In Eastern Colorado, the human tide ebbs. Cheyenne county, which had 3,700 inhabitants in 1930, now has just 1,900. And the drift away from the area seems to be speeding up. In the old county jail, which is now a museum, a photograph from 1910 shows a three-storey schoolhouse towering over the town of Cheyenne Wells. The new school is one storey high-yet it already seems too big. America as a whole is growing briskly. Between 2000 and 2006 its population swelled by 6.4%, according to the Census Bureau. Yet the expansion has passed many areas by. Two-fifths of all counties are shrinking (see map). In general, people are moving to places that are warm, mountainous or suburban. They are leaving many rural areas, with the most relentless decline in a broad band stretching from western Texas to North Dakota. In parts, the Great Plains are more sparsely populated now than they were in the late 19th century, when the government declared them to be deserted. A big reason is improvements in farming technology. Tractors in eastern Colorado do not resemble the vehicles that trundle around farms on the east coast and in Europe. They are many-wheeled monsters, […]
The difference between Thane Heins’ perpetual-motion invention Perepiteia and last year’s flop Steorn Orbo is that when it was demonstrated last week-to scientists at MIT, no less-it appeared to really work. The result of more than 20 years tinkering, Perepiteia defies conventional thought, apparently using magnets to accelerate a turning electrical motor, as the video shows. The invention was refined in conjunction with engineers at the University of Ottawa, and its debut at MIT certainly raised a few eyebrows, even causing electromagnetics expert Markus Zahn to praise it cautiously: It’s an unusual phenomena I wouldn’t have predicted in advance. But I saw it. It’s real. Now I’m just trying to figure it out…To my mind this is unexpected and new, and it’s worth exploring all the possible advantages once you’re convinced it’s a real effect. The caution seems sensible: if it is a real effect then it will change the world, or the laws of physics. At the very least, it may have a real role to play in improving the efficiency of electrical motors. Heins named his invention after a Greek word meaning an action that ‘has the opposite effect to that intended,’ and […]
In 1993, Joel J. Kyle and his wife, Juanita, moved just over the Georgia border to Tennessee - and Joel Kyle vowed never to cross it again. Now, some Georgia lawmakers want the border to cross him, in a manner of speaking. A resolution in Georgia’s legislature proposes to move the Tennessee-Georgia boundary about a mile to the north of where it now lies, which could put Kyle right back into the state he left 15 years ago. The proposal elicited instant ridicule from residents of the area on Thursday, as well as tongue-in-cheek saber rattling from Tennessee lawmakers. One state senator offered to settle the issue with a football game. Another suggested floating an armada of University of Tennessee fans down the Tennessee River to defend the state’s territory. But behind the amusement is a serious issue that has bedeviled the Southeast: access to water. If the border is redrawn, the new state line would fall across Nickajack Reservoir. That would allow parched Georgians to tap into the waters of the dammed Tennessee River. Issue draws criticism Kyle, 69, said he has no desire to be annexed by Georgia, which he gladly departed […]
WASHINGTON — It’s almost as if people can barely stand the thought of President Bush and Congress anymore. Bush reached his lowest approval rating in The Associated Press-Ipsos poll on Friday as only 30 percent said they like the job he is doing, including an all-time low in his support by Republicans. Congress’ approval fell to just 22 percent, equaling its poorest grade in the survey. Both marks dropped by 4 percentage points since early January. The dour public mood seems to chiefly reflect distress over the doddering economy, which has seen job cuts, financial market slides and real estate losses stoke recession fears. Bush’s approval for handling the economy dove to 29 percent, a slide of 4 percentage points in a month and matching his low on that issue, with noticeable slumps among middle-income people, Southerners and city residents. ‘He’s spent billions of dollars on the war, and the economy here is suffering,’ said Ron Brathwaite, 41, a Democrat from Brooklyn, N.Y., who was interviewed in the poll. ‘If you’re leading this country, you should start fixing within this country.’ Bush and Congress have been overshadowed in recent months by a presidential campaign in which both […]
A new study done by U.S. researchers has found that people who feel sad are more prone to spending money, compared directly to people who are not sad. If you are depressed, it may be best to avoid the mallsBoston (dbTechno) – A new study done by U.S. researchers has found that people who feel sad are more prone to spending money, compared directly to people who are not sad. If you are depressed, it may be best to avoid the malls. The way in which the study was handled was very unique. Researchers had people view a sad video clip, or a clip which could cause some sort of sadness or depression, and clips which would have no impact at all. They were then asked to go and purchase a regular bottle of water at different price points. The results of the study showed that people who had viewed the sad videos and were in a more depressed state spent 300% more money to buy the same exact product as the people who were not shown the video to spark depression and sadness. The study has been presented at the Society for Social and Personality […]
Remote Viewing the Year 2060
