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Thursday, August 25, 2011

21

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"There's Justice In The Universe"
Because of our enormous per capita consumption of resources, in one way we can say that the USA has the "world’s worst population growth problem". 
Read:
http://globalpublicmedia.com/transcripts/645
OR Watch:
(09:28)  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoiiVnQadwE&feature=PlayList&p=6A1FD147A45EF50D&index=7

Also read:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/02/opinion/02diamond.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

http://www.international.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=87722

Support:
www.NumbersUSA.com 
“All measures to thwart the degradation and destruction of our ecosystem will be useless if we do not cut population growth. By 2050, if we continue to reproduce at the current rate, the planet will have between 8 billion and 10 billion people / a 50% increase. And yet government-commissioned reviews  do not mention the word "population" / which is odd, given that a further increase in population, even if we cut back on the use of fossil fuels, shut down all our coal-burning power plants and build seas of wind turbines, will plunge us deeper into an age of extinction and desolation unseen since the end of the Mesozoic era.
We are experiencing an accelerated obliteration of the planet's life-forms -- an estimated 8,760 species die off per year -- because, simply put, there are too many people. Most of these extinctions are the direct result of the expanding need for energy, housing, food and other resources. Species are vanishing at a rate of a hundred to a thousand times faster than they did before the arrival of humans. If the current rate of extinction continues, Homo-sapiens will be one of the few life-forms left on the planet, its members scrambling violently among themselves for water, food, fossil fuels and perhaps air until they too disappear.”

[Abstinence doesn't seem to be working.]

www.tinyurl.com/dkapth

Support:
http://www.populationinstitute.org/
Between 1990 and 2006, the abortion rate in Mexico climbed by a third, from 533,000 to 875,000.  Abortion is so restricted in Mexico that it is virtually illegal.  Compared to the United States, where abortion is mostly legal, Mexico's abortion rate was more than 40 percent higher in 2006 than the U.S. rate.  This new study confirms that making abortion illegal does not make it less frequent.
http://www.guttmacher.org/media/nr/2009/02/02/index.html

[Those of us who remember when the USA had outlawed abortions remember the statistics and horror storiesContraception and comprehensive sex ed is the answer. Ignorance is not bliss.]
An American group, Africa Rainforest and River Conservation (ARRC), made the headlines years ago when they received permission to actively combat (aka shoot armed poachers) Sudanese sponsored poaching in the Congo. Similar ventures continue around the world.  They have my hearty approval.  Game wardens know how dangerous and primitive-minded poachers can be.

www.tinyurl.com/apkged

www.tinyurl.com/4eek

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0CE6DA143BF937A3575BC0A9649C8B63

http://www.bushmeat.org/portal/server.pt
The US Department of Energy estimates that the demand for electricity drops by about 0.5 percent during Daylight Saving Time.  This reduction in energy demand amounts to nearly 3 million barrels of oil. [Which translates to an energy savings equivalent of about 2 quarts of oil per person.]
www.tinyurl.com/cqc9hm
www.tinyurl.com/buormg

The joke’s on us:
www.tinyurl.com/c5e4jc
As I see it, the ‘stimulus’ bill greatly under spends on infrastructure (roads, bridges, etcetera) --- despite having been used as a selling point. 

Let’s look at one oft neglected infrastructure item: dams.

Of the 845,000 dams in the world, 80,000+ are in the USA.  We’re averaging 7 dam failures annually & 85% of all large dams will have passed their projected life spans by 2020.  Our dams are producing 6% of our total electricity --- 250 billion Kilowatt-hours annually (energy equivalent of about 150 million tons of coal).

I’m sure the coal companies are pleased.

www.tinyurl.com/bquysk
Dark energy’ acts like an antigravity force that pushes galaxies further apart making the universe expand faster and faster.   It comprises 70% of the universe.  The remaining 30% is matter -- 4/5ths dark matter and 1/5th ordinary visible matter (visible matter makes up just 4% of the universe).

The Milky Way Galaxy has 100+ dwarf galaxies orbiting it.  Of course, a larger number has already been cannibalized by our galaxy -- one of the latest (Sagittarius galaxy) has not yet been completely consumed.

The SDSS plotted the locations of 100,000 new quasars into the cosmic census.  Quasars, fueled by monster black holes, easily outshine the rest of their galaxies -- their redshift(s) help measure the expansion of the universe.

http://cas.sdss.org/dr7/en/sdss/
http://cas.sdss.org/dr7/en/
On today's early morning news, I heard them say an asteroid came within about 40,000+ miles of clobbering us yesterday. Since that's about 1/5th the distance to the moon and the Earth is about 8,000 miles in diameter, that's like a stray bullet whizzing by my head about 6 feet away. Too close for comfort!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7921279.stm

What's disconcerting is that the media statement was that the science community did not know of its approach.  I don't believe them.  A decade ago there was a dangerously bigger asteroid that went zinging by & the media didn't let it out until 3 days afterwards.  The scientists had known about it well in advance, but the 'powers that be' decided not to panic the masses (since there was nothing they could have done about it).

One reason I think that our scientists knew is that on yesterday's NASA's 'Picture of the Day' (that had been posted by midnight the day before) was the following picture):
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap090302.html

If you are familiar with this site, you know that it's not the kind of picture usually shown.  Somebody at NASA was 'in the know' and giving us a clue.
New York Muslim TV network founder, Muzzammil Hassan, beheaded his wife because she wanted a divorce.  Hassan founded Bridges TV network because he wanted to ’counter’ negative stereotypes about Muslims -- yet this murder, in all actuality, contains the cultural elements of an ’honor killing’ (despite the denial of Muslim leaders in New York who classify it as spousal abuse).

[Maybe he and O.J. can share a jail cell / after all, they have a lot in common.]

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1235410704401&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/18/nyregion/18behead.html?bl&ex=1235106000&en=8b9eb32a5d94c23a&ei=5087%0A

p.s.- Evidently, the fundamentalist Muslim belief is that you can't get into Paradise without your head.


Last night, I watched an excellent new series that is a few months old.  If you're someone who detests poachers as much as I do, you'll especially enjoy it.

"Shadow Force is a History Channel television show which premiered Friday, November 7, 2008 and is about a team of real-life mercenaries doing contracts given to them by the countries of Liberia, Kenya, and the Congo. The team consists mostly of ex-Special Forces from various countries..."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_Force

Video clips:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6LEB4eXOTw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMPoNTLRwro&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-zErmCe0D8&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwvkec2kzfA&NR=1