Ever wondered about what's really in hair coloring, Silly Putty, Cheese Wiz, artificial snow, or self-tanners? C&EN presents a collection of articles that gives you a look at the chemistry behind a wide variety of everyday products.

fun read...

Chemical

At Big Blue Saw, we're committed to doing our part to help you through these tough economic times. Our plan to help the world's economy is to allow you, the customer, to purchase waterjet cutting of 0.08" aluminum parts at prices previously only available to "the big guys".

From Tuesday, March 3 through Tuesday, March 10, 2009, when you use our website to order any part made from 0.08" aluminum alloy 5052, you will receive a quantity discount. We're hoping that our customers will use this sale to make the metal parts that kick start the next wave of business. Just use our online ordering system, and the discount will be automatically applied.

Thanks again for using Big Blue Saw.

If you need any parts this is a good deal...

Big Blue Saw Economic Stimulus Sale

Criminals in Italy are increasingly making phone calls over the internet in order to avoid getting caught through mobile phone intercepts, police say.

Officers in Milan say organised crime, arms and drugs traffickers, and prostitution rings are turning to Skype in order to frustrate investigators.

The police say Skype s encryption system is a secret which the company refuses to share with the authorities.

Investigators have become increasingly reliant on wiretaps in recent years.

Customs and tax police in Milan have sounded the alarm.

They overheard a suspected cocaine trafficker telling an accomplice to switch to Skype in order to get details of a 2kg 4.4lb drug consignment.

Use of wiretaps by prosecutors in Italy has grown exponentially in recent years.

Heated debate

Investigators say intercepts of telephone calls have become an essential tool of the police, who spend millions of dollars each year tracking down crime through wiretaps of landlines and mobile phones.

But the law may be about to change.

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi s right-wing government has drawn up a bill which would restrict police wiretaps to only the most serious crimes.

Much crime reporting in the Italian media is based on leaks of wiretaps and leading politicians, including Mr Berlusconi himself, have found to their embarrassment that details of their private telephone conversations have sometimes been leaked to newspapers.

Under the new law reporting of details of criminal investigations obtained through wiretaps would become illegal until a final verdict has been delivered.

Given the extreme slowness of Italian justice, this would mean that details of cases now before the courts might be reported by the press only in 15 years time.

Not only have Italian journalists been protesting at the new draft bill, but a heated debate is also going on about it within the country s highest body for the administration of justice - the supreme council of the magistrature, composed of the country s top judges.

taly police warn of Skype threat

Today, we are especially happy to bring you “People Got A Lotta Nerve,” the first single from Neko Case’s forthcoming album Middle Cyclone (out March 3), because for every blog that reposts the song and/or iLike user who adds it to their profile, Neko Case and ANTI- will make a cash donation to Best Friends Animal Society.

Neko Case’s “PEOPLE GOT A LOTTA NERVE” - Blog it for a Worthwhile Cause

LOS ANGELES — Believe it or not, that roll of sticky tape on your desk emits X-rays. Don't worry, you're not getting irradiated when you use it, unless you work in a vacuum.

Take an X-Ray With Your Office Sticky Tape

Former MIT President ['71-'80] Jerome Weisner coined a colorful and often quoted description of the MIT educational experience

Haha! Take a look...

IHTFP Hack Gallery: Fire Hose Drinking Fountain

Everyone has seen a picture of a Saber-tooth Tiger. It is easy to envision it as being the King Carnivore of the Prehistoric era, with its menacing elongated canines.

The first remains of a Saber-tooth, (more commonly known as Smilodon, meaning Knifetooth) were discovered in Brazil in 1842.

At the turn of the century almost 2000 Smilodon skulls were discovered in the La Brea Tar Pits of Los Angles California. Smilodon remains have been discovered in many places in both North and South America.

In May of 1971 while excavating the foundation for the First American Bank Complex, now the AmSouth Bank Complex, in Downtown Nashville, workers discovered a prehistoric cave system, which contained a 9-inch fang and foreleg bone from a Smilodon Fatalis.The importance of this find is in the fact, that of all the previous remains, by use of Carbon Dating, revealed that the Saber-tooths became extinct around 11,000 years ago. The Carbon Dating of the Nashville find indicated that this cat was alive 9,500 years ago and to date no other Smilodon remains have been dated more recently.

I guess Nashville could claim to possess the remains of the last known Smilodon. From being a lifelong resident and living among its citizens, I know that they are not that presumptuous. Someone did however, in 1997 think to associate a newly arriving NHL expansion team with a artifact that few were aware Nashville possessed and thus the Nashville Predators were born, complete with a logo depicting a mighty Smilodon.

Was Nashville the Dying Ground for the Last Sabertooth?

Populous will be a free, and incredibly powerful, content management system specifically tailored to the needs of a college newsroom. In addition to the CMS our project has two more components: a digital newsroom, and a social network. Our ultimate goal is to provide any, and every, college newspaper with the tools necessary to have a great website that easily incorporates web 2.0 features and industry trends.

We want to make it easy for college newspapers to upload and play video, audio, slideshows, flash content and anything else that might come up. We will also include software that will allow a newsroom to plan and organize content, and that will allow a community to organize itself. We know most schools don't have the resources to develop the kind of software they need to have a great website, and with the help of the Knight Foundation we're answering that call.

Phase I: CMS
Our CMS will be released in beta this fall. Features include calendar, photo and video uploads and blogging. We hope to create a space where collegiate and small town newspapers alike can create and publish content easily online.

Phase II: Digital Newsroom
Our Digital Newsroom will be released in beta this Winter. It includes story planning, communication features and personalized calendars. This aspect will allow student editors to use laptop computers and mobile devices to communicate and plan both locally and remotely

Phase III: Community News Network
The Community News Network will be released in beta in the Spring. It will complete Populous with a social network used to make and distribute community news and allow users to interact with newsroom content and also create their own.

Populous

If you want a friend in Washington, the old saying goes, get a dog. Since the days of George Washington, most U.S. presidents have.

Hundreds of pets have lived at the White House, including parrots, goats, raccoons and cats. But dogs top the list as the favorite presidential pet.

A new exhibit, "First Dogs: American Presidents and Their Pets," opens Nov. 14, 2008, at the Newseum, showcasing some of the top dogs who have resided at the nation’s most prestigious address.

On display are images of dogs belonging to 22 presidents. Journalists helped turn many of the pets into national celebrities, including Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Scottish terrier, Fala, who had his own press secretary, and Warren G. Harding’s Airedale, Laddie Boy, who had his own chair at Cabinet meetings. A book "written" by George H.W. Bush’s English springer spaniel, Millie, sold more copies than Bush’s own book.

President-elect Barack Obama said he intended to fulfill a very important campaign pledge to his daughters Malia and Sasha — that they would get a dog after the election. Newseum visitors can vote for their choice for the next presidential pooch while viewing the exhibit.

Some highlights of other presidents and their pets include:

* • Abraham Lincoln’s dog Fido was the first presidential pet to be photographed, but it wasn’t a happy occasion. Lincoln was leaving Fido, a mongrel, in Illinois and wanted a memento for his sons before setting out for his 1861 inauguration in Washington.

* • Calvin and Grace Coolidge maintained a menagerie during his 1920s presidency, including 12 dogs and a pair of raccoons. On display is a photograph of their white collie Prudence Prim showing off her Easter bonnet for Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon.

* • Herbert Hoover won fans, and possibly his 1928 election, by posing with his police dog, King Tut, for campaign photos. He and his wife, Lou, kept nine dogs at the White House, including their Norwegian elkhound, Weegie.

* • John F. Kennedy was allergic to dogs. Even so, the Kennedys had nine, including Clipper, Charlie, Wolf, Shannon and the mixed breed Pushinka, a gift from Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev.

* • In April 1964, dog lovers protested after seeing front-page photos of Lyndon B. Johnson lifting his beagles, Him and Her, by the ears. Insisting to reporters that the dogs didn’t mind, Johnson demonstrated the move again days later.

* • Forced to account for $18,000 in questionable gifts during the 1952 election, Republican vice presidential nominee Richard M. Nixon insisted to a television audience that the only gift he received was for his children — a cocker spaniel named Checkers. He won voters’ sympathies when he explained, "The kids love the dog … and we’re going to keep it."

* • Gerald R. Ford’s photographer, David Hume Kennerly, was looking for a golden retriever for his boss in 1974 but didn’t want to reveal who the owner would be. "Do they own or rent?" the breeder asked. "I guess you could say they live in public housing," Kennerly deadpanned. Ford named the dog Liberty.

* • George W. Bush joked that his Scottish terrier, Barney, was the son he never had. Bush’s "Barney Cam" videos, showing life at the White House from the dog’s view, were an Internet sensation. Barney made news again in November 2008 when he bit a reporter who tried to pet him.

First Dogs: Raising the Woof in the White House

The Man Rules­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­
At last a guy has taken the time to write this all down

Finally , the guys' side of the story.
( I must admit, it's pretty good.)
We always hear " the rules "
From the female side.

Now here are the rules from the male side.

These are our rules!
Please note.. these are all numbered "1 "
ON PURPOSE!

1. Men are NOT mind readers.

1. Learn to work the toilet seat.
You're a big girl. If it's up, put it down.
We need it up, you need it down.
You don't hear us complaining about you leaving it down.

1. Sunday sports It's like the full moon
or the changing of the tides.
Let it be.

1. Crying is blackmail.

1. Ask for what you want.
Let us be clear on this one:
Subtle hints do not work!
Strong hints do not work!
Obvious hints do not work!
Just say it!

1. Yes and No are perfectly acceptable answers to almost every question.

1. Come to us with a problem only if you want help solving it. That's what we do.
Sympathy is what your girlfriends are for.

1. Anything we said 6 months ago is inadmissible in an argument.
In fact, all comments become Null and void after 7 Days.

1. If you think you're fat, you probably are.
Don't ask us.

1. If something we said can be interpreted two ways and one of the ways makes you sad or angry, we meant the other one

1. You can either ask us to do something
Or tell us how you want it done.
Not both.
If you already know best how to do it, just do it yourself.

1. Whenever possible, Please say whatever you have to say during commercials..

1. Christopher Columbus did NOT need directions and neither do we.

1. ALL men see in only 16 colors, like Windows default settings.
Peach, for example, is a fruit, not A color. Pumpkin is also a fruit. We have no idea what mauve is.

1. If it itches, it will be scratched.
We do that.

1. If we ask what is wrong and you say "nothing," We will act like nothing's wrong.
We know you are lying, but it is just not worth the hassle.

1. If you ask a question you don't want an answer to, Expect an answer you don't want to hear.

1. When we have to go somewhere, absolutely anything you wear is fine... Really .

1. Don't ask us what we're thinking about unless you are prepared to discuss such topics as baseball or
motor sports

1. You have enough clothes.

1. You have too many shoes.

1. I am in shape. Round IS a shape!

1. Thank you for reading this.
Yes, I know, I have to sleep on the couch tonight;

But did you know men really don't mind that? It's like camping.

HaHa Palindrome ! Good stuff.... Ladies read this...

The Man Rules­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­