Monthly Archives: June 2007

What Was in the Mailbox Tuesday, 06.05.2007?

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Tuesday, the mailbox contained:

* June 11, 2007 issue of [Newsweek](http://newsweek.msnbc.com “Newsweek Website”) ([After Bush – How to Restore America’s Place in the World](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19001200/site/newsweek/ “Read the Cover Story”))
* A plea from [WVTF](http://www.wvtf.org “WVTF Website”)
* A plea from the [Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee](http://www.dscc.org “Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Website”)
* A plea from the [National Wildlife Federation](http://www.nwf.org “National Wildlife Federation Website”)
* A plea from the [World Wildlife Fund](http://www.worldwildlife.org “World Wildlife Fund Website”)
* A plea from [Citizens Against Government Waste](http://www.cagw.org “Citizens Against Government Waste Website”)
* A coupon from [Goody’s](http://www.shopgoodys.com “Goody’s Website”)
* An offer from the [Appalachian Mountain Club](http://www.outdoors.org “Appalachian Mountain Club Website”)
* An offer for the “Nursing 2008 Drug Handbook”
* A subscription offer from the [Harvard Health Letter](http://www.health.harvard.edu/newsletters/Harvard_Health_Letter.htm “Harvard Health Letter Website”)


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Chickens Beat Columbus to America

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Researchers have found chicken bones of Polynesian origin at a site in what is now Chile. Radiocarbon dating of chicken bones at the site on the Arauco Peninsula in south central Chile indicated a range of A.D. 1321 to 1407, well before the Spanish arrival in the Americas.

The researchers were able to obtain DNA from some of the bones of these early birds, and found they were identical to ancient chicken bones previously found in Tonga and Samoa.

[Read](http://www.wtopnews.com/?nid=220&sid=1157891 “Read the Story”) (AP via WTOP)

Norris Hall to Reopen

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Norris Hall will reopen in two weeks, the university announced today. The building will be dedicated to offices and laboratories for the engineering science and mechanics department and the civil and environmental engineering department. Those two departments were the primary occupants of the 70,000-square-foot building before April 16.

Norris Hall accounted for about 5 percent of classroom space on the campus before the shootings but will not be used for classes in the future.

[Read](http://www.roanoke.com/news/nrv/breaking/wb/119552 “Read the Story”) (Roanoke Times)

Green Wall of China Aims to Hold Back Desert

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Officials in [Inner Mongolia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inner_mongolia “Wikipedia’s Inner Mongolia entry”) say they have established a living barrier of trees, grass and shrubs wide enough to hold back the [Gobi desert](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gobi_Desert “Wikipedia’s Gobi desert entry”) and to curb the sandstorms blowing over northeast Asia and hitting the United States.

The desert has been marching southeast at a rate of three kilometres a year heading directly for Beijing, but the expansion has stopped, at least for now, officials say.


[Read](http://www.seedmagazine.com/news/2007/06/green_wall_of_china_aims_to_ho.php “Read the Story”) (SEED Magazine)
 (The SEED link doesn’t work anymore.)

[Read](http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/280316/1/.html “Read the Story”) (Channel NewsAsia)

Exercise after eating??

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Exercising after meals can help promote weight loss by boosting hormones that suppress appetite, say UK scientists.

Thanks to these hormones, active people feel less hungry immediately after exercise, and this carries through to their next meal. Even when their meals were bigger, sporty people gained fewer calories overall because they burned off more.

[Read](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6712923.stm “Read the Story”) (BBC)

Pupils unaware of green beans

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Researchers working with children from a deprived area of [Middlesbrough](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middlesbrough “Wikipedia’s Middlesbrough Page”) found that most of the nine and 10-year-olds were only aware of baked beans.

[Read](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/tees/6724237.stm “Read the Story”) (BBC)

Hmong Fill Jobs Left Empty by Immigration Raid

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The Crider poultry-processing plant in Stillmore, Ga., lost two-thirds of its work force last year after a federal immigration agency raid.

Since then, Crider has scrambled to replace the employees. It has staged job fairs, boosted starting pay and even contracted for Georgia prison inmates to work on its production line. In an unusual experiment, Crider has also recruited a small group of Laotian [Hmong](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hmong_people “Wikipedia’s Hmong People Page”) refugees to move from Minnesota to Georgia, hoping they’ll start a new community.

[Read and Listen](http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=10461104 “Read the Story”) (NPR)

What Was in the Mailbox Monday, 06.04.2007?

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Monday, the mailbox contained:

* June 26, 2007 issue of [PC Magazine](http://www.pcmag.com “PC Magazine Website”) ([Annual Internet Speed Issue](http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2139423,00.asp “Read the Cover Story”))
* July 2007 issue of [Linux Journal](http://www.linuxjournal.com “Linux Journal Website”) ([Shrek The Third – Linux Feeds an Ogre](http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/9653 “Read the Cover Story”))
* A membership offer from the [Adventure Cycling Association](http://www.adventurecycling.org “Adventury Cycling Association Website”)
* A plea from the [National Wildlife Federation](http://www.nwf.org “National Wildlife Federation Website”)
* Some back issues of [Wilson Quarterly](http://www.wq.org “Wilson Quarterly Website”)
* Several rolls of [Kodak T-Max 400 120 Black & White Film](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00009V3CZ?ie=UTF8&tag=stevejenkins-20&link_Code=as2&camp=211189&creative=373489&creativeASIN=B00009V3CZ “Amazon”) for the Holgas


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As pork prices soar, Chinese put brakes on corn for ethanol

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Ethanol production has put the Chinese government in an unpleasant bind, as fears rise that the environmentally friendly gasoline additive is also fueling politically dangerous increases in the price of food – particularly pork, a key staple.

With the ethanol industry gobbling up a growing share of China’s corn harvest, authorities have stomped on the brakes to slow what one official report calls “blind” investment in distilleries.

[Read](http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0531/p01s04-wosc.html “Read the Story”) (Christian Science Monitor)

What Was in the Mailbox Saturday, 06.02.2007?

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Saturday, the mailbox contained:

* June/July 2007 issue of [ReadyMade](http://readymademag.com “ReadyMade Website”) (How To: Make Custom Clothing – Hot Ideas From 5 Top Designers)
* June 11, 2007 issue of [BusinessWeek](http://www.businessweek.com “BusinessWeek Website”) ([3M’s Innovation Crisis – How Six Sigma Almost Smothered Its Idea Culture](http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_24/b4038406.htm “Read the Cover Story”))
* June 2007 issue of [SERVO](http://www.servomagazine.com “SERVO Magazine Website”) (Machine Art)
* June 2007 issue of [Nuts and Volts](http://www.nutsvolts.com “Nuts and Volts Website”) (Create Your Own Exergame with the Hydra)
* Summer 2007 issue of [Southwestern Virginia Second Harvest Food Bank’s](http://www.swvafoodbank.org “Southwestern Virginia Second Harvest Food Bank Website”) “Food For Thought” (We were there…and so were you)
* A letter from [Bob Goodlatte](http://www.house.gov/goodlatte “Bob Goodlatte’s House of Representatives Page”) stating that “he will keep my views in mind” when Congress considers funding levels for bidiversity conservation programs
* A letter from [John Warner](http://warner.senate.gov “John Warner’s Senate Page”) stating that he will urge the Navy to consider using existing airfield facilities at [Fort Pickett](http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/fort-pickett.htm “Global Security’s Fort Pickett Page”) instead construction an outlying airfield in Washington County, NC
* An offer from [Weird n’ Wild Creatures](http://www.weirdnwildcreatures.com “Weird n’ Wild Creatures Website”)
* An offer from Biotech Research


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Coyotes thriving in big cities, suburbs

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In just the last month, coyotes have shown up on the streets of Detroit, in a sandwich shop in downtown Chicago and at a mattress store in Kansas City, Mo. A 5-year-old boy in Middletown, N.J., about 40 miles from New York City, was bitten by one last week and needed 46 stitches to the head.

The remarkably adaptive animals, famous for roaming rural stretches, have long been spotted in cities and suburban areas, but some naturalists suspect the ranks of urban coyotes may be swelling as they migrate from the open spaces of the West toward the East and the Midwest.

[Read](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18911309/ “Read the Story”) (AP via MSNBC)

Robots advance, consumers stall

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Fifty-one years after the first commercial robot went to work, the United States is approaching a tipping point. Within a decade, observers say, the average American household will include one or two simple robots, and though they may not look like the ones imagined in science fiction, these robots – some available now – will play pervasive roles in the lives of regular consumers.

But as roboticists prepare to unleash their creations, they’re confronted with a hurdle perhaps more daunting than the technical ones they’ve already cleared: consumer readiness – which includes such factors as skepticism, unrealistic expectations, confusion about what makes a robot, and a “Frankenstein complex,” or the fear of robots.

[Read](http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0531/p13s02-stct.html “Read the Story”) (Christian Science Monitory)