Free Republic

FINDING it difficult to revise for an exam? Help could be on its way in the form of the first non-invasive way of stimulating the brain that can boost visual memory. The technique uses transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), in which weak electrical currents are applied to the scalp using electrodes. The method can temporarily increase or decrease activity in a specific brain region and has already been shown to boost verbal and motor skills in volunteers. Richard Chi, a PhD student at the Centre for the Mind, University of Sydney, and colleagues wanted to follow up on previous research...

California entered 2010 burdened with a dismal unemployment rate (12 percent) and facing a discouragingly large state budget deficit ($19.9 billion). FDR Memorial, Washington DC We’re still in the worst recession to hit the West Coast since the Great Depression. It’s hard to imagine how the economic news could be worse. But the independent California Budget Project, in a report issued yesterday, says matters would be worse indeed but for the estimated $85 billion that the federal government has pumped into California’s economy via the stimulus program. Undoubtedly there has been waste, abuse and what state Inspector General Laura Chick...

Temporary help is on the way for the country's battered job market, thanks to the upcoming U.S. Census. According to a new study released today by the Commerce Department, which includes the Census Bureau the survey will add up to 635,000 temporary jobs by May to the nation's employment reports. The study also predicts that Census Bureau hiring will cause the country's unemployment rate to drop by several-tenths of a percentage point this spring. Census spending, the report also forecasts, will boost the nation's gross domestic product by 1/10 of a percentage point during the first quarter of this year...

LAS VEGAS, Nevada (AFP) – In office less than 13 months, President Barack Obama has already returned to the campaign trail, flying west to stump for embattled Democrats ahead of November midterm elections. After meeting with the Dalai Lama Thursday, Obama flew to Denver, Colorado to address some 2,000 Democratic activists gathered in a concert hall who greeted him with cheers of "Yes We Can!" -- the slogan he made famous in his 2008 campaign. But the rapturous reception obscured the stark reality that Democrats face anything but a love-fest in November's midterms. That has left Obama to try and...

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...

Former HP CEO Carly Fiorina got a boost today from GOP national leadership regarding her possible 2010 bid against incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer -- a move Fiorina appears ever closer to making. It came this morning when Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, met with reporters for a briefing at the Ronald Reagan Republican Center in D.C., where he appeared eager to pump up the Fiorina candidacy, speaking of it as virtual given. "(Carly) Fiorina...even before she announces her candidacy she is within four points in a Rasmussen poll against Barbara Boxer,'' he...

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama says the best way to judge his economic stimulus plan in the next two years will be whether it creates or saves 3 million to 4 million jobs. And if the White House predictions are correct, no state will produce more jobs than California, which has been losing jobs faster than any other state. More than 10 percent of the jobs – 421,000 – are forecast to come from the Golden State, which has a 9.3 percent unemployment rate, the fourth-highest in the nation and California's highest in 15 years. The state's loss of 78,200...

In a top secret operation, the U.S. Defense Dept. is conducting the first deep space inspection of a crippled U.S. military spacecraft. To do this, it is using sensors on two covert inspection satellites that have been prowling geosynchronous orbit for nearly three years. The failed satellite being examined is the $400 million U.S. Air Force/Northrop Grumman Defense Support Program DSP 23 missile warning satellite. It died in 2008 after being launched successfully from Cape Canaveral in November 2007 on the first operational Delta 4-Heavy booster. Since the U.S. is now demonstrating the ability to do such up close rendezvous...

After two years of relentlessly bad ratings news, Katie Couric finally has something she can smile about. . . That makes four straight weeks where her audience was bigger than at the same point last year, according to Nielsen Media Research. The improvement could be a result of the positive feedback Couric received for her interview of GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin during the presidential campaign. Palin fumbled on a question about what publications she read regularly, and the interview was a launching point for one of Tina Fey's "Saturday Night Live" spoofs.

THE TIME MAY be coming, if it is not already here, when decision-makers in Sacramento finally understand that California must store a lot more water in reservoirs or lose much of its agriculture. That message was delivered Monday by federal regulators, who placed severe restrictions on pumping water out of the Delta. The new rules in a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service permit will require more freshwater to be released into the Delta and a lot less water to be pumped out of the estuary. U.S. District Judge Oliver Wanger ruled that the old pumping permit was highly flawed because...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced a cabinet-level office for volunteer service Tuesday that aims to raise the profile of volunteerism and emergency relief in a state beset by wildfires, earthquakes and other natural disasters. Schwarzenegger named Karen Baker, executive director of the governor's commission for volunteerism, as secretary of service and volunteering, the first such state cabinet position in the country, he said. Speaking in a crowded hall at Cal State Northridge, he said he hoped the change would inspire other states to establish similar offices around the country. He gave his wife, Maria Shriver, credit for pushing the idea to...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 4, 2008 – Support by the boxful from a New York home-front group is keeping servicemembers’ spirits high as they serve overseas. “Being so far away from home, we want our daughter, son-in-law, and the 450 soldiers in their unit and other units to know that we love them, and think about them every day,” said Sylvester Henry, president of Adopt A Unit US. “Our objective is to provide the (servicemembers) with an abundance of support and comfort in order to encourage strength and optimism (while) bringing them as close to home as possible.” Helping servicemembers feel...

Halfway through the rainfall season, much of San Diego County is a bit drier than usual, but that could change by early next week. A series of storms expected to bring heavy rain to Northern California and much-needed snow to the Sierra should begin to hit the southern end of the state late tomorrow. By Monday, San Diego could be above its usual rainfall total for early January. That hasn't happened this late in the season since 2005. The storms, which forecasters say could bring 1 to 2 inches of rain to the county beaches and 4 to 5 inches...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 10, 2007 – Many deployed servicemembers have received a morale boost thanks to computers donated by a Michigan-based organization. “We are a group of volunteers (who) rebuild laptop computers and supply them to deployed units for (morale, welfare and recreation), education and entertainment,” said James R. Payne, a Vietnam veteran who’s president of JDS Computer Donations. The group accepts laptops, which it refurbishes and donates to nonprofit groups, public schools, and most recently, to deployed servicemembers. Nearly 500 of the refurbished machines already have been sent overseas to help servicemembers keep in touch with their loved ones...

New boost for planned canal between Red Sea and Dead Sea · Firms commissioned to study feasibility of link· 25-year project would ease region's water shortage Ian Black, Middle East editor Wednesday June 27, 2007 The Guardian (UK) Hopes of building a canal linking the Red Sea to the Dead Sea have been given a fresh boost with 11 firms commissioned to produce feasibility studies. Their work will be submitted to an Israeli-Jordanian-Palestinian committee looking at ways to implement the huge engineering scheme, which could take as long as 25 years to complete. As well as reviving the rapidly shrinking...

WASHINGTON, June 11, 2007 – Until every servicemember comes home, one dedicated group of volunteers will make sure they know they’re remembered. Students, teachers and their mascot show their support for America Supports You home-front group, Letters From Home. Letters From Home sends cards to servicemembers. Courtesy photo  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. “Our main effort is collecting cards of support for the troops,” Christine Jovenitti, founder of “Letters From Home,” said. “As they tell us, it’s like holding the hand of the person that wrote it.” To date, Letters From Home and its volunteers have “held the...

<p>A Harlem man has filed suit against the makers of the nutritional drink Boost, charging that the protein shake gave him the wrong kind of lift. Christopher Woods said that drinking cans of Boost Plus Nutritional Energy Drink left him with an erection that wouldn't go away. He said he had to undergo two medical procedures and as a result, he's now partially impotent. The case dates to June 2004, which is when he said his mother bought him a case of the protein drink in hopes he would bulk up. "It was supposed to be a health supplement," he said....... - and soon had a very visible side effect..."It was awful. It was painful. I would always wear jeans, but it was hard to go out, so I had to buy some sweatpants"</p>

WASHINGTON - A plan to increase fuel efficiency standards to an average of 35 miles per gallon by 2020 won approval from a Senate panel Tuesday in a vote closely watched by automakers and environmental groups. The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee approved the measure, which would raise the nationwide fleet fuel economy average by about 40 percent from current levels of 25 mpg for cars and trucks. The bill, approved on a voice vote, would also increase standards by 4 percent a year from 2020 through 2030. "This is not a perfect bill, but I think we have...

For most politicians, the hardest thing to do is to vote to give yourself a raise. Even suggesting the idea can be dangerous politically. Just ask county Supervisor Bill Horn. Horn proposed a nearly $29,000 increase to the supervisors' annual salaries in 2005 and infamously said, “Nobody who got elected took a vow of poverty. We're not Franciscans.” The proposal was quickly scuttled after much public outcry. Since then, supervisors quietly have amassed $22,248 in increases to their annual salary – boosting it to $137,318 – with no public outrage and scant media scrutiny. And they didn't have to say...

ARTESIA, N.M. - The U.S. Border Patrol's push to expand the number of agents on the lookout for illegal crossings has some current and former agents worried that the pressure will lead to corner cutting and will jeopardize public safety. Raising the Border Patrol's numbers from about 12,000 to 18,000 by the end of 2008 is a key element of President Bush's plan to improve security along the border, crossed by tens of thousands of illegal immigrants each year. The sprawling Border Patrol Academy here in southeastern New Mexico recently started launching two 50-student classes each week, compared to one...