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““SEC. 1338. Housing Trust Fund. “(a) Establishment and purpose.—The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (in this section referred to as the ‘Secretary’) shall establish and manage a Housing Trust Fund, which shall be funded with amounts allocated by the enterprises under section 1337 and any amounts as are or may be appropriated, transferred, or credited to such Housing Trust Fund under any other provisions of law. The purpose of the Housing Trust Fund under this section is to provide grants to States for use— “(1) to increase and preserve the supply of rental housing for extremely low- and...

Rapid changes in the churning movement of Earth's liquid outer core are weakening the magnetic field in some regions of the planet's surface, a new study says. "What is so surprising is that rapid, almost sudden, changes take place in the Earth's magnetic field," said study co-author Nils Olsen, a geophysicist at the Danish National Space Center in Copenhagen. The findings suggest similarly quick changes are simultaneously occurring in the liquid metal, 1,900 miles (3,000 kilometers) below the surface, he said. The swirling flow of molten iron and nickel around Earth's solid center triggers an electrical current, which generates the...

Official: China knew about magnets BEIJING, China (Reuters) -- China knew about problems with magnets on toys as long ago as March, an industry official said on Wednesday, following a second massive recall of Chinese-made Mattel toys due to hazards from small, powerful magnets. Mattel's Barbie and Tanner doll set is one of the products being recalled. 1 of 2 Mattel Inc. the largest U.S. toy company, recalled millions more Chinese-made toys on Tuesday due to hazards from the magnets and lead paint, and warned it may recall additional products as it steps up testing. "We knew about the situation,...

One giant leap for frogkind BY DAVE BARRY (This classic Dave Barry column was originally published June 8, 1997.) Get ready to dance naked in the streets, because scientists have finally done something that humanity has long dreamed about, but most of us thought would never happen within our lifetimes. That's right: They have levitated a frog. I swear I am not making this up. According to an Associated Press article sent in by a number of alert readers, British and Dutch scientists ''have succeeded in floating a frog in air.'' They did this by using magnetism, which, as you...

A £2 billion project to answer some of the biggest mysteries of the universe has been delayed by months after scientists building it made basic errors in their mathematical calculations. The mistakes led to an explosion deep in the tunnel at the Cern particle accelerator complex near Geneva in Switzerland. It lifted a 20-ton magnet off its mountings, filling a tunnel with helium gas and forcing an evacuation. It means that 24 magnets located all around the 17-mile circular accelerator must now be stripped down and repaired or upgraded. The failure is a huge embarrassment for Fermilab, the American national...

GENEVA - A 43-foot-long magnet for the world's largest particle collider broke "with a loud bang and a cloud of dust" during a high-pressure test, and officials said Tuesday they are working to find a replacement part. The part that failed March 27 was in a super-cooled magnet designed to focus streams of protons so that they collide and allow scientists to study the results of the collision, giving them a better understanding of the makeup of matter, according to Fermilab, based in suburban Chicago, which has an accelerator of its own and is helping build one deep beneath the...

This is disturning on many levels - LAX passenger hides objects in his body; bomb squad called His plane was diverted but deemed safe. The Iraqi national, a legal U.S. resident, said he was trying to ease stress. He is turned over to ICE. By Andrew Blankstein, Times Staff Writer March 7, 2007 Authorities called in the bomb squad early Tuesday and diverted a flight to Las Vegas after Los Angeles International Airport security screeners found hidden wires and other objects in a body cavity of a Philadelphia-bound passenger. Fadhel Al-Maliki, a 35-year-old Iraqi national living in Atlantic City, N.J.,...

Authorities today detained an Iraqi national who was carrying a suspicious object at Los Angeles International's Terminal One. Los Angeles airport police held the man in a passenger screening area after security agents discovered at 5:40 a.m. that he was carrying a metal object, officials said. A preliminary investigation of the man's bags -- which were taken off a flight that was scheduled to go to Philadelphia but diverted to Las Vegas -- found nothing hazardous or dangerous, authorities said. The man has been turned over to Immigration and Customs authorities for additional questioning, officials said at an afternoon news...

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Officials detained an Iraqi man during a security scare at Los Angeles International airport on Tuesday but said a suspicious object found in a body cavity search did not pose a threat. The man, identified by law enforcement officials as Fadhel al-Maliki, 35, was detained at passenger screening at the airport just before 6 a.m. on Tuesday morning. The bomb squad was called as a precaution and authorities said they found wires in his clothing and a magnet inside a lower body cavity. The man was preparing to board a US Airways flight to Philadelphia. The...

An Iraqi national wearing wires and concealing a magnet inside his rectum triggered a security scare at Los Angeles International Airport on Tuesday but officials said he posed no apparent threat. The man, identified by law enforcement officials as Fadhel al-Maliki, 35, set off an alarm during passenger screening at the airport early on Tuesday morning. A police bomb squad was called to examine what was deemed a suspicious item found during a body cavity search of the man. Local media reports said a magnet was found in his rectum. "He was secreting these items in a body cavity and...

At Least 25 Die In German Train Crash LATHEN, Germany, Sept. 22, 2006 (AP) A high-tech train traveling at 125 mph crashed in northwestern Germany on Friday, killing at least 25 people in the first fatal wreck involving the magnetic levitation system. The train, which runs primarily as a demonstration by its manufacturer, was carrying at least 29 people when it struck a maintenance vehicle carrying two workers on the elevated track. Mangled wreckage hung from the 13-foot-high track, with seats and other debris strewn below. Police spokesman Martin Ratermann said the death toll rose to 25 after more searching...

Two more families filed civil lawsuits Wednesday against the maker of a popular toy that doctors say caused the death of a 22-month-old Redmond boy. The lawsuits allege that Magnetix, the construction toy blamed for the death of Redmond toddler Kenny Sweet, caused a 4-year-old Oak Harbor boy and a 3-year-old boy in Tacoma to be hospitalized. Both boys -- Kyle Booke of Oak Harbor and Marcell McNeil of Tacoma -- survived serious bowel obstructions caused by magnets that fell out of their Magnetix building pieces, but only after undergoing emergency surgery to remove the magnets and repair their intestines,...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. Astronomy is a science of extremes - the biggest, the hottest, and the most massive. Today, astrophysicist Bryan Gaensler (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics) and colleagues announced that they have linked two of astronomy's extremes, showing that some of the biggest stars in the cosmos become the strongest magnets when they die. "The source of these very powerful magnetic objects has been a mystery since the first one was discovered in 1998. Now, we think we have solved that mystery," says Gaensler. The astronomers base their conclusions on data taken with CSIRO's...

Magnetic Stars The puzzle of `magnetic stars' solved by astrophysicists of the Max Planck Society How does one explain the enormous magnetic field strengths of the so-called `magnetic stars'? This question concerning magnetic fields in the cosmos, first posed half a century ago, has now been answered by scientists of the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics in Garching. With 3-dimensional numerical simulations they have found the magnetic field configurations that underly the strong magnetic fields observed on the surface of the so-called magnetic A-stars and magnetic White Dwarfs, and how these fields can survive for the life time of these...

Physicists in Japan have discovered that the melting point of water increases slightly in a strong magnetic field. Hideaki Inaba and colleagues at Chiba University found that it increases by 5.6 millikelvin for ordinary water in a field of 6 Tesla, and by 21.8 millikelvin for heavy water (J. Appl. Phys. 96 6127). Water has many unusual properties: it has relatively high melting and boiling points for a small molecule, and the liquid state can also be denser than the solid state. These properties are thought to arise from the 3D network of hydrogen bonds in the molecule. Recently, it...

KERRY'S (clinton's*) ENDGAME WHY JOHN KERRY IS DANGEROUS FOR AMERICA   *either, one for the price of two, I say by Mia T, 9.28.04 (viewing movie requires Flash Player 7, available HERE) "Iraq is now what it was not before the war--a haven for terrorists.  George Bush made Saddam Hussein the priority.  I would have made Osama bin Laden the priority." John KerryTemple University September 24, 2004   "Iraq... [is] increasingly a magnet for terrorists from all over the world." Susan RiceKerry campaign Senior Advisor for National Security Affairs Rice replaced Sandy 'dox in sox' Berger(scandal-ridden clintonites both) "Well,...

Hillary’s Welfare State Magnet For Scum May 13, 2003 Here we are in the midst of an economic slowdown that we want to speed up. We want more jobs, and we want more people to become self-reliant, independent and in need of less government assistance, do we not? Is that not a continual quest of those of us who seek a great country and a great society? It is. There's no question. Yet here comes Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton announcing on Monday that she’s sponsoring a bill that would help people throughout the country find social services they need simply...

    Giant electromagnets to moor ships   10:07 17 January 03 Maarten Keulemans, Amsterdam   The gentle press of a button could soon be all it takes to keep a giant ship secured to the dockside. The port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands is getting ready to test an experimental system later in 2003 that will use a series of strong electromagnets built into the quay to moor giant container ships.   The magnetic wharf If it works, they say the system could save them around 5 million Euro a year in labour costs, and speed ships' average turnaround times by...

P>The cover of the 2000 edition of this book states, "THE BOOK THAT HELPED MAKE GEORGE W. BUSH PRESIDENT." No one will accuse either the author or publisher of being modest. It is hard to imagine a book making a man President, but many do believe this book influenced the election. In any case, President Bush said this book was second to the Bible in his thinking about social policy. Bush strategist, Karl Rove, called the book the roadmap to "compassionate conservatism." When originally published in 1993 the book seemed heretical but now it seems prophetic. Regardless of whether it...

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 November 25 The Earth's Magnetic Field Credit & Copyright: Gary A. Glatzmaier (UCSC) Explanation: Why does the Earth have a magnetic field? The electrical conductivity of the molten plasma of the Earth's core should be able to damp the current magnetic field in only thousands of years. Yet our five billion year old Earth clearly causes magnets to point to (defined) north. The mystery is still being...

  You are here:   Home > Tech News > Culture > Magnets Levitate Travelers Magnets Levitate Travelers Inventor develops new magnetic levitation system that could shake up the nation's transportation system. By Matt Markovich, Tech LiveJune 21, 2002   In the new movie "Minority Report," Tom Cruise plays a cop who chases after criminals before they commit a crime. The movie portrays a futuristic world of magnetically levitating cars riding on cushions of air. Not only do people drive across town over a bed of magnets, but roads go up and down the sides of buildings. As "Tech Live" reports...