Rookie robot joins shuttle crew - USATODAY.com

Rookie robot joins shuttle crew - USATODAY.com: "Dextre, as the robot is known, has two arms, each with seven joints that allow the limb to twist and bend more than a human arm. Each of its two hands has pincers to grip objects and built-in socket wrenches to drive bolts.

Dextre will be able to handle items as small as a phone book and as big as a phone booth. Never before has such a sophisticated robot flown in space."


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Joint Replacements Expected to Soar - TIME

Joint Replacements Expected to Soar - TIME: "The number of knee replacements done annually in the U.S. will jump 525% by 2030. You read correctly: 525%. This prediction comes out of a paper presented Thursday at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. Hip replacements? Those will more than double, rising from 285,000 to 573,000. And the money spent on these procedures is expected to reach $65.2 billion by 2015, putting a huge burden on federal Medicare and Medicaid programs, which pay for about 60% of U.S. joint replacements."

News - StatesmanJournal.com

News - StatesmanJournal.com: "The statue of Sacagawea and her baby, Jean Baptiste Charbonneau, disappeared from Fort Clatsop National Memorial Park on Jan. 20. It had been bolted into a concrete footing.

A Bend scrap dealer tipped police that sellers of the statue's remains had approached him. The statue had been hacked to pieces.

'Based upon the press' attention to this, we realize this is a despicable crime,' said Rocky Pizzo, Bologna's attorney. 'Mr. Bologna would like to apologize to the public for being involved in this peripherally.'

A U.S. Park Service official said the crime 'had a larger impact than just removing something of value from the park.

'It forced us to think about what services and facilities we can leave open to the public,' said David Szymanski, the superintendent at Lewis and Clark National Historical Park, of which Fort Clatsop is part."


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News - StatesmanJournal.com

News - StatesmanJournal.com: "From Jan. 28 to Feb. 29, more than 90,000 Oregonians added their names to a reservation list for a shot at health coverage in the Oregon Health Plan's standard benefit plan.

On Wednesday, a state computer randomly selected the names of 3,000 individuals who will be mailed an application starting Monday to apply for insurance.

'To be considered for eligibility, individuals must complete and return the applications within 30 days of the date stamped on them,' said Jim Sellers, a spokesman for Oregon Department of Human Services."

NewsGator Online

I am always doing that which I can not do, in order that I may learn how to do it."

NewsGator Online

Bureaucrats write memoranda both because they appear to be busy when they are writing and because the memos, once written, immediately become proof that they were busy."

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Map sheds light on hothouse world

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Map sheds light on hothouse world: "This is what the world may have looked like some 80 million years ago, at the time of the dinosaurs.

The climate was very hot, the Earth's ice sheets had melted, and sea levels were 170m (558ft) higher than today.

The estimates could help researchers model the effect on the seas of long-term climate changes, an Australian-led team reports in Science.

The Cretaceous period was even warmer than in current times, with shallow seas that flooded continents.

Dr Dietmar Muller of the University of Sydney, and colleagues, reconstructed the vanished ocean basins of the Cretaceous."

Turning Glare Into Watts - New York Times

Turning Glare Into Watts - New York Times: "BOULDER CITY, Nev. — At first, as he adjusted pumps and checked temperatures, Aaron Boucher looked like any technician in the control room of an electrical plant. Then he rushed to the window and scanned the sky, to check his fuel supply.


Mr. Boucher was battling clouds, timing the operations of his power plant to get the most out of patchy sunshine. It is a skill that may soon be in greater demand, for the world appears to be on the verge of a boom in a little-known but promising type of solar power."

NewsGator Online

"Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body."

NewsGator Online

"The word 'politics' is derived from the word 'poly', meaning 'many', and the word 'ticks', meaning 'blood sucking parasites'."

Election - StatesmanJournal.com

Election - StatesmanJournal.com: "Oregon's primary on May 20 will help determine how many Democratic delegates are pledged to the presidential candidacies of Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

The results will determine the candidates' shares of 53 of the 65 Oregon delegates to the party's national convention, which is Aug. 25-28 in Denver. The other 12 delegates are elected officials and party leaders, known as 'superdelegates,' who qualify automatically for the convention.

Voters will not elect actual delegates May 20."

Outdoors - StatesmanJournal.com

Outdoors - StatesmanJournal.com: "For the time being, Oregon has a new state champion Sitka spruce.

But there's a challenger lurking in the coastal forests of Lincoln County, and it will be a couple of weeks before managers of Cape Meares National Wildlife Refuge can rest assured that their giant spruce is the biggest in the state.

The scramble to find a state champ started Dec. 2 when the reigning world champion, the Klootchy Creek Spruce near Cannon Beach, was blown down in a windstorm and one of the top contenders also was knocked out of contention."

Manmade Flood Coming to Grand Canyon - washingtonpost.com

Manmade Flood Coming to Grand Canyon - washingtonpost.com: "PAGE, Ariz. -- Federal agencies are gearing up to release a manmade flood aimed at refreshing the ecosystem of the Grand Canyon.

A three-day torrent of water will be released from Glen Canyon Dam on the Arizona-Utah state line beginning Wednesday morning.

The Colorado River in the Grand Canyon downstream from the dam used to be warm and muddy. But the dam now traps silt and the river runs cold and clear through the canyon. The shift has helped speed the extinction of four fish species."

EYE OF THE TYER: The Register-Guard, Eugene, Ore.

EYE OF THE TYER: The Register-Guard, Eugene, Ore.: "After a day of casting “muddler minnow” flies to steelhead in northeastern Oregon’s Grande Ronde River in the early 1960s, Bill Nelson and his buddies would sit around the campfire and talk about the need for a national flyfishing organization.

In 1965, Nelson and several other Eugene anglers helped launch such an organization, hosting the organizational “conclave” of the Federation of Fly Fishers."

The Bellingham Herald / Local / Two Oregon coastal towns also seeking NOAA station

The Bellingham Herald / Local / Two Oregon coastal towns also seeking NOAA station: "NOAA officials visited Bellingham a few weeks ago to check out docks and other facilities. Port of Bellingham Executive Director Jim Darling said Bellingham has deep-water moorage and empty warehouse and office space nearby, which should be a plus for its bid. NOAA also has ties to Western Washington University and All-American Marine, a local boatbuilding firm."

Waldport 17-year-old injured in brutal weekend assault: The Register-Guard, Eugene, Ore.

Waldport 17-year-old injured in brutal weekend assault: The Register-Guard, Eugene, Ore.: "WALDPORT — Details emerging from a grisly assault last weekend on a 17-year-old Waldport boy have left many in this town of 2,000 people in shock.

Three Waldport men have been arraigned on charges of assault, sodomy, rape, harassment and reckless endangering in connection with the Saturday night attack, which left the victim unconscious, Lincoln County authorities say."

Here is an e-mail we received from Dick Garvey. Thought you all might like to hear how he's doing:

THANKS FOR THE THOUGHTS. I WILL BE GOING IN NEXT WEEK FOR ORTHOSCOPY ON THE KNEE, AND HOPEFULLY RECOVERY FROM THAT WILL BE QUICK AND WE CAN COME HOME SOON. WENT TO MODESTO OVER THE WEEK-END TO OUR DAUGHTER'S WEDDING. I DROVE UP AND BACK, BUT KIND OF PAYING FOR IT THIS WEEK. BEV HAS BEEN GOING TO RE-HAB 3 TIMES A WEEK AS THE ARM SHE BROKE TWO YEARS HAS BEEN ACTING UP. WE HAVE TO KEEP HER IN GOOD SHAPE AS SHE IS THE MAIN NURSE IN THIS HOUSE. WE ARE LOOKING FORWARD TO GETTING HOME, ESPECIALLY BEFORE THE WEATHER TURNS WARMISH IN APRIL. WE ARE IN THE LOW 80'S THIS WEEK, WHICH DOWN HERE IS PRETTY NICE. HOPE TO SEE YOU'ALL SOON. DICK

Buck Rogers comes to town to save us from rioters

NewsGator Online

"This country has come to feel the same when Congress is in session as when the baby gets hold of a hammer."

NewsGator Online

"Life is a sexually transmitted disease."

BBC NEWS | Health | Frog skin diabetes treatment hope

BBC NEWS | Health | Frog skin diabetes treatment hope: "Skin secretions from a South American 'shrinking' frog could be used to treat type 2 diabetes, researchers say.

A compound isolated from the frog, which grows to 27cm as a tadpole before shrinking to 4cm in adulthood, stimulates insulin release.

A synthetic version of the compound - pseudin-2 - could be used to produce new drugs, delegates at the Diabetes UK annual conference heard."











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The Stars above each article.... *****

A new feature... You rate each article that you read, 1 thru 5 stars. Five being you really dig it and no rating you don't give a hoot. When you click your star of choice it tabulates how many readers have rated the article as well as what the average of their ratings are. Mousing over the stars shows how many have rated the article... Thought it might be interesting to see what you guys are reading. RT

NOAA has eye on Newport, Astoria - OregonLive.com

NOAA has eye on Newport, Astoria - OregonLive.com: "NEWPORT -- The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is looking for the next home port for its Pacific fleet, and at least two Oregon communities are in the running.

The ports of Astoria and Newport say they were asked in January by the federal agency to complete a questionnaire about their facilities as potential sites for the fleet. A short time after completing the questionnaire, NOAA called to say it would be visiting, said Ron Larsen, acting general manager of the Port of Astoria."

What does Jim Rose see when he walks to the light house in the morning?

BALD EAGLES that's what....

Heparin Linked to More Deaths - Richmond Virginia Personal Injury Lawyer

Heparin Linked to More Deaths - Richmond Virginia Personal Injury Lawyer: "The Food and Drug Administration reported last week that the number of deaths associated with heparin, a brand of blood thinner, has risen. The brand of heparin associated with the problems is made by Baxter International. Baxter produces most of the heparin used in the United States. Heparin is made from pig intestines, which, of course, could be supplied by U.S. farmers. Baxter buys its supplies from a Chinese plant. Federal drug regulators said last Thursday that they found 'potential deficiencies' at a Chinese plant, Changzhou SPL, that supplied much of the active ingredient for heparin."

Commenting link color has me snookered for now... I'm still working on it...

CONDUCTING COMMENTS TEST

The New COMMENTS glitch....

Last week, for no apparent reason, the writing on the website turned white and the comments turned light blue. I was able to put fixes in on everything but the comments... I'm working on that now... It is not the fault of our website but a problem with the commenting service web site... I'm working on it.... Bear with me.