"Every day is a bonus": Veteran's Day November 2009 in DC.

Asteroid 2009VA -- near miss on Friday 11/6

Asteroid 2009VA just missed hitting the Earth on Friday.  Scientists say it would have mostly burned up in the atmosphere if it would have hit the Earth... but there was very little warning of the near miss.

Carbon Leaf - War Was In Color

Thanks, to all our men and women in uniform.

hat tip: Michael Heinbaugh for the video

The Horse Genome

The genome of the domestic horse has been mapped by a team of scientists.

The team surveyed the extent of genetic variation both within and across breeds to create a catalogue of more than one million single-letter genetic differences in these breeds.

This is slightly larger than the genome of the domestic dog, and smaller than both the human and cow genomes.

So far, scientists have also sequenced the genomes of the platypus, mouse, rat, chimpanzee, rhesus macaque and, of course, human.

I'd be interested in the genome of the dolphin and whale....

Ida Oil Prices

Are you ready for $4 a gallon gasoline prices again?  It appears Hurricane Ida is going to affect the Gulf of Mexico Oil lanes.

The Gulf is the source of 25 percent of U.S. domestically produced oil and 15 percent of natural gas. About 40 percent of U.S. refining capacity is located on the Gulf Coast.

On Sunday night, the storm was located in the southern Gulf and expected to strike land by Tuesday somewhere between the states of Louisiana and Florida after roaring through the eastern Gulf oilfields over the next two days.

Save your pennies.

Reaping the Whirlwind

Jerry Pournelle writes from a lifetime of experience and makes a lot of sense.  Why wasn't the Fort Hood shooter brought up on charges of treason the moment it was discovered that he sided with our enemies?

Political correctness was the cause of the Fort Hood Massacre, and we ought not forget that. The fact that someone could go through -- at government expense -- an undergraduate education with ROTC, then medical school at a US military institution, and remain a traitor to the United States is a significant warning.  Hassan had been through ROTC and a US armed forces medical school as a commissioned officer. Why was his failure of loyalty to the armed forces not detected earlier? But of course he was a Muslim, and it would not be politically correct to wash someone out of an armed forces medical school for lack of loyalty to the armed forces of these United States.

We sow the wind. We have reaped one whirlwind.

Amen to that.

8 shot in Orlando... What's going on!

At least 8 shot at Orlando High Rise, killer on the loose

Taylor Wins 36-35!

I thought you might enjoy the last couple minutes of the Taylor-Marion game on Halloween as called by our own Sevens member Tim George, the Voice of Taylor Football. Taylor came from far behind to win their Homecoming game 36-35 in a walk-off touchdown catch by Ryan Magnuson for his 6th touchdown catch of the game. Good call, Tim!



Note: The final touchdown comes around the 4:30 mark in this video.

Dog Scent Lineups

I can hardly believe this isn't a joke from The Onion, but there are actually people in jail based solely on a dog alerting on their scent among other scents in a lineup. 

The 2004 F.B.I. report warned that dog scent work "should not be used as primary evidence," but only to corroborate other evidence.In several of the cases that were based on Deputy Pikett's dogs, however, the scent lineups appear to have provided the primary evidence, even when contradictory evidence was readily available. Mr. Bickham spent eight months in jail after being identified in a scent lineup by Deputy Pikett's dogs, until another man confessed to the killings.

Many people remain in jail based on such silly evidence -- they should be let out immediately.

Norwell News Blog

You can find great pictures and stories on the Norwell News Blog.

ps... and, if you must, you can always take a look at the Bluffton Bloggers and the Southern Wells Raider Report. Thanks to Jerry Battiste of the Bluffton News-Banner for getting the area schools up and running on their news sites, what a great community service!

The Worst Bill Ever

The Wall Street Journal looks at the new Health Care Bill coming out of the House.

Dolphins

Dolphin intelligence... interesting.