Free Republic

Eight New Human Genome Projects Offer Large-scale Picture Of Genetic Difference ScienceDaily (May 2, 2008) — A nationwide consortium led by the University of Washington in Seattle has completed the first sequence-based map of structural variations in the human genome, giving scientists an overall picture of the large-scale differences in DNA between individuals. The project gives researchers a guide for further research into these structural differences, which are believed to play an important role in human health and disease. The results appear in the May 1 issue of the journal Nature. The project involved sequencing the genomes of eight people...

Enron was allowed to fail, thank God. But some airlines are like the living dead! And guess who's forced to feed the zombies? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vesSL0M-Fu8

Can the blogosphere [And Freerepublic] really do things big media can’t? Let’s find out. I have a project I think is perfect for just the sort of folks who read The Corner and other political blogs. This project is way too big for me to do all by myself. What’s needed to make it work is an informal alliance of local bloggers, student newspapers, and concerned citizens across the country. Through Freedom of Information Act requests and discussions with officials at the Department of Education, I recently obtained a comprehensive list of large gifts to American universities originating in foreign...

BASRA, Iraq, Jan. 30, 2008 – The Basra Children’s Hospital project can get its hooks into people. Workers take a lunch break while others work at the Basra Children’s Hospital, a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers project in Iraq’s Basra province. Photo by Mohammed Aliwi  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Take Army Lt. Col. Kenneth McDonald, for example. He’s an area deputy commander in the Gulf Region Division of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and he leads the Basra Area Office in the division’s southern district. Part of his job is overseeing the Basra Children’s Hospital project,...

1/4/2008 - LAGHMAN PROVINCE, Afghanistan (AFPN) -- A recently-approved $300,000 construction contract promises economic growth for Afghans here, according to the Airman leading engineering efforts for the Mehtar Lam Provincial Reconstruction Team. The contract for the construction of four new agricultural buildings in the Mehtar Lam agricultural compound was signed Dec. 30, according to PRT engineer, Capt. Peter Joo. One of the agricultural buildings will be for farm equipment storage and maintenance, the second building will be for general purpose storage (to include feed and fertilizer) and the third and fourth, smaller buildings will be used for cool storage. "The...

BAGHDAD, Jan. 3, 2008 – Thousands of families in eastern Baghdad soon will have their neighborhoods free of raw sewage in the streets. Kamaliya’s new sewage system in eastern Baghdad nears completion. The improvement connects homes in eight neighborhoods to a functioning network for the first time. The Iraqi construction crew has installed pump stations, trunk lines, manholes and laterals to homes and businesses. More than 150 workers have been on the crew since the project started in 2005. U.S. Army photo  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Iraqi construction workers are completing a $30 million sewer project in...

CAMP AL TAQADDUM — The Seabees of Naval Mobile Construction Battalion (NMCB) 1, currently deployed to several locations in the Middle East, Afghanistan and Micronesia, recently made the final concrete placement marking the completion of an overhaul of the runway system at Camp Al Taqaddum. Already one of the largest logistics hubs in the region, the airfield transfers passengers and millions of pounds of cargo daily. Upon completion of the project, Camp al Taqaddum’s airfield will be fully-operational for the first time since the Coalition air strikes of Operation Desert Storm. NMCB 1 is the fifth battalion to tackle the...

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Dec. 18, 2007 – Cradled in his hands, Hamzah Zayd Kazim held the promise of a new beginning. The plastic bottle held nothing more than water drawn from a small hole tunneling more than 30 feet underground. But to the people living around the Iraqi village of Sedamine, the bottle held much more than just water. It meant regaining their livelihood and independence. Villagers build a fence for protection around newly dug wells, while U.S. forces talk with a volunteer helping to provide drinking water to more than 5,000 people around the Iraqi village of Sedamine, Dec....

WASHINGTON, Dec. 14, 2007 – Staten Island residents are getting a little help sending mail to servicemembers these days thanks to a local troop-support group. Staten Island Project Homefront Inc. in the New York City borough has set up a “Postage Due” account for those sending mail to troops from the community’s main post office, its executive director said. “Our main effort is to send items to our military,” John T. Semich said. “We also help families by supplying postage (for Staten Island residents to send packages) to the combat zones.” The project’s volunteers focus on packing up special-request...

DUHOK — The Duhok-Aqra 132kV overhead line was handed over to the Ministry of Electricity here recently, with one circuit fully energized to supply a mobile substation at Aqra. In an area of northern Iraq with historically low electrical availability and capability, the new overhead line significantly and immediately benefits people in more than (100) Kurdish villages in and around the Aqra area. “For many years, the people here have depended on diesel generator sets, receiving commercial power less than two hours per day,” said Gary York, resident engineer at the Duhok and the Erbil Resident Offices of the U.S....

Attention MSTies! The original cast of Mystery Science Theater 3000 is back together again to produce new shows where they riff on bad movies just like they did on the Satellite of Love! Joel Hodgson has the site up and running but they have yet to produce any episodes. Click here for the website. At the website, you can sign up for a newsletter that will keep you informed of their progress! Sounds exciting guys!

The organization was supposed to make him a better man. Instead, his parents say, it made him a dead one. The ManKind Project offers trainings which support men in developing lives of integrity, accountability and connection to feeling." — From The ManKind Project Web site "They had three naked men bring out two chickens that they hit with a ­hammer." — Michael Scinto in a letter to a ­Madison County sheriff's deputy. Michael Scinto was literally scared to death. On an isolated 11-acre compound down a winding, country dirt road 110 miles north of Houston, Scinto watched as the leader...

BASRAH — The construction site of the Basrah Children’s Hospital is a hotbed of activity these days, with an average of 750 workers on the job each day, according to Navy Lt. Cmdr. Chad Lorenzana. The number of workers is likely to hit 1,000 or more a day as the project enters new phases, said Lorenzana, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers-Gulf Region South District resident engineer. Recently, Lorenzana guided a group of visitors around the high-profile project, whose list of patrons is headed by First Lady Laura Bush. Among the visitors were Army Brig. Gen. Jeffrey Dorko, who will...

Airfield Recycling Project Creates Jobs for Afghans An Afghan company trying to create jobs and clean up the environment is working on a new recycling project at Bagram Airfield. By Combined Joint Task Force-82 Combined Press Information Center BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan, Sept. 26, 2007 — Recycling may not be the first thing that comes to mind when considering Afghanistan, but one company here sees recycling as a way to create jobs and help an environment ravaged by 30 years of war. The company, Kuhan Dazh, and the U.S. military marked the first day of a new business relationship, Sept....

Lt. Col. Mark Burnett, task force surgeon, 1st “Red Lion” Battalion, 37th Field Artillery Regiment, who hails from Aiea, Hawaii, counts donated medical books on Camp Taji. Burnett has received thousands of books as part of a project designed to give the most recently published and up to date medical books and professional journals to Iraqi doctors. Photo by Staff Sgt. Jon Cupp, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division Public Affairs. BAGHDAD — As he reflected on his 15 months in theater and prepared to leave, Lt Col. Mark Burnett, task force surgeon for the 1st “Red Lion” Battalion,...

The Nasiriyah Water Treatment Plant got 10 clarifiers. The project also included three booster pump stations, five elevated storage tanks and a pipeline of more than 100 kilometers. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers photo Engineers Complete $266-Million Project Water treatment plant to deliver clean water to 500,000 residents. By Mohammed Aliwi U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Gulf Region South AN NASIRIYAH, Iraq, Sept. 6, 2007 — The Gulf Region South district of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has completed one of the largest water projects in Iraq - a $266-million facility in Al Shatra to provide thousands of...

Immigration Dispute Roils Conservative Radio Matt Purple Correspondent- President Bush's immigration bill has created a rift between right-wing talk radio and Republican politicians that threatens to rupture the conservative coalition, according to a nationally syndicated radio host. "If [the bill] is jammed through before, ironically, Independence Day, I think we will have been witnesses ... to the end of the old conservative coalition," Laura Ingraham said on Monday. "I truly believe that it is over if this happens, and it's time to rebuild and restart." Conservative radio has been dominated by outrage over the immigration issue. The Project for Excellence...

WASHINGTON, June 15, 2007 – In the shadow of the Washington Monument, with its 50 American flags snapping in the breeze, the “President’s Own” U.S. Marine Band helped kick off the grand finale of the National Anthem Project here yesterday. The “President’s Own” U.S. Marine Band plays patriotic songs during the National Association for Music Education’s National Anthem Project’s grand finale at the Washington Monument on Flag Day, June 14, 2007. The project is a multiyear effort to re-teach Americans “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Molly A. Burgess, USN  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available....

FORT BELVOIR, Va., May 15, 2007 – Two local woodworking groups followed a Civil War custom today by presenting a ceremonial cane to a soldier who lost his leg in Iraq. Retired Army Lt. Col. Dennis Walburn, who lost a leg while deployed to Iraq and now serves as deputy chief of operations for the Army’s Rapid Equipping Force, accepts an eagle cane from the Northern Virginia Carvers and Capital Area Woodturners, Inc., during a ceremony at Fort Belvoir, Va. Photo by Donna Miles  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. The groups seek to extend the ritual to all...

Malaysia will build a 7 billion US dollar pipeline to transport Middle East oil across the north of its peninsula to East Asian countries. Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi told reporters today that he had agreed to the project. Mr Abdullah, who is also the finance minister, says the project is one of the government's major initiatives to develop Malaysia's northern region. The News Straits Times says Trans-Peninsula Petroleum, the company that will construct the 312-kilometre pipeline, will invest as much as seven billion US dollars in the ambitious project over eight years. The pipeline will run from northwestern Kedah...