A few months ago, the evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins received an e-mail message from a producer at Rampant Films inviting him to be interviewed for a documentary called “Crossroads.”

The film, with Ben Stein, the actor, economist and freelance columnist, as its host, is described on Rampant’s Web site as an examination of the intersection of science and religion. Dr. Dawkins was an obvious choice. An eminent scientist who teaches at Oxford University in England, he is also an outspoken atheist who has repeatedly likened religious faith to a mental defect.

But now, Dr. Dawkins and other scientists who agreed to be interviewed say they are surprised — and in some cases, angered — to find themselves not in “Crossroads” but in a film with a new name and one that makes the case for intelligent design, an ideological cousin of creationism. The film, “Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed,” also has a different producer, Premise Media.

The film is described in its online trailer as “a startling revelation that freedom of thought and freedom of inquiry have been expelled from publicly-funded high schools, universities and research institutions.” According to its Web site, the film asserts that people in academia who see evidence of a supernatural intelligence in biological processes have unfairly lost their jobs, been denied tenure or suffered other penalties as part of a scientific conspiracy to keep God out of the nation’s laboratories and classrooms.

Mr. Stein appears in the film’s trailer, backed by the rock anthem “Bad to the Bone,” declaring that he wants to unmask “people out there who want to keep science in a little box where it can’t possibly touch God.”

If he had known the film’s premise, Dr. Dawkins said in an e-mail message, he would never have appeared in it. “At no time was I given the slightest clue that these people were a creationist front,” he said.

Bait and switch ... Bad movie people.. no cookie for you...

Scientists Feel Miscast in Film on Life’s Origin

A new 11-year cycle of heightened solar activity, bringing with it increased risks for power grids, critical military, civilian and airline communications, GPS signals and even cell phones and ATM transactions, showed signs it was on its way late yesterday when the cycle’s first sunspot appeared in the sun’s Northern Hemisphere, NOAA scientists said.

“This sunspot is like the first robin of spring,” said solar physicist Douglas Biesecker of NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center. “In this case, it’s an early omen of solar storms that will gradually increase over the next few years.”

A sunspot is an area of highly organized magnetic activity on the surface of the sun. The new 11-year cycle, called Solar Cycle 24, is expected to build gradually, with the number of sunspots and solar storms reaching a maximum by 2011 or 2012, though devastating storms can occur at any time.

During a solar storm, highly charged material ejected from the sun may head toward Earth, where it can bring down power grids, disrupt critical communications, and threaten astronauts with harmful radiation. Storms can also knock out commercial communications satellites and swamp Global Positioning System signals. Routine activities such as talking on a cell phone or getting money from an ATM machine could suddenly halt over a large part of the globe.

Sunspot is Harbinger of New Solar Cycle, Increasing Risk for Electrical Systems

Based on the climate data from 1970-2000, this graphic from the National Climatic Data Center shows the odds of having a "White Christmas" (they define it as having at least 1 inch of snow on the ground). For most of the Tennessee Valley, the probability is less than 5%, though it jumps to 5-10% in parts of Franklin and Lincoln Counties in Tennessee. Click the graphic to enlarge.

hmm 5 to 10%...

Dreaming of a White Christmas?

Now if they could have measured the pressure inside the microwave to find out the equivalence to a known explosive... Not alot of science in some of this... more humor than anything....

Really BIG Egg in Microwave...

I know this is getting absurd but hell it so funny to watch a household appliance blow up! :P

Propane in Microwave

What burns more calories, working out or looking at breasts?

OMFG! Thank god I don't own any nylon ! hahah

Dangers Of Nylon

A ring stand is set up with two rings, each holding a filter paper spread with nitrogen triiodide. The bottom filter paper is touched with a feather, causing an explosion that detonates the other sample of nitrogen triiodide. Close up views and slow motion of this very dangerous reaction are shown.

I older friend of mine said they would paint this on windows and let a fly loose and watch the windows break...

And sandwich it in between duct tape and let it dry and run it over with a car or stick it in door jam...

hehe *evil grin*

Nitrogen Triiodide Detonation

Cool robot & cool science... social science to the max...

Marek Michalowski on the Rhythmic Properties of Keepon

There are around 1000 Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators, or RTGs, in Russia, most of which are used as power sources for lighthouses and navigation beacons. All Russian RTGs have long exhausted their designed service periods and are in dire need of dismantlement. The urgency of this task is underscored by three recent incidents with these potentially dangerous radioactivity sources in 2003�one on the shore of the Baltic Sea, in March, and the most recent two, in the Kola Bay, in November.

In 1992, Bellona released a working paper on 132 lighthouses scattered along the shoreline of Northwest Russia, which are all powered by RTGs. One of them, in fact, is located just a few dozen metres from the Norwegian border.1

Bellona has warned that radioactive incidents involving these RTGs are possible, both because of the decrepit state of these old lighthouses and because the of premeditated theft of radioactive strontium 90, or 90Sr, that is contained in RTGs. Russia�s RTGs that have been used beyond their operational limits have been waiting to be sent to a repository for decades. At best, however, the nuclear installations presenting the most critical case of sitting on the decommissioning waiting list are stored at sites that are neither appropriate for this task nor meet any safety or security standards. At worst, they become prey of �non-ferrous metal hunters,� who crave to make a quick buck on RTGs, disregarding the risk of radioactive contamination to both themselves and other people.

Most Russian RTGs are completely unguarded against potential thieves or intruders, lacking such minimal security measures as fences or even signs warning of radioactive dangers. Nuclear inspectors visit these sites as seldom as once in six months, and some RTGs have not been checked for more than a decade.

But the biggest danger coming from these unprotected RTGs is their availability to terrorists, who can use the radioactive materials contained in them to make so-called "dirty bombs" bombs that are triggered by standard explosives, but disperse radioactivity. The damage from such an explosion could surpass by many times that from a conventional bomb, with the ground zero area potentially, dozens of kilometres remaining radioactively contaminated for years to come.

Here is where the great risk to human health and life exists. I am not a conspiracy theory person but to put such devices out in the open with little or no safe guards is stupid. All it will take is some half-wit dumb ass to cause grave harm to human life any place they want.
There are 100's of these devices in use. Some are/were in use in Alaska by our own government for use at radar/detection sites.

The Risk from "Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators"