Spell checkers are great.  They help find lots of spelling mistake.  But it’s funny how many other mistakes it can not find as demonstrated by the poem linked here.

Frontline documentary “Heat” investigates the great crises of global warming. You can watch the full program in the link provided.

CO2 emission have been rising and is at records level. China and India are in a growth spur adding to the energy demands. In order to stop global warming, we have to curb our addiction to fossil fuel which is economic engine of our lives. The documentary talks about technologies such as clean coal and carbon capture and sequestration.

The second largest contribution to CO2 emissions are vehicles. There is a need to increase fuel efficiency standards. But the car industry is against it. Big oil is also resisting change and the consequences are not good.

Corn-based ethanol as an alternative to middle-east oil is now hugh business. Some say there is a net benefit. And other says that it may even increase carbon emission depending on how the corn is processed. Corn simply may not be an efficient fuel crop and may not a solution to greenhouse gas.

In Europe and Japan, the government have gotten farther in its strides to increase renewable energies.

In its early days, nuclear power had to overcome obstacles of the fears of accidents such as Three-Mile Island and anti-nuclear activists.

Cap and trade is the concept where companies has a maximum quota on emissions. If it emits more than their quota, they will need to purchase from companies that emit less.

While politicians debate this concept. The earth has seen its explosion of wild fires, large hurricanes like Katrina, and unbelievable droughts throughout the world.

China has passed America as the largest emitter of CO2. India and some other countries are also emitting more.

You can watch the full Frontline documentary “The Choice 2008” about Obama, McCain, and the 2008 election.

Frontline has the reputation of producing good well-balanced documentaries on controversial topics. This program talked about Obama and his roots in the black community. Obama was well-known at Harvard where he was quite political then too and where he later took the prestigious post of president of the Harvard Law Review.

The program talked about McCain and his relationship with the Bush administration and how he got the reputation of being a maverick. It showed footage of his prisoner of war days as well as his involvement with the Keating Five Scandal (video of Keating Scandal linked here).

The EWG (Environmental Working Group) has investigated over 900 sunscreen products to come up with the sunsceen rating database linked here. Each product has a score from 0 to 10 where 0 to 2 indicates low hazard and 7 to 10 indicates high hazard.

This is not to say you should not use sunscreen. You should use sunscreen as recommended in the cosmeticsdatabase.com article as well as other sun-healthy tips.

Just have to buy one that is SPF 15 or high and listed in the database’s “best” list. See the chart matrix linked here and there are 28 products that are rated Low Hazard and Effective.

The EWG says “that 4 out of 5 sunscreen products offer inadequate protection from the sun, or contain ingredients with significant safety concerns.” And you can not just go by the brand name. EWG says “Some of the worst offenders are leading brands”. And some brands make many different products which ranges from 2 to 7 rating.

Take a look at the code of programmers of various levels linked here.

They are all writing the standard “Hello World” program. Especially funny is the one by the “Chief Executive”.

This is a movie made and directed by a real waitress Patti DiVita, telling you what it really is like waitressing.

You can download the full movie here. Don’t forget to leave her a tip though.

Radio program “This American Life” explains the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis in the episode “355: The Giant Pool of Money” broadcasted May 9, 2008. The host Ira Glass along with NPR correspondent explains the big picture and put the complex subject in simpler terms that we can understand. You can heard the full episode on thislife.org.

Or you can hear a shorter explanation titled “Global Pool of Money Got Too Hungry” on npr.org.

Watch the Nova documentary “Car of the Future” online.

This documentary explores alternative fuel vehicles which will be needed in the future as demand for fossil fuel outgrow supplies. And because this film is hosted by Tom and Ray Magliozzi (also known as Click and Clack) of the radio show CarTalk, you are sure to get a few laughs as well.

This article on Alzheimer’s Association suggests …

• dark-skinned fruits and vegetables such as spinach, broccoli, blueberries, blackberries, etc.
• cold water fish such as halibut, mackerel, salmon, trout, and tuna
• nuts such as almonds, pecans, and walnuts

It also indicates that vitamin E, C, B12, and folate may be helpful.

Found on YouTube listed here are free video lectures from the University of California at Berkeley. Lectures include physics, biology, search engines, and more.

You can watch “The Hidden Epidemic - Heart Disease In America” on PBS website linked here.

An eleven part podcast series is available on the web linked here. Dr. Michael F. Roizen talks with Julie Bain from Reader’s Digest about tips for a health heart.

You can watch episodes of “Wired Science” linked here. They got some interesting science features.

Watch this video by Robert Krulwich that explains why the atom carbon is central to understanding the global warming process. It got some nice humorous cartoons to make the learning fun. It is in 5 parts; so make sure you scroll down and play the episodes in order.

Take a look at the beautiful pavement art by Julian Beever. Some of them look so realistic that they appear three-dimensional. And with the camera angle adjusted just right, you can get this amazing illusion.