Saw a Kos story and a separate Kos diary stating that the deadline given to the President to make a decision on the Keystone Pipeline might force him to say “no” because they do not have enough information or even a pipeline route to say “yes” to. In other words, the Repubs may have inadvertently killed Keystone by forcing a decision before one could responsibly be made.

If this all is true, that merits a hearty LOL.

… and a hearty “Whew!” and “Yahoo!”

That is a big WHEW! I don’t want to buy any of that unethical oil from the murderous Canadians.

Nationwide ‘Occupy’ strike paralyzes Nigeria

Interestingly, members of their ruling elite live on islands connected by bridge to the mainland.

LINK.

Who wouldda imagined?

PG&E diverted safety money for profits, bonuses

“The “low priority” the company gave to pipeline safety during the three years leading up to San Bruno was “well outside industry practice – even during times of corporate austerity programs,” said the audit by Overland Consulting of Overland Park, Kan.

“But PG&E wasn’t hurting for cash, according to the audit. From 1999 to 2010, the company collected $430 million more from its gas transmission and storage operations than the revenue authorized by the California Public Utilities Commission, which sets the rates the company can charge its customers

. . .

“The audit was unable to trace exactly how PG&E spent the diverted money. But in a separate report on the San Bruno explosion released Thursday, the utilities commission staff noted that in the three years leading up to San Bruno, the company spent $56 million annually on an incentive plan for executives and “non-employee directors,” including stock awards, performance shares and deferred compensation.”

LINK.

Well, we know what’s up with Issa, but what about Maloney?

“The Research Works Act would prohibit the NIH from requiring scientists [who received tax dollars to conduct research] to submit their articles to the online database. Taxpayers would have to shell out $15 to $35 to get behind a publisher’s paid site to read the full research results. A Scientific American blog said it amounts to paying twice.

“Two members of Congress — Reps. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., and Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y. — introduced the bill. ”

LINK

The War on Women has has just taken a very nasty turn in Brazil.

Using Special Powers, Brazil’s President Passes Law Requiring Compulsory Registration of All Pregnant Women

LINK.

Next-generation light bulb shines at CES

The source of some bee deaths.

Big Defection in Attorney General Mortgage Settlement.

Boxturtle (Can’t let fatster have all the fun)

The source of some bee deaths.

surprising right? that insecticide applied to crops is killing bees. what a shock.

when this came to public attention, I immediately heard experts on the radio, assuring everyone that it had nothing to do with insecticides used on crops.

They also truck those bees around from place to place. all over the country. again, stupid.

stem cells, some countries aren’t afraid of them:

Surgeons in Sweden have replaced the cancerous windpipe of a Maryland man with one made in a laboratory and seeded with the man’s cells.

Thomas Grosse/Harvard Bioscience
A trachea made from plastic, above, and seeded with stem cells was successfully implanted in a Baltimore man in Sweden.
The windpipe, or trachea, made from minuscule plastic fibers and covered in stem cells taken from the man’s bone marrow, was implanted in November.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/13/health/research/surgeons-transplant-synthetic-trachea-in-baltimore-man.html?_r=2&hpw

a remarkable advance.

I think we’re getting more bee damage from GMO fallout than from pesticides. Which is another thing experts are assuring us isn’t involved.

Boxturtle (Glowing green honey, anyone?)

“a remarkable advance” Seems almost miraculous, actually. Maybe if we could frame it that way–”Hit’s a miracle, by God!”–the righties would begin throwing some money at widespread stem-cell development and use.

This is surreal. Why, why, why? In some universe it must made sense. Not in any universe I know.

you are right. I misunderestimated this.

It’s actually mind boggling;

non operable, terminal throat cancer, apparently cured, using stem cells and a prosthetic plastic larnyx.

bizarre, horrible, weird.

from a woman no less.