Loud booming noises that do not spread like sonic booms were heard on both US coasts and in Arkansas last week, adding to the proliferation of these events nationwide and worldwide. Just last week, booms disturbed residents in Berkeley, California, Lawrence County, Arkansas and Bordentown City, New Jersey, Victoria, Texas, Pennsylvania, Hawaii and North Carolina, to name a few. Just since January, there have been hundreds of cases reported in the United States alone. In general, they do not roll like sonic booms, but are single, loud explosions or rumbles that are confined to a defined area.read more

Weekender: When I was a small child in the late 1940s and early ‘50s, shoe stores came equipped with x-ray machines that allowed salespeople and parents to make certain that a shoe fit a child’s foot without crowding growing bones. I remember eagerly stepping up on the platform and peering through the lens for a fascinating view of the bones of my feet surrounded by shoe leather.

Now, of course, routine x-rays of children’s feet are an appalling idea. But unfortunately, total numbskullery often becomes evident only in retrospect.
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It’s heating up in Antarctica and flooding in the driest place on Earth – Chile’s Atacama Desert. Carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere are higher now than they’ve been in the last 23 million years.

From what can be gleaned from air bubbles trapped in ancient ice, C02 levels have averaged between 170-280 parts per million since our species first emerged on Earth approximately 200,000 years ago. Now, however, they’re reached 400 ppm. At the rate we’re going, C02 concentrations could well reach 550 ppm by 2100. We are all canaries in this coalmine.
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The Transportation Security Administration announced today that all passengers who have ever been stopped and searched for any reason at TSA checkpoints will be required to wear transparent clothing in the future when moving through checkpoints. Officials refused to say how many passengers are involved, but sources within the agency have said that the list contains over thirteen million names. Affected travelers will not be notified in advance, but will be provided with disposable transparent clothing upon attempting to pass through a checkpoint. It will be necessary for travelers to continue to wear the transparent clothing until arriving at their destination and leaving TSA-controlled airport areas.
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