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Many NIMBYs weren’t bothered by the idea that the City of Irvine would siphon off millions of dollars in property tax to develop the ostentatiously named Great Park on the closed El Toro Marine base, turning the expanse into a place to romp and play for those who live around it. We wonder how they feel now that the park is destined to be not so great, thanks to a ruling by state officials that $1.4 billion (with a B) in property funds can’t be spent on the boondoggle, also known as the Balloon-doggle, after its signature floating orange balloon....

This figure shows the energy density and the power density of nano vacuum tubes in comparison to other energy storage devices. Credit: H?bler and Osuagwu. (PhysOrg.com) -- Physicists theorize that quantum phenomena could provide a major boost to batteries, with the potential to increase energy density up to 10 times that of lithium ion batteries. According to a new proposal, billions of nanoscale capacitors could take advantage of quantum effects to overcome electric arcing, an electrical breakdown phenomenon which limits the amount of charge that conventional capacitors can store. In their study, Alfred Hubler and Onyeama Osuagwu, both of the...

Cola Raises Women's Osteoporosis Risk 10.06.06, 12:00 AM ET FRIDAY, Oct. 6 (HealthDay News) -- Cola may not be so sweet for women's bones, according to new research that suggests the beverage boosts osteoporosis risk. "Among women, cola beverages were associated with lower bone mineral density," said lead researcher Katherine Tucker, director of the Epidemiology and Dietary Assessment Program at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University. There was a pretty clear dose-response, Tucker added. "Women who drink cola daily had lower bone mineral density than those who drink it only once a week,"...

A new analysis of 50 years of changes in freshwater inputs to the Arctic Ocean and North Atlantic may help shed light on what's behind the recently observed freshening of the North Atlantic Ocean. In a report, published in the August 25, 2006 issue of the journal, Science, MBL (Marine Biological Laboratory) senior scientist Bruce J. Peterson and his colleagues describe a first-of-its-kind effort to create a big-picture view of hydrologic trends in the Arctic. Their analysis reveals that freshwater increases from Arctic Ocean sources appear to be highly linked to a fresher North Atlantic. "The high-latitude freshwater cycle is...

Density Is Destiny: On Politics and the Paperboy By Patrick Cox Why are things the way they are, politically speaking? Why are the Republicans' most effective ads straightforward clips of Democrats contradicting themselves? Why are conservative pundits so frequently flanking their liberal counterparts? Why is the left-of-center blogosphere moving their party away from the Democrats’ historic base while the right-of-center is co-opting libertarians and moderates? Realizing that this is a question of the same magnitude as Douglas Adams' "Life, the Universe and Everything?" I nevertheless propose that the answer is "population density" in general and "the cost of newspaper delivery"...

The purpose of FreeRepublic.com's multiple message boards is to limit the topics for each board to particular topics. Posting the same message on all the boards defeats the purpose of multiple-boards for special topics. It is very annoying to see the same message on every bulletin board. PLEASE! DO THE READERS A FAVOR. STOP CROSS-POSTING YOUR MESSAGES!

Heavy Security Protects Michael Moore at Convention Michael Moore is so threatened by those warlike Republicans that he is hanging out at the GOP convention with a bevy of security guards. Editor & Publisher reported that "the biggest commotion at the Republican National Convention Monday night occurred just before 10 pm with the entrance of anti-Bush filmmaker Michael Moore, who was repeatedly halted by security attempting to reach his reserved press seat in section #340 near the side of the stage. Moore is writing a daily column this week for USA Today." Moore's timing could not have been better. Soon...

Moderate alcohol consumption could help protect women against brittle bone disease, according to a new study. Researchers at London's St Thomas Hospital examined the effect of alcohol on 46 pairs of identical twins, who drank either moderately or very little. The moderate drinkers - who drank an average of eight alcohol units a week - had significantly denser bones than those who consumed very little. The research findings were published in Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases. Researchers focused on the bone mineral density of subjects, as measured at the hip and spine. Chemical markers of the bone turnover were measured...

Scientists Find Another Huge Mini-World in Outer Solar System The most distant object ever seen orbiting the Sun is nearly as large as Pluto, expanding astronomers notions of how the solar system formed and what resides in its outskirts. The round world is currently three times farther away than Pluto from the Sun, a distance that expands even further on its 10,000-year orbit. It sits in a part of the solar system that some astronomers had thought empty. It is redder and brighter than anything astronomers have seen in the outer solar system, and scientists don't know why. The object...

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2003 March 5 Where People Live on Planet Earth Credit: NRCS, USDA Explanation: Where do people live on Planet Earth? Although people inhabit every continent, the highest population densities occur in Asia. Sparsely inhabited regions occur on virtually every continent, however, including the Sahara Desert in Africa, the Great White North of North America, the outback of Australia, the Amazon of South America, and the Himalayan Mountains of...

Find your city here at the SmartGrowth.org latest news page Land-Value Loss Compensation a Hot Issue in Oregon Gubernatorial Campaign Although the Oregon Supreme Court barred a move to compensate owners for land-value losses incurred under Oregon land-use laws -- invalidating Measure 7, passed by voters in 2000, as using one amendment for multiple constitutional changes -- the compensation remains a potent issue in the state gubernatorial campaign, with Republican Kevin Mannix willing to send the measure's ''technically correct'' version back to voters, Democrat Ted Kulongoski arguing for a legislative solution and Libertarian Tom Cox proposing to study the effectiveness...

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2002 September 17 A Force from Empty Space: The Casimir Effect Credit & Copyright: Umar Mohideen (U. California at Riverside) Explanation: This tiny ball provides evidence that the universe will expand forever. Measuring slightly over one tenth of a millimeter, the ball moves toward a smooth plate in response to energy fluctuations in the vacuum of empty space. The attraction is known as the Casimir Effect, named for...