Naked on Everest

Well... considering the obvious physical effects from the extreme cold it is unlikely that the goddess Sagarmatha was very impressed - nonetheless, that's what I call extreme exposure...

KATHMANDU (Reuters) - The head of the Nepal Mountaineering Association urged the government Saturday to take action against a sherpa who reportedly stripped on top of Mount Everest.

The Himalayan Times had reported Friday that the Nepali climbing guide, whose name it gave as Lakpa Tharke, stood naked for three minutes in freezing conditions on the 29,035-foot summit of the world's highest peak.

If confirmed, he would be the first person known to have stripped atop Everest, considered by Nepali Buddhists as a god.

Mysterious glowing clouds targeted by NASA

Interesting... Some good debate on both sides about the origin of these clouds - but like global warming and even the war - the cause may not be as important as the effects - we shall see...

Glowing, silvery blue clouds that have been spreading around the world and brightening mysteriously in recent years will soon be studied in unprecedented detail by a NASA spacecraft.

The Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere (AIM) mission will be the first satellite dedicated to studying this enigmatic phenomenon. Due to launch in late 2006, it should reveal whether the clouds are caused by global warming, as many scientists believe.

"Noctilucent" clouds, which glow at night, form in the upper atmosphere, at an altitude of about 80 kilometres, and their glow can be seen just after sunset or just before sunrise.

The Declaration of Independence

Just in case you didn't actually read this in school... at least remember this part when you go vote...

Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and ... mankind is more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations...evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

Censure Peace, Promote War...

The folks at Move America Forward have really crossed the line with this one... I saw an add today on tv calling for censuring former President Carter (in response to the call to do the same with GW)

Let's see now... GW decides to sign an order allowing illegal wiretaps the phones of US citizens without a warrant. (not to mention the plethora of impeachable offenses that have been ignored...) We have laws that protect freedom for a reason. GW has on many occasions said that 'he is in charge and he will do what he wants...' All in the name of safety?? (...then why do I feel less safe then I did before?)

Jimmy Carter on the other hand has - as much as anyone alive today - worked tirelessly for peace. Sometimes that requires a person to go and - god forbid - talk with your enemies instead of just sending our children there to blow them up (and hope that they don't die themselves in the process)

Being against the war and the policy of first strike doesn't mean a person doesn't support the troops - frankly, I can't see anyway to make them safer then to not keep putting them into pointless combat... For an organization that claims to support our troops, they sure are doing everything in their power keep them fighting. It's time to put these nutjobs back where they belong - on the fringe margins of society.

Five biggest polluters in UK produce more CO2 than all motorists combined

Think how much worse it is in the US where energy demands and consumption are significantly higher...

"The figures, which have prompted new calls for tighter restrictions on corporate pollution, show that efforts by individuals and households to cut their carbon footprints will make little difference unless accompanied by greater action by industry. A 1% increase in the efficiency of the giant Drax power station in North Yorkshire - the largest in Europe and the single biggest polluting site in the UK - would save the typical carbon emissions of 21,000 households. Drax alone produced 20.8m tonnes of carbon dioxide last year.

Article continues The top five companies (EON UK, RWE Npower, Drax, Corus, and EDF) produced between them more than 100m tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2005. On average, the country's 26m private cars produce 91m tonnes each year."

Hundreds of UK companies are excluded from the scheme - because they are not classed as big polluters or because they participate in a parallel system run by the government. Figures from these firms have been obtained by the Guardian under freedom of information laws. They show that dozens of household names produce more than many small countries.

Hubble Takes Sharpest Shot Yet Of New Red Spot On Jupiter

RUN FOR COVER - THE MONOLITHS HAVE CREATED A NEW SPOT!!! Seriously though, neato!

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has given astronomers their most detailed look yet of a second red spot emerging on Jupiter. For the first time in history, astronomers have witnessed the birth of a new red spot on the giant planet.

The Human Contribution To Atmosphere Circulation Changes

Ok, you idiots who don't believe that humans have anything to do with global warming (and would rather just drive your SUV's, leave the tv on all night and otherwise expend your excess) - listen up...

A new study published in this week's issue of Nature is the first to show that human activity is altering the circulation of the tropical atmosphere and ocean through global warming.

Scientists widely agree that the climate has warmed over the past century and that human activities, such as burning fossil fuels, have significantly contributed to this global warming.

North Dakota Researchers Testing Spacesuit For Mars

North Dakota researchers began testing a new spacesuit at a rugged Mars-like Badlands site this week in an attempt to interest NASA and other space agencies in the design. Pablo de Leon, an Argentine-born aerospace engineer and veteran space suit designer, managed the project, called the North Dakota Experimental Planetary Space Suite, or NDEPSS.

See the website that I created for them at: http://human.space.edu or watch the video (53 MG MPG) (complete with td music) at: http://human.space.edu/movies/spacesuitfull.mpg