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MP3 players and digital Science

I'm climbing up the audiobook learning curve and would like to share what I've learned. My first post on this topic can be found here. I was experimenting with the cheapest MP3 player I could find that would play free audiobooks from a library.

Apple's iPods will not allow you to listen to free audiobooks. First lesson learned: Do not use the cheap players. I have purchased four of the low end products made by Coby, starting with the cheapest and moving up the line. They all failed within days to weeks. Luckily I received a full refund for each, which is why I bought locally instead of off the internet.

Snippets from the news

• World population to reach 7 billion in 2012. • More big businesses call for climate action. • Anti-whaling activists arrested for whale-meat theft. • Satellite to track sea level rise launched.

Friday music blogging: Jamie Lidell

Jamie Lidell gained some renown in the late ’90s as a producer of electronic music. In particular, Super_Collider — his project with Christian Vogel — achieved full-on cult status. But in 2005, Lidell took a sharp left turn with Multiply, an album of pure blue-eyed soul and funk. (For the record, Lidell is a skinny […]

Convicted eco-vandal sentenced to six years in prison

Convicted eco-vandal Briana Waters has been sentenced to six years in federal prison and was ordered to pay $6 million in restitution for her role in the 2001 blaze that destroyed a University of Washington horticulture center. Waters was a student at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Wash., at the time and allegedly acted […]

Snippets from the news

• British government using food crisis to clear the way for GM crops. • Shortage of ships would delay offshore drilling. • Group suing U.S. Coast Guard to protect endangered whales from getting hit. • Americans’ love affair with driving is slowing down. • U.S. House overrides Bush’s farm bill veto, again.

Bush calls for offshore oil drilling, prez candidates spar on energy issues, and more

Read the articles mentioned at the end of the podcast: Man in the Middle Putting Lipstick on a Rig Pump Up the Volume Transmission: Impracticable Wolong, Fare Well? Lord, Hear Our PR Read the articles mentioned at the end of the podcast: Wee, Wee, Wee All the Way Home Till Stuff Do Us Part Our […]

Massachusetts town could be first to build offshore wind farm in U.S.

The town of Hull, Mass., is aiming to build what would be the first offshore wind farm in the United States about a mile and a half off their coast. Other offshore wind projects in the U.S. have met varying degrees of resistance, most notably the Cape Wind project slated for Nantucket Sound that’s been […]

Snippets from the news

• Feds cut back climate research trips — to save fuel. • Residents of proposed U.K. eco-towns could be fined for driving. • Lobsters fall prey to war on mosquitoes. • Germany approves new climate legislation. • Polar bear sighted in Iceland.

Jellyfish are everywhere, and that’s not a good thing

Photo: Neil Harmon The natural cycle of Mediterranean jellyfish populations is to swell every 12 years, plateau for four to six years, then subside. But massive groups of gelatinous jellies have been showing up for the past eight years, and they show no sign of flagging. In fact, jellies are proliferating worldwide, and that makes […]

Snippets from the news

• How do religious leaders address high gas prices? • Portland and New York City try out no-car zones. • U.S. supermarkets not doing enough to protect fish. • Tory leader David Cameron won’t back off the green. • Brazil environment minister backs Amazon soy ban. • Japan says carbon-emissions goals won’t be made at […]