There are around 1000 Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators, or RTGs, in Russia, most of which are used as power sources for lighthouses and navigation beacons. All Russian RTGs have long exhausted their designed service periods and are in dire need of dismantlement. The urgency of this task is underscored by three recent incidents with these potentially dangerous radioactivity sources in 2003�one on the shore of the Baltic Sea, in March, and the most recent two, in the Kola Bay, in November.

In 1992, Bellona released a working paper on 132 lighthouses scattered along the shoreline of Northwest Russia, which are all powered by RTGs. One of them, in fact, is located just a few dozen metres from the Norwegian border.1

Bellona has warned that radioactive incidents involving these RTGs are possible, both because of the decrepit state of these old lighthouses and because the of premeditated theft of radioactive strontium 90, or 90Sr, that is contained in RTGs. Russia�s RTGs that have been used beyond their operational limits have been waiting to be sent to a repository for decades. At best, however, the nuclear installations presenting the most critical case of sitting on the decommissioning waiting list are stored at sites that are neither appropriate for this task nor meet any safety or security standards. At worst, they become prey of �non-ferrous metal hunters,� who crave to make a quick buck on RTGs, disregarding the risk of radioactive contamination to both themselves and other people.

Most Russian RTGs are completely unguarded against potential thieves or intruders, lacking such minimal security measures as fences or even signs warning of radioactive dangers. Nuclear inspectors visit these sites as seldom as once in six months, and some RTGs have not been checked for more than a decade.

But the biggest danger coming from these unprotected RTGs is their availability to terrorists, who can use the radioactive materials contained in them to make so-called "dirty bombs" bombs that are triggered by standard explosives, but disperse radioactivity. The damage from such an explosion could surpass by many times that from a conventional bomb, with the ground zero area potentially, dozens of kilometres remaining radioactively contaminated for years to come.

Here is where the great risk to human health and life exists. I am not a conspiracy theory person but to put such devices out in the open with little or no safe guards is stupid. All it will take is some half-wit dumb ass to cause grave harm to human life any place they want.
There are 100's of these devices in use. Some are/were in use in Alaska by our own government for use at radar/detection sites.

The Risk from "Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators"

Although Arnold Engineering Development Center (AEDC) uses some of the most sophisticated technologies in the world to test aerospace systems before flight, it's been using one system for 24 years that's about as simple as instant mashed potatoes and Stovetop Stuffing.

"It's about as low-tech as you can get," said Randal Watt, a project manager at the Arnold Air Force Base, Tenn., test center's Bird Impact Test Facility. "Most people who tour AEDC are surprised we haven't developed a more sophisticated test technique. But it's really common sense, a very simple thing. If you are trying to simulate a bird hitting the windshield of an aircraft, the easiest and best way to do it is to catch a bird, accelerate it to the desired speed, and have an aircraft windshield in its path."

I had to post this old news about the chicken gun at Arnold AFB...

now to find video...

Something to crow about: Rooster Booster proves old-fashioned ingenuity needn't be high-tech Combat Edge - Find Articles

Moon's
Azimuth Altitude
h m o o
Moonrise 2007 Aug 27 19:02 105.8 ----
Moon enters penumbra 2007 Aug 28 02:52.2 220.3 33.7
Moon enters umbra 2007 Aug 28 03:50.9 233.4 25.4
Moon enters totality 2007 Aug 28 04:52.0 244.6 15.2
Middle of eclipse 2007 Aug 28 05:37.3 251.8 7.1
Moonset 2007 Aug 28 06:19 257.9 ----

Here are the give and take a few time(s) for middle TN....

Click the link to find out times for your location....

Lunar Eclipse Computer

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

Agriculture was taking root in South America almost as early as the first farmers were breaking ground in the Middle East, new research indicates. Evidence that squash was being grown nearly 10,000 years ago, in what is now Peru, is reported in Friday's edition of the journal Science.

Squash Cultivated 10,000 Years Ago

A very unusual ink-jet printer cartridge, containing explosive ink, has been patented by Qinetiq, the commercial spin-off of the British Ministry of Defence.

The ink is a mixture of very fine aluminium particles, each 1 micrometre in diameter, particles of copper oxide 5 micrometres wide, epoxy varnish and alcohol. The ink is stable in liquid form, making it safe to print onto conventional paper, but forms an explosive fuse once dry.

An engineer can easily sketch out a printable fuse using computer imaging software, modifying the delay in milliseconds by changing the length, thickness and pattern of the line on the paper.

The ink can then be printed between a small strip of metal and a larger patch of explosive ink. Feeding a current through the metal strip makes it hot enough to ignite the fuse, which burns until it reaches the explosive patch. This explosion can then trigger the detonation of a much larger amount of explosives.

Qinetiq suggests printed fuses could be used for precisely controlling fireworks, triggering vehicle air bags or for conventional munitions. Ganging hundreds or thousands of fuses together could even make a miniature rocket engine capable of precisely adjusting the orbital position of a spacecraft, the company says.

Exploding ink

Researchers, including a BYU scientist, believe they have found a new compound that could finally kill the HIV/AIDS virus, not just slow it down as current treatments do.
And, unlike the expensive, drug cocktails 25 years of research have produced for those with the deadly virus, the compound invented by Paul D. Savage of Brigham Young University appears to hunt down and kill HIV.
Although so far limited to early test tube studies, CSA-54, one of a family of compounds called Ceragenins (or CSAs), mimics the disease-fighting characteristics of anti-microbial and anti-viral agents produced naturally by a healthy human immune system.
Under a study sponsored by Ceragenix Pharmaceuticals, Savage and his colleagues developed and synthesized the compound for Vanderbilt University's School of Medicine. In his Nashville, Tenn., laboratories, Derya Unutmaz, an associate professor of Microbiology and Immunology, tested several CSAs for their ability to kill HIV.
While issuing a cautious caveat about his early results, Unutmaz acknowledged Monday that CSAs could be the breakthrough HIV/AIDS researchers have sought for so long.
"We received these agents [from BYU] in early October and our initial results began to culminate by November 2005. We have since reproduced all our results many times," he said. "We have some preliminary but very exciting results [but] we would like to formally show this before making any claims that would cause unwanted hype."
What studies to date show is a compound that attacks HIV at its molecular membrane level, disrupting the virus from interacting with their primary targets, the "T-helper" class white blood cells that comprise and direct the human immune system. Further, CSAs appear to be deadly to all known strains of HIV.

Have they have found a new compound that could finally kill the HIV/AIDS?

"I hope the successful operation will help other people like me to live again," said Isabelle Dinoire, 38, who was disfigured when she was attacked by her pet Labrador retriever.

"I now have a face like everyone else," she told reporters Monday at the hospital in Amiens in northern France where the surgery was performed. "A door to the future is opening."

Her speech was heavily slurred and hard to understand, and she appeared to have difficulty moving or closing her mouth.

But the divorced mother of two teenage daughters told how a dog bite left her disfigured, and she thanked the family of the donor who gave her new lips, a chin and nose.

Fine scar lines could be seen from her nose over her cheekbones down to her jaw where the tissue was attached in a 15-hour operation on November 27.

"I can open my mouth and eat. I feel my lips, my nose and my mouth," she said.

During the news conference, while one of her surgeons was speaking, she lifted a cup to her lips and appeared to drink.

"I want to resume a normal life," Dinoire said. "I pay homage to the donor's family. ... My operation could help others to live again."

Face patient wants 'normal life'