TOPEKA, Kan. — Conservative Republicans who pushed anti-evolution standards back into Kansas schools last year have lost control of the state Board of Education once again. The most closely watched race was in western Kansas, where incumbent conservative Connie Morris lost her Republican primary Tuesday. The former teacher had described evolution as ‘an age-old fairy tale” and ‘a nice bedtime story” unsupported by science. As a result of Tuesday’s vote, board members and candidates who believe evolution is well-supported by evidence will have a 6-4 majority. Evolution skeptics had entered the election with a two-person majority. Critics of Kansas’ science standards worried that if conservatives retained the board’s majority, it would lead to attempts in other states to copy the Kansas standards. ‘There are people around the country who would like to see the Kansas standards in their own states,” said Eugenie Scott, director of the National Center for Science Education in Oakland, Calif., which supports the teaching of evolution. Also Tuesday, Kansas Republicans chose a nominee to challenge Democratic Gov. Kathleen Sebelius in November. With 96 percent of the state’s precincts reporting, state Sen. Jim Barnett captured his party’s nomination with 36 percent of […]
Most women would choose a new iPod over a shopping spree at a clothing store and even over a romantic evening with someone special, according to Women’s Watch: Girls Gone Wired, a study of women and technology by Oxygen Media. According to Oxygen, a media network for woman, the study shows that the technology gender gap has virtually closed and that the majority of women are hungry, even voracious, for technology. The study shows that a full 79% of the female market is interested in and using technology. The good news for geeky guys? 77% of the women surveyed would even prefer a new plasma TV to a diamond solitaire necklace. Score! Survey Highlights: Technology is closing the gender gap – men and Women are digital peers * Similar number of devices owned: women (6.6) and men (6.9) * Similar number of devices used weekly: women (4.4) and men (4.9) Both women and men spend most of their waking hours interfacing with tech * Women (15 hrs/ day) and men (17 hrs/ day) Both own and use similar numbers of […]
OSLO — The oceans are teeming with 10 to 100 more types of bacteria than previously believed, many of them unknown, according to a study released on Monday that has jolted scientists’ understanding of evolution in the seas. Using a new genetic mapping technique, United States, Dutch and Spanish scientists said they found more than 20 000 different types of microbe in a single litre of water from deep sites in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. ‘These observations blow away all previous estimates of bacterial diversity in the ocean,’ said lead author Mitchell Sogin of the Marine Biological Laboratory at Wood’s Hole, Massachusetts. He said past studies had suggested that one litre of water would contain 1 000 to 3 000 types of microbe – the oldest form of life on the planet. Microbes make up more than 90 percent of the total mass of life in the seas, from bacteria to whales. ‘We’ve found 10 or maybe 100 times more diversity in sea water than anyone imagined was present,’ he said. ‘The study was part of a global Census of Marine Life and was published by the Proceedings of the US National Academy […]
Verizon and Qwest reported yesterday that the defection of their residential phone customers to cheaper Internet-based services picked up speed in the second quarter. But they said that strong sales of wireless and broadband services, as well as cost-cutting efforts, offset some of the losses. Verizon Communications, the nation’s No. 2 local phone carrier behind AT&T, earned $1.6 billion, or 55 cents a share, in the second quarter, a decline of 24 percent compared with $2.1 billion, or 75 cents a share, earned in the 2005 period. Revenue increased 26 percent, to $22.7 billion, partly because of revenue from MCI, which Verizon absorbed in January. If MCI’s revenue had been included in last year’s quarterly figures, the increase would have been 2.3 percent. Qwest Communications International, the fourth-largest carrier, earned $117 million, or 6 cents a quarter, in contrast to a $164 million loss a year earlier. It was the company’s second consecutive profit. Revenue was unchanged at $3.47 billion. Qwest’s continued recovery helped drive up its stock 61 cents yesterday, or 7.8 percent, to $8.40. Verizon’s stock sagged 55 cents, or 1.6 percent, to $33.27. Verizon lost just over a million local lines in the […]
DETROIT — Amid steep gas prices, Toyota Motor Corp. rode its reputation for fuel-efficient cars to a double-digit sales increase in July and outsold Ford in the U.S. for the first month ever. Honda Motor Co. also reported robust sales. U.S. automakers experienced a moribund July as sales plummeted from a year ago, when heavy discounts spurred a near record month for the auto industry. For General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and DaimlerChrysler AG’s Chrysler Group, the steepest declines were in trucks and sport utility vehicles, the high-margin items on which the three companies are heavily dependent. Both Honda and Toyota credited their reputations for fuel efficiency and strength in small cars for boosting them during a period when retail gasoline prices have been near $3 per gallon in most parts of the country. Overall, 1.49 million vehicles were sold last month, a 17.4 percent decrease from July 2005. The seasonally adjusted sales rate, which shows what total sales would be if they remained at the same rate for the entire year, was 17.24 million, according to Autodata Corp. Automakers sold 17 million vehicles in 2005. GM, the world’s largest automaker, said its sales fell […]
Remote Viewing the Year 2060
