Self-Driving Car Licensed

Google's Self-Driving Car Licensed to Hit Nevada Streets

Google's autonomous vehicle cruises the Las Vegas Strip. (Image courtesy of the Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles)Google's self-driving car is growing up right in front of our eyes: The fledgling autonomous vehicle program recently passed its driver's license test in Nevada, the first license of its kind in the United States. Obtaining Nevada's self-driving car license clears the way for Google to test its technology on public roads in the state.

Google's modified Toyota Prius was given the thumbs up after successful test drives in Carson City and on the Las Vegas strip. Alongside the special license, Nevada also issued the car a unique set of red license plates that include the infinity symbol and the words “autonomous car.” With any luck, those plates should differentiate all the other vehicles on the road from Google’s car, which has cameras and radar equipment strapped to the roof.

Nevada first began work on its autonomous vehicle licensing program last June when the state's lawmakers passed legislation toallow self-driving cars on public roads. In February, Nevada's Department of Motor Vehicles issued rules governing autonomous cars. The Nevada DMV rules currently limit the state's licensing to test vehicles; enthusiasts need not apply.

To be approved for road travel, autonomous cars must have a combined minimum driving time of 10,000 miles. Nevada also requires autonomous car operators to submit a complete description of their self-driving technology, a detailed safety plan, and a plan for hiring and training test drivers. The state requires a $100 licensing fee plus $13 for each set of license plates, but companies must also purchase a surety bond of $1 million to put up to 5 vehicles on the road. Nevada says a number of other unnamed companies are looking to follow Google and test self-driving cars on the state's public roads.

Despite allowing only beta cars at the moment, Nevada is looking toward a day when self-driving cars will be sold to the public. The state's DMV says it plans to issue privately owned self-driving cars a green license plate that will also include the infinity symbol. Motorists will also be required to obtain a special driver license endorsement before they can get behind the wheel of future robotic cars.

80 Percent Renewables Is Possible By 2050 by Climate Progress

Thinking Big: 80 Percent Renewables Is Possible By 2050

by Climate Progress

Americans have always prided themselves on thinking big. When it comes to energy, the National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) has given big-thinkers everywhere a shot in the arm with a new study that concludes:

“Renewable energy sources, accessed with commercially available technologies, could adequately supply 80% of total U.S. electricity generation in 2050 while balancing supply and demand at the hourly level.”

This is a very big finding from one of the world’s most credible experts on advanced energy technologies. This detailed analysis makes clear that renewable energy is here, it is ready, and it can provide a very large share of the energy we need to run an advanced, prosperous and growing economy. The remaining question is whether we are ready to take the leadership to seize this opportunity.

great information in this link on how you can help!!!

Before we go into the high-level findings and some of the more impressive details, there are a few observations.

The first is on what the NREL study says about what we don’t need to hit 80 percent renewables.

We don’t need some crazy cool new technology or some groundbreaking invention. We aren’t waiting on the scientific community to make some breakthrough. Would revolutions in storage and batteries help us reach 100% renewable energy? Sure. But this 80 percent by 2050 target is possible with commercially available technology. That’s a big deal.

The second is about what this study shows we do need to make this renewable energy future a reality.

We need to transform our thinking about modernizing our electricity system — on everything from system planning and flexibility, to new business models and market rules. America needs to take the same approach it took with every other strategic infrastructure upgrade that unlocked economic growth in our past. From building railroads and highways to rural electrification, we focused our policies on capturing the scope and potential payoff of a major national project. That included providing the incentives to businesses and consumers through smart policy to lift all boats and increase economic productivity.

So before the dirty details: kudos to NREL for taking a look at what is possible and for laying out something visionary. The national debate on building a renewable energy future desperately needs to be re-focused and this report is a great step in that direction — making it clear that bold ambition is readily achievable.

Later this month, the Center for American Progress will also release a report on the convergence of renewable electricity, energy efficiency and smart grid technology, and how these technologies together represent a state change in our national energy infrastructure. Our piece on the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) revolution builds on NREL’s findings to lay out a framework for this national energy transformation.

High-Level Findings

The executive summary of the NREL report highlights a few key findings:

We Can Deploy Lots and Lots of Renewables Nationwide: 80 percent of U.S. electricity could be generated from renewable sources by 2050. Every region in the U.S. would contribute substantially to the RE base, in a way that is consistent with local resources.

Multiple Technology Pathways Exist to Get Us There: Any existing constraints on transmission capacity, flexibility, and resource availability can be compensated with other resources, technologies, and approaches that balance loads and improve reliability.

The Lights Will Stay On: Electricity supply and demand can be balanced hourly in the 80 percent renewables scenario, event with 50 percent coming from variable generation. Ironically, the challenges are not from renewables failing to produce, but rather mainly involve managing low-demand periods and curtailment of excess generation.

Technology Advances and New Ideas Wanted: Increasing the system flexibility is crucial. This will require new technology advances, new operating procedures, new business models, and new market rules which are conducive to increased flexibility.

More Transmission Infrastructure Needed: It is absolutely necessary to build new transmission if this renewable future is going to be a reality.

All these points indicate that the electricity system is not struggling with a lack of technology; it is suffering from a classic failure of imagination and foresight in implementation. Aside from new transmission and some technological advances, the the current roadblocks are due to entrenched business models and market rules that are not designed to reward efficiency, integration, or new entrants into the generation market. It hasn’t always been this way. At its best, America has been a leader in the development of forward thinking national infrastructures. In this report, NREL points the way toward continued leadership.

What could the 2050 electricity mix look like?

The NREL study went through several different renewable penetration scenarios evaluated against a baseline. The baseline scenario was the business-as-usual path where we continue phase out support for renewables and the energy mix is mostly dominated by fossil fuels. The other scenarios show a variety of levels of renewable penetration, starting with 30 percent RE and continuing up in 10 percent increments to 90 percent RE.

Here’s a breakdown the possible renewable generation mixes for 2050:

Three of the more interesting conclusions from this graph are:

Wind and Solar are Big Winners: Wind stands to gain the most in terms of absolute KWh from NRELs scenarios- largely at the expense of coal and natural gas. Solar, however, has the largest percentage increase across the board.

Nuclear Remains Pretty Stable in All Cases: Nuclear power will remain a relatively consistent proportion of the energy mix under all scenarios; however, it won’t see any new growth in base load power plant construction.

Ending Reliance on Fossil Fuels is Possible: Even with the shale gas boom in the United States, these models show natural gas could play a smaller role in the total energy mix than some analysts are predicting. Also, technological stability can be maintained across the overall system with declining coal generation.

Regionally Specific Solutions: Doing What You Do Best

Another great breakdown from the NREL report is how every region will contribute its own blend of renewables to the national mix. 

Obviously, different areas have different strengths and this graph does an excellent job of showing precisely what those are:

Here you can see concentrated solar power (CSP) in the Southwest, wind in the Central region, and biomass in the Southeast playing dominant roles. Every area plays to its strengths, and is woven together to create a more diverse, reliable and flexible energy system nationwide.

There Is Massive Potential for Reducing CO2 Emissions (Without Losing Reliability)

It makes sense that higher percentages of renewables would decrease emissions. The NREL study, however, does a great job of mapping out the precise implications for carbon in the charts below:

As you can see, under the baseline scenario (BAU) we are in big trouble, with CO2 emissions rising. However, the higher the penetration of renewables in the electricity mix, the more dramatic the implications for lowering carbon.

Here’s another way to put that data:

The big takeaway here is that under the 80 percent renewables scenario, natural gas-fired and coal-based electricity generation also declined by about 80 percent by 2050. Consequently, so did emissions.

Overcoming Obstacles: Grid Flexibility and New Transmission

The study evaluates renewable energy penetration scenarios with several variables; including constraints on transmission, flexibility, and resources. Each of these constraint scenarios had implications for how exactly renewables were utilized.

For instance, a constrained transmission scenario favored resources that don’t require transmission like rooftop PV. Constrained flexibility meant more reliance on non-variable renewables, like CSP, and less on utility-scale PV and wind. Under the constrained resources scenario, biopower, geothermal, and hydro (which you can’t find everywhere) were limited; whereas CSP and onshore wind reached high levels of penetration.

What does this have to do with obstacles? Well, system planners, operators, and Public Utility Commissions that want to hit high renewable targets will have to harness different technologies based on their constraints. We can’t do much about the resource constraints issue, but we can do something about flexibility and transmission nationwide. Here’s a little more background on why that’s necessary and what it would entail.

Grid flexibility, or the ability of the grid to meet demand in a variety of changing circumstances, is a crucial component of an efficient and useful power system. As higher percentages of renewables are incorporated, however, some have expressed concerns that the grid will not be flexible enough to meet demand. This is largely because supply and demand must be balanced in real time.

The NREL study acknowledges this concern and explains how 80 percent renewables still allow for a flexible grid.

First, the 80 percent renewable scenario must provide adequate generation capacity to meet demand. The NREL study showed that the 80 percent renewable scenario provided more than enough capacity to meet demand — even under times of system stress. Storage technology and transmission infrastructure would also chip in massively. In other words, the lights would still stay on.

In addition to being able to meet generation capacity requirements, the system must have a certain amount of energy on standby, also known as an “operating reserve.” The NREL study found that the 80 percent scenario was more than sufficient to meet these requirements. In their words: “integrating high levels of variable generation is not an insurmountable task even under relatively conservative assumptions for transmission and institutional flexibility.”

“the supply- and demand-mix, planning and operating reserves, and transmission system predicted by ReEDS under the scenarios analyzed were sufficient to meet load on an hourly basis, and that hourly mismatches between supply and demand on a regional basis were therefore not anticipated.”

Share the Wealth- Building New Transmission

Getting to 80 percent renewables efficiently suggests the need for construction of 110-190 million miles of new transmission and 47-80,000 miles of new intertie capacity across the three interconnections. This would cost anywhere from $6.4 to $8.4 billion annually. However, this is in line with recent annual investments of $2 billion to $9 billion annually from 1995-2008. So, the new infrastructure demands are well in line with our national trajectory.

An interesting implication for transmission, though, is that NREL found its use would increase by 8 percent (from 32 to 40 percent) with the 80 percent scenario. This is what enables every region to significantly contribute to renewable energy supply. For more on the transmission issue, you can see the fourth volume of the NREL study here.

The report offers a great blueprint for thinking about our energy future. It once again shows that a renewables-dominant energy system is not a technical challenge, but an engineering and creativity challenge.

why we should worry about Mick Romny's pedigree

As a corporate raider, as opposed to trader, Romney made his mark in the world today, "I have been led to believe, if I can believe everything I read in the papers.. If this is so we can see a painful irony in this video as to why it might not be good to have this type of person leading the country....I hear a lot of it in his speeches the call of the small entrepreneur as the savior of the USA if not the world...However no sign of how he is on the side of the SMALL entrepreneur is evident if you look at the big picture of who is backing his campaign and who benefits if he is elected.
please watch video...
This video I think shows how the mind of the corporation raider works, they don't necersarily see building stones to the end product and dream, a balance sheet and profit are number one.
Thermaskirt is now sold throughout the WORLD , and makes annual profits exceeding £5,000,000 pa. Take that, Dragons! Inventor told to leave the den is beating the crunch with million-pound contract

An entrepreneur who was rejected on Dragons' Den has just won a multimillion-pound order.

Inventor Martin Wadsworth went head to head with Duncan Bannatyne and Theo Paphitis who argued that no one would buy his product ThermaSkirt. But the businessman is now beating the credit crunch crisis after just securing a contract worth up to £4million next year alone.

Into the den: Inventor Martin Wadsworth goes head to head with Duncan Bannatyne as he shows him ThermaSkirt And the firm has secured orders from other companies which could see its turnover rise even further.

Mr Wadsworth, who appeared on the BBC2 show last month, was rounded on by the  Dragons after asking for £150,000 for a 10 per cent stake in his company DiscreteHeat ,which manufactures a radiator that looks exactly like a skirting board. The inventor, who had a sparring session with multi-millionaire Mr Bannatyne, said: 'Going on Dragons' Den was a very daunting experience and very nerve-racking.

'You don't meet the Dragons beforehand or afterwards so there is no camaraderie.

'It turned into something very adversarial. It really was an ordeal by fire.

'I walked in and saw them for the first time and gave them my presentation.

'Then as soon as I finished the first question, Duncan Bannatyne asked what was wrong with my product.

'So straight away, it was head to head with him. I didn't fall for that one and said you tell me what is wrong with it and I will counter.

'He couldn't come up with anything because we don't have any problems. It is pretty bullet-proof.

'He has no idea of anything to do with the plumbing industry and suggested we make it out of wood.

'Mitt Romney’s record running the Bain Capital investment firm continues to get close and sharp-edged scrutiny, giving the Obama campaign ammunition as it tries to defend its own record during rough economic times.

Specifically, critics say that Bain during the years of Romney’s leadership had a direct hand in sending US jobs abroad. A long piece in the Washington Post this week details such activity when Romney ran the firm.

“During the nearly 15 years that Romney was actively involved in running Bain, a private equity firm that he founded, it owned companies that were pioneers in the practice of shipping work from the United States to overseas call centers and factories making computer components, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission,” the Post reported. “While Bain was not the largest player in the outsourcing field, the private equity firm was involved early on, at a time when the departure of jobs from the United States was beginning to accelerate and new companies were emerging as handmaidens to this outflow of employment.”
Maybe its ME and I misunderstand what he means by small entrepreneur,,,MAYBE a small entrepreneur in Romney's world is KRAFT,nestle,coca cola, Kellogg's

Fracking what is it and what does it cost

Half of America Doesn’t Know What Fracking Is

If you read green news, even if only sporadically, you’ve heard of “fracking.” If you follow progressive politics, you’ve heard of fracking. If you know much about modern energy production, you’ve heard of fracking. If you’re an environmentalist, you’ve probably protested fracking.

But those descriptions don’t apply to the 63% of Americans who’ve never heard of, or aren’t familiar with, the practice known as hydraulic fracturing. That’s the eye-opening finding of a new poll, and one that was carried out with a pretty decent sample size to boot. Here’s how the results break down:

That’s crazy. Fracking has fundamentally transformed the energy debate—and energy production—around the world. It has helped create the glut of natural gas we’re currently sitting on, and that in turn is helping to drive coal out of business. It also poses numerous health and environmental risks that everyone—especially those who live in fracking-impacted areas—should be aware of. It can contaminate groundwater, spur small earthquakes, blast methane emissions into the sky, etc.

The poll reveals that there’s a lot of work yet to be done on energy education (that’s a massive understatement all around)—the public can’t make informed decisions about the controversial practice if it doesn’t even said controversial practice exists, after all.

So, for those of you reading this who’ve never heard of fracking: It’s the process wherein companies blast a highly pressurized chemical cocktail deep down into the earth, in order to fracture the rock layer to gain access to reserves of oil or gas.Well here you go please watch this short video 

Fracking Chemicals Likely Found in Water

Chemicals have been detected in two deep water wells in west-central Wyoming, the EPA said they are consistent with those used in gas production and hydraulic-fracturing fluids. Where did the synthetic chemicals come from? Most likely a gas field near Pavilion, Wyoming is the source. Pavilion is located within the Wind River Indian Reservation, which covers over two million acres and is where two tribes live – Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho.

About 150 gas wells in the Pavilion area are owned by Canada’s largest natural gas producer. A company representative said, “They’ve used terms like ‘likely’. What they’ve come up with here is a probability. It’s not a  definitive conclusion.” (Source: Bloomberg) However, the company has been providing water from a different source to about 21 families from Pavilion. Other residents have also sought outside water sources.

Alternate water sources were recommended for residents of Pavilion by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in 2010 due to their detection of petroleum hydrocarbons in well and groundwater. At that time the same agency said they couldn’t determine the exact source though. This year the  EPA dug their own monitoring wells in the aquifer and found, “compounds likely associated with gas-production practices,  including hydraulic fracturing”.  (Source: Bloomberg) They also said levels of the chemicals are well above safe limits.

This development is a big story potentially, because earlier this year EPA Chief Lisa Jackson testified before Congress that she knew of no proven case where the fracking process had affected water. She didn’t lie, but now the EPA has acknowledged it is likely  fracking chemicals have contaminated water.

At the time she made her statement a study from Duke University indicated fracking had contaminated water, but she may have been unaware of the research. 

 

vagina as a word is in the news lately and the Chinese have found a way to top the lot

Well here’s a story that sounds like an urban legend: Villagers in China unearthed a mysterious plant that they thought might be some type of mushroom. It’s described as “fleshy and meaty,” with “something that looks like lips” at one end, and on the other end there’s a hole with a shaft in between and … look, you see where this is going. It’s an artificial vag.

If the news video didn’t look legit I’d suspect this of being a fake, ginned up either to poke fun at unsophisticated village types or to mock the media’s credulousness. (Look for the part where the reporter talks authoritatively about this mysterious plant’s growing patterns and historical significance.) To me, it does look legit … but then again, what the hell do I know about Chinese TV? I will note that the program supposedly reporting on this novelty fungus, Xi’an Up Close, doesn’t seem to have any online presence that’s not related to this video, at least nothing associated with the English translation of the program name.

I really want it to be true, because it’s hilarious. But if it’s a fake, I hope posterity finds it ranking with the kidney thief and the dog that’s really a rat among the classic urban legends.

Chinese villagers discover "rare mushroom" but it turns out to be a rubber vagina, Dangerous Minds

neilallerart: WHO's got all the GOLD???

neilallerart: WHO's got all the GOLD???: My first question is,,Why do they keep on saying the savior of the country is the  Small business entrepreneur...I don't see any here!!!!!! ...

WHO's got all the GOLD???

My first question is,,Why do they keep on saying the savior of the country is the Small business entrepreneur...I don't see any here!!!!!!

All the HAPPY PEOPLE seem to live by the ocean or in the jungle catching fish living like we did  way back when!!!!!!!!

Come on who believes what we read in the paper or hear on the news....










It would appear you don't necessarily need chains to keep your slaves in place,,,in fact people are ready to face death breaking over borders just to become one!!!!!!!!

George Orwell had some notion of what we would become a long time ago,,,,DID you not see the film!!!!!!

Nobody wants the job that pays minimum wage after getting into debt for hundreds of thousands of dollars going through college and school,,those jobs are for the slaves.......
WHAT ARE the guidelines for inflation.I know I earn the same money as I did 10 years ago however the the cost of living basically(food, drink,power) have gone through the ceiling.

 ALL US Edumacated people  want to play with everybody's money in the trading, investment and banking section,,, where we can use that expensive education to save the world,,,,and earn immeasurable wealth while we are at it!!!!!
NO gold standard 
to back there paper up
WHO's got all the GOLD???






PLEASE Watch VIDEO explains ALL!!!!!!!!

for more video's like this click here

ON a lighter note for all of you who are going insane because of this,,,
check out the list on the right and see how many you are already doing

Is Sodium Benzoate Harmful?

A Health Warning – Supermarket Shelf Poisons

Anybody that takes Vitamin C (and most people should) should avoid the following Soft drinks: Sunkist, Fanta, Diet Coke, Sprite, & Pepsi MaX. These drinks contain Sodium Benzoate, 211 on the label. A chemical reaction between Vitamin C and Sodium Benzoate creates Benzine which is a highly carcinogenic chemical.

Benzine has the ability to severely damage the DNA in the Mitochondria to the point that it totally inactivates it, knocks it out altogether. The Mitochondria consumes Oxygen to give you energy, and if you damage it, then the cell starts to malfunction very seriously, often fatally. A whole array of Diseases has been tied to the damage to the DNA, including Parkinson’s Disease and quite a lot of Neuro-Degenerative Diseases.

Video: Is Sodium Benzoate Harmful?

Soda’s Bittersweet Side Effects If you’ve been reading health magazines and websites for any length of time, you’ve read a litany of reasons why soda is bad for you. It’s nothing but sugar water. It’s devoid of any nutritional value. It leads to obesity and diabetes. But we’ve dug up nine other disturbing facts about what soda does to your body, besides packing on the pounds, that don’t get much attention in broader discussions about soda and its impact on your health.

Weird Fat in Weird Places In the latest bad news for the soda industry, Danish researchers discovered that drinking non-diet soda leads to dramatic increases in fat buildup around your liver and your skeletal muscles, both of which can contribute to insulin resistance and diabetes. The study revealed that people who drank a regular soda every day for six months saw a 132 to 142 percent increase in liver fat, a 117 to 221 percent jump in skeletal fat, and about a 30 percent increase in both triglyceride blood fats and other organ fat. Their consumption also led to an 11 percent increase in cholesterol, compared with the people who drank other beverages such as water or milk.

Diet-Soda Belly It’s not surprising that drinking all the sugar in sodas would cause weight gain, but what is surprising is that even diet soda will pack on the pounds: Researchers from the University of Texas Health Science Center monitored 475 adults for 10 years, and found that those who drank diet soda had a 70 percent increase in waist circumference over the 10-year study, compared with those who didn’t drink any soda. Those who drank more than two diet sodas per day saw a 500 percent waist expansion! A separate study the same researchers conducted on mice suggested that it was the aspartame, which raised blood glucose levels, that caused the weight gain; when your liver encounters too much glucose, the excess is converted to body fat.

Diet Soda = Diabetes Soda

Read more: http://www.care2.com/greenliving/9-disturbing-side-effects-of-soda.html#ixzz1owKf49dy

Caramel Cancer-Causers In 2011, the nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest petitioned the Food and Drug Administration to ban the artificial caramel coloring used to make Coke, Pepsi, and other colas brown. The reason: Two contaminants in the coloring, 2-methylimidazole and 4-methylimidazole, have been found to cause cancer in animals, a threat the group says is unnecessary, considering that the coloring is purely cosmetic. According to California’s strict Proposition 65 list of chemicals known to cause cancer, just 16 micrograms per person per day of 4-methylimidazole is enough to pose a cancer threat, and most popular brown colas, both diet and regular, contain 200 micrograms per 20-ounce bottle. What Food Companies are Hiding with Food Dye

Accelerated Aging Diet or regular, all colas contain phosphates, or phosphoric acid, a weak acid that gives colas their tangy flavor and improves their shelf life. Although it exists in many whole foods, such as meat, dairy, and nuts, too much phosphoric acid can lead to heart and kidney problems, muscle loss, and osteoporosis, and one study suggests it could trigger accelerated aging. The study, published in a 2010 issue of the FASEB Journal, found that the excessive phosphate levels found in sodas caused lab rats to die a full five weeks earlier than the rats whose diets had more normal phosphate levels–a disturbing trend considering that soda manufacturers have been increasing the levels of phosphoric acid in their products over the past few decades.

Water Pollution The artificial sweeteners used in diet sodas don’t break down in our bodies, nor do wastewater-treatment plants catch them before they enter waterways, researchers have found. In 2009, Swiss scientists tested water samples from wastewater-treatment plants, rivers and lakes in Switzerland and detected levels of acesulfame K, sucralose, and saccharin, all of which are, or have been, used in diet sodas. A recent test of 19 municipal water supplies in the U.S. revealed the presence of sucralose in every one. It’s not clear yet what these low levels are doing to people, but past research has found that sucralose in rivers and lakes interferes with some organisms’ feeding habits.

Mountain Dew Mind Dentists have a name for the condition they see in kids who drink too much Mountain Dew. They wind up with a “Mountain Dew Mouth,” full of cavities caused by the drink’s excessive sugar levels. “Mountain Dew Mind” may be the next medical condition that gets named after the stuff. An ingredient called brominated vegetable oil, or BVO, added to prevent the flavoring from separating from the drink, is an industrial chemical used as a flame retardant in plastics. Also found in other citrus-based soft drinks and sports drinks, the chemical has been known to cause memory loss and nerve disorders when consumed in large quantities. Researchers also suspect that, like brominated flame retardants used in furniture foam, the chemical builds up in body fat, possibly causing behavioral problems, infertility, and lesions on heart muscles over time.

Whacked-Out Hormones  It’s not just the soda that’s causing all the problems. Nearly all aluminum soda cans are lined with an epoxy resin called bisphenol A (BPA), used to keep the acids in soda from reacting with the metal. BPA is known to interfere with hormones, and has been linked to everything from infertility to obesity and diabetes and some forms of reproductive cancers. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have pegged soda cans, along with restaurant, school, and fast-food meals, as a major source of exposure to the chemical. And while Pepsi and Coke are currently locked in a battle to see which company can be the first to develop a 100 percent plant-based-plastic bottle–which they’re touting as “BPA free”–neither company is willing to switch to BPA-free aluminum cans.

BPA  Dead Birds Before you switch from cans to bottles, though, take a look at the photographs of Chris Jordan, an environmentalist and photographer who visited the Midway Atoll area in 2009. It’s close to the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch,” a mass of plastic debris in the Pacific Ocean where things like soda caps (which often aren’t recycled) and plastic fish netting float just beneath the surface of the water. Birds, sea turtles, and other wildlife mistake the debris for food and eat large quantities of the plastic, which they are unable to digest. Ultimately, the plastic causes them to starve to death. It’s estimated that thousands of animals die this way every year. Unknown Side Effects of GMOs Take a look at the ingredients list for any soda and chances are most of those ingredients are derived from corn. As much as 88 percent of the corn grown in the U.S. is genetically modified to resist toxic pesticides or engineered to create pesticides within the plant itself. Thanks to lax government safety regulations, and tight corporate control over who gets to test these proprietary seeds, there are no human studies that can prove or disprove whether these crops are safe. Independent scientists have found that, in animals, genetically modified crops, or GMOs, are linked to digestive tract damage, accelerated aging, and even infertility. By drinking soda, you’re taking part in the biggest science experiment on the planet

dangerous shopping ahead

"The collapse of a shark tank at The Scientific Center in Kuwait. Share this because it's probably the only time in your life you will see something like this."

OPERATION RECOVERY

OPERATION RECOVERY

Service members who experience PTSD, TBI, MST, and combat stress have the right to exit the traumatic situation and receive immediate support, and compensation. Too often, service members are forced to redeploy back into dangerous combat, or train in situations that re-traumatize them.  We say, individuals suffering from trauma have the right to remove themselves from the source of the trauma. Service members who are not physically or mentally healthy shall not be forced to deploy or continue service. Learn more about what Operation Recovery is fighting for here

operation-recovery

Fort Hood Soldiers Demand Right to Heal

tarsand pipelines who needs them?

The Army Corps of Engineers has confirmed that Canadian oil firm TransCanada has submitted applications to Corps district offices in Tulsa, Galveston, and Ft. Worth for a Nationwide Permit 12 (NWP 12) to build the southern leg of the Keystone XL tar sands oil pipeline from Cushing, Oklahoma through Texas to the Gulf Coast.

TransCanada has pursued a NWP 12 to further evade a thorough, science-based review of its pipeline’s likely impacts. Its recent application submission triggers a 45-day deadline by which the Corps must approve or deny the permits. The Corps can approve or reject the permits before the 45 days are over but if the agency does not respond within the 45 days, the permits are automatically approved by default, allowing TransCanada to proceed with construction.

In a November 8, 2011 letter to the Galveston district office of the Army Corps of Engineers, EPA Region 6’s Associate Director in the Ecosystems Protection Division, Dr. Jane Watson, determined that the southern segment of the Keystone XL pipeline is ineligible for a NWP 12: Of the 101 crossings that require preconstruction notification to the Corps, it appears that approximately 60 crossings of waters of the U.S. would each result in greater than a ½ acre loss of waters of the U.S., and would therefore not be eligible for authorization under NWP 12.

Dr. Watson’s letter further clarifies that individual Clean Water Act Section 404 permits are required for the southern segment of Keystone XL -- a permitting process that would ensure a minimum requirement of environmental review and public input through the National Environmental Policy Act. As Region 6 Administrator Dr. Al Armendariz has stepped down this week, it is imperative that EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson intervene to ensure a permitting process for the southern segment that is transparent, science-based and rigorous as required by bedrock environmental law.

The Obama administration unconscionably gave its blessing to expedite the southern segment of the Keystone XL in March, despite widespread public outcry from national and local environmental, public interest, indigenous and landowner groups. Despite acknowledging the severe risks to the Ogallala Aquifer in delaying approval for Keystone XL in November, President Obama shamelessly ignored the southern segment’s potential impacts on the Carrizo-Wilcox Aquifer in Texas, which provides drinking water to more than 10 million Texans.

Adding to the appearance of an opaque and furtive process overseen by the Army Corps of Engineers, landowners and citizens all along the proposed pipeline’s path from Oklahoma and Texas have been stonewalled by the agency in their simple requests for information regarding the application, timeline, and process for TransCanada’s southern segment permits. The public has the right to know the particulars of a process through which a pipeline that would have massive impacts on land, water, public health and our shared climate may be approved any day now.  As the key segment of the Keystone XL pipeline, the southern leg of Keystone XL would provide the crucial link to relieving the current glut of tar sands oil in the Midwest by piping it down to refineries and international shipping ports on the Gulf Coast for export. The project would inflate oil industry profits while threatening our heartland with costly spills, amplifying the already-debilitating air pollution in refinery communities on the Gulf Coast, and vastly drive the expansion of climate-destabilizing tar sands development and consumption.

paint me a birmingham

Please watch the video 
and then if you can answer the survey.
Just a bit of fun it costs nothing.
see my site on go to Birmingham

Duck Boat Crash, Duck Boat Trial

Attorney: Duck Boat Crash Victims’ Lives Worth More Than Boats; Liability Cap Should Be Lifted

May 7, 2012 5:37 AM

(A barge pushed by a tug boat bears down on a disabled duck boat in the Delaware River just before the fatal collision in July 2010. NTSB photo)

Fatal Duck Boat Crash Civil Trial Begins In Philadelphia

May 6, 2012 11:59 PM

civil lawsuit, Delaware River, Dora Schwendtner, drowning, Duck Boat Crash, K-Sea Transportation, Limitation of Liability Act, Matthew Devlin, NTSB, Peter Ronai, Philadelphia, Ride The Ducks, Robert Mongeluzzi, Szabolcs Prem, Wrongful Death

PHILADELPHIA (CBS/AP) - A trial is getting under way in federal court to determine the dollar amount two vessel operators may have to pay following a collision of a tugboat-guided barge and a sightseeing boat two years ago in Philadelphia that left two Hungarian students dead.

Szabolcs Prem, 20, and Dora Schwendtner, 16, whose group was visiting the US through a church exchange program, drowned when their amphibious tour boat capsized and sank after being struck by an empty sludge barge in the Delaware River on July 7, 2010.

“We don’t really have any more holidays. We don’t have any Christmas. We don’t have anything anymore,” said Szabolcs Prem’s mother, Maria, through a translator.

The families have filed wrongful death lawsuits against K-Sea Transportation of East Brunswick, NJ, which operated the tugboat guiding the barge upriver; Ride the Ducks of Norcross, Ga., which operated the tour boat; the City of Philadelphia, which owned the barge; and others.

Before the wrongful death lawsuit may proceed, however, a judge must decide whether a limit should be set on the financial liability of the two boat owners.

K-Sea and Ride the Ducks, citing an 1851 maritime law, want the judge to cap their financial liability based on the value of their own vessels involved in the crash: $1.65 million for the tug and $150,000 for the duck boat, said Robert Mongeluzzi, an attorney representing the victims’ families.

“They’re saying to these parents, ‘The lives of your two only children are worth $1.8 million, the same as our vessels,’” he said.

“To say that my son’s life is worth the value of a ship — it doesn’t make any sense,” said Maria Prem through an attorney. “You can build another ship. I can’t have another Szabolcs.”

A Ride the Ducks spokesman said the company does not comment on pending litigation.  A K-Sea spokesman did not respond to a message seeking comment.

The parents of the victims, who are from a small city in northwestern Hungary bordering Austria and Slovakia, were in Philadelphia for opening statements of the non-jury trial, which is expected to last about a month.

“Drowning is a slow and painful death and in the final moments you know you’re going to die,” said Peter Ronai, another attorney for the families. “For parents to know how their children suffered, they’ve been living a nightmare.”

The tug pushed the 250-foot-long barge into and over the 33-foot-long duck boat as it sat idle and anchored in the active shipping lane, sending all 35 passengers and two crew members into the fast-moving river about 150 feet from the Philadelphia shoreline.

Survivors were pulled from the murky water by firefighters, a passing ferry boat, and bystanders who swam from shore.

The victims’ bodies were recovered two days after the crash: Schwendtner was found more than a mile downriver and Prem surfaced when the duck boat was being pulled from the river bottom by a salvage barge.

The Limitation of Liability Act can be applied in accidents involving casualties when the ship owner can prove it was unaware of a problem beforehand.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs were expected to argue that was not the case, and errors by the duck boat pilot and the tug pilot, as well as insufficient training procedures and inadequate safety policies of their respective employers, all were factors in the crash.

“This accident wasn’t a freak occurrence, it wasn’t an aberration,” Mongeluzzi said. “It has its roots going back over years.”

In its 4,400-page report on the crash, the National Transportation Safety Board said the duck boat overheated on the 103-degree day because a mechanic neglected to replace a radiator cap after an inspection the night before.  The next day, the duck boat captain mistook the steam for an engine fire and shut down the vessel in the busy shipping channel, where it was hit minutes later.

Co-counsel Andrew Duffy said the team plans to present evidence that the duck boat lacked an adequate emergency air horn and radio and was designed with overhead canopies that trapped the two victims underwater when the boat capsized.  They also contend that passengers were not instructed to put on life preservers until moments before the collision, when it was too late.

They also contend that K-Sea, the tug operator, long knew its policies barring cellphone use on duty were routinely ignored yet failed to take corrective action.

In November, tug pilot Matthew Devlin of Catskill, NY, was sentenced to a year in prison after pleading guilty to the maritime equivalent of an involuntary manslaughter charge (see related story).  Prosecutors said he was on his cellphone amid a family emergency, moved to a part of the tug that blocked his view of the river, and turned down a marine radio, stifling mayday calls before the collision.

Ride the Ducks offers tours in Philadelphia; San Francisco; Branson, Mo.; Stone Mountain, Ga.; and the Cincinnati area. The company suspended its Philadelphia tours after the accident but resumed them the following spring with a shortened water route.

At about 1pm Sunday afternoon, a Duck Boat stalled on the Delaware River and was later towed safely to shore. Twenty-six passengers were on board along with two crew members. Ride The Ducks released a statement Sunday, saying in part:

“Our safety procedures worked just as they had been planned and practiced. At no time were passengers in harm’s way. It’s too early to know the exact cause of the stall. A review will be done to determine the cause of the service disruption.”

Attorney: Duck Boat Crash Victims’ Lives Worth More Than Boats; Liability Cap Should Be Lifted

May 7, 2012 5:37 AM

(A barge pushed by a tug boat bears down on a disabled duck boat in the Delaware River just before the fatal collision in July 2010. NTSB photo)

Attorney Robert Mongeluzzi, Dora Schwendtner, Duck Boat Crash, Duck Boat Trial, Ride The Ducks, Szabolcs Prem

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – An old federal maritime limitation of liability law is expected to be challenged today in a federal court in Philadelphia, another chapter in the case of the fatal duck boat collision that killed two Hungarian students nearly two years ago. The non-jury trial is expected to last about four weeks.

Killed in the collision on July 7, 2010, were two Hungarian tourists onboard the Ride the Ducks vessel: Dora Schwendtner, 16, and Szabolcs Prem, 20.

The defendants (the vessels’ operators) claim that under an 1851 federal maritime law, there should be a liability cap: the total value of the three vessels — the tug, the barge and the duck boat, which is about $1.8-million.

Attorney Robert Mongeluzzi, representing the victims’ families, says he will attempt to get the cap lifted.

“In this case, the defendants say that the value of these two children’s lives should be no more than the combined value of their duck boat, sludge barge and tug boat which is about $1.8-million.”

The victims’ families and attorney Robert Mongeluzzi (left). (Credit: John McDevitt)

Through a translator, Maria Prem, the mother of Szabolcs, says, “to say that my son’s life is worth the value of a ship doesn’t make sense.”

Mongeluzzi intends to show the operators of the tug and Ride the Ducks were negligent.

“What happened that day was because of defendants’ failure to act upon knowledge that they had for years,” like the use of cell phones on the tug and the inability to use the radio and air horn on the duck boat when the engine isn’t running.

“This is not to establish an award. This is to establish that the defendants aren’t entitled to limit their liability to the value of a damaged duck boat, a tug boat and an empty sludge barge.”

The families (through a translator) say they still are grieving the loss of their loved ones.

“We don’t really have any more holidays. We don’t have any Christmas. We don’t really have anything anymore.”

Peter Schwendtner, father of 16-year-old Dora, told reporters Sunday through a translator that he wants the companies to be taught a lesson so this will never happen again.

The families will be in court today and return to Hungary Wednesday.

A Ride the Ducks spokesman tells KYW Newsradio they have no comment on the trial, citing on-going litigation.

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The victims’ bodies were recovered two days after the crash: Schwendtner was found more than a mile downriver and Prem surfaced when the duck boat was being pulled from the river bottom by a salvage barge.

The Limitation of Liability Act can be applied in accidents involving casualties when the ship owner can prove it was unaware of a problem beforehand.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs were expected to argue that was not the case, and errors by the duck boat pilot and the tug pilot, as well as insufficient training procedures and inadequate safety policies of their respective employers, all were factors in the crash.

“This accident wasn’t a freak occurrence, it wasn’t an aberration,” Mongeluzzi said. “It has its roots going back over years.”

In its 4,400-page report on the crash, the National Transportation Safety Board said the duck boat overheated on the 103-degree day because a mechanic neglected to replace a radiator cap after an inspection the night before.  The next day, the duck boat captain mistook the steam for an engine fire and shut down the vessel in the busy shipping channel, where it was hit minutes later.

Co-counsel Andrew Duffy said the team plans to present evidence that the duck boat lacked an adequate emergency air horn and radio and was designed with overhead canopies that trapped the two victims underwater when the boat capsized.  They also contend that passengers were not instructed to put on life preservers until moments before the collision, when it was too late.

They also contend that K-Sea, the tug operator, long knew its policies barring cellphone use on duty were routinely ignored yet failed to take corrective action.

In November, tug pilot Matthew Devlin of Catskill, NY, was sentenced to a year in prison after pleading guilty to the maritime equivalent of an involuntary manslaughter charge (see related story).  Prosecutors said he was on his cellphone amid a family emergency, moved to a part of the tug that blocked his view of the river, and turned down a marine radio, stifling mayday calls before the collision.

Ride the Ducks offers tours in Philadelphia; San Francisco; Branson, Mo.; Stone Mountain, Ga.; and the Cincinnati area. The company suspended its Philadelphia tours after the accident but resumed them the following spring with a shortened water route.

At about 1pm Sunday afternoon, a Duck Boat stalled on the Delaware River and was later towed safely to shore. Twenty-six passengers were on board along with two crew members. Ride The Ducks released a statement Sunday, saying in part:

“Our safety procedures worked just as they had been planned and practiced. At no time were passengers in harm’s way. It’s too early to know the exact cause of the stall. A review will be done to determine the cause of the service disruption.”