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| "Capitalism is the astounding belief that the wickedest of men will do the most wickedest of things for the greatest good of everyone." - John Maynard Keynes Good Monday Morning, Glen Beck held Whitestock this weekend on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. and near 87,000 came out to rock and roll, drop acid and splash naked in the Reflecting Pool and chill in a thai-stick haze under a glorious sun. Now I'm sorry I didn't go. The sight of 87,000 pudgy, pasty white people all stoned out of their gourds should not have been missed. Just before the event Beck said, "The government is trying to now close the Lincoln Memorial for any kind of large gatherings. This may be the last large gathering ever to assemble at the Lincoln Memorial. Historic, historic." The Fed said in reply, "There is absolutely no attempt by the government to restrict gatherings at the Lincoln Memorial or at any of our sites," said Margie Ortiz, a National Park Service spokeswoman. "There is zero basis for his claim." As you can see, he started partying a little early. [Correction: In a recent article I referred to "Whitestock" as a generational hippie fest. My sources tell me I was wrong. There were no hippies and the drugs most used were, Lipitor, Prilosec, Celebrex and Viagra. News That Matters apologies for the error.] It seems that Hillcrest Commons is the next big project to come to the Route 52 corridor when the trees on the hillside behind the Shoprite are stripped off and a mixed-use facility is built using $16 million in state funds for the $18 million project to build 75 affordable apartments for the low income and elderly. Rents should be from around $850 to a little over $1000. That's not really "affordable" but hey, what do I know! A grand total of 42 of you have voted in our Putnam County County Executive Preference Poll. "Other" still leads with 50%, Maryellen Odell comes in second place with 33% and State Senator Vincent Leibell comes in last with 17%. The poll is still there so go vote! Greg Ball's plan for government austerity is to dissolve the village of Brewster into microbial dust... as if the Town of Southeast isn't already dysfunctional enough! Anyway, he claims that will solve all kinds of problems including international terrorism, the oil shortage, global warming and getting a decent falafel in Putnam County, something more worthwhile than another shopping mall or senior housing project. Nan Hayworth, Republican candidate for Congress in the 19th district and who will not debate her primary opponent, Neil DiCarlo, has joined the VFW in calling for the Montrose VA campus to remain open. She's a little late in the game seeing that Congressman Hall has been working for that for the past four years - in the face of Republican opposition. having your cake and eating it too, eh, Nan? And now, The News
Following up on America's Great Outdoors InitiativeThe Aug. 5 and 6 listening sessions in Poughkeepsie and Hyde Park brought senior federal officials to the Hudson Valley as part of President Obama's America's Great Outdoors Initiative. The sessions, attended by over 400 environmental leaders and concerned citizens, were an important step in establishing new federal partnerships that will support Hudson Valley efforts to protect scenic vistas, preserve farmland and safeguard habitat. Our region was one of 25 locations selected for a listening tour, so we still need to work to keep the Hudson Valley and its needs in the spotlight between now and Monday, Nov. 15, when the departments of the Interior and Agriculture, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Council on Environmental Quality will issue a report with recommendations to the president.The best way to do that is through the U.S. Department of Agriculture's IdeaJam website, designed to capture the smart, creative ways communities are conserving outdoor spaces. When you visit the site, you are invited to register for a free account after which you can either submit your own ideas or "promote" or "demote" ideas that have already been submitted. We've linked to six ideas that reflect top Hudson Valley priorities that came out of the listening sessions -- "promoting" those would be a good place to start: Read More Beacon Theater being given new lifeHVpress.comBeacon - "Closed will reopen soon" read the sign that was placed in front of The Beacon Theater. The year was 1968. Now, 42 years later, that "sooner" has finally become a reality, as the once thriving performance hall and movie house has been purchased and renovation for that reopening is in the works. After a long wait and much hard work, the 445 Main Street building was recently closed upon. Moving in to the premises to lead the way on a three and a half million dollar Capital Campaign fundraising venture is the not-for profit 4th Wall Productions theater group. The contingent, composed of about ten regulars (artists, producers, actors), was previously working out of the Poughkeepsie-based Cunneen-Hackett Arts Center as well as a couple of churches in Newburgh. However, their sights have been glued on The Beacon locale since 2003. After a seven year wait, a deal was finally cut this year, and all energies are presently directed at renovating it back to its original condition. That status included a high-celinged lobby entrance area, two-floored audience seating, serving 750 patrons, winding staircase, authentic lighting fixtures, as well as office spaces. The timing for the two year project could not be more ideal. "Beacon is going through a renaissance other places would die for," pointed out Pat Manning, Director of Development for 4th wall. "The immediate goal is to get the doors open; also to get the newly rented stores open on both sides (an ice cream parlor and martini bar); we’re hoping to start construction next January, and ultimately fuel millions of dollars into the local and regional economy." Read More Secluded Innisfree Gardens are hidden gempoughkeepsiejournal.comMILLBROOK — Nancy Keenan-Rich bent over, picked up a stone and put it on top of another Sunday at Innisfree Gardens. Several other impromptu stone sculptures were nestled on nearby stones. All around her were sculpted gardens formerly owned by Walter and Marion Beck and opened to the public in 1960. "It hasn't ruined nature," said Keenan-Rich, a member of the Adirondack Mountain Club, "but enhanced it. "What I like about it is the serenity," she said. "You can sit and read or just contemplate. It's a nice respite from the world." City of Poughkeepsie resident Keenan-Rich led a meandering walk through the gardens for club members, most of whom went at their own pace to explore. "That is really what this place is about," she said. Read More Despite "All Clear," Mississippi Sound Tests Positive for Oilby: Dahr Jamail and Erika Blumenfeld, t r u t h o u t | ReportThe State of Mississippi's Department of Marine Resources (DMR) opened all of its territorial waters to fishing on August 6. This was done in coordination with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the US Food and Drug Administration, despite concerns from commercial fishermen in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida about the presence of oil and toxic dispersants from the BP oil disaster. On August 19, Truthout accompanied two commercial fishermen from Mississippi on a trip into the Mississippi Sound in order to test for the presence of submerged oil. Laboratory test results from samples taken on that trip show extremely high concentrations of oil in the Mississippi Sound. James "Catfish" Miller and Mark Stewart, both lifelong fishermen, have refused to trawl for shrimp because they believe the Mississippi Sound contains submerged oil. Read More City parks, bringing urban centers back to lifeBy JoAnn GrecoSpecial to The Washington Post I watch as a man lazily makes his way over the steppingstones in a low-slung pool that emerges from a limestone-clad water wall. Nearby, framed by the steel of St. Louis's iconic Gateway Arch, a mother points out a gleaming red Mark di Suvero sculpture to her toddler, and fountains mist two besuited men as they engage in shop talk and scarf down lunchtime hot dogs. This is St. Louis's Citygarden, a small part of a master plan to redevelop the Gateway Mall, a 1.2-mile ribbon of green space connecting the still-splendid Arch with the once-grand Union Station. The mall's fortunes rose and fell with St. Louis's cycles of growth (in the early 1900s it was among the five most populous American cities) and abandonment (scores of buildings were razed by midcentury) before ending up as a patchwork of empty, littered and overgrown lots. Citygarden, then, is more than just a pretty face. In the past year, seemingly every city I've landed in has boasted a new park or was in the process of planning one. But whereas parks unveiled in recent years by New York and Chicago - the much-ballyhooed High Line and Millennium Park, respectively - serve as desserts added to the already laden menus of residents and tourists, it seems that new parks in other cities are burdened with a much more challenging mandate. Read More Judge declares Fla. growth law unconstitutionalBy Bill KaczorA judge on Thursday struck down a 2009 law loosening state planning requirements and controls on urban sprawl that development and business interests say are stifling Florida's growth. In a lawsuit filed by four counties and 16 cities, Chief Circuit Judge Charles Francis ruled the Legislature violated the Florida Constitution by requiring local governments to implement the law without providing the dollars to do it or a means to raise them. The sponsor, Sen. Mike Bennett, doesn't want the state to appeal because he intends to file a revised version if lawmakers meet in special session or at the next regular session beginning in March 2011. "It's something we'll go back and fix next time," the Bradenton Republican said. "It really bothers me - government suing government." Representatives of Gov. Charlie Crist and Senate President Jeff Atwater, R-North Palm Beach, said they were reviewing the ruling and hadn't made any decision on a possible appeal. A spokeswoman for House Speaker Larry Cretul, R-Ocala, declined comment. The law was touted as a way to foster growth and improve Florida's sagging economy. Environmentalists and many local officials opposed it, saying the measure would encourage sprawl. Read More Wind Turbine Projects Run Into ResistanceJ. Emilio Flores for The New York TimesBARSTOW, Calif. — The United States military has found a new menace hiding here in the vast emptiness of the Mojave Desert in California: wind turbines. Moving turbine blades can be indistinguishable from airplanes on many radar systems, and they can even cause blackout zones in which planes disappear from radar entirely. Clusters of wind turbines, which can reach as high as 400 feet, look very similar to storm activity on weather radar, making it harder for air traffic controllers to give accurate weather information to pilots. Although the military says no serious incidents have yet occurred because of the interference, the wind turbines pose an unacceptable risk to training, testing and national security in certain regions, Dr. Dorothy Robyn, deputy under secretary of defense, recently told a House Armed Services subcommittee. Because of its concerns, the Defense Department has emerged as a formidable opponent of wind projects in direct conflict with another branch of the federal government, the Energy Department, which is spending billions of dollars on wind projects as part of President Obama’s broader effort to promote renewable energy. Read More Democrats' [NY] attorney general race is crowded, controversialpoughkeepsiejournal.comJoseph Spector • Journal Albany bureau ALBANY — The crowded field for the Democratic nomination for attorney general brings varied experiences and the trading of plenty of barbs. Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice has been knocked for failing to vote for nearly 20 years. State Sen. Eric Schneiderman, D-Manhattan, has been questioned on whether he can police the Legislature after being a member. Campaign contributions from Sean Coffey and his former law firm to pension fund managers in various states have drawn scrutiny. Former Insurance Superintendent Eric Dinallo has had to defend his ties to his former boss, scandal-scarred former Gov. Eliot Spitzer. Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, D-Greenburgh, was labeled in a New York Times editorial as being able to claim "real accomplishments." But the editorial also said that "his divisive style is ill suited to the job." The vitriol led Schneiderman to ask his Democratic foes to lower the decibel level. "Party unity and strength is more important than any one of our individual ambitions," he wrote in a letter. Read More Net Neutrality: 7 Worst Case ScenariosBy Sarah Kessler for Mashable.comMany consumer advocacy groups, web companies and startups are ranting about the perils of losing net neutrality. Net neutrality, they say, is what made the Internet what it is today by giving small companies the opportunity to become big companies, and it rightly puts the user in full control of what he views on the Internet. Huge telecommunication companies like Verizon, and cable providers like Time Warner, however, could potentially profit a good deal from charging websites like YouTube for priority treatment and faster loading times. They argue that prioritization is necessary for a functional internet and that regulated net neutrality will stunt innovation. Thus the battle between the two groups has commenced. A federal court decided in April that the FCC lacked the authority to impose net neutrality. The FCC fought back in May by deciding to reclassify broadband transmission as a “regulable telecommunications service.” Verizon and Google spurred additional controversy this month by releasing a joint proposal for a legal regulatory framework. Both sides –- those opposed to FCC regulation of net neutrality and those who think it’s necessary –- proclaim that their defeat would be Armageddon. But should we really be this worked up about this? The following are the worst-case scenarios that might emerge from how the conflict could pan out. Read More |
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Monday, August 30, 2010
News That Matters - Monday, August 30, 2010
Friday, August 27, 2010
News That Matters - Friday, August 27, 2010 - Things To Do Edition
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| Good Friday Morning, Watch out for cyclists on the roads this weekend as the 13th annual Tour de Putnam hits the streets. The event starts at the County Park in Kent and then winds its way through up to 100 miles of Putnam's roads and byways. Lions and tigers and bears, Oh my! That's what the news has been like around these here parts. What with our newest famous resident slashing necks in NYC cabs, a bear at Hill and Dale slashing residents and MaryEllen Odell slashing Vinnie Leibell to pieces in the LWV debate last week it's like the promo for a new Freddie film.
Friday, August 27Grange Tag Sale10 AM - 4PM at the Putnam Valley Grange Hall, 128 Mill Street at Peekskill Hollow Road. Repeats tomorrow, Saturday, August 28. Saturday, August 28Gallery Talk at Dia:Beacon: Tobi Maier on Imi Knoebel1pm. Tobi Maier is the curator at Ludlow 38, the downtown satellite space for contemporary art of Goethe-Institut on New York's Lower East Side. He was previously curator at the Frankfurter Kunstverein and also collaborated on Manifesta 7 (Rovereto, Italy) as curatorial adviser (2006-2008), and was curatorial intern at the 27th Biennial of Sao Paulo (2006). He holds an MA in Curating Contemporary Art from the Royal College of Art in London. At Dia:Beacon, Riggio Galleries, 3 Beekman Street, Beacon, NY 12508. Call 845 440 0100 or visit www.diaart.org. Habitat For Humanity Event6PM - Drew Methodist Church, Gleneida Avenue, Carmel. International dinner to benefit Habitat For Humanity. Silent Auction, 50/50 raffle, Karaoke for Kids. $7 per person. $25 per family (+4) Contact jobrien@habitatputnam.org or call 845-230-8022 Mozart's Requiem7:30 PM - First United Methodist Church, 83 Main Street, Brewster. Summer Sing and Open House. The Putnam Chorlae performs this work-horse in an evening of music, fun and food. Enjoy an opportunity to sing with the Putnam Chorale. Bring your own score or borrow one of theirs or just come to listen. For information call 845-279-7265 or http://www.putnamchorale.org Admission $10. Sunday, August 29Tour de Putnam8AM - Starting at the County Park on Gipsy Trail Road in Kent, then going everywhere. Click here for more information, registration details and directions to the park. NYNJTC Work Day at Wonder Lake State ParkAn excellent opportunity to lean various side-hilling techniques and then work on the northern portion of the Highlands Trail in Wonder Lake State Park. Contact Gary Haugland (haulandg@aol.com or 845-642-1590) for more information. Into the FutureFriday, September 10
Sunday, September 12
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Wednesday, August 25, 2010
News That Matters - Wednesday, August 25, 2010
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| "So virulent is the Islamophobic hysteria of the neocon and Fox News right — abetted by the useful idiocy of the Anti-Defamation League, Harry Reid and other cowed Democrats — that it has also rendered Gen. David Petraeus’s last-ditch counterinsurgency strategy for fighting the war inoperative. How do you win Muslim h...earts and minds in Kandahar when you are calling Muslims every filthy name in the book in New York? " NY Times Columnist, Frank Rich. Good Wednesday Morning, Over the weekend I took the Sarah Palin Shrine down from the website and replaced it with a Bill O'Reilly Shrine and visitor counts have plummeted! Maybe a Ronald Reagan Shrine would do the trick? As a show of just how exciting the County Executive's race is this year, out of more than 1000 readers only 34 of you have voted in our county executive preference poll. To date, Other has 17 votes, MaryEllen Odell has 12 votes, and Senator Leibell has 5. Fully 50% of those who polled would prefer to vote for someone other than the two announced candidates so it may be time to recruit someone as a write-in candidate after the September primary. Anyone out there want to take on the Senator? Don't forget what he did to Joe D'Ambrosio since that's probably in the offing for you if you dare to take a shot at it. New York State is preparing to alter code in our Endangered and Special Species law. Public comments will be accepted through September 20th. You can find the information you need here. A happy 80th birthday to the Mid-Hudson (Franklin D Roosevelt) Bridge linking Poughkeepsie with Highland. The second span to cross the Hudson River after the Bear Mountain Bridge. With a main span of 1500' and secondary spans of 750' each the bridge at it's midpoint rises 135' above the Hudson River. When completed in 1930 it was the 6th longest suspension bridge in the world. In comparison, the Bronx-Whitestone bridge is 770' longer with a main span of 2300' but has 2" inches less clearance above the river. We're officially out of resources... From GOOD Magazine:A manager of a McDonald's in Glendale, Arizona asked a woman to the leave the shop after she began breastfeeding her infant. He probably shouldn't have done that as Arizona law protects such. (I cannot believe we need laws for that kind of thing!) Anyway, a week later dozens of mothers dropped in at the store for a "nurse-in". McDonald's says the manager made a mistake and that it's stores, while not allowing breastfeeding directly, honor all local and state laws. Each time I finish a painting job or complete a large website for a customer, I buy myself a small treat. Last week it was a bag of Sun Chips. (Yeah, my life ain't that exciting.) When I got home, after putting other groceries away I opened the bag and wondered why it felt funny and was so noisy. Yeah, noisy. And I don't mean noisy like the aluminized plastic bags most chips come in but NOISY. I'm looking at the packaging and notice that it's "100% compostable".
The bags are made from PLA, better known as polylactic acid, a bioplastic made by a company called NatureWorks, a joint venture between Cargill and a Japanese company known as Teijin. And guess what the prime source material is for PLA? Corn. Of course! But so long as there are enough carbohydrates in a substance (i.e., sugar and wheat) they can be used as well. I just wish they would make it quieter. Odell Kicks AssFor those of you who did not attend the League of Women Voter's primary candidates forum in Carmel last evening you missed one heck of a show.The room at the VFW post was over-filled with roughly 150 people, mostly Republican party operatives and mostly the Senator's, who came out to have Senator Leibell see their faces (just in case, ya know?) and for fireworks that were sure to go off between the two Republican candidates for County Executive. No Federal Dollars for PV FirehouseAccording to a press release published by Putnam Valley resident Patty Villanova, FEMA has rejected an application for funds for a new firehouse in Putnam Valley. From the release:After numerous FOIL requests by taxpayer advocate Patty Villanova, the Putnam Valley Fire Department released an e-mail dated July 21st from FEMA, notifying the Department that their grant application for a new firehouse has been rejected. The controversial request was submitted to FEMA on July 10, 2009, and was a major issue in last November’s town board election. The new station is estimated to cost over $9 million dollars and loss of the grant money means that the entire cost would be paid for by the taxpayers. The proposal is currently being reviewed by the Planning Board for economic and environmental impacts. Mountaintop removal uses explosives to blow off the tops of mountains and get to the coal seams beneath. Over 500 mountains have been destroyed thus far, and the practice leads to air and water pollution, causing cancer, gallbladder disease and asthma in communities downwind and downstream. Blasting cracks foundations and huge ponds of toxic coal slurry loom over communities. One, the Brushy Fork Impoundment in Pettus, WV, would kill 998 by Massey Energy’s own estimates if it failed, spilling seven billion gallons of coal slurry over twenty-six miles downstream. To see what this looks like from the air, point your mapping program (Google maps/earth, Yahoo... whatever) to this location: 37.951589,-81.605072 and select the satellite view and keep in mind that his is happening but a half a days drive away. To put that seven billion into perspective: the Boyd's reservoir in western Kent holds 1.1 billion gallons of water, a one day supply for water users in Putnam, Westchester and New York City. The Bog Brook holds 4.4 billion gallons. And the West Branch reservoir holds 8 billion gallons of water so imagine a lake of toxic slurry reaching from Mahopac into western Kent and from Lake Gleneida west to Washington Street, working its way up the Horsepound Brook and backing up to Dixon Road. Imagine driving across route 301 and instead of a lake of healthful, fresh drinking water you'd driving across this: Last Friday in this space I wrote out a detailed explanation of the Islamic Cultural Center being built in lower Manhattan. And though it is not a mosque, for reasons I will never understand, that's what you keep telling me. Look, I hate to be a prick about this but the facts are the facts: it's not a mosque, it's not at ground zero and that's that. If you say otherwise you're playing a dangerous and disingenuous semantic game with possible global implications. And opposition hasn't always been opposition. Laura Ingraham, a darling of FOXNews watchers the world over and sitting in for Bill O'Reilly, thought it a good idea. On December 21st of last year she had this to say while interviewing Daisy Khan, Abdul Rauf's wife: INGRAHAM: "I can’t find many people who really have a problem with it. [Mayor] Bloomberg is for it. Rabbis are saying they don’t have a problem with it. [...] I like what you’re trying to do and Ms. Khan we appreciate it and come on my radio show some time." Watch the full video here.So how did all this get started? Salon has written a respectful report which you should read here. It is clear that a new religious war has begun pitting American Christians against the world's Muslims. Jim Bender a Republican Senate candidate from New Hampshire, jumped on to the hysteria bandwagon and said that Muslims don't need "another" mosque in NYC since there are already 100 others in the city. Logical extension says that Jews don't need "another" synagogue in Exeter, New Hampshire or that the Church of Christ, Scientist doesn't need "another" prayer hall in Charleston, West Virginia or that the LDS doesn't need "another" tabernacle in Las Vegas, Nevada or that the Buddhists don't need "another" temple in the Hudson Valley. If this is where Republicans want to lead the nation they walk a dangerous line and not just the line drawn over religious tolerance in the United States, but they endanger our troops in Afghanistan and are doing nothing more than inviting an angry response from international terrorist groups right here at home. Can't they see past their hatred to the bigger picture? And now, The News:
Earth's green carbon sink on the wane : Nature NewsNature.ComSatellite data indicate that carbon storage by plants is decreasing despite climate warming. The capacity of plants to act as a carbon sink could be on the decline. As global temperatures have risen in recent decades, the amount of atmospheric carbon being converted into plant biomass has increased in step. However, in a paper published today in Science, ecologists Maosheng Zhao and Steve Running at the University of Montana in Missoula report a surprising reversal of this trend over the last decade, despite its having been the warmest on record1. In 2003, a study on which Running was a co-author, led by Ramakrishna Nemani, who is also at the University of Montana, reported an increase in plant productivity between 1982 and 1999. The researchers attributed that trend to a warmer climate and increased solar radiation2. Zhao and Running expected to find a similar increase for 2000-2009 — an expectation that was not met. Along with the oceans, plants are doing us a great service by taking up about half of all fossil-fuel carbon dioxide emissions from the atmosphere, says Running. "This is the first indication that it might be slipping." Read More We've gone into the ecological redFrom New EconomicsOn 21 August our environmental resource budget ran out. Now we're living beyond the planet's means to support us. At the weekend, Saturday 21 August to be precise, the world as a whole went into "ecological debt". That means in effect that from now until the end of the year, humanity will be consuming more natural resources and producing more waste than the forests, fields and fisheries of the world can replace and absorb. By doing so, the life -support systems that we all depend on are worn ever thinner. Farms become less productive, fish populations crash and climate regulating forests decline. All become less resilient in the face of extreme weather events. The date is arrived at by comparing our annual environmental resource budget with our ecological footprint – the rate at which we spend it. The more we overshoot the available budget, the earlier in the year we start to go into the ecological red. Collectively we started to live beyond our means in the 1980s. Since then the date has crept earlier and earlier in the year. Improved measurement and data bring the latest date forward by a whole month in comparison with last year's date. It now takes about 18 months for the planet to generate what we consume in just 12. Read More Slow-Speed Rail: the Budding “Trails-to-Transportation” Movement by Nadine LemmonPhoto: Katy Silberger The Trestle Bridge in Rosendale, crossing over the Rondout Creek. High-speed rail between major city destinations is a front-page story across the nation. Big players, stimulus money, and a short timeframe are coalescing in a sustained effort to provide alternatives to the interstate and air travel. In rural and suburban communities, where population densities don’t attract major public transit dollars, a less glamorous and more incremental story is unfolding. The “Rails-to-Trails” movement is slowly morphing into a “Trails-to-Transportation” movement. The “Rails-to-Trails” movement started in the mid-’60s, after a substantial consolidation of the rail industry led to the closure and abandonment of many lines. The movement was driven by a certain ideology—environmentalists wanting to get “back to nature,” redefine public space, and simply go for a walk. The effort was relatively inexpensive and often hurdle-free. After purchasing a portion of the property from the railroad companies, volunteers would take out the tracks, use the old rail ties in their home gardens, and once a year, come out to the “linear park” to cut back the brush. Today, new ideologies are in place—and with those ideologies come new priorities. Environmentalists, many of whom were a part of the 60s Rails-to-Trails movement, are now looking at rail trails as part of a non-motorized transportation network. Keith Laughlin, president of the national nonprofit Rails-to-Trails now sees his organization as a transportation advocacy group: “There was a time when people viewed having these trails in their communities as a nice-to-have thing, but not a necessity. But what we’re seeing is an increased demand at the local level, and the trails are now viewed as critical infrastructure for a livable 21st century community.” In a 2008 survey of Ulster County (NY) residents, 21% of the respondents said they used non-motorized transportation to get to work and 35% used it for shopping and errands; 68% said they don’t use non-motorized transport because there are too many cars or motorists drive too fast. This potential demand for safer routes could be met by a connected network of protected trails. Read More Zapping spuds with electricity 'makes them healthier', scientists claimThe UK Telegraph''We knew from research done in the past that drought, bruising and other stresses could stimulate the accumulation of beneficial phenolic compounds in fresh produce," said Dr Kazunori Hironaka, who led the study. ''We found that there hasn't been much research on the healthful effects of using mechanical processes to stress vegetables. "So we decided in this study to evaluate the effect of ultrasound and electric treatments on polyphenols and other antioxidants in potatoes. Dr Hironaka, whose team presented their findings at the 240th national meeting of the American Chemical Society in Boston, Massachusetts on Sunday, added: "Antioxidants found in fruits and vegetables are considered to be of nutritional importance in the prevention of chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, various cancers, diabetes and neurological diseases." Experts say potatoes, the world's fifth most widely consumed plant food, are already a good source of antioxidants, including vitamin C and compounds called polyphenols. Read More New credit card restrictions take effectCNNWashington (CNN) -- New rules designed to protect credit card users from "unreasonable late payment and other penalty fees" went into effect Sunday as a result of the Credit Card Act of 2009. The rules block credit card companies from charging more than $25 for late payments except in extreme circumstances, prevent them from charging customers for not using their cards, and requires them to reconsider rate increases imposed since January 1, 2009, according to the Federal Reserve, which approved the regulations. They are the final provisions of federal legislation that placed new restrictions on credit card interest rates and fees, completing the most comprehensive overhaul of the credit card industry in history. The banking industry has already made changes in response to the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure (CARD) Act of 2009, a spokesman said Sunday. Read More 100-km Chinese traffic jam enters Day 9CBC NewsA nine-day traffic jam in China is now more than 100 kilometres long and could last for weeks, state media reported Monday. Thousands of trucks en route to Beijing from Huai'an in the southeast have been backed up since Aug. 14, making the National Expressway 100 impassable, Xinhua News reported. A spokesman for the Beijing Traffic Management Bureau reportedly told China's Global Times newspaper that the backup was due to "insufficient traffic capacity … caused by maintenance construction." The construction is scheduled to last until Sept. 13. Stranded drivers appear to have few options when it comes to dealing with the jam. At least some drivers have complained that roadside vendors have increased their prices to take advantage of the traffic jam. One truck driver said he bought instant noodles from one vendor for four times the original price. Another driver, Wang, told Xinhua he'd been stuck in the traffic jam for three days and two nights. Read More In Gaza, it's not easy being greenHamas crushes initiatives that might contradict with message that Palestinians are suffering because of Israeli blockadeSunday, August 22, 2010 By Theodore May, GlobalPost GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip -- In the small central Gaza town of Deir el Belah, one family has made a cottage industry out of green innovation. "There was a period in Gaza when there was no gas or you had to wait for hours in line to get gas. So we made the oven according to our needs," said Maher Youssef Abou Tawahina, who, along with his father, runs a hardware shop in town. Abou Tawahina is referring to a solar-powered oven that he and his family invented two years ago. The oven, which sits in the family's backyard, takes five minutes to heat up using electricity. Then, its glass ceiling uses the sun to continue the heating process. The oven is not quite hot enough for baking bread, he said, but it's perfect for roasting chicken. The idea of the solar-powered oven was so well received around Deir El Belah that orders poured in from around the neighborhood. Abou Tawahina said that he and his father built over 30 of them until the insulating glass became unavailable on the market. Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10234/1081447-82.stm#ixzz0xTmpbUof |
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According to the website the bag should break down completely in 14 weeks inside a working compost pile that can maintain 130F. As most of us can do that only for about a week or so before the temps drop off, the bag will then continue to degrade at the same rate as other items in your pile as most of the complex polymers were broken down during the initial blast of heat.
The evening began with County Legislator Tony Fusco (Mr. Albano was off on a family medical emergency) and a hearty give and take between him and questioners from the audience. A question on the MTA tax was repeated again later in the evening during the CE's tit-for-tat as well as one guy who kept asking about gun owners rights, as if the county Legislature or the County Executive have any say in the matter. I figure you're either insecure that you have a gun or you're insecure because you have one. Either way, I don't get it. 
At one point a questioner wanted to know what the county budget was and how the candidates would bring that spending under control. MEO responded that she thought the budget was around $132 million and when it was Vinnie's turn his best effort was to sternly remind the audience that the budget was $136.4 million and how could we trust MEO if she didn't even know what the budget was. Yes, that was a waste of a response on the Senator's part but typical of his responses during the evening.
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