Invest in the Wind?

Interesting idea for sure.

clipped from http://www.forbes.com/markets/2007/10/08/conergy-windpower-australia-markets-equity-cx_vk_1008markets09.html German solar power company Conergy is seeking approval to build the largest windmill in Australia, taking a 2 billion Australian dollar ($1.8 billion) bet on the country's Parliament passing legislation supporting renewable energy. Conergy (other-otc: CEYHF - news - people ) is expanding outside its traditional retail and wholesale solar business in Europe. The company reported a 70.6% growth in turnover to 418 million euros ($589 million) for the first half of this year, thanks to the strong overseas sales that exceeded sales in Germany for the first time. The company said its orders in hand surpassed the billion euro mark for the first time, rising to 1.2 billion Euros. About 62% of these orders are from Korea, the United States and other countries.

Getting rich by being Frugal

clipped from articles.moneycentral.msn.com Let's take another tack. Let's say Joe just spends one hour a week looking for frugal things to do, like going for more energy-efficient lighting, installing low-flow shower heads, making some homemade meals and so on. Joe manages to save $75 more a month in the budget this way, giving him $325 a month ($75 isn't hard to do from almost any monthly budget without much life change). If he puts that $325 into that index fund at 10%, he'll have $25,167 in his account. Even a bit of frugality blows away an incredible investment.</P>

Ridiculously Useful Websites

clipped from www.webupon.com 15 Ridiculously Useful Websites Web MD Provides a reference for anyone looking to diagnose his or her symptoms or research medical issues. It is a good place to visit before making that, oh so expensive, trip to the doctor. E-How A reference site for just about everything else. Want to k now how to wax snow skis? Make pizza dough? Install a bathtub? This is the place. Bartleby One of the better academic research websites I've come across. How Stuff Works A very cool website that contains explanations of those mysteries in life that you just can't figure out. A few examples are Murphy's Law, Pickpockets, and Light Sabers (Yes, light sabers). Musicovery Seriously, the coolest music-related site I've seen. You choose the mood, intensity, and genres of the music you would like to hear and the site will provide you with a virtual web of music to explore. The web evolves with each choice you make. You can click on any song in the web at anytime.

Penn State's ultra-efficient solar home heads to international competition

clipped from live.psu.edu University Park, Pa. -- After almost two years in design, development and construction, Penn State's MorningStar, an ultra-efficient solar home, will travel this week to the prestigious international Solar Decathlon. Twenty universities are entered in the U.S. Department of Energy-sponsored competition, each striving to design, build and operate the most attractive and energy-efficient, 100 percent solar-powered home possible. All the homes will be on display on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., forming a temporary "solar village" for judging Oct. 12-20

Robot Servant

Why wait until you are elderly? The ultimate gift for a couch potato.

clipped from www.foxnews.com TOKYO —  If you grow old in Japan, expect to be served food by a robot, ride a voice-recognition wheelchair or even possibly hire a nurse in a robotic suit — all examples of cutting-edge technology to care for the country's rapidly graying population. At a home care and rehabilitation convention in Tokyo this week, buyers crowded round a demonstration of Secom Co.'s My Spoon feeding robot, which helps elderly or disabled people eat with a spoon- and fork-fitted swiveling arm.

Save Some Money While You Save The Earth

clipped from solarlion.blogspot.com Scott Eisensmith has heard all the stereotypes about having a so-called "green" house. He would like to say his switch to solar was driven by eco-friendly motives but the truth is his decisions were driven by the financial benefits as well. My gas bill is down to about $12, he says, pointing out it used to run more than $100 a month. Eisensmith says, the electric company now sends him checks, not bills, in the mail.

Jobs overstated by 297,000?

clipped from krugman.blogs.nytimes.com But wait, before you celebrate: the report also offered a preliminary estimate of the big revision coming: in the year ending March 2007, says the BLS, its numbers overstated job growth by 297,000. (The Wall Street Journal made a huge deal out of the previous revision, which raised estimates of job creation; wanna bet that they don’t say much about this one?) So the recent past is not what it used to be. There are suspicions that the revisions will be even bigger when they get around to the current period. One telltale sign: if you believe the BLS numbers, employment in residential home construction is down only 3.6% over the past year – and it’s still higher than its average level in 2005, the peak of the housing boom. This despite the fact that housing is in a very deep slump.

List of incest websites ranked No. 2 news story in blogosphere

clipped from blogs.usatoday.com Most mornings, we check Technorati's list of popular news to see what stories other bloggers are writing about. The top items tend to be exclusive reports or provocative essays from the world's largest and most prestigious news organizations. The URL points to a list of pornographic websites devoted to incest that have been culled from the search engine on Newsday's website. (We weren't able to replicate the search results when we used the same terms to search USA TODAY, The Washington Post or The New York Times.) Technorati says 268 blogs are linking to the list of incest sites on Newsday's website. (This posting doesn't include the URL because we're not in the business of providing free advertising for pornographers. We requested comment from Technorati.)

Behind the counter drugs, No Prescription

clipped from blogs.usatoday.com The Food and Drug Administration may establish a new class of medicines known as "behind-the-counter drugs," according to the Los Angeles Times. "It would let consumers purchase routine medicines that could include birth control pills, cholesterol drugs and migraine medicine without a prescription -- as long as they discuss it with a pharmacist first," the paper reports. "Pharmacists and drug companies like the idea; doctors think it's dangerous. If approved, the drug classification could go into effect as early as next year." Other countries already have such a process in place, which has been used in the USA with a drug known as the morning-after pill. FDA is scheduled to hold a hearing on the issue next month.

David versus Goliath over Trademark

clipped from blogs.usatoday.com Each wants to trademark the name "Hammer Museum." One is named for the hand tool, the other is named for the late tycoon who donated his sizable art collection to the eponymous museum. (And just to make things more confusing, Armand Hammer, the former chairman of Occidental Petroleum Corp., has nothing to do with the Arm & Hammer in your fridge.) The Wall Street Journal reports this morning on a David-and-Goliath battle between the Hammer Museum in Haines, Alaska, and the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles.

Patriot commits suicide in front of City Council

This is actually a story about Patriotism. Read down to the bottom.

clipped from blogs.usatoday.com A barber asked the city council in Clarksville, Tenn., to rezone his property from residential to commercial. When they refused, Ronald "Bo" Ward stood up and walked toward the dais. "A gunshot punctuated his sentence, and Ward fell at the feet of those sitting in the first row. He appeared to have pulled the trigger with the gun in his mouth," The Leaf-Chronicle, a fellow Gannett newspaper, reports. "Many in the room began screaming — audience and council members alike — but few moved as Ward’s wife Mildred threw herself on her husband." The Associated Press says Ward received a note in 2004 from Gen. David Petraeus, the commander in Iraq, that thanked the barber for "giving haircuts to children of our families" based at Fort Campbell. Here's a story about his patriotism. (File photo taken in 2003 by Greg Williamson, The Leaf-Chronicle.)

The dump that is said to be poisoning children

clipped from blogs.usatoday.com This photo, by Khalil Senosi of the Associated Press, shows an apartment in Nairobi, Kenya, engulfed by toxic smoke from one of Africa's largest dumps. Each day, the 30-acre trash pile receives some 2,000 tons of garbage, including industrial and medical waste such as used syringes. Reuters found Willis Ochieng, 10, digging through the pile of smoking refuse. "I have been coming here with my friends since I was eight," he says. "We come every day from the morning to the night. We come for plastic bags, anything metal we can sell."

Do Not Call Registry to begin purging some numbers from list

Better check list if you went on list prior to 2004. They are beginning to purge numbers. Why you ask?

Also, how to stop getting mail you don't want or find offensive.

clipped from blogs.usatoday.com Numbers that were added to the National Do Not Call Registry in 2003 are going to come off the list next summer, meaning that you better re-register your phone number with the Federal Trade Commission if you want to avoid annoying calls from telemarketers. •  Click here to confirm that your number is on the registry. •  Click here to add your number to the list. •  Click here to file a complaint about calls that you shouldn't be receiving. You can block other types of offensive solicitations, too. The U.S. Postal Service will stop delivering any material you deem offensive. And members of the Direct Marketing Association will stop sending catalogs if you send them a buck. To stop receiving credit offers, call 1-888-5OPTOUT (1-888-567-8688).

Alzheimer's 100 years

clipped from www.zwire.com According to the National Alzheimer's Association, every 72 seconds someone in America develops this disease. Although many people are aware of it by name and what it can do to vibrant, healthy, strong people, author Susan Berg believes "it is everyone's duty to embrace this disease because there is no time to lose when fighting the battle of preventing it." The year 2006 marked the 100th anniversary of a small medical meeting in Germany where physician Alois Alzheimer presented the haunting case of Auguste D. Alzheimer for the first time. After her death four years later, this mysterious disorder began entering the medical literature as Alzheimer's disease. The unusual brain deposits that were described after an autopsy of the brain and the pathological hallmarks of dramatic brain shrinkage and two types of microscopic deposits, which Dr. Alzheimer had never seen before became known as plagues and tangles.

Top House Dems push war 'surtax' of up to 15%

clipped from blogs.usatoday.com "If the president really is concerned about stopping red ink, we are prepared to introduce legislation which will provide for a war surtax for that portion of military costs that are related to our military actions in Iraq," Rep. David Obey, the Wisconsin Democrat who chairs the House Appropriations Committee, says, according to Reuters. The Politico reports members of the Democratic leadership say they'll oppose any spending bills that don't include a plan to end the 4-year-old conflict. Under the surtax proposal, taxpayers would pay extra taxes -- ranging from 2% to 15% based on income -- designed to raise $140 billion a year for the war effort. "If you don't like the cost, then shut down the war," Obey just told reporters on Capitol Hill. He was joined by Reps. John Murtha of Pennsylvania and James McGovern of Massachusetts.

Public splits with Bush on war spending, childrens' health insurance

clipped from blogs.usatoday.com A new Washington Post-ABC News poll suggests that most Americans oppose President Bush's proposal to spend $190 billion on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and a "sizable majority" support the changes to a health insurance program for children that Bush has pledged to veto. This lack of consensus extends to the president' war-funding proposal. About 70% of respondents say they favor reductions in the war budget, with half saying they want the allocation "cut sharply or entirely." A third of respondents say they approve of the president's performance. "When the parties are pitted directly against each other, the public broadly favors Democrats on Iraq, health care, the federal budget and the economy. Only on the issue of terrorism are Republicans at parity with Democrats," the paper says.

Accuser says book by Justice Thomas includes 'smears'

clipped from blogs.usatoday.com Hill responds this morning on the op-ed page of The New York Times: In the portion of his book that addresses my role in the Senate hearings into his nomination, Justice Thomas offers a litany of unsubstantiated representations and outright smears that Republican senators made about me when I testified before the Judiciary Committee — that I was a “combative left-winger” who was “touchy” and prone to overreacting to “slights.” A number of independent authors have shown those attacks to be baseless. What’s more, their reports draw on the experiences of others who were familiar with Mr. Thomas’s behavior, and who came forward after the hearings. It’s no longer my word against his.

Blackwater CEO faces House panel

clipped from blogs.usatoday.com Erik Prince, the millionaire ex-Navy SEAL who owns Blackwater USA, is due to testify this morning before the House Government Reform Committee. You can read his prepared statement here. And here's the committee report. Prince plans to point out to lawmakers that 30 of his employees have been killed in combat, but "no person protected by Blackwater has ever been killed or seriously injured." This is notable given that the Pentagon says the death toll among U.S. military personnel has reached 3,800. Despite recent reports about trigger-happy guards, Prince says his employees have discharged their weapons in only 56 of the 1,873 missions they conducted while protecting American diplomats. "Blackwater does not engage in offensive or military missions, but performs only defensive security functions," he plans to say.

Whatever Happened to Make Love not War?

clipped from blogs.usatoday.com Students at Percy Julian Middle School in Oak Park, Ill., are no longer allowed to hug one another, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. The Chicago Tribune says the edict is focused on "extreme hugging in hallways." ''Hugging is really more appropriate for airports or for family reunions than passing and seeing each other every few minutes in the halls," Victoria Sharts, the school's principal, tells the Sun-Times.

Pentagon to develop new bombing plans for Iranian targets

clipped from blogs.usatoday.com Seymour Hersh reports in The New Yorker that Vice President Cheney has convinced the White House to order revisions to the Pentagon's plans for an attack on Iran, shifting the targets from suspected nuclear facilities to sites thought to be associated with attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq. The proposal to attack Revolutionary Guard Corps facilities, among other targets, is attracting support from military brass at the Pentagon, Hersh says. "The strategy calls for the use of sea-launched cruise missiles and more precisely targeted ground attacks and bombing strikes, including plans to destroy the most important Revolutionary Guard training camps, supply depots, and command and control facilities," he writes.