Tag Archives: united-states

More Frequent Extreme Heatwaves Commonplace Across the US by 2040

image: Noah Diffenbaugh/Stanford Univ. Just as one extreme snowstorm in winter not meaning the world isn’t continuing to warm, one summer heatwave doesn’t prove it. That said, the trend is definitely towards more extreme heatwaves , as new research from Stanford University confirms. Writing in the journal Geophysical Research Letters , the scientists say that exceptionally long heatwav… Read the full story on TreeHugger

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More Frequent Extreme Heatwaves Commonplace Across the US by 2040

The Secret Code Hidden In the United States Cyber Command’s Seal

Can you see it? It's inside the gold ring between the United States Cyber Command and the American bald eagle. A secret hexadecimal code. The key to all America's secrets. Or their favorite Lynyrd Skynyrd's song. This is the code: 9ec4c12949a4f31474f299058ce2b22a Any ideas??? http://gizmodo.com/5581373/united-states-cyber-commands-shield-has-a-secret-code added by: pjacobs51

Glenn Beck University: Fox News host starts own college

Just in time for summer school, Glenn Beck has announced that he is starting a university in his name. According to the announcement on his website: “Beck University is a unique academic experience bringing together experts in the fields of religion, American history and economics. Through captivating lectures and interactive online discussions, these experts will explore the concepts of Faith, Hope and Charity and show you how they influence America's past, her present and most importantly her future.” Professors will include pro-family advocate David Barton, business guru David L. Buckner and Lousiana State University political science professor James R. Stoner Jr., who told Inside Higher Ed he was “delighted” to accept Beck's offer. Beck University will be online-only and courses are not for credit. Mother Jones has a list of suggested courses for BU, including “Intro to Theology: Ayn Rand,” and “Studies in Moral Courage: Joe McCarthy.” What do you think? Would you take a class at Beck University? Join the discussion below. added by: Stoneyroad

All Media Have Been Banned From Gulf Of Mexico Oil Spill Cleanup Sites

In an amazing development, all media have been banned from Gulf of Mexico oil spill cleanup sites. Yes, you read that correctly. All media have been banned. In yet another sign of just how far free speech rights in the United States have fallen, “National Incident Commander” Thad Allen has banned all media access to oil clean up sites in or around the Gulf of Mexico. Instead of devoting all of their energy to trying to save the environment in the Gulf of Mexico, BP and the U.S. government seem absolutely obsessed from keeping people away from seeing what is really going on. It is now a class B felony that carries a fine of up to $40,000 for any media representative to come within the 65 foot “exclusion zone” that has been established. That means that all members of the media – print, television, radio and bloggers – are banned from coming within 65 feet of anything important down in the Gulf of Mexico. added by: Revelation1217

BP Gulf Spill Predicted by a 1970s Board Game?

Image via Metro Truth is certainly sometimes stranger than fiction. For instance, does this seem real? In the year 1970, a board game was created for an oil company known at the time as British Petroleum. In that game, called “BP Offshore Oil Strike”, players build oil rigs and drill off coastlines and in open water. Then, when the rig explodes, they have to pay a fine and clean it up. Sounds like a fun game, right? … Read the full story on TreeHugger

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BP Gulf Spill Predicted by a 1970s Board Game?

Gulf Oil Disaster: Evidence that demands investigation and verdict

Dear Congressman/Senator, I am deeply concerned with the handling of the cleanup and containment effort of the BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. As such, it is now the time to lay aside partisan issues, and issue a criminal and ethical investigation into the Obama administration’s dealings with BP oil, evidence of prior knowledge for the spill, and the relationship of money exchanged in return for complete collusion and complicity in this whole situation. Clearly, after citing the circumstantial evidence below, you should see that a criminal investigation into the roles of the Federal Government under the Obama administration and BP Oil, in the events leading up to the creation of this disaster, to the lack of federal response is warranted and overdue. EVIDENCE THAT DEMANDS AN INVESTIGATION AND A VERDICT 1. Barack Obama received more money from BP Oil than ANY OTHER politician in the last 20 years – Republican or Democrat. (Reuters, http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE64420A20100505 ) 2. Rahm Emanuel, chief of staff to Barack Obama, lives in a luxury Washington D.C. apartment given to him by a high-level BP Oil Staffer (L.A. Times, http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2010/06/rahm-emanuel-bp-gul-oil-spill… ) 3. Goldman Sachs, a part owner of BP, was the second highest contributor to Barack Obama, giving him just a little over $1 million (CNN, http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/04/20/obama.goldman.donations/index.html ) 4. The current chairman of Goldman Sachs was also the chairman of BP oil. He stepped down from BP in 2009 ( Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Sutherland ) 5. Exxon-Mobil, Chevron, BP gave more money to Obama (Washington Independent, http://washingtonindependent.com/226/does-exxon-mobil-support-obama ) 6. George Soros, Who Helped Bankroll Obama’s 2008 campaign, is an aggressive investor in oil, and he is instrumental and is influential in Brazilian Oil Company Petrobras. (The Guru Focus, http://www.gurufocus.com/news.php?id=33828 ) 7. Curiously, CEO of BP, Tony Hayward dumped 1/3 of his BP stock holdings($2.1 million dollars) weeks before the oil rig explosion (The UK Daily Telegraph http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/oilandgas/7804922/BP-chie… ) 8. Coincidentally, Goldman Sachs dumped 44% – 4,680,822 shares – of its stock in BP Oil weeks before the spill – no other oil company, just BP. This also represented an unusual transaction, being two times the size of any normal stock trade for an institution its size. (Raw Story, http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0602/month-oil-spill-goldman-sachs-sold-250-million-… ) 9. Weeks before the oil spill, Haliburton acquired Boots & Coots, a Houston-based oil well intervention/oil safety/oil spill cleanup company, an investment criticized by many as an “unwise” investment at the time (Houston Chronicle, http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/6952547.html ) 10. It has also now been learned that President Obama stands to make over $85 Million over the next 10 years due to this “accident.” It seems as though Vanguard, Pres. Obama’s asset holdings company, dumped all of his shares of BP oil stocks in the weeks before the “accident.” http://www.twawki.com/?p=6768 11. On March 31st, Obama lifted a 20 year moratorium on offshore drilling, opening the Gulf of Mexico to new exploration and new competition amongst oil companies (Bellona, http://www.bellona.org/articles/articles_2010/US_drilling_moratorium_lifted ) 12. As early as February 2010, BP engineer referred to this particular rig as a “nightmare rig.” (AOL News, http://www.aolnews.com/gulf-oil-spill/article/bp-engineer-brian-morel-called-dee… ) 13. Jimmy Harrell, chief operator for Transocean who owned the rig was well aware of problems and warned of such a disaster. Harrell is quoted is telling an unknown person on the phone, “”Are you f****g happy? Are you f****g happy? The rig’s on fire! I told you this was gonna happen.” ( Mother Jones http://motherjones.com/blue-marble/2010/06/rigs-fire-i-told-you-was-gonna-happen ) 14. BP representatives knowingly and willfully gave the wrong orders on how to prevent an explosion on the rig. In order to control the pressure, cement(known as mud in the industry), is normally thrown down to seal of leaks. Instead, BP reps overruled the opinions of the workers and ordered sea water to be thrown down. This is clear evidence of criminal negligence, ineptitude, or criminal sabbotage. (NOLA.com, http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2010/05/hearings_bp_representa… ) 15. The United States Coast Guard, an arm of the US Military under the control of the commander-in-chief, President Obama, has become severely compromised. It has now been “rented out” to BP, who is using it as a private security detail/bully force in the region, using intimidation, cover-ups, lies, as weapons, and not allowing media to remotely come close to any BP workers in the region. The Coast Guard is also directly and indirectly involved in turning away foreign aid, as well as PRIVATE and STATE entities which are proven to help more effectively in preventing damage to their coastlines. http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0617/expert-bp-running-gulf-prison-warden/ 16. There has been LITTLE TO NO response on the part of environmental groups and agencies regarding the damage that is being done to the ecosystem and environment in the region. This can only be regarded as suspicious. One can only wonder why they have not only remained silent, but they have praised the Obama administration’s actions. 17. We know that there are three poisonous gasses being released from the oil rig area. These 3 gasses are: Methane, Benzene, Hydrogen Sulfide. This does not include the byproducts of the dispersants which are also being released in the air. It is feared by many scientists and experts that benzene has the capability of igniting itself when it chemically reacts with the right concentration of gasses already present in the region. 18. With the Obama administration’s prolonging, knuckle-dragging, and delays in turning away help and aid, their actions only cause the scenario mentioned above all the more frightening. In a worst case scenario, according to scientists and other experts, the ignition of benzene would result in something akin to napalm, burning everything in its path. The US Coast Guard is following unlawful orders from President Obama in enforcing the denial of the 10th amendment to the states affected by this disaster. The Federal Government has NO AUTHORITY to tell a state how it will clean up or prevent damage to its coastline. It is also imperative that the governors of all states affected convene an emergency, [cont] You might click on the link and send a letter to your reps, if you still believe your voice matters. added by: samantha420

1 in 4 Americans Don’t Know Shit

So they did a poll to see if native born, all American citizens know why we celebrate the 4th of July. They found that about three-quarters of residents — 74% — know the U.S. declared its independence from Great Britain in 1776. The bad news for the academic system — 26% do not. This 26% includes one-fifth who are unsure and 6% who thought the U.S. separated from another nation. Countries mentioned are France, China, Japan, Mexico, and Spain. I think this is an AMAZING result. Considering that a good 10% of Americans probably have Alzheimer’s. Then another 5% are just regular crazy people. And probably 11% of Americans got offended that some annoying academic calling them up during dinner to ask inane question and answered, “The United States won its independence from the country of Bite Me.” See the complete table at sushibandit.com added by: SushiBandit

Saturday Funnies: Leno Chats With Really Clueless Folks About Independence Day

Imagine not knowing what year the United States declared its independence, what country we fought to win our freedom from, or who was the General that lead our troops to victory. As hard as it is to believe, there are actually Americans that are that stupid, and Jay Leno caught up with some of them last week: Thoughts?

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Saturday Funnies: Leno Chats With Really Clueless Folks About Independence Day

Scientists Crack Code of How to Live Past 100: Vegetarianism, Religion, Good Genes

Image via Dezinerfolio A group of US scientists studying human longevity believe they’ve gathered some invaluable evidence in the quest to predict which people will live to be older than 100. Based on genetic ‘signposts’, the scientists have worked out a mathematical model that determines a person’s chance of living to be a centenarian. To gather the data, they looked at the biggest study yet done on centenarians, and found that there were common lifestyle choices and habits amongst those who lived longest: Vegetarianism, avoidance of alcohol, and a strong religion, to name a few. Beyond that … Read the full story on TreeHugger

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Scientists Crack Code of How to Live Past 100: Vegetarianism, Religion, Good Genes

New EcoLabel Index Sorts Out Validity, Accountability & Transparency of Green Certification Programs

photo: Joshua W via flickr The sheer proliferation of eco-labeling, certification and recognition programs, covering everything from food, to clothing, to energy and more, is bewildering–even to people who follow this stuff professionally. It’s hard to keep up with it all and sometimes just as hard to sort out what labels can be trusted and which need improvement. Which is where the just-launched Ecolabel Index comes in. … Read the full story on TreeHugger

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New EcoLabel Index Sorts Out Validity, Accountability & Transparency of Green Certification Programs