I needed a craft today, in the worst kind of way. Both my babies were under the weather and the oldest was frustrated by all of her normal school work. With all the cookie making and card making I really didn’t want to start a messy craft; but she needed something fun and creative to do while her little sister napped.

Here is what I found…

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A discussion, with comments, of William McDonough's lecture on city planning, building and manufacturing for a sustainable future. There is discussion of solutions to some of China's environmental problems in a cost-effective way. Examples are given of re-engineering and designing materials such as fabrics to remove all toxic components w

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Scientists at the University of Wisconsin report on work funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) on 150 years of behavior of Wisconsin lakes, streams and ponds. The thaw has been happening sooner and the freeze later, and, unusually, the largest climate changes were seen at lower latitudes. This blog is accompanied by a vigorous dis

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How to Lose Weight, the Real Story

Weight loss is determined and limited by chemistry. First, there's the simple rule of calories as taught in second year biology, and what that means for exercise and weight loss. Next, the only factor in the body that causes fat to deposit and how you can help your liver clean it up

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A discussion of the recent study indicating that the majority of biofuels may achieve independence from foreign oil at the expense of the environment, ecology, health of top-soil, and water supply. Both the quality of water and the levels of critically-important water tables will be negatively affected by many crops grown spec

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A discussion of current options for electric car purchases with a link to video from CBS news. The interplay between solar panel technology, electric cars and the national grid is discussed, as are the concept of a distributed grid and significant Federal tax rebates for use of electric cars. Links are provided for many diffe

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News about years of PCB pollution associated with French chemical plants and the recently discovered PCB levels in fish from the Rhone river. The levels of toxic PCB's in fish are ten-fold higher than what is considered safe. This has been called "the French Chernobyl" by the World Wildlife fund. PCBs are toxic components

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This clarifies some possible confusions caused by the previous, rather terse post (which has also since been revised based on reader feedback).

The term "French Chernobyl" was coined by the World Wildlife Fund to indicate the magnitude of the PCB pollution problem in France's Rhone river, but, of course, no problem like t

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This environmental blog entry describes the upcoming Earth Hour 2008, on March 29 at 8 pm local time. The latest cities to sign up in the US are mentioned, and links are provided for international participants and the sponsoring organization, the WWF (World Wildlife Fund).

Earth Hour 2008 is a time when individuals, cities

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This post describes several major conflicts involving the EPA, all of which have to do with either limiting scientific access to environmental data or ignoring scientific data. These include cases where either the EPA has ignored its own internal scientific experts and one case where the President just over-ruled his own, hand

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A wrap-up of Earth Hour 2008: who participated, who didn't, and what does this mean in the cases of Spain and Germany (two countries that didn't really get involved). In particular, the impressive solar energy programs that Spain and Germany have implemented are mentioned, with links to more details. Links are also provided

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A high quality catalytic converter that meets or exceeds OEM specifications, it is built to exact OE dimensions with OE-quality flanges and flex assemblies, it features Eastern's Proprietary Catalytic Chemistry and high-flow design that maximizes engine output and catalytic efficiency, easy installation, not to be used on Cali

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Harold and Kumar: Escape from Guantanamo bay is the most laugh out loud movie I’ve seen yet this year. I just saw it earlier today and man it was hilarious, even better than the first one (which also had a ridiculously loooong title)!

Kal Penn and John Cho did a really great job, they just have great chemistry together. Neil

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The X-Files: I Want to Believe is hitting theaters this July. Mulder and Scully are back. Hopefully so will their chemistry. X-Files sequel brings back the main characters and a few new ones. Word is 20th century Fox forced Chris Carter to make the movie. Guess how David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson felt about it? The X-Files

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Imagine a man made substance that when cut in two, will heal itself. A team of Scientists from France have invented such a substance made from vegetable oil and urine that does just that. When a rubber ring that they manufactured is sliced in half and then stuck back together it will redevelop chemical bonds that form a stable

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