A giant ice shelf the size of 11,000 football fields has snapped free from Canada’s Arctic, scientists said.The mass of ice broke clear 16 months ago from the coast of Ellesmere Island, about 800 kilometers (497 miles) south of the North Pole, but no one was present to see it in Canada’s remote north.

Scientists using satellite images later noticed that it became a newly formed ice island in just an hour and left a trail of icy boulders floating in its wake. (Watch the satellite images that clued in ice watchers)

Warwick Vincent of Laval University, who studies Arctic conditions, traveled to the newly formed ice island and could not believe what he saw.

“This is a dramatic and disturbing event. It shows that we are losing remarkable features of the Canadian North that have been in place for many thousands of years. We are crossing climate thresholds, and these may signal the onset of accelerated change ahead,” Vincent said Thursday.

In 10 years of working in the region he has never seen such a dramatic loss of sea ice, he said.

Source: AP/CNN

–And from the coincidence department, I just saw “Inconvenient Truth” last night.

With Saddam Hussein’s death, how will Iraq’s people react and deal with this? What will change? Will this mark an end to some of the violence? Will it mark a peak in this Iraq war?

Dec 30 2007

Texas beats Iowa

Virginia Tech beats Georgia

Jan 1st 2007

Tennessee beats Penn State

Auburn beats Nebraska

West Virginia beats Georgia Tech

Arkansas beats Wisconsin

USC beats Michigan

Boise State beats Oklahoma

Jan 2nd 2007

Louisville beats Wake Forest

Jan 3rd 2007

LSU beats Notre Dame

Jan 6th 2007

Cincinnati beats Western Michigan

Jan 8th 2007

Florida beats Ohio State

I’m going to start posting predictions made to the front page. First example of one is coming up after this post.

Congrats to pingpong_fiasco. Once again, he made a correct prediction.

Cannavaro: he’s my call. Already won the European honours, plus he captained Italy’s world cup victory.

It’s a no-brainer, especially after Zindane’s moment of insanity, and Ronaldinho’s lackluster world cup (although he’s been in amazing form recently!).

Only knock against Cannavaro is the Juventus scandal, but I don’t think that’s gonna hurt too much.

Check out the prediction

Japanese researchers said Sunday that a bottlenose dolphin captured last month has an extra set of fins that could be the remains of hind legs, a discovery that may provide further evidence that ocean-dwelling mammals once lived on land.

Fishermen captured the four-finned dolphin alive off the coast of Wakayama prefecture in western Japan on Oct. 28, and alerted the nearby Taiji Whaling Museum, according to museum director Katsuki Hayashi.

AP Photo:

Source: MSNBC/AP

SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea warned on Wednesday that increased U.S. pressure over the regime’s reported nuclear test could be considered an act of war, and South Korea suggested it would build up its conventional arsenal to deal with its belligerent neighbor.

North Korea’s No. 2 leader threatened to conduct more nuclear tests if the United States continued what he called its “hostile attitude.”

Source: AP

Any predictions how this will turn out?

ICalledIt member, pingpong_fiasco, who lived and worked in Thailand predicted the coup would happen several months ago!

Read the thread

Posted on 2-26-06:
“Well, Thaksin called snap elections - 3 years ahead of schedule. This is a brilliant move at first sight, but it may actually backfire on him.”

Posted on 3-30-06
“It’s difficult to predict a coup, esp. with Thai business doing so well. But unless the king steps in and mandates something, I am afraid a coup of some sort will occur. If Thaksin is allowed to rule after the election, that in itself will be a kind of coup.

“Researchers say that they have found a way to produce stem-cell lines without destroying human embryos.”

Source: Newsweek

–Will Pro lifers be cool with this? I want to know.

The number of planets in our solar system would jump from nine to 12, and puny, belittled Pluto would remain among them under a proposal by an international body of astronomers meeting in Prague.

The definition of planet being proposed today by the International Astronomical Union, if approved, would rewrite the textbooks and discard the simple nine-planet solar system that schoolchildren have memorized for decades.

Under the proposed definition, our solar system would gain three planets immediately. A dozen or more additional planets could be added later, if they qualify.

Source: RockyMountain News

Any predictions on what route the voting board will go?