Eideard

Scientists have found that it is possible to alter the genetic makeup of the bacterium E. coli to and induce it to produce biodiesel. Most microbes, including E. coli, make and process fatty acids, one of the ingredients of biodiesel; however, what they do with it often leaves something to be desired when it comes to fuel production. By modifying E. coli, scientists are able to make it produce fatty esters, which are the primary components of biodiesel.

Engineering bacteria to do a scientist’s bidding is a good way to obtain desired materials, such as natural compounds for drugs, or in this case, fuels. Since E. coli is a well known and often-studied microorganism, and is able to produce fatty acids before any alteration, it is an excellent workhorse for synthetic biology…

The altered E. coli can receive various inputs, including partially processed material like glucose and ethanol, and produce fatty acid methyl esters, or biodiesel. The bacteria also produce some fatty alcohols, waxes, and simple sugars that may be harvested and used for other purposes. The authors of the paper argue that the process has advantages over corn ethanol and other plant oil-derived biodiesels, as its production doesn’t require the use of anything that could be a food source, which means no issues with higher prices or questionable land use practices.

There is no shortage of agri-business giants capable of supplying us with all the e.coli test materials we would ever need.

President Obama mentioned an $8 billion investment in high-speed train systems across the country in his State of the Union speech on Wednesday.

Details released Thursday said the investment would be grants from the government’s $862 billion economic stimulus package to begin the planning and initial work on creating the first nationwide program of high-speed intercity passenger rail service.

Overall, projects and planning involving the rail corridors will take place in 31 states, according to a White House statement.

RTFA for key cities on the network

Obama and Vice President Joe Biden were scheduled to travel to Tampa, Florida…to formally announce the program. Other Cabinet members and administration officials also were visiting sites of the program in other states…

The statement described the program as “a long-term venture in which states will need to plan projects, purchase and lay track, build and assemble equipment, and construct or upgrade train stations, tunnels and bridges.”

Here in New Mexico we just finished construction, opening up rail service from south of Albuquerque to Santa Fe, the state capitol. The road bed looks good enough to me to serve high-speed trains; but, realistically, we haven’t the population and traffic [yet] to justify such a service.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, FDA, USDA…are investigating a multistate outbreak of Salmonella Montevideo.

Testing conducted by the Hygienic Laboratory at the University of Iowa confirmed on Jan. 25, that this strain of salmonella is linked to the outbreak that has sickened 187 people in 39 states (one case in Iowa) since July 1, 2009. No deaths have been reported. Thirty-five people have been hospitalized.

On Jan. 23, Daniele International, of Pascoag, R.I., announced a recall of more than 1.2 million pounds of its ready-to-eat sausage products because of the possible salmonella contamination.

The Iowa Department of Public Health and public health officials in Plymouth County, Iowa, investigated the one case of Salmonella Montevideo in the state. They discovered leftover suspected sausage product frozen in the individual’s home and immediately sent the meat to the Hygienic Laboratory for testing. That patient has since recovered.

Using DNA fingerprinting, the laboratory confirmed that the meat product contained the same Salmonella Montevideo strain as the national outbreak, which also matched the salmonella isolate from the patient. The Hygienic Laboratory is the first lab in the nation to confirm this connection…

People with salmonella develop diarrhea, fever and abdominal cramps 12 to 72 hours after infection. The illness usually lasts four to seven days. Infants, elderly persons and those with weakened immunes systems are more likely than others to develop severe illness.

More information about the recalled products is available on the Food Safety and Inspection Service Web site. Go there and really scare yourself.

Hundreds of gang members and their associates in 83 U.S. cities were arrested in a weeklong sweep dubbed “Project Big Freeze,” U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said.

ICE said last week’s operation was its largest to date targeting transnational gangs. Almost half of the 476 arrested were members of gangs with ties to Mexican, South American and Asian drug cartels.

Twenty-six of the arrests were in South Texas, including nine in San Antonio, 14 in the Rio Grande Valley and three in Laredo…

The South Texas arrests targeted members of the Mexican Mafia, Texas Syndicate, Latin Kings, Hermanos Pistoleros and Vallucos, the latter an emerging gang in the Rio Grande Valley, said ICE spokeswoman Nina Pruneda…

In Wednesday’s announcement, ICE pointed to the arrests of career criminals on parole or immigration violations, including the Chicago arrest of a Mexican citizen in the Latin Kings and the Philadelphia arrest of a Ukrainian member of the Warlocks motorcycle gang.

According to ICE, 517 suspects were arrested in 83 cities across the country. Forty-four of the arrests were made in the Charlotte region including Gastonia (28), Charlotte (9), Bessemer City (4), Mount Holly (2), and Stanley (1). An additional 10 arrests were made in the Winston Salem area…

ICE says street gangs are often tied to foreign-national members and they are involved in a variety of activities including human smuggling and trafficking, narcotics smuggling and distribution; identity theft and benefit fraud; money laundering and bulk cash smuggling; weapons smuggling and arms trafficking; cyber crimes; export violations and other crimes…

Of the 476 arrested, 151 were U.S. citizens and 366 were illegals who will face deportation now or once their criminal prosecution is complete, authorities said.

These are reports from newspapers in just two of the cities within the range of the drug busts. Was there any coverage in your local press, TV talking heads?

Here in New Mexico, TV stations will cover a story like this. Not my local newspaper, though. I searched the Santa Fe New Mexican for “Project Big Freeze” – and got weather reports. Too many local businesses rely on undocumentados to keep their margins up.

Daylife/Getty Images used by permission

Officials have agreed to pay $1.5 million to the daughter of a man fatally shot in the back by a transit police officer on New Year’s Day 2009 in Oakland, California.

A bystander’s cell-phone video of the shooting on a transit platform was widely circulated on the Internet and on news shows.

The Bay Area Rapid Transit train system late Wednesday announced the settlement over the killing of Oscar Grant, 22.

“It’s been a little over a year since we experienced the tragic death of Oscar Grant,” BART Board President James Fang said. “No matter what anyone’s opinion of the case may be, the sad fact remains this incident has left Tatiana without a father. The $1.5 million settlement will provide financial support for her.” Grant’s daughter, Tatiana, is 5.

The video showed then-Officer Johannes Mehserle, 27, pulling his gun and shooting Grant in the back as another officer kneeled on Grant.

The shooting sparked large protests in Oakland and led to Mehserle’s arrest on a murder charge. The case against him is pending.

There are no social or political excuses for a judicial system where and when a civil settlement can be reached before the criminal side of a case has been decided. Isn’t it time to sort of wheat from the chaff in due process?

A naked man found wedged in the chimney of a Lancashire supermarket has been arrested for burglary.

Police officers discovered him trapped in a chimney breast of a Tesco Express store in Pemberton, Wigan, reports the BBC…

Police said that because the man was naked he was taken to hospital as a precaution but was treated and discharged before being arrested.

A GMP spokeswoman said: “It is believed some his clothes came off as a result of him struggling to get out of the chimney.”

A 22-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of burglary and remains in police custody.

Sounds about right to me. He’d qualify for dumb crook of the day – except his plight is pretty common.

No one ever said crooks were especially bright.

I haven’t any special axe to grind for Democrats, New Mexico flavor or any other. But, just as I’ve tried to point out the benefits of Obama’s stimulus program in my neck of the prairie, I have to point out one more project brought to New Mexico by Governor Bill – that provides jobs, clean energy, another chunk of change to the landscape.

Something the conservative Dems and Republicans that clutter the halls of state government barely think about.

The NM plant will be 14 times larger than the largest existing plant in the USA

Spanish renewable energy company GA-Solar plans to build a 300-megawatt solar photovoltaic generating plant in eastern New Mexico.

The plant, to be located on 2,500 acres in Guadalupe County, will have enough installed capacity to power 50,000 homes, making it one of the largest PV solar projects in the world.

GA-Solar’s parent firm, Corporación Gestamp, will invest $1 billion to develop the project, which will take up to four years to construct. The company will employ 300 during construction, and will have 75 full-time employees once the plant is completed, said GA-Solar and Corporación Gestamp CEO Jon Riberas in a news release…

The project could attract a lot of investment from suppliers in the construction, solar and manufacturing industries. Among other things, Corporación Gestamp plans to source the racking equipment for the plant from local manufacturers, said New Mexico Economic Development Secretary Fred Mondragón…

Gov. Bill Richardson said the project reflects New Mexico’s leadership role in solar energy development.

Just another announcement for Governor Bill – while Roundhouse conservative beancounters grumble and plan to cut education and raise taxes on food.

Human beings are making it harder for extraterrestials to pick up our broadcasts and make contact, the world’s leading expert on the search for alien life warned yesterday.

At a special meeting on the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (Seti), the US astronomer Frank Drake – who has been seeking radio signals from alien civilisations for almost 50 years – told scientists that earthlings were making it less likely they would be heard in space.

Astronomers assumed that a standard technique for any alien intelligence trying to pinpoint other civilisations in the galaxy would involve seeking signals from TV, radio and radar broadcasts, Drake told the meeting at the Royal Society in London.

Scientists on Earth have been using this method, without success so far, to find evidence of intelligent aliens. The theory is that elsewhere in the galaxy other civilisations would probably be doing the same…

“The trouble is that we are making ourselves more and more difficult to be heard,” said Dr Drake. “We are broadcasting in much more efficient ways today and are making our signals fainter and fainter.”

There is some sort of special conceit in presuming advanced alien civilizations should have stayed with analog transmissions once digital version were available. At least long enough to find us, right?

Drivers of commercial trucks and buses are prohibited from texting under federal guidelines that U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced Tuesday.

“We want the drivers of big rigs and buses and those who share the roads with them to be safe,” LaHood said in a statement. “This is an important safety step, and we will be taking more to eliminate the threat of distracted driving.”

The prohibition is effective immediately. Truck and bus drivers who text while driving commercial vehicles may be subject to civil or criminal penalties of up to $2,750, the Department of Transportation said in a news release.

One of the nation’s largest groups representing professional truck drivers — the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association — expressed support for the goal but dismay at its implementation.

“We very much share in their goal, but their legal justification for taking immediate action raises many concerns.”

Let’s follow the model of Congress and waste several more years talking, talking, taking and providing guarantees for insurance companies.

It had long been rumoured that the Polish-born pontiff, who died five years ago, engaged in acts of penance and self-flagellation. The practice has now been confirmed by Monsignor Slawomir Oder, the Vatican “postulator” who has the task of reviewing John Paul’s life and preparing a case for him being made a saint.

In the new book, “Why he’s a saint“, Msgr Oder writes: “As members of the Pope’s close entourage heard with their own ears, Karol Wojtyla used to flagellate himself.

“In his wardrobe, in between all his robes, a special trouser belt hung on a coat hanger, which he used as a whip. He always took it with him when he went to Castel Gandolfo (the traditional summer residence of the popes outside Rome).”

In November a Polish nun claimed that when she stayed at Castel Gandolfo she often heard John Paul whipping himself.

“Several times he would put himself through bodily penance,” said Tobiana Sobodka, a nun from the Sacred Heart of Jesus order.

“We would hear it – we were in the next room at Castel Gandolfo. You could hear the sound of the blows when he flagellated himself…”

The book also described how, as a bishop in Poland, the future pontiff would often sleep on a bare floor as an act of self-denial and asceticism.

Got to hand it to nutballs who commit themselves to being true to the Dark Ages. Har!