I was reading up on Wikipedia today about an herb which can lead to severe renal failure and then this one concept was mentioned which people actually believed as recently as a few hundred years ago: the doctrine of signatures. It is the idea that plants which resemble a specific body part or organ can…

A private British organization has released a new report on casualties ahead of Wednesday’s 10th anniversary of the US-led invasion of Iraq. The non-governmental organization Iraqi Body Count says over 170,000 Iraqi civilians and military personnel died in fighting or from acts of terrorism since the start of the war on Iraq. http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/20130318_05.html The attack…

The European Parliament is in a process of serious deliberation in which it is close to banning pornography.  That fact that it is even seriously considering amending freedom of expression is of great concern.  One would think that the European Union would be perhaps the most aggressive supporter of freedom of expression among world governments.…

Please sign the petition to eliminate the annoying biannual clock changes associated with Daylight Savings Time.

There is this extremely powerful computer hidden away somewhere.  At some point in the future a group of people, concerned about the destruction of planet Earth, input everything about the human species and the planet into the computer.  DNA, sociology, psychology, history, physiology, everything. The computer is able to analyze everything, develop an accurate model,…

The US Transportation Security Administration which sets rules for items not allowed on flights has just changed its post 9/11 policy to allow for small pocketknives with blades smaller than 2.36 inches long and 0.5 inches wide. I know on the rare occasions when I’ve had to enter a public building and go through a…

The technology industry, in lobbying Congress for expansion of programs to attract skilled foreign workers, has long claimed that foreign students graduating from U.S. universities in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics are typically “the best and the brightest,”… The assertion that the foreign graduates offer superior skills or ability relative to U.S. graduates is found…

Mega-commuters are those whose daily commutes are more than 90 minutes and 50 miles. The SF Bay Area has more mega-commuters than any other metropolitan area measured by the US Census Bureau. source: Bay Area tops new ‘mega-commuter’ Census list defining the worst trips to work

OAKLAND — A Gold Rush-era jewelry box swiped from the Oakland Museum of California in a brazen January burglary has been recovered, and a parolee with 10 prior felony convictions has been charged with the crime. “We were so happy. We thought we were in the movie ‘National Treasure,’” Oakland police investigating Officer Michael Igualdo…

This is a new 5000K LED bulb I ordered. It actually contains several LED bulbs inside. It is extremely bright for its small size. This is an “intermediate” base or E17 bulb, about half the size of a standard bulb. This bulb is a test for cosmetics application. While I like the bulb, the temperature…