Researchers Plan to Drill Deepest Ever Hole in the Earth

This is a very interesting article and it caught my attention. Is it really possible to get to the center of the earth. May sound crazy but it can be possible or o they in this article. It's no journey to the center of the Earth. Not yet, anyway. But scientists do intend to drill the deepest hole ever made in the Earth's crust, deep beneath the oceans off the coast of Costa Rica, an effort to collect samples of the planet's mantle for the first time ever, according to a report at National Geographic News. Samples pulled from deep within the planet -- extracted by a Japanese drill ship equipped with a whopping six miles of drilling pipe -- would rival moon rocks in terms of scientific importance, they claim.  Between Earth's molten core and hard, thin crust lies the roughly 2,0000-miles-thick mantle, which contains the vast bulk of Earth's rocks. But we don't know much about them, because all we have are bits that have come to the surface via volcanoes or those trapped in ancient mountain belts. And existing mantle samples no longer really represent mantle conditions and makeup, experts say, since they've been altered in the long process of coming to the surface, so they providing only tantalizing glimpses of what lies below. Even so, drilling into the mantle would be "very expensive" and would require new drillbit and lubricant designs, among other things, according to a paper published in the journal Nature. But if all goes as planned, drilling could begin by 2020

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/03/25/researchers-plan-drill-deepest-hole-earth/

Indiana Prosecutor Suggested Fake Attack on Wisconsin Governor Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/03/25/indiana-prosecutor-suggested-fake-attack-wisconsin-governor/#ixzz1HxH4dxJ4

An Indiana prosecutor said one of his deputies resigned Thursday after admitting he sent an email to Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker suggesting the Republican fake an attack on himself to discredit the public employee unions protesting his plan to strip them of nearly all collective bargaining rights.  Cooper said Lam initially denied sending the email and said someone had hacked into his email account. But Lam later acknowledged he had written the message, and resigned hours before the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism reported the contents publicly Thursday.  Lam's email was sent amid daily protests at the Wisconsin Capitol against Walker's plan to take away public employees' rights to collectively bargain for anything except wages no higher than inflation.  "We cannot have the public unions hold the taxpayer hostage with their outrageous demands," said the email, which urged Walker to "stay strong." Lam is the second Indiana prosecutor to lose his job over volatile comments about the Wisconsin protests. Jeffrey Cox, a deputy attorney general, was fired last month after tweeting that police should use live ammunition against labor protesters. Wisconsin Republicans eventually used a procedural maneuver to pass the collective bargaining measure without Democrats who had fled to block a vote and Walker has signed it in to law. But a judge has issued a temporary restraining order to block the law from taking effect while courts consider a lawsuit alleging the Republicans' move violated the state's open meetings law and constitution.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/03/25/indiana-prosecutor-suggested-fake-attack-wisconsin-governor/

Boy,10, arrested for driving off in parents SUV in a snit

I chose this article because i thought it was crazy and i didn't know 10 year old's could drive. A 10-year-old boy took his parents' SUV for a joyride that came to a crashing end. Zilan Fitch became angry after he was punished so he decided to take his mother's SUV. The Montgomery County boy's mother said she panicked when she looked out her window Wednesday at 9:10 a.m. and saw her son backing out of their driveway. "By the time I got down to the driveway, he's down the street,". She hopped into another vehicle and followed Zilan down Rayford Road. She said he was staying in his lane and even used his turn signals. She tired stopping him but he would floor it. She called police for help. Zilan would not stop driving on the busy street during rush hour. He even led deputies on a chase.He was hit from behind at a stop light but he still kept going. He finally stopped at a doughnut shop. No one was injured. He was charged with a felony  unauthorized use of a motor vehicle and  was taken to juvenile detention but was released to his family.

Tsunami: What Causes the Deadly Waves?

I chose this article because it was interesting and i wanted to know more about tsunamis. Tsunamis, which can travel over the ocean surface from many hundreds of miles, can be generated when chunks of the planet's crust separate under the seafloor, causing an earthquake. Here's what happens: One slab of lifting crust essentially rapidly acts as a giant paddle, transferring its energy to the water.Tsunamis can also be caused by volcanic eruptions, underwater detonations and even landslides. The resulting waves are hard to predict for several reasons. Nobody knows how a quake has affected the seafloor until hours, days or even months after the event. And a tsunami is almost  unexpected on the open ocean,which rises to full velocity only as it nears the shore.  Not all seafloor earthquakes will generate a tsunami — if the friction between the crustal plates occurs very deep below the ocean floor or move in a way that causes a minimal paddle effect, a tsunami isn't as likely to form.

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/03/11/tsunami-causes-deadly-waves/

Old people suffer abandonment, cold in wake of tsunami

In Japan's disaster, the elderly have borne the brunt of the calamity. This became more and more clear as shocking and heartbreaking stories emerged on Friday from a nation hit hard by disaster and despair.  "We feel very helpless and very sorry for them," said Chuei Inamura, a Fukushima government official. As retrieving bodies increasingly becomes the focus of rescue crews in Japan's northeast, it's clear that last Friday's quake and tsunami — believed to have killed 10,000 — took their heaviest toll on the elderly in this fast-aging nation, where nearly one person in four is over 65. Many, unable to flee fast enough, perished. Survivors have lost medicines. Hospitals have lost power and water. Sometimes, the consequences have been fatal.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42150705/ns/world_news-asiapacific/

Obama calls for Congress to pass education reforms

President Barack Obama called for Congress to pass education reforms by the time students return to school next fall. Mindful of the budget debate currently enveloping Washington, Obama insisted that education funding must remain robust because it is vital to the nation's future success. The Elementary and Secondary Education Act was originally passed in 1965 and requires periodic reauthorization. The current version of the law, which was passed on a bipartisan basis in 2002, requires states to set higher standards and to have greater accountability through standardized testing. The administration, which has been meeting with congressional leaders to hash out changes before any reauthorization vote, believes current law is too punitive and has led to a too-narrow curriculum and lower standards.
http://www.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/03/14/no.child.left.behind/index.html

States Spend Almost Four Times More Per Capita on Incarcerating Prisoners Than Educating Students, Studies Say

I choose this article because were talking about education in class and it interesting. An examination of state budgets has revealed that most states, despite spending more money overall on education, are spending three to four times more per capita incarcerating prisoners than they are educating students. According to research gathered from the Department of Justice, Georgia lawmakers, for example,spend about $18,000 a year to house one inmate in a state prison and on education they spend about one-third to put a child in public education.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/03/14/states-spend-times-incarcerating-educating-studies-say-464156987/

Is that a monkey in your bra, or ... oh, OK, it's a monkey

A woman turned a few heads when she walked into a rural Virginia courthouse with a tiny monkey clad in a pink-and-white dress tucked in her bra. The woman brought the palm-sized marmoset to Amherst County Courthouse on Thursday for a hearing in Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court. Officials apparently didn't notice the monkey until the woman went to an office to complete some paperwork.

Japan's quake toll set to exceed 1,000

A devastating tsunami triggered by the biggest earthquake on record in Japan looked set to kill at least 1,000 people along the northeastern coast on Friday after a wall of water swept away everything in its path. The unfolding disaster in the wake of the 8.9 magnitude earthquake and 10-meter (33-feet) high tsunami prompted offers of search and rescue help from 45 countries. Stunning TV footage showed a muddy torrent of water carrying cars and wrecked homes at high speed across farmland near the coastal city of Sendai, home to one million people and which lies 300 km (180 miles) northeast of Tokyo. Ships had been flung onto a harbor wharf, where they lay helplessly on their side. Boats, cars and trucks were tossed around like toys in the water after a small tsunami hit the town of Kamaichi in northern Japan. Kyodo news agency reported that contact had been lost with four trains in the coastal area.Daylight, just an hour away, looked set to reveal further death and devastation, especially after two strong aftershocks that struck during the night in the northwest of Japan's main island. Japanese politicians pushed for an emergency budget to fund relief efforts after Kan asked them to "save the country," Kyodo news agency reported. Japan is already the most heavily indebted major economy in the world, meaning any funding efforts would be closely scrutinized by financial markets.

German radio runs controversial funeral contest

A German local radio station is offering a competition prize much closer to home than an exotic holiday or tickets for a celebrity concert. How about a cheque to cover your own funeral? That is what the lucky winner will get in Radio Galaxy's competition in Aschaffenburg, north Bavaria. More than 600 contestants have sent in their own epitaph for their headstone. One of the radio's presenters, Jens Pflueger, defended the competition, saying it was aimed at breaking society's "taboo" about death and getting young people to talk about it. The prize is 3,000 euros (£2,578; $4,195) which has to be spent on death insurance - money that will cover funeral expenses. "We want people to send in their own epitaphs. If they send someone else's quote that's OK, but for me that's not creative enough," he told the BBC.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12663460

Ohio school sorry for making black student 'slave'

The mother of a black Ohio fifth grader assigned to play a slave for a social studies lesson says the school should be more sensitive. Ten-year-old Nikko says the class was randomly divided into "masters" and "slaves" and that the only other black student got to be a master. Burton says her son refused to take part in a simulated slave auction and was sent back to his desk. Burton says she appreciates the apology, but the exercise was inappropriate. The school district said in a statement Thursday that officials acted promptly once the concern was raised.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41905250/ns/us_news-life/

Venezuela says Libya OKs Chavez mediation plan

Moammar Gadhafi's government has authorized Venezuela to select countries for an effort to mediate an end to Libya's crisis and to coordinate the effort, Venezuela's foreign minister said Fridy. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who calls Gadhafi a friend and ally, has proposed creating a group of "friendly countries" to help mediate in the conflict. Gadhafi's opponents in Libya, however, have shown no willingness to negotiate as long as he remains in power. Countries including the U.S. and Italy also have been cool to Chavez's proposal. The idea won support Friday from the foreign ministers of Cuba, Ecuador and Bolivia as well as from other officials representing Nicaragua, Dominica and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. They joined Maduro in Caracas for a meeting of nations belonging to the Venezuela-led Bolivarian Alternative bloc, or ALBA.   Support for the mediation proposal by Cuba, Nicaragua, Ecuador and Bolivia shows "how important the ALBA is for this world of today, which before the silence of the world has been left as the voice," Chavez said. He said time is of the essence in creating a "working group of coordination with other countries."  Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez praised Chavez's proposal and called on supporters to work on building "an international movement ... against a NATO military intervention in Libya and in Arab countries."

'Baby Gaga' breast milk ice cream removed from shop

Local government officials have confiscated ice cream made with human breast milk from a London shop amid concerns the dessert is unsafe. A spokeswoman from Westminster City Council said Monday it was responding to two complaints from the public over whether a shop should be selling edibles made from other people's bodily fluids and awaiting guidance from Britain's Food Standards Agency. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in keeping with council policy. The official said the ice cream, marketed as "Baby Gaga" and launched last week, is being tested with the full cooperation of The Icecreamists, the parlor marketing the dessert.
Viruses, including hepatitis, can be passed on through breast milk.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41828425/ns/business-world_business/