It might sound like a supreme waste of money, but it turns out the research done by scientists in Montpelier may help protect California olive trees from a serious pest as well as provide research into serious health issues beyond just the insect world. In a speech about John McCain’s policies on children with disabilities, Palin condemned earmarks for projects like the $211,509 for research on the olive fruit fly (Bactrocera oleae). “You’ve heard about some of these pet projects, they really don’t make a whole lot of sense and sometimes these dollars go to projects that have little or nothing to do with the public good,” Palin said. “Things like fruit fly research in Paris, France. I kid you not.”

California had been free of major olive pests until the olive fruit fly turned up near Los Angeles in 1998. Today, it’s a “huge economic problem” around the state, says entomologist Frank Zalom of the University of California, Davis. Most growers currently use insecticides to contain the pests. To effectively fight invasive insects, researchers say it’s critical to be able to study them over the long term in their native habitats--in the olive fruit fly’s case, the Mediterranean region and Africa. Olive growers as far as the East Coast are now reporting sightings of the pest.

Photo by USDA

Recent results from studies on other fruit fly species may help scientists understand other health issues including autism and other neurological disorders.

TAGS: Current Events

The dudes from the Anheuser Busch Wassup! campaign are back. After years of making “Wassup!” a frat-boy calling card at any social event, the boys use their status as cultural icons for a much more positive message.

Here’s the summary from the youtube page:
Its been eight long years since the boys said wassup to each other. Even with the effects of a down economy and imminent change in the White House, the boys are still able to come together and stay true to what really matters.

TAGS: Current Events

Earth 2.0?

The Journal Science today published a report citing evidence of a younger twin of our solar system that sits only 10.5 light-years away.

The Epsilon Eridani system harbors a central star that is just slightly smaller and cooler than the sun and is surrounded by an as-yet-undetermined number of planets. The system also boasts two asteroid belts that are remarkably similar to the one located between Mars and Jupiter and to the Kuiper belt that lies beyond Neptune. But the most remarkable thing about the system is its age: only about 850 million years old. In other words, Epsilon Eridani is just reaching the stage when life is thought to have emerged on Earth. And that, as astronomers report in an article appearing in the 10 January 2009 issue of The Astrophysical Journal, could present the chance to watch the process unfold anew in a neighboring solar system.

Will this lead to the discovery of the process of evolution of life? Will Epsilon Eridani’s planets mirror the evolution of ours? Does this mean WE are the new E.T. to Epsilon Eridani’s earthlings? Tune in next week!

TAGS: Current Events

Al Jazeera has a great news series on being American and muslim after 9/11. This is part 1 of 4.

In a special two-part documentary Rageh Omaar journeys across the United States exploring the story of Islam in the country. He attempts to discover if – far from being fundamentally incompatible – Islamic America holds the seeds of a lasting solution to global discord between east and west.

Also check out the rest of the series here:
Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

TAGS: Current Events

Netflix

Netflix has finally managed to bring its streaming video technology to Macs everywhere, thanks to Microsoft’s Silverlight technology. Netflix claims that the new implementaiton in Sliverlight provides “breakthrough navigation for fast-forward and rewind.” Note, the software will only work with Intel-based Macs.

Here’s the intel (pun intended):

-----------------Press Release-------------------

NETFLIX BEGINS ROLL-OUT OF 2ND GENERATION

MEDIA PLAYER FOR INSTANT STREAMING

ON WINDOWS PCs AND INTEL MACS

Based on Microsoft Silverlight, New Player Features Enhanced Dynamic Streaming, First-Time Use for Macs and

Breakthrough Navigation for Fast-Forward and Rewind

LOS GATOS, Calif., October 27, 2008 – Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX), the world’s largest online movie rental service, today announced it has begun the deployment of Microsoft Silverlight to enhance the instant watching component of the Netflix service and to allow subscribers for the first time to watch movies and TV episodes instantly on their Intel-based Apple Macintosh computers. The deployment, which will initially touch a small percentage of new Netflix subscribers, is the first step in an anticipated roll-out of the new platform to all Netflix subscribers by the end of the year.

Silverlight is designed for delivery of cross-platform, cross-browser media experiences inside a Web browser. It is expected that Netflix members who watch movies and TV episodes instantly on their computers will enjoy a faster, easier connection and a more robust viewing experience with Silverlight, due to the quality built directly into the player. Among the viewing enhancements with the new player is a breakthrough in timeline navigation that vastly improves the use of fast-forwarding and rewinding. The new Netflix player takes advantage of Play Ready DRM, which is built into Silverlight, for the playback of protected content on both Windows-based PCs and on Macs. That had not been possible with previous generation technologies.

“Silverlight with Play Ready offers a powerful and secure toolkit for delivery of dynamic streaming, which offers faster start-up, and higher quality video, adapted in real time to users’ connection speeds,” said Netflix Chief Product Officer Neil Hunt. “Members who enjoy watching movies and TV episodes from the growing library of choices that can be instantly streamed at Netflix will be thrilled with this next generation improvement of access and quality, on a broader range of platforms, including Intel Macs and Firefox.”

TAGS: Current Events

From Wikipedia: Anthony Robert Martin-Trigona, usually known as Andy Martin (born 1945 in Middletown, Connecticut) is an American journalist, perennial candidate, and vexatious litigant.

Ooh, I like that last bit. Andy Martin was also the person responsible for starting the rumors that Barack Obama is a muslim. He’s changing his story now, and claims that Mr Obama is actually the son of the civil rights activist and writer, Frank Marshall Davis. The imagination on this guy.

TAGS: Current Events

I know Ming Tsai is on another cable channel, but perhaps the producers and show runners at TFN could do their part and feature an Asian face to cook Asian food...? Sounds reasonable, no? “We LOVE Asian food. We just don’t like Asian people.” Thanks Food Network. Anthony Bourdain’s is the best show on your network...oh, wait, that’s on the Travel Channel. Hah!

TAGS: Current Events

Asked by Brian Williams recently whether she felt abortion clinic bombers were terrorists, Sarah Palin said she didn’t know.
Others who would want to engage in harming in innocent Americans or facilities, that uh, it would be unacceptable to...I don’t know if you’re going to use the word ‘terrorist’ there.

Wow.

TAGS: Current Events

LA-based motion graphics directors crew Ab5trax and the Cricket Club of New York collaborated on this short PSA-style video educating the public on the real cost of the war in Iraq.

Most crazy factoid:
$553,176,404,840 Cost of the occupation in Iraq so far.

TAGS: Current Events

The new RNC Mailer

There is a line that should not be crossed in anything that is socially and culturally acceptable and we feel that John McCain has overstepped that line yesterday. He and his associates have started sending out mailers that essentially alludes to the idea that Barack Obama is a Terrorist. That sort of messaging is inappropriate and completely unacceptable.

If you’d like to do something about it, go here and donate to the Obama campaign so that his campaign can fight back!

TAGS: Current Events