BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Winston warns of stem cell hype

Lord Winston, president of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, is expected to warn in a speech Monday that the potential benefits of embryonic stem cell research have probably been oversold, and he's fearing a backlash when science can't deliver on the hype. Jonathan Amos, BBC News Online science staff writer, reports.

US Newspaper List: Mississippi Newspaper List

Mississippi Newspaper List has links to newspapers, college newspapers, radio stations, TV stations, magazines, more.

I haven't gone through the list to see what's still up and running, but I know some of you are having trouble finding out what's happening in Mississippi, and I hope this will help.

The www.usnpl.com website has similar listings for all states. For shortcuts, here are the links to Louisiana, Texas, Alabama, Florida.

John Grisham to donate $5M to Katrina relief - The Clarion-Ledger

Bestselling author John Grisham and his wife, Renee, have donated five million dollars to establish the Rebuild The Coast Fund to help Mississippi residents and businesses recover from Hurricane Katrina. The Grishams have a home in Oxford, Mississippi.

Associated Press article

Discovery Channel :: The Flight That Fought Back

Discovery Channel :: The Flight That Fought Back will air September 11, without commercial interruption, reconstructing the events of Flight 93 and honoring the crew and passengers. The website has related articles, a video preview (I think it's the same as the ad running on Discovery right now), an airline security quiz, and more. Discovery also suggests donations to the Flight 93 National Memorial Fund.

At a guess, this documentary will be better than anything Hollywood turns out about the event. Just a guess. (Or hope?)

26 Nations To Release Petroleum Reserves

Justin Blum, Washington Post staff writer, reports that members of the Paris-based International Energy Agency have taken steps to get more gasoline on the U.S. market, and also that oil companies are sending more gasoline than usual from abroad to the United States to help offset Katrina's damage to refineries. These added supplies could be arriving in something like ten days to two weeks. More.

Michelle Malkin: STORIES OF SURVIVAL

Michelle Malkin: STORIES OF SURVIVAL links to several inspiring stories, and a few heart-wrenching ones.

BBC NEWS | Europe | Chirac admitted to Paris hospital

The news reports around the world are conflicting. Some are saying French President Jacques Chirac has had a small stroke. Others, the BBC included, are saying he's had a vascular problem that's affected his eyesight (otherwise known as a transient ischemic attack, they say). At any rate, he's expected to be in hospital for about a week or so. Use title link for the BBC report, which has links to reports at other news agencies.

Chief Justice Rehnquist Dies at Home

From AP, U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist has died.

The Berlin Airlift

The Berlin Airlift has been mentioned a time or two today, as reporters try to get their heads around the scale of the evacuation and relief efforts underway along the northern Gulf Coast. Earlier, I heard Geraldo Rivera mentioning something about the Berlin Airlift, and something about the Kennedy Administration, but I was only paying half attention while I did chores. Beyond a brief curiosity of what had happened in the Kennedy years that would provide perspective on today's events, I didn't think about it much.

It turns out that Rivera was saying that the Berlin Airlift happened during the Kennedy administration, according to Donald Sensing. Oops. Send that reporter back to history class, or get him a better research assistant, or something.

Sensing is wondering if he should make Geraldo Rivera a separate posting category on his One Hand Clapping blog. The man provides comic relief, he says.

Seraphic Secret: Tethered

Robert J. Avrech's September 1 post begins:

Of all the horrendous scenes from Hurricane Katrina that Karen and I have watched, the single image that has sent us reeling is of a middle aged daughter dragging the corpse of her father on an inflatable mattress; he is tightly, lovingly wrapped in white sheets...

Full post

As with many of the posts on his blog, Avrech ties this to his experience of watching his son fight for his life and lose. A heart-tugging and thought-provoking essay.

The Common Room: Where is the National Guard?

Headmistress over at The Common Room has a short quiz on the National Guard and its response to Katrina, to see if you know what's really happened so far, etc. She even links to an article with the answers, so you can read up before taking the quiz.

clarionledger.com : Mississippi's News Source

News from Jackson, Mississippi.

hat tip: PBS

Update: For an extensive list of - and links to - Mississippi newspapers, college papers, radio stations, TV stations, more, see here or here.

2theadvocate.com | Powered by The Advocate and WBRZ News 2 Louisiana

News from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Lots of Katrina and evacuation news, photos, videos, links.

hat tip: PBS

NASA - The Latest News from Mars

The Spirit rover has completed a 14-month climb up a hill on Mars, and has sent back pictures. I don't know if I should say this, but if you hadn't told me these were from Mars I might have guessed they were from country not too far south of me here in the rain shadow part of Oregon. (Where I live is much prettier, thanks - but we're not very far from places like this.) Story link.

Also on the Mars Exploration Rovers page, NASA has pictures of Martian dust devils, which makes Mars seem even more like some sort of parallel Oregon universe ;-)

See also Rocky Mountain High: Spirit Rover Surveys its Surroundings by Tariq Malik for the latest on Spirit's Martian trek.

Hurricane Katrina Recovery on FirstGov.gov

The United States government has collected links and information in these categories: Finding Loved Ones, Help for Victims, How You Can Help, Health and Safety, Government Agencies and Recovery Response. (Front page here.) For information in Spanish, see Huracán Katrina: Recuperación.

hat tip: NASA home page, which has employee check-in areas, information on NASA facilities affected by the storm, satellite images of flood areas, and more.

Update: Disasterhelp.gov also has a Katrina aftermath page.

BBC - History - Red Sky at Night

Not that we don't have enough contemporary disaster to think about just now, but (as the Scotsman.com's Business News e-mail's Fact of the Day reminds me) it was on September 2, 1666, that the Great Fire of London started. The BBC has extensive information and links in its history web section.

More:
Wikipedia: Great Fire of London
The Great Fire of London - 1666, presented by London Fire and Civil Defence Authority in association with AngliaCampus.
Samuel Pepys Diary 1666 - Great Fire

OpinionJournal - What They're Reading at the Kitchen Table

Mark Oppenheimer finds that homeschoolers have created a new class of best sellers - good, old, old-fashioned books. He names a few.

Goodwill Industries International - NR-084105-HURRICANE-RELIEF

In the immediate aftermath of Katrina, Goodwill Industries has stepped back and is suggesting that people donate cash to relief organizations better positioned than Goodwill to get immediate aid to victims. But, I think the following is important also:

In addition, Goodwill Industries International is accepting online donations to help meet the immediate needs of Goodwill employees and program participants in the affected areas. After these needs are met, the funds will be used to help them resume their jobs, or find new ones, as well as to rebuild the employment and career programs provided by Goodwill agencies in the Gulf region.

“We want to help the employees and clients of the affected Goodwill agencies survive these devastating days, and provide them with the support they need to rebuild their lives,” says Kessinger [George W. Kessinger, President and CEO of Goodwill Industries International]. Donors can visit our web site to make a donation by credit card, or send a check to Goodwill Industries International, Inc.; c/o Hurricane Relief; 15810 Indianola Drive; Rockville, MD 20855.

Full news release

Goodwill has done great things by giving individuals a “hand-up, not a handout." I suspect this approach will be invaluable in the months to come, as storm survivors wonder how in the world to get back on their feet.

Update: Instapundit has a blogger's round-up of places to donate to hurricane relief efforts here. The Truth Laid Bear is letting people track their contributions here. (It's sort of a friendly competition for a good cause.) The main "TTLB" Hurricane Katrina: Blog For Relief Weekend page is here. Bloggers from around the world are pitching in to steer help where it can do some good.

Update: Technorati tag Hurricane+Katrina

FEMA gets Hurricane Katrina help from unlikely place

Bob Brewin, reporting on FCW.com (Federal Computer Week online) notes that sometimes an agency that specializes in fighting wildfires can be immensely helpful in helping people after a hurricane. Story

FCW.com has other Katrina-related articles:
911 wiped out in many areas
Katrina knocks out critical Army supply link
Outdated hospital bed system hampers Katrina relief effort
Red Cross works to restore communications at shelters
Hurricane Katrina: Disaster relief (Federal Computer Week’s ongoing coverage of the relief efforts. Articles, links, and blogs.)

Afghan Instructors Teach Afghan Soldiers - DefendAmerica News Article

Good news from Afghanistan. As U.S. Army Sgt. Mason T. Lowery, Office of Security Cooperation-Afghanistan Public Affairs reports:

KABUL, Afghanistan, Sept. 2, 2005 — The Afghan National Army's Command and General Staff College graduated its sixth class Aug. 22 - the first class taught entirely by Afghan instructors.

French officers first taught the four-month course when the staff college opened in 2004. They selected top Afghan graduates from the second class to become instructors. The French gradually transferred authority to the Afghan National Army officers and assumed the role of advisors by April 2005.

The French officers will remain at the college to teach new courses in artillery, engineering and logistics, and will again choose top Afghan students from those classes to become future instructors. In a year, the college will have only three French instructors instead of the current eight, said French Army Lt. Col. Gaeton Sevin, chief of the Command and General Staff College French training team...

Full article