Sterna antillarum Petite Sterne / Least Tern The smallest stern in North America, the Least Tern nests in colonies on the sandbars and beaches of the American East Coast and the Gulf of Mexico. Its length is 23 cm and its wingspan is 51 cm. Plus petite sterne de l’Amérique du Nord, la petite Sterne [...]
Archive for September, 2009
The Birds of America
Posted in Birds of America, tagged 319, 320, 321 on September 30, 2009 | Comments Off
Sixty Years of Chinese Communism
Posted in Editorials and opinion, Politics, tagged China on September 30, 2009 | Comments Off
The Party is increasingly out of step with the dynamic people it governs. There are, it is sometimes said, “a million truths in China.” As the Communist Party celebrates the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic today, there are only three worth keeping in mind. First, the Chinese state will try to [...]
Communist China at 60
Posted in Editorials and opinion, tagged China on September 30, 2009 | Comments Off
Today’s celebrations ignore history and the Party’s uncertain future Today 187,000 people will parade through Beijing to mark the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, but the great proletariat will not be allowed to attend. Tiananmen Square has been cordoned off for days. Beijing’s ruling elites have banned pigeons and [...]
Obama, Dictators and democrats
Posted in Conflicts and wars, Economy and business, Editorials and opinion, Politics on September 30, 2009 | Comments Off
How many rogue nations can President Obama hold in one hand? In his Inaugural Address, President Obama spoke directly to the world’s rogue nations. “[W]e will extend a hand,” he said, “if you are willing to unclench your fist.” Question: How many rogue nations can you hold in one hand? Let’s try to count. Iran [...]
U.S. Credibility and Pakistan
Posted in Conflicts and wars, Editorials and opinion, tagged Afghanistan, Pakistan on September 30, 2009 | Comments Off
What Islamabad thinks of a U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. Critics of the war in Afghanistan—inside and out of the Obama Administration—argue that we would be better off ensuring that nuclear-armed Pakistan will help us fight al Qaeda. As President Obama rethinks his Afghan strategy with his advisers in the coming days, he ought to listen [...]
Obama Can’t Outsource Afghanistan
Posted in Conflicts and wars, Editorials and opinion, Politics on September 30, 2009 | Comments Off
George Bush succeeded in Iraq by talking to his generals regularly. So our top commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, has told CBS’s “60 Minutes” that he has spoken with President Barack Obama only once since June. This is a troubling revelation. Right now, our commander in chief is preparing to make one of the [...]
NY Times Public Editor Admits Paper Slow on ACORN, Staffer to Now Monitor Conservative Media
Posted in Editorials and opinion, Media, Politics on September 30, 2009 | Comments Off
New York Times Public Editor Clark Hoyt’s latest column tackles the ACORN scandal — or as Times readers know it: “What ACORN scandal?” In “Tuning In Too Late,” Hoyt criticized the Times for its lack of coverage of the juicy ACORN imbroglio, an omission that has prodded the paper into creating a new semi-position. It’s [...]
Mother Knows Best: Females Control Sperm Storage To Pick The Best Father
Posted in Natural sciences on September 30, 2009 | Comments Off
Scientists have found new evidence to explain how female insects can influence the father of their offspring, even after mating with up to ten males. A team from the University of Exeter has found that female crickets are able to control the amount of sperm that they store from each mate to select the best [...]
One Man’s Utopia
Posted in Other, Politics on September 30, 2009 | Comments Off
A first-time novelist imagines an America made wonderful by Warren Buffett, Phil Donahue and Yoko Ono. Here’s the bad news: Ralph Nader has written a novel. Here’s the good news: There’s no sex in it. Wait. That’s not strictly true. At the end of its 700 pages, one of the characters hooks up with Yoko [...]
Subterranean spiders among new species discovered under Australian desert
Posted in Natural sciences on September 30, 2009 | Comments Off
More than 850 new species, from blind fish to diving beetles, have been discovered under the Australian outback. A millipede of the genus Stygiochiropus The largely blind creatures first went underground due to climate change tens of millions of years ago and have survived since in total darkness. Scientists believe the finding represents only a [...]
Software mimics ant behavior by swarming against cyber threats
Posted in Animals, Computers on September 30, 2009 | Comments Off
Looking to create computer defenses that adapt well to the cat-and-mouse game played between computer users and cyber attackers, a team of researchers has turned to one of nature’s most effective militias—ants. Computer scientists at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C., and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Wash., are studying whether software written [...]
Samoa tsunami: 10 facts about tsunamis
Posted in Physical sciences on September 30, 2009 | Comments Off
A tsunami in the Pacific has killed more than 100 people in Samoa. We look at what causes tsunamis and what to look out for. Christopher Moore of NOAA looks at computer graphs at the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre in Hawaii, concerning the earthquake and tsunami that hit American Samoa. • The word ‘tsunami’ is [...]
The Claim: Loss of Sight Heightens the Other Senses
Posted in Health, Other on September 30, 2009 | Comments Off
THE FACTS This familiar claim is the stuff of many a Hollywood story line — like “Daredevil,” in which a lawyer’s sudden blindness heightens his other senses and turns him into a superhero. Studies suggest that the story is more fact than fantasy. In one series of studies, neuroscientists at McGill University tested blind and [...]
Hyenas Cooperate, Problem-solve Better Than Primates
Posted in Animals, Natural sciences on September 30, 2009 | Comments Off
Spotted hyenas may not be smarter than chimpanzees, but a new study shows that they outperform the primates on cooperative problem-solving tests. Captive pairs of spotted hyenas (Crocuta crocuta) that needed to tug two ropes in unison to earn a food reward cooperated successfully and learned the maneuvers quickly with no training. Experienced hyenas even [...]
The Birds of America
Posted in Birds of America, tagged 316, 317, 318 on September 30, 2009 | Comments Off
Anhinga anhinga Anhinga d’Amérique / Anhinga The Anhinga lives in the wooded marshes and forest watercourses of the eastern United States. Essentially a fish-eater, it feeds on fish that it catches while swimming. Its technique, by the way, is very special. It navigates in water like a serpent, with grace and agility, leaving only its [...]
Adolf Hitler alive: weird conspiracy theories
Posted in Other on September 30, 2009 | Comments Off
The discovery that the skull believed to be Adolf Hitler’s was actually a woman’s has reignited conspiracy theories. Adolf Hitler: alive and well and living on the Moon? Rumours of Hitler’s survival have been widespread for years, with some even claiming he is alive today. While that is unlikely – the Nazi leader would celebrate [...]
Adolf Hitler suicide story questioned after tests reveal skull is a woman’s
Posted in History, Other on September 30, 2009 | Comments Off
Adolf Hitler’s suicide in his Berlin bunker has been called into question after American researchers claimed that a bullet-punctured skull fragment long believed to belong to the Nazi dictator is, in fact, that of an unknown woman. The four-inch skull fragment has a hole where a bullet reportedly passed through Hitler’s left temple when he [...]
Italian coffee culture: a guide
Posted in Living, tagged Coffee, Italy on September 30, 2009 | Comments Off
If you don’t want to be taken for a tourist in Italy, you should drink coffee as and when the locals do. The idea of not drinking coffee is as foreign to Italians as the idea of having to explain its rituals. I once met an Italian who didn’t drink coffee. He made light of [...]
Soothe your aching joints with a healthy dose of antioxidants
Posted in Health, Practical advice on September 30, 2009 | Comments Off
Antioxidents such as Vitamin C can help soothe inflamed joints. Look for it in foods such as kiwi, mango, strawberries and broccoli. If you suffer from rheumatoid arthritis, you may have heard that avoiding certain foods, like eggplant and bell peppers, and taking antioxidant supplements can help relieve pain, stiffness and fatigue. Or, you might [...]
Roman Polanski faces months behind bars as extradition battle unfolds
Posted in Law, tagged Roman Polanski on September 30, 2009 | Comments Off
The director is fighting his forced return to the U.S. to face punishment for a 30-year-old sex conviction. It is rare for Switzerland to release nonresidents held in such cases. The chalet in Gstaad, Switzerland, where director Roman Polanski lived part of the year. He was arrested at the Zurich Film Festival over the weekend [...]
Iran ‘has secret nuclear arms plan’
Posted in Conflicts and wars, tagged Iran on September 30, 2009 | Comments Off
Britain’s intelligence services say that Iran has been secretly designing a nuclear warhead “since late 2004 or early 2005”, an assessment that suggests Tehran has embarked on the final steps towards acquiring nuclear weapons capability. As world powers prepare to confront Iran on Thursday on its nuclear ambitions, the Financial Times has learnt that the [...]
UN ‘to remove Afghanistan envoy’
Posted in Conflicts and wars, Politics, tagged Afghanistan on September 30, 2009 | Comments Off
Mr Galbraith had been critical of the Afghan election commission A senior UN official in Afghanistan is to be removed from his post following a row about the country’s presidential election, the BBC has learned. UN officials said Peter Galbraith had not been fired but would be removed from the mission. Mr Galbraith, a US [...]
$100bn a year for climate safety
Posted in Economy and business, Energy and Environment on September 30, 2009 | Comments Off
African countries are likely to need help in adapting to drier conditions Adapting to impacts of climate change will cost $75-100bn (£47-63bn) per year in the developing world from 2010, a World Bank study concludes. The bank released preliminary findings from its new global study at the latest round of UN climate talks in Bangkok. [...]
Israel to free 20 for Shalit film
Posted in Conflicts and wars, tagged Israel, Shalit on September 30, 2009 | Comments Off
Shalit has not been seen since his capture in 2006 in a cross-border raid Israel has said it will release 20 Palestinian women from detention in return for proof that captured soldier Gilad Shalit is still alive. A statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said it was waiting to receive video taken recently by [...]
Peering into the future
Posted in Physical sciences on September 30, 2009 | Comments Off
Building a bionic eye A contact lens that could put names to faces and guide soldiers in combat SINCE the late 19th century, people with imperfect vision have been able to use contact lenses to improve their eyesight. In the early days these lenses were made of glass and could perform only simple visual corrections. [...]
If Skype should fall
Posted in Computers, Practical advice on September 30, 2009 | Comments Off
There are now plenty of able-bodied alternatives SEVERAL years ago, your correspondent found his telephone bill was getting out of hand and vowed to halve it. The obvious answer was to sign up for a free Skype account—and get the benefit of computer-to-computer phone calls around the world for nothing plus calls to conventional landline [...]
The speechwriter’s revenge
Posted in Editorials and opinion, Politics on September 30, 2009 | Comments Off
A new exposé of George Bush’s White House raises howls and cheers IF P.G. WODEHOUSE had gone to Washington, DC, and worked for George Bush, “this is the book he would have written,” declares the dust-jacket of “Speech-less”. And it is true that the book’s author, a former speechwriter called Matt Latimer, writes well and [...]
Artificial success
Posted in Economy and business, Living, Other on September 30, 2009 | Comments Off
The fad for functional foods The popularity of “natural” food spawns an unnatural response It’s practically spinach OVER the past decade, the biggest trend in food marketing has been the shift towards organic, “natural” and even “whole” foods. Consumers in wealthier markets worldwide have demanded foods with minimal processing, in a state as close as [...]
A catastrophe is looming
Posted in Economy and business, Other, tagged East Africa on September 30, 2009 | Comments Off
East Africa’s drought Governments are at their wits’ end to keep their hungry people alive THIS year’s drought is the worst in east Africa since 2000, and possibly since 1991. Famine stalks the land. The failure of rains in parts of Ethiopia may increase the number needing food handouts by 5m, in addition to the [...]
