From the Wall Street Journal,

_____

Global-Warming Study Weighs Impact of Human Action

By GAUTAM NAIK

May 15, 2008; Page A10

A new study says humans have changed the world's environment more by warming the climate than by directly encroaching on habitats.

The research, published Wednesday in the journal Nature, also establishes a link between climate change and narrower, continental changes such as the earlier spring flight of butterflies in California, the earlier release of pollen in the Netherlands and the increased growth of pine trees in Mongolia.
_____

An international team of over a dozen scientists, led by Cynthia Rosenzweig of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies and the Center for Climate Systems Research at Columbia University in New York, showed very strong indications based on studies done on a continental scale.

In other news,

From the BBC:

_____

'Hundreds buried' by China quake

Almost 900 students have been buried by collapsed buildings during an earthquake in south-western China, state media reports.
_____

What a horrible start to the day, and to the week.

The BBC article quotes the following statistics for recent quakes in China:

___________

• March, 2008: 7.2 quake in Xinjiang - damage limited
• February 2003: 6.8 quake in Xinjiang - at least 94 dead, 200 hurt
• January 1998: 6.2 quake in rural Hebei - at least 47 dead, 2,000 hurt
• April 1997: 6.6 quake hits Xinjiang - 9 dead, 60 hurt
• January 1997: 6.4 quake in Xinjiang - 50 dead, 40 hurt

___________

In other news, US planes carrying aid land in Burma after days spent negotiating with the government, and a US researcher finds a way to kill stowaway plants and animals from marine ballast tanks:

_____

US researchers say they have developed an effective way to kill unwanted plants and animals that hitch a ride in the ballast waters of cargo tankers.

Tests showed that a continuous microwave system was able to remove all marine life within the water tanks.

The UN lists "invasive species" dispersed by ballast water discharges as one of the four main threats to the world's marine ecosystems.
_____

That's all I've got for now -- busy, busy day ahead -- but I'm sure there's a lot more.

Have at it. :)

A few tidbits to open the day:

1. 19 dead in Missouri, Oklahoma after new round of tornadoes By MURRAY EVANS, Associated Press:
   

   _____

   A tornado ripped through a 20-block swath of Picher late Saturday afternoon, killing at least seven people. The same storm system then moved into southwest Missouri where tornadoes took the lives of at least 12 others, authorities said.

   [...snip...]

   At least 12 people were killed after severe storms spawned tornadoes and high winds across sections of southwestern Missouri, the State Emergency Management Agency said. Ten of the dead were killed when a twister struck near Seneca, about 20 miles southeast of Picher, near the Oklahoma border.

   [...snip...]

   Tornadoes killed 13 people in Arkansas on Feb. 5, and another seven were killed in an outbreak May 2.
   _____

   Hopefully, the storms will abate soon and give the people a break.
   

2. Pentagon legal advisor is barred from trial of Osama bin Laden's driver
   A judge for the Guantanamo tribunal says Brig. Gen. Thomas Hartmann lacked independence and must be replaced before Salim Ahmed Hamdan is prosecuted.
   From the Associated Press, 11 May 2008

   This is odd. Seriously.
   

   _____

   SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO -- A Navy judge has barred a Pentagon legal advisor from participating in the war crimes trial of Osama bin Laden's former driver, saying the advisor lacks independence.

   Air Force Brig. Gen. Thomas W. Hartmann, legal advisor to the military tribunals at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, must be replaced before next month's scheduled trial of Salim Ahmed Hamdan, Capt. Keith J. Allred ruled Friday.
   _____

   Why is it odd? Well, because it flies in the face of the SOP for the trials, namely the policy that "We can't have acquittals." Either someone blinked, or the replacement of Hartmann is simply more kabuki theater in the Potemkin village known as Guatanamo.¹
   

3. PC Phone Home (or at least send out a tracking beacon, and let the owner remotely access to snap a pic of the theif who stole you). The story is a hoot -- a woman's stolen laptop showed itself as "online" when the thief sat down to use it at his home, and a friend of the true owner gave her a heads-up. Using an online software service, she was able to remotely gain access to her home system and snap a picture of the culprit using the built-in camera.
   
4. The Republican party hypocrisy² of claiming to be the party of "family values" continues to get hammered home as disgraced Congressman Vito Fossella³ hid in his home and failed to attend his goddaughter's First Communion party.

   I feel bad for the little girl, as well as the entire family.

That's a smattering of items -- what have you got?

Footnoted references appear below the fold.

Happy Saturday, everyone!

What's new?

On the McCain front, there's this tidbit:

McCain Pushed Land Swap That Benefits Backer

By Matthew Mosk
Washington Post Staff Writer

Friday, May 9, 2008; Page A01

PRESCOTT, Ariz. -- Sen. John McCain championed legislation that will let an Arizona rancher trade remote grassland and ponderosa pine forest here for acres of valuable federally owned property that is ready for development, a land swap that now stands to directly benefit one of his top presidential campaign fundraisers].

[...more at link in title...]

Hat-tip kubla000 of DailyKos.

What a surprise, a land deal benefitting a backer, courtesy of Mr. Keating Five himself. Nothing like consistency when it comes to the GOP SOP.

Speaking of "consistency" in terms of the GOP and Bush Republicans, there's more:

On Saturday, 1 October 2006, I posted a piece in several locations entitled "The Pirates Aboard Our Ship of State."

We're now into May of 2008, and things have gone steadily downhill since then.

I thought it would be worth reprinting this, as-is, without adding in any of the newest outrages, new and continuing crimes or even the latest evidence of blatant disregard for the nation, the Constitution or the world we are building for our children.

So...onward.

From last week, yet still strikingly relevant:

Police grapple for clues after a truck careered off the expressway and through a bus shelter under the elevated train tracks. The truck ended up wedged inside a stairwell leading from the station's street-level entrance.

Two people died and at least twenty-one (21) were injured in the incident, which occurred at the Red Line Cermak-Chinatown stop shortly after 5 p.m. in Chinatown, on Friday, April 25th.

This qualifies as yet another type of "transportation cost" in the modern world.

The Bush Administration appears to be getting pretty serious about continuing their campaign of aggression in the Middle East. They are providing cover for Israel's activities (like the bombing of the alleged Syrian reactor site) while apparently setting the stage for their own planned bombing campaign against Iran.

In typical BushCo style, they act, then they attempt to provide evidence:

_____

U.N. Nuclear Agency to Study Claims of Secret Syrian Reactor, By REUTERS, Published: April 26, 2008

VIENNA (Reuters) — The United Nations nuclear watchdog pledged Friday to investigate whether Syria had secretly built an atomic reactor with North Korean help, but the agency also criticized the United States for delaying the release of intelligence.

The United States disclosed its intelligence material on Thursday, saying the Syrian reactor was "nearing operational capability" a month before Israeli warplanes bombed it on Sept. 6.
_____

Of course, the UN wasn't too happy about the seriously long delay in providing alleged "proof" that there was a reactor there.

The New York Times' ran the headline for the story out of the Associated Press today: 'D.C. Madam' Is Found Dead, Apparently in a Suicide

The tragedy occurred Thursday, May 2, at her mother's home in Tarpon Springs, FL -- about 20 miles northwest of Tampa.

I suppose there will be no more revelations about her client lists now.

Two of the powerful Republican officials who were stung by the release of Deborah Jeane Palfrey's telephone records were freshman senator David Vitter -- still serving -- and a senior State Department official named Randall L. Tobias, who resigned.

Related, some indirectly:

A vote for McCain is a vote for Bush...gotta love Comedy Central. :)

In a story published on Friday, April 25 by REUTERS, writer Julie Steenhuysen informs us of a study by Ohio State University research scientists that recently appeared in the journal Science:

_____

The findings cast doubt on the widely used practice among elementary and middle schools in the United States and elsewhere of using friendly, concrete examples to teach abstract math concepts.
_____

The study found that students who learned math concepts using abstract symbols first fared better than those who learned the concepts using real-world examples,¹ and that the abstract-first students were better able to apply the concepts to a variety of situations.

Researcher Jennifer Kaminski stated that this doesn't mean real-world examples or story problems should just go away, however. According to Kaminski, story problems provide a a method for testing whether a student has mastered the abstract concept.

This is an Open Thread.

____________________

Footnotes
____________________

1. Real-world examples described in the article included using marbles for discussing probability or "story problems" ('a train leaves Chicago at 3:00...') to teach other abstract concepts.