More than 12,900 lodgings serving the public in the USA are now smoke-free throughout.
Hotels, motels and other lodgings are following the trend of airlines and passenger-train operators by banning smoking throughout their premises. Some are doing it voluntarily, as public awareness about the health dangers of secondhand smoke grows. Others are being forced by a growing number of state and local laws.
A new look at coal in the US.
It’s well-known that the coal-fired power plants that provide the US with 50% of its electricity also inflict significant damage on the environment and citizens’ health. Coal plants spew particulate emissions that cause asthma and other respiratory woes — and they’re responsible for tens of thousands of deaths every year. And then there’s the environmental damage inflicted during the process of extracting, transporting, and processing the stuff. And then, there’s coal’s contribution to climate change. All told, it costs the nation up to $500 billion a year. That’s the finding of a new Harvard study that, for the first time, examines the true cost of coal throughout its entire life cycle …
Continue reading… “Coal Costs US Public Up to $500 Billion Annually: Harvard Study”
“Katie’s Law” which was passed in 2009 and created the expanded DNA sampling program.
A law that expanded the number of people who must submit DNA samples has linked crime suspects to 40 unsolved sex assaults, burglaries, arsons and robberies across Colorado, authorities say.
Continue reading… “Katie’s Law – New DNA Law Has Linked Felons to 40 Unsolved Crimes”
Diagram a kiss.
Talk about lip service: Harlequin Enterprises, renowned publisher of pulp romance novels, has applied for a patent on the romantic kiss.
The application, if granted, leaves open the possibility that we may one day have to pay a licensing fee to lock lips with the ones we covet…
Spiders are better than malaria-carrying mosquitos.
A spider that preys on the malaria-carrying mosquito Anopheles gambiae is attracted to the odor of sweaty socks, according to a study.
Scientists in the UK and Kenya used previously worn socks in an experiment to find out if the spider, like its prey, was attracted to human odours.
The jumping spider appears to have evolved an affinity for smelly human feet in order to help find its prey.
The team reports its findings in the journal Biology Letters…
Continue reading… “Mosquito-Eating Spider Likes Smelly Socks”
Rapper Lil Wayne has broken the Guinness World Record for most Facebook likes on a single post in 24 hours — a record only too recently created and briefly held by Oreo…
Continue reading… “Lil Wayne Steals Oreo’s Record for Most Facebook Likes in 24 Hours”
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yW6-1SlvtN4&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]
When you consider that New York City disposes of more water as waste than nearly 70% of the countries in Africa (accounting for over 340 million people) consume, you would hope that they’re doing something useful with it. And they have been. With some of it.
Continue reading… “New York City’s New Plan to Turn Sewage Into Heat”
Zinc cuts the length of coughing and sneezing days by 40%.
The moment you’re semi-sure you’re getting a cold, get some zinc lozenges. That’s the result of a meta-analysis of 15 different scientific studies of the mineral, and cut the length of coughing and sneezing days by 40 percent.
SteriShoe
If the stench from your footwear regularly kicks up a stink with your other half, then this could be the solution to your relationship woes.
Continue reading… “SteriShoe – Ultraviolet Light Gadget That Will End Smelly Feet Forever”
Contact lenses with built-in electronics and an LED, powered wirelessly by RF.
A new generation of contact lenses built with tiny circuits and LEDs could make bionic eyesight a reality. Researchers at the University of Washington in Seattle have created contact lenses with built-in electronics and an LED, powered wirelessly by RF.
Continue reading… “Bionic Eyesight Could Become Reality with Electronic Contact Lenses”
How air attacks were detected before radar.
Beginning in the middle of the 1930s, engineering labs in the U.S. and Europe were experimenting with radar systems. Early radars did not have the slick plan position indicator (PPI) displays that modern systems use for plotting target movement for indication of azimuth (direction) and range (distance). Instead, oscilloscopes showed radar returns as amplitude blips along a time base that represented range. Azimuth was determined by where the operator pointed the antenna (rotating versions came later). Since radar cross section stealth technology had not been invented yet, the amplitude of the signal was useful a measure of the size of the target. (Pics)
Continue reading… “Detecting Aircraft Before There Was Radar”
Patrick Rodgers, an independent music promoter in Philadelphia, has won a judgment against his mortgage lender, Wells Fargo, which Wells hasn’t paid, and so he’s foreclosed on them and arranged for a sheriff’s sale of the contents of Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, 1341 N. Delaware Ave to pay the legal bill.
Rodgers made all his mortgage payments on time, but Wells decided out of the blue that he had to carry insurance for the full replacement value of his home — $1 million — and started to charge him an extra $500 a month in premiums…
Continue reading… “Philly Homeowner Forecloses on Wells Fargo”