] Wild Oats Markets Inc. became the first grocery store in
] the United States to roll out a new type of "green"
] packaging which looks like plastic but turns into compost
] after disposal.
]
] Unofficially called the "Corntainer" in the natural food
] chain's 11 Pacific Northwest stores where it is being
] tested, the clear packaging is made from corn rather than
] petroleum.

Corny.

CNN.com - 'Corntainer' plastic hits the market - Jun. 13, 2003

Elonka wrote:
] The Planetary Society keeps coming up with neat perks.
] Through my membership with them I've gotten invitations to go
] on some nifty expeditions (that's how I ended up going to
] Antarctica in 1999), and a couple years ago my name got put on
] a space probe, Stardust, that's currently on its way to meet a
] comet.
]
] Today, I found out that my name is now going to Mars! The new
] Mars Rover is taking a mini-DVD with my name (and over 3.5
] million other names (grin)) with it. What a cool idea!
]
] For more info on the mission, check here:
]  http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mer/
]
] To search for other names (no partial matches, you have to
] type it in exactly), check here:
]  http://spacekids.hq.nasa.gov/2003/namequery.htm

Yep - I put my name on as well as the names of all my family members!

Unfortunately, the project stopped taking names on November 15, 2002. So if you missed the deadline, I'll be sure to send you a postcard! ;)

Laughing Boy

RE: Elonka's Going to Mars! -- Well, her name is . . .

] In findings that should add to the national debate over
] rising obesity rates in the U.S., Duke University Medical
] Center researchers have demonstrated that physical
] inactivity leads to a significant increase in potentially
] dangerous visceral fat, while high amounts of exercise
] can lead to significant decreases in such fat over a
] fairly short time period.
]
] The researchers also found that while lower amounts of
] exercise prevented the significant accumulation of
] visceral fat seen in the controls, it did not lead to the
] improvements seen in participants with higher levels of
] exercise.
]
] Controlling visceral fat is important, the researchers
] say, because increased levels have been associated with
] insulin resistance, cardiovascular disease and other
] metabolic syndromes. Visceral fat is located around the
] organs inside the belly and is deeper in the body than
] subcutaneous fat, which lies under the skin.

C'mon people, get up, get moving.

ScienceDaily News Release: Physical Inactivity Rapidly Increases Visceral Fat; Exercise Can Reverse Accumulation

] A simple test could one day help police to catch
] psychopathic potential serial killers.
]
] Psychologists in Wales have adapted an existing
] psychological test to identify people with psychopathic
] tendencies.
]
] The 10 minute test is based on the Implicit Association
] Test, developed in the United States, and used to reveal
] people's deepest thoughts and feelings.
]
] Psychopaths may be capable of committing violent or
] antisocial acts but rarely demonstrate any remorse or
] guilt.
]
] They are often highly skilled at lying, can be charming
] and are adept at faking the emotions they lack.
]
] For this reason, many psychopathic serial killers can go
] on murdering without detection for years.
]
] Serial killers Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer and Harold
] Shipman have each been branded psychopaths.

A good test to give a potential signficant other?

BBC NEWS | Health | Ten minute test could spot killers

bucy wrote:
] ] BRAUNSCHWEIG, Germany — In these girth-conscious times,
] ] even weight itself has weight issues. The kilogram is
] ] getting lighter, scientists say, sowing potential
] ] confusion over a range of scientific endeavor.
] ]
] ] The kilogram is defined by a platinum-iridium cylinder,
] ] cast in England in 1889. No one knows why it is shedding
] ] weight, at least in comparison with other reference
] ] weights, but the change has spurred an international
] ] search for a more stable definition.

Fascinating! I thought all metric units had long ago been revamped to be defined by a universal constant? The meter for example used to be defined as 1 / 10,000,000th the distance from a pole to the equator. Considering the earths crust shifts constantly, this was deemed to be inaccurate, and its defintion went thru several improvements in accuracy over the years and was last defined in 1983 as "The length traveled by light in a vacuum during 1/299 792 458 of a second."

Very odd they haven't come up with a universal constant to define the gram yet.

BTW... If you ever wanna win a sucker bet with a friend, ask them what the official unit of measurements for the USA is. They will likely reply "the english system", when ironically enough, our "official" unit of measure is the metric system, and has been since 1893...

http://www.unc.edu/~rowlett/units/usmetric.html

"In 1893, Congress adopted the metric standards, the official meter and kilogram bars supplied by BIPM, as the standards for all measurement in the U.S. This didn't mean that metric units had to be used, but since that time the customary units have been defined officially in terms of metric standards. Currently, the foot is legally defined to be exactly 0.3048 meter and the pound is legally defined to equal exactly 453.59237 grams."

Laughing Boy

RE: Scientists Struggling to Make the Kilogram Right Again

] Even as an endangered species, with protections afforded
] only a handful of other creatures on Earth, the Florida
] manatee loses up to 10 percent of its number every year,
] many crushed or slashed by boats.

Poor sea cows!!!!!!

Florida grapples with plight of manatees

] A partial eclipse of the Sun surrounded by strange
] circumstances is on tap for Saturday, May 31 and will be
] visible in parts of North America, Europe and the Middle
] East. The event could be quite spectacular at sunrise in
] Europe, especially in the United Kingdom.
]
] Looking directly at the Sun is dangerous, so proper
] viewing techniques (below) are necessary.
]
] The most impressive aspect of the event will be an
] annular, or ring eclipse, so named because the
] Moon%u2019s disk will be too small to completely cover
] the Sun%u2019s disk. The result is a ring of fire
] surrounding the black circle of the Moon. It's like a
] dull penny sitting atop a shiny nickel.
]
] Annular eclipses can occur because the Moon's orbit
] around Earth is not quite a circle. When the Moon is
] closer to Earth than average, a total solar eclipse can
] occur. When it is farther than average, an annular
] eclipse can result. The annular eclipse will be visible
] across a sparsely populated swath of Earth from Scotland
] to the Canadian Arctic.

Strange Solar Eclipse on May 31

] We make stuffed animals that look like tiny microbes...
] Now available: The Common Cold, The Flu, Sore Throat, and
] Stomach Ache.

These are fucking leet as hell, but my only question is, where is the coronavirus?!?!? I WANT PLUSH SARS damnit:) - Nano

I want the whole freakin set! My favorite is "Martian Life"
http://www.giantmicrobes.com/exotics/index.html

Laughing Boy

Welcome to GIANTmicrobes!

I have a sudden craving for Bananas and an inexplicable deisre to hang from a tree by my feet...

Laughing Boy

] Chimpanzees are so closely related to humans that they
] should properly be considered as members of the human
] family, according to new genetic research.
]
] Scientists from the Wayne State University, School of
] Medicine, Detroit, US, examined key genes in humans and
] several ape species and found our "life code" to be 99.4%
] the same as chimps.
]
] They propose moving common chimps and another very
] closely related ape, bonobos, into the genus, Homo, the
] taxonomic grouping researchers use to classify people in
] the animal kingdom.
]
] Humans, or Homo sapiens to give the species its
] scientific name, are the only living organism in the
] genus at the moment - although some extinct creatures
] such as Neanderthals (Homo Neanderthalis) also occupy the
] same grouping.

Chimps genetically close to humans

] A survey has lifted the veil on an unexpected secret -
] many scientists believe in ghosts.
]
] The survey of 18 scientists at Waikato University and
] Britain's Leicester University found that most were not
] willing to rule out the possibility that "some houses are
] haunted by ghosts".
]
] Many also believed it was possible that "wearing
] jewellery made out of certain crystals can help to keep
] you healthy", and that "in the past aliens from some
] other planet have landed on Earth".
]
] But most said astrology and palmistry were "almost
] certainly untrue", and all agreed there was almost
] certainly no truth in the ideas that breaking mirrors or
] "black Fridays" brought bad luck.
]
] A Waikato University researcher and joint author of the
] survey, Dr Richard Coll, said the scientists gave much
] more credence to "superstitions" than he had expected.
] "You might reasonably have expected them to say these
] things are complete nonsense," he said.
]
] "They didn't. The ones they were more likely to believe
] were aliens and ghosts. The aliens one didn't surprise me
] greatly, but the ghosts one did."
]
] The research was inspired by other surveys that found
] widespread superstitious beliefs among the public, high
] school students and science teachers.
]
] The research was inspired by other surveys that found
] widespread superstitious beliefs among the public, high
] school students and science teachers.
]
] The result: The scientists were certainly more sceptical
] than both high school students and science teachers.
] "There was only one person who was totally sceptical
] about all the propositions. She happened to be a
] biologist who was a strong atheist."
]
] There were no differences between the Waikato and
] Leicester samples.

Very interesting. Being an amateur paranormal investigator myself, it’s reassuring to know that some scientists ARE looking at our research with an open mind.

Laughing Boy

New Zealand News - NZ - Ghosts lurking in scientist minds