clipped by:debbyski clippers remarks: "He never seemed to understand, or be convinced himself. But now, listening to him sing as a child, even though I know he was too young to have a clue as to what he was singing about, I feel, just as I felt when I was a boy, that he knew and he felt exactly what he was singing. But I never, fairly, tried to understand ? who he was, what he was asked to do ? by our parents, by himself. And he was just a boy, how would he even know the question to ask? People will point to Michael Jackson?s discography, his surgeries, madness, all that he?s been given, earned and squandered. Many will testify about what he?s given, but I, in this moment, can only think of what he?s, we?ve, lost. The price he?s paid for where he?s been is his life. And I think about David in much the same way ? the wake behind, and his narrowing future ? where he is now, and how it cost him me.""
I WAS driving home listening to the radio on Thursday when I heard that Michael Jackson was dead. I turned it off and thought about my brother
We haven?t had a substantive conversation in years ? not about my marriage, my children, our father?s death, or why we?ve grown apart.
What does this have to do with Michael Jackson? Grimly, I?ve been waiting for ? through the hair relaxer, the surgeries, the blanching, the eccentricities and the fall into madness ? that news flash. Just as I?ve been waiting for a phone call telling me my brother is dead, or at least, far beyond any possible care ? our gap ever widening, irreconcilable.
My Michael ? not M. J., or Jacko ? has an Afro, a broad nose and deep brown skin. His voice, rather than clipped and formulaic, is clear, ringing and bright. His vocalizations aren?t clicks and chirps, but screeches and moans. I never believed in anything he sang as an adult.
Illuminati Clothing, the next big thing in Pop Culture
(FEDERALJACK) This is how it is how far gone our culture is. 100 years ago you couldn?t wear this shit in public because people were informed enough that they knew what those symbols meant. Through programming, todays youth is brought up embracing these symbols and brandishing them on clothing. We have alot of work ahead of us
A little something for female Illuminati ? Death Traitors.
Yesterday, nearly two years after more than 320,000 of you stood up to protect them from Jim Crow justice, the Jena 6--Jesse Ray Beard, Carwin Jones, Robert Bailey, Theo Shaw, Bryant Purvis and Mychal Bell--are all now free to move ahead with their lives. We should all be proud.
The five remaining Jena 6 cases were brought to conclusion on Friday1 when Jesse Ray, Carwin, Robert, Theo, and Bryant pleaded "no contest" to misdemeanor simple battery charges.2 They will spend no time in jail, serve seven days of probation, and pay relatively minor fines and court fees.
Its an incredible outcome given that the young men were originally charged with attempted murder in small-town Louisiana and had neither the funds nor the connections to get high-quality representation or attention for their cases.
Over 300,000 of you wrote
September 20th, 2007, more than 10,000 of you went to Jena
more than 150 rallies and vigils across the country
more than 6,000 phone calls to elected officials in Louisiana
clipped by:debbyski clippers remarks: "Conservatives touted abstinence-only education, which was a flop, when real sex education was needed, most desperately in red states. According to 2006 data from the Guttmacher Institute, those red states accounted for eight of the 10 states with the highest teenage birthrates. And, a study titled ?Red Light States: Who Buys Online Adult Entertainment?? that was conducted by Benjamin Edelman, an assistant professor of business at Harvard Business School and published earlier this year in the Journal of Economic Perspectives found that subscriptions to online pornography sites were ?more prevalent in states where surveys indicate conservative positions on religion, gender roles, and sexuality? and in states where ?more people agree that ?I have old-fashioned values about family and marriage.? ? They could avoid this hypocrisy by focusing more on what happens in their own bedrooms and avoiding the trap of judging what goes on in everyone else?s."
?Hiking the Appalachian Trail.? Is that what we?re calling it these days? That?s what Gov. Mark Sanford of South Carolina told his staff that he was going to do when he absconded to Argentina to be with his ?sweetest? Maria of the ?magnificently gentle kisses.?
I had no particular interest in rubbernecking this disaster. People make mistakes. The flesh is weak, the heart disobedient and marriages hard.
At the end of the day, aside from the dereliction of duty and malfeasance, this, for me, would be a private matter. That is if it were not for the appalling hypocrisy of yet another social conservative saying one thing while doing another.
There are Democratic sex scandals to be sure, but Democrats didn?t build a franchise on holier-than-thou moral rectitude. The Republicans did. They used sexual morality as a weapon and now it?s shooting them in the foot.
Vaccinate Canadians under 40 and natives first: experts
Five-to-40-year-olds and Canadas aboriginal communities should be the first to get vaccinated against human swine flu, experts say as Canadian officials decide who gets priority for the flu shots.
Under Canadas official pandemic plan, the entire population would ultimately be immunized against the H1N1 swine flu.
But the vaccine will become available in batches, meaning the entire population cant be vaccinated at once. It might take four or five months to get all the vaccine were going to get, during which time a second wave of swine flu may well be underway.
The Public Health Agency of Canada is working on a priority list, deciding where the first batches should go, and who should get the injections first. All provinces and territories would be expected to follow the national prioritization scheme.
Can we teach the ability to Stop Bullying and Teasing and Name calling?
Can we teach the ability to Stop Bullying and Teasing and Name calling?
?Dare we declare that teasing, arguing and even fighting are normal and necessary parts of childhood, or that the official anti-bullying and anti-abuse crusades are dangerous barriers to social development??
But when did you hear anybody dare to declare that teasing, arguing and even fighting are normal and necessary parts of childhood, or that the official anti-bullying and anti-abuse crusades are dangerous barriers to social development? ?
So much so, that the very authorities who are given the task of checking out genuine cases of abuse and turn their backs and walk away, are in a furore of righteous vigour about the rights of children to be ?safe. ?
Conservative Canadian Senator disputes GOP slam on CA healthcare
clipped by:masbury clippers remarks: Says McConnells statements about delay are exaggerated; points out life expectancy higher in Ontario than in Kentucky. Last paragraph lists several procedures followed by McConnells number, then Canadian hospital number
In a blistering statement this week before the Canadian Senate,
Conservative Senator Hugh Segal
took on the U.S. Republican Senate Leader
Mitch McConnell
"According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the average lifespan in Kentucky is 75.2 years and according to Statistics Canada, that number is 80.4 years in Ontario, 78.3 years in Kingston," he told the Canadian Senate after discounting Mr. McConnells numbers.
"Furthermore, according to a Fraser Institute study, in 2006, the U.S. spent $6,714 per capita versus $3,678 in Canada."
Reality check
U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell and Kingston General Hospital (KGH) give very different estimates of the waiting time for certain treatments:
A battle for the custody of Michael Jacksons three children began brewing between the childrens nanny and grandmother just hours after the pop singer was pronounced dead Thursday, according to a Jackson biographer and family friend.
The children, when previously seen in public, were always at their fathers side, regularly wearing pint-sized versions of Jacksons trademark surgical mask, or shrouds over their heads to conceal their identities.
As Jacksons behavior became increasingly bizarre over the years, public scrutiny focused on the children, particularly after Jackson dangled his infant son from a hotel balcony and allegations surfaced that the singer had molested other children.
Michael Jackson walks with kids Prince and Paris through a studio parking lot in Los Angeles.
Have you heard of the Twenty Dollar Trick? It?s a great way to get a free (ok, almost free) upgrade to your hotel in cities like Las Vegas, New York and Boston. My fiance and I used it in Las Vegas, Nevada, this past weekend at Harrah?s and it worked wonderfully! Basically, this is how it works. When you check in, you slip a $20 bill between your credit card and ID, hand them to the receptionist and immediately ask, ?Are there any free upgrades available?? If there are, chances are they?ll give you one. And if not, they give the $20 back. We tried this over Memorial Day weekend, and it worked like a charm! We had booked a standard room, and we were immediately upgraded to a Junior Suite that came with a King Bed, a large couch, a printer (really!) and a view of the pool. The room was in the newer tower, so it was nice and large.
clipped by:celestialdancer clippers remarks: Fantastic clip the contagiousness of laughter "for no reason". Just as well none of you are flies on the wall of my cave I laugh like this to myself all the time Just as well the people in their white coats arent flies on my wall either.
clipped by:Spiritualmonkey clippers remarks: Thankfully, the Zen Lexi & I study doesnt go in for automummification. We just sit facing the wall for 10 minutes a day.
Scattered throughout Northern Japan are over two dozen mummified Japanese monks known as Sokushinbutsu. Followers of Shugendu, an ancient form of Buddhism, the monks died in the ultimate act of self-denial.
For three years the priests would eat a special diet consisting only of nuts and seeds, while taking part in a regimen of rigorous physical activity that stripped them of their body fat. They then ate only bark and roots for another three years and began drinking a poisonous tea made from the sap of the Urushi tree
Finally, a self-mummifying monk would lock himself in a stone tomb barely larger than his body, where he would not move from the lotus position. His only connection to the outside world was an air tube and a bell. Each day he rang a bell to let those outside know that he was still alive. When the bell stopped ringing, the tube was removed and the tomb sealed.
Those monks who had succeeded in mummifying themselves were raised to the status of Buddha
We can?t live without these paring knives! Made of a high-quality carbon steel blade with a nonstick coating and safety sheath, theyre the perfect knife for your kitchen. Easy to clean, safe and incredibly effective. Youll end up using this knife all the time! Plus, who can resist the fab colors? Available in Pink, Lime, Red, Magenta, Purple, range or Blue. Read More
DURANGO, Colo. ? For the first time since territorial days, rain will be free for the catching here, as more and more thirsty states part ways with one of the most entrenched codes of the West.
Precipitation, every last drop or flake, was assigned ownership from the moment it fell in many Western states, making scofflaws of people who scooped rainfall from their own gutters. In some instances, the rights to that water were assigned a century or more ago.
Now two new laws in Colorado will allow many people to collect rainwater legally. The laws are the latest crack in the rainwater edifice, as other states, driven by population growth, drought, or declining groundwater in their aquifers, have already opened the skies or begun actively encouraging people to collect.
?I was so willing to go to jail for catching water on my roof and watering my garden,? said Tom Bartels
Surfers who ride the wave of the Eisbach, a small canal, have become a major tourist attraction in Munich. For years the sport has been prohibited on the river. But state and city officials may soon move to lift the ban.
Two cyclists in shorts and flip-flops weave their way through the rush-hour traffic along Prinzregenten Street in Munich, with surfboards under their arms. A woman in a convertible whistles at them. At the same time, a group of surfers makes its way across the Hofgarten behind the Bavarian governors office, and more young surfers are just emerging from the Lehel subway station, one already wearing a wetsuit.
Germany has coastline along both the North and Baltic Seas, and yet its best surfing is found in southern, landlocked Munich.
The Eisbach, a small canal, flows through the citys famous English Garde
the canal surges over a bulge in the streambed, creating a standing wave a good meter (three feet) high.
clipped by:The Infowarrior clippers remarks: Any infringement on the freedom of the internet is inherently a bad thing, once they start restricting sites (which has already been going on for a while) what is to stop them expanding the restrictions to other things like the alternate media etc?
The Federal Government has now set its sights on gamers, promising to use its internet censorship regime to block websites hosting and selling video games that are not suitable for 15 year olds.
Australia is the only developed country without an R18+ classification for games, meaning any titles that do not meet the MA15+ standard - such as those with excessive violence or sexual content - are simply banned from sale by the Classification Board, unless they are modified to remove the offending content.
"Far from being the ultimate weapon against child abuse, it now will officially censor content deemed too controversial for a 15-year-old. In a free country like ours, do we really need the government to step in and save us from racy web games?"
In Britain, Senator Conroy was nominated for the annual internet villain award "for continuing to promote network-level blocking despite significant national and international opposition"
Wisdom and Inspirational Quotes 1. It?s not that I?m so smart, it?s just that I stay with problems longer. ?Albert Einstein 2. Eighty percent of success is showing up. ?Woody Allen 3. I respect faith, but doubt is what gets you an education. ?Wilson Mizner 4. The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance; it is the illusion of knowledge. ?Daniel J. Boorstin
40. Honest criticism is hard to take, particularly from a relative, a friend, an acquaintance, or a stranger. ?Franklin P. Jones Otherwise Interesting Quotes 41. Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school. ?Albert Einstein 42. Millions long for immortality who do not know what to do with themselves on a rainy Sunday afternoon. ?Susan Erz 43. Computers are useless. They can only give you answers. ?Pablo Picasso
it would be easier to control the masses by giving them make-work jobs. Why do Austrians hate make-work jobs? They do not create wealth, but they transfer it, and suppress outrage since it gives people the illusion of doing something productive. I like make-work jobs, it is my idea of bread (the wages from the job) and circuses (the job itself). I hope the US tries to quell the masses with bread and circuses instead of outright oppression.
Probably both the rich jobs and make-work jobs can add value. Revolutions occur when inequality becomes greater than some innately tolerable level for a society.
The mystery to me is whether it takes a war to equalize the income distribution again--or whether a war would even do it this time, as the rich are quite international in their orientation.
I do not see any meaningful way to increase employment besides make-work jobs and reducing competition via import certificates and restricting immigration.
I invited them over with their respective supplies and said Id provide the toppings
Jen suggested we stick to more traditional mochi accompaniments, such as sweetened red beans, peanuts ground with sugar, and black sesame powder
I found instant sesame powder mix, which according to the ingredients, already had sugar in it
for the peanut powder, I just used a food processor to grind a half cup of raw peanuts with 3 tablespoons of granulated sugar
dont grind too long or else youll end up with peanut butter
want it to look like this
sweetened condensed milk
I like how it goes with sweetened red beans
throw some mochi blocks on to the waffle iron and let it do its thing
the moffle itself didnt have too much flavor, which is not a bad thing as it was really the texture that stands out. The outside is crispy, almost crackly, while the inside is soft and almost gooey. In a word, awesome.
David F. Wherley Jr., the head of the Washington National Guard who scrambled jets over the city during the 9/11 terrorist attacks, was among those killed in the worst commuter train crash in the city?s history, officials said.
Wherley was commander of the 113th Fighter Wing at Andrews Air Force base in Maryland during the September 2001 terrorist attacks and sent up aircraft with orders to protect the White House and the Capitol, according to the 9/11 Commission report.
Wherley flew T-38 training jets and F-105 Thunderchief and F-4 Phantom combat jets during a military career that began in 1969, according to the guard?s statement. It said he earned a bachelor?s degree in economics from Fordham University in New York City in 1969, and a master?s in business administration from the University of Maryland in 1977.
The Wherleys left a son, David, who is a noncommissioned officer in the U.S. Army Golden Knights
clipped by:fernando_lutwin clippers remarks: The Master Cleanse or also known as the lemonade diet or the maple syrup diet has been around for more than 50 years#break#First formulated as a natural remedy to treat ulcers and other internal diseases, the diet has evolved into a rapid weight loss diet today.#break#When Beyonce Knowles confessed that she lost 22 pounds in 14 days with the Master Cleanser, it shocked the audience at the Oprah Winfrey show.#break#Her dramatic weight loss allowed her to look 10 years younger to play the role of a 16 year old in the hit movie, ?Dreamgirls?.#break#The Master Cleanser is a simple concoction of lemonade, maple syrup and cayenne pepper.
The Master Cleanse or also known as the lemonade diet or the maple syrup diet has been around for more than 50 years#break#First formulated as a natural remedy to treat ulcers and other internal diseases, the diet has evolved into a rapid weight loss diet today.#break#When Beyonce Knowles confessed that she lost 22 pounds in 14 days with the Master Cleanser, it shocked the audience at the Oprah Winfrey show.#break#Her dramatic weight loss allowed her to look 10 years younger to play the role of a 16 year old in the hit movie, ?Dreamgirls?.#break#The Master Cleanser is a simple concoction of lemonade, maple syrup and cayenne pepper.
Stirring up ideological mischief at dinner parties
clipped by:clip-on-tie clippers remarks: Harry Stein is the author of I Cant Believe Im Sitting Next to a Republican: A Survival Guide for Conservatives Marooned Among the Angry, Smug and Terminally Self-Righteous"
My favorite tale in this regard comes from a friend who lives in Park Slope. She reports creating level-red discomfort, when the talk on a recent evening turned to gay marriage. Everyone was for it, of course, including my friend.
Given the depth of liberal hypocrisy on certain issues, this is easier than it might sound
"But wouldnt it bother you if your own children were gay?" she added, all innocent curiosity. "After all, isnt it natural to want your kids to mirror your experience? To have a traditional marriage and raise children in the traditional way? I cant think of anything that would make them more foreign."
She reports that, hearing this, the liberals around the table "got very flustered -- because of course they feel exactly the same way.
There was a long silence, and then someone said: I would be much more upset if my kids were Republican, and that let everyone off the hook. But afterward, one liberal friend came and whispered in my ear I would be really devastated. "
9/11 Commission Counsel: Government Agreed to Lie About 9/11
(DAILY ED) The senior counsel to the 9/11 Commission ? John Farmer ? says that the government agreed not to tell the truth about 9/11, echoing the assertions of fellow 9/11 Commission members who concluded that the Pentagon were engaged in deliberate deception about their response to the attack.
Farmer served as Senior Counsel to the 9/11 Commission (officially known as the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States), and is also a former New Jersey Attorney General.
Farmer?s book about his experiences working for the Commission is entitled The Ground Truth: The Story Behind America?s Defense on 9/11, and is set to be released tomorrow.
The book unveils how ?the public had been seriously misled about what occurred during the morning of the attacks,? and Farmer himself states that ?at some level of the government, at some point in time?there was an agreement not to tell the truth about what happened.?
clipped by:baydawg clippers remarks: the religious Rights great efforts opposing homosexual practice may have brought the whole question to the attention of the public, who are now more tolerant of lesbians and gays than they were a generation ago
How the Religious Right Shaped Lesbian and Gay Activism (Social Movements, Protest and Contention)
gay rights
activists have spent decades fighting for their platform, seeing themselves as David against the religious right?s Goliath.
gay activists and the religious right have established in effect a symbiotic relationship in which each side very much affects the development of its counterpart.
clipped by:jatfla clippers remarks: What!!?? But nobodys had time to read it...and, and its important to push it through...and its sure to be popular with the elitists who Know all about this kinda stuff..and, and most everyone isnt paying attention. Hurry. Hurry. Quick, before anyone really understands! s/off.
When asked why he read portions of the cap-and-trade bill on the floor Friday night, Boehner told The Hill, "Hey, people deserve to know whats in this pile of s--t."
Using his privilege as leader to speak for an unlimited time on the House floor, Boehner spent an hour reading from the 1200-plus page bill that was amended 20 hours before the lower chamber voted 219-212 to approve it.
And GOP Conference Chairman Rep. Mike Pence (Ind.) said "we have only just begun to fight? as he left the Capitol Friday night.
"A lot of people walked the plank on a bill that will never become law,"
Actually, I want to show you how they train and prepare future gymnasts in China. Looking at some photos, I get the impression that they will break anytime soon
January 1, 2009, Norway banned the purchase of sexual services. Since then, the Danes have noticed that the number of brothels in northern Jutland has increased.
?We have observed that eight new brothels have opened in the northernmost part of the region after Norway?s ban on January 1. That is a lot up here. We don?t know for certain whether it?s because of more Norwegian customers, but we assume that the Norwegian ban is playing its part,? says Dep. Chief Sup. Frank Olsen of the North Jutland Police Force.
In Norway, there is a growing opposition to the ban. There are a number of signs that it is not working very well.
it has driven the sex traffic underground and criminalized the whole business
representatives for the Norwegian prostitutes claim that is has deprived them of protection by the police, so that the prostitutes are now in a much more vulnerable position than before.
clipped by:baydawg clippers remarks: The truth is that the State and the Plutocracy are two sides of one coin; each rules with the support and complicity of the other. The political propaganda which infuses every moment of our lives tries to maintain an artificial distinction between our Tweedledum and Tweedledee political parties: The Dees are all for using the power of the State (all government) to "help the little people" while the Dums are all for unleashing the power of free enterprise, a.k.a. the 1% who control the capital and 2/3 of all productive assets in the nation (the Plutocracy).
While some see a collapse of society in our future, right now I see devolution, not revolution. Devolution is both the process of degeneration and the surrender of governmental powers from central authorities to local authorities.
The key driver behind devolution is simple: theres not enough money to fund the status quo
The key constraint on devolution is also simple: the status quo power structure must be left intact. Nobody will willingly surrender their power, so devolution means services and front-end expenses will be cut in order to protect back-end administrative powers.
As the states run out of money, they will surrender some limited powers to local authorities as a mechanism for ridding their budgets of certain costs. As cities and counties go broke, then they will devolve some modest authority to non-profit groups or volunteers.
As laid off workers unemployment insurance runs out
What would you see and experience if the clocks rolled forward 50 years? In a unique blend of drama and science, this three-part series shows you the world of tomorrow. Will we have flying cars? Will advances in medicine help us stay young forever? What about ?printing? custom-made vital organs? What will our cities look like? What will tomorrow?s wars be about? Will we have robots helping around the house? Will solar power be the new oil?
Supported by the world?s leading scientists and research institutes, we embark on a quest to answer some of society?s most fundamental questions and reveal the dramas of tomorrow?s world along the way. State-of-the-art computer graphics in combination with a dynamic story line will create a world usually only seen in feature films, but with the accuracy and relevance of a documentary. This series is all about opening the window of our future based on science fact, not science fiction.
That is because they are prolific hunters of rodents.
Spiders: Snagging Pests
spiders actually catch and eat more harmful insects.
Bats, Cormorants, and Dragonflies
Bats and dragon flies are two more animals whose diets consist of mosquitoes.
cormorants have been used by fisherman to catch fish
Striped Hyena: Canine Garbage Disposal
feasts on the decaying flesh of animals that have already been killed or died naturally.
Coconut-Picking Monkeys
Monkeys in Thailand and Malaysia are used to help farmers collect coconuts.
King Snake: Farmer?s Slithering Helper
this serpent is a natural predator of poisonous snakes.
Civet Cat and Earthworm:
Earthworms
help aerate the soil and their waste is beneficial as a fertilizer.
Luwak coffee is considered a delicacy. The beans for this coffee are fermented in the digestive system of the civet cat. The beans are collected from the cat?s waste and sold for high prices.
It?s interesting to see that such a beauty lies in hostile environments as deserts. After the jump, you will see a selection of beautiful black and white photos of sand dunes.
Chinas central bank has reiterated its call for a new reserve currency to replace the US dollar.
The report from the Peoples Bank of China (PBOC) said a "super-sovereign" currency should take its place.
Central bank chief Zhou Xiaochuan has loudly led calls for the dollar to be replaced during the financial crisis.
"An international monetary system dominated by a single sovereign currency has intensified the concentration of risk and the spread of the crisis," the Chinese central bank said.
The dollar fell after the report was released. The US currency dropped 1% against the euro to $1.4088, and declined 0.8% versus the British pound to $1.6848.
"To avoid intrinsic shortcomings in using a sovereign currency as a reserve currency, we need to create an international reserve currency that is divorced from sovereign states and can maintain a stable value over the long term," the PBOC report said.
WASHINGTON ? The Senate has unanimously passed a resolution apologizing for slavery and racial segregation and sent the measure to the House.
Iowa Democrat Tom Harkin first introduced the measure years ago but wanted it passed Thursday on the eve of Juneteenth - a day of celebration commemorating the end of the Civil War and the release of African Americans from slavery. He said the House is to take it up soon and that a formal celebration will be held next month in the Capitol Rotunda.
The Senate has passed such nonbinding but highly symbolic resolutions before, apologizing for such things as the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II.
The resolution passed Thursday includes a disclaimer saying that nothing in it supports or authorizes reparations by the United States.
JOHANNESBURG ? Zimbabwe?s military, controlled by President Robert Mugabe?s political party, violently took over diamond fields in Zimbabwe last year and has used the illicit revenues to buy the loyalty of restive soldiers and enrich party leaders, Human Rights Watch charged in a report released Friday.
So, one of my co-workers decides to go hiking through the swamps of Jersey, and he snaps this pic.
Do you see why this page is titled Creepy-Ass Swamp Pic? The thing that is certainly a stump or something, but sure as hell looks like some sorta little swamp troll in an overcoat?
Maybe this will help.
Yeesh. Creepy-looking little sucker.
He took this pic back in May, but didnt notice the little guy until recently. He went back to take a closer look, but since that time the foliage has overgrown the area too much to be able to see. Hes going to go back in a month or two, once all the greenery has died off, and take a follow-up pic.
If that "stump" is gone, Im never setting foot in a Jersey swamp again. :-P
Take a close look at that shiny new 20p piece in your purse or pocket - it could be worth a lot more than you think.
A rare error at the Royal Mint means that tens of thousands of the coins produced earlier this year dont have 2009 stamped on them.
Coin experts say the lack of a date makes them worth £50 each, and potentially much more in future.
The blunder occurred after a redesign of the 20p piece. The Mint does not know exactly how many undated coins were produced and released into circulation, but estimates range between 50,000 and 200,000.
This is the first undated British coin to enter circulation in more than 300 years - the last occasion was 1672, when Charles II was on the throne.
The error has caused a great deal of excitement among coin collectors because the Royal Mint, in Llantrisant, South Wales, is normally so careful about the manufacture and release of coins into circulation.
An illustrated guide to the coming real estate collapse
By Michael Hudson
Originally published May 2006
Never before have so many Americans gone so deeply into debt so willingly. Housing prices have swollen to the point that weve taken to calling a mortgage?by far the largest debt most of us will ever incur?an "investment."
In the odd logic of the real estate bubble, debt has come to equal wealth.
debt throughout most of history has been little more than a slight variation on slavery.
The reality is that, although home ownership may be a wise choice for many people, this particular real estate bubble has been carefully engineered to lure home buyers into circumstances detrimental to their own best interests. The bait is easy money. The trap is a modern equivalent to peonage, a lifetime spent working to pay off debt on an asset of rapidly dwindling value.
clipped by:darkeforce clippers remarks: While youre at it, dont let the rest of the heterosexuals marry, either. They just stomp all over the concept of marriage with their many affairs, divorces and painful child custody trials.
Let the gay people have the marriages. So far, theyve got a damn better track record for respecting marriage than the heteros do.
clipped by:darkeforce clippers remarks: Theres a certain irony that someone from a nation thats actively stealing land from other people should hint that their victims have imperialistic intentions.
Ukraine is opening up part of its old KGB archive, declassifying hundreds of thousands of documents spanning the entire Soviet period.
But the move to expose Soviet-era abuses is dividing Ukrainians
Mr Viatrovych and his team are helping people to find out what happened to relatives and loved ones, often decades after they disappeared.
But the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU), now in charge of the files, is declassifying them selectively.
They are concentrating on older cases, like that of the "liquidated" Mr Severin, who was part of a guerrilla campaign against Soviet rule in western Ukraine after World War II.
another obstacle to complete disclosure, and that is the Ukrainian Security Service itself. They are the ones deciding which files to declassify.
"First and most important for me - we are not a successor to the KGB. Thats according to the law," he said.
It is also worth noting that capital gains?economic rent ?earned? without any actual labor or industrial investment?are increasingly untaxed.
In reality, alas, we can?t all be rentiers. Just as, in Voltaire?s phrase, the rich require an abundant supply of the poor, so too does the rentier class require an abundant supply of debtors. There is no other way. In fact, the vast majority of Americans have seen their share of the rental pie decrease over the last two decades, even as the real estate pie as a whole has expanded. Everyone got a little richer, but rich people got much, much richer.
Charge-offs on U.S. credit cards gauged by a Moodys index surpassed 10% in May
peaks at around 12% in
second quarter of 2010
Charge offs tend to parallel U-3 unemployment
12.x% unemployment would be the highest number registered on U-3
we allow banks to
a relentless ratcheting upward of average interest rates charged on card balances which will not abate until the charge-off rate comes down.
This in turn will stomp on consumer discretionary income and spending, since money paid in interest obviously does not get spent at the local Best Buy purchasing a new flatscreen TV.
Consumer spending has "enjoyed" a roughly 5% increase over "natural and sustainable" levels over the last five years due to "fog-a-mirror" credit policies.
The outcome of all of this, by the way, is an essentially-permanent 4% reduction to GDP that will be reflected in forward economic performance, and thats before the impact of unemployment is added in.
clipped by:merrie clippers remarks: The United States Congress cemented the inevitability of collapse of the American coal industry with their passage of this supposed "energy bill." The prophesy is proven. Barack Obama does intend to bankrupt the American coal industry.
They have given themselves over to the loyalty of Marxist idealism as opposed to the people who elected them and now, we will all must suffer the consequences of failing in our diligence to insure that they looked out for our better interests.
America was already on life support, with a staggering economy and monthly job losses literally crushing the breath out of every gasp and attempt made by the economy to catch its breath.
?We passed transformational legislation which takes us into the future,? Pelosi said at a press conference following the vote, after she and other leaders took congratulatory phone calls from Obama, former Vice President Al Gore and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
But never mind all that, this isnt about saving the nations economy for the Washington liberal socialist elite. This is about wrecking it, plain and simple. And that has been their plan ever since Barrack Hussein Obama and his handlers first positioned him to run for the presidency of the United States.
The messianic one promised during the campaign that he would kill the coal industry in America. Barrack Hussein Obama was on record. Obama to kill coal? Swing states erupt
[Video]
And what did the American people say to that campaign promise from the man who promised change? How did they react in the coal states to his promise of putting them out of work and out of business and in the poor house of destitution?
clipped by:Uniec clippers remarks: We knew that Michael Jackson slept in an Oxygen chamber, and do we find it all that "strange"? Im not sure that I do.
It?s the strangest photo ever taken of Michael Jackson, showing the star sleeping in a hyperbaric chamber. It first surfaced in 1986 along with a report that it was part of Jackson?s plan to live to 150. Jackson later denied that report.
Hyperbaric chambers are used for hyperbaric oxygen therapy and treat the body with 100 percent oxygen at greater than normal pressure. The chamber is used in treating carbon monoxide poisoning and a number of other conditions. Saturating the body with oxygen has been found to have a number of possible health benefits and studies are ongoing involving the use of the chamber to treat various conditions.
At the time the photo of Jackson in the chamber was taken he was said to be sleeping in it regularly. He was at the height of his fame and loved the mystery and speculation that followed publication of the photo by the National Enquirer, according to a source close to the situation.
Alcohol responsible for one in 25 deaths worldwide
ONE in 25 deaths around the world is due to the abuse of alcohol, findings of a recent Canadian Centre for Addiction and Mental Health study have found.
Most of the deaths caused by alcohol are a result of injury, cancer, cardiovascular disease and liver cirrhosis. It also is considered a significant contributory factor to disability and death through violence, suicide and homicide.
Alcohol is also the main cause of deaths on Australian roads. Canadian researcher Dr Jurgen Rehm said some parts of the world had an even high rate of alcohol related deaths, such as Europe where one in 10 deaths are linked to alcohol and particularly in Russia where the rate was more than one in seven.
Although smoking still takes a greater toll, alcohol now has the same burden of disease as smoking did nine years ago and is on the rise as drinking increases particularly in India and China.
OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT HUGO CHAVEZ AND THE WORLD: COKE ZERO
clipped by:tabsey clippers remarks: Actions such as this will force the hand of companies. Australian supermarkets are taking products containing certain additives off the market. People power. When in doubt, dont use it for 30 days, and see.
Congratulations for the ban on Coke Zero! Your courage is admirable. It was reported on June 15th that a bill here in the US puts soft drinks under FDA control. The report said more than 350,000 people die every year from soft drink related diseases, according to government figures. However, there is a great deal more than this who die from aspartame pop. As Dr. Maria Alemany said to me after doing the Trocho Study in Barcelona, "Aspartame can kill 200 million people."
During the floor debate of the bill several senators remarked upon the fact that Venezuela recently banned the sale of Coke Zero. Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts commented that was more progressive on the subject than we are. I was happy to hear that soda vending machines will be banned in all schools, hospitals and public buildings. Children under 18 will be prohibited from purchasing soft drinks, unless accompanied by an adult.
Macro Photography Tutorials And DIY Tips And Tricks
Macro Photography for Beginners, Part 1, Part 2 This series of macro photography tutorials is a must for anyone starting a career in macro photography. These tutorials contain almost everything, including detailed explanations of macro photography, lighting, focusing and much more.
So why do the Iranian people not want Ahmadinejad as their leader? Because he is nothing but a loudspeaker for Khamenei. Under Ahmadinejad, economic problems have grown worse, despite $280bn of oil revenue. Social and literary freedom is much more restricted than under his predecessor, Mohammad Khatami. The world views us as a terrorist nation on the lookout for war. When Khatami was president of Iran, Bush was president of the US. Now the Americans have Obama and we have our version of Bush. We need an Obama who can find solutions for Iran?s problems. Although power would remain in the hands of Khamenei, a president like Mousavi could weaken the supreme leader.
clipped by:tabsey clippers remarks: A person (with an IQ you cant double) said I was mad when I suggested this on a clip. It is reassuring when others agree, though not a necessity. Need to visit the source for a fuller appreciation.
With events unfolding in Iran, we watch and wish for freedom for their people.But in thinking over their experience with a fraudulent presidential election and contrasting it with our own election scandals, perhaps we should cconclude that we are the ones who need the freedom.
I applaud the courage of the Iranians to stand up to a corrupt government and demand the truth as to who won their election.Some of them have lost their lives for holding the conviction that a life without the freedom to seek the truth was worth risking.
What about us?
Though there were demonstrations against the Supreme Court decision in Bush v. Gore, which decided the 2000 election, and the 2001 inauguration of President George W. Bush, they were nowhere near the scale of what Iranian reformers have amassed in size or passion.For the most part, we took a number of questionable decisions, all of which favored Bush, on the chin without any semblance of demand for our right to fair elections:
clipped by:tabsey clippers remarks: Others will know more about this govt bill. It scares me because we often have a flow on from the corporate run situations. And this bill seems to indicate capitulation to the private sector.
* HR 2749 would empower FDA to regulate how crops are raised and harvested. It puts the federal government right on the farm, dictating to our farmers. [What is missing in pointing out this astounding control, is that it opens the door to CODEX and WTO "good farming practices" will include the elimination of organic farming by eliminating manure, mandating GMO animal feed, imposing animal drugs, and ordering applications of petrochemical fertilizers and pesticides. Farmers, thus, will be locked not only into the industrialization of once normal and organic farms but into the forced purchase of industrys products
There will be no way to be frugal, to grow ones own grain to feed the animals, to raise healthy animals without GMO grains or drugs, to work with nature at all. Grassfed cattle and poultry and hogs will be finished.
And werent these the "rumors on the internet" that were dismissed but are clearly the case?
50 Free Resources That Will Improve Your Writing Skills
clipped by:sincitykitty clippers remarks: We collected over 50 useful and practical tools and resources that will help you to improve your writing skills. You will find copywriting blogs, dictionaries, references, teaching classes, articles, tools as well as related articles from other blogs.
50 Free Resources That Will Improve Your Writing Skills
Effective writing skills are to a writer what petrol is to a car. Like the petrol and car relationship, without solid skills writers cannot move ahead. These skills don?t come overnight, and they require patience and determination. You have to work smart and hard to acquire them. Only with experience, you can enter the realm of effective, always-in-demand writers.
Of course, effective writing requires a good command of the language in which you write or want to write. Once you have that command, you need to learn some tips and tricks so that you can have an edge over others in this hard-to-succeed world of writers. There are some gifted writers, granted. But gifted writers also need to polish their skills frequently in order to stay ahead of competition and earn their livelihood.
Padaung or Kayan Lahwi is a group of the Karenni people, a Tibeto-Burman ethnic minority of Burma. Women start wearing the brass neck coils at the age of five. Each coil is replaced with longer coils as the weight of the brass pushes the collar bone down and compresses the rib cage. Contrary to popular belief, the neck is not actually lengthened; the illusion of a stretched neck is created by the deformation of the clavicle. Many ideas regarding why the coils are worn have been suggested. One of them is the coils might be meant to protect from tiger bites. Kayan women, when asked, acknowledge these ideas, but often say that their purpose for wearing the rings is cultural identity (one associated with beauty).
Muslim Children Gassed at Dayton Mosque After "Obsession" DVD Hits Ohio
On Friday, September 26, the end of a week in which thousands of copies of Obsession: Radical Islams War Against the West -- the fear-mongering, anti-Muslim documentary being distributed by the millions in swing states via DVDs inserted in major newspapers and through the U.S. mail -- were distributed by mail in Ohio, a "chemical irritant" was sprayed through a window of the Islamic Society of Greater Dayton, where 300 people were gathered for a Ramadan prayer service. The room that the chemical was sprayed into was the room where babies and children were being kept while their mothers were engaged in prayers. This, apparently, is what the scare tactic political campaigning of John McCains supporters has led to -- Americans perpetrating a terrorist attack against innocent children on American soil.
The end rolled into view for First Village, in the form of moody waters propelled by an unusually high tide. As the ocean licked at the cluster of cottages, owners watched the enclave collapse into the sea.
Perhaps the most famous abandoned place in America,
Danvers didn?t just stand in for a fictional asylum, but actually appeared as itself. The hospital was closed in 1992 but stood abandoned until its demolition in 2005. It was reportedly the inspiration for H.P. Lovecraft?s Arkham Sanitarium, which in turn inspired Arkham Asylum in the Batman comic book series.
Seaside Florida, ?The Truman Show?
Truman Burbank lived in an impossibly perfect town, where picturesque little pastel houses with impeccably white picket fences and thriving rose bushes stood against a stunning ocean backdrop. And, though it played a film set in the movie?The Truman Show?, Seaside Florida is a very real place.
Aldwych Tube Station, ?V for Vendetta?
In the movie ?V for Vendetta?, based on the graphic novel by Alan Moore, the Aldwych Tube Station acted as the setting for the final climactic scenes. Other films shot there include ?Patriot Games?, ?The Good Shepherd? and ?Atonement?.
it was during a stay there in the 1970s that King conceived of the basic idea for ?The Shining?. The hotel is purportedly haunted, and King is said to have had some paranormal experiences during his stay. Contrary to popular belief, King did not write the novel while staying at the Stanley Hotel, nor was the Kubrick-directed film version of the story shot there ? though parts of the 1997 television series were.
Frank Lloyd Wright Ennis House, ?Blade Runner?
Not many pre-existing buildings could fit the dark, futuristic vibe of 1982 classic ?Blade Runner?, but the Ennis House fit the bill perfectly.
Designed by famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright, the Ennis House in north Los Angeles is constructed mostly of pre-cast concrete blocks with a design based on ancient Mayan temples.
Griffith Observatory, ?Terminator?
also appeared in Rebel Without a Cause, The People vs. Larry Flynt and the Transformers movie among many other films and television series.
clipped by:syncopath clippers remarks: "towards new ideologies" is the final chapter of "optimism one" (1970) FM2030 article is recommended 2 read. Bruce Lee suggestion is recommended 2 practice.
Never before has our condition undergone as basic and total a restructuring as it is today, and therefore never have our social institutions and ideologies been as deeply challenged and rendered irrelevant
People can cope with the old "radicalism" that seeks to overthrow a government, a religious establishment, or an economic system. This is familar radicalism. It can be coped with. But this new radicalism of our age that is altering our very situation in Time and Space - this is too emotionally threatening, too monumental to cope with
So long as we have not overthrown the tyranny of death, _all_ mankind belongs to the Third World, _all_ mankind is proletarian
As revolutionaries in a rapidly expanding world we concede nothing, accept no despair, believe in no ultimate mysteries, abide by no absolute truths, adhere to no eternal values, to no ultimate goals, consider no human problems irreversible, nothing unattainable - not even dimensions beyond Time and Space.
Big man, pig man, ha ha charade you are. You well heeled big wheel, ha ha charade you are. And when your hand is on your heart, Youre nearly a good laugh, Almost a joker, With your head down in the pig bin, Saying "Keep on digging." Pig stain on your fat chin. What do you hope to find. When youre down in the pig mine. Youre nearly a laugh, Youre nearly a laugh
Welcome to the Atlas Obscura, a compendium of this ages wonders, curiosities, and esoterica. The Atlas Obscura is a collaborative project with the goal of cataloging all of the singular, eccentric, bizarre, fantastical, and strange out-of-the-way places that get left out of traditional travel guidebooks and are ignored by the average tourist. If youre looking for miniature cities, glass flowers, books bound in human skin, gigantic flaming holes in the ground, phallological museums, bone churches, balancing pagodas, or homes built entirely out of paper, the Atlas Obscura is where youll find them.
The Atlas Obscura depends on our community of far-flung explorers
Anyone and everyone is welcome and encouraged to nominate places for inclusion, and to edit content already in the Atlas
It appeared in the Beatles? movie Help! and is also pictured on the front of Pink Floyd?s album Animals.
In addition to ?Children of Men?, ?Monty Python?s The Meaning of Life?, ?MacGuyver?, ?The Dark Knight? and an episode of ?LOST?, the Battersea Power Station was used as the external façade of the Victory Mansions in Michael Radford?s 1984 film adaptation of George Orwell?s novel, ?Nineteen Eighty-Four?.
Westport Power Generation Station, ?12 Monkeys?
Located in the Baltimore Bay, this power plant bore spray-painted ?The Army? tags on its walls until its demolition.
Toronto City Hall, ?Resident Evil: Apocalypse?
Toronto stands in as fictional Raccoon City in ?Resident Evil: Apocalypse?
Torontonians will recognize their home town in virtually every segment of the movie, from the Prince Edward Viaduct to Nathan Philips Square, where Toronto City Hall was nuked along with the rest of the city.
clipped by:xpersianx clippers remarks: Warning: The attached YouTube video contains graphic images. It purports to show a woman dying after being shot in an Iran street protest. The Wall Street Journal has not independently verified its contents.
The Iranian regime has developed, with the assistance of European telecommunications companies, one of the worlds most sophisticated mechanisms for controlling and censoring the Internet, allowing it to examine the content of individual online communications on a massive scale.
Interviews with technology experts in Iran and outside the country say Iranian efforts at monitoring Internet information go well beyond blocking access to Web sites or severing Internet connections.
Instead, in confronting the political turmoil that has consumed the country this past week, the Iranian government appears to be engaging in a practice often called deep packet inspection, which enables authorities to not only block communication but to monitor it to gather information about individuals, as well as alter it for disinformation purposes, according to these experts.
Warning: This YouTube video contains graphic images. It purports to show a woman dying after being shot in an Iran street protest.
clipped by:merrie clippers remarks: Little evidence? Outdated U.N. research? No reason to rush? This is not what the Obama administration and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi were telling us when they were rushing to force a Friday vote on Waxman-Markey. We were given the impression that unless we passed this cap-and-tax fiasco, polar bears would be extinct by the Fourth of July. "A new 2009 paper by Scafetta and West," the report says, "suggests that the IPCC used faulty solar data in dismissing the direct effect of solar variability on global temperatures. Their report suggests that solar variability could account for up to 68% of the increase in Earths global temperatures." The report was the product of Alan Carlin, senior operations research analyst at the EPAs National Center for Environmental Economics (NCEE). Hes been with the EPA for 38 years but now has been taken off all climate-related work. Thomas Fuller, environmental policy blogger with the San Francisco Examiner, wrote Thursday in a story developed
Climate Change: A suppressed EPA study says old U.N. data ignore the decline in global temperatures and other inconvenient truths. Was the report kept under wraps to influence the vote on the cap-and-trade bill?
This was supposed to be the most transparent administration ever. Yet as the House of Representatives prepared to vote on the Waxman-Markey bill, the largest tax increase in U.S. history on 100% of Americans, an attempt was made to suppress a study shredding supporters arguments.
On Friday, the day of the vote, the Competitive Enterprise Institute said it was releasing "an internal study on climate science which was suppressed by the Environmental Protection Agency."
In the release, the institutes Richard Morrison said "internal EPA e-mail messages, released by CEI earlier in the week, indicate that the report was kept under wraps and its author silenced because of pressure to support the administrations agenda of regulating carbon dioxide."
Let us light up ONE MILLION candles in memory of these brave individuals.
clipped by:xpersianx clippers remarks: This website is dedicated to those brave Iranians who have lost their lives during peaceful protests for democracy which took place after the disputed 12 June 2009 election results in Iran.
The Iranian government has disallowed any memorial or burial ceremonies for Neda and the other confirmed 16 dead. The iranian-heroes.org website is dedicated to Neda and others who have lost their lives during peaceful protests for democracy. Please lets keep their memory alive by lighting one million candles. Light your candle to the right -->
Bruno Dayan is famous for his glamorous, sensual fashion photography. His impeccable photos have captivated brands like Louis Vuitton, Moschino and Yves Saint Laurent. Two main features of his photography are its latent sexuality and its use of light, creating unique atmospheres.
His photography has taken off in the Japanese market, one that fits perfectly with the essence of his work, awakening the senses and being impeccably produced.
Seriously. Look at this thing - ITS ALL YOULL EVER NEED. Do we need to even mention that the multi-patterned plates might be the most stylish melamine weve ever seen? You cant go wrong with this set as it includes everything youd ever need while enjoying cuisine at the park - four plates, four cups, utensils, cutting board, wine key, salt and pepper shakers, and a backpack that holds it all plus a bottle of wine, a large insulated compartment in the back, and a blanket to top it all off. Dinner plates measure 11" diameter, cups hold 6 Ounces. Back Pack 15.75" I x 11.5" WE x 8.5 Deep. (This item cannot be gift wrapped.) Read More
This lynx kitten is one of 10 born this spring in Colorado, according to researchers. The discovery of the kittens has buoyed the hopes of biologists overseeing the restoration of the long-haired mountain feline to Colorado.
DENVER - The discovery of 10 lynx kittens this spring marks the first newborns documented in Colorado since 2006, heartening biologists overseeing restoration of the mountain feline.
The tuft-eared cats with big, padded feet were native to Colorado, but were wiped out by the early 1970s by logging, trapping, poisoning and development. They are listed as threatened on the endangered species list.
Biologists found no kittens the past two years, possibly partly because of a drop in the number of snowshoe hares, the cats main food source.
This year, seven male and three female kittens were found in five dens.
More than 200 lynx from Alaska and Canada have been released in Colorado since 1999. Biologists dont know how many lynx are currently in the state.
tempeh is bumpy, hard and sometimes very discolored in shaded of cream, brown and gray
dont let its
looks fool you!
Tempeh versus tofu, tempeh wins hands down
made from whole soybeans
Easier to digest
Enzymes and fermentation also release and pre-digest some of the nutrients and allow the good stuff like zinc, iron and calcium to be more easily absorbed by your body
One serving of tempeh contains more fiber than most peoples consume in one day
Tofu is slimy and tasteless! ...some people say
Tempeh has a unique nutty/savory flavor and texture that many people love
Low Sodium
Rhizopus moulds produce natural, heat-stable antibiotic agents against some disease-causing organisms
Indonesians
recognize it as a medicine for dysentery and rarely fall victim to the intestinal diseases to which they are constantly exposed
Dow Chemical and Algenol Biofuels, a start-up company, are set to announce Monday that they will build a demonstration plant that, if successful, would use algae to turn carbon dioxide into ethanol
Because algae does not require any farmland or much space, many energy companies are trying to use it to make commercial quantities of hydrocarbons for fuel and chemicals. But harvesting the hydrocarbons has proved difficult so far
The ethanol would be sold as fuel, the companies said, but Dow?s long-term interest is in using it as an ingredient for plastics, replacing natural gas. The process also produces oxygen, which could be used to burn coal in a power plant cleanly
The exhaust from such a plant would be mostly carbon dioxide, which could be reused to make more algae
?We give them the oxygen, we get very pure carbon dioxide, and the output is very cheap ethanol,? said Mr. Woods, who said the target price was $1 a gallon.
clipped by:ellington clippers remarks: DRINKING THREE OR MORE CUPS OF TEA A DAY IS AS GOOD FOR YOU AS DRINKING PLENTY OF WATER AND MAY EVEN HAVE EXTRA HEALTH BENEFITS,
The researchers recommend people consume three to four cups a day
Drinking three or more cups of tea a day is as good for you as drinking plenty of water and may even have extra health benefits, say researchers.
The work in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition dispels the common belief that tea dehydrates.
Tea not only rehydrates as well as water does, but it can also protect against heart disease and some cancers, UK nutritionists found.
Experts believe flavonoids are the key ingredient in tea that promote health.
Healthy cuppa
These polyphenol antioxidants are found in many foods and plants, including tea leaves, and have been shown to help prevent cell damage.
Tea replaces fluids and contains antioxidants so its got two things going for it
Lead author Dr Ruxton
Public health nutritionist Dr Carrie Ruxton, and colleagues at Kings College London, looked at published studies on the health effects of tea consumption.
Kid Swaps iPod For Sony Walkman, Gets A Culture Shock
The pictures of the Sony Walkman in this BBC Magazine article made me feel strangely nostalgic - the actual text of the article made me laugh out loud. The Magazine invited 13-year-old Scott Campbell to trade his iPod for a Walkman for a week, and he recounts his experiences with the device, which was launched 30 years ago this week.
Campbell, apart from being amazed at the blandly colored portable music player, correctly points out that the Walkman is much bigger, heavier and generally more clunky than the digital media players hes accustomed to seeing within his social circle.
On the upside, he writes, the monstrous box comes with a handy belt clip screwed on to the back.
The funniest part of the story:
It took me three days to figure out that there was another side to the tape. That was not the only naive mistake that I made; I mistook the metal/normal switch on the Walkman for a genre-specific equaliser,
June 29 (Bloomberg) -- Swiss banks are shutting the accounts of Americans as the U.S. Internal Revenue Service accelerates the hunt for tax dodgers.
UBS AG and Credit Suisse Group AG, the country?s biggest banks, have told Americans to move their money into specially created units registered in the U.S., or lose their accounts. Smaller private banks such as Geneva-based Mirabaud & Cie. are closing all accounts held by U.S. taxpayers.
While the banks declined to say how many people are affected, more than 5 million Americans live abroad, including about 30,000 in Switzerland, according to estimates from American Citizens Abroad in Geneva. Swiss banks must register with the Securities and Exchange Commission to provide services for those customers.
The IRS has since increased pressure on Americans to disclose offshore accounts as it seeks to recoup an estimated $50 billion in unpaid taxes
The agency set a deadline of Sept. 23 for taxpayers to declare all foreign accounts
Obama: "Cap & Trade Will Cause Electricity Rates To Skyrocket"
clipped by:Normn8or clippers remarks: SEND THIS TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW! Obama admits that a Cap and Trade program will cause consumer electricity rates to skyrocket. Cap and Trade is nothing more than government control over private energy production and use via regulation of the life supporting, essential trace gas in our atmosphere, Carbon Dioxide (CO2). Carbon Dioxide (CO2) is Not Pollution (Popular Technology) http://www.populartechnology.net/2008... Carbon Dioxide (CO2) is not pollution and Global Warming has nothing to do with pollution. The average person has been misled and is confused about what the current Global Warming debate is about, greenhouse gases. None of which has anything to do with air pollution. People are confusing Smog, Carbon Monoxide (CO) and the pollutants in car exhaust with the life supporting, essential trace gas in our atmosphere, Carbon Dioxide (CO2). Pollution is already regulated under the Clean Air Act and regulating Carbon Dioxide (CO2) will do absolutely nothing to make the ai
Obama: "Cap & Trade Will Cause Electricity Rates To Skyrocket"
[Video]
Obama admits that a Cap and Trade program will cause consumer electricity rates to skyrocket. Cap and Trade is nothing more than government control over private energy production and use via regulation of the life supporting, essential trace gas in our atmosphere, Carbon Dioxide (CO2).
A sponge is like the back row in study hall -- it attracts all the bad elements. So here?s what you should do with it:
Toss it, suggest YOU docs Mehmet Oz, MD, and Michael Roizen, MD. Instead, buy 10 cheap dishcloths and 2 buckets. Put the clean cloths in one bucket and the dirty cloths in the other bucket along with some diluted bleach. Wash all the cloths once a week.
More Sanitary Solutions
Sponges actually grow bacteria. But if you simply can?t part with your sponges, run them through the dishwasher once a week. You can also microwave damp sponges for a minute to kill germs. But use extreme caution: Wet the sponge thoroughly, and use tongs to take it out of the microwave
Things to do with Your Body While You Wait for Immortality
For those who would live longer, it?s wise to face challenges every day, and put oneself in uncomfortable situations that require growth ? physically, mentally, and emotionally. Part of the fun of being a transhumanist can involve measuring your progress across an increasing number of variables and seeing how improvement in one area can create unexpected and even synergistic progress in other areas. My advice would be to establish baselines and sophisticated objectives for strength, speed, endurance, stamina, balance, coordination, agility, skill (perhaps in a growing number of activities), days free of illness or injury, as well as body weight and, of course, the number of years spent being alive. Here are some of the tools to help achieve this.
Gavin and Stacey stars James Corden and Ruth Jones
Overweight celebrities such as Gavin and Stacey star James Corden are making dangerous weight gain appear normal, a medical expert is warning.
Professor Michael McMahon of Nuffield Health says fat stars are seen as role models, helping to make being overweight acceptable.
He says it is akin to the dangers of skinny media images and anorexia.
A survey for the healthcare provider found many obese people are apathetic about their weight gain.
Researchers found many obese people refused to take any action about their situation with almost one in five not contemplating doing anything to lose weight.
We talk about the dangers of skinny media images, but the problem actually swings both ways
The survey of over 2,000 individuals also revealed many obese people fail to recognise they have a problem at all.
Professor McMahon, a expert on keyhole surgery, said: "The increasing profile of larger celebrities,
THE horrifying state of pop superstar Michael Jackson in his final days can be revealed by The Sun today.
Harrowing leaked autopsy details show the singer was a virtual skeleton ? barely eating and with only pills in his stomach at the time he died.
His hips, thighs and shoulders were riddled with needle wounds ? believed to be the result of injections of narcotic painkillers, given three times a day for years.
And a mass of surgery scars were thought to be the legacy of at least 13 cosmetic operations.
LOST virtually all his hair. The pop pin-up was wearing a wig when he died and pathologists said little more than ?peach fuzz? covered his scalp.
?He was skin and bone, his hair had fallen out and had been eating nothing but pills when he died. Injection marks all over his body and the disfigurement caused by years of plastic surgery show he?d been in terminal decline for years.
We also revealed he was taking a potentially toxic cocktail of drugs.
ANN ARBOR, MI?Digital Copy Shoppe employee Don Newson, 38, called in to work on Wednesday complaining that he was certain he had come down with the 24-hour excuse that has been going around. "My back is killing me, I feel stuffed up, and I have this pounding headache," said Newson, citing the initial symptoms of the excuse, which often afflicts those who are already late for work. "It sucks, because I want to come in, but I dont want anyone else to catch what Ive got. I should be fine after sleeping for a couple days." Newson has placed himself on a strict regimen of watching the past six episodes of Entourage on HBO on Demand to cure the excuse.
Vatican archaeologists have uncovered what they say is the oldest known portrait of St Paul. The portrait, which was found two weeks ago but has been made public only after restoration, shows St Paul with a high domed forehead, deep-set eyes and a long pointed beard, confirming the image familiar from later depictions.
It is widely believed that the spread of Christianity would not have been possible without St Paul. A Roman Jew from what is now Turkey, he founded churches throughout the Roman Empire. He was executed ? it is believed beheaded ? in AD65 for his beliefs.
clipped by:merrie clippers remarks: Betsy McCaughey reads massive healthcare bills so you don?t have to. New York?s former lieutenant governor, now chairman of the Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths, fired the torpedo that ultimately sank HillaryCare. While the sheer girth of that 1,431-page legislative juggernaut intimidated nearly everyone, McCaughey devoured it. Her resulting January 1994 New Republic article, ?No Exit,? unmasked HillaryCare?s previously overlooked warts and sores. The horror that McCaughey revealed eventually spelled that initiative?s doom. McCaughey has done it again. In a June 19 Wall Street Journal op-ed, she dissected the 615-page draft of Ted Kennedy?s Affordable Health Choices Act. The Massachusetts Democrat?s bill is, essentially, the Senate?s version of ObamaCare. McCaughey?s ?light reading? is scarier than Stephen King. While touting health-care reform as a vital measure to which every American has a God-given right, Kennedy?s elaborate new medical scheme includes a trap door
While perusing this bill online, the names of brand-new commissions, councils, and other bureaucracies virtually cascaded from my computer screen. Among them:
? Affordable Health Benefit Gateways (one per state)
? American Health Benefit Gateway
? Center for Health Outcomes Research and Evaluation
? CLASS Independence Advisory Council
? Commission on Key National Indicators
? Community Preventive Services Task Force
? Coordinating Committee on Women?s Health
Federally Qualified Health Centers
? Health Care Program Integrity Coordinating Council
? Interagency Working Group on Health Care Quality
? Medical Advisory Council
? National Center for Health Workforce Analysis
? National Clearinghouse for Long-Term Care Information
Feinstein: Criticism From Left On Health Care ?Doesn?t Move Me One Whit?
clipped by:clip-on-tie clippers remarks: Criticism from the left - now thats unheard of. They hand out free boots, gripe at you for putting them on wrong, and then charge you a boot tax.
Senator Dianne Feinstein has already taken a hammering from Dems and health care reform advocates for casting doubts on the prospects of President Obama?s health care reform efforts. MoveOn, for instance, aired an ad against her in California, demanding she show some leadership and fight harder to get the president?s reform plan passed
Now Feinstein has hit back at the criticism from the left in an article about lefty groups targeting Dems for waffling on key components of health care reform:
?I do not think this is helpful. It doesn?t move me one whit,? she said. ?They are spending a lot of money on something that is not productive.?
When liberal groups hit Dems during other policy fights earlier this year, the White House let it be known that it didn?t approve
In the case of health care, though, the White House hasn?t said word boo about the efforts by liberal groups to force Dems into line, suggesting the possibility that Obama advisers are perfectly content with it for the time being
More medical researchers are questioning the standard one-disease-at-a-time approach that has dominated the search for cures to aging-related illnesses such as cancer, heart disease, diabetes, Alzheimer?s, and Parkinson?s. On November 21st, Brandon Keim reported, on the Wired Science blog, that researchers frustrated with the limited success of the narrower conventional approach are opening up to the idea of using mitochondrial medicine. The aim is to ward off the diseases caused by aging by addressing their shared sources, repairing and preventing the damage caused by the free oxygen radicals released as the mitochondria degenerate and break down.
A number of new anti-aging drugs are in development and could be on the market within the next five years
Resveratrol, probably the best known of the mitochondrial drugs (its that stuff in red wine), is currently in clinical human trials for diabetes
(BBC) has revealed that former detainees at the U.S. Bagram airbase in Afghanistan were beaten, deprived of sleep, and threatened with dogs.
In February 2009, British Defense Secretary John Hutton announced to the House of Commons that Britain had handed two anonymous Pakistani men over to the U.S., and they had subsequently been rendered to Afghanistan, where they were still being held. ?We have been assured that are held in a humane, safe and secure environment, meeting international standards consistent with cultural and religious norms,? Hutton said at the time.
?As we have said all along, beating people and holding them incommunicado is not humane, safe and secure,? Stafford Smith told us. ?Britain has a moral duty to identify these men, so that we can reunite them with their legal rights, yet Mr. Hutton refuses to do this.?
?These men were never in Afghanistan until the UK and the US took them there,?
magine that youre taking a test in a large public hall. Obviously, your knowledge and confidence will determine your score, but could the number of people around you have an influence too?
According to psychologists Stephen Garcia from the University of Michigan
the answer is yes. They have found that our motivation to compete falls as the number of competitors rises, even if the chances of success are the same.
The simple act of comparing yourself against someone else can stoke the fires of competition. When there are just a few competitors around, making such comparisons is easy but they become more difficult when challengers are plentiful. As a result, the presence of extra contenders, far from spurring us on by adding extra challenge, can actually have the opposite effect. Garcia and Avishalom call this the "N-effect" and they demonstrated it through a number of experiments.
Have you ever felt like youre really a fish? That you love the water, you want to swim forever, that you should don an artificial tail and eat kelp for the rest of your life? Then congratulations, youre crazy. But by coincidence some of your psycho-cells agree with you, hiding gene expression patterns that date back to the fish and probably beyond.
DNA is the most complicated system youll ever use. Your genes are a huge collection of protein-encoding patterns: some build materials required for organs and tissues, but the vast majority of the genes are designed only to control other genes
Toronto based Professor Hughes and colleagues have traced thousands of genes across tens of species as far afield as people, poultry and pufferfish
found that while the actual genes have evolved beyond (almost) all recognition, as you may notice from your inability to expand to twice your normal size as a panic reaction, the actual profiles of gene expression in critical organs are extremely similar
clipped by:Spiritualmonkey clippers remarks: I bartended at then NCLR 30th anniversary where Navratilova was the GoH. Lexica & I just celebrated out 11th wedding anniversary. Weve attended gay marriage rallys and wholly support the idea of marriage. I wear a white knot on my backpack. Im very much in favor of marriage rights. This shit is hard work, and I support those who sign up "For better or worse". But Navratalovas cynical towards marriage and commitment is ashes is my mouth. Her attitude and actions would be just as reprehensible if she were het. Its just that people are working for basic civil rights , and Martina is taking advantage of being rich to fuck off on her "we will build a life together" commitments. Thats despicable.
June 29, 2009 | A famous multimillionaire athlete falls in love. He invites his new girlfriend to live and travel with him; he registers hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of property and assets in her name; he lavishes her with gifts, assures her of his undying love and even goes so far as to marry her in a private ceremony. Eight years later, the athlete has cast his wife out of his life, denied her every financial claim and left her with little more than the clothes on her back.
Here?s a question. Would any court in the land deny this wife restitution? And in the court of public opinion, would anyone take the side of a husband so stingy and unfeeling?
Let us now switch the husband?s gender. He is now a she: a lesbian tennis star willing to use the legal system to extract herself from another unhappy relationship.
If this were a no-fault heterosexual divorce, the law would unequivocally side with Layton, awarding her alimony and some division of property.
A Fight For The Amazon That Should Inspire The World
clipped by:brightlight4 clippers remarks: Of course, fossil fools will argue that the only alternative to burning up our remaining oil and gas supplies is for us all to live like the indigenous peoples in the Amazon. But next door to Peru, you can see a very different, environmentally sane model to lift up the poor emerging ? if only we will grasp it. Ecuador is a poor country with large oil resources underneath its rainforests ? but its president, Rafael Correa, is offering us the opposite of Garcias plan. He has announced that he is willing to leave his countrys largest oil reserve under the soil, if the rest of the world will match the $9.2bn in revenues it would provide. If we dont start reaching for these alternatives, we will render this months victory in the Amazon meaningless. The Hadley Centre in Exeter, one of the most sophisticated scientific centres for studying the impacts of global warming, has warned that if we carry on belching out greenhouse gases at the current rate, the humid Amazon will dry up an
A Fight For The Amazon That Should Inspire The World
The uprising In the Amazon is more urgent than Irans - it will determine the future of the planet
" -- Wednesday, 24 June 2009 -- While the world nervously watches the uprising in Iran, an even more important uprising has been passing unnoticed ? yet its outcome will shape your fate, and mine.
In the depths of the Amazon rainforest, the poorest people in the world have taken on the richest people in the world to defend a part of the ecosystem none of us can live without. They had nothing but wooden spears and moral force to defeat the oil companies ? and, for today, they have won.
The people of the Amazon do not want to see their forests felled and their lands poisoned. And here, the need of the indigenous peoples to preserve their habitat has collided with your need to preserve your habitat. The rainforests inhale massive amounts of warming gases and keep them stored away from the atmosphere.
Petraeus Is a Failure -- Why Do We Pretend Hes Been a Success?
His ill-conceived effort to deny al-Qaida and the Taliban ?safe havens? in Pakistan -- through drone aircraft bombing, special-forces assassination and perhaps torture
has backfired, driving the Taliban east into Pakistan, where they have joined local allies to weaken the Pakistani government
The Petraeus strategy has thus dramatically strengthened America?s enemies and helped destabilize a nuclear-armed nation of 170 million whose importance dwarfs Iraq and Afghanistan combined.
David Kilcullen, Petraeus? own counterinsurgency adviser in Iraq, has characterized U.S. policy as a fundamental ?strategic error ... our insistence on personalizing this conflict with Al Qaeda and the Taliban, devoting time and resources toward killing or capturing ?high-value? targets ... distracts us from larger problems.?
these ?larger problems? include the potential ?collapse of the Pakistani state,?
clipped by:debbyski clippers remarks: ?There?s a perception in Washington that you can throw little bits of partial equality to gay people and that gay people will be satisfied with that. Gay Americans aren?t just another political special interest group. They are Americans who are actively discriminated against by federal laws. If the president is to properly honor the memory of Stonewall, he should get up to speed on what happened there 40 years ago, when courageous kids who had nothing, not even a public acknowledgment of their existence, stood up to make history happen in the least likely of places."
I never heard about the several days of riots that rocked Greenwich Village after the police raided a gay bar called the Stonewall Inn in the wee hours of June 28, 1969 ? 40 years ago today.
Then again, I didn?t know a single person, student or teacher, male or female, in my entire Ivy League university who was openly identified as gay.
The Times ? which would not even permit the use of the word gay until 1987 ? covered the riots in tiny, bowdlerized articles, one of them but three paragraphs long, buried successively on pages 33, 22 and 19.
But if we had read them, would we have cared? It was typical of my generation
The cultural climate is far different today, besides
If the country needs any Defense of Marriage Act at this point, it would be to defend heterosexual marriage from the right-wing ?family values? trinity of Sanford, Ensign and Vitter.
Here?s a huge pat on the back and a show of support for Barry Ritholtz, who truly has had it with those who keep clinging to the widely discredited belief that the Community Reinvestment Act caused the housing crisis. Ritholtz writes at The Big Picture that he?s offering a debate challenge, with a prize of up to $100,000 to be paid by the loser, to anyone who will step up and debate him over whether the CRA should be blamed for the mortgage meltdown. A jury will determine who wins the debate.
I can?t help but applaud this. No matter how many times it has been shot down, the blame-the-CRA myth keeps coming back to life. As TWI has explained, the CRA, a 1977 anti-redlining law, didn?t even cover the unregulated lenders who made most of the subprime loans during the housing boom. There?s simply no evidence for this assertion.
clipped by:smellydiaper clippers remarks: Pray to god this scum sucking dirtbag gets his true justice in jail. Really hate to sound cold hearted but this kind of scum doesnt deserve even a trial where he can plead "oh i was abused as a child so i am not responcible...poor me" This is the one and only thing i agree with dictatorships ..... take them immediately to woods, torture them until dead. Not immediate death thats to easy. No waste of taxpayers money maintaining his upkeep for years and years
6-Year-Old Girl Escapes Would-Be Rapist While Held In Leg Shackles
Sunday, June 28, 2009
HANOVER, Mass. ? A Massachusetts prosecutor says a 6-year-old girl was kidnapped by a would-be rapist but managed to escape from his apartment despite being in leg shackles.
Plymouth District Attorney Timothy Cruz says the girl was found Saturday afternoon as police searched the apartment complex in Hanover, about 20 miles southeast of Boston, where she and the suspect live. Her mother reported her missing at about 1:30 p.m.
Cruz says the girl pointed officers to an apartment where she was taken. They arrested 26-year-old Justin Shine after a struggle.
Shine is to be arraigned Monday on charges of kidnapping, attempted rape, assault and resisting arrest. Its unclear whether he has an attorney.
The girl was also taken to a hospital, but authorities declined to comment on her injuries.
CHENNAI, India ? Recently it was found that the Panna National Park in central India, one of the most prestigious tiger reserves, was bereft of the big cat. Only four years ago the park had 35 tigers. By mid-2008, only one male tiger was seen there, and two female cats introduced into Panna from neighboring national parks to increase the feline population had vanished. In 2006, Sariska National Park in western India lost all its 26 tigers.
Indias tiger tale is written in the blood spilled from these majestic creatures. In the early 1900s, India had 40,000 tigers roaming its wilds. Now there may not even be a thousand left. With one big cat killed every day by poachers ? who sell the body parts for dubious medicinal remedies ? it may not be long before tigers in India are seen only in zoos.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court has ruled that white firefighters in New Haven, Conn., were unfairly denied promotions because of their race, reversing a decision that high court nominee Sonia Sotomayor endorsed as an appeals court judge.
John Frohnmayer on the Decriminalization of Drugs (Northwest Passage) Former U.S. Senate candidate John Frohnmayer argues for the decriminilazation of drugs. Its a topic thats rarely discussed among mainstream polticians, but Frohnmayer says statistics suggest the country is losing the war on drugs and is forfeiting money by keeping them illegal.
A supporter of defeated Iranian presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi helps evacuate an injured Iranian riot-police officer during riots in Tehran on June 13, 2009. Hardline incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won a crushing victory in Irans hotly-disputed presidential vote, according to official results that triggered mass opposition protests. AFP PHOTO/OLIVIER LABAN-MATTEI (Photo credit should read OLIVIER LABAN-MATTEI/AFP/Getty Images)
clipped by:ColoradoRight clippers remarks: Frank Mccorkle Lombard, the schools associate director of the Center for Health Policy, was arrested Wednesday, June 24 after an Internet sting, according to the FBIs Washington field office and the citys police department.
The left has suffered a minor setback in its progressive march toward a diverse and tolerant future:
A Duke University official has been arrested and charged with offering a 5-year-old boy for sex.
?Lombard said he "was into incest" and had adopted two African-American children, the affidavit says.
Lombard has some advice for his fellow child rapists: black children are easier to adopt, and knock them out with Benadryl before molesting them. The children were adopted by Lombard and his homosexual partner.
As youll recall, when a drunken prostitute made false rape accusations against Duke lacrosse players, the faculty loudly denounced them, with no need for evidence. But the moonbats arent so loud when the rape is real.
The Global Warmists refuse to hear evidence that is unhelpful
But one of the worlds leading experts on polar bears has been told to stay away from this weeks meeting, specifically because his views on global warming do not accord with those of the rest of the group.
Dr Mitchell Taylor has been researching the status and management of polar bears in Canada and around the Arctic Circle for 30 years, as both an academic and a government employee. More than once since 2006 he has made headlines by insisting that polar bear numbers, far from decreasing, are much higher than they were 30 years ago. Of the 19 different bear populations, almost all are increasing or at optimum levels, only two have for local reasons modestly declined.
The forces building the structure of transnational governance around the UN are not interested in truth or legitimacy.
Update: Noel Sheppard of Newsbusters on another Warmist intellectual scandal, originally reported by American Thinker last Wednesday:
The most obvious component of ?free? health care is that, in fact, it is not free. Socialized medicine is paid for through taxation, and in countries in which it is practiced, these taxes are paid by everyone.
The cost to the taxpayer of funding socialized medicine reduces the overall quality of life of every participant in the program. Health care may be ?free,? but taxes imposed on automobile, clothing and consumer good purchases make these items out of reach for many middle class citizens.
Another aspect of socialized medicine that is rarely discussed is that it is rationed.
Canadians skeptical of, or disappointed with, their diagnosis or treatment protocols routinely cross the border and buy treatment in the United States.
The amount of regulation combined with abysmally low wages for doctors inherent in universal health care schemes has lead to a shortage of doctors in countries that have imposed it.
Normally, Democrats take the side of terrorists, righteously defending them from those who would subject them to oppression. But terrorism doesnt always find favor with our current rulers. For example, expressing the view that our taxes are high enough without being sent even further through the stratosphere is a form of terrorism fiercely condemned by California Assembly Speaker Karen Bass. Heres how she reacted when asked, "How do you think conservative talk radio has affected the Legislatures work?"
The Republicans were essentially threatened and terrorized against voting for revenue. Now [some] are facing recalls. They operate under a terrorist threat: "You vote for revenue and your career is over." I dont know why we allow that kind of terrorism to exist. I guess its about free speech, but its extremely unfair.
If you dont want kleptocrats like Bass stealing more of your money, youre a terrorist too.
Obama spent $44 million attacking McCain for an idea that Obama no longer opposes.
Ever since Barack Obama declared his candidacy for president, it?s been easy ? and great fun ? to spotlight when his promises and statements come with ?expiration dates.? The list is long: Public financing. Renegotiating NAFTA. His promise to support a filibuster of any bill that includes retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies. His inability to disown Rev. Jeremiah Wright. The release of detainee photos. Denouncing Turkey for genocide.
Flip-flops are nothing new in politics, but every once in a while, a president breaks a promise or an important pledge on such an epic level that it defines him, at least in part: ?Read my lips: No new taxes.? ?I did not have sexual relations with that woman.? ?We did not ? repeat ? did not trade weapons or anything else for hostages ? nor will we.?Even ?I will never lie to you.?
clipped by:cheapogroovo clippers remarks: The first 2 make crimes out of hurting other peoples feelings The clean water bill lets government regulate anything from a pool to a pond to a water harvesting system on private property!
Wonkette sneeringly refers to Trig as "the New Jesus," "the Sacred One," and "the Holy Infant," and denounces Saracuda for using him "as a cheap political prop" by holding him in public. The post is illustrated with another nasty photoshop of Trig, with links to plenty more. At least moonbats have found something creative to do with their time. A couple of examples:
The heavy year-round rainfall makes the island as lush and tropical as any in the Caribbean. It doesn?t stop vacationers from coming for long-term stays. Eighty four percent of the island?s visitors are stopover vacationers versus 16 percent via cruise.
This overseas region of France draws people for its natural beauty, distinct culture, lovely beaches and fine dining. But as much as any other island, there are good and bad times to go.
The island has an average high monthly temperature of 85 degrees Fahrenheit and an average low of 73 degrees, according to the World Meteorological Organization.
It rains 76 inches during the year ? about five times higher than Aruba ? with an average of 6.7 inches a month. It rains on average 17 days a month, one of the highest in the Caribbean.
Martinique doesn?t have any months when the average high
A tragic case like Michael Jacksons reinforces the recurring story of addicted celebrities and their enabling doctors. Being a celebrity does not change the simple fact that the user is a drug addict. And having an M.D. after your name does not change the fact that if you supply the addict youre still a drug pusher. But to be famous and addicted does make treatment much more difficult.
Serious medical issues must be faced, among them:
-- Celebrities are known to have higher rates of trauma in their childhood, whether physical, sexual, or emotional. Behind the glitter of fame they feel real pain and suffer from conditions that need serious medical and psychiatric treatment.
In the aftermath of Michael Jacksons death, I found myself in a surreal situation that gave me a glimpse into the dark side of bloodsuckers, media and celebrity.
In those few hours, I saw a side of humanity that saddens me - where people try to take advantage of vulnerability, confusion, and grief for their own advantage. I realized that much of media has so much more to gain when they report salacious gossip, even in the aftermath of a tragic death like Michaels. I also realized that all of us, myself included, who participate in the engagement of that media feed so-called journalists to do anything to get their information. In the end, personalities like Michael are portrayed as freaks and dysfunctional, people who love them are taken advantage of, and those seedy, washed out journalists profit.
Hypertensive heart disease - hypertensive heart disease causes - A lot of people are searching for "Hypertensive heart disease" , and I have got some information on causes of Hypertensive heart disease, This will really help to those who want to know some information on Hypertensive heart disease, so here are the causes of hypertensive heart disease.
Animal activists in Shanghai rescued 300 cats from a dealer who was planning to sell the allegedly stolen pets to restaurants in southern China, a participant has said.
The activists, acting on a tip-off from a cat lover, found 22 bamboo cages full of cats in a freight yard,
Most of the animals have been returned to their owners, but three cats died and some had broken legs, he said.
"They had clearly been abused.
"The cats were going to be delivered to Guangdong to go into a local soup called Tiger vs. Dragon which is made with snake and cat," Lai said.
More than 50 pet owners came looking for their lost cats Friday night after the activists sent out a message on an Internet forum, Lai said.
animal protection laws are non-existent in China,
Yang, who has traded cats for a decade, bought the animals from so-called hunters who trapped the cats in residential areas at night
Eating cat meat is a tradition in many parts of China
I hereby give Sita Sings the Blues to you. Like all culture, it belongs to you already, but I am making it explicit with a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License. Please distribute, copy, share, archive, and show Sita Sings the Blues. From the shared culture it came, and back into the shared culture it goes.
You dont need my permission to copy, share, publish, archive, show, sell, broadcast, or remix Sita Sings the Blues. Conventional wisdom urges me to demand payment for every use of the film, but then how would people without money get to see it? How widely would the film be disseminated if it were limited by permission and fees? Control offers a false sense of security. The only real security I have is trusting you, trusting culture, and trusting freedom.
grass-roots organizations such as MoveOn.org, Health Care for America Now and the Service Employees International Union have singled out Democratic Sens. Ben Nelson (Neb.), Mary Landrieu (La.), Ron Wyden (Ore.), Arlen Specter (Pa.) and Dianne Feinstein (Calif.) for the criticism more often reserved for opposition party members.
"Democratic senators are taking millions of dollars from insurance and health-care interests and getting lobbied by those donors and coming out against a position that 76 percent of Americans agree on," said Adam Green, interim chief executive of Change Congress.
"Will Mary Landrieu sell out Louisiana for $1.6 million?" says one Internet ad that suggests a link between contributions she has received from the medical industry and her reluctance to back the creation of a government-sponsored insurance option.
Have a look at the groups that will be assisting Comrade Obama and his henchman Dead Fish Emanuel collect information for the 2010 Census:
* ACORN * 100 Black Men of America * African American Womens House of Imagene (sic) Shelter * American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee * Arab American Institute * Asian American Federation * Asian American Justice Center * Asian and Pacific Islander Coalition on HIV/AIDS * Association of Professors and Scholars of Iranian Heritage * Boat People SOS * Hispanic Alliance for Prosperity Institute * Hispanic Federation * Fundacion Azteca * Latino Justice PDLDEF * Mas New Mexico * Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund * Minority Access * National Alliance for Hispanic Health * National Alliance of Black School Educators * National American Indian Housing Council
the Census is used to determine Congressional representation and the size of government handouts, its a sure bet that the Caucasian population of the USA is in for a drastic decline
No More War (Morning Edition) On the Friday before Memorial Day, commentator John Frohnmayer offers an argument against war. John Frohnmayer is a lawyer, author and ethicist. He was chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts during the first Bush Administration. He teaches at Oregon State University.
Welcome to the Encyclopedia of Earth, a new electronic reference about the Earth, its natural environments, and their interaction with society. The Encyclopedia is a free, fully searchable collection of articles written by scholars, professionals, educators, and experts who collaborate and review each others work. The articles are written in non-technical language and will be useful to students, educators, scholars, professionals, as well as to the general public.
a stark reality of the Web: digital information on the environment is characterized by an abundance of "great piles of content" and a dearth of "piles of great content." In other words, there are many resources for environmental content, but there is no central repository of authoritative information that meets the needs of diverse user communities. Our goal is to make the Encyclopedia of Earth the largest reliable information resource on the environment in history
Whose wardrobe were loving this week... bad hair day or wild wig day for Lily Allen?
Left: Lily rocking her platinum blonde wig at Glastonbury. Right: Johansson in her bobbed version in Lost in Translation
She worked a platinum blonde one for dinner dates in London and Sir Elton John?s White Tie & Tiara Ball, last week. Then came Glasto and it was, firstly, shocking pink, followed by a recycling of the blonde wig, this time customized with roses.
We suspect Lily?s been raiding Britney?s wardrobe, or else taking tips from Scarlett Johansson in ?Lost in Translation?. Or maybe she chanced to see ourfashion coverageback in March when we styled model Christine Pillow in a series of fluorescent bobs.
There?s no need to stop at platinum and pink, Lily. Hot Hair has them in blue, lilac, mauve, purple, yellow and cobalt, for starters.
Bozone (n.): The substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign of breaking down in the near future.
Giraffiti: Vandalism spray-painted very, very high
Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesnt get it.
Inoculatte: To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.
Osteopornosis: A degenerate disease. (This one got extra credit.)
Karmageddon: Its like, when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, right? And then, like, the Earth explodes and its like, a serious bumm
Decafalon (n.): The grueling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you.
clipped by:syncopath clippers remarks: better watch photos in large scale. Banksy is a pseudo-anonymous English graffiti artist. He is believed to be a native of Yat, near Bristol. but there is substantial public uncertainty about his identity and personal and biographical details.
When your rover has abundant energy but cant go anywhere, whats a scientist to do? How about making observations of the evening and night skies on Mars? With the benefit of a boost in electrical power from a wind gust cleaning off her solar panels, the Spirit rover has more energy available than shes had for a couple of years. But unfortunately, Spirit is stuck in a patch of loose soil in the Home Plate region on Mars. While the engineers at JPL work hard at figuring out how to "Free Spirit" (see the new website dedicated to their efforts) scientists are making observations of her surroundings to aid in the effort to get her out. But theres also enough power to do additional observations, and astronomy was a logical choice.
There is nothing we love more than good design meeting up with a good cause. That?s why we love this student humanitarian design project on the Thai Burmese border: it combines beautifully designed (and super efficient) vernacular-inspired architecture with social responsibility in aiding the plight of Karen refugee orphans. Five students in Thailand are using architecture to make new lives for 24 orphans by providing them with homes to call their own.
Health insurers operate as near-monopolies, competition-free
clipped by:masbury clippers remarks: Each Big has little competition its own region. They destest the public option not just because its public, but because theyre used to no serious competition at all. They want desperately to keep the upper hand.
This wont come as the slightest surprise to those versed in health care policies issues. But I fear its only barely permeated the health care reform debate in the country, certainly in Washington. And thats this: the opposition to a so-called public option comes almost entirely from insurance companies who have developed monopolies or near monopolies in particular geographic areas. And they dont want competition.
Note, Im not saying more competition. Im saying any competition at all. As Zack Roth explains in this new piece 94% of the health care insurance market is now under monopoly or near-monopoly conditions -- the official term of art is highly concentrated. In other words, theres no mystery why insurance costs keep going up even as the suck quotient rises precipitously. Because in most areas theres little or no actual competition.
Read the piece, it will open your eyes
and make clear why the opposition to a public option is about preventing competition.
94% of insurance markets monopolistic; Profits up 428%
clipped by:masbury clippers remarks: Premiums up 87%. "a market failure where a small number of large companies use their concentrated power to control premium levels, benefit packages, and provider payments" Antitrust investigation sought.
uses data compiled by the American Medical Association to show that 94 percent of the countrys insurance markets are defined as "highly concentrated," according to Justice Department guidelines. Predictably, thats led to skyrocketing costs for patients, and monster profits for the big health insurers. Premiums have gone up over the past six years by more than 87 percent, on average, while profits at ten of the largest publicly traded health insurance companies rose 428 percent from 2000 to 2007.
HCAN describes the situation as "a market failure where a small number of large companies use their concentrated power to control premium levels, benefit packages, and provider payments
one former top Federal Trade Commission official
has sent a letter to the Justice Departments Antitrust Division, asking for an investigation into the health insurance marketplace.
A rare error at the Royal Mint means tens of thousands of 20p coins produced earlier this year are worth £50 each.
The coins do not have the date stamped on them because of the blunder after the redesign of the 20p piece, reports the Daily Mail.
The Mint does not know exactly how many undated coins were produced and released into circulation, but estimates range between 50,000 and 200,000.
Its the first undated British coin to enter circulation in more than 300 years - the last occasion was 1672, when Charles II was on the throne.
The problem occurred after all the coins from the 1p through to the £1 were redesigned last year. The change of the 20p design meant moving the year date from the tails side to the side with the Queens head.
However, thousands of coins were minted using the old version of the Queens head, which does not have the year date, and the new version of the tails side, which also does not have a date.
June 29, 2009 "Global Research" --- "The Central Intelligence Agency crucified a prisoner in Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad, according to a report published in The New Yorker magazine.
?A forensic examiner found that he (the prisoner) had essentially been crucified; he died from asphyxiation after having been hung by his arms, in a hood, and suffering broken ribs,? the magazine?s Jane Mayer writes in the magazine?s June 22nd issue. ?Military pathologists classified the case a homicide.? The date of the murder was not given.
?No criminal charges have ever been brought against any C.I.A. officer involved in the torture program, despite the fact that at least three prisoners interrogated by agency personnel died as a result of mistreatment,? Mayer notes...http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22941.htm
The sun is the focus of a deepening mystery. Solar scientists want to know: Why is the sun so quiet?
So-called sunspots, intense solar storms that eject mass amounts of energy and darken the solar surface, have been all but missing the last two years. Typically, the more spots, the more energy the sun gives off.
What effect this might have on world climate is unclear. Earths atmosphere and the sun have had a long and complex relationship, and scientists acknowledge they still are not sure precisely what goes on between them.
But changes in the deceptively volatile star evidently do have some impact on the planets weather.
Sunspots have been tied to everything from droughts to wine vintages to the sinking of the Titanic. A sunspot lull correlated with the Little Ice Age -- from the 14th through 19th centuries -- when "Greenland" became a misnomer.
Recently, the sun has been ever-so-subtly weaker than usual. Last year, 266 days were spot-free, and not a single spot was
To many, New York Gov. Eliott Spitzers fall from grace seemed to make no sense at all. But a new Northwestern University study offers provocative insights that possibly could relate to why the storm trooper of reform -- formerly known as the Sheriff of Wall Street -- seemingly went from saint to sinner overnight.
The study suggests that people with ample moral self-worth in one aspect of their lives can slip into immorality or opposite behavior in other areas -- their abundant self-esteem somehow pushing them to balance out all that goodness.
Other studies have shown the moral-cleansing effect, but this new Northwestern model shows that the cleansing also has to do with restoring an ideal level of moral self-worth. In other words, when people operate above or below a certain level of moral self-worth, they instinctively push back in the opposite direction to reach an internally regulated set point of goodness.
clipped by:tweezer clippers remarks: Puppy mills ,there was a lady who ran one locally jumped the county line opened shop again after prosecution YUK! VIAL ! Inhumane ,just had to see
A Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) follow-up investigation has found that Petland stores are still supporting puppy mills, including some of the largest and most notorious in the country.
The lesson of Amazon.com: start simple and evolve.
clipped by:egoldstein clippers remarks: Though its taken me a number of years to actually practice this discipline, i have always believed that simple, narrowly defined user experiences are prerequisites for building something big. Google, twitter and amazon are great examples of that.
Evolution is not merely a theory for Amazon; its part of its intelligent design. Originating as a single-cell online bookseller in July 1995, Amazon has, over its 14-year history, developed into a monstrous cybermall, offering millions of products and accumulating a market capitalization north of $34 billion. It peddles everything from music, movies, and video games to apparel, gadgets, gardening tools, lab equipment, health and beauty aids, even sex toys and the bonglike "mini hookah."
There is a mysterious waterfall in Judge Magney State Park in Minnesota. Half of the water drops 50 feet into the Brule river; the other half falls into a cauldron and disappears! Dyes and ping pong balls have been dropped into the pothole in an attempt to trace its route and find its outlet--presumably the water winds its way underground to Lake Superior a mile away--but the other end of the Devils Kettle has yet to be found.
Anyone know of any other disappearing waterfalls like this? Im guessing there must be others.
Turnbull supporters said this morning they expected the results after a gruelling week in parliament and the exposure of the email at the centre of the OzCar affair as a fake.
Frontbencher Tony Abbott admitted the party had suffered ?a very tough week last week?, telling ABC Radio ?When youve had a tough week you tend to get bad polls.?
But Mr Abbott played down leadership speculation, saying Liberal MPs were only human.
Mr Rudd, meanwhile, said voters were tired of ?smear? politics.
The Liberal leader?s bungled OzCar attack has lead to the biggest drop in support in Newspoll?s 25-year history, with his satisfaction rating crashing from 44 to 25 per cent in just a fortnight.
?I think the Australian people are just tired of the politics of fear and smear,? Mr Rudd said in Sydney today.
Honduran Military Reportedly Assassinated Leftist Presidential Candidate
Congressman Cesar Ham Was a Zelaya Ally and Organizer of the Opinion Poll on a New Constitution
Cesar Ham, presidential candidate and the head of Honduras only registered leftist political party, the Democratic Unification of Honduras, is dead, reports Notimex. He was killed by a squad of soldiers who arrived at his home this morning to arrest him.
The military has rounded up many of Zelayas allies within the government. Chancellor Patricia Rodas remains kidnapped.
Despite being from a different party, Ham was a close ally of ousted President Manuel Zelaya. Hams party, the Democratic Unification of Honduras, is Honduras only registered leftist party. Zelaya is from the conservative Liberal Party; he became a populist leftist after being elected.
BOGOTÁ, Colombia ? With their condemnation on Sunday of the coup ousting President Manuel Zelaya in Honduras, governments in the Western Hemisphere from across the ideological spectrum found a rare issue around which they could swiftly arrive at unity.
Condemnations of the coup quickly united governments as ideologically disparate as Havana?s Communist rulers and conservative Colombia, a close ally of the United States. ?It is a legal obligation to defend democracy in Honduras,? said Augusto Ramírez Ocampo, a former foreign minister of Colombia.
But such legalistic arguments failed to dissuade governments from condemning the coup, particularly in countries like Chile, Argentina and Brazil, where bitter memories linger over human rights abuses by military officials that toppled civilian rulers in the 1960s and 1970s.
clipped by:beanz clippers remarks: The Right wing don`t give up easily in Latin America, again using the military to oust an elected government: shades of Chavez.
Army overthrows Honduras president in vote dispute
TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) - The Honduran army ousted and exiled leftist President Manuel Zelaya on Sunday in Central Americas first military coup since the Cold War, triggered by his bid to make it legal to seek another term in office.
He said that if the Venezuela ambassador was killed, or troops entered the Venezuela embassy, "that military junta would be entering a defacto state of war, we would have to act militarily." He said, "I have put the armed forces of Venezuela on alert."
Some 2,000 pro-government protesters, some armed with shovels and metal poles, burned tires in front of the presidential palace in the capital, Tegucigalpa, and two fighter jets screamed through the sky over the city.
"If holding a poll provokes a coup, the abduction of the president and expulsion from his country, then what kind of democracy are we living in?" Zelaya said in Costa Rica.
The EU condemned the coup and Obama called for calm. Continued...
The Iranian government has informed the Obama administration that Saddam Hussein?s weapons of mass destruction are located in a valley close to the Iraqi border. They have offered the Americans a chance to go in peacefully and retrieve them. These weapons include over a dozen neutron bombs, each 20 times more powerful than the ones used on Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Instead of retrieving these weapons Obama tried to overthrow the Iranian regime and set up a regime that would actually use them against Israel.
Some gayby boomers say they are tired of hearing that their family isnt legitimate.
"Many of us were so closeted that we didnt know others like us were out there," says Danielle Silber
DeGroot says
"Ive always had a plethora of male role models. I never felt that I was missing anything by not having that dad for me."
Abigail Garner
calls her upbringing a "fabulous gift." She is the daughter of two gay dads and a straight mom.
APA also concludes that gay parents are just as capable as straight parents, and that laws barring same-sex couples from adopting have no scientific basis.
The laws may have been passed to protect the family, but allowing gay people to marry could actually strengthen the family, says Jesse Levey, the Republican activist who was raised by two lesbians.
"The conservative argument
is that we should be in married couples; I agree,"
"If we want to see children raised by married couples, then we should let gay people get married."
Putin is shutting down every casino and slot-machine parlor across the land
clipped by:clip-on-tie clippers remarks: ?This is shaking my life to the core ? such a blow for me and my family,? said Irina Mysachka, 32, a single mother who is a supervisor at the Shangri-La Casino in Moscow
And in a move that at times seems to have taken on almost farcical overtones, the Kremlin has offered the gambling industry only one option for survival: relocate to four regions in remote areas of Russia, as many as 4,000 miles from the capital. The potential marketing slogans ? Come to the Las Vegas of Siberia! Have a Ball near the North Korean Border! ? may not sound inviting, but that is in part what the government envisions.
no casino is expected to reopen for several years. As of July 1, not even two decades after casinos began proliferating here in the free-for-all post-Soviet era, the industry?s workers will be out on the street.
The pholas dactylus or common piddok is a strange little bivalve. The seven inch creature slowly bores into rock, using ridges on the edge of its shell, and then spends the rest of its eight years of life never leaving its hole, except by protruding a double-siphon with which it filters the tides for food particles. There is something else odd about the common piddock. It glows when you eat it.
If the flesh is chewed and held in the mouth, the breath becomes luminous and looks like a real flame" wrote one account of eating the raw shellfish.
Pliny wrote the piddock "glitter both in the mouth of persons masticating them and in their hands, and even on the floor and on their clothes when drops fall on them, making it clear beyond all doubt that their juice possesses a property that we should marvel" wrote Pliny.
What would you see and experience if the clocks rolled forward 50 years? In a unique blend of drama and science, this three-part series shows you the world of tomorrow. Will we have flying cars? Will advances in medicine help us stay young forever? What about ?printing? custom-made vital organs? What will our cities look like? What will tomorrow?s wars be about? Will we have robots helping around the house? Will solar power be the new oil?
??? 
JC(2006-11-04 09:18:08)
Tea replaces fluids and contains antioxidants so its got two things going for it 
John Frohnmayer on the Decriminalization of Drugs (Northwest Passage) 
No More War (Morning Edition) 
Cesar Ham, presidential candidate and the head of Honduras only registered leftist political party, the Democratic Unification of Honduras, is dead, reports Notimex. He was killed by a squad of soldiers who arrived at his home this morning to arrest him. 
