9 Minute Nobel Prize

A standing ovation and a Nobel prize not bad for nine minutes of work.

Big Bang pair claims Nobel physics prize

The Nobel prize in physics has been awarded to US academics John Mather and George Smoot for their discoveries supporting the Big Bang theory. Their work was based on measurements made with the help of the cosmic background explorer (Cobe) satellite launched by Nasa in November 1989 using its own rocket. The first results were received after nine minutes of observations: Cobe had registered a perfect blackbody spectrum. When the curve was later shown at an astronomy conference, the results received a standing ovation.


Blog: Nobel Prize in Physics Links

The COBE findings were described in a cover story of the July 1992 issue of Scientific American, shortly after the announced results. This issue is not availably digitally, but you may find a hard copy in the library.

Here are some that you can get online:

The First Few Microseconds, May 2006

Four Keys to Cosmology, a special report in the February 2004 issue consisting of George Musser's introduction and four articles:
1. The Cosmic Symphony
2. Reading the Blueprints of Creation
3. From Slowdown to Speedup
4. Out of the Darkness
It is more economical to buy the entire back issue than to download each article separately.

The Once and Future Cosmos, fall 2002 special newsstand issue.

COBE Corroborated, February 1993

The Evolution of the Universe, October 1994

Big Bang Researchers Snag Nobel Prize

The scientists discovered the nature of "blackbody radiation,'' cosmic background radiation believed to stem from the "big bang,'' when the universe was born. "They have not proven the big-bang theory but they give it very strong support,'' said Per Carlson, chairman of the Nobel committee for physics. "It is one of the greatest discoveries of the century. I would call it the greatest. It increases our knowledge of our place in the universe.''

See:

Space

Science



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Haggis and Drought

A drought of haggis would be welcomed by some, but a drought of scotch would not.

And all this climate change dread can only lead one to drink.

Especially in Canada where of course we have not met our Kyoto targets, nor apparently is the New Government in any hurry to attempt to.


"Climate change is leading to changes in temperature, rainfall patterns, snow cover, wind and storm events, flooding and coastal erosion. All of these could have significant impact on Scotland's environment, economy and people." - Scottish Environmental Protection Agency report


'Half world to face drought by year 2100'

The incidence of moderate drought will double to affect half the world by the end of the century unless greenhouse gas emissions are curbed, according to a study.

Computer modelling of the effect of global warming on water levels conducted by the Met Office, Britain's official weather forecaster, also suggests severe droughts could rise sharply, in the absence of action to limit emissions from the consumption of fossil fuels.

Worsening water shortages threaten to lead to intensifying problems of starvation and international conflict.

The Met Office forecasts, to be published shortly in a US journal, are based on a projection of reasonably strong global economic growth, with no mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions. In that scenario, global temperatures rise by 1.3 to 4.5 degrees celsius by the century's end.

See:

Kyoto

Environment

Global Warming

Drought



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Canadians Oppose War-Whose Taliban Now

The rightwhing bloogers like to refer to Jack Layton as "Taliban Jack", equating the NDP position on withdrawing our troops from the warzone in Afghanistan as appeasement. Well I guess we are all Taliban now....

Afghanistan war more unpopular than ever

A clear majority of Canadians consider the mission in Afghanistan a lost cause, according to an extensive survey that hints at deep public skepticism about the war on terror.

Decima Research polled more than 2,000 Canadians last month just as Prime Minister Stephen Harper stepped up his efforts to promote the mission.

Fifty-nine per cent of respondents agreed Canadian soldiers "are dying for a cause we cannot win," while just 34 per cent disagreed with that statement.

An even larger majority said they would never fight in Afghanistan themselves under any circumstances -- not even if they were forced to in some military draft.

Guess they won't be showing up at any of those Conservative orchestrated Red Friday Rallies.


Also See:

Afghanistan






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Scoop

The Edmonton Journal has a scoop on the shoddy condition of Edmonton Restaraunts and the failure of the government to enforce safety regulations. In Alberta. Say it ain't so. You can use the documentation from Captial Health that the Journal fought to get to check out your favortie restaruant. I did a check of the hip hot spot on Whyte Ave. the Next Act home of the Theatre crowd. Last year they had health violations.


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Getting The Body Count Right

The sacrifice: We count the dead. But not the injured
Soldiers in Afghanistan are six times more likely to be killed than those in Iraq, new research shows. But the true cost isn't counted in bodybags alone.

Says a report issued in the UK. They look at the body count of British, Canadian and American troops in Afghanistan compared to Iraq, and include the injured. The results are more injured troops in Afghanistan than in Iraq. And the body count is as high as the Soviet count when they fought the Mujahedin in the final days before they left Afghanistan. Can you say Khyber Pass?!

In recent months death rates are so high they even outstrip fatality rates during the initial occupation of Iraq, when fighting was most intense and UK forces were engaged with Saddam Hussein's army - twice as high, in fact.

"This way of looking at fatalities is important for politicians," she said. "The relative fatality rate is a measure of the true threat."

The latest casualty figures released by the MoD list only four soldiers wounded in action in August, although it is understood a further 10 were seriously injured in the last few days of the month - a period for which no official figures are available. According to the MoD's published statistics, the 5,000-strong British force has suffered 35 deaths since the start of this year, with 41 injured in action, a ratio of little more than one to one.

In contrast, the United States had a ratio of one to three, with 278 soldiers killed since the start of the war in 2001 and 956 listed as wounded in action, while Canada had a ratio of one to four, with 29 of its 2,500 soldiers killed since the start of the year and 128 listed as wounded in action.

Why British government conceals true casualty figures

The British "Daily Mail" reported on Sept. 22 that "the number of British soldiers being wounded in Afghanistan is far higher than the public at home realize... There is the lack of openness over casualty figures in both Iraq and Afghanistan... Though the British government publicizes some figures but they are incomplete, ignoring relatively minor battlefield wounds or injuries and that latest figures exclude the last seven weeks which have seen some of the fiercest battles to date in Afghanistan."

The charitable institutions that provide aid to these wounded soldiers disclose that the Ministry of Defense (MOD) covered up true casualty figures in excuse of maintaining secrecy, so that their aid activities have greatly been effected.

War news from the Illustrated London News

Afghan War - February 1, 1879 86K

Afghan War - February 8, 1879 441K

Afghan War - February 15, 1879 445K

Afghan War - October 11, 1879 524K

Also See:

Afghanistan






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Birth Control

Quick some one tell the Vatican that their God practices birth control....

Galactic Birth Control: Unknown Factor Prevents Star Formation

Van Dokkum and his team hope to look back further in time, closer to the Big Bang, to look at the features of large galaxies then for evidence of star birth. They also plan to reexamine the galaxies in this study to try and figure out whether the black holes are in fact acting as “cosmic contraceptives.”

.....imagine the size of those condoms.


See:

Space




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Another Privatization Failure

The U.S. military loves to contract out to the private sector. It embraced the P3 model of Reinventing Government promoted by both Al Gore and the neo-cons.

Of course the failures of privatization of service delivery have been revealed in Iraq and the resulting failures of the U.S. government following Katrina. Now it appears there is another billion dollar privatization boondoogle in the works.


Bioshield dispute underscores problems with US defense program

The anthrax attacks of 2001 prompted passage of Project Bioshield, which promised to build national drug stockpiles to be used in case of a bioterror attack.

The project was supposed to jump start a national security renaissance among drug makers by guaranteeing contracts to develop drugs for combatting potential bioweapons. But it has been greeted with skepticism by many in the industry.

The anthrax project, the first and largest Bioshield contract, was to be the crown jewel.

In November 2004, the $877.5 million (euro690.2 million) contract was awarded to VaxGen to genetically engineer a replacement for the current anthrax vaccine, which requires six shots to be administered over 18 months. VaxGen's is expected to require no more than three shots.

Since winning the contract, however, VaxGen has repeatedly stumbled, starting with its disclosure it would miss the original deadline of November 2005 by a year.

Even before winning the contract, the company had a checkered past highlighted by the 2003 flop of its experimental AIDS vaccine, which failed to protect inoculated volunteers from getting infected.

Since then, it was dropped from the Nasdaq Stock Market for failing to file financial reports, its chief scientific officer left the company in July, and its stock price hovers near $4.40 -- at the low end of its 52-week range -- as VaxGen and the government try to work out their differences.

Then, in March, the government said it wouldn't pay VaxGen until the company completed a costly and time-consuming human test to ensure the vaccine was safe. The new requirement forced the company to sell its stake in another biotechnology company for $79 million (euro62.1 million) to stay afloat and finance the new test.

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Privatization



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Open Transparent Government

Not a chance, meet the New Government same as the Old Government.

Potentially embarrassing information requests "amber-lighted"

The Harpocrites are denying there is any such program. But denying it doesn't make it so.

And while we are at it how about making patronage appointments for old pals of the government like Harvie Andre. Who having promoted the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline when he was in the Mulroney government will now promote the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline as the negotiator for the New Government of Canada. Something he has a great deal of experince with since he has been lobbying for the pipeline as a private consultant. Wait a minute can you say conflict of interest?

Mackenzie Valley Pipeline

The latest round of pipeline fever began last October when former federal Conservative cabinet minister Harvie Andre unveiled an ambitious $8-billion plan to bring both Prudhoe Bay and delta gas on stream as early as 2005. Andre is a Calgary management consultant and the Canadian chairman of Arctic Resources Co. Ltd., a new consortium launched by a group of Texas financiers. They are proposing a 1,760-km pipeline, from Boundary Lake on the northern B.C.-Alberta border to the Mackenzie Delta, that would connect with a second 520-km line to Prudhoe Bay to be built offshore, in the seabed. Andre argues that the economies of scale realized by harnessing both the Prudhoe and delta reserves would significantly improve the rate of return for producers. He also maintains that, by planting the Prudhoe Bay portion offshore, the environmental risks identified in the 1970s can be sidestepped. "Twenty-five years ago, there weren't a lot of ocean-bottom pipelines," he says. "The technology has changed enormously and today there are thousands of kilometres of them."

Andre has been involved for months in talks with northern aboriginal groups and territorial government officials. So, too, have TransCanada and Westcoast. In addition to the original Foothills line, the pipeline giants are also actively considering the option of a pipeline through the Mackenzie Valley. "There's a lot of meetings going on," reports Nellie Cournoyea, chairwoman of the Inuvialuit Regional Corp., the body that administers the land claim reached by natives in the Beaufort Sea region in 1984. "The major companies are all in this area and we deal with them every day."

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Global Warming Worries Canadians

It worries us but not our New Government.

Global polling shows Canadians like the rest of the world are far more aware and worried about Global Warming than the politicians.

A Canadian poll in September showed that Canadians, unlike the New Government in Ottawa, are worried about global warming.

A month later we are still worried and we do not believe that the New Government will do anything about global warming.


Tories face environmental balancing act

Nearly two-thirds of Canadians believe the Conservative government will fail to take adequate steps to fight global warming, and blame the oil and gas industry for making matters worse.And a similar number 63 per cent are ''desperately concerned'' that the ''world may not last much longer than another couple of generations'' if drastic action isn't taken immediately.

The poll also found:

Almost 71 per cent of Canadians believe major companies with huge profits should be forced to pay more to clean up the environment, as opposed to taxpayers, even if it means driving them out of business.

66 per cent of Canadians believe the scientists, versus 34 per cent who believe changes in the climate are due to ''the effect of normal warming and cooling patterns that rise and fall'' over time.

Proving Canadians right, the New Government has abandoned Kyoto and come up with.....well we are still waiting for something to deal with Global Warming and not just smog. Government set to force automakers to cut emissions

But the real creators of smog in our larger urban environments are not consumer automobiles but commercial trucking, which the Tories have avoided dealing with just like they have avoided dealing with the oil industry which is the other creator of green house gasses in Canada. An industry that is of course in Alberta home of the Reform/Alliance/Conservative party. And where the flatearth soicety dominates....In Alberta, 51 per cent do not believe greenhouse gases are heating up the planet. The province is also home to the tar sands, one of the world's largest oil reserves, which could see industry emissions double over the next decade.

See:

Kyoto

Ambrose

industrial ecology

Social Ecology.

Green Capitalism

Environment

Green Plan

Oil

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A Made In Alberta Canada First Energy Policy

Gordon Laxer, brother of Progressive Blogger James Laxer, had the guest editorial/opinion article in the Edmonton Journal yesterday, well worth the read.

The energy resources in Alberta are also Canadian resources, as Harper finally recognized the other day.

In fact in many cases they are not Alberta owned, but owned by First Nations peoples.

The Aboriginal Role in the Development of Alberta’s Oil & Gas

It is time for Alberta to plan for a national energy policy, not just a drill, process, ship to the U.S. policy.

Canada-first energy strategy needed

This presentation was made last week to the provincial Oil Sands Consultation Committee by Gordon Laxer, professor of political economy and director of the Parkland Institute at the University of Alberta

To conserve energy, Canada must first regain control over energy supply and use. Our NAFTA partners already have this. Only Canada must export a majority of its energy in perpetuity. Canada, with Alberta's backing, should demand a Mexican exemption.

Mexico is in NAFTA and got an exemption from proportionality. Why can't we get the same? If the U.S refuses to budge on this, we are allowed to unilaterally leave NAFTA by giving six months notice.

NAFTA isn't of much use. The U.S. ignores rulings favourable to Canada, and insists on those, like proportionality, which aren't. If one party ignores an agreement, other parties aren't bound by them either.

What might an energy security strategy for Canada look like?

In contrast to the 1980 national energy program that Ottawa imposed, a security strategy must be a provincial-federal partnership. What could it include?

First, the Dinning principle: R. J. Dinning headed a 1949 Alberta commission that recommended the province retain 50 years supply of natural gas before exporting to other provinces. The Dinning principle that only after Canadians are taken care of should energy surplus to long-term reserves, be exported, should be extended to oil. But, with dwindling, conventional oil and gas supplies, the period of proven supplies before exports, should be 10 to 15 years.

Second, halt projects in the tarsands which have not yet been approved. Replace them with aggressive conservation initiatives. More can be gained by reducing energy use than through more production. Using less will prolong energy supplies and reduce greenhouse gases. Banking oil for the future will increase its value when it's removed in 15 years.

Third, raise royalty and lease rates, and taxes to Norway's levels to capture the full value of nature's capital, for the owners -- the citizens of Alberta and First Nations. Follow public opinion and include Crown energy corporations, like Norway's Statoil, to capture more of the economic rents.

Fourth, reverse the Sarnia-Montreal pipeline and bring western oil to Quebec again.

Fifth, change Alberta's leasing policies so that no further oil is exported until Canadian needs are met.

But, we are not doing these things.

"No plan" Ralph inadvertently captured Canada's current energy policy when he said 25 years ago: "Let the Eastern Bastards Freeze in the Dark."

Today, thanks to governments led by Klein, Harper and his Liberal predecessors, Canada has an America-first energy policy. When, not if, the first big energy crunch hits, Canadians will demand that their governments meet their needs first.

Do you think anyone is listening? Nah.


See


Tar Sands




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