cedar sprig's blog

Chad has begun to make international news, thanks first to environmental degradation, and second, oil. A few days ago BBC news called attention to the fact that Lake Chad has dried up over the last forty years. The lake, once 15,000 square miles of water between Chad, Nigeria, and Niger, is now only 500 square miles and shrinking. Since it's in Africa, it has gotten much less press than if, say, Lake Superior in the US shrank by a similar percentage. The fish population has plummeted, although there's some arable land now, where there used to be lake. However, the Sahara will move in soon enough, which will have devastating effects on the local economy. And with a lake that used to be that big, there's a lot hanging on its existence.  Read More »

With spring comes beetles...beetles in droves, beetles on walls,  beetles driving people up the wall. Recently someone asked me about boxelder bugs in particular. Since they're pretty common in some places--almost as common as asian beetles masquerading as ladybugs--a little information on them might appeal to a few of you.

Box elder bugs have an elegant, vaguely triangular shape, with a couple of crisscrossing red lines over their black carapaces. They show up year round, but especially in spring. This is when the adults start looking for places to lay their eggs. Preferably on box elder trees (their favorite food is boxelder seed) but they're not fussy. They're relatively innocuous, but do beware if you try to squish them: they're big bugs, and stain anything light colored.  Read More »

Scientists have found a way to reverse cell division--overthrowing conventional thought that says mitosis is irreversible. By turning off cyclin, an enzyme that plays a vital role in ordering the cell to divide, researchers at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation discovered that the cell went through a sort of reverse mitosis. Instead of dividing, chromosomes returned to the center of the cell.  Read More »

Gas prices are expected to continue to rise. Oil is already near $70 a barrel, thanks to a number of factors. Anticipation for Memorial Day and subsequent summer demand are pushing the numbers up, while refineries are still recovering from Hurricane Katrina last year. Ethanol blending, while theoretically a good thing, is also adding pressure to the market. Then there's the growing demand in other countries. Specifically China, though it's not the only one.  Read More »

The White House says, no, of course we wouldn't...But nonetheless, the idea is out there. An article by veteran journalist Seymour Hersh appeared in the New Yorker just two days ago, claiming that nuclear bombs are NOT out of the question for dealing with Iran.

The situation: Iran is not supposed to be playing with nuclear weapon building, since it signed the non-proliferation treaty. But people fear it might do the same thing as North Korea and develop the bomb anyway. The problem is that the station where it would be making nuclear weapons is buried beneath 75 feet of rock, too deep for any normal air-strike to reach. A nuclear explosion, on the other hand, would shake up the ground nicely and eliminate the threat. Of course, it would also spray radioactive destruction all over the place, and who knows if anyone would survive the subsequent war. Drop a nuclear bomb on a Muslim country in the Middle East? No way.  Read More »

The National Geographic has just released a translation of what has been dubbed the "Judas Gospel." It hasn't made much of a media storm, though--there are too many conspiracy theories already in the air.

The manuscript from which the translation was made alleges that Judas Iscariot, far from being a traitor, was following orders from Jesus Christ when he performed his infamous betrayal. (Anyone read "Behold the Man"?) Carbon dating has shown it's from about 200 AD.  The fragile papyrus manuscript was discovered in 1978, spent some years lost in smuggling, languished for a few more in storage, before translators got their hands on it in 2000.  Read More »

What progressive principle do weapons fall under? According to an article today in the Wall Street Journal, a new and improved bomb has been developed for the use of the Air Force (which really hasn't had much to do the last couple of years in Iraq, ever since fighting turned into urban insurgency). Instead of shrapnel, the bomb has metal powder inside a carbon-fiber casing. Unlike traditional bombs, the casing falls apart without strewing a lot of metal shrapnel around. The force of the explosion doesn't get absorbed by bursting out of the shell, which means it can all go to the powder. The powder packs quite a punch in a small area, but quickly loses its momentum and falls to the ground.  Read More »

Whatever happens to old headlines? Acting on the supposition that what was recently news still has some importance, I decided to see what's going on in issues that made press last month, but dropped out of sight at the first sign of resolution.

So, India and the United States made a deal to forgive India's refusal to sign the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty and engage in a bit of nuclear power technology trade. Except it was more of an agreement to make the deal. The deal itself is still being worked on. It has three parts: First, the US must alter a few of its own laws to allow for the proposed trading. Then the Nuclear Suppliers Group, an international consortium, needs to give the go ahead. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) also must give its blessing, not to mention sending in some UN agents to Indian power plants.  Read More »