| Introduction :: Mining uranium
Although uranium occurs naturally all over the world, only a small fraction is found in concentrated ores. When certain atoms of uranium are split in a chain reaction, energy is released. This process is called nuclear fission. In a nuclear power station this fission occurs slowly, while in a nuclear weapon, very rapidly. In both instances, fission must be very carefully controlled. Nuclear fission works best if isotopes - atoms with the same number of protons, but different numbers of neutrons - of uranium 235 (or plutonium 239) are used.These isotopes have almost identical chemical properties, but different nuclear properties. Uranium-235 is known as a "fissile isotope" because of its propensity to split in a chain reaction, releasing energy in the form of heat. When a U-235 atom splits, it emits two or three neutrons.
Maryland primaries could matter after all
Every day it seems more likely that voters in Maryland will have a say, after all, about who gets nominated.
The Republican contest is still formless. As many as five candidates arguably have a shot at winning, and nobody knows how many will be alive a few weeks from now.
Democratic contenders Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are locked in a tight, two- person race.
So which party's primary will matter on Feb. 12 in Maryland? Conceivably, both will.
For Democrats, two factors-dollars and party rules- could meant that Feb. 5, when 22 states hold primaries and caucuses, won't be decisive.
Presidential candidates never give up, "they run out of money," said Bill Carrick, a Democratic strategist who is non-aligned this year.
July 2006
Mom would try to let Dad get a couple of hours of sleep before the long drive from Ohio to the Cape. We would normally leave late and drive through the night and get to the Cape around noonish. We tried to stop once and that was a disaster as no one sleep and it was a waste of money. Even into my years of driving, we have done the same. Only now that it is just my wife and I we do try to find a place to stop over night to and from. Personally I would rather get there and have more time for the Cape. But I am learning to take things a little easier now that the kids are not along for the ride. The only night with more anticipation was Christmas Eve, we couldn’t sleep, we didn’t want to sleep, we just wanted to go. We wanted to get to the beach. This year is a little different, with us changing to a September visit, I almost feel a little anxiety.
Monopoly bargaining strangles attempts to reform D.C. schools
Ms. Brittany Spears will spend Christmas with her children, but there are other parents who didn't cut their hair off and publicly used drug and alcohol products. We need the Supreme Court to create child protection laws and statutes to protect the children of African American and Poor Families in the United States.
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Worldview: The lesson jihadis fear
Pakistan has made news lately as the world's most dangerous country: a nuclear-armed state that has become a base for al-Qaeda, the Taliban and other fanatic Islamists. But on my trip there last month, I saw an antidote to this nightmare, a route out of this trap - if Pakistan's government and the West would only seize it. I traveled to mountain villages with Greg Mortenson, a former mountain climber who has built 55 schools in Pakistan and eight in Afghanistan. Mortenson got lost 15 years ago descending from K-2, and promised to build a school for the villagers who rescued and nursed him. His formula for countering extremism is summed up in the title of his best-selling book: Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time. After building his first school, Mortenson set up the Central Asia Institute (www.ikat.org) to build schools in Pakistan's most remote areas, where the government fails to provide education.
Did race, as white voters hesitated in the booths, play a part in ...
One thing that could not be explained simply was the difference between the opinion polls for the two parties. For the Republicans, they were accurate. Yet for the Democrats they were wildly awry, giving Mr Obama a large lead into polling day. A quick look through recent political history finds only a few occasions on which such a stark divergence has occurred. In 1982, Tom Bradley, a Democrat, seemed to have a commanding lead in the opinion polls in the final days of the campaign for California governor. But on the day he lost to the Republican George Deukmejian. In 1989, Douglas Wilder won the Virginia governor’s race narrowly despite holding an average nine-point lead in the final polls. And in 1990, Harvey Gantt was beaten by the Republican Jesse Helms in a North Carolina Senate race in the same kind of upset.
Gadgets Eureka Aerospace Uses Microwave Beams to Stop Cars
High-speed police chases are nothing new to Americans these days. Local (and often times national) TV stations are quick to break into regular programming when a high speed chase occurs and will follow the incident to its completion. TV stations know that people are keen to tune in -- just as they are likely to slow down and rubberneck for an accident on the side of the highway. Criminals and TV stations alike may have something to fear in the future thanks to Eureka Aerospace. Eureka's contraption has nothing to do with the "PIT Maneuver" or spike strips -- instead, it uses microwaves to effectively zap a cars electrical system rendering it inoperable. The rooftop mounted device in its current version measures 5' x 3' by 1' and weighs roughly 200 pounds. The high-powered weapon operates at 300 MHz and is not harmful to humans.
Supreme Court will hear challenge to campaign finance law amendment
Davis, a Democrat, wanted to commit his fortune in 2006 to challenge Republican incumbent Thomas Reynolds for a congressional seat in upstate New York. Under the millionaire's amendment, Davis and other self-financing candidates must declare their intention to spend more than $350,000 of their own money, which he and others argue gives incumbents valuable intelligence. Davis, a businessman, ultimately spent $1.25 million of his own money, but Reynolds spent more than twice that and beat Davis by 52-48 percent in a heavily Republican district. Davis argues that the campaign finance provisions violate constitutional guarantees of free speech and equal protection. Last August, a Washington-based appellate panel disagreed. "It places no restriction on a candidate's ability to spend unlimited amounts of his personal wealth to communicate his message to voters, nor does it reduce the amount of money he is able to raise from contributors," Judge Thomas Griffith wrote for the U.S.
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