village of Mainila in 1939 – while blaming the attack on Finland – as a basis for launching the “Winter War” against Finland. Russian president Boris Yeltsin agreed that Russia had been the aggressor in the Winter War, and Putin
Who Needs Lobbyists? See What Big Business Spends to Win American Minds
Forget lobbying. When Washington, D.C.’s biggest trade associations want to wield influence, they often put far more of their money into advertising and public relations, according to a new Center for Public Integrity investigation.
Take, for example, the American Petroleum Institute. The oil and gas industry trade group spent more than $7 million lobbying federal officials in 2012. But that sum was dwarfed by the $85.5 million it paid to four public relations and advertising firms to, in effect, lobby the American public — including $51.9 million just to global PR giant Edelman.
From 2008 through 2012, annual tax filings show, the API paid Edelman a staggering $327.4 million for advertising and public relations services, more than any other contractor.
It’s been well-publicized how much industry spends on lobbying the government, but little is known about how much money goes toward influencing the public. In an effort to find out more, Center for Public Integrity reporters examined the tax returns for trade associations that spent more than $1 million on lobbying in 2012. The IRS requires the groups to report their top five contractors.
Section 215 of the Patriot Act Expires in June. Is Congress Ready?
You may have heard that the Patriot Act is set to expire soon. That’s not quite the case. The Patriot Act was a large bill, as were the reauthorizations that followed in 2005 and 2006. Not all of it sunsets. But three provisions do expire on June 1st: Section 215, the "Lone Wolf provision," and the "roving wiretap" provision.
All of these sections are concerning, but Section 215 takes the cake. It’s the authority that the NSA, with the FBI’s help, has interpreted to allow the U.S. government to vacuum up the call records of millions of innocent people. It’s also been the focus of most of the NSA reform efforts in Congress over the last year and a half. But if there were ever a time to reform the NSA, it’s now—because a vote for reauthorization, without comprehensive reform of NSA spying, will very clearly be a vote against the Constitution.
NSA Spying is Not a Partisan Issue, and it Must be Dealt With
There have been many legislative efforts to reform the NSA over the last year and a half. But none of them have been successful. Most recently, in December, the Senate failed to move the USA FREEDOM Act forward for a final vote.
Hellraiser Preview
Sherman, set the time machine for tomorrow's Hellraisers Journal, which will feature an opinion piece from the International Socialist Review on the Manifesto and convention call recently released from the secret Chicago conference of labor leaders.
Tune in at 2pm!
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Pulitzer-Winning Poet Mark Strand on the Heartbeat of Creative Work and the Artist’s Task to Bear Witness to the Universe
Submitted by: Agathena
In the 1996 treasure Creativity: The Psychology of Discovery and Invention (public library) — the same invaluable trove of insight that demonstrated why “psychological androgyny” is essential to creative genius and gave us Madeleine L’Engle on creativity, hope, and how to get unstuck — pioneering psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi interviewed 91 prominent artists, writers, scientists, and other luminaries, seeking to uncover the common tangents of the creative experience at its highest potentiality. Among the interviewees was the poet Mark Strand (April 11, 1934–November 29, 2014) — a writer of uncommon flair for the intersection of mind, spirit and language, who was awarded the Pulitzer Prize and a MacArthur “genius” fellowship, and served as poet laureate of the United States.
For Strand, Csikszentmihalyi writes, “the poet’s responsibility to be a witness, a recorder of experience, is part of the broader responsibility we all have for keeping the universe ordered through our consciousness.” He quotes the poet’s own reflection — which calls to mind Rilke’s — on how our sense of mortality, our awareness that we are a cosmic accident, fuels most creative work:
"We’re only here for a short while. And I think it’s such a lucky accident, having been born, that we’re almost obliged to pay attention. In some ways, this is getting far afield. I mean, we are — as far as we know — the only part of the universe that’s self-conscious. We could even be the universe’s form of consciousness. We might have come along so that the universe could look at itself. I don’t know that, but we’re made of the same stuff that stars are made of, or that floats around in space. But we’re combined in such a way that we can describe what it’s like to be alive, to be witnesses. Most of our experience is that of being a witness. We see and hear and smell other things. I think being alive is responding."
Obama will propose mandatory tax on US companies' earnings held overseas
White House to unveil budget on Monday and predicts one-off 14% tax on corporations will raise $238bn to inject into project to upgrade roads and bridges
Barack Obama will propose a major clampdown on US corporations with a one-off levy on an estimated $2tn of untaxed earnings being stashed overseas, using the windfall to rescue America’s crumbling road infrastructure.
The centrepiece of the White House budget, which will be unveiled on Monday but was shared in advance with the Guardian and other media, is a one-off 14% tax on untaxed foreign earnings multinational companies are shielding overseas.
That is less than half of the current 35% top tax rate for corporations. But the White House predicts the 14% tax will raise $238bn, a sum it wants to immediately inject into a nationwide project to upgrade roads, bridges and public transport.
“These investments would be paid for by closing tax loopholes as part of reforming the business tax rules to level the playing field and make sure everyone pays their fair share,” a White House official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
Alaska community officer accused of Tasering 2 young kids because they asked him to
Alaska State Troopers are investigating allegations that a Village Public Safety Officer (VPSO) used a stun gun or Taser on two young boys after they asked the officer to do so.
The mother of one of the boys, Terry Ward, said the incident occurred last December when a group of about eight or 10 children were getting ready to play a game of kickball outside the Boys and Girls Club in Kake, Alaska, local media reported.
The club is situated next to the VPSO office. When one of the officers walked by the boys, Ward’s 11-year-old son and one of his friends reportedly asked the policeman to use his Taser on them.
“They were talking about being Tased, and my son did ask to
be Tased, and he Tasered him on his arm or his wrist,” Ward
told the local Juneau Empire newspaper.
The Evening Greens
The Evening Greens Weekend Editor: enhydra lutris
Germany overtakes the UK in offshore wind energy
Germany will this year for the first time connect more new offshore wind installations than Britain after energy operators scrapped a string of projects planned for UK waters.
Despite having more installed offshore capacity than the rest of the world combined, the UK’s lack of new wind farms through 2015 means it will now be outstripped by Germany – a nation with access to territorial waters less than a tenth of the size of the UK’s.
Developers blamed the Government's ever-shifting renewable energy support for shelving a number of high-profile projects that would have been scheduled to come online this year but were deemed too financially risky.
The UK last year accounted for more than half of all new installations across Europe as the offshore wind sector suffered an overall decline of new capacity as the market stabilised following record figures in 2013.
Food Industry Drags Its Heels On Recyclable And Compostable Packaging
Let's face it: We are people who consume many of our meals on the go. That means we're not eating on real plates or bowls but out of plastic containers and paper boxes. And perhaps daily, we drink our coffees and sodas out of plastic or plastic-lined paper cups.
Overall, Americans recycle at the lamentable rate of 34.5 percent and recycle plastic packaging at the even measlier rate of 14 percent. So the majority of that food packaging is ending up in landfills, or on the street as litter, where it may eventually get swept into the ocean. There, our wrappers and cans and cups become a much bigger problem — a direct threat to marine life that may ingest it and die.
According to a report published Thursday by the environmental groups As You Sow and the Natural Resources Defense Council, most of the major players in the restaurant and beverage industry are not doing a whole lot to ameliorate this problem. There's a big onus on the makers of packaged foods and beverages to reduce plastic and paper waste and also make it easier for us to recycle and compost the materials we use.
"What are companies doing to show that they have a personal and financial responsibility to promote recycling? [We found] relatively weak examples of leadership," Andrew Behar, CEO of As You Sow, a group that promotes environmental and social corporate responsibility, told reporters Thursday. "This industry has a long way to go."
Global warming won't mean more stormy weather
TORONTO, ON - A study led by atmospheric physicists at the University of Toronto finds that global warming will not lead to an overall increasingly stormy atmosphere, a topic debated by scientists for decades. Instead, strong storms will become stronger while weak storms become weaker, and the cumulative result of the number of storms will remain unchanged.
"We know that with global warming we'll get more evaporation of the oceans," said Frederic Laliberte, a research associate at U of T's physics department and lead author of a study published this week in Science. "But circulation in the atmosphere is like a heat engine that requires fuel to do work, just like any combustion engine or a convection engine."
The atmosphere's work as a heat engine occurs when an air mass near the surface takes up water through evaporation as it is warmed by the Sun and moves closer to the Equator. The warmer the air mass is, the more water it takes up. As it reaches the Equator, it begins to ascend through the atmosphere, eventually cooling as it radiates heat out into space. Cool air can hold less moisture than warm air, so as the air cools, condensation occurs, which releases heat. When enough heat is released, air begins to rise even further, pulling more air behind it producing a thunderstorm. The ultimate "output" of this atmospheric engine is the amount of heat and moisture that is redistributed between the Equator and the North and South Poles.
"By viewing the atmospheric circulation as a heat engine, we were able to rely on the laws of thermodynamics to analyze how the circulation would change in a simulation of global warming," said Laliberte. "We used these laws to quantify how the increase in water vapour that would result from global warming would influence the strength of the atmospheric circulation."
NASA launches groundbreaking Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) observatory
NASA successfully launched its first Earth satellite designed to collect global observations of the vital soil moisture hidden just beneath our feet. The Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) observatory now begins a three-year mission that will figuratively scratch below Earth's surface to expand our understanding of a key component of the Earth system that links the water, energy and carbon cycles driving our living planet.
NASA successfully launched its first Earth satellite designed to collect global observations of the vital soil moisture hidden just beneath our feet.
The Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) observatory, a mission with broad applications for science and society, lifted off at 6:22 a.m. PST (9:22 a.m. EST) Saturday from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, on a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, manages SMAP for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington, with instrument hardware and science contributions made by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
About 57 minutes after liftoff, SMAP separated from the rocket's second stage into an initial 411- by 425-mile (661- by 685-kilometer) orbit. After a series of activation procedures, the spacecraft established communications with ground controllers and deployed its solar array. Initial telemetry shows the spacecraft is in excellent health.
Researchers Produce Two Biofuels from a Single Algae
A common algae commercially grown to make fish food holds promise as a source for both biodiesel and jet fuel, according to a new study published in the journal Energy & Fuels.
The researchers, led by Greg O’Neil of Western Washington University and Chris Reddy of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, exploited an unusual and untapped class of chemical compounds in the algae to synthesize two different fuel products, in parallel, from a single algae.
“It’s novel,” says O’Neil, the study’s lead author. “It’s far from a cost-competitive product at this stage, but it’s an interesting new strategy for making renewable fuel from algae.”
Algae contain fatty acids that can be converted into fatty acid methyl esters, or FAMEs, the molecules in biodiesel. For their study, O’Neil, Reddy, and colleagues targeted a specific algal species called Isochrysis for two reasons: First, because growers have already demonstrated they can produce it in large batches to make fish food. Second, because it is among only a handful of algal species around the globe that produce fats called alkenones. These compounds are composed of long chains with 37 to 39 carbon atoms, which the researchers believed held potential as a fuel source.
Blog Posts of Interest
Here are diaries and selected blog posts of interest on DailyKos and other blogs.
What's Happenin' Is On Hiatus
Ukraine: “We Target Civilians.” Separatists: “Their Targeting Maps Prove It.”
Sick Rationale Allows Texas to Execute Another Mentally Disabled Man
Destructive Effects of El Niño and La Niña Could Intensify
Hellraisers Journal: Eugene Debs Sends Out Greetings for Thousandth Edition of the Appeal to Reason
Just how bad is it in Pakistan?
Propaganda Alert - "Ukraine Needs America's Help"
The Observer
A Little Night Music
The New Mastersounds - San Frantico
New Mastersounds - You Mess Me Up
The New Mastersounds - Chocolate Chip
The New Mastersounds - Zambezi
The New Mastersounds - You've Had It All
The New Mastersounds - Hot Dog
The New MasterSounds - The Minx
The New Mastersounds - Soulshine
The New Mastersounds - Thermal Bad
The New Mastersounds - Hey Fela!
The New Mastersounds - Flimsy Lewis
The New Mastersounds - Butter for Yo' Popcorn
The New Mastersounds - Dusty Groove
The New Mastersounds - Mission Creep
The New Mastersounds - Monday Meters