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?

ICalledIt mentioned this story on July 13th this year.

Not even the foiled terror plot that heightened security checks at airports nationwide threatens to delay the rollout, the agency said. Any hitches in getting the technology to work properly could add even longer waits to travelers already facing lengthy security lines at airports.

The new U.S. passports will include a chip that contains all the data contained in the paper version — name, birthdate, gender, for example — and can be read by electronic scanners at equipped airports. The State Department says they will speed up going through customs and help enhance border security.

How much more RFID gets enveloped into our lives now? (Warning: Extreme 2010 like statement) Before you know it, our every move will be watched.

Thanks to Engadget for the heads up though today.

Yeh you heard me, the Terrorists are now messing up my hair. Its all over the news of big terrorist plot breakup over in the UK today. 21 suspects caught.

Here’s a blip:

Airports across the UK were thrown into chaos after the government imposed immediate hand luggage restrictions and extra security checks in the wake of Thursday’s major anti-terrorist operation.

The ban on all but essential hand luggage caused long delays at London Heathrow and other leading UK airports, prompting hundreds of flight cancellations by European airlines.

British Airways said it had cancelled all short-haul flights to and from Heathrow Airport for the whole of the day. It added that some flights to and from Gatwick would be cancelled and that long-haul flights would be subject to delay.

The Department for Transport advised passengers to stay at home unless their journeys were essential.

BAA said it had asked airlines to temporarily halt all in-bound flights from Europe. The airport operator later lifted restrictions and warned of severe delays.

Lufthansa, Iberia and Olympic cancelled flights to the UK, and there were no flights from Brussels to London. Air France grounded all flights from Paris to Heathrow until congestion problems eased.

Source: Financial Times

More air mashalls are going to be put on the US-UK routes now, but more importantly, people can’t bring carry on luggage anymore? WTF?! So I was considering a European trip this summer and with the current rules of no carry on luggage how can one arrive with styled hair after a 8-9 hour flight?

If I can’t bring my hair mousse on board, the terrorists win.

In all seriousness, I don’t see how the TSA/Airlines can keep up this idea for long.

Here is an interesting article where Cait Murphy, points out some interesting facts about The Kyoto Treaty and how much America is hated for avoiding it, but in reality, other countries should harbor blame just as much.

But is it? Take a close squint at the numbers, and frankly it looks as if many of the countries that did sign Kyoto share Bush’s concern that the economic pain might outweigh the green gain.

Look at those nice people north of the border: Canada agreed to cut emissions by 6 percent. Whoops. The country is running 24 percent ahead, a lot more than the United States, which is 15.8 percent above 1990 levels. Japan has the same 6 percent target, and is also missing big, by about 13 percent.

–Are you shocked Canadians? Take your comments here.

Source: Fortune

Imagine being overseas and your identity being available for the taking - your nationality, your name, your passport number. Everything.

That’s the fear of privacy and security specialists now that the State Department plans to issue “e-Passports” to American travelers beginning in late August.

Radio Frequency Identification technology, indicated by the symbol, is to be standard in U.S. passports by August 2006.

Here are steps you can take in case you join millions of other Americans and get the bad news. (more)

Privacy experts’ wish list

If these advocates had their way, consumers would gain far more control over their information. (more)

Your ID for sale
From credit bureaus to grocers to unscrupulous brokers, there’s a healthy trade in your good name. (more)

They’ll have radio frequency identification (RFID) tags and are meant to cut down on human error of immigration officials, speed the processing of visitors and safeguard against counterfeit passports.

Yet critics are concerned that the security benefit of RFID technology, which combines silicon chips with antennas to make data accessible via radio waves, could be vastly outweighed by security threats to the passport holder.

“Basically, you’ve given everybody a little radio-frequency doodad that silently declares ‘Hey, I’m a foreigner,’” says author and futurist Bruce Sterling, who lectures on the future of RFID technology. “If nobody bothers to listen, great. If people figure out they can listen to passport IDs, there will be a lot of strange and inventive ways to exploit that for criminal purposes.”

RFID chips are used in security passes many companies issue to employees. They don’t have to be touched to a reader-machine, only waved near it. Following initial objections by security and privacy experts, the State Department added several security precautions.

But experts still fear the data could be “skimmed,” or read remotely without the bearer’s knowledge.

Kidnappers, identity thieves and terrorists could all conceivably commit “contactless” crimes against victims who wouldn’t know they’ve been violated until after the fact.

“The basic problem with RFID is surreptitious access to ID,” said Bruce Schneier security technologist, author and chief technology officer of Counterpane Internet Security, a technology security consultancy. “The odds are zero that RFID passport technology won’t be hackable.”

Source: CNNMoney

An electronic device that emits a magnetic field could offer relief for millions of people who suffer from migraine headaches.

The device, tested by Yousef Mohammad, an assistant professor of neurology at Ohio State University Medical Center, administers a therapy known as transcranial magnetic stimulation.

The therapy, its proponents claim, painlessly “resets” hyperactive neurons associated with the disease.

“The patients feel a little pressure, but that’s all,” said Mohammad, who presented the results of a preliminary study today at the annual American Headache Society meeting in Los Angeles.

Only since that late 1990s have doctors begun to understand that hyper-excited neurons — not vascular constriction — are at the root of migraines.

The hyper-excited neurons set off otherwise normal neurons nearby in a chain reaction of dysfunction that spreads quickly over the brain.

About 25 percent of migraine sufferers experience the spread of hyperactivity as an aura — seeing shooting stars, zigzagging lines, flashing lights, and feeling a tingling sensation, among other things — an hour before the migraine sets it.

The device is meant to interrupt that chain reaction before it leads to the pulsating headache, sensitivity to light and sound, and vomiting associated with the headache.

Source: Discovery

CHILDREN with overly strict mothers are much more likely to get fat, according to new research. The study found disciplinarian mothers ended up with six-year-olds who were nearly five times more likely to be overweight than children treated with flexibility and respect, but who were still given clear rules.

Scientists said youngsters whose mothers were strict might be comfort eating due to stress.

Children of neglectful and overly-lenient mothers were also twice as likely to get fat as those of the “flexible rule-setters”. Researchers from the Boston University School of Medicine in the United States surveyed the relationships of four-year-olds in 872 families.

When they measured their body-mass indexes later, they found that 17 per cent of the children of strict disciplinarians were overweight.

That compared with 9.9 per cent of the children of neglectful parents, 9.8 per cent of those with too-lenient parents and just 3.9 per cent of the flexible rule-setters’ offspring.

“The difference between the parenting groups is pretty striking,” said Dr Kay Rhee, a co-author of the study into the four parenting “styles” and their effects.

Another explanation might be that parents who show respect and warmth within a framework of rules help their children learn to make good decisions about food and exercise.

The study, which was published in the journal Paediatrics, said: “These results provide evidence that a strict environment lacking in emotional responsiveness is associated with an increased risk of childhood [obesity].”

Source: Scotsman News UK

–Very interesting research and evidence. Something I never thought of before. I may have been of victim of this when I was younger :). Now I have an excuse for being fat when I was a child! Who needs a pyschiatrist when there are great findings like this?

I’m happy to hear this bit of news as I have a 16 hour plus flying day in front of me from Japan.

“Reduced air pressure and oxygen levels on planes do not increase the risk of blood clots in the legs, a study says.

Previous research has suggested air passengers are at an increased risk of DVT because of the unique conditions.

But Leicester and Aberdeen university researchers said sitting for long periods was the main cause, and warned people about all forms of travel.

The study of 73 people was featured in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

One in 2,000 long-distance passengers will suffer a blood clot, which can be fatal if it reaches the lungs. ”

I worry about deep vein thrombosis, because Protein S Deficiency runs in my family. Although I have been cleared by a blood test I still worry about these things because of my love to travel.

Maybe Frith was on to something when he wrote back in 2005, “So anyway, I was surfing the internet when I came across this totally awesome website called “I Called It”, and it looked like it was about making predictions, and what do ya know…I like to make predictions!

For example, I predict that BUY HIGH AND SELL LOW Microsoft, McDonald’s, and Kran Bioengineering will be the companies to invest in. This is not spam. This is not a joke. This is the chance of a LIFETIME to make a LOT of MONEY during your LIFETIME. Don’t you want to LEAVE A LEGACY for your CHILDREN? Do you want them to think you were a LOSER?”

He may have been slightly joking, but McD is up 4 bucks since that prediction back on 3-20-05 and now get this, McDonald’s is changing their entire look of their stores.

Read the rest of Frith’s prediction over here.

I think this is a good move for McDonald’s. Their menu has been evolving over the last 2 years to include healthier more modern options, yet their stores today still have that brick like flooring and yellow and red fiberglass/plastic benches. I’ve been eating at Mickey D’s since I was a baby where I ate their famous Filet-O-Fish sandwiches. I still eat at McDonald’s today 29 years later, however, most of the time I opt for their salad’s when I’m out running around. BTW the new Asian salad is pretty good.

I don’t own any McDonald’s stock, but I sure could get behind the company with this new look and new successful menu.

Source: MSN, Business Week Online

bit talks about pinching stuff while on the job. What’s the best thing you’ve jacked from an employer. Not an encourageable behavior, but hey tell us your worst :D.

See the thread here.