A protest on global warming in Bejing. Freeman Dyson says the benefits to China’s economy from burning of coal outweigh the resulting production of carbon dioxide __________ For more than half a century, the eminent physicist Freeman Dyson has quietly resided in Princeton, New Jersey, on the wooded former farmland that is home to his [...]
Archive for March, 2009
Dyson, pre-eminent physicist, challenges consensus on climate change
Posted in Energy and Environment on March 27, 2009 | Comments Off
A fierce solar storm could lead to a global disaster on an unprecedented scale
Posted in Physical sciences on March 27, 2009 | Comments Off
A fierce solar storm could lead to a global disaster on an unprecedented scale (Image: SOHO Consortium / ESA / NASA) __________ IT IS midnight on 22 September 2012 and the skies above Manhattan are filled with a flickering curtain of colourful light. Few New Yorkers have seen the aurora this far south but their [...]
Earth Hour hopes to shed light on climate
Posted in Energy and Environment on March 27, 2009 | Comments Off
The Empire State Building will go dark Saturday evening for Earth Hour. New York is among 250 U.S. cities participating in the event. __________ New York City’s Empire State Building is scheduled to go dark for one hour Saturday night. So are the St. Louis Gateway Arch, the Golden Gate Bridge, the Eiffel Tower, Egypt’s [...]
Alaska volcano erupts twice, sends ash 12 miles up
Posted in Physical sciences on March 27, 2009 | Comments Off
Mount Redoubt is seen from Kenai, Alaska Thursday, March 26, 2009. The volcano erupted Thursday morning sending ash clouds an estimated 65,000 feet into the air and is expected to effect the towns of Kenai and Homer. __________ Alaska’s Mount Redoubt erupted several times Thursday, spewing a more than 12-mile-high cloud that could drop ash [...]
German Village for Sale on eBay
Posted in Other on March 27, 2009 | Comments Off
__________ “Why don’t you buy your own village?” reads the text accompanying the somewhat unusual property listing on the auction Web site. Indeed, why not? The asking price is a real bargain, especially if you consider that people routinely shell out 300,000 euros for an average-sized apartment in the city. For the same amount, you [...]
Being a partner for peace
Posted in Editorials and opinion on March 27, 2009 | Comments Off
Being a Partner for Peace As he prepares to take office as Israel’s next prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu is offering what sounds like a tantalizing commitment. He said that his government will be a “partner for peace.” “I will negotiate with the Palestinian Authority for peace,” he said. We would like very much to take [...]
The Reluctant Impressionist
Posted in Arts, Photo galleries on March 27, 2009 | Comments Off
“Oarsmen Rowing on the Yerres,” 1877. In his painting of oarsmen rowing on the nearby river, he depicted the figures very close up, as if he were in the boat with them, and establishes an even more dominating stance by looking down from overhead. __________ “Poodles in Impressionism”? Now there’s an exhibition theme, and one [...]
The Perfect Gift
Posted in Living on March 27, 2009 | Comments Off
It’s spring, and birthday party season is upon our household, time again for my outrageous acts of culinary cluelessness. A few years ago, you may recall, I regaled my daughter Julia and her friends with flat-as-a-pancake profiteroles. This year, at Emilie’s request, I made poulet à l’estragon (tarragon chicken in our house) for a noisy [...]
El Nino study challenges global warming belief
Posted in Energy and Environment on March 27, 2009 | Comments Off
Research showing an El Nino event in 1918 was far stronger than previously thought is challenging the notion climate change is making El Nino episodes more intense, a U.S. scientist said on Tuesday. El Nino causes global climate chaos such as droughts and floods. The events of 1982/83 and 1997/98 were the strongest of the [...]
Seriously short stories
Posted in Language on March 27, 2009 | Comments Off
Arjun Basu may be Canada’s most prolific author. Since November, the Montreal-based writer has produced some 500 short stories. But this is short fiction with a twist: Follow @arjunbasu on Twitter and you’ll be reading lots and lots of very short stories — all exactly 140 characters long. “It started as a lark and relatively [...]
Festive culling: Australia targets toxic cane toads
Posted in Natural sciences on March 27, 2009 | Comments Off
A cane toad at Kakadu National Park in Australia’s Northern Territory. For decades, the poisonous cane toad has plagued Australians, breeding rapidly, eating voraciously and bestowing death upon most animals that dare consume it. __________ For decades, the poisonous cane toad has plagued Australians, breeding rapidly, eating voraciously and bestowing death upon most animals that [...]
I admire your lifestyle, but you must apologize for your hot-tub arousal
Posted in Popular culture on March 27, 2009 | Comments Off
THE QUESTION My wife, Jill, and I have been friends for many years with my buddy Brad and his wife Pam. For many years we’ve enjoyed get-togethers at their cottage, during which we often go skinny-dipping in the lake or the hot tub. It’s always been casual, with no implications – until recently. During a [...]
Experts try to beat vicious computer worm
Posted in Computers on March 27, 2009 | Comments Off
Deep within the World Wide Web, there is an undercurrent of potential chaos building — a malicious piece of code that has already prompted the French military to ground some fighter planes, and Microsoft to offer $250,000 for information leading to the code’s authors. Now, the authority responsible for Canadian domains — website names ending [...]
Social sites dent privacy efforts
Posted in Physical sciences on March 27, 2009 | Comments Off
Greater use of social sites makes it harder to hide Greater use of social network sites is making it harder to maintain true anonymity, suggests research. By analysing links between users of social sites, researchers were able to identify many people in supposedly anonymous data sets. The anonymised data is produced by social sites who [...]
Springtime for Mao
Posted in Editorials and opinion on March 27, 2009 | Comments Off
YOU CAN’T make this stuff up. In China, where the economy is built upon a ruthless version of capitalism, they are planning to stage a musical version of Karl Marx’s masterwork, “Das Kapital.” We hope the producers – imagine Chinese variations on Mel Brooks and Zero Mostel – have figured out a way to make [...]
Ashes on a forehead. __________ The manager of one of the city’s most luxurious hotels was given the boot after ordering a Catholic employee to clean up his forehead on Ash Wednesday. “Wipe that f—–g s–t off your face,” managing director Niklaus Leuenberger told a bell captain at the New York Palace Hotel on Feb. [...]
Slowdown blights DR Congo economy
Posted in Economy and business on March 27, 2009 | Comments Off
As the G20 summit in London draws closer, African leaders have warned of an economic “tsunami” poised to hit their continent. Our Africa correspondent, Andrew Harding, has been to the mining centre of Likasi, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the global slowdown is already causing havoc. No freight is leaving Likasi’s abandoned mines [...]
Berlusconi strengthens coalition
Posted in Politics on March 27, 2009 | Comments Off
Mr Berlusconi already governs with allies of Mr Fini Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is preparing to create a powerful new centre-right party called People of Freedom. The three-day founding congress of the bloc will formally fuse Mr Berlusconi’s Forza Italia with the “post-Fascist” National Alliance of Gianfranco Fini. The coalition will unite two of [...]
Zimbabwe ‘to arrest land thieves’
Posted in Law on March 27, 2009 | Comments Off
Morgan Tsvangirai has long criticised the land invasions Zimbabwe’s Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has said that anyone invading farms will be arrested – in an apparent challenge to Robert Mugabe. Mr Tsvangirai said the recent land invasions “are actually acts of theft”. President Mugabe has said that the government would continue to seize white-owned farms [...]
Italian ‘Fritzl’ and son arrested
Posted in Law on March 27, 2009 | Comments Off
Police have not revealed many details about the case Police have arrested a man and his son on suspicion of raping their daughters in the northern Italian city of Turin. The son was allegedly encouraged to imitate his father, who reportedly kept his daughter captive in a dark room for 25 years, sexually abusing her. [...]
Pressing the Reset Button on Afghanistan
Posted in Conflicts and wars on March 27, 2009 | Comments Off
Afghanistan is the main topic of the day as all the papers preview the announcement President Obama will make today about changes to the American strategy to decrease violence in the war-torn country that will place lots of emphasis on Pakistan. Obama will announce plans to send 4,000 military trainers to Afghanistan in the fall, [...]
Transparent Obfuscation
Posted in Politics on March 27, 2009 | Comments Off
A Rescue Plan With the Clarity of a Credit Default Swap “The parties may elect in respect of two or more Transactions that a net amount will be determined in respect of all amounts payable on the same date in the same currency in respect of such Transactions, regardless of whether such amounts are payable [...]
80-ton asteroid’s impact recorded
Posted in Physical sciences on March 27, 2009 | Comments Off
Scientists from Queen’s University in Belfast have become the first to study an asteroid before it impacts with Earth. The asteroid in question, 2008 TC3, weighed 80 tonnes and had a diameter of four metres. It landed in the Nubian Desert in Sudan last October, where it scattered after exploding at an altitude of 37km. [...]
10 ways to get a really good sleep
Posted in Health on March 27, 2009 | Comments Off
The weekend looms, and that means a morning lie-in for many – though with the clocks going forward there’ll be an hour’s less shut-eye on Saturday. But, says Sean Coughlan, there’s much more to getting a really good kip than just shutting your eyes. Britons are the worst sleepers in Europe, claimed a survey [...]
Medics ‘can mend a broken heart’
Posted in Health on March 27, 2009 | Comments Off
Medics can help you recover from a broken heart Scientists have found it is possible to mend a broken heart. US researchers studied 70 patients with “broken heart syndrome”, a recognised condition linked to stressful or emotional events. All these patients recovered, most after being given aspirin or heart drugs, even though 20% were deemed [...]
Russian ‘Arctic military’ plan
Posted in Politics on March 27, 2009 | Comments Off
Warmer temperatures are making access to the Arctic easier Russia has announced plans to set up a military force to protect its interests in the Arctic. In a document published on its national security council’s website, Moscow says it expects the Arctic to become its main resource base by 2020. While the strategy is thought [...]
Religious Ideas Burrow Into Brains
Posted in Physical sciences, Religion on March 27, 2009 | Comments Off
Cognitive scientists explain how supernatural concepts migrate between minds. Last week I described some recent cognitive research on the (rather unfortunate) naturalness of creationist reasoning. Another important body of work in the “cognitive science of religion” concerns how religious ideas are transmitted between generations. And the name Pascal Boyer, an anthropologist from Washington University of [...]
Talking Up Enlightenment
Posted in Physical sciences on March 27, 2009 | Comments Off
__________ Neuroscientists hear — and applaud — the Dalai Lama. Many years ago a curious boy looked through a telescope and, on seeing the shadows in the craters of the moon, realized that he had to make a choice. His religion taught him to respect the moon as a generator of light, but science taught [...]
What Can Magicians Teach Us about the Brain?
Posted in Physical sciences on March 27, 2009 | Comments Off
__________ Neuroscience can learn a lot by tapping the intuitive knowledge of magicians as new sources for inspiration and study. A magician tosses a ball into the air once, twice, three times. Suddenly, the ball vanishes in mid-flight. What happened? Don’t worry, the laws of physics haven’t been broken. Magicians do not have supernatural powers; [...]
