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Last April, I received this nice letter from Mark Mathis.
Hello Mr. Myers,
My name is Mark Mathis. I am a Producer for Rampant Films. We are
currently in production of the documentary film, "Crossroads: The
Intersection of Science and Religion."
At your convenience I would like to discuss our…
These three men were killed while trying to rescue six miners trapped at Crandall Canyon in Utah:
Dale Ray Black, 48, of Huntington, Utah (read more about him from the Salt Lake Tribune and Deseret Morning News)
Brandon Kimber, 29, of Price, Utah (read more about him from USA Today and the…
The Mountain Eagle's Tom Bethell pulls no punches in today's editorial with an in-your-face critique of the coal industry and their investment (not!) in safety technology. He writes:
"Name five U.S. coal companies that have generously supported research to develop a two-way PED…
Cross-posted by Revere at Effect Measure
You wonder when they will ever learn -- or IF they will ever learn. In the wake of yesterday's announcement that the Director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Dr. David Schwartz, will step aside while NIH does an inquiry into…
Mr. Eleazar Torres-Gomez, 46, was killed at an Oklahoma Cintas laundry plant on March 6, 2007, when he was dragged into an industrial dryer because of an unguarded conveyor. Federal OSHA investigated the fatality and, this week, proposed a $2.78 million penalty for, among other things…
In a McClatchy Newspapers article, Kevin G. Hall shows how China and the Bush administration have both undermined efforts to keep lead out of children's products by opposing efforts to police Chinese imports. This description of the Bush administration's role will sound familiar to…
By Liz BorkowskiÂ
Although work has begun on a fifth borehole into the Crandall Canyon mine, officials acknowledged yesterday that the six miners may not be found. This LA Times article describes the anguishing choice between leaving the miners underground â a notion âakin to soldiers leaving…
When MSHA's Gary Jensen, 53, died last week in a rockburst at the Crandall Canyon mine, it had been 26 years since a federal mine inspector had died in the line of duty. Mr. Jensen joined MSHA in 2001 as an inspector. He had worked for nearly 30 years as a coal miner, and …
Cross-posted by Revere at Effect Measure
In an email letter sent internally to all National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) personnel, its Director, Dr. David Schwartz, has announced he is temporarily stepping aside while the NIH Director, Dr. Elias Zerhouni, conducts an internal…
Well, not all of these pictures of the sciblings are in the "LOLCats" style, but they do have captions....
Poor Dr. Steve Steve. Such is his international celebrity that he cannot show his furry little face in New York without being hounded by the (new) media! He tries to hide in Tara Smith's bag, but it's to no avail....
...as sciblings and paparazzi MIke Dunford, PZ Myers, Josh Rosenau, and…
For the first year on the job, a new underground coal miner wears a red-colored hardhat to signal to everyone on the crew that he (or she) is a rookie. These so-called "red hats" receive 40 hours of safety training before they are allowed to take on any mining duties, on…
This is mostly just an MLP ("Mindless Link Post"), and it's nearly two weeks late, but there's a post by Julianne over at Cosmic Variance that I think is of crucial importance. People who are outside the field of science very often lose sight of the huge amount of important science that is done,…
This post has been resurrected from my old blog's location. I've copied the 2006-03-19 post as-is, and I've added a few addenda at the bottom.
I overstimulate fairly easily. This is a serious social disadvantage.
I don’t know how much there is really to this, but I’m attracted to the notion of…
Apparently, thereâs something about a study involving cats and flame retardants that makes it irresistible blogging fodder. Lisa Stiffler at Dateline Earth was the first to alert us to the study, reporting that it linked catsâ PBDE exposure and hyperthyroidism. (PBDEs, or polybrominated diphenyl…
I've only sampled a few outlets, so I can't say this definitively. However, the few electrical outlets I've sampled at the Nashville airport are not working.
I've read before at BoingBoing about Pay-per use electrical outlets at DFW.
I'm guessing (just guessing; again, I don't know, as I've only…
MSHA reports:
"At approximately 8:39 pm (EDT) Thursday night, a significant bounce occurred at the mine. Three rescue workers are confirmed dead, including one MSHA inspector. Six others remain hospitalized. At this time, all rescue efforts have been suspended."
The MSHA…
I'm off on 2 weeks+ of travel. At the moment, I'm sitting in the Nashville airport, waiting to take off on a two-day flight to New York for FNORD. I come back Sunday, and Monday I leave for a 2-week trip to San Francisco to spend a couple of weeks at the main Linden Lab office (with perhaps a…
By Liz Borkowski
Aman at Technology, Health & Development reminds us that itâs World Water Week, and provides a great collection of water-related links for the occasion. Several of the articles are about a backlash against bottled water â apparently, a critical mass of people has just…
Join an on-line chat at 1:00 pm today (8/16) on technology to locate trapped miners.
On day 11, the rescue efforts continue for the six trapped miners at a Utah coal mine. A third borehole (2") punctured the mine workings yesterday afternoon to allow a camera to be lowered…
The Salt Lake Tribune reports that a third borehole has reached a cavity in the Crandall Canyon mine, but efforts to lower a microphone into it have failed so far. The Tribune has the most extensive coverage of the rescue efforts, and in a blog post yesterday Arianna Huffington contrasts its…
The Bureau of Labor Statistics has released its preliminary numbers on 2006 fatal occupational injuries, and Katherine Torres at Occupational Hazards reports on what they show. The rate of fatal work injuries declined slightly, from 4 per 100,000 in 2005 to 3.9 in 2006, but some industries showed…
by Tom Bethell                                        …
Following the talk I gave in Second Life about the discovery of the accelerating Universe, we held a couple of Q&A sessions. The original plan was to have questions right after the talk, but the Second Life main grid crashed right at that moment. We all got online about half an hour later,…
In "Memo shows mine already had roof problems," (Aug 12) the Salt Lake Tribune's Robert Gehrke first reported on a history of rockbursts at the Crandall Canyon mine.* I first learned this on NPR's Morning Edition (Aug 14) when Frank Langfitt reported that in March of…
I realized that I had several comments that hadn't been flagged as "junk," but which had been flagged for moderation. I don't see those much, so I haven't been looking for them. As such, several of them have been sitting there for as much as 3 weeks.
I apologize to those of you whose comments…
OSHA's Area Office in Pittsburgh issued 46 citations, including 16 repeat violations and one willful against Shane Felter Industries, Inc. of Uniontown, PA. A proposed penalty of $166,400 accompanied the citations.  OSHA's Area Director Robert Szymanski said:
"Shane Felter…
In Indiana on Friday, three men died from a 500-foot plunge down an air shaft being built at a coal mine:
Christopher Todd Richardson, 38, of Cedar Bluff, Virginia
Daniel McFadden, 66, of Greybull, Wyoming
Jarred A. Ashmore, 23, of Henderson, Kentucky
The Associated Press reports:
The trip [into…
Ellen Smith, Managing Editor of Mine Safety and Health News reported at 5:30 pm (EST, 8/12) on the status of the operation to rescue the six trapped miners at the Crandall Canyon mine in Emery County, Utah. She wrote that MSHA Assistant Secretary Richard Sticker, said they…
by Ken Ward, Jr. (This item first appeared on Nieman Watchdog; posted with permission)
Often after accidents like the one at Crandall Canyon, Utah, mine operators claim their mines had relatively few violations. Even if thatâs trueâand often it isnâtâârelatively fewâ just isnât good enough…