The Little Ice Age (LIA), a mysterious period of cooling that occurred after the Medieval Warm Period and extended from the 16th into the 19th centuries, might have been caused by a series of volcanic eruptions and sustained by sea ice.

During the cold spell, advancing glaciers destroyed northern European towns and froze the Thames River in London, as well as the canals in the Netherlands, places that are now completely ice-free. The climate feedback system explains how this cold period could be sustained for such a long period, states Gifford Miller, a geological scientist at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and lead study researcher.

I think we have so many people - builders, buyers, banks - are ‘snakebit’ that even with low interest rates, a real turn around could be a long way off.

Four British men fueled by the words of a U.S.-born Muslim cleric pleaded guilty on Wednesday to involvement in an al Qaeda inspired plot to spread terror and cause economic damage by bombing the London Stock Exchange at Christmastime.

But on Wednesday four of the defendants pleaded guilty at Woolwich Crown Court to involvement in the Stock Exchange plan, and the five other British Muslims to lesser charges.

It still leaves them plenty of room to make inside trades.

Washington has a public relations problem, and Obama and Congress have narrowed in on the STOCK Act as their latest PR strategy. If it becomes law this year, no progress will have been made on the real reason Congress’ approval rating is at a record low — the corrosive influence of money in politics — which is exactly the reason why the STOCK Act is being pursued as the solution in the first place. ...

... A key characteristic of systemic corruption is that the system is unwilling to recognize the corruption and, therefore, is not capable of fixing itself. President Obama’s campaign may have calculated that it is politically advantageous for him to be critical of Congress, but the fact is that he has thrived from the revolving door and corporate contributions more than any other politician in U.S. history. Congress is not going to fix itself, and the White House is even further entrenched in the system. Reform has to come from outside of Washington.

More here:

“I expect senators on both sides of the aisle will have a number of amendments to this legislation. But one thing that stands out is the fact that the president is calling on Congress to live up to a standard that he isn’t requiring of his own employees,” McConnell said.

“So I think we can expect at least one amendment that calls on executive branch employees to live up to the same standards that they would set for others. If the goal here is for everybody to play by the same rules, that shouldn’t mean everybody — except those in the executive branch. After all, if anybody has access to privileged information at the moment it’s them,” McConnell said.

... but, outside of this blog and some online lessons, I have no interest in ‘social media’.

I’m not sure that leaving this to the FBI will help.

Manuka honey could help clear chronic wound infections and even prevent them from developing in the first place, according to a new study published in Microbiology. The findings provide further evidence for the clinical use of manuka honey to treat bacterial infections in the face of growing antibiotic resistance. ...

Manuka honey is derived from nectar collected by honey bees foraging on the manuka tree found growing in New Zealand and parts of Australia. It is included in modern licensed wound-care products around the world. Manuka honey has been reported to inhibit more than 80 species of bacteria, yet the antimicrobial properties of honey have not yet been fully exploited by modern medicine as its mechanisms of action are not fully understood. ...

The first pictures of an accused terrorist arrested at O’Hare Airport and a fascinating back-story being told about how the refugee from Uzbekistan ended up in America.
Federal authorities in Chicago are in the process of transferring Jamshid Muhtorov to Colorado where he is charged.

That terror group opposes the government of Uzbekistan, where Muhtorov is from and where U.S. officials began tracking him several years ago, when he was considered a human rights activist trying to help his countrymen.

More here:
US, UN helped Colo. man now accused of terrorism.

On this day in 1835, a paranoid schizophrenic named Richard Lawrence tried to assassinate President Andrew Jackson. Lawrence’s two pistols failed to fire, and he was subdued by Jackson and the crowd around him, which included Davy Crockett.

Hard on the heels of $118 million “stimulus” recipient Ener1 declaring bankruptcy comes news that another highly-touted “green energy success story” just laid off two-thirds of its workforce.  From the Las Vegas Sun:

Just seven months after California-based solar power company Amonix Inc. opened its largest manufacturing plant, in North Las Vegas, the company’s contractor has laid off nearly two-thirds of its workforce.

Flextronics Industrial, the Singapore solar panel manufacturer that partnered with Amonix to staff the new $18 million, 214,000-square-foot plant, laid off about 200 of its 300-plus employees Tuesday.

Especially if it’s been painted.

An innovative low-cost smart paint that can detect microscopic faults in wind turbines, mines and bridges before structural damage occurs is being developed by researchers at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow.

The environmentally-friendly paint uses nanotechnology to detect movement in large structures, and could shape the future of safety monitoring.

Much ink has been poured over the fact that 51% of tax filers paid no federal income taxes in 2009.  There is less attention directed towards the more outrageous statistic; 30% of tax filers had a negative tax liability that year.  In other words, they made money off the tax system.

The Uzbek refugee facing terrorism charges in Denver was a merchant turned human-rights activist who tried to defend farmers, opposed Uzbekistan’s dictator after a 2005 massacre, endured a detention that left him bloody, saw his sister arrested on a false murder charge, then fled by night to neighboring Kyrgyzstan dressed as a woman.

... and haven’t been for some time. But ...

Scientific Study Proves Blogging Therapeutic for Teens