clipped by:thisnamecantbetaken clippers remarks: Whats worse, many pastors avoid talking to their congregations about repentance and self sacrifice. So, like the vampire Lasat, they drain them of true spiritual life, while seducing them with voter-pamphlet sermons and feel-good theology. The organized church is in big trouble today--the message of repentance is a flat subject among churchgoers. People want to pull a voting lever, offer vocal support for whatever politician pays lip service to a few hot-button social issues, and shout hallelujah as they drive off in their Lincoln. Satan smiles and waves as they go by. What America needs is a repentant, spiritual church, not the political arm of a dominionist cult. Want to argue that point? Do it with the God who says, "If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land."
False witness has been born, the Lords name taken in vain, the Commandments broken, all to acquire the wealth of oil!
After thirty years of pastoring and thousands of hours of volunteer labor, I feel Ive earned the right to say it: something dreadful has happened to the organized church. It has lost its way, its authority
We do not stand with kingdom authority because we attend the local mega church, sing in the choir, teach a Sunday school class, belong to a Christian coalition or a political action group, voted for George Bush, or even participate in a prayer meeting where loud, teeth-gritting, mad commands are shouted at Satan. True spiritual authority is given by God to whom He qualifies. His criteria are clear. It is the humble, not the Sunday-morning-the-pastor-is-watching-me humble, but truly Christ-like, self-sacrificing, cares-about-others-more-than-self humble, that God anoints with power and authority.
(Newser) ? Mark Sanford met his Argentine mistress more times than he?s originally let on, he told the AP today. Sanford, who?d originally copped to only four meetings with Maria Belen Chapur during an 8-year relationship, described five in the past year alone, including two romantic getaways in New York, and a farewell meeting there also attended by the South Carolina governor?s spiritual adviser.
That last meeting was intended to end the affair, but Sanford couldn?t resist one last trip?the escape this month that brought the affair into the public eye. Sanford says he never traveled on the state?s dime, save for the fateful government trip last year in which his relationship with Chapur became physical. ?Now I?m scared,? he said, explaining his feelings at the time. ?We gotta put the genie back in the bottle.? Source:Associated Press
The advent of General Stanley McChrystal as America?s overall commander in Afghanistan
Quixotic commitment to unattainable strategic objectives, i.e., changing entire societies. Afghanistan is to be made into a liberal, democratic, secular country with ?rights for women?
Setting unattainable objectives makes doctrine irrelevant, because it guarantees defeat. America could have Alexander the Great as its commander in Afghanistan, with Napoleon and von Moltke as his deputies, and we would still lose.
As an Army friend put it to me, until these and similar internal challenges can be met, our efforts in Afghanistan are like trying to get somewhere by riding faster on an exercise bicycle.
clipped by:rmowery clippers remarks: The recession might have been just the thing to drive people back to city living. I still think the biggest issue with most cities (albeit some exceptions) is public school systems are have not been so good. Perhaps with migration back to the city lifestyle we will see more push for better schools, etc.
U.S. cities that for years lost residents to the suburbs are holding onto their populations with a mix of people trapped in homes they cant sell and those who prefer urban digs over more distant McMansions, according to Census data released Wednesday.
Growing cities are growing faster and shrinking cities are losing fewer people, reflecting a blend of choice and circumstance.
In Chicago, Matthew Sessa and his wife sold their townhouse and decided against buying a four-bedroom house in the suburbs. They bought a three-bedroom in Chicagos Lakeview neighborhood instead, with a yard not much bigger than their garage.
"What we ended up getting in the city was just as nice, and the neighborhood that we moved into also has a very good elementary and junior high," said Mr. Sessa, a commercial banker who is 37 years old and has a baby due any day.
For the first time, an image of a memory being made at the cellular level has been captured by scientists.
The image shows that proteins are created at connections between brain cells when a long-term memory is formed. Neuroscientists had suspected as much, but hadnt been able to see it happening until now.
The experiment also revealed some surprising aspects of memory formation, which remains a somewhat mysterious process.
Kelsey Martin, a biochemist at the University of California, Los Angeles, and colleagues investigated memory formation in neurons from the sea slug Aplysia californica, a good model for brain cells in other organisms, including humans.
researchers in Japan have built a brain/machine interface (BMI) that has been demonstrated to control a wheelchair using a persons thoughts
The system enables a person to make a wheelchair turn left or right to move forward simply by thinking the commands. The response time is in 125 milliseconds
The BTCCs system uses several sensors placed over the areas of the brain that control motion to measure electrical activity in the region. The electical impulses triggered by the rider thinking of turning or moving the wheelchair are picked up and analyzed by an onboard laptop that passes the commands on to the wheelchair.
The system has an emergency stop that can be activated by the user puffing his cheeks.
The BMI adjusts itself over time to the characteristics of each drivers brainwaves. If a person dedicates three hours a day to using the system, the BMI can reach 95% accuracy in a week, researchers said.
clipped by:merrie clippers remarks: For such a historic day, the scribblers seem to be ignoring a lot of history. It?s like no one wants to talk about it anymore. Too bad. A great accomplishment, at tremendous sacrifice by both Americans, Iraqis and their British, Australian, European and Asian allies. Congratulations, Iraq. All yours now. Until and unless you need a little more help. Hopefully we?ll have an American president who is willing to help.
It?s a newly declared holiday in Iraq, and a new day as US troops pull out of the cities. Except to the extent they?ll need to be running around the cities training and advising Iraqi troops, and conducting hits on terrorists in the cities and out of them. Which sounds like a wide-open door you could fit a lot of troops through.
Noticed last night in the AP coverage a couple of things were missing. ?George Bush? and ?Surge,? which are directly responsible for the improvements in Iraq ? no more Saddam and markedly better behavior among Iraq?s ethnic and political divisions.
Four American soldiers were killed in Iraq yesterday, but if no one could find a good excuse to bring up George Bush, Obama also gets a pass in every article I?ve read. Not his war, not his problem.
clipped by:merrie clippers remarks: President Obama on Monday called the action "not legal," and claimed that Zelaya is still the legitimate president. There was a coup all right, but it wasnt committed by the U.S. or the Honduran court. It was committed by Zelaya himself. He brazenly defied the law, and Hondurans overwhelmingly supported his removal (a pro-Zelaya rally Monday drew a mere 200 acolytes). Yet the U.S. administration stood with Chavez and Castro, calling Zelayas lawful removal "a coup." Obama called the action a "terrible precedent," and said Zelaya remains president. In doing this, the U.S. condemned democrats who stood up to save their democracy, a move that should have been hailed as a historic turning of the tide against the false democracies of the region. The U.S. response has been disgraceful. "We recognize Zelaya as the duly elected and constitutional president of Honduras. We see no other," a State Department official told reporters.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich accused President Obama of siding with Cuban dictator Fidel Castro and Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez when it comes to the recent coup in Honduras.
Gingrich blasted Obama for opposing the coup in Honduras, which the former GOP leader insisted would have left in place a "leftist dictatorship."
Gingrich tweeted Tuesday:
Sadly the obama administration has joined castro and chavez attacking honduran supreme court and congress for defending their constitution
Having castro call for defending democracy should convince any reasonable person that honduras was on the edge of a leftist dictatorship
Newt Gingrich attacked Barack Obama for siding with Marxists Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez in attacking the Honduran Supreme Court and Congress for protecting the nations consitution.
More... Monica Showalter at Investors Business Daily has more on Obamas disgraceful reaction to the situation in Honduras:
Pat Condell, a fair-minded, well-spoken, intelligent, atheistic, witty asset to the secular world is the near-perfect proof of the existence of God. Watch and enjoy. Agree or no, his thoughts are worthy of your attention.
Thousands March In Honduras Against Chavez-Backed "President" Zelaya: Democracy Lives!
Obama got it wrong, again.
Obama, wrong on Honduras, wrong on Iran. Hes consistent, no?
The UN, media leftopaths and the radical US President are trying to paint what happened in Honduras as a coup. It was not. It was a democracy at work, saving itself from a Chavez-backed takeover.
Obama is on the same side as Chavez, Noriega and the Castro twins. Good luck with that!
Chavez, Zelaya complicit
"Micheletti is our President"
My brother lives in Honduras. says that anti-Zelaya demonstrations are huge. The people support the actions of the congress and supreme court.
Obama does not understand democracy or the meaning of a Constitution.
Wynton Marsalis (born October 18, 1961) is an American trumpeter and composer. He is among the most prominent jazz musicians of the modern era, and one of the best-known instrumentalists in classical music. As an African-American, Wynton M
clipped by:merrie clippers remarks: And at least one White House reporter has been on the receiving end of the daggers during a press conference. Developing...
As the summer begins, White House watchers have spotted a new look by President Obama: The Evil Eye!
Staffers have joked about the menacing glance, which comes when the president meets with world leaders who are not aligned with his progressive view.
White House photographers have captured the "evil eye" in recent weeks, during sessions with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Colombias Alvaro Uribev.
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi got hit with the commanders malocchio last week in the Oval office.
clipped by:n2sooners clippers remarks: An older post from Digital Photography School, but it never hurts to brush up on the techniques needed to shoot fireworks.
Do you want to know how to photograph fireworks? With 4th July just days away I thought I?d refresh this article in which I give 10 Fireworks Photography tips to help you get started.
Two views of the Ekstroem Ice Shelf, East Antarctica (above and above right). The upper surface near its edge is marked by a knobbly icy surface ? the result of storm waves throwing up spray that freezes as a crust on the surface. MH
The above photograph illustrates the shelf edge, marked by an undercut cliff, rising about 30 m above water level, while a few more hundred metres of cliff extends below the water-line. MH
clipped by:n2sooners clippers remarks: Trey is a great photographer and does HDR like no one else. He is also full of good advice and shares it in an entertaining way. This article is well worth the read.
clipped by:ElizabethAdams clippers remarks: The right bikini line shaver is a great boon for both men and women who want to remove their pubic hair but just cant seem to get started.
The right bikini line shaver is a great boon for both men and women who want to remove their pubic hair but just cant seem to get started.
Thousands of people now remove their pubic hair who never thought they could. Their secret is a rechargeable, quick-and-easy bikini line shaver that does the job in 3 minutes or less ... whisk! whisk! and youre done!
Appalling Conspiracy Of Silence Video Online From Thrasher http://www.media-underground.net 1-9-5
Conspiracy of Silence, a documentary listed for viewing in TV Guide Magazine was to be aired on the Discovery Channel, on May 3, 1994. This documentary exposed a network of religious leaders and Washington politicians who flew children to Washington D.C. for sex orgies.
Many children suffered the indignity of wearing nothing but their underwear and a number displayed on a piece of cardboard hanging from their necks when being auctioned off to foreigners in Las Vegas, Nevada and Toronto, Canada.
At the last minute before airing, unknown congressmen threatened the TV Cable industry with restrictive legislation if this documentary was aired. Almost immediately, the rights to the documentary were purchased by unknown persons who had ordered all copies destroyed.
Five of the nine British embassy workers in Tehran who were arrested on Saturday have been released.
The local staff had been accused of playing a role in the disturbances which followed Irans disputed presidential elections.
Heavy restrictions have been placed on the BBC and other foreign news organisations. Reporters are not allowed to cover unauthorised gatherings or move around freely in Tehran but there are no controls over what they can say.
(BANG) -A friend of Michael Jackson has claimed he is the real father of the singers youngest child.
Al Malnik - a restaurateur with alleged Mafia links - insists he is the biological parent of seven-year-old Prince Michael II and has pledged to help raise the boy following the Thriller stars death last Thursday (25.06.09).
He is quoted as saying: "Im the one who saved Michael from bankruptcy and, in return, he said he would name me the executor of his will.
"I was a father figure to Michael and I intend to be a father figure to the son who is rightfully mine.
"He asked me, if anything happened to him, if I would become godfather and parent to Prince Michael."
The Billie Jean stars ex-wife Debbie Rowe is the mother of his two eldest children, Prince Michael, 12, and Paris, 11.
"For many people there has been a question mark over this area of Michaels life."
Malniks claims have been dismissed as "ridiculous" by a family spokesperson.
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is an American science fiction action film which was released on June 19, 2009 in the United Kingdom, and due for release on June 24, 2009 in North America.It is the sequel to 2007s Transformers, which was the first live action Transformers film. Michael Bay and Steven Spielberg return respectively as director and executive producer, while Shia LaBeouf reprises the role of Sam Witwicky, the human caught in the war between Autobots and Decepticons. The film introduces many more robots and the scope has been expanded to numerous countries, most notably France and Egypt.
The economic harm projected from high levels of military spending is far larger than the damage projected from the Waxman-Markey bill. Given this situation, we would have expected that all the oil and coal industry folks, who are now so concerned about the average family?s well-being, would have been screaming about the economic pain that would result from sustaining the Iraq war levels of military spending.
Did anyone ever hear them raise this issue? Does anyone recall members of Congress giving speeches about how the job loss from the Iraq war levels of spending would be devastating?
For some reason, job loss and economic pain associated with the military are just not worth mentioning. These items only become newsworthy when the issue is saving the environment. And the elites wonder why the public has so little confidence in the country?s institutions.
clipped by:abailart clippers remarks: Interesting article with reference to Michael Jacksons life and productions as an example of entertainments role in modern ritual, and how neuroscience, particularly mirroring, is relevant.
Over the last century, anthropologists have often chosen to study exotic symbolic systems ? rituals, myth, art ? and frequently managed to illuminate the cultural logic underlying what seem initially to be ?irrational? practices.
So why haven?t anthropologists leapt to study one of the most exotic and powerful symbolic systems in human history? I?m talking about the Western (and predominantly American) system of ?entertainment?. Not only is this system central to contemporary Western culture, it has arguably played a major role in the breakdown of the cultures of many indigenous communities.
some interest in the topic has emerged in the last couple of decades. Much of this material is promising; often authors pursue the insight that in some ways entertainment activities are similar to rituals. This is not only an accurate observation, but it points to the possibility of beginning to map how entertainment works to establish some of the central meanings of contemporary life.
BRITAINS royal family is to demand a pay rise from the taxpayer to fill a looming £40 million ($82 million) hole in its finances.
The Queen wants an extra £4 million a year to pay for repairs and improvements to her homes, including Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle and St Jamess Palace. Courtiers may also request an increase in civil list payments to cover rising costs of running the royal family, which hit £41.5 million during the 2008-09 financial year - an increase of £1.5 million.
"Now is not a good time to be asking for more money," said Richard Bacon, an MP who sits on the House of Commons public accounts committee, which reviewed palace finances last month.
Republic, the campaign for an elected head of state, said the real cost of the monarchy worked out at more than four times the amount quoted in Mondays accounts, once the hidden cost of security, which some estimates put at £100 million a year, and other costs are included.
If the married and unmarried are equal, more people will feel free to experiment with lifestyle choices that allow them to meet responsibilities without forsaking their own right to pursue happiness. And maybe, as an added bonus, we can get away from demanding that politicians present idealized marriages to get our votes, and then punish them when theyre not better at living up to the ideal than the rest of us.
The Military Invades U.S. Schools: How Military Academies Are Being Used to Destroy Public Education
For the past four years, I have observed the military occupation of the high school where I teach science. Currently, Chicagos Senn High School houses Rickover Naval Academy (RNA). I use the term "occupation" because part of our building was taken away despite student, parent, teacher and community opposition to RNAs opening.
Senn students are made to feel like second-class citizens inside their own school, due to inequalities. The facilities and resources are better on the RNA side. RNA students are allowed to walk on the Senn side, while Senn students cannot walk on the RNA side. RNA "disenrolls" students and we accept those students who get kicked out if they live within our attendance boundaries. This practice is against Chicago policy, but goes unchecked. All of these things maintain a two-tiered system within the same school building.
58 nuclear dumps sites out of the 1.121 are in Languedoc-Roussillon.
clipped by:martinlowe clippers remarks: Finally, the area counts only three "sites of nuclear production" (Lodève, Marcoule and Malvési) significant. An old site of historical storage (Bellegarde) and two old polluted sites (Gruissan and Opoul Périllos) remain nevertheless under monitoring.
Among waste, listed at the end of 2007, only 0,2%, is 2.293 m3 are highly radioactive. Resulting in particular from worn fuels of the power stations, they gather 94,98% of the total radioactivity of the produced radioactive waste. Primarily stored on the sites of La Hague (the English Channel) and Marcoule (Gard), just like the main part of waste of average activity to long life (of which the radioactivity takes more than 31 years to decrease by half), this waste, like radium, can require more than 1.600 years to lose half of their radiation. In the area, the 58 listed sites are primarily establishments using of the radionuclides, that is to say for a medical activity (private clinics, hospital, analysis laboratory, cabinets of radiology…) or for research (biomedical, pharmaceutical and chemical). The experts of Andra also point three sites of the Army (Montpellier, Nimes and Nimes-Let us park) which are also useful of this type of atoms.
The festival of music of Montferrer is posted in Falgos SAINT-LAURENT-DE-CERDANS
clipped by:martinlowe clippers remarks: The ambition of association "MM" is above all to offer a scene and to promote the local and regional young talents, without however neglecting the experienced artists. Thus at the summer 2008, the many spectators of the festival had in particular been époustouflés by the service of exceptionally gifted an irlando-américano-inhabitant of Barcelona group, "Itchy go Itchy". Virginia Pinto Gomes was accompanied with the Field by Falgos by some local artists, belonging to the future programming, which could thus give an outline of their undeniable talent:
In prelude to the second international festival Montferrer Mountain and Musique which will take place on Saturday August 1 in Montferrer, the president of association Montferrer Montagne and Musique, Virginia Pinto Gomes, came, this Friday evening June 19, to hold a press conference with the Field of Falgos to present his association and to raise a little the veil to it on the program of the next festival. The ambition of association "MM" is above all to offer a scene and to promote the local and regional young talents, without however neglecting the experienced artists.
Sally Morgan (piano and song) of the St. Lawrence, Bernardo de Jeurissen (low and song), raises with the college of Arles, Sandy, the Welsh rockor, or the young cérétan group of rocknroll "Hot Cherries".
Former Pakistani Army General Mirza Aslam Beig claims the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has distributed 400 million dollars inside Iran to evoke a revolution.
In a phone interview with the Pashto Radio on Monday, General Beig said that there is undisputed intelligence proving the US interference in Iran.
?The documents prove that the CIA spent 400 million dollars inside Iran to prop up a colorful-hollow revolution following the election,? he added.
Pakistan?s former army chief of joint staff went on to say that the US wanted to disturb the situation in Iran and bring to power a pro-US government.
He congratulated President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on his re- election for the second term in office, noting that Pakistan relationship with Iran has improved during his 4-year presidency.
clipped by:amplifyralp clippers remarks: The company is using the fact that a peer-reviewed journal published their study as a selling point that the laser comb is proven to work. Just the title of the study is confusing, so I intend to parse it out a little bit and define some of tee terms used in common words. This way you can actually understand the significance of the type of clinical trial that was done.
A big part of conducting a fair clinical trial is controlling all the factors. This is the only way to prove a very specific cause for the effect that you are seeing. For instance, there is a group of college students who all fail an exam. They all stayed up late the night before the exam. So staying up late causes students to perform poorly on exams? There is no way to tell from this data! You would need to have a control group for all factors that may contribute to the grade. These may include GPA, drug-alcohol use, amount of time spent studying etc. There are factors that were controlled in this study about the laser comb. When a study is randomized the participants do not know which control group they are in.
clipped by:balthazarus clippers remarks: "The challenge is to learn enough about the brain changes induced by different technologies and types of games in order to be able to guide them, enhancing functions that result in a functional and behavioral advantage for each individual. If done properly, the motivating, almost addictive, nature of these technologies, may actually prove a very valuable ally to achieve desired goals in education, medical treatment, and rehabilitation." I do agree to the point that it is up to us, humans, to pour the meaning into the availability that is technology.
What is all this video gaming doing to young brains?
Growing scientific evidence demonstrates that the human brain dynamically changes in response to experience and to changes in the environment, a phenomenon that is known as ?plasticity.?
a world with vastly different technology driven demands, opportunities and challenges, is surely going to lead to brain changes
video games may actually induce brain changes that lead to behavioral benefits.
number of applications of computer games have been developed for education and rehabilitation
A recent study by Daphne Bavelier and colleagues at the University of Rochester offers the intriguing suggestion that playing video games may not only be beneficial because of practicing specific skills, but may also enhance core functions of vision ? something that has been classically viewed as immutable as an adult.
game induce different brain changes and thus promote different behavioral advantages
I share my home with 11 cats - four cheetahs, five lions and two tigers
Sharing a bed with your furry friend has taken on a whole new meaning for Riana Van Nieuwenhuizen.
The sanctuary worker shares her South African home with not one but FOUR orphaned cheetahs, five lions and two tigers.
Forty-six-year-old Riana said: I love them all. But theyre a handful.
Riana bought her first cheetah, Fielain 2006, after realising the big cats were in trouble and heading for extinction with only 1000 left in Africa.
She left her full time job working for the department of justice - a position she had held for 22 years - and found temporary employment on a game ranch where she could raise her beloved big cat.
But Rianas real dream was fully realised after she set up the not-for-profit Fiela Funds Cheetah Breeding Project in South Africa to ensure the long-term survival of the cheetah and their ecosystem.
How to tear the space-time continuum with your bare hands and a camera lens.
The transformative power of photography is unquestionable ? powerful images can move us emotionally, intellectually and morally. Now, it can also move us across space and time ? here are three fascinating photographic projects that do just that.
SIEGE OF LENINGRAD COMPOSITES
The images are a stride-stopping revelation of the scars WWII left, both physical and cultural, reminding us just how much more than architectural restoration it has taken for a healing process to begin.
Powell takes historical photographs from The Library of Congress digital archive (another innovative effort we love), prints them out, and holds them up against their respective modern-day location.
Augmented Reality: Heres Our Wishlist of Apps, Whats On Yours?
Augmented Reality
AR) is the phrase being used and this practice of making layers of data available on top of real world experiences could be a big one soon
our wish list for Augmented Reality apps
Place Data
mobile app called Layar that will display real estate and restaurant information on top of the view through your phones camera as you pan around a city
We would love to be able stand at an intersection and learn about the past and present owners of the buildings around us and about news events that have occurred within sight (Outside.ins iPhone app does this
Find My Keys or Car
How about an app that lets you capture and remember the location of your keys, car, or anything else you might have trouble finding later
Are Republicans More Likely to Have Affairs and Get Divorces? No.
clipped by:jklugman clippers remarks: We see the ecological fallacy appear here on Clipmarks all the time [1,2,3, 4] usually by people who want to say "conservatives are more/less _____ because red states are ______, liberals are less/more_______ because blue states are ________."
Here is an example of how that logic can result in the WRONG conclusion.
While conservatives fight to ?defend? marriage from gays, they can?t keep theirs together. According to the Census Bureau?s Statistical Abstract, states that went Republican in November accounted for eight of the 10 states with the highest divorce rates in 2006.
Welcome to anotherepisode of ?The Ecological Fallacy?! Once again: you cannot infer the behavior of individuals ? Democrats and Republicans ? from data at an aggregate level, such as states.
What happens when we look at individual-level data? Blow?s story falls apart.
What do we find? Simple descriptive statistics suggest only small differences between Democrats, Republicans, and independents (here, independents who ?lean? toward a party are counted as partisans):
A method for storing solar energy has already been invented by nature, and that is photosynthesis, which uses sunlight to split water, releasing oxygen, and fixing carbon dioxide into carbohydrates with the hydrogen, and creating biomass [8] (see Living with Oxygen, SiS 43). Photosynthesis has effectively provided the world with food, fibre, building material, and fuel (in biomass and fossil energies). The recent boom (and bust) of ?bioenergy? crops to supply ?biofuels? has been disastrous in accelerating deforestation and pushing up food prices especially in the developing world [9] (Biofuels: Biodevastation, Hunger & False Carbon Credits, SiS 33).
On the outskirts of Lusaka, Zambia, next years crop of bicycles is being watered by Benjamin Banda.
"We planted this bamboo last year," he says, "and now the stems are taller than me. When its ready well cut it, cure it and then turn it into frames."
Mr Banda, is the caretaker for Zambikes, a company set up by two Californians and two Zambians which aimed to build bikes tough enough to handle the local terrain.
Bamboo is the fastest growing woody plant in the world
There are many reasons why its so unusual: capital is difficult to raise in Zambia; tools and raw materials - if available - are expensive; skilled labour is in short supply; and bureaucracy isnt.
In this context having a low-cost raw material on the doorstep is a godsend.
"And of course theres very little impact on the environment," says Dustin McBride, the other American on the Zambikes management team.
The bicycles are being targeted at the American market
clipped by:thisnamecantbetaken clippers remarks:The record could not be clearer regarding the fact that we caused numerous detainee deaths, many of which have gone completely uninvestigated and thus unpunished. Instead, the media and political class have misleadingly caused the debate to consist of the myth that these tactics were limited and confined.
We should never, as a policy, maltreat people under our control, detainees. We tortured people unmercifully. We probably murdered dozens of them during the course of that, both the armed forces and the C.I.A.
So often, the premise of media discussions of torture is that "torture" is something that was confined to a single tactic (waterboarding) and used only on three "high-value" detainees accused of being high-level Al Qaeda operatives. The reality is completely different.
The interrogation and detention regime implemented by the U.S. resulted in the deaths of over 100 detainees in U.S. custody -- at least.
authorized at the highest levels of the Bush White House,
This shot is from the northern part of Montana, up where the fields go on forever. These nice crop rows are the ones that get caught in your eyes when you are driving by at super-sonic speeds?but you can still make out single rows like frames in an old movie.
Whale watching season has begun in Australia and the star attraction of the annual migration ? Migaloo, a rare albino humpback ? made his first appearance off the eastern coast this week.
The white Eastern Australian humpback celebrity, who was spotted off the coast of northern NSW, causes so much interest during his annual swim up to northern Queensland that the local environment authorities this week declared him a ?special interest whale? and threatened to issue hefty fines for anyone who gets too close.
There is now a 500m (1,600ft) exclusion zone around Migaloo for boats and jet skis, and aircraft must not venture closer than 2,000ft above.
?Migaloo has been declared a special-interest whale, granting him more space to swim up the Queensland coast,? Ms Jones said.
?The whale-watching regulations are there to protect the whales, but also to protect people from these huge, unpredictable mammals.
On June 20, 1868, a proclamation signed by the Governor General, Lord Monck, called upon all Her Majestys loving subjects throughout Canada to join in the celebration of the anniversary of the formation of the union of the British North America provinces in a federation under the name of Canada on July 1st.
The July 1 holiday was established by statute in 1879, under the name Dominion Day.
the most insanely interesting volcanic footage I have ever seen! Watch it all the way through because it gets closer up and more intense towards the end. Amazing stuff!
clipped by:balthazarus clippers remarks: An interesting account that names and refute all arguments favoring a godly existence of any sort. ... As David Hume wrote over 200 years ago in his Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, "What peculiar privilege has this little agitation of the brain which we call thought, that we must thus make it the model of the whole universe?"
God is not a being that exists by mere definition (as the ontological argument unsuccessfully tries to establish); nor is God a mere mental state, with no existence independent of peoples minds (at least, not according to most theists); nor is Gods existence a necessary proposition to make sense of the world (as the presuppositional argument tries and fails to claim). Therefore, we can safely conclude that Gods existence is not a properly basic belief, but rather an empirical proposition about the external world; it can only be properly supported by evidence, not mere assertion
it may surprise them to learn that all the most commonly heard arguments for Gods existence have been around in one form or another literally for centuries
all of them were refuted soon after they were first proposed
Buckingham Palace has announced that the annual Swan Upping, a tradition dating back to the 12th century which involves a census of the swan population on the River Thames, will be conducted by the queens official Swan Marker from July 20-24.
"With the assistance of the Queens Swan Warden, Professor Christopher Perrins of the University of Oxford, the swans and young cygnets are also assessed for any signs of injury or disease," Buckingham Palace said in announcing the count.
The process involves the Swan Marker, David Barber, rowing up the Thames for five days with the Swan Warden in traditional skiffs while wearing special scarlet uniforms and counting, weighing and measuring swans and cygnets.
It may seem eccentric, but it is very important to the queen.
It is also an important year because Queen Elizabeth has decided to join her team of Swan Uppers for part of the census.
A plague of tree-killing beetles which swept across British Columbia is threatening to spread east, to the US.
The mountain pine beetle has killed more than half of all lodge pole pine in the province and is now active in neighbouring Alberta.
Cold winters usually kill off the beetle larvae, but the region has been warmer than usual in recent years.
Scientists say the beetle could attack and kill jack pines, which are found throughout North America.
Mountain pine beetles occur naturally in British Columbia but in the last few years their numbers have reached plague proportions.
As the beetle burrows under the bark of the tree, it secretes a fungus from its mouthparts which blocks the transport system of the tree. This, combined with the stress of the beetle attack, kills the tree.
In the past, cold snaps before or after winter killed off many of the beetle larvae, but these have not occurred for a number of years.
Born in Turin some 56 years ago, Marco Pece is an italian photographer with a fascination with Lego. An art lover himself, his recent work recreates famous paintings in perfect detail, using the ubiquitous bricks. After long hours "playing" with the bricks, the final artwork is a fabulous photograph.
"I love to reconstruct celebrated paintings of the past, photos of great authors or movie scenes" explained Marco to Oddee, when contacted this sunday. "Im a lover of the art in its multiple expressions, from the more ancient shapes to those most modern ones."
clipped by:cakebelly clippers remarks: "Allotment gardens are characterised by a concentration in one place of a few or up to several hundreds of land parcels that are assigned to individuals or families. In allotment gardens, the parcels are cultivated individually, contrary to other community garden types where the entire area is tended collectively by a group of people.[1] The individual size of a parcel ranges between 200 and 400 square meters, and often the plots include a shed for tools and shelter. The individual gardeners are organised in an allotment association which leases the land from the owner who may be a public, private or ecclesiastical entity, provided that it is only used for gardening (i.e. growing vegetables, fruits and flowers), but not for residential purposes. The gardeners have to pay a small membership fee to the association, and have to abide by the corresponding constitution and by-laws. However, the membership entitles them to certain democratic rights.[2][3]"
clipped by:merrie clippers remarks: 29 Jun 2009 Tonight, people shouted AllahAkbar much louder and stronger than prev nights in objection to GCs certification People in Melat Park, Valiasr Sq., Vanak and sidewalks of Vailasr St. are holding hands and are trying to form a human chain. But reports of sporadic clashes indicate that the armed forces are trying to prevent the formation of the human chain. Reports: About 3000 Protesters clashing with Hezbollah at Vali Aasr Sq. (not conf) Larijani (head of Par):CNN has given money&cellphones 2 protesters 2 portray a wrong image of Iran
I called 1 who is near to Mousavis Family she denied Arrest, however asked me to call her later then she could check family.
RT PLZ. SORRY, Mousavis detention is highly UNRELIABLE news
...Yes there is a plan for Human Chain today!
People had announced that they will form a human chain from Tajrish sq to Railway
Important : Persian Kiwi is not arrested, but he does not have access to internet.
Urgent: Mojtaba Tehrani, reporter for the Etemade Meli newspaper which belongs to Karroubi, has been arrested.
Security police officers entered Mojtaba Tehrani?s house and in addition to searching the house took away personal items such as computer and compact CDs.
5 of 9 British Embassy staffers released after Miliband and Mottaki talk, UK vows not to interfere in #iranelection
Its getting interesting, Press TV (gov. media): Basij "imposters" are arrested
Guardian Council confirmed the election.... NO.. Ahmadinejad is not our president... never
clipped by:merrie clippers remarks: required that all Amtrak documents be "pre-screened" (and in some cases redacted) before being turned over to the inspector generals office; and taken control of the inspector generals $5 million portion of federal stimulus spending. Moreover, the report revealed, Amtrak regularly retained outside law firms shielded from IG reach. In another case, Amtraks Law Department appeared to meddle in an inspector general investigation of an outside financial adviser suspected of inflating fees. The consultant ran to the Law Department when the IG demanded documents, and the Law Department repudiated the IGs instructions on complying with a subpoena. These interventions (ongoing since 2007) have "systematically violated the letter and spirit of the Inspector General Act," according to Grassley. IG staffers now fear retaliation -- and with good reason. (Amtrak Inspector General Fred Weiderhold "retired", dismissal of Gerald Walpin, financial shenanigans by Obama cronies)
Watchdogs are an endangered species in the Age of Obama. The latest government ombudsman to get the muzzle: Amtrak Inspector General Fred Weiderhold. The longtime veteran employee was abruptly "retired" this month -- just as the government-subsidized rail service faces mounting complaints about its meddling in financial audits and probes.
Question the timing? Hell, yes.
On June 18, Weiderhold met with Amtrak officials to discuss the results of an independent report by the Washington, D.C., law firm Willkie, Farr and Gallagher. The 94-page report has been made publicly available through the office of whistleblower advocate Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa. It concluded that the "independence and effectiveness" of the Amtrak inspector generals office "are being substantially impaired" by the agencys Law Department.
Amtrak bosses have effectively gagged their budgetary watchdogs from communicating with Congress without pre-approval;
US, Iraqi experts developing plan to preserve Babylon...
clipped by:jatfla clippers remarks: Ancient Babylon will return. Its part of the Bibles predictions for the future. This is just the beginning. A couple of pictures are at the site.
U.S., Iraqi experts developing plan to preserve Babylon, build local tourism industry
The remains of what was once the greatest city in the world occupy a vast site on the bank of the Euphrates River.
Now soldiers with the 172nd Infantry Brigade are exploring the ruins as part of a U.S.-Iraqi effort to preserve the ancient city and plan for the return of Western tourists.
The State Department and the World Monuments Fund have committed $700,000 to the project, which will see U.S. and Iraqi experts develop a plan to preserve the site and develop a local tourism industry,
?It?s amazing to be surrounded by this history. To think that we are standing where Alexander the Great has been,? he said, referring to the great Macedonian conqueror who died in Babylon. ?Babylon is one of the oldest and first civilizations known to man. They created the wheel and the first calendars. Everybody coming here gets a sense of what this place really is and how it all traces back.?
clipped by:thinkingblue clippers remarks: Thanks, to the ACLU, for taking on and winning the case of a young teenage girl, strip searched at school because another student claimed she had given her Advil. What the hell is wrong with some school officials? There are times they do not seem in possession of the brains they were born with. The case, of one childs frightening experience that will, without a doubt, be with her for the rest of her life and that?s not the chilling part. School, a place for learning, had become, this day in 2003, a place for terror... With all the bullying that goes on, many of our children are in fact, already afraid to go to school. Bullying by kids is one thing but harassment by a top school official (our employee) goes beyond the pale. A little Common Sense carried out by the school higher ups, would have absolved the whole incident with dignity for everyone. But, in defense of the school vice principle, in (Bush/Neocon) 2003, insanity reigned supreme and Common Sense was in short supply!
U.S. Supreme Court Declares Strip Search Of 13-Year-Old Student Unconstitutional
Ruling In ACLU Case Is Vindication of Students Constitutional Rights
WASHINGTON ? The U.S. Supreme Court today ruled that school officials violated the constitutional rights of a 13-year-old Arizona girl when they strip searched her based on a classmates uncorroborated accusation that she previously possessed ibuprofen.
"We are pleased that the Supreme Court recognized that school officials had no reason to strip search Savana Redding and that the decision to do so was unconstitutional,"
While we are disappointed with the Courts conclusion that the law was not clear before today and therefore school officials were not found liable, at least other students will not have to go through what Savana experienced."
Savana Redding, an eighth grade honor roll student at Safford Middle School in Safford, Arizona,
AMY GOODMAN: Mr. President, do you think President Obama represents something different to Latin America and specifically to Ecuador?
PRESIDENT RAFAEL CORREA: [translated] Yes, I?m convinced that that is the case. Indeed, we?ve already begun very fruitful bilateral dialogues at a very high level, which never happened with the Bush administration. And not just that, there?s a question of building trust, and I think that President Obama offers trust. Personally, I think he is a transparent individual with the right intentions. So I think things are going to change in terms of foreign policy, US foreign policy, especially with respect to Latin America.
AMY GOODMAN: And is there one single message you could give to President Obama to improve relations with Latin America, what he could do?
PRESIDENT RAFAEL CORREA: [translated] To learn more and come to better understand the region
the heroes aren?t necessarily heroes, and the villains aren?t necessarily villains
something that was planned to be built 30 years ago, back in 1970s. It was called the ?super string transportation system? and was claimed to come to replace the existing rail road technologies.
The steel cords under great tension had to be stretched on the polls across all the country to support the high speed (up to 500 km/h - 300 mph) trains movement.
The project was pretty fast approved by Soviet government because of its cheap cost if compared to conventional rail roads - no need to prepare Earth surface - just put some polls and you are ready to go.
As always, it started with just sketches on paper, made in the manner it looked to be contemporary in 1970s.
The early prototypes looked more like military trucks that went rollercoaster.
What is left from it nowadays we can see on this photo set below.
He turned first to the Western corporations offering his ideas for optimizing traffic in large cities.
Still after long negotiations it was left on paper and not implemented.
Global stock markets are heading for their best quarterly performance in more than 20 years, with a sharp rally from March lows powered by hopes of economic recovery.
The FTSE All-World Developed Market index was on course for its strongest performance since 1987, having gained more than 21 per cent since the end of March. The FTSE Eurofirst 300 has risen almost 16 per cent over the same period, while Tokyo?s Nikkei 225 was up 23.4 per cent and the S&P 500 had risen 15 per cent by midday trading.
Emerging markets benefited most from investors? appetite for riskier assets, surging an impressive 35 per cent,
The rally
has been driven by hopes that the stabilising financial environment means the global economy, while suffering a deep recession, will avoid a 1930s-style depression.
data have started showing a slowdown in the pace of economic decline, leading to hopes that the worst of the recession may be past.
clipped by:deb2012 clippers remarks: In a move set to infuriate and send many Zero Hedge readers over the top, the NYSE has taken action to make sure that nobody will henceforth be able to keep track of the complete dominance that Goldman Sachs exerts over the New York Stock Exchange. This basically ends our weekly Program Trading updates disclosed every Thursday indicating that Goldman has singlehandedly captured all of NYSEs program trading. http://www.zerohedge.com/
Each week, Zero Hedge has been posting data from the NYSE showing which firms were the most active in program trading, and invariably the leader would always be Goldman Sachs (GS) by a mile.
It wasnt clear what it all meant, but it certainly fed into the idea -- which many people have -- that Goldman Sachs pulls the markets strings.
Well, no more disclosure. The NYSE has halted these disclosures for reasons that are unclear, but which clearly seems to violate the ostensible move twards more transparency in financial markets.
Heres their whole memo:
Accordingly, the last required submission of the DPTR will be on July 14, 2009
clipped by:lakotahope clippers remarks: This craft did test fly in Germany during the war, but when one prototype had a flameout in one of its engines, the resultant crash landing killed its test pilot. This plane looks remarkably like the British Swallow. The "Tailless Swallow" is the craft that killed Geoffrey De Havilland when he was trying to break the sound barrier. It broke apart in mid air and ended Britains attempts at breaking the sound barrier...
Meet the "wonder weapon" that could have won the war for Hitler.
Called the Horten 229, the radical "flying wing" fighter-bomber looked and acted a lot like the U.S. Air Forces current B-2 ? right down to the "stealth" radar-evading characteristics.
Fortunately for the world, the Ho 229 wasnt put into mass production before Nazi Germany surrendered in May 1945.
Northrop Grumman Corp. spent its own time and money using the original German blueprints to replicate the wood-and-steel-tube bomber, right down to its unique metallic glue and paint, at its facility in El Segundo, Calif.
Using radar of the same type and frequency used by British coastal defenses in World War II, the engineers found that an Ho 229, flying a few dozen feet above the English Channel, would indeed have been "invisible" to the Royal Air Force ? an advantage that arrived too late for the Nazis to exploit.
Driving or Flying? Plane vs. Car Accident Statistics
Your chances of being involved in an aircraft accident are about 1 in 11 million. On the other hand, your chances of being killed in an automobile accident are 1 in 5000. Statistically, you are at far greater risk driving to the airport than getting on an airplane. However, the perception is that you have more control over your fate when you are in your car than as a passenger traveling on an airplane. Experience shows otherwise, considering that over 50,000 people are killed on the highways every year.
clipped by:debbyski clippers remarks: "Every day, LGBT Americans face discrimination and are being denied their constitutional rights. There is no one in public life who could, and based on your stated principles and promises should, do more to move America forward toward becoming a country in which LGBT people are respected and treated as fully equal under our Constitution and laws. We ask for your leadership and voice. When you lead, we will back you with every bit of heart and determination we can muster."
I am writing to respectfully urge you to bring the energetic moral vision that you championed as a presidential candidate to the cause of equality for gay and lesbian Americans.
That vision energized not only gays and lesbians, but many other fair-minded Americans who recognize discrimination as a national moral failing
That vision would be even more powerful coming from you as president, but since your election we have heard very little.
Any reasonable person is aware of the extraordinary challenges that faced the nation as you took office, including a dire financial crisis that has cost millions of Americans their jobs
Mr. President, you are uniquely capable of communicating to the American public the moral and constitutional values at stake in ending discrimination against gay Americans.
Over the weekend, approximately 190,000 people made their way to Worthy Farm in western England to attend the 2009 Glastonbury Festival. Attendees came to see performances at what is billed as "Europes largest open-air music festival" on many stages over four days - headliners included Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young, and a reunited Blur. Rainy weather did little to dampen the mood, as attendees enjoyed themselves in tent cities, concert performances, dance tents, and the surrounding countryside of Somerset, England. Collected here are a handful of images from this years festival.
I Quit the Evangelical Movement in Disgust: Former Evangelist Fears Right-Wing Lunacy Will Lead to
clipped by:brightlight4 clippers remarks: * Republican senators and representatives giving speeches calling on their followers to accept and work with the president in a truly loyal opposition and denouncing Dick Cheney for saying the president is making us "less safe." * Evangelical Christian and Roman Catholic leaders telling their congregations to stop believing insane Religious Right lies, like the one about Obama being a Muslim, and/or the Antichrist ...
Instead, the rising tide of violence is met with silence and/or pretended horror by leaders on the right and yet even more hateful words amounting to outright provocation -- "I hope Obama fails," or, "Obama is making America less safe," or, "We regret Tillers murder, but after all, he murdered 60,000 babies..." or, "Illegal immigrants must be stopped!" and so on.
Who on the right-wing radio shows, among the Republicans in Congress and in far-right media such as Fox News, will now try to cure the sickness of their right-wing followers -- before it explodes
I Quit the Evangelical Movement in Disgust: Former Evangelist Fears Right-Wing Lunacy Will Lead to More Murder
Who has been beating the anti-immigrant drum? Who has been calling abortion doctors "murderers"? Who has been saying that Obama will take away our guns? Who is ratcheting up the anti-Obama hysteria?
In the light of the rising tide of right-wing terror, if leaders on the right were serious about standing against violence and acting responsibly you would see:
Pro-life leaders in front of abortion clinics to protect doctors from violence.
People like radio talk host Ingraham -- who has been sounding an anti-immigrant drumbeat incessantly -- at the funeral for the little girl gunned down in Arivaca and begging her far-right listeners to not commit acts of domestic terrorism against immigrants.
Letters from the NRA to its membership refuting its own scaremongering, anti-Obama election tactics and saying that Obama is not going to take Americans guns away.
When the baseball season started in April, it started in one of the worst economic times in the last 75 years. While some businesses have filed for bankruptcy, and others have either laid people off, enforced company-wide furloughs (unpaid time off), or reduced employee salaries, this economic recession has reached Major League Baseball as well. With advertising dollars going down, and fans losing jobs and/or money, Major League Baseball has seen a substantial drop in fan attendance throughout the 2009 baseball season.
The "What The Hell Is This Shit Helmet Award" goes to Tanyamm!
clipped by:thisnamecantbetaken clippers remarks: As the current holder of the Helmet Award, I think the time has come to pass it on. Id like to give it to Tanyamm, who every day makes us all smile with her fabulous LOLcat clips and is always so polite, sweet, funny and just an all round great gal, who I am proud to call a fellow clipper. It was also she, who suggested we should honour each other, so no one could be more deserving of this very, very, very prestigious award.
In many ways Science & The Outer Streams existed before the Internet was ready for it. Originally developed for live broadcast it wasnt long before it became apparent that the bandwidth just wasnt there for a popular video talk show and unfortunately On Demand formats werent really ready for us either. So we went into storage for almost a decade.
When something bad happens, I find myself looking for the good. It had been this way for as long as I could remember. One day a friend asked me how I could always find something good out of something bad. I honestly didnt know how I turned out that way. I didnt remember my parents, other family members, or even a friend doing it. I could only respond that I wasnt sure.
It was years later when I rented the movie "Pollyanna" for my children to watch. When Pollyanna explained "The Glad Game" and how her father had taught her to find the good in things, it hit me. That movie was a profound influence on my life.
Lucy has a VERY particular palette. She is also a premiere HamsterTracker athlete. Let?s check in on the latest dishes Chef Mathijs has prepared.
Today?s menu is Pasta Primavera. Sketti al dente, bell pepper, parsley?
?and Parmesan.
If Lucy disapproves, she will most definitely flip her table over IN DISGUST
A cautious, tentative taste shows proves to be?
DELICIOUS!
Sender-Inner Mathijs claims ?It took Lucy less than three minutes to pouch it!? I shall use ?pouch? as a verb from now on too. More cooking adventures with Lucy and her athletic prowress over at HamsterTracker.com.
June 30, 2009 | Now that the president and the Democrats in Congress have set a fall deadline for legislative action on universal police protection for all Americans, battle lines are being drawn on Capitol Hill. On the right are conservative defenders of Americas system of for-profit, private mercenaries. The Democrats are divided among progressives who favor universal, publicly funded police who would protect all citizens against crime, and moderate and conservative Democrats who argue that any citizen security reform should leave Americas existing system of soldiers for hire in place.
"Do we want long wait times when we call for the police, like people in countries with socialized police forces?" Sen. Russell Flack, R-Ga., asked during a floor debate yesterday. "Under our system, we can choose our own police officers, as long as we pay for protection out of our own pockets. Do we want some government bureaucrat choosing the police for us?"
clipped by:clip-on-tie clippers remarks: The name says it all. In the late 1800s in Chicago, Dr. H.H. Holmes, born Herman Mudgett, built and operated a hotel that would later be dubbed the "murder castle" by law enforcement agents. Holmes was a lifelong cheat, swindler and fraud artist -- in medical school he took out insurance claims on cadavers and mangled the corpses to look like they were accident victims. Shortly before the 1893 Worlds Fair, which was hosted in Chicago, Holmes built a 60-room hotel in the Chicago suburb of Englewood. Holmes was the architect, and the hotel housed many bizarre features -- doors that led to nothing, rooms without windows, trap doors and hidden passageways. When Holmes opened the hotel up for business, guests got more than they bargained for. For four years, Holmes held various guests prisoner, tortured and killed them. He is known as Americas first serial killer, admitting to 28 murders, Lovely, I know.
New Orleans, La., is a mysterious town. Walking the streets of the French Quarter, the ghosts of the Big Easy seem to be present at every turn. Maybe it has something to do with the architecture. Maybe its the thought of a voodoo doll made in your image. Any way you slice it, New Orleans is a spooky town
The historic Crescent Hotel in Eureka Springs, Ark., was built in 1886 as one of the first luxury spa hotels in the southern United States. The entire town is known to have many ghosts that roam about, and the Crescent seems to be a favorite destination.
This next entry on the list isnt haunted, but it was the scene of one of the most notorious murder cases in American history -- the Lizzie Borden case.
It may not be a functioning hotel any longer, but the Maribel Caves Hotel in Wisconsin is still known for attracting guests that illegally camp out within its crumbling walls.
Taking vintage typewriters and turning them into sculptures without using an kind of glue, welding or soldering may sound impossible, but not for Jeremy Mayer who has created these amazing typewriter sculptures by using cold assembly methods.
Igneous rocks are called fire rocks and are formed either underground or above ground. Underground, they are formed when the melted rock, called magma, deep within the earth becomes trapped in small pockets. As these pockets of magma cool slowly underground, the magma becomes igneous rocks.
Igneous rocks are also formed when volcanoes erupt, causing the magma to rise above the earths surface. When magma appears above the earth, it is called lava. Igneous rocks are formed as the lava cools above ground.
Sports Illustrated recently wrote a piece on a 16 year old phenom from Las Vegas? Bryce Harper. The cover shows Bryce in his follow through with the words: 570 foot home runs, 96 mph fastballs, 16 years old. Those three numbers alone are all you need to know to that this kid is a legit superstar. To the left of his picture, he is referred to as ?The Chosen One?, who is the most exciting prodigy since LeBron (James). Once I read the cover, I had to see what all the hype is about. The kid, and I am using kid lightly because he is a beast, stands at 6?3? and weighs 205 pounds. That type of physique is easily comparable to Alex Rodriguez.
When he was asked what his goals were as a baseball player, he responded confidently:
?Be in the Hall of Fame, definitely. Play in pinstripes. Be considered the greatest baseball player who ever lived. I can?t wait.?
Do you think Bryce Harper will be a MLB superstar? What are your thoughts on this talented 16 year old?
clipped by:clip-on-tie clippers remarks: Sarah Palin?s photo shoot from Runner?s World. Sarah Palin is a mother, a wife, a governor, an attractive woman and down to earth. That really creeps the liberals out. To them there is something obviously wrong with her. She is not elite. She makes lunch for her brood. She never looks harried. She always smiles. She is stuck on God. She must be plastic. Poor libs, they just don?t dare like her. She is everything they fear. This hardworking person who has a strong sense of responsibility and tells it like it is must be ground into the dirt.
"I used to joke around with John McCain during the campaign about coming jogging with me. And once I asked him what his favorite exercise was, and he said, I go wading. Wading. He lives on a creek in Arizona, so he goes wading. That cracked me up."
"I feel so crappy if I go more than a few days without running. I have to run. No matter how rotten I feel before or during a run, its always worth it to me afterwards. Sweat is my sanity."
"In Anchorage on the coastal trail there have been many times where Ive had to stop right in my tracks and turn around because theres been either a moose standing there staring at me or a mooses butt plopping on over into the trail. I have to turn around and leave or Im going to get clobbered."
clipped by:NonStatQuo clippers remarks: This 4th of July we have our freedom once again. Let us remember, Democrat and Republican, Christian, and Muslim, Gay, straight or in-between, how wonderful it is to be free, even when those freedoms are severely challenged and altered and hamstrung by the very ones who profess to love this great country. Faults and all, America is an amazing country, full of warm and generous people. Amazing landscapes and rich culture. The more we celebrate our triumphs and stop tearing each other apart, the better off each an every American will be. We all prosper when we build together. Happy 4th of July.
Michael Jackson will be remembered, most likely, as a shattered icon, a pop genius who wound up a mutant of fame. Thats not who I will remember, however.
Business goals need to be defined. Startup business plans always need to include what the expected destination will be. Image that you are going on vacation and have no idea where you are going as you get in your car. How do you pack for such a trip? You might end up in Florida with a suitcase full of ski clothing. As obvious as this may seem, many online businesses start out pretty clueless about this.
Lets use MJs tragic death as a mini case-study. $300 million over, for example, 25 years? Thats $12 million a year.
Im deliberately leaving out ads, endorsements, concerts, etc., to focus on the the structural problems in one industry: music.
If the worlds biggest pop star only made $12 million a year from his recordings, why would anyone make serious music? Where did the rest of the money go? Why, straight into record labels pockets. Did they make better music with it? Nope ? they made Britney and Lady GaGa. And thats how they killed themselves: by underinvesting in quality, to rake in the take.
Wait a second ? that sounds familiar. You can add back in the endorsements, etc. now ? they only double the figure: to about $25 million.
If the worlds biggest pop star only made $25 million a year in total, somethings very, very wrong. Wheres the rest of the money? Why cant a resource as scarce as the King of Pop capture more value?
clipped by:egoldstein clippers remarks: Anyone who is having problems using Clipmarks in Firefox 3.5, please uninstall the version you currently have and then go to the source of this clip and reinstall it - after doing that it will work properly. Im very sorry to anyone who is inconvenienced by this. Please POP so others will be made aware. Thank you!
Posterous lets you post things online fast using email. You email us at post@posterous.com and we reply instantly with your new posterous blog.
If you can use email, you can have your own website to share thoughts and media with friends, family and the world.
What can I send to posterous?
You can attach any type of file and well post it along with the text of your email. Well do smarter things for photos, MP3s, documents and video (both links AND files)
What do you do when I attach photos to an email?
If you attach one photo (of any size, even direct from your camera!), well resize it to a web-friendly size and post it. If you attach more than one photo in the same message, we automatically create a good looking image gallery like this one:
What do you do when I attach music to an email?
What do you do when I attach a video file to an email?
What happens when I put a URL in my email? Does it get linked?
He was only sentenced to 12 years. Stiffer sentencing would go a long way toward sending a clear message: You cannot do this in Australia. "Racy photos prompt stabbing," by Amelia Bentley for the Brisbane Times, June 29 (thanks to Michelle):
A man used a butchers knife to stab his stepdaughter up to 20 times because he believed she was a "slut" who was interfering in his marriage, a court has heard.
Khaled Ibrahim Mohamed Ellaimouny, 38, was today jailed for 12 years for the attempted murder of his stepdaughter Amanda Lee Smith, who was 24 when her stepfather stabbed her in the chest, arms, legs and face as she sat on the lounge of the familys Shailer Park home in January 2007.
He allegedly told them: "I stabbed the slut. I wanted to kill her, but unfortunately shes still breathing."
Mr McCarthy said Ellaimouny told his wife after the incident: "I stabbed her because shes a f---ing slut, she deserved that. All I wanted to do ... just get rid of her."
A quiet revolution is engulfing tennis, as spectators and players say enough is enough to grunting. As Wimbledon begins, why is it that players are making so much noise?
For decades the familiar sound of a rubber ball striking the strings of a tennis racket has evoked memories of Wimbledon, long summer evenings and strawberries.
But as the worlds oldest tennis tournament begins in the sleepy London suburb, there are fears that some womens matches now bear more of an aural resemblance to a torture chamber.
Some players accompany each stroke with such a loud and prolonged grunt/shriek that spectators and opponents have complained.
HISTORY OF GRUNTING
1974: Grunting pioneer Jimmy Connors wins first Wimbledon title
1988: Ivan Lendl complains about Andre Agassi at US Open
1992: Monica Seles spoken to by officials at Wimbledon
2005: Maria Sharapovas grunt reaches 101 decibels
2009: Michelle Larcher de Brito receives unofficial warning at Roland Garros
The Biggest battle for the Unborn this year is about to begin! With Congress considering a massive health care reform before their August recess, pro-lifers must continue to insist that President Obama and Congress respect the consciences of millions of Americans and exclude funding for abortion in a new health care program. In his speech to the Planned Parenthood Action Fund in July of 2008, President Obama stated that in his mind "reproductive care is essential care, basic care, so it is at the center, the heart of the [health care] plan that I propose." When asked for clarification later, an Obama spokesman said that reproductive care included abortion." If Health Care reform passes without an express ban on abortions then Secretary Kathleen Sebelius will force the American people to directly pay for abortions for years to come. Please tell your Representatives to ban the funding of abortion. Tell them you dont want your tax dollars to pay for abortions!
This purpose is stated in verses 5, 8, and 10. We are to love our husbands and children, pursue self-control and purity, be workers at home, kind and submissive:
that the word of God may not be reviled. (v. 5)
so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us. (v. 8)
so that in everything [we] may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior. (v. 10)
Our conduct has a direct influence on how people think about the gospel. The world doesn?t judge us by our theology; the world judges us by our behavior. People don?t necessarily want to know what we believe about the Bible. They want to see if what we believe makes a difference in our lives. Our actions either bring honor to God or misrepresent His truth.
How sobering it is to realize that our behavior has the potential to discredit the gospel.
Unbelievable: Obama asking states to lie when counting jobs saved or created by stim bill
Meanwhile, some state officials worried about how they were supposed to count jobs credited to the stimulus. Now, the White House Office of Management and Budget has given states guidance calming these concerns.
"All were asking them to do is a simple headcount; tell us how many people you hired," said Rob Nabors, the deputy director of the office, in an interview.
Recipients wont be asked to grapple with complicated estimates, he added. Instead, they may use their best guess whether a job would have been created or saved in the absence of a recovery plan, and to not count it if they are uncertain.
No doubt we will hear one day from the White House that the stim bill is a spectacular success. Will the people buy it?
NEW ORLEANS ? Four years since the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, there are still nearly 3,000 mobile homes and trailers across the Gulf Coast housing victims of that disaster.
In Louisiana, there are 2,100 families living in trailers, most of them homeowners struggling to rebuild their homes
Mississippi has 781 families in trailers.
The federal government has made it a priority to vacate the temporary trailers, particularly after formaldehyde and toxics were found in the trailers.
Slow-moving federal housing funds, elderly and disabled residents unable to navigate the system, and a lack of affordable rental units have kept them from completely emptying, said Crystal Utley of the Mississippi Center for Justice, which provides legal advice to disaster victims. Escalating insurance rates in the affected areas have also made it difficult, she said.
Some of the federal housing funds that were expected to help rebuild affordable housing units were diverted to other projects
Geoff Millard, a former US Army sergeant, spent a 13-month tour of duty in Iraq, but part of him never left.
"You cant get over combat experience," Millard told me in an interview in the Washington DC home he shares with three other veterans.
"You dont get over it, you dont move on, you learn to live with it."
The base where he carried out military intelligence work was shelled relentlessly, targetted by enemy insurgents mortar fire.
"You can try and be as tough as you want, [but] the first time you get mortared in a combat zone, its terrifying," Millard said.
He has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and has been unable to hold down a job for more than a year.
"You go from being terrified of these mortars to not caring less. But then when you come back here that desensitisation wears off. I have panic attacks, and sometimes I cant breathe ? Its tough to have a job when so many things send you into a panic."
clipped by:masbury clippers remarks: Reducing its US govt credit line by $25B, selling its HQ, a Japanese office building, and many other assets. All that money we heard about that was going out is starting to come back.
AIG Has ?Excellent Chance? To Repay U.S., Liddy Says (Update4)
June 30 (Bloomberg) -- American International Group Inc., the insurer bailed out by the U.S., has an ?excellent chance? of repaying the government, outgoing Chief Executive Officer Edward Liddy said today at the company?s annual meeting.
AIG plans to reduce its debt under a Federal Reserve credit line by $25 billion by handing over stakes in two non-U.S. life insurance units, the insurer said last week. The New York-based company has tapped about $40 billion from the line.
Liddy?s remarks echo comments he made to Congress last month when he said the company can pay back the credit line and a $40 billion stock investment within five years by selling units or holding stock offerings for businesses. The insurer may need more time if markets worsen, he said then.
AIG has
transactions raising about $6.7 billion, striking deals to sell a U.S. auto insurer, an equipment guarantor, its New York headquarters and a Japanese office tower
I was playing with a very dear friend of mine who is a violinist. We began, as we often do, with Aaron Copland?s Sonata, which was written during World War II and dedicated to a young friend of Copland?s, a young pilot who was shot down during the war.
Midway through the piece, an elderly man seated in a wheelchair near the front of the concert hall began to weep. This man, whom I later met, was clearly a soldier-even in his 70?s, it was clear from his buzz-cut hair, square jaw and general demeanor that he had spent a good deal of his life in the military. I thought it a little bit odd that someone would be moved to tears by that particular movement of that particular piece, but it wasn?t the first time I?ve heard crying in a concert and we went on with the concert and finished the piece.
The concert in the nursing home was the most important work I have ever done.
to play for this old soldier and help him connect,
Troy Davis currently has a final appeal before the US Supreme Court. If that is rejected, his case returns to Savannah, Georgia, where a new District Attorney will have some life or death decisions to make. DA Larry Chisolm was elected in 2008 and campaigned on a platform to "increase the sense of fairness" in his office. Call on DA Chisolm to do everything in his power to prevent an execution, and urge him to reopen the case against Troy Davis, since most of the witnesses responsible for his conviction have now recanted. » Learn more about Troy » Download and print the petition to help gather more signatures
"Muslim Mob Burns Down 100 Christian Homes in Pakistan," from International Christian Concern, July 1 (thanks to Jeffrey Imm):
07/01/09 Pakistan (International Christian Concern) - This morning 100 Christian houses and churches were set on fire by local Muslims in the city of Kasur South, east of Lahore, Pakistan. The riots were incited by broadcasts from local mosques. This incident is similar to a February 1997 attack when thousands of Christian houses and churches were burned and hundreds of Christians were injured.
ICC partners received the news this morning and went immediately to the scene to help injured Christians transferred to Lahore, renting two mini vans for this purpose. So far 9 burned women and 4 children have been transferred to Lahore for further medical treatment. All of them have been injured by throwing acid on them. Local police have arrived on the scene but the situation is out of control as thousands of Muslims have gathered for this purpose.
found this @ other site: A Mexican, an Arab, and a redneck girl are in the same bar. When the Mexican finishes his beer, he throws his glass in the air, pulls out his pistol and shoots the glass to pieces. He says , In Mexico our glasses are 2 pesos cheap we dont need to drink with same one twice.The Arab. obviously impressed by this, drinks his beer, throws it into the air, pulls out his AK47 and shoots the glass to pieces. He says, in the Arab world , we have so much sand to make glass that we dont need to drink with the same twice either.[list=1] The redneck girl ,cool as cucumber ,picks up her beer, down it in one gulp, throws the glass into the air ,whips out her 45 and shoots the Mexican and the Arab. Catching her glass,setting it on the bar,and calling for refill, and she says
In America we have so many illegal aliens that we dont have to drink with the same ones twice. God bless American
As Sweden takes over the presidency of the EU, the sad truth is that its famed social state is failing
Swedens conservative coalition government has stood still as the financial crisis has engulfed the country. Jobs, social services and healthcare are eroding. The Sweden Democrats ? the equivalent of the BNP ? are on the rise. The social state is failing. The Swedish dream is no more.
Take healthcare. Swedes do not enjoy free public care: it costs to see a GP. That is, if you manage to see one. Queues are long and scandals rack the system. Psychiatric care, the source of many such scandals, has a near-medieval penchant for authoritarianism with few European equivalents. People are locked up for months for not taking medicine, given no therapy, and spat out of the system into despair and destitution. The mentally ill die in wards and in outpatient isolation. And they do not even have charities to turn to because state-run healthcare is supposed to work: this is Sweden, after all.
Stimulus not working - 473,000 jobs cut from payrolls in June
clipped by:clip-on-tie clippers remarks: It seems like Obama is really set on destroying the American economy with his cap and trade energy tax, his taking over healthcare, and his ?stimulus? spending.
In 2012, we?re all going to like super-hate Obama and be like, ?Let?s get rid of the bum!? But when we get to voting booths, they?ll be like, ?I?m sorry, but the country is completely out of money and we can?t afford any ballots.?
US companies cut nearly a half million jobs last month as the recession continued to cut into the labour market in spite of other recent signs of hope in the economy.
Employment in the goods-producing sector was hit the hardest, where 250,000 jobs were shed. Manufacturers, which have shed workers for 40 months in a row, culled 146,000 jobs in June, and construction employment fell by 97,000 as builders continue to cut back. In the services sector 223,00 jobs were lost.
June for the fifth straight month and were down 9 per cent compared with the same month a year ago. However, persistent high levels of jobless claims and Tuesday?s Conference Board report showing a drop in consumer confidence continue to darken optimism for a fast recovery.
Economists expect that the US shed another 363,000 workers in June, pushing the unemployment rate to 9.6 per cent.
Every year, scientists recognize 15,000 new animal species? each one needs a new name. With so many species, scientists are bound to turn to popular culture for inspiration. Here, weve compiled a list of famous (and infamous) people and the often quirky species named after them.
Amid worrisome times, readers are losing themselves in stories about hunky guys and brave heroines in romance novels, which, as the Times points out, always have happy endings. While overall book sales are down, revenues for Harlequin books were up 13.5 percent in the first quarter of 2009.
The most complete terrain map of the Earths surface has been published.
The data, comprising 1.3 million images, come from a collaboration between the US space agency Nasa and the Japanese trade ministry.
The images were taken by Japans Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (Aster) aboard the Terra satellite.
The resulting Global Digital Elevation Map covers 99% of the Earths surface, and will be free to download and use.
"This unique global set of data will serve users and researchers from a wide array of disciplines that need elevation and terrain information."
Previously, the most complete such topographic map was Nasas Shuttle Radar Topography Mission, covering 80% of the Earths surface. However, the missions results were less accurate in steep terrain and in some deserts.
Nasa is now working to combine those data with the new Aster observations to further improve on the global map.
Man with Worlds Longest Nose Hair paints Obama portrait on basketball court floor
Obamas portrait painted by Elmwood using his long nasil hairs.
Washington, DC - Spencer Elmwood, who recently won the prestigious Lord Faunteroy Academys Art in December contest by completing a Picasso-type Mona Lisa painted using nothing but his nose hairs, has completed a life-sized portrait of President Barack Obama. The portrait was painted entirely with his 3 foot long nose hairs, some oil paints, and on a wooden basketball floor at a local DC high school!
President Obama invited Elwood to the Whitehouse in order to give the president and first family a special demonstration. Obama has promised to visit the portrait next week.
Texas Governor Rick Perry Sells The Alamo To Mexico
Texas Governor Rick Perry before he dyed his hair black and shaved off his beard.
SAN ANTONIO -The San Antonio Daily Discloser is reporting that Texas Governor Rick Perry has just finalized a deal with the Republic of Mexicos President Nacho Winslow for the south of the border country to purchase the Alamo.
The governor said that because of the sad state of the states economy he has been contemplating the deal for the past two months. He remarked that the sale will bring in some much needed revenue.
The governor added that along with the historical former church mission, Mexico will also be receiving the actual battle-scarred Texas flag that flew over the mission during the 1836, 13-day seige along with two of Davy Crocketts authentic coonskin caps.
The longer Jailamony lives with me, the more questions I have: What were her racing days like? What happened to the other dogs from her litter? And what really happens to greyhounds that arent adopted when theyre done racing?
Florida, with the majority of breeding farms and nearly half the tracks in the country, is the epicenter of dog racing. Although a well-organized antiracing lobby now has its sights set on the Sunshine State, its hard to tell if legislative efforts are hastening or hindering the end of this moribund industry.
clipped by:ofcapri clippers remarks: "The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have little," declared Franklin D. Roosevelt in his Second Inaugural Address.4
[1] Given that liberalism represents the center of the political spectrum, the definition of liberal is often wildly abused by ideologues who seek to discredit liberal democracy by appropriating the word liberal for themselves.
[2] Liberalism is not an ideology. Liberalism is best thought of as a standing argument based on a shared set of assumptions. This liberal argument is fought between two distinct kinds of liberals, classical liberals and modern liberals, whom Americans simply call "conservatives" and "liberals," respectively.
Modern Liberalism
[7] The definition of liberal can be divided into 6 key principles:
Belief in positive law
Faith in progress
Preference for equality over liberty
Belief in the benevolence of government and individuals
clipped by:chestnut501 clippers remarks: Everybodys got the RIGHT to LOVE - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_g2nGlvTKg I met my first boyfriend while this song was on the charts. The Supremes without Ross, Wow, harmonies again! History is on our side, if time isnt. The fence is where Matthew Shepard was tied, beaten and left for dead. Alongside the picture, Mrs. Shepard.
Sorry, Mr. Bush - I never imagined Obama would be worse than you
Stop the presses and shut off the RSS feeds: the bashiest of the Bush-bashers is starting to appreciate the Exile of Crawford.
I havent forgiven George W. Bush for stealing two elections, starting two wars, bankrupting the treasury and doing his damnedest to turn the U.S. into a fascist state. He deserves one of hells hottest picnic spots for refusing to lift a finger to bring the 9/11 murderers to justice. Bush was stupid. He was vicious. He should be in prison.
He was the worst president the U.S. had ever had. Until this one.
On major issues and a lot of minor ones, Obama is the same as or worse than Bush. But Bush had an opposition to contend with. Obama has a compliant Democratic Congress. Lulled to somnolent apathy by Obamas charming manners, mastery of English (and yes, the color of his skin), leftist activists and journalists have been reduced to quiet disappointment, mild grumbling and unaccountable patience.
In fact, the answer may surprise you. There are business-to-business companies that are utilizing the social web to find customers, to build up a reputation, and to get the upper hand on landing the big deal. There?s a great deal that social media offers to the non-consumer business. Here are four of the best ways to use social media when you?re in enterprise:
Everyone thinks of social media as a communication tool, but not enough people think of it as a research tool. With the ridiculous amount of data produced every day on social networks, blogs, and in conversations, it should be apparent that you can learn tidbits or spot major trends by tracking the social universe.
Bo the First Dog says," Master Obama treats me like a slave!"
Bos cousins Fred and Lois receive doggie-grams daily about the horrid conditions at the Whitehouse.
In his first television interview for the Animal Planet Channel, Bo the First Dog confesses to the dismal conditions hes faced with everyday while living as a virtual slave in the Whitehouse.
Fetch this! Fetch that! Everywhere I go some nitwit is pulling my ears and giving me stupid fetch commands!
Oh, they take time for TV camera opportunity walks, but as soon as the filming is done its back to the cell block and maybe a bisquit as a treat! Im nothing more than window treatment and a slave
When asked about his hopes for his future Bo warns that hes planning to embarass the President and First Lady by humping on their legs everytime a camera is pointed their way.
About half of American adults indicate using a vibrator, according to a new survey that sheds light on acts that take place beneath the covers and behind closed doors.
The survey was funded, however, by Church and Dwight Co. Inc., maker of Trojan brand sexual health products. It finds its not just women taking advantage of the battery-operated tickle toy. Forty-five percent of men said theyd employed a vibrator, with most heterosexual men doing so during foreplay or intercourse with a female partner. About 17 percent of men said they used a vibrator for solo masturbation.
And while vibrators are often hidden in sock drawers or beneath the bed, the study results suggest their use is a sign of a positive and healthy sex life. In fact, female vibrator users were significantly more likely to have had a gynecological exam during the past year and to have performed genital self-examination during the previous month.
I am among the Gmail faithful, but its folder system, or lack thereof, has always been somewhat of a drawback. Google took steps to fix this problem Wednesday with the release of several new drag, drop, and hide features intended to make it easier to organize your Gmail inbox.
First up is a new location for labels. They are currently listed as a separate section underneath Chat, but will now be grouped together with the inbox, drafts, chats, and other labels. If you dont want to clutter your inbox, the upgrade also lets you hide those labels you dont use very often. Clicking the down arrow next to a label will allow you to show, hide, or delete it.
You wear what you eat...all over your face..WRINKLES!
clipped by:dfiskey clippers remarks: i hate reading things like this, but they are def reminders of how good we should all really be to our bodies...not surprising info, but helpful reminders every once in a while...
sugars effects on the skin begin to show at about age 35 and become more pronounced as you get older. And its not just the obvious culprits, like soda and candy, that cause damage; other foods with a high glycemic index, like white bread, pasta and potatoes also cause the formation of AGEs, because they are quickly converted to sugar in the bloodstream.
Excellent sources of antioxidants include tomatoes, red grapes, dark green and orange veggies, acai, pomegranate and tomatoes. They can also be used topically and should be applied twice daily or 30 minutes before sun exposure -- I layer mine under my sunscreen.
FOX NEWS RECORDS UNPRECEDENTED TOP 10 OUT OF 10 PROGRAMS IN CABLE NEWS FOR 2ND QUARTER... ON PACE TO BE NETWORKS BEST YEAR EVER...
THE OREILLY FACTOR 3,191,000 HANNITY 2,345,000 GLENN BECK 2,053,000 ON THE RECORD W/GRETA 1,950,000 SPECIAL REPORT W/BRET BAIER 1,889,000 FOX REPORT/SHEP SMITH 1,783,000 THE OREILLY FACTOR (RPT) 1,579,000 AMERICAS NEWSROOM BILL HEMMER & MEGYN KELLY 1,399,000 YOUR WORLD W/NEIL CAVUTO 1,389,000
MANAGUA, Nicaragua -- Alexis Arguello, who fought in one of boxings most classic brawls and reigned supreme at 130 pounds, was found dead at his home early Wednesday.
Coroners were conducting an autopsy to determine the cause of death. Sandanista Partys Radio Ya and other local media were reporting it appeared to be a suicide.
The La Prensa newspaper reported that Arguello -- elected mayor of Nicaraguas capital last year -- was found with a gunshot wound to the chest.
The 57-year-old Arguello retired in 1995 with a record of 82-8 with 65 knockouts and was a champion in three weight divisions. He was perhaps best known for two thrilling battles with Aaron Pryor and fights with Ray Mancini, Bobby Chacon and Ruben Olivares.
"Im kind of in a daze right now," Pryor told The Associated Press. "Those were great fights we had. This was a great champion."
Arguello was inducted in 1992 into the International Boxing Hall of Fame, where flags were flying at half-staff in his honor Wednesday.
It is a composite of images taken by Europes Herschel space observatory and the Hubble Space Telescope.
The picture combines views of the galaxy captured at visible and far-infrared wavelengths.
It highlights the cool, dusty and gaseous regions of M51, where the process of star formation is underway.
Professor David Southwood, director of science and robotic exploration at Esa, commented: "Its a wonderful image. It gives you some sense of the resolution were going to get (with the Herschel telescope).
"The red areas are those we have detected where we know star formation is going on. Were seeing the birth of stars already."
Launched into space on 14 May, Herschel is still in its commissioning phase.
Herschels full wavelength range spans 55 to 672 microns.
(RTTNews) - California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency in the state on Wednesday, calling a legislative special session in order to fix the states budget crisis.
After the California legislature failed to pass a comprehensive solution to fix the states entire $24.3 billion deficit before Wednesday, the start of the new fiscal year, Schwarzenegger proclaimed a fiscal emergency.
"Though the legislature failed to solve our budget problem yesterday, rest assured that solving the entire deficit remains my first and only priority," Schwarzenegger said in a statement. "I will not rest until we get it done. I will not be a part of pushing this crisis down the road--the road stops here."
According to the statement, Schwarzenegger has also ordered three unpaid furlough days a month for California state offices through June 2010 in order to save cash for "vital state functions."
Astrophysicists identified what appears to be the first-ever medium-sized black hole
with a mass at least 500 times that of our Sun
Researchers from the Centre d?Etude Spatiale des Rayonnements in France detected the middling hole in a galaxy about 290 million light-years from Earth.
Only two sizes of black holes have ever been spotted: small and super-massive. Scientists have long speculated that an intermediate version must exist, but they?ve never been able to find one until now.
The discovery may shed some light on the origins of super-sized black holes like the one at the center of our own galaxy. These astral heavyweights top out at several million to several billion times the mass of the Sun, but their origin remains a mystery.
Small black holes, between three and 20 times the mass of the sun, are created when big stars collapse and leave behind a gravitational pull strong enough to block nearby light rays.
The unique lost rainforest of Mount Mabu is to be given protection from exploitation, following a new expedition to the remote area revealed a host of new species.
The existence of the pristine forest in northern Mozambique was revealed by the Observer last year, and was originally discovered with the help of Google Earth. It is now thought to be the largest such forest in southern Africa.
At a meeting this week in the capital Maputo, government ministers agreed to put conservation measures in place before any commercial logging occurs there
The only problem with coastline is that some foul flotsam can wash up from the sea.
The Israeli navy took control of a boat that violated an Israeli blockade and crossed into Gazan waters Tuesday, the Israel Defense Forces said, while a Gaza group said the ship was carrying humanitarian aid, a former U.S. congresswoman and a Nobel laureate.
The boats crew included former U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney, according to the Free Gaza Movement, a human rights group that sent the boat it calls "Spirit of Humanity" from Cyprus.
Also aboard, the group said, was Mairead Maguire, who co-founded a group that worked for peace in Northern Ireland. Maguire and co-founder Betty Williams received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1977 for their work.
Betty Williams is a peace activist known for repeatedlyshrieking about her desire to kill President Bush.
The proper authorities have donned their white coats, taken up their butterfly nets, and set off from Bellevue to collect their new wards.
You must admit, he?s a clever Irishman; sticks a tribute to Michael Jackson to the end of Angel of Harlem, and actually makes it work.
Speaking of Bono, over at American Papist we read confirmation of something I?d suspected for a little while, that Bono based U2?s ?Magnificent? on the Virgin Mary?s Magnificat, found in the Gospel of Luke, ?My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord?? The papist has that video, too!
Tortured to Death: New Details On Detainee Abuse Prove Bush Officials Are (Literally) Getting Away With Murder
The Obama administration has yet to hold accountable those who authorized torture -- torture that killed at least 100 people.
Today, several prominent bloggers are writing about detainees who died in U.S. custody, using documents released through the ACLU?s Freedom of Information Act lawsuit. We?re not talking suicide, or death by "natural causes." No, this is death as a result of torture and abuse while in custody. This effort comes on the eve of the release -- we hope -- of the CIA Inspector General?s report on waterboarding. (You might?ve heard last Friday that the release was delayed.)
Today is the last day of June, which is Torture Awareness Month. If you haven?t already, send the Justice Department evidence of torture. Tell the DOJ you demand accountability and justice.
Shirley Healy, like many sick Canadians, came to America for surgery. Her doctor in British Columbia told her she had only a few weeks to live because a blocked artery kept her from digesting food. Yet Canadian officials called her surgery "elective."
[W]e did find one area of medicine that offers easy access to cutting-edge technology -- CT scan, endoscopy, thoracoscopy, laparoscopy, etc. It was open 24/7.
Patients didnt have to wait. But you have to bark or meow to get that kind of treatment. Animal care is the one area of medicine that hasnt been taken over by the government. Dogs can get a CT scan in one day. For people, the waiting list is a month.
With fruits at the peak of ripeness and flavor right now, it?s a great time to make jam and preserves, and it?s very easy
With only three ingredients ? ripe fruit, sugar, and lemon juice ? you can distill the tastes of summer into luscious jams
The better the quality of the fruit that you use, the better your jams will be
Over the years, I?ve tried many recipes and techniques for making jam, and I?ve found that the simplest method works best for me. I don?t use commercial pectin (a gelling agent for jam and jelly) at all. I don?t like the flavor of pectin, and I have found that most fruits have enough natural pectin to gel adequately. Pectin requires a specific range of sugar and pH to set up properly. When you skip the pectin, you simplify the whole process significantly.
I?ve been experimenting this year with substituting stevia (a natural sugar substitute) for a portion of the sugar
I?ve been very happy with the results, and no one else has even noticed that they are eating low-sugar jam
US Airways Flight 705, en route from Charlotte to Los Angeles, was diverted to New Mexico earlier this afternoon when a passenger stripped naked mid-flight and became "unruly" according to KRQE-TV.
The male passenger apparently removed all his clothes and began to run around the cabin naked; other passengers aboard the plane "helped to restrain the man until the plane could land."
everyone is safe, the streaker is in FBI custody and the plane kept on moving to Los Angeles.
honestly folks, if a guy is naked, he poses no real threat (hes not a terrorist, clearly, and you can actually see that he has no weapons on his person, right?) to my immediate safety other than permanently harming my retinas.
clipped by:sincitykitty clippers remarks: The installation is hand made over four years of hard work, complete with electrical lights and a moving train, all made of paper!
I had the immense opportunity to see this wonderful paper craft art installation by a genius of the name of Wataru Itou, a young student of a major art university here in Tokyo. The installation is hand made over four years of hard work, complete with electrical lights and a moving train, all made of paper! Clearly, this man must have created one of the most stunning examples of Paper Craft in the world? At the exhibition you will also have the chance to see a video showing Mr. Itou at work in his studio, cutting and folding piece by piece. The exhibition is called Umi no Ue no Oshiro (A Castle On the Ocean ), ??????. It is exhibited at Uminohotaru, a place which in itself is a major attraction: a service area in the middle of the ocean, right between Tokyo City and Chiba Prefecture. If you haven?t checked it out yet, use Google Earth for a close up of what is probably the weirdest parking lot in the world.
Former Pakistani Army General Mirza Aslam Beig claims the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has distributed 400 million dollars inside Iran to evoke a revolution.
SIEGE OF LENINGRAD COMPOSITES
LOOKING INTO THE PAST
NYC GRID 1961 VS. 2009
