- Critics oppose Border Patrol herbicide plan – The Border Patrol plans to poison vegetation along more than a mile of the Rio Grande riverbank in Texas to eliminate the dense foliage used as hiding places by illegal immigrants and smugglers.
The Houston Chronicle reports opponents of the action compare it to the Vietnam War-era Agent Orange chemical program and say it could have harmful long-term effects.
- We Put Pepsi’s New Aquafina Product To The Test – I’m concerned that Pepsi decided to promote its new “eco-friendly” product by proactively shipping, via Fedex overnight, 5 lb boxes of the water to press around the country. And then sending a second batch either in error or to reinforce the message. That’s not very eco-friendly (if anyone knows the carbon cost of sending these boxes, let me know, then multiply it by hundreds or thousands of press). It all seems a little wasteful.
- China tells U.S. to drop Cold War mindset on military | Reuters – hina on Thursday slammed a Pentagon report on its growing military might, saying criticism of China's lack of transparency betrayed Washington's "Cold War" mindset and risked damaging ties.
China had complained to Washington about the annual report, which was released on Wednesday, because it distorted the truth and amounted to meddling in China's affairs, Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang told a scheduled news conference.
- Aided by Safety Nets, Europe Resists Stimulus Push – NYTimes.com – The Europeans say they have no need for further stimulus right now because their social safety nets, derided in good times by free market disciples as sclerotic impediments to growth, are automatically providing the spending programs that the United States Congress has to legislate.
Europe’s extensive job protections and unemployment benefits are “bad in the upswing, because firms don’t dare to hire people, because then they are glued to them,” said Hans-Werner Sinn, president of the Ifo Institute for Economic Research in Munich. “In the downswing, it’s good if the people are glued to the companies. They keep their jobs. They keep their income. They keep consuming.”
- Toy story: The Lego renaissance | Life and style | The Guardian – Never mind the recession – Lego is now so popular that there are 62 little coloured blocks for every person on the planet. Yet only five years ago this family business was on the brink of ruin. Jon Henley reports from the Danish town where it all began.
- Canon PowerShot SX 1 IS Review: 17. Conclusion: Digital Photography Review – But cameras don't exist only on spec sheets or web pages. Once in hand, the SX1 IS cannot deliver on the promise of the CMOS sensor (which Canon is known for in their EOS range of DSLR cameras). Image quality, while not terrible is actually slightly worse then the much cheaper SX10 IS, and high ISO noise performance is firmly in compact territory. As much as it tries to be DSLR junior, as soon as you see the images you know that it is not. Even though there is RAW mode to give you control over image processing, it offers no more dynamic range, just control over white balance and the amount of noise reduction and sharpening.
- Pizza-making machine has chefs in a spin | Oddly Enough | Reuters – A vending machine that bakes fresh pizza in minutes for a few euros has got Italian chefs in a whirl before it hits the streets in the coming weeks.
The bright-red "Let's Pizza" machine uses infra-red rays and technology developed at the University of Bologna to knead flour and water into dough, spread it with tomato sauce and a choice of topping, and cook it — all in less than three minutes.
- Police identify 200 children as potential terrorists – Crime, UK – The Independent – He said the "Channel project" had intervened in the cases of at least 200 children who were thought to be at risk of extremism, since it began 18 months ago. The number has leapt from 10 children identified by June 2008.
Two hundred schoolchildren in Britain, some as young as 13, have been identified as potential terrorists by a police scheme that aims to spot youngsters who are "vulnerable" to Islamic radicalisation. The programme, run by the Association of Chief Police Officers, asks teachers, parents and other community figures to be vigilant for signs that may indicate an attraction to extreme views or susceptibility to being "groomed" by radicalisers. Sir Norman, whose force covers the area in which all four 7 July 2005 bombers grew up, said: "What will often manifest itself is what might be regarded as racism and the adoption of bad attitudes towards 'the West'.
- Fancy shelling out £5,000 for a 400-year-old stale egg? | Mail Online – Its mother has long since departed the scene. As, indeed, has its entire species.
But this giant egg is a great survivor. It was laid around 400 years ago by one of the great elephant birds of Madagascar.
- Elephant Bird – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia – The elephant birds, which were giant ratites native to Madagascar, have been extinct since at least the 17th century. Étienne de Flacourt, governor of Madagascar recorded frequent sightings of elephant birds. Aepyornis was the world's largest bird, believed to have been over 3 metres (10 ft) tall and weighing close to half a ton (400 kilograms (880 lb)).[2] Remains of Aepyornis adults and eggs have been found; in some cases the eggs have a circumference of over 1 metre (3 ft) and a length up to 34 centimetres (13 in).[3] The egg volume is about 160 times greater than a chicken egg.
10 Interesting Links From March 28th
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