ICANN Approves Domain Names We Cant Type

This is a bad day for the English language, after ICANN approved non-Latin characters for use in Internet domain names. Having invented the Internet--40 years ago yesterday--the U.S. has given away whatever advantage it offers English-speakers.

This was bound to happen after the U.S. recently recanted on its "ownership" of the Internet in a new agreement with ICANN, the Internets primary governing body. At one level, I am happy that Internet users around the world will soon have domain names in their own character sets.

"The coming introduction of non-Latin characters represents the biggest technical change to the Internet since it was created four decades ago," ICANN Chairman Peter Dengate Thrush said in a statement.

Last week we saw a test build of this release, but if you were waiting for the slight upgrade in early adopter usability, the official beta is here. In a nutshell, the updated features and improvements in Firefox 3.6 beta 1 look like this:

• Users can now change their browsers appearance with a single click, with built in support for Personas.
• Firefox 3.6 will alert users about out of date plugins to keep them safe.
• Open, native video can now be displayed full screen, and supports poster frames.
• Support for the WOFF font format.
• Improved JavaScript performance, overall browser responsiveness and startup time.
• Support for new CSS, DOM and HTML5 web technologies.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and already the country is awash in various shades of pink. We are doing our part by showcasing the most creative advertisements; pics and videos, ? to drive home the necessity of frequent breast exams.

Explanation: Described as a "dusty curtain" or "ghostly apparition", mysterious reflection nebula VdB 152 really is very faint. Far from your neighborhood on this Halloween Night, the cosmic phantom is nearly 1,400 light-years away. Also cataloged as Ced 201, it lies along the northern Milky Way in the royal constellation Cepheus. Near the edge of a large molecular cloud, pockets of interstellar dust in the region block light from background stars or scatter light from the embedded bright star giving parts of the nebula a characteristic blue color. Ultraviolet light from the star is also thought to cause a dim reddish luminescence in the nebular dust. Though stars do form in molecular clouds, this star seems to have only accidentally wandered into the area, as its measured velocity through space is very different from the clouds velocity. This deep telescopic image of the region spans about 7 light-years.

Then, the week after that, Nov. 15-19, you get the History Channel?s weeklong WWII in HD, with Unapologetic-American Gary Sinise narrating, but directed by flaming Obamist Fredric Lumiere. Could make for some heavy irony, if Obama is as expected splitting the baby on Afghanistan and his Hollywood cheering squad is busy extolling all that ?Infamy? and ?We will fight them on the beaches ? we will never surrender.?

Donate via Team Marines

The organization responsible for managing the assignment of domain names and IP addresses has approved a new plan to allow non-Latin characters in Web extensions.

Known as Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs), the system is designed to globalize the Net so regions around the world can use their own local alphabet characters to surf in cyberspace, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN, said Friday.

Calling IDNs the "biggest technical change" to the Internet since its birth 40 years ago, ICANN unanimously approved the plan on the final day of its six-day conference in Seoul.

IDNs will allow domain names to be to be written in native character sets, such as Chinese, Arabic, and Greek. In charge of managing domain names, ICANN has argued that IDNs are necessary to expand use of the Web in regions where people dont understand English. Since its inception, the Internet has been limited to the Latin character set used by the U.S. and many other nations.

"Paranormal TAXivity"

Bunches of grapes grown in a radioactive environment? The genetically modified eggs of some strange unidentified marine species? Or a fungal growth that would call for a hasty trip to the doctor? Nothing of the sort. It?s stunningly beautiful bubble coral, and once we saw it we simply had to blog about it. Don you?re dark glasses; you?re in for a feast for the eyes that might leave you dazzled.

The Big Chill

Having bolted the Republican Party once, some disenchanted conservatives might find it a hard habit to break. Faced with an unprincipled GOP on the one hand and ineffectual third parties of the right on the other, Hoffman might show a third way: a conservative party that works in tandem with the Republicans when they nominate conservatives but runs its own candidates when the party of Reagan more closely resembles the party of Rockefeller. This could make conservatives the swing vote Republicans must pursue.

At an altitude slightly above twelve thousand feet, in the Central Andean region of Peru, pollution is a fact of life for the inhabitants of La Oroya. Since 1922, the city of La Oroya has been exposed to toxic emissions released from the Doe Run Peru metal smelting plant.

Children of Lead by Michael Mullady (BURN Magazine)

Nadya Suleman, the La Habra resident of in-vitro-octuplet-birthing fame, has found herself back in the news today ? both for her pregnant nun Halloween costume and for reports that she may be dating fellow baby-making celeb Jon Gosselin.

In photos by Splash, a celebrity news and photo agency, Suleman appears wearing a pregnant nun costume surrounded by her 14 children dressed as small, red demons for Halloween. The photos, originally posted by the London Daily Mail online, were bouncing around the blogosphere all day Thursday.

A spokeswoman for Suleman answered the door of her La Habra home and told a Register reporter that Suleman was not available for an interview or for photos of the costume.

The octuplet mom also appeared in a Chicago Tribune story, which aggregated reports that Suleman was now dating the start of "Jon and Kate Plus Eight," a reality show that chronicled the struggles of Jon and Kate Gosselin as they raised their eight children.

20 images

The Carter House is a historic house situated near downtown Franklin, Tennessee. In that house, the Carter family along with neighbors and servants hid in the basement waiting for the second Battle of Franklin to end. It is a Tennessee state historic site, and it is a contributing property and centerpiece of the Franklin Battlefield, a U.S. National Historic Landmark historic district.

Petition to Obama government to disclose secret copyright treaty

Obamas administration has refused to disclose the drafts of ACTA on the grounds of "national security" (yes, really!), but we know from leaks and memos that it includes universal surveillance of the net; mandatory loss of Internet connections without trial for households where one member is accused of violating copyright; and a duty to search your laptop and personal devices at the border for infringing material.

The Big Chill

Trollstigen

Trollstigen (English: The Troll Ladder) is a mountain road in Rauma, Norway, part of Norwegian National Road 63 connecting Åndalsnes in Rauma and Valldal in Norddal. It is a popular tourist attraction due to its steep incline of 9% and eleven hairpin bends up a steep mountain side. Trollstigen was opened on July 31, 1936, by King Haakon VII after 8 years of construction.

Trollstigen

The road up is narrow with many sharp bends, and although it has been widened in recent years, vehicles over 12.4 meters long are prohibited from driving the road. At the top there is large parking place which allows visitors to leave their cars and walk for about ten minutes to a viewing balcony which overlooks the road with its bends and the Stigfossen waterfall. Stigfossen is a beautiful waterfall which falls 320 meters down the mountain side.

The Kings of Sizzle this year are....

Weird Sausage Facts

Download the wackiest sausage facts and figures ...more

CFT are once again joining forces to help raise vital funds for the UK?s most common life threatening inherited disease.

The partnership is a perfect fit as people with Cystic Fibrosis often have poor appetites and require diets high in calories and protein to maintain a good body weight, which helps fight infection.

WASHINGTON -- Nearly half the members of a House panel in control of Pentagon spending are under scrutiny by ethics investigators in Congress, The Washington Post reported Friday, citing a leaked confidential House ethics committee report.

Investigations by two separate ethics offices include an examination of Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa.,chairman of the appropriations subcommittee on defense, and six other lawmakers and their relationships with an influential lobbying firm, the newspaper said.

The Post reported in its online edition that the document was disclosed on a publicly accessible computer network and made available to the newspaper by a source familiar with such networks.

The ethics committee is one of the most secretive panels in Congress, and its members and staff members sign oaths not to disclose any activities related to its past or present investigations, according to the newspaper.

Not long ago, I was rooting around our recipe archive, and came across these gems: Bacon Bites. They had all the components of upscale bachelor food, and certainly fit into the guilty pleasure category. They combine simple cooking techniques with three of the greatest food groups imaginable rolled into one snack: bacon, cheese, and squishy bread. What a coup for the holiday entertaining season (not to mention football playoffs) to come! I was off.

First step? Make the filling. First, stir the cheeses together until no lumps remain.

Drain some roasted red peppers well,

Dice them up, slice some scallions, and stir them in.

Now spread the filling on the bread

The health care bill recently unveiled by Speaker Nancy Pelosi is over 1,900 pages for a reason. It is much easier to dispense goodies to favored interest groups if they are surrounded by a lot of legislative legalese. For example, check out this juicy morsel to the trial lawyers (page 1431-1433 of the bill):

Section 2531, entitled ?Medical Liability Alternatives,? establishes an incentive program for states to adopt and implement alternatives to medical liability litigation. [But]?? a state is not eligible for the incentive payments if that state puts a law on the books that limits attorneys? fees or imposes caps on damages.

So, you can?t try to seek alternatives to lawsuits if you?ve actually done something to implement alternatives to lawsuits. Brilliant! The trial lawyers must be very happy today!

While imagining your elderly uncle using high-tech devices to keep in touch might at first seem far-fetched, it?s only a matter of time before it is second nature. Just remember: today?s Web jockeys are tomorrow?s grandparents.

It?s one thing to explore such remote recesses of time in theory. It?s something else again to witness their afterglow. And GRB 090423 is an invitation for all of us to unfetter our imaginations. We imagine looking outward from that distant point knowing that our own exploration still lies some 13 billion years in the future.

Silken spider webs dating back some 140 million years have been discovered preserved in amber, scientists announce today.

The viscous tree sap flowed over the spider webs before hardening and preserving the contents, which were discovered in Sussex, England. Other bits sealed up in the amber included plant matter, insect droppings and ancient microbes.

"These turn out to be the earliest webs that have ever been incorporated in the fossil record to our knowledge," said lead researcher Martin Brasier, a paleontologist at the University of Oxford.

"These spiders are distinctive and leave little sticky droplets along the spider web threads to trap prey," Brasier said. "We actually have the sticky droplets preserved within the amber."

Childrens Day in India

Quality Point Technologies

This Project involves creation of Ajax based website using php and mysql. This site displays Football match results in user friendly manner. Users can easily see the match results based on Team, League, Match Date and Country. And users can search the results using keywords effectively. Most of the functionalities are created using Ajax except few which needed URL rewrite for improving SEO. Apache mod_rewrite module is used for creating pretty urls for improving search engine visibility.

Larry David Blasted for Curb Episode Where He Urinates on Jesus Painting

On the shows most recent installment, which aired Sunday, David urinates on a painting of Jesus Christ, causing a woman to believe the painting depicts Jesus crying.

Typical Liberal from California and another Koolaid drinker!! AHOLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yeah, well the Pharisees and Sadducees are alive and well. Drive another nail into The Lord you scum! You cant stop Jesus!

This is totally disgusting and disrespectful. I bet he would not pee on a picture of Mohammad, he is a coward and does not deserve to be on tv.

It would really be a shame if this little @ussy got tagged by a bus while crossing the street. Now that would be funny!

Beer Bread

From Rebecca Crump (EzraPoundCake.com)

Makes 1 loaf

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 bottle (12 ounces) beer
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted (Note: Feel free to reduce to 1/4 cup.)

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9-x-5-x-3-inch loaf pan.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.

3. Using a wooden spoon, stir the beer into the dry ingredients until just mixed.

4. Pour half the melted butter into the loaf pan. Then spoon the batter into the pan, and pour the rest of the butter on top of the batter.

5. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, until golden brown. Serve immediately.

W

Dos and donts of poppy etiquette

Worn to remember the nations war dead, the red poppy is a widely recognised emblem.

Millions of poppies were sold last year and the appeal raised £30m for the Royal British Legions charitable work.

1. Should you wear one? The poppy commemorates those who have died in war. The tradition was started by American teacher Moina Bell Michael, who sold silk poppies to friends to raise money for the ex-service community. In 1920 the poppy was proclaimed the national emblem of remembrance in the US, and in the UK, the first poppy day was in 1921. Last year Britons bought 26m poppies, but others choose not to. Channel 4 newsreader Jon Snow famously refuses to wear one on air, reportedly saying he does not want to bow to "poppy fascism.

The Whole Brain Catalog (http://wholebraincatalog.org)

The CSIRO is claiming a breakthrough in the battle against the deadly Hendra virus.

A scientific team from the CSIRO and the United States has developed a serum which gives a good level of protection to ferrets exposed to the similar Nipah virus.

They demonstrated that administering human monoclonal antibodies after exposure to Nipah virus protected the animals.

The CSIROs Dr Deborah Middleton, who led the experiments at Geelongs maximum biosecurity facility, says the findings are extremely encouraging.

"Our research clearly suggests that an effective treatment for Hendra virus infections in humans should be possible, given the very strong cross-reactive activity this antibody has against Hendra virus," she said.

"As Hendra and Nipah viruses cause severe disease in humans, a successful application of this antibody as a post-exposure therapy will likely require early intervention."

Some Deep Sea Monsters Are Just So Disgusting

OVERVIEW  I  ABOUT THE PRODUCTION  I  ABOUT THE CAST  I  ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS

Put aside your fears of swine flu. TV preacher Pat Robertson?s Web site has just issued a bulletin warning Americans of the real threat we face this season: Demons may be lurking in our Halloween candy.

In a column on the Christian Broadcasting Network?s Web site, writer Kimberly Daniels asserts that ?demons? sneak into bags of Halloween candy at grocery stores.

?[M]ost of the candy sold during this season has been dedicated and prayed over by witches,? Daniels wrote. ?I do not buy candy during the Halloween season. Curses are sent through the tricks and treats of the innocent whether they get it by going door to door or by purchasing it from the local grocery store. The demons cannot tell the difference.?

Daniels asserts that far from being harmless fun, Halloween is a veritable doorway to hell, full of literal monsters.

Faleh Almaleki fled after intentionally running over his daughter and her boyfriends mother.

ARIZONA: Police in a Phoenix suburb say they have arrested a MUSLIM father suspected of hitting his daughter with his car because she was becoming ?too Westernized? and was not living according to their traditional Iraqi values.

another-muslim-attempted-honor-killing-right-here-in-arizona

Alexia Sinclair is a very talented art photographer and digital artist based in Sydney - Australia. Her distinct style is easily recognized and highly original.

Find more about Alexia and her work online at:
Personal Website
Flickr Page

Incredible balloon creatures by Jason Hackenwerth (29 pics)

BREAKING: Scozzafava drops out of NY 23

Attack of the Drones? Airstrikes Wont Build a Better Future in Afghanistan

David Brooks today says he wanted to write a column about Obamas pending decision over Afghanistan, and in order to write this column, this is what he tells us he did:  "For the past few days I have tried to do what journalists are supposed to do."  Sounds intrepid.  What, exactly, is it that "journalists are supposed to"?

As he describes it, Brooks "called around to several of the smartest military experts [he] know[s] to get their views on these controversies."  These are people "who follow the war for a living."  He wrote down (at least some of) what they said.  He then passed it on without quoting -- or even identifying -- a single one of these experts.  Thats his whole column.

Wal-Mart Enters Coffin Biz

Funeral homes face competition from discount caskets

(Newser) ? Americas leading big-box store is now also a pine box store. Wal-Mart has started selling a range of discount coffins on its website and plans to expand its death products to include pet urns and memorial jewelry. Prices start at just $895 for a steel coffin. Funeral home owners say theyre not too worried about the competition. Wal-Mart will never be able to replace the human touch funeral home directors offer, the head of an industry group tells AP.

The Vatican has condemned Halloween as anti-Christian, saying it is based on a sinister and dangerous "undercurrent of occultism".

The Holy See has warned that parents should not allow their children to dress up as ghosts and ghouls on Saturday, calling Halloween a pagan celebration of "terror, fear and death".

The Roman Catholic Church has become alarmed in recent years by the spread of Halloween traditions from the US to other countries around the world.

As in Britain, it is only in recent years that Italian children have dressed up in costumes, played trick or treat on their neighbours and made lanterns out of hollowed out pumpkins.

The Vatican issued the warning through its official newspaper, LOsservatore Romano, in an article headlined "Halloweens Dangerous Messages".

The paper quoted a liturgical expert, Joan Maria Canals, who said: "Halloween has an undercurrent of occultism and is absolutely anti-Christian."

Finding Masculine Halloween Costumes For Your Effeminate Son

Anna Stephenson stops by Today NOW! to show parents of girly sons costume tips to survive Halloween without accentuating their childs already obvious homosexuality.

Glenn Beck unveiled his master conspiracy theory yesterday on his Fix News show, essentially claiming the Obama Administration is conspiring to control the media and bring everyone under government control. A key to this, he claimed, was its advocacy of Net Neutrality -- since, as weve already observed, Beck prefers corporate control of your content to government regulations preventing such control.

He displayed just how well he understands these Intertoobs things, too:

Beck: Anyway, you may remember, FreePress is the group pushing for Net Neutrality, which would take the Internet out of the private hands of private business and into the hands of the government. It would create a level playing field. It would help diversity. It would destroy the free market that created the Internet.

I have this friend who?s always making fun of my affinity for what he calls ?19th century entertainment.? For him, parades, fireworks, and festivals are a relic of a time when people didn?t have the internet, cable TV, or Wiis to entertain them. I think that?s sad.

Ive seen this referred to as Pournelles Iron Law. (I have no idea what the precedence is on this, and it has probably been noted many times.) From Jerry Pournelles weblog:

Stunned farmer Zheng Dexun dug up a crop of fleeceflower, or Chinese knotweed, and found one shaped like a person, in Langzhong, China. The eerie-looking plant, measuring 62 centimetres tall, has clearly defined arms, legs, and head. Zheng said: "I dont know whether it is good or bad to dig out a Chinese knotweed that looks like a human. Id better put it back in the earth!"

?Do I have the right to refuse this search??

This is a question I heard many times during my law enforcement career.  Often my answer was no.  But occasionally it would be ?yes,? followed by an admonition to have a good day.

Little did I know this would be only the first of many questions I now have regarding my airport experiences.

I am left to wonder whether my own passive acceptance of these evolving search procedures has contributed to a potentially fatal dichotomy:  what we allow TSA screeners to do in order to maximize efficiency and enhance our perception of safety, or what we really need them to do in order to preserve our rights and dignity and enhance our actual safety.

Willing to give up blue skies for climate fix?

Geoengineering gets closer look as a Plan B in case emissions dont fall

With potential negatives like that its no wonder that "geoengineering," as the technique is called, has few hardcore advocates.

Instead, a growing cadre of scientists is asking whether it should be a "Plan B" in case emissions of greenhouse gases arent reduced in time to head off major consequences.

Describing how his openness to derailing reform affected his role in the health care debate, Lieberman told the reporters, ?I feel relevant.?

"The price of liberty is eternal vigilance."
- Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)

"You laugh at me because I am different, but I laugh at you because you are all the same."
- Unknown

"Not only is there no God, but try finding a plumber on Sunday."
- Woody Allen (1935-)

"A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government."
- Edward Abbey (1927-1989)

"I would have made a good Pope."
- Richard M. Nixon (1913-1994)

"Conservatives are not necessarily stupid, but most stupid people are conservative."
- John Stuart Mill (1806-1873)

"I dont know the key to success but I know the key to failure is trying to please everybody."
- Bill Cosby (1937-).

"We ought to be more focused on enemies without than preoccupied with finding them within."
- Alan Wolfe (1942-)

"Any man who is under 30, and is not a liberal, has not heart; and any man who is over 30, and is not a conservative, has no brains."
- Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

"Denial ain?t just a river in Egypt."
- Mark Twain (1835-1910)

            President Obama could rise several notches in my book if he refused the Nobel Peace Prize, with a nice letter to the Nobel Committee that might read: Since you did not see fit to award Ronald Reagan, the U.S. president who did the most for world peace in this century, by peaceably shutting down the Soviet Union, I respectfully decline your offer.

Hilo radiologist Scott Grosskreutzs 7-pound mango grown on a backyard tree isnt quite a world record, but Paradise Plants owner Leslie Hill said its the biggest one shes ever seen.

He took 250 pounds off the tree Thursday, he said. Most range from 1 to 4 pounds, with a few from 5 to 7 pounds, he said.

"It was not stringy. It had a very pleasant flavor," he said. An even bigger mango was on the tree, he said, adding that he has contacted colleagues in Hilo to follow up on it.

BREAKING: We PWND The NRCC. Dede Scozzafava Drops Out. GOP Establishment Dies on Our Hill.

Atlantic bluefin tuna populations have declined so drastically that trade in the fish should be completely outlawed, says a new report. The population of the Atlantic tuna, a sushi staple, is now about 15 percent of the original stock size, says International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas? (ICCAT). The report has delighted conservation groups, who have criticized ICCAT?s regulation policies. The report was triggered by Monaco?s recent proposal to ban international trade in the Atlantic bluefin under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) ? a proposal that has gathered support from several other European countries [BBC News].

On Friday it was cloudy. But our second Galilean Night, on Saturday, was even better, with 700 visitors.

For us these Galilean Nights are very, very special, because our planetarium´s name is... Galileo Galilei!

Growing up without dad around can affect how your brain develops.

Bottom line: Degu pups without fathers are more aggressive and impulsive than others with two parents.

Why do stimulants like Ritalin turn ADHD kids normal but turn normal kids into hopped-up screaming meamies?

Turns out it?s all about the dopamine.

Dopamine is a neurotransmitter. It passes signals between cells in your brain. Good signals.

This may also be why ADHD ?poster boy? Robin Williams reported that, when he used cocaine, he felt quiet, normal, and sane. Cocaine also stimulates dopamine. This may also be why he later became an alchoholic. Alcohol helps stimulate the natural release of dopamine.

Next time you take a shower, run it for a minute or so before you get in ? or else you?ll get a face full of bacteria.

The result? Significant quantities of bacteria ? nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM), particularly Mycobacterium avium ? were found in the shower heads, at levels 100 times as high as those found in drinking water.

M. avium is responsible for a type of pulmonary disease in developed countries, cases of which have risen in parallel with the rise in showering, Pace said.

?For most people, taking a shower is not dangerous, but if you are immune compromised, such as the elderly or pregnant, it could be,? he said in a statement.

The disease is more prevalent than TB in developed countries.

His advice? Don?t use shower heads made of plastic, which are more hospitable to bacteria than metal ones. And if you see anything crusty on it, toss it in the trash.

WHY DOGS HATE HALLOWEEN

As the relationships progresses and the kisses become more passionate, the womans immunity builds up, cutting her odds of becoming ill.

By the time she becomes pregnant, the odds of her unborn baby becoming infected are much lower.

He had a lot to complain about, and conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer has had enough. In Fridays Washington Post he called Obama a whiner:

Is there anything he hasnt blamed George W. Bush for? The economy, global warming, the credit crisis, Middle East stalemate, the deficit, anti-Americanism abroad -- everything but swine flu.

Again, coming from the neocon Iraq war boosters who countenanced the abandonment of the Afghan war to fight a pointless war in Iraq, the criticism is galling. And the idea that the president may have been "dithering" when he went to visit the war dead at Dover Air Force Base this week is offensive. Obama knows what he has to do this week, and its a good thing he took the time to let the mortal implications of his decisions sink in.

Patients forced to wait 18 weeks for treatment on the NHS will be given a new legal right to receive it from the private sector.

The move, agreed by the Cabinet earlier this week, will be rushed into law before the next general election, which is expected next spring.

It will be coupled with a further legal right for cancer patients to receive private treatment if they have not been seen by an NHS specialist within two weeks of referral.

According to The Times today, the plans will be unveiled in next months Queens Speech, the last of the Parliament, and will see Labour take the fight to the Tories on public service entitlements ahead of the election.

They are hoped to prevent waiting lists increasing again as NHS budgets are curbed in future years.

The report also revealed that cancer patients who were unable to see a specialist within two weeks of GP referral would  be given funding for private treatment.

Over the last couple of weeks I have came across over many photo manipulation containing girls (and boys ? but in this article I?ll show you only the ones with girls). I thought it is a good article to write about and share the images. I hope you will enjoy them and you?ll get inspired to make something new!

Ricardo FX

Tomin Vladimir

Tommaso Nervegna

Krzysztof Olak

Aeiko

Rokas Me?etis

Depex

Shadowtuga

Munkymuck

Artwork by Waver_h / Photo by Herry Saputra Gani

Jeremias Virtanen

Roberto Gamito

Dylan Koster

Tim & Bram Vanhaeren

Roberto Gamito

Munkymuck

Tim & Bram Vanhaeren

Daniel

Tuan Nguyen

Wojciech Magierski

Judge orders 3 to trial in Anna Nicole drug case

LOS ANGELES ? Three key players in the troubled world of Playboy model Anna Nicole Smith have been ordered to stand trial after a hearing that plumbed the drug-fueled depths of her final years and the alleged roles of her boyfriend and two doctors in feeding her addiction to prescription drugs.

A judge who heard sometimes shocking testimony about the flood of drugs provided to Smith ruled Friday there was sufficient evidence to try the defendants on charges of conspiring to give Smith sedatives and opiates.

A pharmacist said he refused to fill an order for drugs written by Eroshevich and submitted by Kapoor because taking them would be "pharmaceutical suicide."

The military chiefs have been largely supportive of a resource request by Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, that would by one Pentagon estimate require the deployment of 44,000 additional troops. But opinion among members of Obama?s national security team is divided, and he now appears to be seeking a compromise solution that would satisfy both his military and civilian advisers.

How about one that involves winning? I was under the impression that Gen. Stanley McChrystal had given the president several troop level options, between 10,000 and 40,000, but apparently he needs options on his options.

Maybe more important than an Oval Office signoff on every last bullet, bean and soldier, is the basic objective, and apparently the president?s no closer there, either:

With Halloween just around the corner, we?d like to leave scary witches and willowy ghosts aside for just one minute and focus on one helpful critter that might get forgotten otherwise. After ridding crops of plant lice and scale insects, the Halloween lady beetle (Harmonia axyridis) invades homes in October where it prepares for its well deserved hibernation. Before that long period of inactivity, it likes to stretch its wings a bit. That?s probably an understatement ? wing acrobatics is more like it.

Happy Halloween!

Bunches of grapes grown in a radioactive environment? The genetically modified eggs of some strange unidentified marine species? Or a fungal growth that would call for a hasty trip to the doctor? Nothing of the sort. It?s stunningly beautiful bubble coral, and once we saw it we simply had to blog about it. Don you?re dark glasses; you?re in for a feast for the eyes that might leave you dazzled.

The bubbles ? which are white, cream, light green or pink in colour ? protect the bubble coral skeleton. Meanwhile, the extended sweeper tentacles fight for space, and hunt prey such as plankton; stinging, capturing and killing their targets.

Gingrich made the announcement via Twitter shortly after the Republican Party nominee Scozzafava announced she was releasing supporters from their commitment to back her.

National Republican Party officials, who had also endorsed Scozzafava, are now lining up behind Hoffman.

This new show of GOP unity will make it more difficult for Owens to win the election on Tuesday.

The title is ?My Open Letter to the President.?

I post it without commentary, as none is really needed:

Soldiers see things in very definable terms. Words like ?good? and ?evil,? ?victory? and ?defeat? have concrete and definable meanings to us. Things in our world are fairly cut and dried. This is because the nature of our business has a great deal of finality to it and because we, the men and women in the fight write the check for the indicated price of victory. We are glad to do it without asking for a bargain on the cost. We are the first to see the cost of defeat in comrades wounded or killed. The price of freedom is etched in the faces and hearts of my brothers and sisters as they salute the flag draped casket of the friend who might have only moments before imparted some nugget of wisdom, told a funny joke, shared their fears and when the going was tough, stood with them shoulder to shoulder on the field of battle.

The world is full of willing people, some willing to work, the rest willing to let them.

Robert Frost
US poet (1874 - 1963)

During one six-month period last year, five dogs jumped to their deaths.

All of the deaths have occurred at virtually the same spot, between the final two parapets on the right-hand side of the bridge, and almost all have been on clear, sunny days.

Furthermore, the dogs which have perished have all-been long-nosed breeds: labradors, collies and retrievers.

Dorren Graham, of the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals calls the phenomenon a heartbreaking mystery.

Could dogs be deliberately committing suicide?
Built in 1895 by Calvinist Lord Overtoun, the ornate Victorian structure arches 50ft over Overtoun Burn, the stream which runs below.

Shortly after he tried to end his own life with an unsuccessful suicide attempt from the same bridge.

The Top 100 Things Id Do
If I Ever Became An Evil Overlord

Fox President Roger Ailes History Of Race-Baiting

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Pentagon will offer the H1N1 vaccination to detainees at the U.S. facility at Guantanamo Bay, officials there said Friday.

The Pentagon made the decision based on U.S. government assessments that people held in detention facilities are at high risk for the pandemic, said Maj. Diana R. Haynie, a spokeswoman for Joint Task Force Guantanamo Bay, which is in charge of holding the suspected terrorists.

"Detainees at JTF Guantanamo are considered to be at higher risk and therefore they will be offered the H1N1 vaccination," Haynie said.

"JTF Guantanamo conducts safe, humane, legal and transparent care and custody of detainees. As such, we must provide detainees the medical care necessary to maintain their health," she said.

Base officials had not received the vaccinations and did not know when they were expected to arrive, Haynie said.

Some of the detainees have already voluntarily taken the seasonal flu shot, Haynie said.

The Taxpayer Option: 1,990 Pages

Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!

A bill can only get this bloated when Congress isnt conscientious enough, or diligent enough, to craft concise and thoughtful legislation that accomplishes a specific task with a clear purpose and logical mechanisms for implementation and enforcement.

This is a trainwreck, authored by the lazy and incompetent, and should be aborted instead of the children the bill would require taxpayers to kill.

via Hot Air.

Is Obama Poised to Cede US Sovereignty?

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