Archived material from historical editions of The Generator
Scientists from the US Energy Department are working on signage designed to last, and be intelligible, for hundreds of millenia warning future generations about the dangers of nuclear waste. Today’s warning signs may mean nothing in 10,000 years The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, thousands of metres underground, is designed to hold tonnes of plutonium and Continue Reading →
by Ronald R. Cooke
The Algerian Parliament has decided to increase Algeria’s share of oil production revenues by placing an “excess” profits tax on oil shipments whenever oil prices exceed $30.00 per barrel. Algeria, one of Africa’s largest oil and natural gas exporters, will levy the new tax starting in 2007. Depending on total output, the excess profits tax will range from 5% to 50% on the Algerian profits of foreign companies, including Shell, BP, Anadarko Petroleum and Hess Corporation.
The Parliament also signed into law a provision that the country’s oil monopoly, Sonatrach, must take a 51 percent controlling interest in all future production and refining contracts. This, despite the fact that most of the financing and technical expertise for oil and natural gas exploration, production and refining has been furnished by foreign corporations and financial institutions.
http://news.ufl.edu/2006/01/12/berries/
GAINESVILLE, Fla. A Brazilian berry popular in health food contains antioxidants that destroyed cultured human cancer cells in a recent University of Florida study, one of the first to investigate the fruit’s purported benefits.
Published today in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, the study showed extracts from acai (ah-SAH’-ee) berries triggered a self-destruct response in up to 86 percent of leukemia cells tested, said Stephen Talcott, an assistant professor with UF’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences.
“Acai berries are already considered one of the richest fruit sources of antioxidants,” Talcott said. “This study was an important step toward learning what people may gain from using beverages, dietary supplements or other products made with the berries.”
He cautioned that the study, funded by UF sources, was not intended to show whether compounds found in acai berries could prevent leukemia in people.
If you look at it just right, the universal radiation warning symbol looks a bit like an angel. The circle in the middle could indicate the head, the lower part might be the body, and the upper two arms of the trefoil could represent the wings. Looking at it another way, one might see it as a wheel, a triangular boomerang, a circular saw blade, or any number of relatively benign objects. Whatever a person’s first impression of it may be, someone unfamiliar with the symbol probably wouldn’t guess that it means "Danger! These rocks shoot death rays!"
The U.S. Department of Energy has been grappling with that problem recently, as they designed the warning markers to use at Yucca Mountain and at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) nuclear waste storage facilities. There’s no telling who might be around to exhume our radioactive sins in future centuries, but the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) mandates that warnings be erected which will warn away potential intruders for the next 10,000 years, whomever those intruders may be.
WASHINGTON: The United States and Britain will begin moving additional warships and aircraft into the Gulf region in a display of military resolve toward Iran that would come as the United Nations debates possible sanctions against it, according to military officials.
The officials said Wednesday that Defense Secretary Robert Gates was expected to approve a request by commanders for a second aircraft carrier and its supporting ships to be stationed within quick sailing distance of Iran by early next year.
Senior U.S. officers said the increase in naval power should not be viewed as preparation for a strike against Iran. But they acknowledged that the ability to hit Iran would be increased and that Iranian leaders might well call the growing presence provocative.
by Sam Rawlings
Positive News Issue 50
The cultural icon that is the red London bus is soon to undergo a transformation that will bring London’s fleet into the 21st century and reflect the needs of our time. Unveiled in November by London Mayor Ken Livingstone, these Hybrid double decker buses are the only ones in the world.
The new ‘green’ buses use a combination of diesel fuel and electric power, thereby cutting emissions by up to 40 per cent per bus. The technology works through a battery pack, which provides power to the wheels using an electric motor. When the vehicle brakes, energy – which would normally be wasted – is re-used to charge the battery.