You are hereArchive - 2008
Archive - 2008
Stunning: the Earth and Moon hang in space as seen from Mars. Images: NASA's discovery of water ice on Mars. What’s next?
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The announcement by NASA of the discovery of water ice on Mars by its Phoenix Lander probe made big news everywhere. The discovery involved the observation of water ice sublimating into the air - that is, the water went from solid to vapor state without reaching the liquid stage. The Martian atmosphere has perfect conditions for sublimation - extremely thin, dry and cold. How cold? Well, you can check the Live Martian Weather Report, with data from a station on board the Phoenix Lander.
What more do we know about Mars' atmosphere? It's hundreds of times thinner than Earth's atmosphere and is made of 95% carbon dioxide, 3% nitrogen, 1.6% argon, and contains traces of oxygen, water, and methane. We also know, from observations that it can support dust storms, dust devils, clouds and gusty winds. With an amazing number of six current live probes exploring Mars (two rovers, a lander, and three orbiters), there are many thousands of images available. Only a few, however show atmospheric phenomena. Presented here are some of the best images of Martian atmosphere (and beyond) in action. read more »
Joke - Recently, our 19-year-old daughter started hunting for her first real job...
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Recently, our 19-year-old daughter started hunting for her first real job. She spent an afternoon filling out application forms, leaving them on the kitchen table to finish later. As I walked by, a section of the application on top jumped out at me. Under “Previous Employment” she wrote, “Baby Sitting.” In answer to “Reason for Leaving,” she replied, “Parents came home.”
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A rabbi, a priest, and a minister walk into a bar. The bartender looks up and says, “Is this some kind of joke?”
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A guy shows up late for work. The boss yells, "You should've been here at 8:30!"
The guy replies, "Why? What happened at 8:30?"
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Original Source: Reader’s Digest
Yahoo-Google deal faces scrutiny, antitrust experts say
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Google and Yahoo face intense U.S. Justice Department scrutiny of their deal to share some advertising revenue, and the heat will likely increase under a new administration, antitrust experts said. Google, with more than 60 percent of the Web search market, and Yahoo, with 16.6 percent, announced a deal last week that would allow Yahoo to place Google ads on its site and collect the revenue. The firms said Yahoo's cash flow could grow by $250 million to $450 million (127 million to 229 million pounds) in the first year under the deal, which Yahoo sought as an alternative to software giant Microsoft's $47.5 billion buyout offer.
Yahoo and Google describe the deal as very limited. "These are still independent companies who will continue to compete aggressively," said Yahoo lawyer Hewitt Pate of law firm Hunton and Williams. But the deal has raised eyebrows among antitrust lawyers. Bruce McDonald, a Jones Day antitrust attorney and former deputy assistant attorney general, pointed out that the arrangement could lessen Yahoo's incentive to compete vigorously against Google because Yahoo would collect revenue no matter which company placed an advertisement.
Reasons for invading Iraq? "Misleading", former Bush aide McClellan writes in a book and testifies
“Ideals of candor, transparency and integrity,” ... should outweigh “loyalty to an individual officeholder.” - Scott McClellan
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WASHINGTON — Scott McClellan, President Bush’s former press secretary, told the House Judiciary Committee on Friday that he had been unfairly vilified by Bush supporters for his recent book criticizing former White House colleagues over the Iraq war and their involvement in leaking the identity of an intelligence officer. Mr. McClellan, however, offered little new information in his testimony on those issues beyond what he wrote in the book, “” (PublicAffairs), which was published in May and last week topped the nonfiction best-seller list in The New York Times.
In the book, Mr. McClellan says senior White House officials misled the nation about the reasons for invading Iraq and maneuvered him into lying to the public about their roles in the leak case. The book, with Mr. McClellan’s lacerating criticism of his former colleagues, has generated a rich discussion about the obligations of political loyalty, and his appearance Friday on Capitol Hill provided another stage for that debate. The man who once regularly and seemingly by rote defended Mr. Bush in the White House press room was attacked by the committee’s ranking Republican, Representative Lamar Smith of Texas, who grilled Mr. McClellan as ferociously as any reporter had in his three years as press secretary. Committee Democrats, on the other hand, were much gentler, treating Mr. McClellan as if he were an author promoting a book in an interview. read more »
US arrests 406 in mortgage crackdown, 60 yesterday alone, handcuffed 2 executives whose attorneys say they are used as scapegoat
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More than 400 real estate industry players have been indicted since March, including dozens over the last 2 days, in a crackdown on mortgage fraud stemming from America’s housing crisis.
Two former Bear Stearns hedge fund managers today became the first executives to face criminal charges related to the collapse of the subprime mortgage market, following a federal criminal probe into the collapse of two funds they oversaw. In an indictment unsealed in New York, Ralph Cioffi and Matthew Tannin were charged with conspiracy, securities fraud and wire fraud. Cioffi was also charged with insider trading. Cioffi, 52, and Tannin, 46, surrendered to officials and were paraded in handcuffs in front of reporters and onlookers en route to their arraignment today. Their lawyers said they will fight the charges.
Since the beginning of March, 406 people have been arrested in the sting dubbed Operation Malicious Mortgage resulting from 144 cases across America. Sixty people were arrested yesterday alone, including in Chicago, Miami, Houston and a dozen other regions policed by the FBI. Law enforcement officials said their stepped-up focus on mortgage cases aims to combat problems that have grown out of the risky lending practices prevalent until the mortgage market collapse started last year.
Across the country, reports of mortgage fraud have soared over the past year as the subprime mortgage market collapsed, and defaults and foreclosures soared. Banks reported nearly 53,000 cases of suspected mortgage fraud last year, up from more than 37,000 a year earlier and about 10 times the level of reports in 2001 and 2002, according to the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. In recent months, the FBI has been investigating more than 1,400 mortgage fraud cases and 19 companies - including Bear Stearns - tied to the subprime mortgage crisis.
Edward Little, lawyer for Cioffi, said the two men were being used as scapegoats in a crisis that was not their fault. “The subprime crisis took everyone by surprise, including the Fed and Treasury, and dozens of the largest financial institutions have lost over $US300 billion to date on the same investments,” the lawyer said in a statement. “We are shocked and disappointed that the government has seen fit to fix blame on these two decent men. The good news though is that there will be a trial, and we look forward to the day they will be vindicated.”
Officials declined to say who might be the next corporate target, but FBI Director Robert Mueller said the investigations focus on accounting fraud, insider trading, and failure to disclose the value of mortgage-related securities and other investments. Under review for potential fraud are: investment banks, hedge funds, credit rating agencies, brokerage houses and due diligence firms - which evaluate loans packaged into investments. Similar to the federal investigations of Enron Corp. and WorldCom Inc., the cases are complex and rely on intense scrutiny of documents, Mueller said.
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Images courtesy of Lanzano/AP, Hermann for News and AFP/Getty Images/File
Original Source: The West Australian
Oil prices soar, leaders gather for Saudi Arabia summit, OPEC president says output increase would be "illogical and irrational"
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Oil prices surged as some members of the Opec producers' cartel rejected demands to increase output ahead of tomorrow's meeting in Saudi Arabia to discuss soaring fuel costs. The president of Opec, Chakib Khelil, said yesterday that it would be "illogical and irrational" for it to increase output.
On Thursday oil prices fell sharply - around $5 a barrel - after Saudi Arabia announced a production hike of 200,000 barrels a day and China increased fuel prices by dropping subsidies.
But yesterday, New York's main oil futures contract, light sweet crude for July delivery, jumped $4.27 to $136.20 a barrel at one stage and in London Brent North Sea crude for August rose $3.46 to $134.46.
Venezuela initially refused to attend the meeting, but energy minister Rafael Ramirez reportedly changed his mind at the last minute after blaming speculators and the falling dollar for the high prices. Meanwhile, Iran said raising output would not curtail prices.
Saudi Arabia, the world's largest producer and the de facto leader of Opec, called the summit in the hope of easing the strains on consuming economies caused by soaring oil prices.
Brilliant! Portugal clean-tech: world's biggest, £250m solar farm on abandoned land, less dependence on oil & gas
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5 June 2008
World's biggest solar farm at centre of Portugal's ambitious energy plan in country without oil or gas
From a distance the bizarre structures sprouting from the high Alentejo plain in eastern Portugal resemble a field of mechanical sunflowers. Each of the 2,520 giant solar panels is the size of a house and they are as technically sophisticated as a car. Their reflective heads tilt to the sky at a permanent 45 degrees as they track the sun through 240 degrees every day.
The world's largest solar photovoltaic farm, generating electricity straight from sunlight, is taking shape near Moura, a small town in a thinly populated and impoverished region which boasts the most sunshine per square metre a year in Europe.
When fully commissioned later this year, the £250m farm set on abandoned state-owned land will be twice the size of any other similar project in the world, covering an area nearly twice the size of London's Hyde park. It is expected to supply 45MW of electricity each year, enough to power 30,000 homes.
Portugal, without its own oil, coal or gas and with no expertise in nuclear power, is pitching to lead Europe's clean-tech revolution with some of the most ambitious targets and timetables for renewables. Its intention, the economics minister, Manuel Pinho, said, is to wean itself off oil and within a decade set up a low carbon economy in response to high oil prices and climate change.
"We have to reduce our dependence on oil and gas," said Pinho. "What seemed extravagant in 2004 when we decided to go for renewables now seems to have been a very good decision." read more »
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