Report to the UN Human Rights Council on legal issues raised by targeted killing
News release: "Targeted killings pose a rapidly growing challenge to the international rule of law. They are increasingly used in circumstances which violate the relevant rules of international law. The international community needs to be more forceful in demanding accountability,” said Philip Alston, the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial executions. Alston’s report to the Human Rights Council on legal issues raised by targeted killing has been released by the United Nations. “The most prolific user of targeted killings today is the United States, which primarily uses drones for attacks. Some 40 states already possess drone technology, and some already have, or are seeking, the capacity to fire missiles from them”, said the expert. “The result is that the rules being set today are going to govern the conduct of many States tomorrow. I’m particularly concerned that the United States seems oblivious to this fact when it asserts an ever-expanding entitlement for itself to target individuals across the globe. But this strongly asserted but ill-defined licence to kill without accountability is not an entitlement which the United States or other States can have without doing grave damage to the rules designed to protect the right to life and prevent extrajudicial executions.”

Metropolitan Area Employment and Unemployment Summary, April 2010: "Unemployment rates were higher in April than a year earlier in 291 of the 372 metropolitan areas, lower in 73 areas, and unchanged in 8 areas, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics has reported. Fourteen areas recorded jobless rates of at least 15.0 percent, while 8 areas registered rates below 5.0 percent. The national unemployment rate in April was 9.5 percent, not seasonally adjusted, up from 8.6 percent a year earlier."

Google Announces Free Download of 10 terabytes of patents and trademarks
Google Public Policy Blog: "When we launched Google Patent Search in 2006, we wanted to make it easier for people to understand the world of inventions, whether they were browsing for curious patents or researching serious engineering. Recently, we’ve also worked on a number of public data search features, as well as experimental features like the Public Data Explorer...That’s why we’re proud to announce that the USPTO and Google are making this data available for free at http://www.google.com/googlebooks/uspto.html. This includes all granted patents and trademarks, and published applications -- with both full text and images."

Enhancing Airline Passenger Protections: Notice of Proposed Rulemaking June 2, 2010
"The Department of Transportation is proposing to improve the air travel environment for consumers by: increasing the number of carriers that are required to adopt tarmac delay contingency plans and the airports at which they must adhere to the plan’s terms; increasing the number of carriers that are required to report tarmac delay information to the Department; expanding the group of carriers that are required to adopt, follow, and audit customer service plans and establishing minimum standards for the subjects all carriers must cover in such plans; requiring carriers to include their contingency plans and customer service plans in their contracts of carriage; increasing the number of carriers that must respond to consumer complaints; enhancing protections afforded passengers in oversales situations, including increasing the maximum denied boarding compensation airlines must pay to passengers bumped from flights; strengthening, codifying and clarifying the Department’s enforcement policies concerning air transportation price advertising practices; requiring carriers to notify consumers of optional fees related to air transportation and of increases in baggage fees; prohibiting post-purchase price increases; requiring carriers to provide passengers timely notice of flight status changes such as delays and cancellations; and prohibiting carriers from imposing unfair contract of carriage choice-of-forum provisions."

"Which like the toad, ugly and venomous,
Wears yet a precious jewel in his head;
And this our life, exempt from public haunt,
Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,
Sermons in stones, and good in every thing."
- William Shakespeare, As You Like It, 2.1
http://classiclit.about.com/od/asyoulikeit/a/aa_asyoulikequ.htm

Infamous kudzu, the plant that ate the South (and now nibbling at the Northeast), can add air pollution to its list of ecological misdeeds. A recent study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that the invasive plant helps create huge amounts of ozone.
A possible silver lining in kudzu’s ever-expanding cloud of green vines is the plant has shown some potential as a biofuel. Previous research, conducted by the USDA and University of Toronto, has suggested an acre of kudzu yields more gallons of ethanol than that of corn. See pictures and story at: http://www.smartplanet.com/business/blog/intelligent-energy/kudzu/1361/