Thursday, January 25, 2007

Studies done on germs and bacteria performed by researchers at the University of Florida show that a dirty kitchen sponge can be cleaned and “sterilized” by microwaving it for 2 minutes, but researchers warn to wet the sponge first.

“People often put their sponges and scrubbers in the dishwasher, but if they really want to decontaminate them and not just clean them, they should use the microwave,” said the professor who was in charge of the study that discovered the results, Gabriel Bitton.

“Basically what we find is that we could knock out most bacteria in two minutes. The microwave is a very powerful and an inexpensive tool for sterilization,” added Bitton.

The sponges that researchers studied, were placed in “raw wastewater” and then put into a microwave to be “zapped,” according to Bitton. The wastewater was a “witch’s brew of fecal bacteria, viruses, protozoan parasites and bacterial spores, including Bacillus cereus spores,” said Bitton.

Researchers say that at least 99% of the bacteria, viruses, spores and parasites in kitchen spongees can be destroyed or “inactivated” by simply microwaving the wet sponge, on the highest power, for two minutes.

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) have made a statement saying the inflation rate of the United Kingdom measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased to 4% in January 2011. In December 2010, this figure was 3.7%. According to BBC News Online, 4% is the highest CPI that the UK has experienced since November 2008.

There are various reasons for the raised British inflation rate, including value added tax (VAT) increasing from 17.5% to 20% on January 4 and the value of crude oil rising. The inflation rate of the Retail Price Index in the country has increased to 5.1%; previously, the value was 4.8%. The CPI has now been a minimum of a percentage point higher than the intended 2% target for one year and two months.

The ONS revealed that the price of petrol per litre, which the CPI measured at £1.27 (US$2.04, €1.51) (£5.77/ Imperial gallon), was a record peak. The rising values of tobacco, alcohol, hotels, restaurants, transport and furniture are also said to have caused the increase in VAT. Between December 2010 and January 2011, the rate of the CPI increased by 0.1%, the first time that inflation rose during these two months since records commenced in 1997. The ONS have stated that “[t]wo of the main factors that had an impact on the January data are the increase in the standard rate of Value Added Tax (VAT) to 20% and the continued increase in the price of crude oil”.

Mervyn King, the current Governor of the Bank of England, has written a letter and sent it to George Osborne, the present Chancellor of the Exchequer of the British government. The letter provides an explanation for the inflation outlook and what can be done to overcome it. Within the letter, King states that the inflation is anticipated to increase to 5% within the next few months.

“The MPC’s central judgement, under the assumption that Bank rate increases in line with market expectations, remains that inflation will fall back so that it is about as likely to be above the target as below it two to three years ahead,” Mervyn King stated in the letter. “The MPC judges that attempting to bring inflation back to the target quickly risks generating undesirable volatility in output and would increase the chances of undershooting the target in the medium term.”

During the last week, the UK interest rates remained at 0.5%. The Bank of England has kept this figure at half a percent for twenty-three consecutive months.

Friday, November 6, 2009

The unemployment rate in the United States has surpassed ten percent, according to figures released by the US Department of Labor on Friday.

The jobless rate, now at 10.2%, is the highest it has been since April 1983, and was an increase over September’s level of 9.8%. 190,000 jobs in total were lost last month, and 8.2 million total people have become unemployed since the recession officially began in December 2007.

“It’s pretty disappointing overall. Job losses are not moderating as quickly as I had hoped despite those earlier indicators on jobs,” economic analyst Richard Franulovich at the Westpac financial services company said.

Some economists say the jobless rate could reach 10.5% next year because employers are still reluctant to hire. Economist James Shugg predicted the weakness in the US job market is expected to continue.

“It is a lot easier for firms to make the decision not to lay someone off than it is actually to decide to take someone on,” Shugg said. “I think we are still at that point, the firms are getting less aggressive in terms of job cutting. But putting people on is still a little way to come yet.”

Despite the news, most analysts have said that this is an improvement in a way, as the rate of job losses has slowed in the past year. This January, for instance, saw 741,000 job cuts. The US gross domestic product also grew by 3.5% from July through September. President Barack Obama, however, suggested that the jobless rate may still continue to rise in the immediate future. “We are just not where we need to be yet. We’ve got a long way to go,” he said.

Monday, August 9, 2010

A faulty ammonia line fitting delayed repairs to a cooling pump on the International Space Station Saturday during an eight-hour spacewalk.

During the spacewalk, astronauts Doug Wheelock and Tracy Caldwell Dyson were to repair a faulty cooling system, which failed on July 31. The faulty cooling unit was to be swapped with a new one that was previously in storage to solve the problem; however, an ammonia leak in the final line to be disconnected from the unit halted attempts for a repair.

Upon discovering the problem, the astronauts were instructed to reconnect the line and install a positioning device to maintain the proper pressure on the line.

Upon completing the spacewalk, Wheelock and Dyson spent additional time in the airlock to get rid of any ammonia particles that may have attached themselves to their spacesuits.

NASA officials are analyzing possible solutions to the issue to attempt during a planned spacewalk Wednesday. Wednesday’s spacewalk was previously intended to be second in the series to repair the cooling system by reattaching fluid and electrical lines.

Before Saturday’s spacewalk, NASA officials projected that up to three spacewalks may be needed to repair the cooling system.

Most of the space station’s non-critical scientific components have been temporarily shut-down in order to reduce heat generation with only one cooling loop available to the station.

NASA reports that the station’s crew, three Russians and three Americans, are not in any danger; however, it is in the best interests of the crew to restore systems to nominal condition as soon as possible.

The eight-hour spacewalk is reportedly the longest ISS-based spacewalk, and the sixth longest in the history of human spaceflight.

Thursday, January 12, 2017

United States President Barack Obama gave his official farewell address on Tuesday night from McCormick Place in Chicago, reflecting on personal and national accomplishments. This is expected to be his last major speech before officially handing the reins to president-elect Donald Trump on January 20.

Obama’s speech was wide-ranging. He thanked his family and the nation, spoke of the need for unity, noted the country’s accomplishments and need for improvement in areas like education and civil rights, and spoke about the need for pride in U.S. accomplishments, citing milestones of U.S. history and of his presidency specifically. “It’s why GIs gave their lives at Omaha Beach and Iwo Jima; Iraq and Afghanistan – and why men and women from Selma to Stonewall were prepared to give theirs as well.”

The president also addressed his country’s troubled history with race and racism, an issue many black citizens feel he has avoided. Despite this, Chauncy Devega of Salon described the president as “a role model of calm, cool reflective black masculinity: a man utterly at home in his own skin.” Obama described the concept of a post-racial U.S. “unrealistic” and particularly cited the need for reform in education and the criminal justice system and greater acceptance of scientific evidence, particularly evidence supporting action to counteract climate change.

However, publications including The Washington Post and Salon have given particular focus to another aspect of the president’s address: the country’s increasing political tensions and controversies involving access to news and information, both accurate and inaccurate. “We become so secure and our bubbles,” said Obama, “that we start accepting only information, whether it’s true or not, that fits our opinions instead of basing our opinions on the evidence that is out there,” calling this trend “a third threat to our democracy.”

The Washington Post characterized Obama’s comment, “If every economic issue is framed as a struggle between a hard-working white middle class and an undeserving minority, then workers of all shades will be left fighting for scraps while the wealthy withdraw further into their private enclaves,” as a “not-so-subtle jab” at the campaign tactics of President-elect Donald Trump. The Telegraph describes Obama’s warnings about the need to protect democracy as “a thinly veiled slight to the divisive rhetoric of Donald Trump’s election campaign, which included attacks on Muslims, the disabled, women and immigrants.” The president went on to call on the public to “reject the first dawning of every attempt to alienate any portion of our country from the rest or to enfeeble the sacred ties that make us one America. We weaken those ties when we allow our political dialogue to become so corrosive […] We weaken those ties when we define some of us as more American than others when we write off the whole system as inevitably corrupt and when we sit back and blame the leaders we elect without examining our own role in electing them. It falls to each of us to be those anxious, jealous guardians of our democracy.”

Despite this, when the mention of Donald Trump brought boos from the crowd, Obama reiterated the importance of the long history of peaceful transfers of power from one president to the next: “No no no no no. […] I committed to President-elect Trump that my administration would ensure the smoothest possible transition, just as President Bush did for me.” However, this was not unaccompanied by a call to action. Near the end of the speech, he insisted citizens dissatisfied with elected officials should “lace up your shoes, grab a clipboard, get some signatures and run for office yourself.”

Overall, the departing president’s speech focused on accomplishment, echoing the “Yes we can” slogan from his 2008 campaign: “If I have told you eight years ago, that America would reverse a great recession, reboot our auto industry, and unleash the longest stretch of job creation in our history. If I had told you, that we would open up a new chapter with the Cuban people, shut down Iran’s nuclear weapons program without firing a shot, take out the mastermind of 9/11[…] If I had told you that we would win a marriage equality and secure the right to health insurance for another twenty million of our fellow citizens. If I had told you all that, you might have said our sights were set a little too high. But that’s what we did.”

But when the crowd began shouting “Four more years! Four more years!” Obama, with a small laugh, answered, “I can’t do that.”