Hazardous imports have been the top story on the evening news for weeks now. But the poor quality of some foreign-made products is only half the story. Before we ever see those products, manufacturing plants in the countries of origin can pose an even greater danger to human and ecological health.

Take India, which is now our biggest foreign source of pharmaceuticals. A just-published study by Sweden's Goteborg University shows that, whatever the quality of the drugs being shipped out of India, they are leaving behind a toxic mess. Even after days in a water-treatment plant, effluents discharged into streams and rivers in one Indian region show concentrations of antibiotics and other drugs at 100 to 30,000 times the levels considered safe.

Toxic Waste Exposure Is the High Price Developing Countries Pay to Produce Our Medicine

Most people appreciate lunar eclipses for their silent midnight beauty. NASA astronomer Bill Cooke is different: he loves the explosions.

On Tuesday morning, Aug. 28th, Earth's shadow will settle across the Moon for a 90-minute total eclipse: full story. In the midst of the lunar darkness, Cooke hopes to record some flashes of light--explosions caused by meteoroids crashing into the Moon and blasting themselves to smithereens.

rock out... I wish I had my huge zoom lens here...

NASA - Exploding Lunar Eclipse

See where the best view is at...

Total Lunar Eclipse Time Table

On Tuesday, Aug. 28th, the full Moon will enter Earth's shadow for a 90-minute total eclipse. People on the Pacific side of Earth will have the best view as the Moon turns a dreamy shade of
sunset red.

Favored areas include the Americas (especially western North
America), Hawaii, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, east Asia and Antarctica.

The show begins Tuesday morning around 2 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time (0900-UT).

Although the dominant color of a lunar eclipse is red, sometimes another hue appears--turquoise. Earth's shadow has a turquoise-colored fringe caused by our planet's ozone layer, and this can be seen for a few beautiful moments at the onset of totality.

Today's edition of spaceweather.com shows you what the turquoise fringe looks like and explains how to catch it.
Also, amateur astronomers are encouraged to assist NASA during the eclipse by scanning the darkened Moon for explosions caused by Helion meteoroid impacts. Typical flashes reach 6th magnitude--easy targets for mid-sized backyard telescopes equipped with digital video cameras. The eclipse is a great time to look for these "lunar meteors."

Observing tips and more information are available at http://spaceweather.com.

Full coverage of the eclipse, including maps, animations, timetables and links to live webcasts, begins now on http://spaceweather.com .

Total Lunar Eclipse

Blue2CAN is an integrated solution for GeoTagging digital still images with GPS data. Using a BlueTooth enabled GPS unit and industry leading Nikon D200, D2X, D2Xs or D2Hs, Blue2CAN allows users to directly capture geospatially referenced images in the easiest, most reliable collection method today. Geo-spatial information (Lat, Lon, UTC etc.) collected from the GPS receiver is encapsulated in metadata tags of every image taken. For JPG files the geo-spatial data is contained in the industry standard EXIF tags, for RAW files the metadata is maintained by RAW image workflows and is put in EXIF tags when RAW files are converted to JPG.

For 279 dollars it's a bit high ... the serial cable for GPS that Nikon sells for less than 99, but you still need a GPS both ways...

Great idea for Geo Caching!

Blue2CAN

Just an update for Micro-Trak fans, the European version Micro-Trak
products are coming along well and should be in Byonics hands soon.
These include the Micro-Trak 300 standard version 1.4 and the 8 Watt
Micro-Trak 8000. This will be the first release of the Micro-Trak 8000
on the European frequency, and I am confident that our neighbors across
the sea will like it!

New products under development are an 8 Watt, frequency agile
transmitter, and an 8 Watt Transceiver based on the TinyTrak4. Since
producing a transceiver means that I will have to devise a T/R switch,
and buy lots of expensive and tiny little GaAs RF switches, I may
revise our Micro-Amp in future versions to have a T/R switch as an
option. Many people have asked me about whether the Micro-Amp could be
used with flea power transceivers as a booster, and this would allow it
to happen.

Allen R. Lord KG6HXO
VHS

Update from Micro-Trak

Danny Fendley started more than just his lawn mower when he tugged at its pull cord - he started a fire that destroyed his home.

The mower exploded Tuesday in hot, parched conditions.

Fendley was trying to start the mower in the garage of his two-story brick home in this Atlanta suburb when the machine burst into flames. Before he could extinguish the fire, it had spread through the garage.

Then his wife tried to toss a can of gasoline out a window as the blaze spread, but she missed, spreading the fuel ``everywhere,'' Fendley said.

The flames engulfed the house in less than a minute. The couple escaped without serious injury.

Almost a Darwin Award... !

Exploding Lawn Mower Destroys Ga. Home

Few details are known at the moment, but according to parties on both sides of the transaction, Franklin's nonprofit Heritage Foundation and the owners of the Franklin Cinema are nearing an agreement that would save the 70-year-old historic theater. (See "Running Time," July 19.) Mark Bloom, the Nashville real-estate mogul whose Corner Partnership owns the property in downtown Franklin, says that a contract is on the table and ownership could transfer to the Heritage Foundation within 60 days.

Good to hear... I hope Rocky Horror Picture Show comes back to Franklin! :)

Franklin Cinema Saved?

On July 25, the ARRL filed an Informal Objection to Ambient Corporation's request for a renewal of their nationwide experimental authorization that allows them to operate broadband over power line (BPL) operations anywhere in the country they choose. Ambient has been operating its BPL equipment under experimental authorizations for more than five years, an unusual amount of time for an experimental authorization. An Informal Objection is the procedure dictated by the FCC's Part 5 rules protesting the renewal of an experimental authorization. Currently, Ambient currently operates a BPL system in Briarcliff Manor in Westchester County, New York. Other installations have apparently been shut down by Ambient.

Ambient has been using experimental authorization WD2XEQ, issued in 2005, and its predecessor WB9XQT, issued on June 24, 2002. WB9XQT covered the BPL operation in Briarcliff Manor. It was replaced by WD2XEQ on July 28, 2003, a two-year authorization that was twice extended, most recently through August 1, 2007.

The ARRL states in its Objection that "since the issuance of the first experimental authorization, rules have been enacted for the regular Part 15 operation of BPL systems and there is nothing that has been filed by Ambient which could justify the continuation of experimental operation of this system rather than operation pursuant to the Commission's rules governing virtually all other BPL systems."

The ARRL filed complaints against Ambient and its BPL operation in Briarcliff Manor on October 12, 2004; December 17, 2004; January 7, 2005; March 17, 2005; January 6, 2006; March 29, 2006 and May 31, 2007. The Objection said that each complaint reported "ongoing, harmful interference caused by the unlawful operation of Ambient's BPL project at Briarcliff Manor in violation of the terms of the experimental authorization." These complaints, supported both by documentation by amateurs as well as tests made by ARRL staff, concluded that "this facility was, and now still is, causing harmful interference to Amateur Radio stations. As such, it is in violation of the terms of the experimental authorization."

ARRL Files Objection to Ambient's BPL Experimental Authorization Renewal Request

What do Martha Stewart and enemy combatant Ali Saleh Kahlah Al-Marri have in common? They were both indicted, under Title 18, United States Code, Section 1001, for lying to federal government agents. Ms. Stewart now stands convicted of intentionally misleading SEC and FBI officials who questioned her about insider trading. Mr. Al-Marri was one of several hundred immigrants who voluntarily submitted to FBI interviews in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks. He was later charged with lying, during his interview, about the timing of a previous trip to the United States. Here are two criminal defendants from widely divergent backgrounds. Yet both were ensnared by Section 1001, a perennial favorite of federal prosecutors.

Did you know that it is a crime to tell a lie to the federal government? Even if your lie is oral and not under oath? Even if you have received no warnings of any kind? Even if you are not trying to cheat the government out of money? Even if the government is not actually misled by your falsehood? Well it is.

How to Avoid Going to Jail under 18 U.S.C. Section 1001 for Lying to Government Agents