Thu, 31 Jul 2008 11:30:59 GMT

Oil Prices Off More Than $3, Continuing Slide. Oil fell more than $3 a barrel, to slightly more than $121, as signs of weakening demand outweighed a disruption to Nigerian oil output. It was the lowest price since mid-May.

[NYT > Business]

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 11:42:33 GMT

NASA's First Solar-Sail Powered Craft Set to Ride on a Stream of Photons Next Week [Come Sail Away] . NASA's getting set to launch the NanoSail-D next week, its first solar-sail powered spacecraft which catches photons like wind on a 10 square-meter sail made of a thin metallic polymer. The craft... [Gizmodo]

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 11:37:03 GMT

German duke sells B.C. land to Nature Conservancy. $125-million for 55,000 hectares is largest purchase of private land for conservation purposes

[The Globe and Mail - Front Page News]

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 11:33:36 GMT

Scientists Discover What Makes Northern Lights Dance. NASA scientists, using a fleet of satellites plus ground-based observers, have discovered the phenomenon that causes the aurora borealis to flicker and "dance" -- and it's called magnetic reconnection.
[Wired Top Stories]

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 11:54:31 GMT

The Energy Challenge: Gassing Up With Garbage. After years of false starts, a new industry selling motor fuel made from waste is getting a big push in the U.S., with the first commercial sales possible within months.

[NYT > Business]

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 12:32:16 GMT

The contradictions of Le Corbusier. Arts & entertainment: Steve Rose goes in search of the man who designed the 20th century [Latest news, sport, business, comment and reviews from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk]

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 12:08:38 GMT

Apple brags more than one million iPhone 3Gs were sold in first weekend. You've been a busy bunch, as 10 million applications were downloaded too [All]

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 12:07:46 GMT

Tesla Roadsters now rolling off production line. The wait for much-anticipated all-electric sports car is almost over, as manufacturing begins this summer with anticipated ramping up later this year. [CNET News.com]

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 12:02:32 GMT

Russian warships return to Arctic. Read full story for latest details.

[CNN.com]

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 11:51:58 GMT

Happy Bastille Day!. We've had Edith Piaf singing "Le Marseillaise" since cock-crow here, so it must be Bastille Day! Go behead some aristos and tell 'em "Edith sent ya!"

On 5 May 1789, Louis XVI convened the Estates-General to hear their grievances. The deputies of the Third Estate representing the common people (the two others were clergy and nobility) decided to break away and form a National Assembly. On 20 June the deputies of the Third Estate took the Tennis Court Oath, swearing not to separate until a constitution had been established. They were gradually joined by delegates of the other estates; Louis started to recognize their validity on 27 June. The assembly re-named itself the National Constituent Assembly on 9 July, and began to function as a legislature and to draft a constitution.
In the wake of the 11 July dismissal of the royal finance minister Jacques Necker, the people of Paris, fearful that they and their representatives would be attacked by the royal military, and seeking to gain arms for the general populace, stormed the Bastille, a prison which had often held people jailed on the basis of lettre de cachet, arbitrary royal indictments that could not be appealed. Besides holding a large cache of arms, the Bastille had been known for holding political prisoners whose writings had displeased the royal government, and was thus a symbol of the absolutism of the monarchy. As it happened, at the time of the siege in July 1789 there were only seven inmates, none of great political significance.

Link

[Boing Boing]

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 03:25:35 GMT

Scientists' bold plan for Mars. Environment, science & technology: Mission would be most audacious and technologically challenging space mission since Apollo programme [Latest news, sport, business, comment and reviews from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk]