Duque Long

Dew heiligenschein

2006-04-26T14:45:00.000-04:00

Dew heiligenschein. Dew dew dew da da da da. That is all I am going to say to you.

Dew heiligenschein

blogiola

2006-04-26T14:26:00.000-04:00

http://www.blogiola.com/index.php Interesting you flip thru blogs. And rate them. Then I they remember them. I think.

blogiola

Encyclopedia Astronautica Apollo LEM's descent engine

2006-04-26T14:20:00.000-04:00

Encyclopedia Astronautica

Encyclopedia Astronautica Apollo LEM's descent engine

lm = lunar module

what is lem? What is the e?

The moon landing was fake

2006-04-26T14:14:00.000-04:00

The moon landing was fake!!!

The moon landing was fake !

fishmuse

2006-04-26T14:08:00.000-04:00

Some interesting links. Cylon. Heh

fishmuse.blogspot.com

toasty foaming paint fights fires

2006-04-26T14:01:00.000-04:00

Er ah. Science blog. Yay.

Thank you:

foaming paint fights fires

Get hot. Release gas. Make foam char. Char. heh heh toasty

the things that eat my tomato plants

2006-04-26T13:58:00.000-04:00

Q. Every time we put pepper or tomato plants in the ground, something breaks them off at the soil line.

A. That something is cut worms. Place aluminum-foil collars two inches high around the stems, making sure that one inch is below the soil. Mulch with oak leaf mulch.

Thank you

Vegetable & Herb Gardening: FAQs 101

Cell Phone Gun hoax or threat

2006-03-23T14:49:00.000-05:00

Got this in an email. I don't like flying as it is. My freind is legit but he didn't have a soruce. Could be a hoax. Hope so. Course i am not really a cell phone fan so take the damb things off of planes i don really care. Oh there is a video with the email but lbogger wouldn't let me upload it. shrug

Sent: Friday, March 10, 2006 20:53
To: undisclosed-recipients
Subject: Re: Cell Phone Gun

This is a real story and the video confirms what is happening in Europe. Please watch it.

Subject: Cell Phone Gun

Read this and then watch the video clip.

If you get asked to test your cell phone at the airport, this is the reason.
Because cell phone guns have been discovered. The attached video clip shows how cell phone guns operate. These phones are not in the U.S. yet, but they are in use overseas. Beneath the digital phone face is a .22 caliber handgun capable of firing four rounds in rapid succession using the standard telephone keypad.

European law enforcement officials are stunned by the discovery of these deadly decoys. They say phone guns are changing the rules of engagement in Europe . "We find it very alarming," says Wolfgang Dicke of the German Police Union . "It means police will have to draw their weapons whenever a person being checked reaches for their cell phone."

Although cell phone guns have not reached the U.S. yet, the FBI, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and the U.S. Customs Service say they have been briefed on the new weapons. All U.S. ports of entry have been alerted.

These covert weapons were first discovered in October of 2000 when Dutch police came upon a cache during a drug raid in Amsterdam.

In another recent incident, a Croatian gun dealer was caught attempting to smuggle a shipment through Slovenia into Western Europe. Police say both shipments are believed to have originated in Yugoslavia! .. Interpol sent a warning to law enforcement agencies around the world.

"If you didn't know they were guns, you would think they were cell phones,"said Ari Zandbergen, a spokesperson for the Amsterdam police. "Only when you have one in your hand do you realize that they are heavier than a regular cell phone."

Be patient if security asks to look at your cell phone or turn it on to show
that it works. They have a good reason!
See the attached video clip

Hidden Comments Registered Users

2006-03-23T14:41:00.000-05:00

Note to self:

Your comments are set up for this: Hidden Comments Registered Users

jibber jabber stats google search adsense paranoia

2006-03-23T14:11:00.000-05:00

I read somewhere never look at your webiste stats. You will spend all day there.

* Remember Mr. T? Stop the ibber jabber fool. I used to have some great sites on Mr. T. parodies. > to do

* Blogger need categories or I need to make a table of contents.

* Okay I did the I am not a s.pammer thing. This adsense thing is making me a little paranoid. I don't want to be stalked by some hacker because I popped up in the engines. Bloggers got a business to run so I will go with it. Great blog service.

* Here is what they write

Your blog requires word verification
Blogger's spam-prevention robots have detected that your blog has characteristics of a spam blog. (What's a spam blog?) Since you're an actual person reading this, your blog is probably not a spam blog. Automated spam detection is inherently fuzzy, and we sincerely apologize for this false positive.

Before we can turn off mandatory word verification on your posts we'll need to have a human review your blog and verify that it is not a spam blog. Please fill out the form below to get a review.

Find out more about how Blogger is fighting spam blogs.

Remove word verification from posts
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Type the characters you see in the picture below.

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* Did I write about Richard Rainwater? Was he the peak oil guy? What is a technorati?

http://technorati.com/search/richard%20rainwater I think I am going to add that google serach your site thing.

* Was i drinking? "pebble beach golf tips" here pebble beach golf tips I have never played pebble beach but my site is certainly more interesting than the guestbook above it. Hmm i will have to go play and post some local tips. light bulb~!

* My last DMOZ whine. I saw them in that stats and I guess an editor was removing me from the their to list. I applied for weblogs personal three years ago. rolls eyes

Well here is a personal weblog in dmoz where I applied http://www.damnhellasskings.com/ I don't think a comment is needed.

* Msn job descriptions > job definitions smile

* "yankee fire" investigation Is homeland security stalking me? I would like to write more but now I am not so sure Is that a black helicopter?

* Speaking of fans of aviation someone came here from here lockheed-p-38 Lightning rocked I would like to see a P-38 fly. Should I turn on comments?

Good on Boosh Omar Chilling

2006-03-23T13:29:00.000-05:00

Added: <<< Look I added a photo. Blogger rocks. Heh heh. Cool hat purple hat Omar. My Mom said that he reminded her of me when I was in my twenties. Moms, can only sons love them? lol
Anyhow it is an ap photo don't know who.

I wish GWB would take a stronger stance of the those afghan killing a convert to Christianity but this is pretty cool me thingks:

Gadhafi to Take Part in Democracy Panel

By PETER JAMES SPIELMANN, Associated Press Writer

NEW YORK - In the latest step in Libya's international rehabilitation, longtime leader Moammar Gadhafi is taking on questions about democracy and academic freedom.

A Columbia University conference billed as the first major meeting of American and Libyan academics and officials in 25 years climaxes Thursday with Gadhafi's participation via live video feed in a panel discussion on the prospect for the spread of democracy.

The dean of Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs, Lisa Anderson, was to moderate the panel discussion and put questions to Gadhafi, who came to power in a military coup in 1969. Although Libya is no longer viewed by the West as a rogue state on a par with North Korea and Iran, Gadhafi could face tough questions about riots last month that left 11 Libyans dead.

Libya was demonized for years by the United States as a sponsor of various terrorist groups as far-flung as the Irish Republican Army and Palestinian factions, and for trying to undermine pro-Western governments in Africa.

Libya was also blamed for the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, that killed 270 people, and a West Berlin disco bombing that killed two American soldiers in 1986. President Ronald Reagan ordered airstrikes on Tripoli and Benghazi in Libya 10 days after the disco bombing; Libya said the raids killed 41 people.

In 2003, Libya reached a $2.7 billion settlement with families of the victims of the Pan Am bombing, and the next year paid $170 million compensation to the families of the 170 victims of the 1989 bombing of a French UTA passenger jet.

Relations between Washington and Tripoli have improved since Libya's decision in the wake of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 to dismantle its clandestine nuclear weapons program under international inspection.

In June 2004, the United States opened a liaison office in Tripoli, 24 years after Washington closed its embassy in the oil-rich North African country.

But Libya's repressive one-party rule, Gadhafi's personality cult and spasms of violence could prompt tough questions from the Columbia academic audience.

It was widely reported that the Libyan riots last month were in reaction to the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad that Muslims consider blasphemous.

Gadhafi told Italy's SkyTG24 Monday that more protests against Italian citizens and interests in Libya were "to be expected." He said the protests were not related to the cartoons, but in reaction to hard feelings over Italian rule of all or parts of Libya from 1911 to 1943.

The two-day Columbia conference was billed as an opportunity to "reintroduce Libya's academic community to the United States," and was co-sponsored by SIPA and the Center for Strategic and International Studies in the United States and al- Fatah University and the Green Book Center in Libya. The Green Book is Gadhafi's guidebook of political philosophy.

Among the listed participants are Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs David Welch, former U.S. Ambassador Richard Murphy and al-Fatah University's associate professor of international relations, Youssef M. Giuma Sawani.

The State Department, in its latest worldwide survey of human rights practices, rated Libya "poor" but said it had shown some improvement. It said Libya had a large number of political prisoners, and severely limits freedom of speech and the press.

In a January op-ed piece in the International Herald Tribune, Human Rights Watch director Kenneth Roth said: "Still, Libya remains a closed and tightly controlled society. There is no independent press or civil society, and there are no political groups that are not officially sanctioned."

"On pain of imprisonment, Libyans are not allowed to criticize the government, its political system, or its leader," Roth said.

wait can i do this?

Is green fuel getting the run around

2006-03-23T13:21:00.000-05:00

Are people doing cost benefit analysis of oil and fuel like they are doing with this greenfuel attempts? I am almost attempted to believe the Big Oil conspiracy theories.

Carbon cloud over a green fuel
By Mark Clayton, Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
Thu Mar 23 2006

Late last year in Goldfield, Iowa, a refinery began pumping out a stream of ethanol, which supporters call the clean, renewable fuel of the future.

There's just one twist: The plant is burning 300 tons of coal a day to turn corn into ethanol - the first US plant of its kind to use coal instead of cleaner natural gas.

An hour south of Goldfield, another coal-fired ethanol plant is under construction in Nevada, Iowa. At least three other such refineries are being built in Montana, North Dakota, and Minnesota.

The trend, which is expected to continue, has left even some ethanol boosters scratching their heads. Should coal become a standard for 30 to 40 ethanol plants under construction - and 150 others on the drawing boards - it would undermine the environmental reasoning for switching to ethanol in the first place, environmentalists say.

"If the biofuels industry is going to depend on coal, and these conversion plants release their CO2 to the air, it could undo the global warming benefits of using ethanol," says David Hawkins, climate director for the Natural Resources Defense Council in Washington.

The reason for the shift is purely economic. Natural gas has long been the ethanol industry's fuel of choice. But with natural gas prices soaring, talk of coal power for new ethanol plants and retrofitting existing refineries for coal is growing, observers say.

"It just made great economic sense to use coal," says Brad Davis, general manager of the Gold-Eagle Cooperative that manages the Corn LP plant, which is farmer and investor owned. "Clean coal" technology, he adds, helps the Goldfield refinery easily meet pollution limits - and coal power saves millions in fuel costs.

Yet even the nearly clear vapor from the refinery contains as much as double the carbon emissions of a refinery using natural gas, climate experts say. So if coal-fired ethanol catches on, is it still the "clean, renewable fuel" the state's favorite son, Sen. Tom Harkin (news, bio, voting record) likes to call it?

Such questions arrive amid boom times for America's ethanol industry.

With 97 ethanol refineries pumping out some 4 billion gallons of ethanol, the industry expects to double over the next six years by adding another 4.4 billion gallons of capacity per year. Tax breaks as well as concerns about energy security, the environment, and higher gasoline prices are all driving ethanol forward.

The Goldfield refinery, and the other four coal-fired ethanol plants under construction are called "dry mill" operations, because of the process they use. The industry has in the past used coal in a few much larger "wet mill" operations that produce ethanol and a raft of other products. But dry mills are the wave of the future, industry experts say. It's their shift to coal that's causing the concern.

plants slated for Midwest, West
Scores of these new ethanol refineries are expected to be built across the Midwest and West by the end of the decade, and many could soon be burning coal in some form to turn corn into ethanol, industry analysts say.

"It's very likely that coal will be the fuel of choice for most of these new ethanol plants," says Robert McIlvaine, president of a Northfield, Ill., information services company that has compiled a database of nearly 200 ethanol plants now under construction or in planning and development.

If all 190 plants on Mr. McIlvaine's list were built and used coal, motorists would not reduce America's greenhouse gas emissions, according to an in-depth analysis of the subject to date by scientists at University of California at Berkeley, published in Science magazine in January.

Of course, many coal-fired ethanol plants on the drawing board will not be built, Mr. McIlvaine says. Others in planning for years may still choose natural gas as fuel to meet air pollution requirements in some states.

Other variations on ethanol-coal are emerging in Goodland, Kan., and Underwood, N.D., where ethanol plants are being built next to coal-burning power plants to use waste heat. Efficient, but still coal.

That could spell trouble for ethanol's renewable image.

"If your goal is to reduce costs, then coal is a good idea," says Robert Brown, director of Iowa State University's office of biorenewables. "If the goal is a renewable fuel, coal is a bad idea. When greenhouse-gas emissions go up, environmentalists take note. Then you've got a problem."

Ethanol industry officials say coal-power is just one possibility the industry is pursuing.

"I think some in the environmental community won't be all that warm and fuzzy about [coal-fired ethanol]," says Bob Dinneen, president of the Renewable Fuels Association, the national trade association for the US fuel-ethanol industry. "It's fair to say there's a trend away from natural gas, but coal is just one approach. Other technologies are part of the mix, too."

He cites, for instance, a new ethanol plant in Nebraska strategically located by a feed lot, using methane from cattle waste to fire ethanol boilers. Another new plant in Minnesota uses biomass gasification, using plant material as its fuel.

Coal for now, wood in the future
Coal may end up being merely a transitional fuel in the run-up to cellulosic ethanol, including switch grass and wood, says another RFA spokesman. While ethanol production today primarily uses only the corn kernel, cellulosic will use the whole plant.

Cellulosic ethanol, mentioned by President Bush in his State of the Union speech, could turn the tide on coal, too, by burning plant dregs in the boiler with no need for coal at all.

"It's a fact that ethanol is a renewable fuel today and it will stay that way," says Matt Hartwig, an RFA spokesman. "Any greenhouse-gas emissions that come out the tailpipe are recycled by the corn plant. I don't expect the limited number of coal-fired plants out there to change that."

Still, Hawkins insists that if ethanol is made using coal, the carbon dioxide should be captured and injected into the ground.

"We favor getting ethanol production up," Hawkins says. "But we obviously favor a cleaner process. We need large cuts in global warming emissions from transportation. It's not good enough for ethanol to simply be no worse than gasoline."

Convert From Muslim Die

2006-03-23T13:14:00.000-05:00

I like to keep it light but I got a study this. I just odn't want to believe this about Isalm. Apostasy is a death sentence. I read some bad things about the Jewish Bible - what is it? Torah. Muslim men need to step off and fix this.

Afghan convert controversy mirrors cartoons row By Tom Heneghan, Religion Editor
He is from Reuters right?

ROME (Reuters) - The strong Western response to a threatened death sentence for an Afghan convert to Christianity looks something like a mirror image of the Muslim reaction to the Prophet Mohammad caricatures printed in the European press.

There have been no riots or sackings of Afghan embassies, unlike the violence that marked the uproar in Muslim countries after the Danish cartoons were published, but the shock and mutual incomprehension expressed in both cases are similar.

The difference lies in the issues at stake. In the cartoons row, Muslims stressed the sanctity of Mohammad, whom they say nobody -- even non-Muslims -- can criticize. The subtext was resentment against perceived Western prejudice against Islam.

Now, Western governments and societies are speaking out for religious freedom and against the death penalty. The fact many Western troops now help defend the Afghan government against al Qaeda and Taliban remnants heightened the outrage in the West.

Amin Farhang, the Afghan economy minister who lived in exile in Germany for 22 years before returning to Kabul in 2001, saw the parallels and warned against any escalation.

"Following the row about the cartoons, which has cost so many lives, we should look calmly at things and work for a fair solution," he told the German daily Koelner Stadt-Anzeiger.

But he stressed the gulf between western-style freedoms and traditional Muslim societies that consider conversion from Islam to be an insult punishable by death. " Afghanistan cannot switch suddenly from one extreme to the other," he said.

FREEDOM A NORM, NOT AN EXTREME

The uproar sparked off by the case of Abdur Rahman, now on trial in Kabul for renouncing Islam, showed that Westerners saw religious freedom as a norm and not an extreme.

"It is deeply troubling that a country we helped liberate would hold a person to account because they chose a particular religion over another," President George Bush said on Wednesday.

Some critics suggested NATO states withdraw their troops from Afghanistan. A few even suggested that Western troops kidnap Abdur Rahman and bring him along when they leave.

Among the strongest critics are evangelical Christians in the United States, a core constituency that has backed Bush so far on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

"How can we congratulate ourselves for liberating Afghanistan from the rule of jihadists only to be ruled by Islamists who kill Christians?" Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council asked.

Another leading figure, Charles Colson, said: "If we can't guarantee fundamental religious freedoms in the countries where we establish democratic reforms, then the whole credibility of our foreign policy is thrown into serious question."

Canada's top Anglican prelate, Archbishop Andrew Hutchinson, said of the Islamic punishment for apostasy that Rahman faces: "I'm absolutely horrified to think that this kind of fanatical literalism would be applied in this day and age."

BITTER COMMENTARIES

European newspapers ran bitter commentaries. Munich's Sueddeutsche Zeitung said Kabul was "tolerant like the Taliban." Die Welt in Berlin wrote that Afghanistan faced "the dark ages of barbarity" if it executed Rahman.

"We have a duty not to cooperate in bringing back the burning of heretics at the stake," the Dutch daily Trouw wrote. Milan's Corriere della Sera said Western states helping Afghanistan should launch a movement to reform Islam there.

In Denmark, Jyllands-Posten, the daily that first ran the Mohammad cartoons, quoted Syrian-born member of parliament Naser Khader saying: "If necessary, Danish troops should liberate Abdur Rahman and Denmark should offer him asylum.

"This matter underlines that sharia (Islamic law) must be fought wherever it exists," he said.

France's Marianne magazine made clear Western critics might not be satisfied if the Kabul court arranges to avoid the death sentence by declaring Rahman insane and unfit for trial.

"If he is not tried, he will probably end up in a psychiatric hospital, which for a man of sound mind is sometimes worse than death," it commented.

Some Ad Psycho is stalking me

2006-03-23T13:06:00.000-05:00

I put adsense on my blog and now I got the word verification thing.

I got hits from my profile in blogger. The tinfoil in me says I popped up on a

search engine results and some competitor is trying to take me out and clicked the flagged this.

Nutjobs.

Maybe they have some kind of search thing at blogger, i don't know.

I am going to hit the please review my babbling post thing to get it off the list.

insert rolleyes

Two Cut n Pastes for Chef SouthPark

2006-03-23T13:05:00.000-05:00

Don't watch the show that much but I saw the one on sceintology and Tom Hanks. Well i saw the one with Cahtolic priests, taht was way over the line but oddly erm funnny?

Saw these in the search news to read later:

Chef Gets Big Send-Off on 'South Park'

By DAVID BAUDER, A.P Television Writer
Wed Mar 22, 11:16
NEW YORK - Isaac Hayes' Chef character got a true "South Park" send-off Wednesday night — seemingly killed off but mourned as a jolly old guy whose brains were scrambled by the "Super Adventure Club."

The thinly disguised satire continued the show's feud with Scientologists in its 10th season premiere on Comedy Central.

The soul singer has voiced the Chef character in "South Park" since 1997, but left recently because of what he called the animated show's religious "intolerance and bigotry." Founders Matt Stone and Trey Parker said Hayes, a Scientologist, was mad that "South Park" mocked the religion in an episode last November.

A rerun of that Scientology episode was mysteriously pulled off the air last week amid published reports that actor Tom Cruise, another Scientologist, had used his clout to bury it. A Cruise spokesman denied that.

Hayes didn't participate in making Wednesday's episode; the character's lines appeared to be patched together through tapes of past dialogue.

Chef repeatedly said he wanted to "make sweet love" to the "South Park" elementary school kids — it seems the "Super Adventure Club" turns its members into child molesters.

The children try to rescue Chef, but in the end he turns to head back to the "Super Adventure Club" — until he falls off a bridge onto rocks, is burned, stabbed and mauled by a mountain lion and bear.

Then he apparently dies.

"A lot of us don't agree with the choices the Chef has made in the last few days," one of the children eulogizes him at a funeral. "Some of us feel hurt and confused that he seemed to turn his back on us. But we can't let the events of the past few weeks take away the memories of how Chef made us smile.

"We shouldn't be mad at Chef for leaving us," the eulogy concludes. "We should be mad at that fruity little club for scrambling his brains."

The door for Hayes' return wasn't completely closed. In the show's final scene, members of the "Super Adventure Club" try to revive Chef, and it's not clear he's really dead.

and I think this is e online

"South Park" Roasts Chef, Literally By Joal Ryan

Trey Parker and Matt Stone have buried the hatchet with -- sorry, into-- Isaac Hayes.

On Wednesday's South Park 10th season premiere, Hayes' Chef character was struck by lightning, impaled, shot, mauled by a mountain lion, eaten by a grizzly bear, and, oh, yes, accused of being a child molester.

The episode was the capper to Hayes' Mar. 13 resignation. South Park chieftains Parker and Stone apparently cranked out the inaptly named "The Return of Chef!" as an answer to the defection.

In an off-screen twist, doubt has been cast as to whether Hayes really meant to depart the animated series. FoxNews.com columnist Roger Friedman reported Monday that the 63-year-old "Shaft" soul great suffered a stroke on Jan. 17, and "is in no condition to quit anything." (At the time, his publicist said Hayes was being hospitalized for "exhaustion.")

"My sources say that someone quit [the show] for him," Friedman wrote.

In his statement, Hayes, a Scientologist, said he could no longer support a show that disrespected religion. The move was widely seen as a response to a Scientology-specific South Park episode that first aired last November. (A rerun of the show, "Trapped in the Closet," was abruptly pulled from Comedy Central's schedule last week. Tom Cruise, a Scientologist, and a "Closet" parody target, denied flexing his superstar muscle to keep the episode off the air.)

Thanks to some likely manipulation of old sound bites ("suck on my chocolate salty balls") and songs snippets ("make love..."), Hayes was heard in Wednesday's opener. But Parker and Stone got in the last words.

And for the record, not one of Parker and Stone's words was "Scientology."

In the completely made-up story, Chef is "brainwashed" by an organization of child molesters called the "Super Adventure Club." In order to cure Chef, Kyle, Stan, Cartman and Kenny take their friend to a psychiatrist, a frowned-upon profession among Scientologists.

In the end, Chef dies a million Kenny deaths, only to live on, sort of, as a Darth Vader version of himself.

At his funeral, Kyle urges South Park residents to remember Chef as he was, before the brainwashing. If there is to be anger, he says, don't direct it at the beloved cafeteria worker.

Rather, says Kyle, "we should be mad at the fruity little club for scrambling his brain."

Dmoz Corruption

2006-03-23T12:50:00.000-05:00

Have you heard these rumors? You can google it to read about it. I have no idea. I just saw this in my stats http://editors.dmoz.org/editors/editunrev.cgi?site=1624433&cat=Computers/Internet/On_the_Web/Weblogs/Personal/D and thought dmoz might be adding me. Not. I guess on of the editors took me off some to do list.
Did I apply to "D" for my first name? lol

Billionaire Warns World Oil Shortage Coming

2006-02-26T03:08:00.000-05:00

peak oil oil shortage heating oil gasoline treatment

This guy is a billionaire huh? Monday, December 19, 2005 4:35 PM

MoneyNews from NewsMax.com

Billionaire Warns World Oil Shortage Coming. Prepare Now.

Billionaire Richard Rainwater has made his fortune by foreseeing a crisis and knowing how to profit from it.

Now he foresees the biggest crisis yet for the U.S. economy - the steady dwindling of oil supplies.

Americans are "in the kind of trouble people shouldn't find themselves in," the 61-year-old investor tells Fortune magazine.

Rainwater, number 112 on Forbes magazine's list of the 400 Richest Americans, warns that an "economic tsunami" is about to strike the global economy as the world runs out of oil.

He also notes that a coalition of communist and Islamic states may decide to stop selling oil to the U.S., and that food shortages could soon become a problem in America.

And he cautions: "It's not raving. I promise I am not a kook."

For sure, Rainwater is no kook. He first came to prominence as the chief investment strategist for the Bass family beginning in the 1970s before striking out on his own.

In the mid-1990s he saw panic selling in Houston real estate and bought millions of square feet - properties that are now selling for three times what he paid for them.

Later in the decade, when investors were pouring money into technology stocks and oil was cheap, he foresaw that oil prices would rise and invested heavily in oil stocks and futures - investments that have paid off handsomely.

Now Rainwater is so concerned about the looming energy crisis that he has some $500 million of his $2.5 billion fortune in cash, more than ever before, Fortune reports - and his wife, a former executive at Chemical Bank, has taken to calling him "Dr. Doom."

"I'm long oil and I'm liquid," he said. "I've put myself in a position that if the end of the world came tomorrow I'd kind of be prepared . . .

"Now there's the opportunity to do something based on a shortage of natural resources. Can you make money? Well, yeah."

One way is to stay long in domestic oil, he suggests.

What worries Rainwater is that "peak oil" theorists believe global oil production is at or near its historic ceiling and will begin a long, steady decline - at the same time that worldwide oil consumption has risen from 55 million barrels a day in 1988 to more than 80 million today.

Those theorists "worry that America is not ready for the downturn, for skyrocketing prices and even shortages," Fortune reports.

Rainwater shares those worries.

"What concerns him most is the conflict that he thinks an oil shortage will precipitate," according to Fortune.

"What happens when people get blindsided by prices rocketing past any level they have contemplated?"

Fortune cites several strategies that Rainwater could adopt to capitalize on global shortages:

Currencies. Avoid nations with few natural resources and large populations. Sell the Japanese yen, for example, and buy Canadian dollars.
Oil and gas. The best bets are major oil companies with significant domestic reserves.

Food. Rainwater believes the next "big play" may be in agricultural products, where prices have yet to climb.

Hmm buy food? Commodities are a tough play. Note that newsmax disagrees.

Editor's Notes:

An oil shortage? NewsMax's Financial Intelligence Report accurately called the oil price rise in April of 2004 and disagrees with Rainwater. Profit from the coming oil bust and get the full report

Interesting Jobs Good Pay

2006-02-26T02:51:00.000-05:00

Food stylist Sommelier Flavorist Park Naturalist

Yeah that is the ticket.

10 Interesting Jobs That Pay More Than You Think

by Careerbuilder.com
Ever wonder how some people make a living? Like the videographer at your friend's wedding or the wine steward at your favorite upscale restaurant -- how much could they be earning? Here are 10 interesting careers that pay more than you think and are guaranteed to put the enjoyment back in employment.

"Don't feel bound by the conventions of the industry and the definition of your occupation," advises Kathleen Green, editor of the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Outlook Quarterly online, which highlights employment trends and gives information on various occupations. "A degree is not a life sentence," Green says. Think outside the box and put your traditional degree or experience to use in a non-traditional job.

Many of these opportunities, while they may require specific training, certification or educational requirements, can build on experience you may already have or offer part-time freelance opportunities.

1. Food Stylist
Working with advertising firms and photographers, these artists can make anywhere from $150 a day for junior stylists, to $850 a day for experienced artists. No specific educational or industry requirements are necessary, just the creative ability to make food look attractive and delicious.

2. Makeup Artist
If you've always had a gift for glam and were born with cosmetic karma, you may want to consider this artistic avenue. Working with modeling agencies and photographers, make up artists can earn anywhere from $400 to $600 a day and much more if you make it big on the international scene. This could be a good freelance and networking opportunity for a photographer or actor.

3. Sommelier
Do you wow your friends at dinner parties with your knowledge of grape varieties and the subtle nuances of different vintages? Then you can put those talents to work as a sommelier. Sommeliers are experts at matching wine with food to enhance the food's flavor. Earning certification is the only requirement to becoming a sommelier, where salaries average at $28K for limited experience, and $80K-160K if you continue your certification to earn the designation of Master Sommelier.

4. Park Naturalist
Did your family trip to Yellowstone leave you yearning for the great outdoors? Consider developing and conducting programs that inform the public of historical, natural and scientific features of national, state, or local parks as a park naturalist. You'll need a bachelor's degree and two to four years of experience in the field or in a related area, but you could earn between $45,000 and $56,000 a year.

5. Greeting Card Writer
If you're toiling away in the public relations department of your company, you can put those composition skills to work as a greeting card writer. These professionals average $60 a card, but as much as $100 to $150 per card for experienced writers in large card companies. This could make a great freelance opportunity for a writer who wants to show her creative side.

6. Clown
Looking for a weekend outlet to relieve the stresses of the work week? Consider clowning around for children's parties, corporate events, local fun fairs or children's hospitals. Your knack for silliness can earn you anywhere from $40 to $150 an hour for private shows.

7. Flavorist
Have a chemistry background, but not impressed with the pharmaceutical, environmental or energy industries' offerings of chemical research positions? Maybe you should look to the food industry. Flavorists, or flavor chemists, blend chemicals to create tastes and smells for various foods and can earn $55,000 and up annually.

8. Pilot
If you'd like to parlay your flying hobby into a career, there are plenty of options to help your dream take wing. Think agricultural, corporate, charter or ferry pilot. These jobs require a four-year college degree, a pilot's license and some special training. Salaries for pilots vary with the size of the aircraft, but generally start at $20K and go upwards of $100,000 a year, depending on the organization you fly for and the number of hours you put in.

9. Yacht Captain
Are you a boating enthusiast? Turn your love of the high seas into a lucrative career. Captains of 60- to 100-foot vessels can earn between $45K and $85K. Living large pays, with captains of 100- to 200-foot yachts cruising at around $62,500 to $130,500 a year.

10. Videographer
Like looking behind the lens of a camera? A videographer maintains and operates video equipment, edits video footage, and stays current with new technology. You could work for a video production firm, agency or a corporation and make as much as $47,000 to $62,000 annually.

Shuttle Repair Kit

2005-07-26T09:29:00.000-04:00

About time:

Shuttle now carries 'repair kit'

AMES RESEARCHERS TEST PATCHING MATERIAL FOR SPACE SHUTTLE DISCOVERY'S SURFACE

By Jessica Portner

Mercury News

For space shuttle astronauts, computer crashes and broken gyroscopes during flight have long been fixable glitches.

Now, on the Discovery flight, set to lift off as soon as this week, the crew will -- for the first time -- have a sturdy repair kit handy to plug holes in case the spacecraft's wings are punctured in transit.

Engineers at NASA/Ames Research Center gave the kits a rigorous workout, using a superheated tube called an Arc Jet to see if these patches can take the heat. Loose insulating foam that detached and pierced a hole in space shuttle Columbia's left wing caused the Feb. 1, 2003, disaster in which seven astronauts died. NASA experts say this could help fix a similar problem should it happen again.

``If you have a flat tire, you have a spare,'' Ernie Fretter, a mechanical engineer involved in the tests, said last week in the Arc Jet workshop. Before, if the shuttle hit a snag, crew members would be stuck or have to be rescued at the space station. ``You can't stuff space suits in the hole.''

The Arc Jet team's engineers and computer scientists are among 100 people at Ames who will be on call to help if something goes wrong with Discovery's mission. It is the first time since the National Aeronautics and Space Administration began launching space shuttles that Ames workers have been on deck to help during a flight, NASA officials say.

Other Ames employees will be running supercomputer simulations of the launch and also checking results of shuttle's aerodynamic behavior in the wind tunnel to see how parts operate in flight.

Discovery's launch, the first return to orbit since the Columbia disaster, has been delayed due to a fuel gauge malfunction.

Fretter said the Arc Jet engineers are thrilled to be involved.

``The other shuttle missions we watched on TV,'' said Fretter. ``Now, from the interns to the engineers, there is more anxiety that it works fine. But we are ready to do what it takes.''

The mending kit was developed by ATK Thiokol, an aerospace contractor based in Brigham City, Utah. To make sure their tools can withstand heat of re-entry, Ames engineers relied on the Arc Jet machine -- a 15-foot-long box of ``contained lightning'' with enough power to continuously heat 10,000 homes. The powerful machine has been used to test heat shields used on many spacecraft, such as the recently deployed Mars rovers and the old Viking probes that explored Venus. Inside, coils of cooling hoses adjust the temperature, which can heat materials up to 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit -- the temperature shuttles can reach as they re-enter Earth's atmosphere.

Into the giant flamethrower, the engineers dangle two instruments: a 4-inch-long crack repair kit made of reinforced carbon-carbon -- a dense, charcoal-like material resistant to very high temperatures that has been used on tips of ballistic missiles.

The cracked surface can be caulked by astronauts if tiny fissures appear. The other device is a flat, circular patch seven inches in diameter, which astronauts can use to plug a puncture in the spacecraft's nose or wing. Once aloft, Discovery's crew is set to conduct tests inside the cargo bay to see how well they can wield the tools in the vacuum of space.

Frank Hui, one of the Arc Jet aerospace engineers who has been running these experiments -- more than 70 tests in one year -- said his work feels personal to him. He knows Steve Robinson, a crew member on Discovery who used to work at Ames. Also, he was an intern at Ames during the 1986 Challenger disaster when seven astronauts died during a launch failure.

``It was horrendous,'' Hui said last week as he watched the Arc Jet's orange flame blast materials to be used on a future NASA flight to Mars. ``They are our buddies up there. We want to see them home and walking on the ground.''

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contact Jessica Portner at jportner@mercurynews.com or (650) 688-7505.

Fetch Me A Sandwich Arnold

2005-05-12T09:17:00.000-04:00

New Robots Clone Themselves
Michael Schirber
LiveScience Staff Writer
LiveScience.com

Mimicking reproduction in living organisms, researchers have built a simple self-replicating robot out of automated blocks.

Machines that can copy themselves have been built before, but the earlier experiments were limited to two dimensions or confined to a track. Hod Lipson and his collaborators at Cornell University have designed modular cubes, called molecubes, that can assume a range of three-dimensional shapes.

"People think of robots as durable metallic machines, and the only way to make them last longer is to make them more sturdy," Lipson said.

Lipson and his colleagues are exploring a different paradigm, in which robots become more robust through self-repair.

"Animals survive longer than robots because they can repair themselves," Lipson explained in a telephone interview.

The new robots are simpler and less autonomous than biological organisms. But the scientists argue that self-replication is not a yes-or-no proposition, but rather a spectrum based on complexity and independence.

"Some viruses can reproduce, but only in very specific environments," Lipson said. "Other organisms, like mammals, are less restricted."

The robots are composed of four-inch-wide cubes that attach and release each other with electromagnets. The cubes are cut in half along a diagonal plane, allowing the robot to swivel 90 degrees.

Each module carries a microprocessor with the step-by-step instructions for replication. Sensors tell the robot when a new cube has been attached at one end, and power is supplied through floor plates.

To help the robot make a copy of itself, the scientists placed new cubes at "feeding" stations. One of the challenges was designing modules that would not topple during motion. The initial robot relies on help from its unfinished "clone" in the construction process.

In experiments, a four-cube-high robot copied itself in two and a half minutes. More complex shapes are possible in principle, but Lipson said that there are practical difficulties in making robots with more cubes.

Currently, the robots have no practical use, but the research team said that it would be fairly easy to add other modules with grippers or a camera.

Self-replicating robots could be valuable for space exploration and in hazardous environments, where they could take care of themselves without human help. One robot could even build out of its own components a new type of robot for a specific task, Lipson said.

The robots and their capabilities are reported in the May 12 issue of the journal Nature. A video of one cloning itself can be seen in the link.

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Its The End Of The World As We Know It

2005-05-12T09:12:00.000-04:00

And I Feel Fine (?)

Thanks Reuters and Yahoo News Feed. Here comes the Terminator:

U.S. scientists create self-replicating robot

Wed May 11, 2005 1:19 PM ET

LONDON (Reuters) - Self-replicating robots are no longer the stuff of science fiction.

Scientists at the Cornell University in Ithaca, New York have created small robots that can build copies of themselves.

Each robot consists of several 10-cm (4 inch) cubes which have identical machinery, electromagnets to attach and detach to each other and a computer program for replication. The robots can bend and pick up and stack the cubes.

"Although the machines we have created are still simple compared with biological self-reproduction, they demonstrate that mechanical self-reproduction is possible and not unique to biology," Hod Lipson said in a report in the science journal Nature on Wednesday.

He and his team believe the design principle could be used to make long term, self-repairing robots that could mend themselves and be used in hazardous situations and on space flights.

The experimental robots, which don't do anything else except make copies of themselves, are powered through contacts on the surface of the table and transfer data through their faces. They self-replicate by using additional modules placed in special "feeding locations."

The machines duplicate themselves by bending over and putting their top cube on the table. Then they bend again, pick up another cube, put it on top of the first and repeat the entire process. As the new robot begins to take shape it helps to build itself.

"The four-module robot was able to construct a replica in 2.5 minutes by lifting and assembling cubes from the feeding locations," said Lipson.

Wi-Fi network adapter apple

2005-05-11T11:25:00.000-04:00

Wi fi network adapter? I am not sure what the technical term for this wi-fi thing is but it sounds like it will clear that nest of snakes out behind me pc. Wait this is for apples?

This sleek, palm-sized doodad lets you set up a Wi-Fi network in your home simply by plugging it into a wall outlet and inserting a cable or two into its sockets. You then can chuck the clunky coax broadband cable and use the airwaves to link your laptop (with an AirPort card) to a cable modem or DSL line. It lets you get Internet access from most anywhere in your home (even the bathtub), zap documents to a printer and play songs from your iTunes library on your old stereo. Installation is simpler and more elegant than any computer setup you are likely to encounter, though for this lame user it took a panicked call to an Apple wizard. His first order sufficed: "Let's start by unplugging your cable modem and plugging it back in again." When in doubt, reboot. Now if only Apple would take care of some missing links. My iPod music player still must use a cable umbilical cord to latch on to my laptop. --Dennis Kneale

www.apple.com

high performance headphones ear phones

2005-05-11T11:19:00.000-04:00

Won't Get Fooled Again! No no! That is a sound intense song. Excellent hit the lottery toy for... me.

My whole life I've been desperately searching for a pair of buds that could deliver both brilliant sound and a comfortable fit. Last year I discovered Ultimate Ears. Favorites of pros like Aerosmith and Jimmy Buffett, Ultimate Ears are custom-fitted to my ears. After I ordered a set, for $550, an audiologist was dispatched to my office to create impressions of each ear, a painless ten-minute process completed by filling them with a cool green silicone. A week later a small metal box arrived with what looked like really slick hearing aids, engraved with my initials on each bud, blue on the left and red on the right. I slipped them in and, because the fit was so seamless, immediately the office went silent. I plugged them into my computer and started The Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again." It was as if I were in the room with the band. Ultimate Ears are perfect for aspiring audiophiles bent on hearing every layer of a song, or just the average listener looking for peak performance consistently. --Matthew Miller

www.ultimateears.com

zoo pooh for fuel

2005-05-03T11:17:00.000-04:00

funny story clean funny joke funny headlines clean jokes

Sit down comic has pooh thing today. This is the second he posted... Warren Buffet invested in a company that can take any carbon to light crude oil. I need to watch its stock. Where did I put that company name? I found it pre blogging.

Animal Waste Studied As Energy Source

SYRACUSE, N.Y. - The Rosamond Gifford Zoo is looking to become the first zoo in the nation to be powered by its own animal waste — particularly the prodigious piles produced by its pachyderms.

The zoo — world prominent for its Asian elephant breeding program — is studying how feasible it would be to switch to animal waste as an alternative energy source to reduce its $400,000 annual heating and electricity bill.

The zoo's six elephants produce more than 1,000 pounds of dung per day, said Zoo Director Anne Baker.

"Zoos are about conservation and stemming the loss of animals and habitat," Baker said. "But conservation also is about how people use natural resources. This is an opportunity to give visitors the whole picture."

The zoo sends most of its animal waste to a local farm, where it is composted. The zoo spends about $10,000 a year on animal-waste disposal, but Baker noted it also requires the use of additional fossil fuels for transportation.

"This would be just such a good idea on so many levels," she said.

Although other zoos have come up with creative ways to reuse their elephant manure — including using it to make stationery — Rosamond Gifford appears to be the first to propose using it for power, according to Jane Ballentine, a spokeswoman for the American Zoo and Aquarium Association.

Baker said the idea of using animal waste for energy first arose several years ago when she was talking to local officials about the potential for creating a more environmentally friendly and self-sustaining zoo.

Because the elephants eat mostly hay, they are the ideal waste producers for the project, Baker said. Additionally, they are inefficient digesters, which makes their feces higher in energy content, she said.

The zoo also will look at using the manure from its domestic farm animals, its other hoof stock, such as its bison and caribou, and even its lions and tigers, she said. Depending on the process, the zoo animal waste could be used to produce methane or hydrogen for powering a fuel cell or generator.

In the United States, a number of farms have used animal waste to produce power, so the technology is available to apply at the zoo, said John Fox of Homeland Energy Resources Development, a New York City-based renewable energy developer assisting with the study.

But there are questions to be answered to know whether it can be worthwhile, he said.

The study will start by evaluating the energy-producing potential of all the animals' dung. Another important question, said Fox, is determining just how much animal waste the zoo produces.

___

On the Net:

Rosamond Gifford Zoo: http://www.rosamondgiffordzoo.org

American Zoo and Aquarium Association: http://www.aza.org

Using differential equations vs dog butlery

2005-05-03T11:09:00.000-04:00

funny story clean funny joke funny headlines clean jokes

Differential equations. Remember them? Still have not used them. I should have
studied dog butlery. Another one sent by Sit Down Comic.

Man gets the poop on outsourcing

DELMAR, N.Y. - Computer programmer Steve Relles has the poop on what to do when your job is outsourced to India.

Relles, one of a rising number of Americans seeking new opportunities as their work shifts to countries with cheaper labor, has spent the past year making his living scooping up dog droppings as the "Delmar Dog Butler."

"My parents paid for me to get a (degree) in math and now I am a pooper scooper," Relles, a 42-year-old married father of two told Reuters. "I can clean four to five yards in a hour if they are close together."

Relles, who lost his computer programming job about three years ago, got the idea of cleaning dog dirt from people's back yards from Mark Booth, a friend in Buffalo, New York.

Relles has over 100 clients who pay $10 each for a once-a-week cleaning of their yard.

Relles competes for business with another local company called "Scoopy Do." Similar outfits have sprung up across America, including Petbutler.net, which operates in Ohio.

In the United States, there are about 63 million dogs, each producing about 23 "presents" per week, which if left can be unsafe for children and pets.

Relles says his business is growing by word of mouth and that most of his clients are women who either don't have the time or desire to pick up the droppings.

"St. Bernard (dogs) are my favorite customers since they poop in large piles which are easy to find," Relles said.

His "scooper" is a converted ice scrapper duct-taped to a ski pole. He flicks the poop into a dust pan lined with a plastic bag, then loads the waste into a large garbage can which he takes to the dump when full.

"It sure beats computer programming because it's flexible, and I get to be outside," he said.