Methane effect worse than thought [superlative thinking] -
Flu hits remote Amazon tribe Pandemic flu has struck an isolated Amazon Indian tribe over the past 2 weeks, killing 7 and sickening about 1,000 people, Reuters reported today. The outbreak in the Yanomami tribe, who live in an isolated area at the Venezuela-Brazil border, was described in a statement from Survival International, an indigenous people’s rights group. The group’s director said the situation requires immediate response from the two governments. Venezuela has reportedly sent a medical team. [Nov 4 Reuters story]
Meat-eating far worse than thought [superlative thinking] -
“[the elderlies, aging, AIAN] Wilma is evaluating her role as an elder within her community and wants input. Is her role to give instruction to the younger people and to allow those younger than her to learn from her successes and struggles? If so, does she have an obligation to actively get involved in the lives of the younger people? Or is her job to enjoy her golden years in peace – enjoy the “tribal elders” jacket, separate housing, parking space and special seating at bingo? Finally, she wonders if her tribe helped to create the separation between younger skins and elders. She wonders if making the elders separate from everybody else in the community – different accommodations for everything, from parking spaces to separate elders’ housing – is a form of glorified banishment? What is the proper role of an elder?” — 21.0: Storytime: Wilma | Indian Country Today | The Thing About Skins
Energy-savings project leaves Army in the cold By Ralph Vartabedian It projects millions of dollars in losses from a private-contract job to upgrade a steam power plant in Alaska. The case highlights flaws in the government’s energy contracts program. … The energy-saving program was created by law in 1992 and promoted by Presidents Clinton and George W. Bush, and now President Obama. There is an undeniable allure to the idea. Costly energy upgrades are financed by a private contractor, which borrows money, installs the equipment and recoups its investment over many years. But the projects have turned out to be enormously complex, both technically and legally. Government managers have been hard-pressed to protect against errors and deliberate fraud, Tiefer said. … Honeywell was awarded the contract without competition just months after its initial sales call in November 1999. The project was overseen by the Army Corps of Engineers out of Huntsville, Ala. The Ft. Richardson project has become one of the most prominent examples of what could go wrong. As later audits would show, the problem was in Honeywell’s energy accounting that compared historical energy use to projected future use.
'Dutch' Batavians more Roman than thought [superlative thinking] -
Health providers slammed by swine flu By
46 of the 50 U.S. states The proclamation, which Obama signed on Friday night, will make it easier for U.S. medical facilities to handle a surge in flu patients by allowing the waiver of some requirements of Medicare, Medicaid and other federal health insurance programs as needed, the White House said in a statement. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Friday that H1N1 swine flu has become widespread in 46 of the 50 U.S. states, a level comparable to the peak of ordinary flu seasons but far earlier and with more waves of infection expected. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=114132895
1. Introducing the AMSER Science Reader Monthly http://www.amser.org/AMSER—ScienceReader.php Internet Scout is pleased to announce the monthly publication of the AMSER Science Reader Monthly. The AMSER SRM provides readers with a useful online collection of information about a particular topic related to applied math and science by combining freely available articles from popular journals with curriculum, learning objects, and web sites from the AMSER portal. The AMSER Science Reader Monthly is free to use in the classroom and educators are encouraged to contact AMSER with suggestions for upcoming issues or comments and concerns at info@amser.org. This month’s AMSER Science Monthly Reader topic is Carbon Trading. The AMSER SRM can also be found in the About section on the AMSER (http://amser.org) homepage. >From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout 1994-2009. http://scout.wisc.edu/
A Christian Science perspective. When home is tent city Accurate numbers are hard to come by, but one respected estimate puts the number of those made homeless in the United States by the current recession at 1.5 million. http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/1019/p18s01-hfcs.html