Prerogative mansworld

Clouds and stones...

2012-02-29T17:26:00.003-08:00

Cotton pickin hay bunchers...

http://news.uk.msn.com/video-clips/?VideoID=2g7ypv79

EPA's Computational Toxicology Research Survey EPA's Computational Toxicology Research Program (CompTox) develops decision-support tools that can be used to prioritize chemicals based on their potential toxicity to humans and the environment. These tools are developed and used by CompTox partners. You have been identified as a CompTox partner who may be aware of or using these tools. CompTox partners include EPA employees, other federal agencies, academic institutions, industry trade associations, professional societies and non-governmental organizations. To improve your satisfaction with these tools, we are asking you to take the EPA Computational Toxicology Research Program survey if you are willing. The online survey will be available until June 3, 2011. To access the survey, go to http://www.surveygizmo.com/s/404675/comptox-customer-satisfaction-survey. For more information about EPA’s Computational Toxicology Research Program, go to http://epa.gov/comptox. Please contact Monica Linnenbrink (linnenbrink.monica@epa.gov or 919-541-1522) if you have questions or feedback about this survey. Feel free to forward this to others who may be interested in taking the survey.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-xAmw3f2EY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPSi_t0wnA4&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PmWlPjV6n0&feature=g-vrec&context=G2bfa06dRVAAAAAAAABA

News ReleaseContact:

LANL Announces Plans for Workforce Reduction Lab seeking up to 800 in voluntary programLOS ALAMOS, NEW MEXICO, February 21, 2012—Los Alamos National Laboratory Director Charlie McMillan today said the Lab has submitted a plan to the National Nuclear Security Administration proposing to reduce its workforce by between 400 and 800 employees this spring through a voluntary separation program."We are taking these actions now in an attempt to reduce the risks of involuntary layoffs," McMillan said. "When combined with a suppressed attrition rate for the past three years, our current budget and future outlook require significant cost-cutting. The plan we’re submitting will position the Lab to continue executing our missions today and in the future."The plan must receive NNSA approval.In a meeting with employees today, McMillan said a combination of factors has led to this proposed action:The Lab’s Fiscal Year 2012 budget is more than $300 million lower than 2011-- $2.2 billion versus $2.55 billion.Future budgets are expected to be flat or lower.For a variety of reasons, attrition has decreased in the past few years."With a smaller workforce possessing the essential skills, we will be better positioned to deliver on current and future national security commitments. Allowing employees to apply for voluntary separation is a prudent step," McMillan said.Other important details:Certain job functions are not included in the voluntary separation program. Also, some applications may be denied to maintain a sufficient level of skills.Details of the voluntary program will be made available after NNSA approves the Lab’s plan.The Lab’s student programs will not be cut but will remain capped at 2011 levels.A team of senior managers, formed in late 2011, will continue other aggressive cost-curbing measures."I’m very hopeful we can achieve the savings we need without an involuntary workforce reduction. We were successful when we took similar action in 2008," McMillan said. "I am fully aware of the economic footprint this Lab has in Northern New Mexico, and we’re taking every possible step to minimize the impacts."About Los Alamos National Laboratory''.

Los Alamos National Laboratory, a multidisciplinary research institution engaged in strategic science on behalf of national security, is operated by Los Alamos National Security, LLC, a team composed of Bechtel National, the University of California, The Babcock & Wilcox Company, and URS for the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration.Los Alamos enhances national security by ensuring the safety and reliability of the U.S. nuclear stockpile, developing technologies to reduce threats from weapons of mass destruction, and solving problems related to energy, environment, infrastructure, health, and global security concerns.

One more beer...

http://www.youtube.com/user/ProudPopaw?v=1U0ZxK_vwUk&feature=pyv

EPA, along with Tox21 partners, releases list of 10,000 chemicals being screened by robot systemA high-speed robotic screening system, aimed at protecting human health by improving how chemicals are tested in the United States, is testing 10,000 compounds for potential toxicity. The compounds cover a wide variety of classifications, and include consumer products, food additives, chemicals found in industrial processes, and human and veterinary drugs. A complete list of the compounds is publicly available. Testing this 10,000 compound library begins a new phase of an ongoing collaboration between the National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, referred to as Tox21Read the entire news release announcing list and access list of chemicals at: http://epa.gov/comptox/ (under recent news). Please let me know if you want more information.Monica Linnenbrink, Public Affairs SpecialistU.S. Environmental Protection AgencyOffice of Research and DevelopmentChemical Safety for Sustainability Research/National Center for Computational ToxicologyPhone: 919-541-1522Blackberry: 919-454-8748Email: Linnenbrink.Monica@epa.gov

Cowboy dance... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=003_ulzGw4I

Rubber? Bums? Saddles?

2012-02-02T12:00:00.000-08:00

A dream in a coot's ass...

Lockheed twin engine, The Gyroscope Company's "flying Laboratory"
source: December 1941 Mechanix Illustrated

Photo Courtesy: New Mexico State Forestry

Regular Photo Size

New species of flax found in SE NM

Updated: Wednesday, 13 Jul 2011, 11:47 AM MDT
Published : Wednesday, 13 Jul 2011, 11:44 AM MDT

SANTA FE (AP) - A new species of flax has been discovered by botanists with the New Mexico State Forestry Division and the federal Bureau of Land Management.
The new species was found in the gypsum soils of the Yeso Hills near the New Mexico-Texas border south of Carlsbad.
The species is named Allred's Flax, after recently retired botanist Kelly Allred from the New Mexico State University Animal and Range Science Department.
One of the discoverers, State Forestry Botanist Bob Sivinski, says the new species is just the most recent example of how much there is to learn about native plants in New Mexico.
Distinguished by its orange flowers with yellow centers, Allred's Flax grows abundantly as a short bush on gypsum-rich soils in the northern Chihuahuan Desert of New Mexico and adjacent Texas.

Gyroscope invented in 1852. Replica built by Dumoulin-Froment for the Exposition universelle in 1867. National Conservatory of Arts and Crafts museum, Paris.

Raising mule...

2012-01-03T11:53:00.000-08:00

Darn shop keepers, keeping shop ain't sweeping shop, dust in a broke ain't a rope a dope...

Um'o get me some fire liquer, and teach them stone throwers a back yard ain't mine till it's seen me asleep...

Soil Microbes Accelerate Global Warming

(July 13, 2011) — More carbon dioxide in the atmosphere causes soil to release the potent greenhouse gases methane and nitrous oxide, new research published in this week's edition of Nature reveals. "This feedback to our changing atmosphere means that nature is not as efficient in slowing global warming as we previously thought," said Dr Kees Jan van Groenigen, Research Fellow at the Botany department at the School of Natural Sciences, Trinity College Dublin, and lead author of the study.

Van Groenigen, along with colleagues from Northern Arizona University and the University of Florida, gathered all published research to date from 49 different experiments mostly from North America, Europe and Asia, and conducted in forests, grasslands, wetlands, and agricultural fields, including rice paddies. The common theme in the experiments was that they all measured how extra carbon dioxide in the atmosphere affects how soils take up or release the gases methane and nitrous oxide.
The research team used a statistical technique called meta-analysis, or quantitative data synthesis, a powerful tool for finding general patterns in a sea of conflicting results. "Until now, there was no consensus on this topic, because results varied from one study to the next," explained Professor Craig Osenberg of the University of Florida and co-author of the study. "However, two strong patterns emerged when we analysed all the data: firstly more CO₂ boosted soil emissions of nitrous oxide in all the ecosystems, and secondly, in rice paddies and wetlands, extra CO₂ caused soils to release more methane." Wetlands and rice fields are two major sources of methane emissions to the atmosphere.
The culprits are specialised microscopic organisms in soil, that respire the chemicals nitrate and carbon dioxide, like humans respire oxygen. The microbes also produce methane, a greenhouse gas 25 times more powerful than carbon dioxide, and nitrous oxide, 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide. Their oxygen-free habit is one of the reasons these microorganisms flourish when atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations increase. Van Groenigen explained: "The higher CO₂ concentrations reduce plant water use, making soils wetter, in turn reducing the availability of oxygen in soil, favoring these microorganisms."
The other reason these microorganisms become more active is that increasing CO₂ makes plants grow faster, and the extra plant growth supplies soil microorganisms with extra energy, pumping up their metabolism. This extra plant growth is one of the main ways ecosystems could slow climate change. With more CO₂, plants grow more, soaking up carbon dioxide through photosynthesis, and, the hope is that they also lock away carbon in wood and soil. But this new work shows that at least some of that extra carbon also provides fuel to microorganisms whose byproducts, nitrous oxide and methane, end up in the atmosphere and counteract the cooling effects of more plant growth.
"It's an ecological point and counterpoint: the more the plants soak up CO₂, the more microbes release these more potent greenhouse gases," said Bruce Hungate, Professor at Northern Arizona University and co-author on the study. "The microbial counterpoint is only partial," continued Hungate, "reducing the cooling effect of plants by about 20%."
But it's an ecological surprise, too, and one that climate models will need to reckon with as they further refine pictures of the climate of the future. "By overlooking the key role of these two greenhouse gases, previous studies may have overestimated the potential of ecosystems to mitigate the greenhouse effect," van Groenigen concluded.

Critters and hairbrushes...

2011-12-01T09:54:00.000-08:00

It''ll be a pastars rivet on a yarns tooth when them sky fairies born that belly vapour!!!

American Airlines Parent Files for Bankruptcy

By MICHAEL J. DE LA MERCED

The press release

Scott Olson/Getty Images

The baggage area that services passengers of American at O’Hare Airport in November.
The parent company of American Airlines said on Tuesday that it has filed for bankruptcy protection, in an effort to reduce labor costs and shed its heavy debt load.
American’s parent, the AMR Corporation, was the last major airline in the United States to resist filing for Chapter 11 in an effort to shed contracts, a move that analysts said left it less nimble than many of its competitors.
AMR intends to operate normally throughout the bankruptcy process, as previous airlines have done. Thomas horton, formerly AMR’s president, took over as chairman and chief executive for Gerald Arpey, who is retiring/
“Our board decided that it was necessary to take this step now to restore the company’s profitability, operating flexibility, and financial strength,” Mr. Horton said in a statement.
As of Sept. 30, AMR had $24.7 billion in assets and $29.6 billion in debt, according to a filing with the federal bankruptcy court in Manhattan. The company added that it has about $4.1 billion in cash and short-term investments that it can use to pay off vendors and suppliers.
Its largest unsecured creditors include the Wilmington Trust and Manufacturers and Trust Company, which represent several classes of bonds. The company is being advised by the investment bank Rothschild and the law firms Weil, Gotshal & Manges, Paul Hastings, Debevoise & Plipton and the Groom Law Group.

When them town folk press them breaches, law is a mighty fine thing...

Round them there ankles? No mam...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9APEzXQbj4&feature=related

Yellow diamond sold for £6.89m

The world's largest yellow diamond was auctioned by Sotheby's

The world's largest known yellow diamond has been sold at auction for more than 10.9 million US dollars (£6.89 million).
Auction house Sotheby's had estimated that the pear-shaped Sun-Drop Diamond would fetch between 11 and 15 million dollars (£6.95 million to £9.48 million) at auction in Geneva.
It was bought by a telephone bidder. The sales price does not include the auctioneer's commission and any taxes the buyer might have to pay.
The diamond was sold by New York-based company Cora International, which discovered the jewel in South Africa last year.
Gemologists rate the 110.3 carat diamond as fancy vivid yellow - the highest possible colour grading.
The colour in yellow diamonds is caused by nitrogen impurities trapped within carbon molecules and hardened over the course of millions of years.

A sugar stick in crocsville ain't no mountain barley dance...

Swig, swag and a tellers jet lag.

2011-11-01T07:28:00.000-07:00

Thing is, a mules work on a donkey ain't a horse's stud, them prairies land some keyote's some easier picking's in a man's back yard, but, a man's day's work ain't a holla in the yonder's ass, no sir, squating in them there cactus's ain't a keyote.

http://video.uk.msn.com/watch/video/awesome-trampoline-wall-tricks/1j4ye9iet

Npower fined £2m over complaints

Energy supplier npower has been fined £2 million by regulator Ofgem for mishandling customer complaints.

Npower has been fined over customer complaints

Energy supplier npower has been fined £2 million by regulator Ofgem for mishandling customer complaints.

It is the second heavy fine levied on one of the "big six" energy firms over complaints handling in the space of four months following a £2.5 million fine for British Gas in July.

Ofgem said npower failed to record all details of the complaints it received, did not give customers enough details of the redress service offered by the energy ombudsman and failed to put in adequate processes to deal with complaints.

The regulator said it is also investigating the way EDF Energy, another of the big six suppliers, handles its complaints.

Sarah Harrison, Ofgem's senior partner for sustainable development, said: "Consumers have a right to expect that energy companies will comply with the standards. Npower failed to do so and, although it took remedial action, it has incurred a penalty for failing consumers."

Ofgem added that the fine would have been higher had the company not admitted the breaches of regulations and taken action to improve its complaints procedures.

Npower, which is owned by German group RWE, is the UK's fourth largest provider and supplies about 3.3 million customers. This month it put up its average tariffs for gas by 15.7% and electricity by 7.2% because of rising wholesale power prices.

The firm was fined £1.8 million in 2009 by Ofgem for mis-selling after complaints from customers about its doorstep sales team.

Adam Scorer, director of external affairs at consumer rights group Consumer Focus, said: "It is welcome to see Ofgem willing to hammer home the point that unless energy companies start treating consumers fairly there will be a price to pay.

"Customers need to be confident that suppliers will deal with their complaint quickly and fairly and that there will be consequences when they don't play fair."

A stiff whooper new mornings present ain't a hair of the dog round them clumsy city folk toiling on the train tracks, no sir, me, a cottons tanning neck and a real pritty flask of yonder cherub milk...

Yiiiiii haaaaaa!!!!!!!!!

Horse husslers, cattle and broom weeds.

2011-10-08T14:48:00.000-07:00

Me and ma look mighty strange brushing them there praries with the hounds hollering yonder, mule thirst breeds a flowers bredth of an acre...

Knights tour...

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/da/Knight%27s_tour_anim_2.gif

Stem, waters stone throw and a bean, three days ferment and a whiskeys sock for the clock is a days graze!!!

September remember...

2011-09-02T13:00:00.000-07:00

A while is a while and a river is a place man should keep clean if his face is seen... Darn it...

A king on country is like looking at his cuffs, you tell how much care is in the garden, but, the garden grows, well, ain't much complaining around the business register...

Space Junk Problem Reaches 'Tipping Point'

It's bad news for all you aspiring space tourists out there. Soon, the only ticket into space may be of the suborbital variety and nothing more ambitious, like actually flying into orbit.
Earth is now surrounded by so much space junk that a leading expert on the issue has declared that we are at a "tipping point" -- it may soon become too dangerous to venture into low-Earth orbit (LEO) through fear of having a manned spaceship punctured or a communications satellite trashed.
SEE ALSO: Space Station Alert as Debris Makes 250 Meter Near Miss
Ex-NASA scientist Donald Kessler led a National Research Council study into the orbital situation, and the outlook is grim. In Thursday's announcement on the study's findings, the amount of orbital rubbish "has reached a tipping point, with enough currently in orbit to continually collide and create even more debris, raising the risk of spacecraft failures."

WATCH VIDEO: NASA TRIES TO BREAK SATELLITES.

This is the nightmare scenario of the Space Age, and Kessler is all-to familiar with its ramifications. In 1978, when working in NASA's Environmental Effects Project Office at Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, he developed what became known as the "Kessler Syndrome."
As a space debris expert, Kessler realized that at some point in the future, after mankind has dumped all kinds of refuse, dead satellites, and nuts and bolts in LEO, the condition may be met when collisions between pieces of space junk become commonplace. After each collision, more and more pieces of debris are created, causing further collisions -- a cascade effect would follow. Kessler now has the dubious pleasure of having a space "syndrome" named after him.
SEE ALSO: New Radar Net to Catch More Space Junks
"We've lost control of the environment," he said. And he's not wrong -- more junk is being left in orbit than ever and we have no way (yet) of removing the trash.
Although we may not be seeing the Kessler Syndrome in full-swing, there have been two recent incidents that dramatically demonstrate what's going on above our heads.
In 2009, two satellites -- a defunct Soviet-era satellite and a functioning Iridium communications satellite -- smashed into one other at a relative speed of 7.2 miles per second, creating 1,700 pieces of debris large enough to be tracked from Earth. Each of those chunks of shredded satellite became more pieces of space junk to be avoided.
SEE ALSO: CubeSails to Drag Space Junk from Orbit
When you consider how big space is (even in LEO) and the vanishingly small likelihood of two spacecraft bumping into one another, you suddenly realize that it must be getting crowded up there.
However, the worst contributor to the space junk problem came two years earlier when the Chinese tested an anti-satellite missile on their Fengyun-1C satellite. The system obviously worked; over 2,700 pieces of the destroyed craft remain in orbit today.
These two incidents doubled the amount of debris buzzing around.
So what can be done?
The study doesn't thoroughly examine the ways we might clean up our orbital neighborhood -- although it does single out some ideas examined by DARPA -- but it does stress that we need to act soon, before it's too late.
Image: An artist's impression of the space junk problem (satellites are overemphasized). Credit: ESA

Lemons and water in a ranch glove grip for a day makes a fine refreshment for the cowboys around them parts...

Cowboy shoes???

2011-08-10T10:01:00.000-07:00

Them there cotton pickin rooting tooting keyote's, a howling and a stealing yonder crops blowing round the barn side view, I'm a yawning afternoon on them there plains, me and daisy, old mcdonald, and sing a song a six pence are mulling them vultures on that there horizon, they'll be a lot for answering on them townsman, still, a liquering bickering ol fool should be a womans delight in a barnyard full of hays fright...

Lol... me getting old, the walking does the talking when the thought is at court, hanging for the banging, and the sack for the ladies pack...

I''LL BE COMING ROUND THE MOUNTAIN WHEN SHE COMES, I'LL BE COMING ROUND THE MOUNTAIN WHEN SHE COMES, I'LL BE COMING ROUND THE MOUNTAIN, COMING ROUND THE MOUNTAIN, COMING ROUND THE MOUNTAIN WHEN SHE COMES, YII HAAA!!!!!

Pollution Killing Flower's Fragrance
Environmental Scientists Fume About Disappearing Flower Fragrances

August 1, 2008 — Biochemists have shown that air pollution inhibits the distance that flower's fragrances can travel. Scent molecules usually travel easily in the air, but pollutants break them apart, which destroys the smell. The researchers found that these delicate odors responsible for attracting bees and other pollinating insects are traveling as little as one-third of their former distances.

Soon, it may be harder to stop and smell the roses. Something is killing off flower's sweet smell. Now, we can discover what the culprit is.
Ah, the sweet smell of flowers can be hard to resist. When you go and visit a garden the first temptation you have is to smell a flower, explains Jose Fuentes, Ph.D., atmospheric scientist University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Va.
But hurry up and catch a whiff while you still can.
Atmospheric and environmental scientists report that flower's scents are being destroyed. What's to blame for the disappearing aromas? Pollution. Fumes from cars and factories are pumping pollutants into the air, which may be destroying flower's fragrances.
"What we find is that these fragrances only travel one-third of the distance that they used to travel," Dr. Fuentes says.
Flowers produce scent molecules that travel easily in the air. Pollutants break apart the fragrance molecules, destroying their smell. Our noses will miss the pleasant fragrance, but bee's depend on it.
"The pollinators are spending more time trying to locate food and less time trying to actually harvest food that they need," Dr. Fuentes notes.
Wiping out flower scents could have a major impact on bee populations. But we can help bring back the bees and flower smells.
Dr. Fuentes explains, "One specific action that we can take is to really work towards having a very clean environment."
Flower populations may also diminish because plants need bee's to pollinate that allows flowers to reproduce. Now, we can make a clean effort for a chance to smell the flowers.

HOW WE SMELL: A smell is the sensory response to the complex mixtures of chemicals in the air around us, called odorants. We are able to sense these chemicals because they bind to protein receptors that line the cells in our nose. Each kind of receptor can only detect specific chemical compositions, producing the sensation of different smells. These receptor proteins are produced from about 1,000 different genes: almost 3 percent of our total gene count.
THE NOSE KNOWS: Our sense of taste is partially enhanced by smell, which is why food may taste bland when we have a cold that blocks the nasal passages. Nerve receptor cells within the nose detect odors carried into the organ by air, and transmit signals to the brain through the olfactory nerve.
ABOUT AIR POLLUTION: Air pollution is made up of many kinds of gases, droplets and particles that can remain suspended in the air. This makes the air dirty. The easiest way to visualize airborne particles (also called aerosols) is to exhale outside on a cold day and watch the fog come out of your mouth when water vapor forms water droplets. The same thing happens in the atmosphere, but for different reasons. Under certain conditions individual molecules come together and form particles -- a chemical soup. In the city, air pollution may be caused by cars, buses and airplanes, as well as industry and construction. Ground-level ozone is created when engine and fuel gases already released into the air interact when sunlight hits them. Ozone levels increase in cities when the air is still, the sun is bright and the temperature is warm.

Ranch hands apply...

2011-07-12T02:05:00.000-07:00

Been airing the water respectfully these recents, listening a yonder and afar tells reminisce days bounty, plentiful teaching them desk makers in them there workshops...

University fee levels announced

Almost three-fifths of universities will charge the maximum 9,000 pounds for at least one of their undergraduate courses

More than a third of English universities have been granted permission to charge fees of £9,000 as standard from 2012, it has been confirmed.
Students starting degree courses from next year face average tuition fees of almost £8,500. Overall, almost three fifths of universities will charge the maximum £9,000 for at least one of their undergraduate courses.
University fee levels for next year have been released by the Office for Fair Access (OFFA), as it published each institution's plans for preventing disadvantaged youngsters being priced out of higher education.
Every university which wants to charge more than £6,000 in fees has had to have its proposals for recruiting poorer students approved by OFFA.
These "access agreements" will be reviewed each year, with institutions that fail to meet their agreed targets on recruitment and retention facing fines or losing the right to charge more than £6,000.
OFFA on Tuesday confirmed that 123 universities, plus 18 further education (FE) colleges submitted access agreements for approval. Of these, all but two, both from FE colleges, have been agreed so far.
Among those that have had their access agreements approved, 80 universities and one FE college (58%) will now charge fees of £9,000, the maximum allowed, for one or more of their courses.
More than a third (38%) of universities - 47 out of the 123 that submitted proposals - will charge £9,000 across the board. This includes many of England's most elite institutions, including Oxford and Cambridge.
When FE colleges are taken into account, 48 institutions out of 139 will set the maximum fee as standard. But OFFA insisted that just 7% of institutions will have an estimated average fee of £9,000 after fee waivers for poorer students are taken into account.
These institutions are Bradford University; Durham University; University of East London; University College Falmouth; Lincoln University; University of the Arts London; University College London; University of the West of England, Bristol; and Plymouth College of Art.

How a man has a family at that age in them concrete mainframes a liquer boy could attempt his reason with his cup, but, them tumbling broom plants seem real much and plenty...

Bag of grain and valley drips of water, right there yes sir, yonder and me, we talk plenny...

It's a mighty fine day there cowboy, you could walk your way right over that there ridge and collect you some hours on the sleep...

Watering the ground with that there grain and grape cook.

Happy birthday MM...

2011-06-01T08:01:00.000-07:00

Well, it's a good day for sipping sweet juice, mind that sugar stick honey it's been floating in that casker plenty recent, 6 weeks in that rock soil and kicking and a coming that it is, yes sir, warm me some hands on a womans home machine, yes, yes mam, plenty and mighty happy...

30 May 2011 Last updated at 13:25

Germany: Nuclear power plants to close by 2022

Germany's coalition government has announced a reversal of policy that will see all the country's nuclear power plants phased out by 2022.
The decision makes Germany the biggest industrial power to announce plans to give up nuclear energy.
Environment Minister Norbert Rottgen made the announcement following late-night talks.
Chancellor Angela Merkel set up a panel to review nuclear power following the crisis at Fukushima in Japan.
There have been mass anti-nuclear protests across Germany in the wake of March's Fukushima crisis, triggered by an earthquake and tsunami.
'Sustainable energy' Mr Rottgen said the seven oldest reactors - which were taken offline for a safety review immediately after the Japanese crisis - would never be used again. An eighth plant - the Kruemmel facility in northern Germany, which was already offline and has been plagued by technical problems, would also be shut down for good.
Six others would go offline by 2021 at the latest and the three newest by 2022, he said.

Nearly a quarter of German's electricity comes from nuclear power so the question becomes: How do you make up the short-fall?
The official commission which has studied the issue reckons that electricity use can be cut by 10% in the next decade through more efficient machinery and buildings.
The intention is also to increase the share of wind energy. This, though, would mean re-jigging the electricity distribution system because much of the extra wind power would come from farms on the North Sea to replace atomic power stations in the south.
Protest groups are already vocal in the beautiful, forested centre of the country which, they fear, will become a north-south "energie autobahn" of pylons and high-voltage cables.
Some independent analysts believe that coal power will benefit if the wind plans don't deliver what is needed.
And on either side of Germany are France, with its big nuclear industry, and Poland, which has announced an intention to build two nuclear power stations.

Germany's nuclear power politics
Mr Rottgen said: "It's definite. The latest end for the last three nuclear power plants is 2022. There will be no clause for revision."

Mr Rottgen said a tax on spent fuel rods, expected to raise 2.3bn euros (£1.9bn) a year from this year, would remain despite the shutdown.
Mrs Merkel's centre-right Christian Democrats met their junior partners on Sunday after the ethics panel had delivered its conclusions.
Before the meeting she said: "I think we're on a good path but very, very many questions have to be considered.
"If you want to exit something, you also have to prove how the change will work and how we can enter into a durable and sustainable energy provision."
The previous German government - a coalition of the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) and the Greens - decided to shut down Germany's nuclear power stations by 2021.
However, last September Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition scrapped those plans - announcing it would extend the life of the country's nuclear reactors by an average of 12 years.
Ministers said they needed to keep nuclear energy as a "bridging technology" to a greener future.
The decision to extend was unpopular in Germany even before the radioactive leaks at the Fukushima plant.
But following Fukushima, Mrs Merkel promptly scrapped her extension plan, and announced a review.
Greens boosted Germany's nuclear industry has argued that an early shutdown would be hugely damaging to the country's industrial base.
Before March's moratorium on the older power plants, Germany relied on nuclear power for 23% of its energy.
The anti-nuclear drive boosted Germany's Green party, which took control of the Christian Democrat stronghold of Baden-Wuerttemberg, in late March.
Shaun Burnie, nuclear adviser for environmental campaign group Greenpeace International, told the BBC World Service that Germany had already invested heavily in renewable energy.
"The various studies from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change show that renewables could deliver, basically, global electricity by 2050," he said.
"Germany is going to be ahead of the game on that and it is going to make a lot of money, so the message to Germany's industrial competitors is that you can base your energy policy not on nuclear, not on coal, but on renewables."
Shares in German nuclear utilities RWE and E.On fell on the news, though it had been widely expected.
But it was good news for manufacturers of renewable energy infrustructure.
German solar manufacturer, Solarworld, was up 7.6% whilst Danish wind turbine maker Vestas gained more than 3%.

Ain't one for thinking pretty much, still, land, soil, dirt, and my ranches horizon...

http://www.space.com/11794-lifeguarding-spacecraft-european.html

What did you say???

2011-05-11T04:33:00.000-07:00

Spoke me some fairy talk back there... Cotton pickin mule men ain't got shoe shine boys whispering street talk in them there coffee boulevards, fancy words and tooth picks, no sir, ain't oblige in sherrif's good books...

Oaths of Office For Federal Officials

Congress

At the start of each new Congress, the entire House of Representatives and one-third of the Senate are sworn into office. This oath-taking dates to 1789, the first Congress; however, the current oath was fashioned in the 1860s, by Civil War-era members of Congress.

The Constitution specifies no details for the oath of office for Congress:

Constitution, Article 6 - Debts, Supremacy, Oaths The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.

The first Congress developed this requirement into a simple, 14-word oath:

"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support the Constitution of the United States."
The Civil War led President Lincoln to develop an expanded oath for all federal civilian employees (April 1861). That July, when Congress reconvened, "members echoed the president's action by enacting legislation requiring employees to take the expanded oath in support of the Union. This oath is the earliest direct predecessor of the modern oath."

The current oath was enacted in 1884:

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.
The public swearing-in ceremony consists of Representatives raising their right hands and repeating the oath of office. This ceremony is led by the Speaker of the House, and no religious texts are used. Some members of Congress later hold separate private ceremonies for photo ops.

When a man's toil ain't met his boots on a fire and stove story, out in them fancy brick rows, their gentlemans breaches, braces and straps, that there whiskey ain't much fine help...

Obama approval hits two-year high

More than half of Americans now say President Barack Obama deserves to be re-elected, according to a poll

Barack Obama's approval rating has hit its highest point in two years - 60% - and more than half of Americans now say he deserves to be re-elected, according to a poll.
The Associated Press-GfK poll, taken after US forces killed al Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, gave worrisome signs for Republicans, showing the president's standing improved not just on foreign policy, but also on the economy.
Independent Americans - a key voting bloc in the November 2012 presidential election - caused the overall increase in support by sliding back to Mr Obama after fleeing for much of the past two years.
Comfortable majorities of the public now call Mr Obama a strong leader who will keep America safe. Nearly three-fourths - 73% - also now say they are confident that he can effectively handle terrorist threats. And he improved his standing on Afghanistan, Iraq and the US' relationships with other countries.
Despite a sluggish recovery from the Great Recession, 52% of Americans now approve of Mr Obama's stewardship of the economy, giving him his best rating on that issue since the early days of his presidency; 52% also now like how he is handling the nation's stubbornly high 9% unemployment.
The economy remains Americans' top issue. Impressions of the nation's fiscal outlook have improved following last Friday's positive jobs report, which showed American companies are on a hiring spree.
More people now say that the economy got better in the past month and that it is likely to continue doing so in the coming year.
Also, more Americans - 45%, up from 35% in March - say the country is headed in the right direction; still about half - 52% - say it is on the wrong track, meaning Mr Obama still has work to do to convince a restive public to stay with the status quo.
Overall, Mr Obama's approval rating is up from 53% in March and a 47% low point following last autumn's mid-term congressional elections in which Republicans won control of the House and gained seats in the Senate. It was 64% in May 2009, just months after he was sworn into office.
Also, 53% now say he deserves to be re-elected; 43% say he should be fired, making it the first time in an AP-GfK poll that more people say he should get a second term than not.

Don't You Think This Outlaw Bit's Done Got Out Of Hand

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54Hp6T0Xpc4&playnext=1&list=PLEAA8A316A39E66DC/

That water in the can of beans makes them sparkling grapes in moonshine country...

Batteries.

2011-04-20T10:37:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I posted, I have been at work, in the field again, yes, them there cotton pickin rednecks knew how lucky yonder meadow is in them there foothills, moonshine ain't got much place around here, no sir, voice's holla no rest for the evening...

EU Challenges Iranian Satellite Jamming

The EU urged Iran "to ensure the right to freedom of expression," which Tehran has

signed up to under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

by Staff WritersBrusseles (RIA Novosti) Mar 23, 2010

European Union foreign ministers urged Iran on Monday to stop jamming foreign information and censoring European news sites. Iranian authorities have closed foreign media and arrested journalists since the anti-government protests last June. About 70 foreign radio and television stations were closed on February 11, the 31st anniversary of the Islamic Revolution. "The EU calls on the Iranian authorities to stop the jamming of satellite broadcasting and Internet censorship and to put an end to this electronic interference immediately," said the UN press release.
The EU urged Iran "to ensure the right to freedom of expression," which Tehran has signed up to under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
"The EU is determined to pursue these issues and to act with a view to put an end to this unacceptable situation," the press release stated. European ministers said they may halt exports to Iran of equipment for intercepting private conversations and censoring the Internet.

Mumma say's you can trust a keyote on a ram's back but it ain't that time of day...

RELEASE : 11-120

NASA Seeks Education Partners To Help Inspire The Next Generation Of Explorers

WASHINGTON -- NASA is seeking partners to help achieve its strategic goals for education, including informal education done at museums, science centers, and planetariums. The agency is committed to sharing the excitement of NASA's space-based missions and inspiring students of all ages to pursue studies in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

NASA seeks unfunded partnerships with organizations to engage new or broader audiences on a national scale. The agency will work collaboratively to leverage partners' unique resources.

Potential partnership activities are varied. NASA is receptive to a broad range of possibilities from creative organizations with wide-ranging areas of expertise. All categories of domestic entities, including U.S. federal government agencies, are eligible to respond. NASA will accept proposals through Dec. 31.

To view the announcement, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/offices/education/about/NASA_Seeks_Collaborators.html

To learn more about NASA's broad education initiatives, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/education

- end -

Carly Simon / You're so vain

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQZmCJUSC6g

New biz...

2011-03-07T18:22:00.000-08:00

Been a while around the newsworld, hey, people do journalism, journalism does what it should around the ''circles''...

Daniel Beddingfield / Gotta get through this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4eMyOzD9UI

US firm strikes £3.5bn E.ON deal

US energy company PPL has struck a deal to buy E.ON's UK Central Networks system in a deal worth three and a half billion pounds

American utility firm PPL has snapped up its second major UK electricity network after striking a deal worth £3.5 billion with Germany's E.ON.
The acquisition of the Central Networks business adds an electrical supply system serving five million customers in the Midlands, including Birmingham and Nottingham, through about 83,000 miles of overhead and underground cables.
Pennsylvania-based PPL already owns Western Power Distribution, which provides regulated distribution through 52,000 miles of power lines to 2.6 million customers in South-West England and South Wales.
With the acquisition of Central Networks, PPL will own and operate what it says will be the largest network of electricity delivery companies in the UK in terms of regulated asset value - a combined £4.9 billion.
The deal, which is expected to complete next month, forms part of E.ON's plan to sell 15 billion euro (£12.7 billion) of assets by the end of 2013 as it looks to cut debt and expand in regions such as Latin America.
E.ON UK chief executive Paul Golby said: "PPL is an excellent partner for Central Networks. They share our goal of providing a safe and reliable service for our customers and our communities."
Central Networks was created following E.ON's purchase of Powergen in 2002 and Midlands Electricity for £1.2 billion two years later. PPL, which will also assume £500 million of debt in the deal, said it expected to generate "significant synergies" from the combined UK operations.
Chief executive James Miller said: "Opportunities as compelling as this do not come along very often. The UK provides a progressive regulatory environment."
Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing, whose infrastructure fund recently acquired the electrical network covering London, the South East and eastern England, is thought to have lost out to PPL in the Central Networks auction.
Long-term investors such as pension funds are attracted to assets such as utilities and power distribution networks due to their reliable income stream. PPL controls or owns about 19,000 megawatts of generating capacity in the US.

Globalisation...

07/03/2011 19:36

1,000 migrants reach Italy by boat

AP

A boat loaded with migrants is spotted at sea off the Sicilian island of Lampedusa, Italy (AP)

More than 1,000 migrants from North Africa have arrived in Italy overnight, some in rickety boats that had to be escorted ashore by the coastguard.

It was one of the biggest arrivals since a steady influx of Tunisians started in mid-January, when an uprising ousted the country's long-time president and caused a breakdown in coastal patrols.

The uprising in Libya has also caused concern in Italy that tens of thousands of migrants might be on their way.

News reports said a dozen boats had landed in the tiny Sicilian island of Lampedusa since shortly before midnight on Monday. The migrants are mostly Tunisians.

Italy has sought the help of Europe as it copes with the migrant influx.

Before this arrival, more than 6,000 Tunisians had made it to Lampedusa.

Beer and cider, they call that snakebite in the pubs round london, and a lot of the pubs say it's illegal...

Friends, sheep and meadows.

2011-02-26T12:19:00.000-08:00

Welcome to this journey friend, I'm not much for fancy dress dress's round these parts, so, I guess I'll keep them old moonshine recipes handy...

As John Wayne says 'get off your horse and drink your milk'...

Business will be real slow by the looks of things, the tax payer's money is in the hands of a mule while the thorough breds are realising that it is still a cowboys world, It's real tuff being a man in this era...

Them beans on the stove ain't good for much city love, guess I'll get me a real shiny bunch of hands out there yonder somewhere...

MEDIA ADVISORY : M11-038

Lunar And Planetary Conference Highlights Solar System Evolution

HOUSTON -- NASA researchers and other scientists will present findings that provide new insights into the evolution of the solar system during the 42nd annual Lunar and Planetary Science Conference.

The conference will run March 7-11 at the Woodlands Waterway Marriott Hotel and Convention Center, 1601 Lake Robbins Drive, The Woodlands, Texas.

Key events include the unveiling of future planetary science strategy; early science results from a Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency mission, called Hayabusa, that returned the first particle samples from an asteroid; presentations about the recent comet Hartley 2 flyby; and the upcoming MESSENGER mission, the first spacecraft to orbit Mercury.

The conference also will include a briefing about the Planetary Decadal Survey at 5:30 p.m. CST on March 7. The survey is a strategy released by the National Research Council in Washington to prioritize missions, research areas and observations ten or more years into the future. The briefing's featured speaker will be Steve Squyres of Cornell University. He is the survey's chair and principal investigator for NASA's Mars Exploration Rovers.

The masterpiece / Jonny cash

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34MpPH4C5sY/

I wrote a poem about 9 years ago, for a real special lady named Julia Roberts, yes sir, she was a real mighty fine dame...

And the story goes that 30 minutes after I had finished writing the darn thing I looked at the 5 o'clock newspaper stand advertising the evening edition and it said that Julia Roberts had just got married...

Well, the poem is this...

Masterpiece.

In my fathers house, mansion over the hilltop

So high, where burning love resides, teasing peaks of jailhouse rock,

'help me I can't help falling in love with his latest flame'

I tell the angels, my fathers creations mesmerise he is the one to blame

How great thou art of unchained melody

Though crying in the chapel her Spanish eyes my only remedy

It is no secret, the voice of the almighty came to me in an evening prayer

'He knows just what I need a thing called love I believe son do not despair

I have made a path for you to go and walk the Earth

I've got confidence Joshua fit the battle from the moment of your birth

Remember only believe in my amazing grace, and you'll never walk alone

My thoughts;

If the lord wasn't walking by my side I could never return to senders home

the plan is known only to him working on the building

but, I know to bring peace in the valley and the 9th choir will rejoice and sing

reach out to Jesus, put your hand in the hand

surrender suspicious minds, 'his good luck charm loves all land'

[Jesus] I want you, I need you, I love you, it's now or never

although that's when your heartache begins [I'm gonna walk them golden stairs]

he's not you, you're always on my mind, love me tender nothing compares...

[Norman Copeland]

That's the get your self a drink welcome post friend...

Ain't much coffee in that there lemonade...

lol...