2008: April 28th Good News (Retired Carpenter Offers Hot Soup to Homeless, Gene Therapy Aid's Youth's Sight, more...)

Good Morning All,

Well, there were a lot of articles today. :) That always makes my day. One article, which came out yesterday was so good that, I stuck it in Today's Top 5. That rarely happens, because I usually feel that the top 5 should be the most current news available. But this particular piece was about a teenager who was the third person in the world to recieve a special kind of eye surgery to restore his sight. That article was so cool it almost made it to number one. However, in the end I decided that the most heartwarming story was the Seattle story about a retired carpenter feeding the homeless.

I hope that you enjoy today's good news. :) Please feel free to comment below, share your thoughts, and or pass the news along. I love it when I hear from someone that they got an article sent to them by a friend from here. Have a great day everyone, and I'll see you tomorrow!

Today's Top 5:
1. Retired Carpenter Offers Hot Soup, Warm Smile to Homeless on Seattle's Capitol Hill (Seattle Times)
2. Gene Therapy 'Aids Youth's Sight' (BBC UK)
3. Philippines Helps Poor with Cheap Rice (Las Vegas Sun)
4. Irish Charity Helps Build Schools for Aids Orphans (Irish Independent)
5. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon Leads Battle to Feed World's Poor (France 24)


Honorable Mentions:
1. Surefire Gas Cost-cutter: Drive Slower (San Fransisco Chronicles)
2. Young Vegas Rockers Out to Change the World (Las Vegas Sun)
3. Alaska Reaches Organ and Tissue Donation Milestone (Red Orbit)
4. Technological Breakthrough in Fight to Cut Greenhouse Gases (Science Daily)




Today's Top 5:

1. Retired Carpenter Offers Hot Soup, Warm Smile to Homeless on Seattle's Capitol Hill
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2004377860_homeless28m.html
Monday, April 28, 2008 -
Page updated at 12:00 AM
By Elizabeth Rhodes
Seattle Times staff reporter

Bill Pond parks his pickup twice a week on Broadway Avenue East near a boarded-up Jack in the Box. There, he offers chicken soup, egg-salad sandwiches and juice to the homeless. The retired carpenter pays for it out of his own pocket, collecting and recycling aluminum cans to help offset some of the cost.
Bill Pond's friendly manner is appreciated by the homeless he encounters on Capitol Hill. "There aren't many people that nonjudgmental, who show that much kindness," says Eli Kington, left.Lining up Sunday for steaming bowls of free chicken soup, Bill Pond's customers sensed this stranger with the flowing beard was more interested in feeding them than stigmatizing them as homeless.
It showed as Pond, a retired carpenter, ladled the hot liquid from a kettle on the tailgate of his green truck parked on Capitol Hill's Broadway Avenue East.
"You're broke?" he repeated to a man who sheepishly confessed he had no money to pay. "Then have some more soup."
Squatting nearby, Eli Kington flashed an appreciative smile as he ate.
" 'If it wasn't for him, people would be hungry,' said Kington, 21, who says he's been on the street since he was about 13. "There aren't many people that nonjudgmental, who show that much kindness."
Indeed, in a county with an estimated 2,600 homeless people, Bill Pond stands out. While there are more than 40 programs to feed the homeless, Pond's is one of the few to be run — and paid for — by an individual rather than a church or social-service agency.
It's also one of the few on Capitol Hill, an area popular with street youth.
"There's always that little niche that needs to be filled," says Fe Arreola, head of emergency food programs for the Seattle Human Services Department. "I think it's wonderful he's doing that."
Ironically, Bill Pond's soup service began about 18 months ago when he rejected an overture from a street person.
Eating a hamburger at Dick's Drive-In on Broadway, Pond was approached for spare change.
He responded with a counter offer. How about a burger instead?
"I decided I'd feed him because I didn't want to give him money; I didn't know what he would do with it," he recalls.
The man gratefully accepted, gobbled down the burger, then another, and Pond's one-man feeding program began.
Only store-bought burgers were out as too expensive. Instead, Pond mulled over issues of quantity and cost and chose homemade soup.
So he made a big pot and returned to Capitol Hill. In an hour it was gone. Then Pond got really serious, buying a 16-quart pot and getting a food-handler's license, just in case anyone asked, and began buying chickens, rice and vegetables for his soup in bulk.
He expanded his menu to add egg-salad sandwiches, small juice drinks and individual bags of chips.
Always, Pond dug deep into his pocket to pay. Soon the initial dozen customers turned into the 50 to 60 who now await him.
He's at the same location, 100 Broadway East in front of a defunct Jack in the Box restaurant, every Wednesday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 6 p.m.
It costs Pond about $35 per night, which he partially funds by collecting and recycling aluminum cans.
Many who feed the homeless do so out of religious obligation, but Pond says that's not him. His motivation, he says, is straightforward:
"I'm just really happy inside doing this. It just makes me feel really good. It's my way of giving back. I've never been homeless, but I've been down so I know how these people feel."
Pond's son, Will, helps his dad distribute the food and says he's not surprised by his father's generosity.
"He's always been a real giving guy," the younger Pond says. "He's just generous with everything he has."
Lately Pond senior has been passing out used clothing collected by Pond junior.
Still, the father has his limits. Early on, he located his mobile kitchen in downtown Seattle, only to quickly pull up stakes when customers responded with rudeness.
That doesn't happen on Capitol Hill, he says. The crowd, mostly younger men, "are really friendly, really appreciative. It just breaks your heart."
Nearby shopkeepers have been cordial, too, he says; some have even contributed soup ingredients.
Pond doesn't ask his customers why they're homeless, nor does he try to verify they are. He suspects about 70 percent are living on the street, but it's a respect thing, he says, not to pry.
Pond has never solicited financial donations from the homeless or the public. But concerned that "it's getting really expensive," he says he's open to donations of soup and sandwich ingredients. He can be contacted at 206-244-8521.
Or just look for the guy parked beside a boarded-up Jack in the Box dishing up soup and getting grateful smiles in return.
"Someone willing to give free grub to people in need is a good thing; I think he's a good guy," said Shade Allen yesterday, filling his stomach with warm soup as rain began to fall.


2. Gene Therapy 'Aids Youth's Sight'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7369740.stm
Page last updated at 21:24 GMT
Sunday, 27 April 2008 22:24 UK
By Pallab Ghosh
BBC science correspondent

A 18-year-old whose sight was failing has had his vision improved in a pioneering operation carried out by doctors at Moorfields Eye Hospital.
The London researchers used gene therapy to regenerate the dying cells in Steven Howarth's right eye.
As a result he can now confidently walk alone in darkened rooms and streets for the first time.
Steven, from Bolton, is the third person to have the operation - doctors expect better results in future cases.
Before the procedure, he could hardly see at all at night and in time he would have lost his sight completely.
Confidence
His condition - Lebers congenital amaurosis - was due to a faulty gene that meant that the light-detecting cells at the back of his eye were damaged and slowly degenerating further.
RETINAL GENE THERAPY -STEP BY STEP The operation involves injecting fluid with missing gene within a modified virus into the eye. A fine needle (cannula) is passed through the front of the eye and across the vitreous gel. The cannula is pushed through the retina, light sensitive tissue that lines the back of the eye. The fluid is injected beneath the retina, causing it to detach from the underlying pigment layer. Cells in the pigment layer absorb the fluid and the retina returns to its normal position. The virus infects cells of pigment layer, supplying the gene required for normal sight.BACKNEXT1 of 6But, in a delicate operation, surgeons at Moorfields injected working copies of the gene into the back of Steven's eye.
After a few months, doctors detected some improvements.
But Steven did not notice these changes until he confidently strode through a dimly-lit maze designed to test his vision.
Until then he had kept walking into walls - and it would take him nearly a minute to walk a few feet.
His doctors were shocked at the improvement.
Professor Robin Ali, of the Institute for Ophthalmology, who led the trial, said: "To get this indication after only three patients is hugely exciting.
"I find it difficult to remember being as excited as I am today about our science and what it might achieve."
'Cracks in the pavement'
The operation gave Steven the confidence to try out his improved night-time vision on the streets near his home in Bolton.
Before he had only been able to see the bright lights of passing cars, street lamps and brightly-lit buildings but, to his amazement, he found he could see beyond the bright lights. For the first time he could see the cracks on the pavement, the edge of the curb and markings on the street.
He recently began walking home late at night from the railway station.
James Bainbridge, the consultant surgeon who carried out the operation, said: "It's hugely rewarding and exciting to see that this new treatment can have this impact on a person's quality of life."
'To not have to worry about losing my sight is great'Steven also says that it has really helped his confidence.
He is now able to socialise more late at night with his friends. And, as an aspiring musician, he says he can see the frets on his guitar better - and can move around more on a darkened stage.
There may well be further improvements. But without the operation it was likely that Steven would have lost his sight altogether.
The prospect made him depressed. Now he says he can get on with his life.
"When I used to think about it, it would get me really down and depressed. But now I don't have to think about it. It's a big burden lifted."
Child sight hope
The gene therapy has not improved the vision of the other two patients who have received it so far - but it may well stop their vision from declining further.
Robert Johnson was the first person to undergo the operation, as reported by BBC News in May 2007.
He welcomed the results so far: "For the team, I am thrilled that their hard work has come off.
This is only the beginning
James BainbridgeSurgeon
"For me - I am simply pleased that I left what I entered with - a level of sight that gives me my freedom. What more could I ask for?"
Professor Ali said that the team now hoped to treat children: "The next stage is to increase the dose of the gene which we anticipate will improve the outcome - and it's also to treat younger patients, who have better residual vision and in whom we expect to see a much greater benefit."
Although the genetic condition that is being treated is rare, the researchers believe that their technique could be used to treat a wide variety of sight disorders, possibly even age-related sight loss.
Mr Bainbridge added: "This is only the beginning.
"What we've demonstrated so far is proof of principle that gene therapy can be used to treat a particular gene disorder."
The research, which has been funded by the Department of Health, has been published online in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Health Minister Dawn Primarolo said: "This is absolutely brilliant.
"It's been done here in the UK with the expertise of the NHS and the science and research of the Department of Health all coming together to offer such hope for gene therapy for the correction of sight - but also for gene therapy generally."
David Head, of the British Retinitis Pigmentosa Society, thanked Professor Ali and his team for their "outstanding" work.
He said: "Of course, we must temper our excitement and enthusiasm with an acknowledgement that these are very early days, and the trial is working on one flawed gene."


3. Philippines Helps Poor with Cheap Rice
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2008/apr/28/philippines-helps-poor-with-cheap-rice/
The Associated PressMon, Apr 28, 2008 (3:12 a.m.)

The government said it would introduce access cards for Manila's poorest residents to buy subsidized rice as food prices rise dramatically, officials said Monday.
The rice cards are intended to benefit about a third of the poorest families in the capital, according to President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's administration. The government said it will separately distribute cash cards to help families in the poorest 20 of the country's 81 provinces with quick money transfers.
The measures came as Arroyo's administration moved to cushion the impact of skyrocketing fuel and food prices. The Philippines has been paying record prices on international markets to make up for a 10 percent domestic shortfall of rice.
The criteria for Manilans to obtain the card is a monthly salary of $120 or less for a family of five. The card allows holders to buy subsidized rice from specialized stores for the poor, called in Tagalog "Our Store." The limit is 31 pounds per week.
Cardholders will pay 42 cents per 2.2 pounds of the subsidized rice, compared with 83 cents for commercially available rice, Social Welfare Secretary Esperanza Cabral said.
It was not clear exactly when the cards will go into effect.
"The objective is to really help the poor," said Social Welfare Undersecretary Celia Yanco. "If they have to compete with those with money they'll really have a hard life."
A separate cash-transfer card, which will be given to 300,000 poorest families in provinces, will include $12 a month plus $7 for every child who logs at least 85 percent class attendance, Cabral said.
Rice topped $1,000 per ton on the international market this month _ triple the price from January _ and the government said it has so far contracted about half of 2.1 million tons of rice it plans to import this year.
The National Food Authority, the state-run grain importer, plans to hold a fifth tender this year on May 5 for more than 500,000 tons of rice.
Thailand, the world's largest exporter, said Friday it will not restrict exports despite talk of a shortage. Some Asian countries, including India and Vietnam, recently suspended rice exports to guarantee their own supplies.
Arroyo has declared war on rice hoarders, who have been blamed for creating artificial shortages, and promised to improve distribution and invest $1 billion to boost production.
About 40 percent of Filipinos live on less than $2 a day, and about 13 percent _ or 11 million _ survive on less than $1 a day.
Meanwhile, Malaysia's government plans to subsidize locally grown rice to prevent consumers from being hit by record high prices, a Cabinet minister said Monday.
"The government wants to assure the lower income group that local rice will remain affordable to them," Shahrir Samad, the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs minister, told reporters.
Malaysia grows about 65 to 70 percent of the rice its people consume, while the rest is imported, mainly from Thailand. With the price of Thai rice nearly tripling in the last 18 months, the government expects consumers to switch to local rice, whose price _ so far steady _ is expected to rise.
On Sunday, Vietnam's prime minister warned rice speculators they face severe punishment after rocketing prices led to panic buying over the weekend.
Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung insisted supplies in Vietnam _ the world's second-largest rice exporter after Thailand _ would be enough for domestic consumption, according to state media reports.
But he warned that any organizations and individuals speculating in the commodity would be "severely punished."
Crowds of people flocked to rice markets Sunday in Ho Chi Minh City, the country's largest, to stock up on the grain.
The rice cards are intended to benefit about a third of the poorest families in the capital, according to President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's administration. The government said it will separately distribute cash cards to help families in the poorest 20 of the country's 81 provinces with quick money transfers.
The measures came as Arroyo's administration moved to cushion the impact of skyrocketing fuel and food prices. The Philippines has been paying record prices on international markets to make up for a 10 percent domestic shortfall of rice.
The criteria for Manilans to obtain the card is a monthly salary of $120 or less for a family of five. The card allows holders to buy subsidized rice from specialized stores for the poor, called in Tagalog "Our Store." The limit is 31 pounds per week.
Cardholders will pay 42 cents per 2.2 pounds of the subsidized rice, compared with 83 cents for commercially available rice, Social Welfare Secretary Esperanza Cabral said.
It was not clear exactly when the cards will go into effect.
"The objective is to really help the poor," said Social Welfare Undersecretary Celia Yanco. "If they have to compete with those with money they'll really have a hard life."
A separate cash-transfer card, which will be given to 300,000 poorest families in provinces, will include $12 a month plus $7 for every child who logs at least 85 percent class attendance, Cabral said.
Rice topped $1,000 per ton on the international market this month — triple the price from January — and the government said it has so far contracted about half of 2.1 million tons of rice it plans to import this year.
The National Food Authority, the state-run grain importer, plans to hold a fifth tender this year on May 5 for more than 500,000 tons of rice.
Thailand, the world's largest exporter, said Friday it will not restrict exports despite talk of a shortage. Some Asian countries, including India and Vietnam, recently suspended rice exports to guarantee their own supplies.
Arroyo has declared war on rice hoarders, who have been blamed for creating artificial shortages, and promised to improve distribution and invest $1 billion to boost production.
About 40 percent of Filipinos live on less than $2 a day, and about 13 percent — or 11 million — survive on less than $1 a day.
Meanwhile, Malaysia's government plans to subsidize locally grown rice to prevent consumers from being hit by record high prices, a Cabinet minister said Monday.
"The government wants to assure the lower income group that local rice will remain affordable to them," Shahrir Samad, the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs minister, told reporters.
Malaysia grows about 65 to 70 percent of the rice its people consume, while the rest is imported, mainly from Thailand. With the price of Thai rice nearly tripling in the last 18 months, the government expects consumers to switch to local rice, whose price — so far steady — is expected to rise.
On Sunday, Vietnam's prime minister warned rice speculators they face severe punishment after rocketing prices led to panic buying over the weekend.
Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung insisted supplies in Vietnam — the world's second-largest rice exporter after Thailand — would be enough for domestic consumption, according to state media reports.
But he warned that any organizations and individuals speculating in the commodity would be "severely punished."
Crowds of people flocked to rice markets Sunday in Ho Chi Minh City, the country's largest, to stock up on the grain.


4. Irish Charity Helps Build Schools for Aids Orphans
http://www.independent.ie/national-news/irish-charity-helps-build-schools-for-aids-orphans-1360969.html
By Senan Hogan
Monday April 28 2008

An Irish charity has helped construct school buildings for children orphaned by Aids in Zambia.
A group of volunteers from Co Kildare-based organisation, Touch Ireland, spent the past three weeks working on the project outside Lusaka, the capital of the African country.
Parents of some of the school's pupils, who live in a nearby mud hut village, have already died of Aids.
Head teacher at the St Patrick's School in Mapepe, Alice Hanjuwa said: "About one-quarter of the pupils have lost either a mother or father to Aids while six have lost both parents."
Ms Hanjuwa added: "However, they are good students and want to learn. If this school wasn't here they would have to walk for miles to the next school or not go to school at all."
Up to 15 construction workers and volunteers from Leitrim, Roscommon, Kildare and Dublin helped fundraise and build the school buildings.
Eileen McGowan from Boyle, Co Roscommon said her local Touch Ireland group raised thousands of euro from a variety of fundraising initiatives.
She said: "Two children even handed over some of their Confirmation money.''
Funding was also raised for the Guardian Angels Community School in nearby Chilanga to purchase a water pump.
Touch Ireland is currently involved in projects constructing schools and orphanages in five countries including Zambia, Cameroon, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka.




5. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon Leads Battle to Feed World's Poor
http://www.france24.com/en/20080428-ban-ki-moon-will-fight-feed-poor-un-food-crisis
Monday 28 April 2008

The UN will meet in Bern on Monday to discuss plans to combat rising food prices worldwide, as the Food and Agriculture Organisation warns that 37 poor countries are facing an emergency.
Special Report
General Ban Ki-moon was set Monday to lead a concerted effort by 27 key UN agencies to tackle the growing crisis caused by a worldwide sharp rise in basic foodstuff prices. The UN was scheduled at a two-day conference in the Swiss capital Bern to reveal a battle plan of emergency measures, while exploring other longer-term measures to solve the world's food crisis. This will involve adjudicating between advocates of protectionism and those who favour opening up markets, as well as between supporters of biofuels and opponents thereof.
Rising populations, strong demand from developing countries, increased cultivation of crops for biofuels and increasing floods and droughts have sent food prices soaring across the globe.
"The world food crisis and the solutions that the United Nations can provide will be at the centre of discussions," said the UN. The talks hosted by Ban will take place behind closed doors at the Universal Postal Union headquarters in Bern, lasting all day Monday and Tuesday morning.
Results of the deliberations are expected Tuesday when Ban Ki-moon gives a press conference flanked by Josette Sheeran, Executive Director of the UN's World Food Programme, World Bank President Robert Zoellick, Jacques Diouf, head of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), and Lennart Bage, President of the International Fund for Agriculture Development.
The FAO has warned that sharp rises in cereal prices have left 37 poor countries in an emergency situation sparking food riots. Ban Ki-moon called in Vienna on Friday for immediate concerted action to resolve the global food crisis. "In the short term, we must address all the humanitarian crises which have been impacting poorest of poor pople in the world," he said.
The World Food Programme had made an urgent appeal for additional 755 million dollars (485 million euros) to fill the gap. But in the medium to longer term, "the international community and its leaders in particular should sit down together on an urgent basis and address how we can first of all improve the economic system, the distribution systems, as well as how we can promote new production of agricultural products".
"The steeply rising price of food has developed into a real global crisis," Ban told journalists in Vienna. "The United Nations is very much concerned, as all other members of the international community are. We must take immediate action in a concerted way throughout the international community."
Ban estimated that around 100 million of the world's poorest who previously did not require help now can not afford to buy food. The World Trade Organisation, whose Director-General Pascal Lamy will also attend the Bern talks, says the food crisis reinforces the need to open up world markets.
"Agricultural subsidies by rich countries have destroyed the agriculture of poor countries," a spokesman told AFP. "A more open system will be less subject to distortion."
The UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) is also seeking a rapid conclusion to current world negotiations in the framework of the Doha Round.
The head of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), Juan Somavia, has warned against the danger of seeking only temporary solutions to the latest crisis, saying this would only mean a return to the original problem in a world in which globalisation would not benefit the world at large. Dominique Strauss-Kahn,head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), has criticised protectionism and the use of foodstuffs to make biofuels, and called for a reform of world coordination of agricultural policy.


Honorable Mentions:

1. Surefire Gas Cost-cutter: Drive Slower
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/04/28/MN9H10BFRS.DTL&tsp=1
Michael Cabanatuan, Chronicle Staff Writer
Monday, April 28, 2008

While gas prices at or near $4 a gallon have persuaded some Bay Area motorists to take public transit, join carpools or curse the oil companies, the high cost of fuel has moved few drivers to practice a proven gas-saver - driving slower.
A Chronicle reporter circumnavigated the bay last week - with the cruise control set at 59 mph - and found little company in the slow lane.
In 111 miles of freeway driving during noncommute hours, he passed just 118 slower-moving vehicles. And on some stretches of freeway - most notably Interstate 80 between the MacArthur Maze in Oakland and Vallejo - almost nobody was driving slower than 60 mph.
"When I'm (driving 55) consciously, I look around and see that it's just me," said Jawahar Swaminathan, 31, who drives regularly on Interstate 80 between his home in Richmond and his job in San Francisco. "Even the truck drivers are pulling around me to pass."
Still, scientists and fuel efficiency experts say that for most cars, driving slower pays.
"It can make a big difference," said Patricia Monahan, deputy director of clean vehicles for the Union of Concerned Scientists. "If you like to really accelerate fast, if you have a lead foot, that can have a really big impact on fuel economy."
Most cars get the best mileage between 45 and 55 mph, Monahan said. As speeds creep higher, fuel efficiency drops. For every mile per hour over 60 mph, she said, fuel economy drops by an average of around 1 percent.
"Going 65 is really lowering your fuel efficiency," she said. "And it gets worse at 75."
How much you stand to save depends on a lot of factors. With gas at $4 a gallon, a driver with a long commute - 400 miles a week - and a gas-guzzling vehicle getting only 20 mpg would save $18.74 a week by slowing down dramatically from 75 to 55 mph, extrapolating from the government's most recent figures on the subject. Even a more moderate deceleration - from 70 to 60 mph - would save that driver $11.74 a week.
In contrast, a commuter who started with a smaller carbon footprint - driving 100 miles a week in a car getting 30 mpg - would stand to save only a few dollars a week by slowing down.
The estimates are rough at best. The U.S. Department of Transportation last studied the effect of speed on fuel efficiency in 1997, and its results were based on a fleet of nine vehicles manufactured between 1988 and 1997 - hardly what's on the road today. "Unfortunately this analysis has not been done over, to my knowledge, in the last 10 years," said Monahan's colleague at the Union of Concerned Scientists, senior engineer Jim Kliesch.
Still, the results are striking. Slowing from 70 to 60 mph improved average fuel efficiency by 17.2 percent. A big slowdown - from 75 to 55 mph - improved fuel efficiency by a whopping 30.6 percent.
The need to conserve gasoline is why, in 1974, in the wake of the Arab oil embargo and ensuing fuel shortage, President Richard Nixon ordered the speed limit nationally to be lowered to 55 mph. The limit was lifted to 65 mph in some areas in the late 1980s, and the 55 mph national speed limit was entirely discarded in 1995. And except in backed-up traffic, few motorists have driven that slowly since.
The Chronicle's drive around the bay last week found that even $4 a gallon gas prices haven't persuaded many Bay Area drivers to ease off the gas pedal and save a few bucks.
Driving a Chronicle-issued Chevy Malibu, this reporter hopped on southbound Highway 101 in downtown San Francisco, settled into the slow lane going 59 mph and started counting the cars he passed - which took a while.
Even in the 50 mph zone through downtown, nobody was driving slower than 60. It took a couple miles of driving to tally the first slow-moving fuel saver.
The drive around the bay went south on 101 to San Jose, north on Interstate 880 to the MacArthur Maze in Oakland, north and east on Interstate 80 to Vallejo, across Highway 37 to Novato and south on Highway 101 back to San Francisco. The drive was made in noncommute hours, and traffic was mostly free-flowing. Only freeway driving was counted.
Drivers traveling slower than 60 mph were scarce all around the bay. But they were hardest to find on I-80 from Emeryville to Vallejo, where the Malibu passed just four vehicles.
Slower on 101Slower drivers were most common across the bay on Highway 101. From Novato to the north end of the Golden Gate Bridge, 49 drivers were traveling slower than 60 mph. Between San Francisco and San Jose on 101, 38 drivers were passed.
On I-880 from San Jose to Emeryville, 27 drivers were moving slower than 60 mph.
Even at 59 mph, it seemed like the Chronicle car was standing still - especially on wide freeways such as I-880 where cars whizzed by in all lanes. Nobody honked, shook their fists or raised any fingers, but several drivers zipped right up to the rear bumper before suddenly swerving to pass. It wasn't clear whether those moves were the result of inattention or attempts at intimidation.
It's a behavior that fuel-conscious drivers have to get used to, say Bay Area residents who have pulled into the slow lane to save gas costs.
"It's scary, and it can be unsafe if you don't know how to drive defensively," said Swaminathan, who's been driving 55 since moving a year ago to the Bay Area from New Jersey, where gas is much cheaper. "A lot of people try to look into the car. I think they expect to see a grandma driving."
Linda Winter-Meiberg, 67, of Tiburon drives to Sacramento once a week to visit her mother. A few weeks ago, she decided to slow down from 72 mph, which is probably an average speed on that stretch of I-80, to 59 mph.
The move has cut her weekly gas bill from $40 to $35 - even as gas prices have risen.
"I try to be courteous by driving in the slowest lane," she said, "but I still get plenty of dirty looks and a lot of people honking at me. I kidded my husband, saying I was going to put up a sign in the rear window saying, 'Drive slower, save gas.' "
But some drivers don't want to ease up on the gas. They say it's unsafe, that their time is more valuable - or that it takes the fun out of driving.
"I won't do it," said George Steffner, 63, a retired engineer who lives in Moraga and tries to conserve by combining short trips. "I didn't do it when it was the law. To tell you the truth, I like going at higher speeds. I feel safer. And I have other ways of saving fuel."



2. Young Vegas Rockers Out to Change the World
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2008/apr/28/young-vegas-rockers-out-change-world/
By Joe Brown
Mon, Apr 28, 2008 (2 a.m.)

Fans watch as bassist Adam Knaff -- known professionally as Bomb - tunes up at the Extreme Thing festival in Desert Breeze Park. He's the brother of lead singer Brandon Knaff, who taught him to play after a "random guy" Brandon was starting a band with didn't work out.Sun ArchivesVenue options for local bands limited (1-07-2005) Beyond the SunSongs by Think Teenage girls cluster at the lip of the outdoor stage as if they have been attracted by some invisible signal, or have texted one another: CUTE BAND ALERT! More girls show up, then more.
Setting up onstage is a local rock band, five guys who glance at their audience with studied nonchalance.
“We’re called Think,” says the lead singer, just before they plug in and play.
After just a song or two, teenage guys are heading toward the stage, too. And they’re all listening.
If you are looking for the next big thing to come out of Las Vegas, the next Killers or Panic at the Disco, these kids may have found it.
Think is a young Las Vegas band that has just about everything it takes to go the distance — looks, charisma, an original sound, ambition, work ethic, musical genes and connections.
Lead singer Brandon Knaff brings to mind Roger Daltry, Bob Dylan and Jeff Buckley all at once. And the other guys are just as camera-ready. MTV-watchers will eat them up.
They have original songs, an energetic, melodic funk-pop sound, top-line instruments and a rehearsal room that would be the envy of any rock star.
They know someone: The Vegas-based production team of dancer/choreographer Cris Judd and songwriter Darren Sher recorded and produced Think’s self-released first CD, “Odyssey,” which will be available on iTunes soon.
And it doesn’t hurt that the music industry is suddenly paying attention to the Las Vegas music scene because of the commercial success of The Killers and Panic at the Disco.
Play that funky music
With their charisma and stage presence alone, the guys in Think have a big head start on many local bands. And they can really play. Guitarist Phillip Seaton, 19, has Johnny Marr’s knack for versatility, handling melody, rhythm and eloquent solos that evoke his heroes Jimmy Page, Slash and Brian May, without once sounding imitative. Bomb, 16, takes a Paul McCartney-style approach to the bass, playing it as a melodic lead instrument, breaking out a finger-popping style on the band’s frequently funky songs. Keyboard player Sam Riddle, 20, is a solid musician, and the energy surges when he joins Knaff at the front line. Drummer Billy Carmody, 21, is an inventive player who can hit hard — it’s not an exaggeration to say he conjures John Bonham. And singer Knaff, 19, with his halo of curls and effortless grace, sounds as good as he looks.
Think big, think different
“Since we started the band, we want to change the world with what we’re doing,” says Seaton. “Like the John Lennons, like the Jimi Hendrixes. We want to make a dent in this music industry and bring it out of all the (crud) that people are listening to. We want to go from this (rehearsal) room to playing worldwide.”
The others chime in with all the strugglingly articulate earnestness and bravado of young mean who really mean it.
“The song ‘Day to Day,’ we all wrote that against drugs,” Knaff says. “Against the common teenager drug-alcohol-party kind of thing.
“Our songs also talk about common things that all humans go through,” he adds. “Relationships, having fun, apologies, the city ...”
“Sex,” adds Bomb, who always seems ready to supply the punch line.
(This story has been shortened. For the full length article, please visit the URL provided above.)



3. Alaska Reaches Organ and Tissue Donation Milestone
http://www.redorbit.com/news/health/1360267/alaska_reaches_organ_and_tissue_donation_milestone/index.html?source=r_health
Posted on: Sunday, 27 April 2008, 15:00 CDT
By Carly Horton, Alaska
Journal of Commerce, Anchorage

Apr. 27--Gov. Sarah Palin announced April 11 that more than half of Alaska's roughly 670,000 residents have registered as organ and tissue donors.
Bruce Zalneraitis, CEO of Life Alaska Donor Services, said Alaska is the second state to make the distinction; Utah was the first.
"But Alaska is tremendous," Zalneraitis said. "We've reached the 50 percent point sooner than any other state that has a registry."
That's no easy feat for a state with 1 person per square mile (the U.S. average is about 80) where traditional means of communication are often not available. Case in point: Less than 70 percent of Alaska households have Internet access, according to statistics provided by the Census Bureau, and most people who are organ donors in other states register online, Zalneraitis said.
Alaska has bypassed the hurdle many other states face by setting up a donor registry through the state Department of Motor Vehicles. Zalneraitis said 98 percent of organ donors register through the DMV.
"Alaska was a state that had progressive legislation in this area," Zalneraitis said. "From many years of research, we know most people want to be donors. But most people aren't doing anything -- we don't think about death and dying on a daily basis. The registry makes it simple and effective.
"When you get your license or renew it, it's done -- all the information is already in the computer. You don't have to go online, fill out forms and mail anything in. That's the biggest thing about the registry: It makes it easy for people to look up (their information), to renew it. Once you're in, you can make all those choices."
Once they've registered, Alaskans can rest assured their wishes will be carried out after their death. According to Zalneraitis, Alaska has first-person consent, meaning organ donor registration "is a legal binding agreement. It cannot be revoked by other people; it survives your death."
First-person consent also removes the burden from family members of deciding what to do with your body, Zalneraitis said.
Nearly 100,000 people in the U.S. are awaiting organ donation. Of those, roughly 75 percent need kidneys. Heart, liver, pancreas, lung and small intestine transplants are also becoming increasingly common. Approximately 18 people per day die waiting for organs.
Zalneraitis said anyone can become an organ donor, but an intensive screening process prior to surgery is performed "so we know the organ is safe and will function properly when it goes to the recipient."
He said the number of people who can donate is actually relatively small. Most viable organs come from young, healthy people involved in fatal accidents. Because potential organ donors must be at least 18 years of age to register without parental consent, Life Alaska Donor Services travels to middle schools and high schools throughout the state encouraging young people to register as organ donors.
"It's always important to let your wishes be known to your family members, regardless of age," Zalneraitis said.
In Alaska and across the U.S., there is an urgent need for organ donation from racial minorities. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, some diseases of the kidney, heart, lung, pancreas and liver are found more frequently in racial and ethnic minority populations than in the general population.
African Americans, Asians and Pacific Islanders and Hispanics are three times more likely than Caucasians to suffer from end-stage kidney disease, often as the result of high blood pressure and other conditions that can damage the kidneys. Native Americans are four times more likely than Caucasians to suffer from diabetes.
In addition, similar blood type is essential in matching donors to recipients. Because certain blood types are more common in ethnic minority populations, increasing the number of minority donors can increase the frequency of minority transplants.
Native Alaskans and American Indians comprise over 15 percent of the state's total population, and Zalneraitis said there is a concerted effort by his organization to encourage this segment of the population to sign up for organ donation.
Among racial minorities there are often cultural issues and misunderstandings that prevent them from becoming organ donors, he said.
"There's often a fear of or bad experiences with medicine in general, so it does follow they would be reluctant to donate," he said. "We've learned over the years to dispel myths and address cultural concerns ? (and) been able to increase consent in minorities over the years."
Ancient fears plague virtually all segments of the population, he said.
"Ancient fears have to do with wondering what happens to us after we die. ?My loved one is dead, but will it cause more suffering if his kidney's taken out?' It's not rational, not logical, but the fear itself is totally real," he said. "We have to learn to address those fears in a sympathetic way."
On the Web: www.lifealaska.org, www.organdonor.gov
Carly Horton can be reached at carly.horton@alaskajournal.com.


4. Technological Breakthrough in Fight to Cut Greenhouse Gases
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080424103217.htmScienceDaily (Apr. 27, 2008)

Scientists at Newcastle University have pioneered breakthrough technology in the fight to cut greenhouse gases. The Newcastle University team, led by Michael North, Professor of Organic Chemistry, has developed a highly energy-efficient method of converting waste carbon dioxide (CO2) into chemical compounds known as cyclic carbonates.
The team estimates that the technology has the potential to use up to 48 million tonnes of waste CO2 per year, reducing the UK's emissions by about four per cent.
Cyclic carbonates are widely used in the manufacture of products including solvents, paint-strippers, biodegradable packaging, as well as having applications in the chemical industry. Cyclic carbonates also have potential for use in the manufacture of a new class of efficient anti-knocking agents in petrol. Anti-knocking agents make petrol burn better, increasing fuel efficiency and reducing CO2 emissions.
The conversion technique relies upon the use of a catalyst to force a chemical reaction between CO2 and an epoxide, converting waste CO2 into this cyclic carbonate, a chemical for which there is significant commercial demand.
The reaction between CO2 and epoxides is well known, but one which, until now, required a lot of energy, needing high temperatures and high pressures to work successfully. The current process also requires the use of ultra-pure CO2 , which is costly to produce.
The Newcastle team has succeeded in developing an exceptionally active catalyst, derived from aluminium, which can drive the reaction necessary to turn waste carbon dioxide into cyclic carbonates at room temperature and atmospheric pressure, vastly reducing the energy input required.
Professor North said: 'One of the main scientific challenges facing the human race in the 21st century is controlling global warming that results from increasing levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
'One solution to this problem, currently being given serious consideration, is carbon capture and storage, which involves concentrating and compressing CO2 and then storing it,' he said. 'However, long-term storage remains to be demonstrated'.
To date, alternative solutions for converting CO2 emissions into a useful product has required a process so energy intensive that they generate more CO2 than they consume.
Professor North compares the process developed by his team to that of a catalytic converter fitted to a car. 'If our catalyst could be employed at the source of high-concentration CO2 production, for example in the exhaust stream of a fossil-fuel power station, we could take out the carbon dioxide, turn it into a commercially-valuable product and at the same time eliminate the need to store waste CO2', he said.
Professor North believes that, once it is fully developed, the technology has the potential to utilise a significant amount of the UK's CO2 emissions every year.
'To satisfy the current market for cyclic carbonates, we estimate that our technology could use up to 18 million tonnes of waste CO2 per year, and a further 30 million tonnes if it is used as an anti-knocking agent.
'Using 48 million tonnes of waste CO2 would account for about four per cent* of the UK's CO2 emissions, which is a pretty good contribution from one technology,' commented Professor North. The technique has been proven to work successfully in the lab. Professor North and his team are currently carrying out further lab-based work to optimise the efficiency of the technology, following which they plan to scale-up to a pilot plant.
* Based on 2004 figures from the UN.
The paper 'Synthesis of cyclic carbonates from atmospheric pressure carbon dioxide using exceptionally active aluminium(salen) complexes as catalysts' s been published in the European Journal of Inorganic Chemistry.
The project was funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.
Adapted from materials provided by Newcastle University.