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Checked bags often trigger a fee from the airline, especially if the bag is over 50 pounds. Checking bags may add a long wait on the check-in line and then again upon landing.

Often, after you collect your bags, the thought of taking an inexpensive bus to your destination can be overwhelming. It’s a scenario that may well entice you to pop for a cab or town car, where lines may be long and rates a bit high.

Less baggage means more freedom: Freedom to move quickly and effortlessly, and freedom from long lines and too many clothing decisions.  Economy of scale can also free you from the extra time and expense of packing and unpacking unworn clothing as well as wasted resources to get needlessly crushed surplus clothing dry-cleaned.

Tips to pack your bags light and smart:

• Lay out pants, jeans, skirts, tops, swimsuits, shorts, and a really warm sweater stacked by category in their full open position on your bed. Fold in any sleeves and then roll each stack into a tight bundle.  This will prevent wrinkles and save space in the suitcase.

• Select a couple pairs of shoes and place any underwear or small items inside each shoe and wedge them between the rolls of clothing.

• Pack toiletries in small containers in clear, quart-sized bags inside your tote.  Your laptop, chargers, and other electronics should also be packed in this way to comply with TSA security inspection.

• If your destination is somewhere cold, wear your coat and boots onto the plane to save room in the suitcase.   Gloves, a warm hat, scarf, and an umbrella are best placed in the suitcase outer pockets for easy access upon landing.

• More than one destination? If you are touring many cities, pack all your hanging clothes on lightweight plastic hangars. Grab the hangers at the top and accordion-fold this set of clothing into the suitcase right before you zip it closed.  At each destination, you will save precious time because you can hang your clothing in one motion, rather that placing them on and off each hotel hangar, which can be tedious.

• In your tote, pack an empty water bottle and fill it at a water fountain near the departure gate after you have cleared security.  You can feel good about not paying top dollar for bottled water. You will also reduce plastic refuse from bottles and from those ubiquitous plastic cups onboard the flight.

• Pack fresh fruit, an avocado, crackers, trail mix, or any of your favorite non-liquid snacks in your tote.  Bringing your own set of headphones for the in-flight movie is another resource-saver (and can be more comfortable than the headphones airlines provide!).

• You might want to invest in one of the new TSA-accessible locks. You can lock the suitcase to deter theft when your bag must be checked on a full flight or when leaving your things unattended in your hotel room.

Relax and enjoy the flight. Once you try this drama-free system of packing, which works equally well for car travel, you will be hooked, especially now that airlines are charging baggage fees.

Sherry Brooks is a healthy, happy, and trim “frugalista” living the lean and green life near Malibu in sunny southern California.

More from ecomii:

• Learn more about the potential of nutritional supplements
• Find natural remedies for headaches
• Does aromatherapy actually work?
• What is your carbon footprint?
• What is a cap and trade system and how will it affect you?

[JURIST] The International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website] on Wednesday reported [press release] Sudan to the UN Security Council [official website] for lack of cooperation in the pursuit of alleged war criminals [case materials] Ahmad Harun and Ali Kushayb [arrest warrants, PDF]. ICC Pre-Trial Chamber I released a decision [text, PDF] asking the Security Council to take any steps it deems appropriate to compel Sudan to comply with its obligation under Resolution 1593 [text, PDF], which provides that “the Government of Sudan and all other parties to the conflict in Darfur shall cooperate fully with and provide any necessary assistance to the Court and the Prosecutor pursuant to this resolution.” The three-judge panel stated that the ICC has taken all possible measures to ensure cooperation from Sudan, but the government has refused to provide any assistance or information in regards to the case of Harun and Kushayb. Since the ICC concluded that it has exhausted all its resources, the responsibility will now be shifted to the Security Council to take appropriate action. Sudan, which is not a permanent member of the ICC under the Rome Statute
[text], refuses to recognize the court’s jurisdiction, stating that “the International Criminal Court has no place in this crisis at all.” Harun and Kushayb are wanted for 51 counts [case materials] of crimes against humanity and war crimes.

The decision stemmed from a request filed [JURIST report] by ICC Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo [official profile] last month for a finding of non-cooperation pursuant to Article 87 of the Rome Statute for the government’s refusal to arrest Harun and Kushayb. The request stated that “[t]o the contrary, the [government of Sudan] continues to commit crimes, promotes and protects the persons sought by the Court; and harasses all persons who are considered to be in favor of justice.” The majority of the ICC caseload has come from Africa, causing tense relations with the governments in the region. On Monday, a collection of African civil society organizations issued a declaration urging greater cooperation [JURIST report] between the ICC and African nations in anticipation of the upcoming ICC Review Conference of the Rome Statute [official website]. The group of 124 organizations called on African governments to enhance their cooperation with the court and to make greater efforts in the execution of outstanding warrants. The review conference will take place in Kampala, Uganda from May 31 to June 11, 2010. During the conference, member states will consider proposed amendments [text] to the statute.

UPDATE: Lots of motion and camera movement. Looks like The Abyss. A claw-like applicator is moving toward the BOP.

Another camera angle clearly shows multiple gushers. This may confirm reports that 2-to-3 leaks have deteriorated to a chaotic leak pattern, with gas and oil breaking from the seabed floor.

Remember, it might be two days before we know if TOP KILL is working.

PREVIOUSLY:
—–Did BP just kill the livestream? We’re seeing reports that BP was about to start inserting mud.
—–Now we’re seeing a new camera angle that shows the blowout preventer. No sign of mud application yet.
—–Operation Top Kill has commenced. You might not see much activity in the video, as BP is shooting cement at the blowout preventer, not the broken riser (pictured). But if it works…
—–Operation Top Kill has been given the green light by Rear Admiral Mary Landry, and it could start any moment. Meanwhile: glug-glug-glug-glug-glug. If it looks like the oil is gushing like mad, you’re right. They took out the siphoning tube in preparation.

Don’t Miss: 8 Incredible Things We Could Have Done With All That Oil

Join the conversation about this story »

“After hosting the MTV VMAs in 2008 and 2009, Brand is on the verge of becoming a bonafide star in the States, thanks to his new movie, Get Him To The Greek, where he’s reprising his rockstar role from Sarah Marshall. It doesn’t hurt that he’s also engaged to our girl Katy Perry (who coincidentally covered Complex’s June/July issue last year). The new issue with M.I.A. and Russell Brand hits stands in a few weeks, but we’re giving you a chance to check out the full cover story now…”

Complex’s June/July 2010 issue arrives on newsstands June 8, starring outspoken rap star M.I.A. and British comedian Russell Brand. In the double issue cover stories, M.I.A. chats up praise for Madonna, voices her disdain for Lady Gaga, and asserts that Facebook is the devil, while Russell is vocal about the impact his addiction to heroin had on his rise to stardom.

“If you’re addicted to heroin it takes up an awful lot of your time. You have to get the heroin, take the heroin, fall asleep because of the heroin, then more heroin. So I think I was unable to (become famous) because I was involved in a lot of other time-consuming things. I think that’s the simple answer. I was a petty criminal and drug addict for a long while and if you’re a drug addict it’s very difficult to succeed in anything.”

“I want kids to be aware of this digital circumstance… Everyone on the Internet is like, ‘Oh my God, come and join Facebook!’ They’re all so optimistic… and really, everyone is f**king you up behind the screens. And I don’t like that. It makes it difficult for me to interact with my fans knowing that. Google and Facebook were developed by the CIA, and when you’re on there, you have to know that.”

Apple’s iTunes now accounts for 28 percent of all music sales within the U.S., according to recently released NPD group data.

This four percent gain since Q1 2009 detail that Apple’s digital store still holds the top spot as the number one music retailer within the U.S. Apple has been in this pole-position for some time now, first passing retail giant Walmart in 2008.

For more information on using iTunes, see our iTunes 101 screencast on TechUniversity (subscription required).

The NPD findings added that digital music sales now account for a 40 percent share of all U.S. industry sales, a trend which has benefited online retailer Amazon. Amazon, who benefits from sales of both digital and physical music, has risen to second place in the NPD rankings. The firm now ties with Walmart with each holding 12 percent of sales.

Amazon’s MP3 business has attributed largely to its rise to second place, in addition to scaling down of physical CD sales at stores like Walmart. Analyst Russ Crupnick commented on the sales shift:

Online shopping offers consumers who still want CDs more variety than they would get in a brick-and-mortar store; plus, recommendations, and other interactive features that raise the overall value proposition for music buyers.

The battle for digital music sales is no-doubt bound to heat up over the next few years, as sales tactics get more fierce and the popularity of portable devices, including the likes of the iPad, Kindle, Dell’s upcoming Streak and many more, rise.

Related TechUniversity Screencast: Smart Playlists in iTunes (sub req’d)

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Might We Suggest…

• Let’s Try That Again: Gameloft Releases Ten HD Games for Android
  It was one week ago today that Gameloft unveiled ten HD games for Android handsets.  It was almost immediately pointed out that there were problems with finding and loading games onto various handsets…

Here’s a great find that comes to us from Emlil at androidscoop. Froyo now gives users the ability to import .vcf cards into contacts.  Even better, it looks like Froyo can handle the .vcf files right from the e-mail application as well as Gmail.  Emlil gives a nice walkthrough of
the process using the Gmail application, and we’ve attached a few pics of doing it through the regular pop mail app. 

Also very cool is the ability to share contacts as .vcf files.  Again, Emlil walks us through doing it via Gmail, so we grabbed a few snaps of doing it over bluetooth.  Business users as well as those of us with big address books will surely find a use for this one.

Jump past the break to see some more pics and a short breakdown.

(Thanks Emlil! Find a cool new feature in Froyo and want to tell the world about it? E-mail us here and we’ll make you famous!)

This is a post by Android Central. It is sponsored by the Android Central Accessories Store

Given Ron Paul’s thorough opposition to the government’s meddling into the economy, and the government’s inclination to blow bubbles (like housing), we’re thoroughly perplexed by this. The Congressmen from Texas is pushing for an extension to the homebuyer tax credit.

————-

Washington, D.C. – Congressman Ron Paul (TX-14) today introduced legislation to permanently extend the first-time homebuyer tax credit and to make the credit available to people whose homes have been destroyed by a natural disaster, such as a hurricane.

The legislation also makes a number of changes to existing tax credits in order to enhance their usefulness to victims of natural disasters. Specifically, this bill makes casualty loss deductions available to taxpayers who do not itemize, and makes it available to them for five years after the disaster. This legislation also helps people who have lost their jobs because of a natural disaster by making unemployment payments provided under the Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act tax free.

Renewing the first-time home buyer’s credit will help Americans purchase a first home with their own money, instead of having to rely on government-funded or backed programs.

The other sections of this legislation were inspired by conversations Congressman Paul and his staff had with constituents who had to purchase new homes because Hurricane Ike destroyed their prior homes.  The first-time homebuyer’s tax credit could be of tremendous value to these people, yet the law denies them the credit because they are replacing destroyed homes.

“It is hard to think of a more beneficial or compassionate expansion of the first-time homebuyer tax credit than to make the credit available to those whose homes have been destroyed or damaged by natural disasters,” stated Congressman Paul.  “In addition, the changes to the casualty loss provision will help more taxpayers affected by natural disasters.  Providing tax relief to first-time homebuyers and to those affected by natural disasters should be one of Congress’ top priorities.”
   

Join the conversation about this story »

Faced with a steady stream of criticism from users, privacy advocates, and more recently members of the government, Facebook has announced today that they’re simplifying how privacy settings work on the site. The WSJ is liveblogging Facebook’s conference call right now. CNET’s coverage is coming in faster, though, and offers more detail. Below is a quick summary of what Facebook is changing.

Zuckerberg says (as paraphrased by CNET), “There will be one simple control that applies to all content retroactively and applies to new products going forward. If you set your preference to friends-of-friends, for instance, that will continue to be the default going forward.” CNET says this will be communicated to users via a message on the home page, as well as via a new (or revised?) privacy guide.

On the Facebook Platform–where all the Facebook apps come from–you’ll be able to fully opt out (meaning block all apps) or make granular adjustments for each app.

In general, Facebook will be changing the number of privacy settings from 50 to 15.

This is all supposed to happen within a few days to a few weeks, according to Zuckerberg.

There’s now a more traditional Q&A with journalists in the room and on the call. Check out CNET’s live coverage for more information.

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Original post:
Sometime today, Facebook will release a new version of its privacy settings that supposedly will be easier to understand and use. Maybe that deserves a Yay! instead of a Beware!, but c’mon, this is Facebook we’re talking about. Once the new settings are announced, I’ll update the post with info.

“Facebook set to unveil ‘simplified’ privacy settings tomorrow” [USAToday]

Greenwire: The attack came swiftly and silently in the night.The lioness bounded over the thatch of acacia thorns that surrounds the Maasai village and headed for the donkey pen.

The predator was clawing at a donkey’s haunches by the time men stirred in their dung-covered huts. A warrior confronted the dusty tangle of teeth and fur, and sunk a spear through the big cat’s right rear leg.

Then, as swiftly as she had appeared, the lioness scrambled over a rooftop and vanished in the darkness.

The donkey survived, but the lioness died of its wound. Villagers blame hunger and parched conditions for the late-March attack.

“This wasn’t the first time,” said Wilson Koite, chief of this encampment of more than 300 people in southern Kenya, near the Tanzania border. “There’s no wildlife inside of the park, so [lions] just come into the villages.”

When the rains failed for the second straight year in 2009, plants withered to their roots in this critical dry-season refuge. Marshes and the shallow bed of Lake Amboseli, usually fed by seasonal rains and runoff from snow-capped Mount Kilimanjaro, cracked in equatorial sun. With little to eat or drink, more than 70 percent of Amboseli’s zebra and wildebeest died of starvation, predation or opportunistic infections.

The onset of long rains in recent weeks has begun to rehydrate Amboseli’s landscape. But with their traditional prey diminished in numbers, the park’s top predators are targeting livestock and risking death. At least nine Amboseli-area lions have been speared or poisoned to death during the past six months, say wildlife managers and conservationists.

“We suspect that there are many more happening,” said Paula Kahumbu, executive director of WildlifeDirect, a Nairobi-based organization founded by conservationist Richard Leakey. “[Predator] attacks have been going on for years, but things are really escalating.”

Killing lions and other wildlife is illegal but often goes unpunished in Kenya. If goats or cattle are slain by predators, the government or a handful of nonprofit organizations may compensate herdsmen for the loss. But cash is often not enough to cool tempers.

Violence escalates

In late March, Maasai warriors stalked a lioness into the bush and speared her after she slaughtered cattle south of the park, Amboseli warden Joseph Nyongesa said. In ensuing weeks, conservationists confirmed the poisoning deaths of five Amboseli-area lions and three more near the Maasai Mara National Reserve, 175 miles to the northwest.

At the height of the drought some southern villages were suffering lion attacks several times a week, Kahumbu said. Young lions, apparently unfamiliar with how to hunt natural prey, were also stalking permanent settlements for livestock.

“The rate has declined, but lion attacks continue because their natural prey is still diminished,” she added. “It will take a while for wildlife to recover.”

A March 2010 aerial census recorded three lions in a 24,000-square-kilometer area encompassing Amboseli and parts of northern Tanzania. A May 2007 census recorded 10 lions.

The population is likely higher, the latest census underscored, as lions are difficult to spot from the air and are most active at night. Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) officials and conservationists who study Amboseli estimate that the area had about 30-40 resident lions prior to the recent killings.

What’s certain, wildlife managers say, is some Amboseli lions are roaming unexpectedly long distances in search of wildebeest, zebra and other wild prey. Six lions fitted with KWS satellite collars have been tracked far into northern Tanzania, said park warden Nyongesa.

“We have heard there are quite a number of lions killed on that side, but most of them are the lions of Amboseli,” he said.

Wildebeest and zebra constitute the greatest biomass in Amboseli but suffered the greatest losses during the drought.

The wildebeest population fell by about 83 percent, from 18,538 in 2007 to 3,098 in 2010, according to the aerial counts. Zebra declined by around 71 percent, from 15,328 to 4,432.

The prolonged dry spell also took a heavy toll on livestock.

The area’s cattle population is less than half of what it was three years ago, the counts show. Livestock are critical to the Maasai, who build their homes with dung, cover their blades with leather, and fill their bellies with meat, milk and blood.

Maasai elder Kayian Olekiraku said the drought killed all but 20 of his 200 cattle. The same night of the attack in Koite’s village another lion broke the leg of one of Olekiraku’s bulls before being chased off.

“When I was young, we just killed the lion,” he recalled at the edge of his hardscrabble village. “Now we don’t. We fear the government will take us to jail.”

‘Predator proof’ fences

Wildlife service officials say they have been meeting with southern Kenya residents over the past few months to discuss better animal husbandry practices and changes to the ecosystem.

“We had to calm down the situation by talking to them,” said KWS senior scientist Charles Musyoki. “We know they are incurring losses, but we needed to talk to them so that they don’t retaliate by killing the animals.”

In February, the wildlife service launched nationwide strategies for managing lions, cheetahs, hyenas and wild dogs. The plans are intended to preserve ecologically viable predator and prey populations inside of reserves, create carnivore conservation zones outside of government-protected areas and cull animals that attack livestock repeatedly.

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by Sue Sturgis.

A special Facing South investigation.

When the catastrophic
coal ash spill occurred at the Tennessee Valley Authority’s
Kingston plant in 2008, a quiet debate over how to regulate coal ash had
already been going on for decades, largely outside the view of the
public or press.

That all changed with the Kingston spill, which aside from releasing a
billion gallons of toxic waste into a nearby community and river system
also pushed
the problem of coal ash into the national spotlight and led to
calls for change.

The month after the Tennessee disaster, EPA
Administrator Lisa Jackson signaled during her Senate confirmation
hearing that the agency would revisit the issue of coal ash regulation.
“The EPA currently has, and has in the past, assessed its regulatory
options, and I think it is time to re-ask those questions,” Jackson said.

Jackson
soon began to make good on her promise. The EPA launched an inventory of
coal ash impoundments like the one that failed at Kingston, sending
information requests to more than 160 electric generation facilities and
60 corporate offices. Armed with this and other data, Jackson and the
EPA concluded that the nation’s standards for regulating coal ash needed
revision.

But the agency’s efforts soon ran up against massive
resistance from an array of powerful interests—industries and groups
that had succeeded in enabling coal ash to escape federal oversight for
decades, creating a regulatory vacuum that many say made a Kingston-like
disaster almost inevitable.

Fending off ‘burdensome
regulatory requirements’

The battle over regulating coal ash
goes back to 1976, when Congress passed the Resource Conservation and
Recovery Act, the main federal law that governs disposal of
hazardous and non-hazardous waste.

In the beginning, coal
combustion waste was not included in RCRA, and in 1978 EPA proposed that
coal ash be covered under the law as a special hazardous waste.

But
before that happened, Congress passed the Bevill Amendment in 1980,
which effectively exempted the coal waste from RCRA. The amendment was named for Rep. Tom
Bevill, a 15-term Democratic congressman from coal-dependent Alabama
who chaired the powerful House Energy Development and Water
Appropriations Subcommittee. During congressional debate, Bevill declared that “it would be unreasonable for EPA to impose costly and burdensome
regulatory requirements without knowing if a problem really exists, and
if it does, the true nature of that problem.” Bevill’s amendment called
on the agency to delay regulation and study the matter instead.

Congress’
reluctance to regulate was reinforced when the EPA went on to release
two reports—one in 1988 and another in 1999—finding that damages
from coal ash did not warrant lifting the regulatory exemption.

But
in 2000, the agency began to change course. That year, as required by
the Bevill Amendment, the EPA published a proposal titled “Regulatory
Determination on Wastes from the Combustion of Fossil Fuels” that
concluded federal regulations for the disposal of coal ash—either
under RCRA and/or the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act—were
necessary to protect public health and the environment.

“Public
comments and other analyses … have convinced EPA that these wastes
can, and do, pose significant risks to human health and the environment
when not properly managed, and there is sufficient evidence that
adequate controls may not be in place for a significant number of
facilities,” the
proposal found. “This, in our view, justifies the development of
tailored regulations under Subtitle C of RCRA.”

In other words,
the EPA was saying that it was finally ready to treat coal ash as
hazardous waste.

The EPA sent its report to President Bill
Clinton’s White House Office of Management and Budget for review. An EPA
employee involved in the internal debate told the Center
for Public Integrity “it really hit a brick wall at OMB.”

The
administration was flooded with letters from electric utilities and
visits from their lobbyists warning that regulating coal ash as
hazardous waste would lead to economic hardship for them and their
customers. New standards would increase the cost of disposing of coal
ash waste, an extra cost the EPA estimated at about $1 billion per year.
But industry representatives argued the cost would be astronomically
higher—perhaps upwards of $13 billion.

After the lobbying
onslaught, EPA backed away from regulating coal ash as hazardous waste
in 2000. But the agency promised to issue guidelines to help states
oversee it more effectively—a critical step, since most states lacked
even basic safeguards for coal ash disposal sites.

But the EPA
didn’t follow through. And without federal guidelines, states continued
with business as usual. Five years later, a report prepared for EPA’s
Office of Solid Waste found that most states didn’t require monitoring
the impact of coal ash disposal sites on groundwater, more than half
didn’t require liners, and more than a quarter didn’t even require
something as basic as dust controls at coal ash landfills. The report
also found that most of the coal ash produced in the top 25
coal-consuming states could legally be disposed of in a way that
directly threatened drinking water supplies in underground aquifers.

A
consensus for regulation grows

Meanwhile, even within the EPA,
evidence was mounting that coal ash posed a growing threat to
environmental and human health.

In 2007, a draft assessment was
prepared for the EPA titled “Human
and Ecological Risk Assessment of Coal Combustion Wastes” that
found some unlined coal ash impoundments pose a cancer risk 2,000 times
above what the government considers acceptable. The assessment found
that the use of a composite
liner—a multi-layered liner like those required in municipal
waste landfills—significantly reduced the risk of exposure to
health-threatening pollution. However, most states don’t require such
liners for coal ash impoundments.

That same year, a report by the EPA Office of Solid Waste tallied up the number of cases
nationwide where coal ash was found to have caused environmental damage,
documenting 24 cases of proven damages caused by coal ash and another
43 potential damage cases related to coal ash. Most of those cases
involve toxic contamination from coal ash impoundments leaching into
groundwater, rivers, and lakes. (For a map with more details about confirmed U.S. damage cases, click here.)

The EPA’s internal studies were
complemented by a growing body of research by independent scientists and
advocacy groups documenting the environmental and health consequences
of coal ash.

Earlier this year, for example, the Environmental
Integrity Project and Earthjustice released a report titled “Out
of Control: Mounting Damages From Coal Ash Waste Sites” that found
serious water contamination problems from coal ash dumps at 31 locations
in 14 states. The report noted that the contamination is concentrated
in communities with family poverty rates above the national median.

Recently
the EPA also acknowledged that toxic elements like arsenic, chromium,
and selenium can leach out of unlined coal ash dumps and into local
water supplies in much higher concentrations than was earlier believed.
After 20 years of using a testing method that the EPA’s own Science
Advisory Board argued was low-balling the contamination risk, the agency
recently began
using an updated test that found the level of toxic contaminants
leaching into water clearly crossed the threshold for designating coal
ash as a hazardous waste.

“These unregulated sites present a
clear and present danger to public health and the environment,” said
Earthjustice attorney and former EPA official Lisa Evans. “If law and
science are to guide our most important environmental decisions, as EPA
Administrator Lisa Jackson has promised, we need to regulate these
hazards before they get much worse.”

Hitting another brick
wall

But Washington’s latest effort to
regulate coal ash—spurred by the TVA disaster—has again met
massive resistance from a familiar array of powerful political
interests.

Last October, the EPA sent a draft regulation to the
White House Office of Management and Budget. The proposed rules
immediately became the target of a massive lobbying
onslaught by electric utilities and energy interests determined to
prevent coal ash from being regulated as hazardous waste.

The
Charleston Gazette reported that OMB held 30 meetings about the rules with industry officials
compared to only 12 with environmental and public health groups. The
intense lobbying campaign was notable because of the electric utility
industry’s already considerable clout in Congress: One of the most
politically generous, it’s contributed more
than $9 million to members’ campaigns during the 2009-2010 election
cycle so far, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Joining
the lobbying effort were state
agencies and federal lawmakers who voiced concern about the cost of
strict regulation and how it would affect the recycling of coal ash
into products and its use as fill in construction projects.

Many
of the congressional defenders of coal ash represent states where the
toxic waste has been implicated in environmental damages. For example, a
Facing
South analysis found more than 50 proven and suspected coal ash
damage cases in the states represented by the more than 90 senators and
representatives who wrote to the Obama administration opposing the
regulation of coal ash as hazardous waste.

As the political
battle raged behind closed doors, the latest push to regulate coal ash
seemed like it might again be derailed. The EPA originally said it would
roll out a proposed rule for public comment by the end of 2009, but the
release was postponed with the agency blaming
the delay on the “complexity of the analysis.”

The new rules
were then supposed
to be released in April 2010, but were put off again.

Finally,
earlier this month the EPA released
the rules to the public. But instead of issuing a clear standard
that would treat coal ash as a hazardous waste as
it originally planned, the agency released
two options: one that would empower the federal government to
oversee the material like other hazardous waste, and one that would
treat coal ash like ordinary trash and leave oversight up to the states.

The
agency asked the public to help decide which approach makes the most
sense during a three-month comment period that will begin when the
regulation is published in the Federal Register, which is expected to
happen as soon as this week.

Environmental watchdogs expressed
disappointment over the agency’s equivocation. Eric Schaeffer, a former
EPA official who now directs the nonprofit Environmental Integrity
Project, said the move “sets up a boxing ring.” However, he also said he
sees value in moving the fight from behind OMB’s closed doors out into
the open.

“It’s in the public arena now, and that’s really
important to move things along,” he said.

Related Links:

By the way, is anyone checking on nuclear-plant safety plans?

Should we prefer investing in renewable energy to cleaning up the dirty stuff?

Disaster in east Tennessee

We have mentioned Best Made Co. and their axes before on our site. As a follow up to their full sized axes, Best Made has released these pocket axes for some small time chopping jobs or just decorative purposes. The axe measures around 11.5 inches and weighs about 3/4 lbs. It’s hand-painted in four colors (red, yellow, pin, blue) and features a branded hickory handle and a leather wrist strap. First release limited to a numbered edition of 200. Available now at Best Made Co.

Florida Today is reporting that Space X is planning to launch their first Falcon 9 rocket as early as this week, May 27 or 28! [Update: I just found out that the launch has been delayed to Jun 2/3 due to a slip in the schedule of a launch of a Delta IV.]

I am an unabashed fan of Space X, one of many commercial companies building rockets to make access to space easier, more reliable, and less expensive. They have already shown themselves to be capable of putting rockets into space, and being resilient while doing so. The Falcon 9 is the next in their series of rockets; this one capable of getting supplies to the Space Station, sending astronauts into orbit, and eventually, being able to put a 20 ton payload into geosynchronous orbit.

You can keep up-to-date with what’s what on the Space X updates page. I’ll be keeping a close watch on events as well. This is the future of space exploration, quite literally, and I’m very excited about it.

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Related posts:

Obama lays out bold revised space policy
Falcon 9 getting ready for maiden voyage
Falcon 1 launch a success!
Falcon 9 standing tall
High roller



Image credit: Space X.

The conservative activist filmmaker stood in federal court in New Orleans and pled guilty to a misdemeanor charge of entering federal property under false pretenses. The 25 year old who made national headlines with his ACORN undercover video expose, was sentenced to serve 3 years probation, 100 hours of community service, and pay a $1,500 fine.

The case came after he was arrested at the New Orleans offices of Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu. O’Keefe, along with three co-defendants, said their goal was to show that the Senator’s office phones were working, claiming there were complaints that people could not get through to register their opinions about the then pending Obama administration health care plan.

Two of the suspects were dressed as telephone repairmen, while O’Keefe taped them handling the phones in the reception area. In court, it was revealed that they also had a hidden camera in a construction helmet, and asked for the telephone junction box.

Prosecutors at first charged O’Keefe and the others with entering the offices “for the purpose of committing a felony,” and that they tried to “manipulate” and “maliciously interfere” with the phone system.  But in court, U.S. Attorney Jordan Ginsburg said that prosecutors “did not uncover evidence they attempted to commit a felony.”

When the story broke, some media reports claimed O’Keefe and the others were attempting to “wiretap” the Senator’s phones, but the defense always denied that. In a Fox News interview, O’Keefe branded the media wiretapping reports as “outrageous. .all we were there to do was ask questions, make statements and film their reactions. A politician or a representative is probably not willing to be honest about wrong doing with a self identified journalist.  So what I do is I go undercover. I  propose scenarios in order to get people to be honest with me, to  have a frank discussion, nothing more than that. That’s what I do in all my videos, it’s what I did in the ACORN video. I  make statements, I ask questions, and film reactions, that’s it.”

In court, O’Keefe said that he took full responsibility for the operation, and admitted that he “never considered the security concerns of a federal building.” He also said he did not “intend to misrepresent myself to any law enforcement officials.”

Federal Magistrate Daniel Knowles II told the defendants that they could be a “tremendous asset to our society,” but that he and the others had to learn that they had gone too far.

At one point Knowles asked co-defendant Robert Flanagan, “How could you have done something so stupid?”  Flanagan replied: “Poor judgment, sir.”

U.S. District Judge Stanwood Duval, in papers filed with a motion, expressed concern about the implications on the security of federal buildings, calling what O’Keefe and the others did,
“extremely serious,” nothing that the “deception” they used was “unconscionable.”

Having gone through the legal process, O’Keefe says he has a new video project in the works that he told Fox News he is releasing Thursday morning.

Kevin discovered something totally awesome about Nutella. Maybe they were being generous, maybe he sent them such a stack of seals that they couldn’t help but reward him. Or maybe this was all a massive Nutella Store mixup. Whatever the case, Kevin has a huge pile of Nutella merch and a renewed love of the company.

To make a long story short, I was eating breakfast a few months back (Nutella on toast of course) when I wondered if Nutella had T-shirts. You see, I am one of those lame guys who likes to buy different T-shirts, the geekier the better and what would be better than a Nutella T-Shirt (rhetorical question, please no suggestions, I already admit I am lame, ok?). Anyway, I jumped onto the InterWebs and found not only does the company offer T-Shirts, but they are FREE*. Free being that I had to send in the “gold seals” from each container but Shipping and Handling was covered by Nutella. Since I eat tons of the hazelnutty stuff, I considered this a great deal.

After some perusing of their site I decided to get a coffee mug and 2 “Nutella Spreaders” (read plastic Nutella knives) instead of the T-Shirt as they would last longer and are arguably much “cooler” (think Red Swingline). Anyway, after sticking my “gold seals” in the mail and anxiously awaiting the arrival of my x-ray glasses, I mean coffee mug/knives, the package arrived yesterday. But get this, not only did Nutella send my coffee mug and the two plastic utensils I ordered, but every other item they offered in the store as well!!!! That’s right, EVERY ITEM, including T-Shirts in every size (I can only assume because they had no idea what size would fit).

Anyway, I was TOTALLY amazed at this generosity and have repeated this story to family, friends, and coworkers all day. That in itself was worth it for Nutella, I only wish more corporations acted like this. I am a customer for life, there are no substitutes for the “Original Hazelnut Spread”…

Crystal Bowersox or Lee DeWyze’s who will stand out and be the next American Idol. The viewer is seems to be more excited than the two finalist. The performance finale last Tuesday night attracted 19.6 million total viewers, according to the well known survey company The Nielsen, down to 14.7% from the previous performance finale last year.
Our two finalist have come a long way since their audition in Chicago. Bowerbox and DeWyze after the American Idol 2010 finale will surely be moving as recording artist. But only one of them will be victorious.
Will it be Crystal Bowersox who surprise the judges in his performance “Up to the Mountain (MLK Song)” Mixing up soul and gospel and blues and folk traditions, she created something wholly fresh. Who’s to say if she’ll win “Idol.” Predict the whims of the voting public at your own peril. But there’s no doubting that Bowersox is the finest artist of season nine.  He does a good job and she really save the best for last.
On the other hand Lee DeWyze bounced back in his weak opening number with a surprisingly powerful take on this R.E.M. track. Pitch problems aside, the arrangement was on point and the song was a perfect fit for Lee’s style and vocal abilities. And seems that he is nervous which Simon Cowell notice it and called him out. Will this be a big factor for Lee in getting the crown for the next American Idol. Stay tuned for more updates.

Related posts:

1. Who won American Idol 2010?
2. It’s Boy vs Girl in American Idol Season 9 Finale
3. “Up to the Mountain” performance by Crystal Bowersox – American Idol 2010

An increasing number of companies are changing the way they serve up content on the web by moving away from Adobe’s Flash technology to HTML5 and/or direct streaming.  Two notable sites, NBC.com and Vimeo, have made it so any modern smartphone platform with a decent WebKit based browser can view their content.  Why are an increasing number of media companies making this move? It’s probably safe to assume that Apple and its recent success with the Flash-less iPad has something to do with it.  

As evidenced in the above video, performance isn’t terrific on my Sprint Palm Pre when using either site, as things bog down considerably when more than one browser instance (or just one browser instance) is open. Overall quality seems to be much better when viewing Vimeo content, as NBC.com content is consistently too compressed on both the audio and video fronts. Still, it’s great to have access to more of this kind of content without having to have Flash, because who knows when it’ll actually come the way of webOS.