Judge orders White House to save all e-mails

clipped from blogs.usatoday.com In Washington, U.S. District Judge Henry Kennedy, a Clinton appointee, ordered the Executive Office of the President to maintain backup tapes of its e-mails, which the White House has resisted. It stopped archiving e-mails in 2003. The White House must save copies of all its e-mails, a federal judge has ruled in response to two lawsuits attempting to determine whether Bush administration officials destroyed millions of records illegally. The Federal Records Act prohibits destruction of government documents unless the U.S. archivist approves. Two groups — Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Government and the National Security Archive — have accused the Oval Office of deleting of 5 million e-mails. The concern emerged during the investigation of who leaked Valerie Plame's CIA identity to reporters. Here's more from the Associated Press.

Transplant Surgeon Argues for a Kidney Market

clipped from blogs.wsj.com Allowing people to sell a kidney could prompt the poor and the desperate to enter a dangerous bargain. To many, the idea just feels creepy. For now, it’s also illegal and widely opposed by the medical establishment. But Arthur Matas, a University of Minnesota doc and former president of the American Society of Transplant Surgeons, is pushing to legalize kidney sales, the WSJ reports. The practice “would increase the supply of kidneys, save lives and improve the quality of life for those with end-stage renal disease.” Matas hasn’t come close to winning over the establishment. But as the waiting list for kidneys grows and grows, he does seem to be making headway in some quarters with his campaign to at least study the possibility with a real-world trial. Should the U.S. allow people to sell their kidneys? Read a debate between economists Julio Elias, University of Buffalo, who favors a market-based approach and Harvard’s Alvin Roth, who says organ exchanges might be a better solution.

Milwaukee Nun pleads no contest to molesting two boys

clipped from www.suntimes.com A Chicago nun pleaded no contest Monday to molesting two boys at a church convent and school in Milwaukee where she worked in the 1960s. Sister Norma Giannini, 79, had sexual contact with the boys, including sexual intercourse, a total of more than 160 times over four years while principal at St. Patrick's School in Milwaukee. Sister Norma Giannini from the 1982 Mother McAuley High School yearbook. Giannini, a Chicago native, is a member of the Sisters of Mercy. She taught at several area Catholic schools, from Park Ridge to Oak Park, before working in Milwaukee. including St. Clare of Montefalco in Chicago and Most Holy Redeemer in Evergreen Park. Giannini, who will be sentenced Feb. 1, left the courthouse without comment. She faces a maximum of 10 years on each of the two counts of indecent behavior with a minor. The Sisters of Mercy said previously that the order "learned of the situation" during the 1990s and sent Giannini to a St. Louis treatment facility for counseling.

Volcano (Anak Krakatau)

Must see visual. Growth from 1920 to the present is remarkable.

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Your iPod is dead if....

clipped from www.switched.com Your iPod is probably beyond repair when... It's fallen in the water: Salt water is worse than fresh water, but the real danger comes when you turn it on and it's still wet. "This is probably when you'd do the most damage," says Vronko. "You're better off taking it apart as soon as possible and removing any corrosive liquid with concentrated rubbing alcohol." You can also try sticking your iPod in a bowl of uncooked rice, but this doesn't always work. RapidRepair will try and fix these sorts of issues -- if you send the soiled device to them in a sealed plastic bag -- but it's likely your iPod is a goner. If it's been chewed by a dog: Dog's teeth are strong, and unfortunately they usually puncture an iPod's hard drive, the screen, and the battery. It's been run over by a car: Vronko says someone actually sent him an iPod that had been run over by a car. Vronko's rule of thumb is, if the hard drive, the battery, and the screen are all broken, it's time to replace the entire thing.

Your iPOD is fixable if....

clipped from www.switched.com Your iPod is fixable when... You get that sad iPod icon on your screen. This means your hard drive is kaput and needs to be replaced. According to Vronko, this repair is worth doing because it usually only costs 50 percent of the original cost of the device. Your screen looks like some ink has spilled on it. This means you've got a broken LCD screen. The cost on these sorts of repairs are usually just 25 to 35 percent of the original cost of the unit, according to Vronko, usually around $90 or less. You can even do it yourself, if you want to do it ASAP (Vronko says his company also just sells the screen and directions for DIY types). You get a battery and and exclamation point on your screen. "If you're getting this several times a week and more quickly than usual, your battery is probably dead," says Vronko. This fix is a cinch and usually costs around $20 from a professional service.

Environmental disaster, oil, corpses wash ashore

The polluted area is at the heart of the migration route from central Siberia

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