GM Crops Created Superweed

Modified genes from crops in a GM crop trial have transferred into local wild plants, creating a form of herbicide-resistant "superweed", the Guardian can reveal.The cross-fertilisation between GM oilseed rape, a brassica, and a distantly related plant, charlock, had been discounted as virtually impossible by scientists with the environment department. It was found during a follow up to the governments three-year trials of GM crops which ended two years ago.The new form of charlock was growing among many others in a field which had been used to grow GM rape. When scientists treated it with lethal herbicide it showed no ill-effects.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/gmdebate/Story/0,,1535428,00.html

Natural Gas Costs To Double Next Month

The cost of heating your home in January is set rise sharply, with Direct Energy getting approval for rate increases of between 60 per cent and 80 per cent across the province.The bump means an average customer in southern Alberta will pay another $100 next month, while northern customers will see an average increase of about $60.
http://www.cbc.ca/calgary/story/ca-natural-gas20051230.html?ref=rss

ID Thrown Out: Maybe Theres Hope For The US After All?

In making this determination, we have addressed the seminal question of whether ID is science. We have concluded that it is not, and moreover that ID cannot uncouple itself from its creationist, and thus religious, antecedents...
To be sure, Darwins theory of evolution is imperfect. However, the fact that a scientific theory cannot yet render an explanation on every point should not be used as a pretext to thrust an untestable alternative hypothesis grounded in religion into the science classroom or to misrepresent well-established scientific propositions...
this case came to us as the result of the activism of an ill-informed faction on a school board, aided by a national public interest law firm eager to find a constitutional test case on ID, who in combination drove the Board to adopt an imprudent and ultimately unconstitutional policy. The breathtaking inanity of the Boards decision is evident when considered against the factual backdrop which has now been fully revealed through this trial.
http://blog.sciam.com/index.php?title=threw_the_book_at_em&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1

OReilly on Web 2.0

Some dismiss this as marketing speak but I firmly believe that this is where its at. Blogging, Wiki, and Google have proved it. It basically comes down to the web as a platform for interactive, collective intelligence.
http://www.oreillynet.com/lpt/a/6228

Essence of Aikido

 

 

Spiritual teachings of the founder. Very difficult to understand. Great calligraphy.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/477002357X/ref=pd_bxgy_img_b/102-0133326-6725737?%5Fencoding=UTF8

Budo

Osenseis teachings, enough said.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/4770020708/qid=1134679080/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/102-0133326-6725737?s=books&v=glance&n=283155

Other Origins : The Search for the Giant Ape in Human Prehistory

Our direct ancestor, Homo erectus , had close ties to a 10-foot-tall, 1200-pound ape called Gigantopithecus. Fossil remains of the two species have been found together in caves in Vietnam and China. New light was thrown on these discoveries in 1989 when Ciochon, a University of Iowa paleoanthropologist, and Olsen, an archeologist at the University of Arizona, participated in a U.S./Vietnamese expedition that unearthed the oldest dated Homo erectus fossils in southeast Asia.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0553070819/qid=1134678988/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/102-0133326-6725737?s=books&v=glance&n=283155

Fingerprints of the Gods

The truth is, when the evidence presented by archaeologists, egyptologists, and other professionals is examined critically, the traditional school is very far from convincing. This does not mean that the general public is ignorant or gullible. It means that when we cannot build a replica of the Great Pyramid today, with our technology (the Japanese tried and failed, and theirs was a far smaller "scale" replica), but are expected to believe that copper-tools wielding Egyptians could (2.3 million blocks of stone; weights going from 1.5 tons to 15 and 17 tons; "killer" slope of 52 degrees; near perfect alignement; perfect 90-degree corners; perfectly cut diorite blocks, and so on), then is when inquisitive, intelligent people wonder, How is that possible? Since traditional science provides answers that prove usatisfactory because they really feel like nonsense, people will look for alternative scenarios. Graham Hancock provides such scenario. He may be wrong, but his points are as solid, or more, than those of the now-accepted school of thought.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0517887290/qid=1134678898/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/102-0133326-6725737?s=books&v=glance&n=283155

The Mars Mystery

Hancock seems to be more fair-minded than many NASA critics, stating that, "what we see is a mindset, here, not a conspiracy." And indeed, one is hard-pressed to imagine why NASA isnt agreeing wholeheartedly with Hancock, since his ultimate point is that we should be paying more attention to our planetary neighbors and the skies above, lest we suffer the same fate as the Martians. Hancock raises many intriguing questions in this synthesis of unorthodox Mars theory, but those looking for applications of Ockhams razor had best search elsewhere--Hancocks theories require a leap of faith as surely as NASAs do.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0609600869/qid=1134678780/sr=8-5/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i5_xgl14/102-0133326-6725737?n=507846&s=books&v=glance

Exorcism of Emily Rose

Not bad, a little bit of a let down to have a ghost story center around a court case. 6/10
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0404032/

Dumbass Theatres Are Going To Put In More Ads To Offset Losses

Theatre owners and studios dont seem to realize that a big part of the reason that people dont go to theatres is that they have to sit through 20 minutes of ads to watch the movie theyve paid 12 bucks to see. This is just going to drive more and more to download movies off the net and watch them at home.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/media/2005-12-06-cinema-ads_x.htm

Crash

Good, good movie in every sense of the term. 8/10.
http://www.newvoyages.com

Star Trek: New Voyages

James Cawley, who plays Kirk, and director Jack Marshall are the cocreators of Star Trek: New Voyages. They are repairing a rift in the space-time continuum, fixing the most glaring flaw in the history of science fiction. As every geek in the galaxy knows, Captain Kirk and the crew of the USS Enterprise set out on a five-year mission to explore strange new worlds. To seek out new life and civilizations. To boldly go where no man has gone before. But NBC canceled the show in 1969 after only three seasons. New Voyages aims to fill fans in on what they missed. In September, Cawley and Marshall assembled more than 50 Trek lovers from across the US (and the UK and Canada) to shoot the third episode of what shouldve been season four. At their current pace of one episode a year, theyll finish the five-year mission in 2054.
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.12/startrek.html