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Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Humorous
- Talk Like Frank Sinatra
- Below is a dictionary of the secret man language of Frank Sinatra. Throw a few of these words into your conversations among friends. You’ll probably get a few raised eyebrows but like Frank, you’ll add spark to even the most mundane interactions.
- Topless Robot - The 20 Most Awesome but Tremendously...
- Here are the 20 greatest shirts for nerds that look great, don’t automatically prevent you from getting laid, and are kind of stylish to boot.
- Ban Library Headline Clichés
- For the new year, I'd like all news reporting agencies to cease using the following phrases when referring to libraries: The (whatever) library... closes the book; turns a page; begins a new chapter.
- Flickr: The Microsoft: Keep Your Evll Grubby Hands Off...
- Pictures speaking 1000s of words...
- Terrible Pickup Lines on SpongeFish
- This is a collection of chat up lines that are likely to get you a slap or maybe worst.
- Thank Goodness for a Free Press
- Political cartoon on presidential debates
- Stupid: The "Hawaii Chair" Freaks Us Out
- Watching people fidget suggestively on what looks like an office desk chair makes us uncomfortable for some reason. Maybe it's the way they're pretending there's nothing weird going on?
- Hillary Sends Bill on Campaign Trip to Antarctica
- Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton has sent her husband, former President Bill Clinton, on a “special campaign trip” to Antarctica that could last “six or seven months,” Clinton aides confirmed today.
- The “Blog” of “Unnecessary” Quotation Marks
- misinterpreting bad punctuation since 2005
- Good food on the go! I'm not sure what to say about this one...
- Cheeseburger in a can - the experience...
- Germs and You
- Please watch and enjoy this informative video... before it's too late.
- College Isn't Necessary???
- What are girls and boys supposed to do?
- Louis Theroux's Weird Weekends on Google Video
- Here are the videos I found (some are from later shows called When Louis Met... and another show called Louis and...).
- Humor: How Grandma Sees The Remote
- In this comic by Roz Chast really sums it up nicely, for grandmas, parents and, let's be honest, sometimes even ourselves during our darkest moments of troubleshooting.
- List Of The Day: Rerun Of The Day: Great Moments In Local News
- Some of these are ancient, and some are probably fake, but such is life.
- How glasses can change your life
- With and without glasses, images
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Politics
- Bob Cesca: The Most Inappropriate Bush War Smirk of 2007
- "...as a reminder to the traditional media, I'd like to present the Most Inappropriate Bush War Smirk of 2007. But first, some runners up."
- Quote of the Day
- "All my life I have wanted to vote for a woman for President...All my life I have wanted to vote for an African-American for President. ... I wonder why God gave us this dilemma." --Former President Bill Clinton...
- Iran nixes candidacy of Ayatollah Khomeini's grandson
- The grandson of the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini described his ban from next month's parliamentary elections Thursday as an insult to his family and said he would never beg to run.
- Schwarzenegger: California will sue federal government
- California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger plans to sue the federal government over its decision not to allow a California plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, he announced Thursday.
- abs Sharpen in Final Week Before Voting
- The most wide-open presidential race in a half century pushed unpredictably into a decisive new phase Wednesday, the rhetoric a bit more pointed and the appeals a tad more urgent in the final run-up to the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary.
- Commitment 2008 - Compare Candidates
- "Are you unsure how the candidates for 2008 stand on the issues that are important to you? Use our candidate comparison tool to see two presidential candidates side-by-side."
- Top 10 Things Americans Want but Can't Have
- 10 Things Americans Want but Can't Have
- I am data; politicians micro-target me to get elected
- I am a set of data points, one of about 168 million sets of data points collected by both the Democratic and Republican national committees. They are interested in me only because I am an eligible voter.
- The real Reagan
- ...the Democratic Party has turned on Bill Clinton with the ferocity of 16 years of pent-up resentments. He will not be cut any more slack, and neither will his wife. Meanwhile, the Republican primaries have turned into a Ronald Reagan adoration contest. Neither ex-president deserves what he is getting.
- EWU prof.: Obama wins presidential name game | Seattle Times Newspaper
- English professor Grant Smith contends that — taking no other factor into consideration than the sound of candidates' names — the person with the most pleasing moniker has won 84 percent of presidential elections in the nation's history.
- Guiliani's Daughter Supports Obama
- Well, that's embarassing. We knew that Rudy Guiliani's two kids are estranged from him since he dumped their mother for his mistress (and now third wife), but this is just humiliating for the candidate.
- Go ahead, egg my Hummer, says Russian
- A Hummer owner in Russia's second city St. Petersburg has given antiglobalists the green light to pelt his oversized vehicle with rotten eggs
- Blowback from the GOP's holy war against Muslims
- That sort of wild-eyed bigotry only fuels the cycle of mistrust and vengeance.
- Ron Paul, Is America Really Going Bankrupt?
- ...a misunderstanding of monetary policy could cost us all of our money some day soon
- Funny Pictures: Most popular Pen stand in Iraq
- This picture does not reflect the political or social view of blog owner, This is collected over internet and published just for fun
- What Would Molly Do?The columnist is greatly missed, but her example can guide us in this campaign
- It’s been a year since Molly Ivins died, leaving us to slog through the political landscape without her sanity-saving blend of insight, humor and outrage.
Monday, March 24, 2008
Animals
- Alligators move lungs to dive and roll in water - Yahoo! News
- Alligators can stealthily manoeuvre through the water leaving nary a ripple, despite having neither fins nor flippers like other adept swimmers. Instead, they use special muscles to shift the position of their lungs...
- Marine, Iraq Dog Reunited in San Diego
- A San Diego-based Marine major was reunited on Saturday with one of his closest war buddies - a 2-year-old dog named Nubs.
- Group: Humpback Whale Calves Make Sounds
- The calves instead produced a limited number of sounds that were short and simple in structure, according to the study.
- Wildlife Extra - Seabird, Not Seen For 80 Years, Photographed off Papua New Guinea
- A bird not seen for 80 years has been rediscovered in the Pacific to the delight of conservationists. Only two records of Beck’s petrel have ever existed previously...
- Sri Lanka Guardian: German police dogs to wear shoes
- The unusual footwear is not a fashion statement but rather a necessity due to the high rate of paw injuries on duty.
- Firefighter saves dog by performing CPR - Yahoo! News
- A firefighter performed CPR on a dog, saving its life after responding to a mobile home fire
- Bats use same flying trick as insects - Yahoo! News
- Bats stay aloft by employing an aerodynamic trick previously thought unique to insects...
- IndieScribe: Amazing Story: Dolphin Rescues Whales
- A dolphin swam up to two distressed whales that appeared headed for death in a beach stranding in New Zealand and guided them to safety, witnesses said
- Nature’s Best Photography
- Nature’s Best Photograph - beautiful and amazing pictures of animals and nature
- Even your dog has a blog - CNN.com
- It goes without saying that Max, a 3-year-old golden retriever can't talk. But that doesn't stop him from chronicling his dog's life -- as told to his owner Aubrey Jones -- on the blog Max the Golden Retriever.
- Scientists find hibernating fish in Antarctic - Yahoo! News
- Scientists have found an Antarctic fish that hibernates to conserve energy during the long southern winters.
- Franken-fish in Britain
- Panic after 'Franken-fish' that is deadlier than a piranha is caught in Britain
- Giant Marine Life Found in Antarctica
- Scientists who conducted the most comprehensive survey to date of New Zealand's Antarctic waters were surprised by the size of some specimens found, including jellyfish with 12-foot tentacles and 2-foot-wide starfish.
- BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | 'Frog from hell' fossil unearthed
- A 70-million-year-old fossil of a giant frog has been unearthed in Madagascar by a team of UK and US scientists.
- Scientists Say Rules May Keep Timid Fish
- ...it's the fast-growing more aggressive fish that tend to get caught, removing them from the breeding pool.
- Cows With Holes - Holey Cows at toshism
- Are there holes in those cows? Yes there are. In order to perform experiments on cows, scientists have developed a way to surgically make permanent holes in their stomachs in order to study their digestive systems.
- Snake eats family dog as kids watch - CNN.com
- A 16-foot python stalked a family dog for days before swallowing the pet whole in front of horrified children in the Australian tropics, animal experts said Wednesday.
- Caught on tape: Rat videos reveal whisker secrets - Yahoo! News
- ...the motions rats make when they touch something are up to 10 times faster than researchers had assumed. "The richness of what they are perceiving with their whiskers is far more complex than we ever would have thought."
Friday, March 21, 2008
Green
- The shape of lights to come? Not everyone's buying it - USATODAY.com
- But now that more people are using CFLs, the bulbs' shortcomings are giving some consumers pause.
- Cleaning Naturally
- Scrub for less without the risk. Clean with these four safe and natural cleaners.
- Souped Down 1959 Opel T-1 Gets 376.59 mpg : TreeHugger
- Common sense wins again: Make cars lighter, more aerodynamic, and use smaller engines.
- New Clothes Dryer Could Save Billions | EcoGeek | Heat, Air, Energy, Oil, Written
- Generally when people offer up miracle devices from backyard and basement tinkering, we're pretty skeptical. But it's hard to argue with Michael Brown. Especially when he hooks his "Dryer Miser" up to a Whirlpool dryer, turns it on, and pulls out dry clothes using half as much energy as the exact same dryer without his device.
- New materials can selectively capture CO2, scientists say
- Scientists have created metal-organic crystals capable of soaking up carbon dioxide gas like a sponge, which could be used to keep industrial emissions of the gas out of the atmosphere.
- Small Wind, Big Market: 4 Wee Wind Startups « Earth2Tech
- ...a few startups are beginning to offer smaller scale, lower-cost turbines that can fit into more compact spaces and are geared at a less commercial type of customer.
- Electric Car Faster than a Porsche
- For those of you who want an eco-friendly car for your conscience, but a superfast car for the cool factor, you no longer have to be conflicted.
- America's 50 Greenest Cities | Popular Science
- Want to see a model for successful and rapid environmental action? Don't look to the federal government—check out your own town. Here, our list of the 50 communities that are leading the way.
- Honda Recaptures Lost Heat, Blows Highway Hybrids Away | EcoGeek | Would, Electric, Power, Car, February
- Honda just dropped a bit of a bombshell on the world with its announcement that their heat-harnessing hybrids recapture more lost energy than even Toyota's hybrid drive during highway driving.
- Green Mutual Funds
- "With the success of the US-based renewable energy fund, Guinness is now launching a UK-based version. It will be the first in a series of funds dedicated to energy, Asia and innovation. According to Tim Guinness, 'These are areas at the heart of the forces that will transform the world over the coming decades. As such they provide the greatest potential for high investment returns.'"
- Artificial Energy Islands Could Power The World
- A decade old idea to generate renewable electricity for the globe with offshore, floating ‘Energy Islands’ could soon become a reality. The concept - creating artificial islands to collect wind, wave and solar power in the tropics - is based on the work of Jacques-Arsène d’Arsonval, a 19th-century French physicist, who envisioned the idea of using the sea as a giant solar-energy collector.
- Sailor takes on Pacific in wave-powered boat - Yahoo! News
- A Japanese sailor has set out from Hawaii for Japan, hoping to complete the 7,000 km (4,400 mile) journey using only the power of the waves beneath his boat.
- MAKE: Blog: Solar charging, electric lawn mower
- The solar charging system makes this DIY electric mower different from the rest.
- 100 Percent, Another Great Product from 3form
- 100 Percent is a contertop product from 3form, which is made entirely of old milk and detergent bottles. Pretty neat. This means the product is made with 100% post-consumer waste, an impressive feat, even within the green product world.
- Windspire: Propeller-Free Household Turbine Gets Approval
- Windspire has a propeller-free vertical-axis design, and is expected to produce about 1800 kilowatt hours per year in 11 mph average wind conditions.
- Green IT: Corporate Strategies
- Recent reports from Gartner, Forrester, and McKinsey highlight the costs of and savings from implementing green-tech corporate strategies
- DVICE: 'Gravity Lamp' lasts 200 years, never needs to be plugged in
- Because it's self sufficient, there are no cables or cords to worry about, so you can place it anywhere. The best part? It'll last for 200 years if used 8 hours a day, 365 days a year. You'll never buy another lamp again; it doesn't get much more green than that.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Computer
- Some Viruses Come Pre-Installed
- From iPods to navigation systems, some of today's hottest gadgets are landing on store shelves with some unwanted extras from the factory - pre-installed viruses that steal passwords, open doors for hackers and make computers spew spam.
- Right Back Where We Started
- Has the computer/Internet boom made us more productive? Apparently not.
- Microsoft seeks patent for office 'spy' software
- Microsoft is developing Big Brother-style software capable of remotely monitoring a worker’s productivity, physical wellbeing and competence.
- The Great Mac OS X Freeware List
- It’s a list of the best and most popular freeware for OS X.
- Computer Says Zeta-Jones is the Standard of Beauty
- A computer program developed by two scientists from the University of Technology in Sydney has selected actress Catherine Zeta-Jones as the ‘benchmark’ for beauty.
- Top 100 Tools for Learning 2008: the first cut
- ...although practically all contributors mention the value of free, Web 2.0 tools for their own personal learning, it is educators ...who seem to be leading the way by making far more use of a wide range of free, Web 2.0 tools for creating learning experiences for their students
- Windows Errors That Are Really Funny
- Pictures of Windows Errors That Are Really Funny
- Me.dium - a social web browsing experience
- Me.dium is a web browser plug-in for Microsoft's Internet Explorer that turns web browsing into a social experience. It gives you a personalized map of the Internet showing where you are, and what web sites your friends are visiting in real time.
- Impulsive Recycling Disorder - istartedsomething
- Ever since I’ve had more than 500GB of hard drive space, I’ve started collecting trash - that is, not clearing the Recycle Bin. My current Recycle Bin hasn’t been cleared since late December of 2007, and it’s bulging at over 33GB.
- Google to Host Terabytes of Open-Source Science Data
- Sources at Google have disclosed that the humble domain, http://research.google.com, will soon provide a home for terabytes of open-source scientific datasets. The storage will be free to scientists and access to the data will be free for all.
- Is Sears Engaging in Criminal Hacking Behavior?
- "Join "My SHC Community" on Sears.com, and the company will install some pretty impressive spyware on your computer:..."
- Top 40 Photoshopped Images | The Best Article Every day
- Sometimes they can be funny, sometimes thought provoking, other times they just mess with your mind. They’ll always take your breath away though and make you wonder at the skills of the people that created them. The following images are our favourite Photoshopped images.
- Hardware Vs Software: Top 20 Tips To Keep Your System Faster
- "Follow these tips and you will definitely have a much faster and more reliable PC!"
- A better laptop stand for bed - Instructables - DIY
- Make a simple but incredibly useful Laptop Stand for around $15 and 30-60 minutes! Great for use in bed while typing, browsing, and especially watching movies.
- Drupal 6.0 released | drupal.org
- After one year of development we are ready to release Drupal 6.0 to the world.
- 10 Best Firefox Extensions for Web Development, Media,...
- For this feature, I want to share with you the latest, greatest extensions Firefox has to offer. I chunked the best of the best in four categories
- A computer shop's sales pitch: 'We remove Vista'
- After reading today's story about Windows Vista's first year, reader Bruce Finlayson of Seattle sent along this photo that he snapped in October outside a computer store in Milford, N.H. ...
- How Pirates Will Change The Entertainment Industry
- The time has come to address piracy with some real, sustainable solutions that consumers will support.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Society and Culture
- Disabled girl's parents defend growth-stunting treatment - CNN.com
- I's been a year since the parents of a severely disabled child made public their decision to submit their daughter to a hysterectomy, breast surgery and drugs to keep the girl forever small. Today, the couple tell CNN, they believe they made the right decision -- one that could have a profound impact on the care of disabled children worldwide.
- Terrible Pickup Lines on SpongeFish
- This is a collection of chat up lines that are likely to get you a slap or maybe worst.
- Like ants, humans are easily led - Telegraph
- When it comes to being misled, humans are no more sophisticated than ants or fish.
- Alaska town sues over global warming - USATODAY.com
- A tiny Alaska village eroding into the Arctic Ocean sued two dozen oil, power and coal companies Tuesday, claiming that the large amounts of greenhouse gases they emit contribute to global warming that threatens the community's existence.
- Indian DNA Links to 6 'Founding Mothers'
- Nearly all of today's Native Americans in North, Central and South America can trace part of their ancestry to six women whose descendants immigrated around 20,000 years ago, a DNA study suggests.
- TEDBlog: 14 ways to fix the future
- The National Academies' "Grand Challenges for Engineering" list, released yesterday, runs down the 14 most pressing issues we must face in the 21st century.
- Georgia school district goes to single-sex classrooms - ParentDish
- Teen pregnancies, soaring dropout rates and poor test scores have frustrated school administrators for years and they are now fighting back with desperate measures.
- Vatican Lists Seven Social Sins
- The Vatican has put together a list of seven “social'’ sins that includes excessive wealth, drug abuse, littering, genetic tampering and creating poverty.
- Robot as good as real dog at easing lonely hours - Yahoo! News
- ...to his surprise, both dogs provided virtually equal comfort after seven weeks of visits.
- For ‘EcoMoms,’ Saving Earth Begins at Home - New York Times
- Move over, Tupperware. The EcoMom party has arrived, with its ever-expanding “to do” list ...
- Visualizing Last.fm's Friends Network - ReadWriteWeb
- From the resulting visual graph, it was clear that last.fm's user network is actually very strong. Although there are some clusters of close friends, even those people have a lot of interconnectivity
- Report: 1 in every 99 Americans behind bars - USATODAY.com
- For the first time in history, more than one in every 100 American adults is in jail or prison, according to a new report tracking the surge in inmate population and urging states to rein in corrections costs with alternative sentencing programs.
- Techdirt: Turns Out Social Networks Aren't Breeding Grounds...
- Now there's a new study out going even deeper in noting that sexual predators are unlikely to pretend to be teenagers using social networks, but rather are very upfront about who they are and what they want.
- People Ratings
- I personally wish there was an easy way for people to have a publicly visible reputation that was influenced by anyone. Imagine a world where people could easily point their cell phone at you and give you a plus or a minus vote.
- Children and Youth - Play - Development - Science - New York Times
- 200 people came out to hear a psychiatrist talk rhapsodically about play — not just the intense, joyous play of children, but play for all people, at all ages, at all times.
- Wal-Mart Tweaks Store for Arab-Americans
- I's clear as soon as shoppers walk in that this isn't a typical Wal-Mart.
- Humor: How Grandma Sees The Remote
- In this comic by Roz Chast really sums it up nicely, for grandmas, parents and, le's be honest, sometimes even ourselves during our darkest moments of troubleshooting.
- 'Doomsday' Seed Vault Opens in Arctic - washingtonpost.com
- Norway opened a frozen "doomsday" vault Tuesday deep within an Arctic mountain where millions of seeds will be stored to safeguard against wars or natural disasters wiping out food crops around the globe.
- Researcher says fashion counted for some Vikings - Yahoo! News
- Vikings were much snappier dressers than thought, according to new evidence unearthed by a Swedish researcher. The men were especially vain while the women dressed provocatively, adorning themselves in vivid colours, silk ribbons and glittering bits of mirrors...
- Retiree Couple Needs $225K for Medical
- A couple retiring this year will need about $225,000 in savings to cover medical costs in retirement, according to a study released ...by Fidelity Investments.
Friday, March 14, 2008
Science and Technology
- Gates Predicts Big Technological Leaps
- Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates said ...he expects the next decade to bring even greater technological leaps than the past 10 years.
- A Ray Of Sunshine In The Fight Against Cancer: Vitamin D May Help
- It sounds too good to be true … a little inexpensive pill that could block the development of some cancers, strengthen bones, prevent multiple sclerosis and alleviate winter depression. But it’s not science fiction. The “new aspirin” could be Vitamin D.
- Scientists find hibernating fish in Antarctic - Yahoo! News
- Scientists have found an Antarctic fish that hibernates to conserve energy during the long southern winters.
- When the world's great scientific thinkers change their minds
- One hundred and sixty-five eminent thinkers, researchers, and communicators, at the annual request of the edge.org website, answered the following question: "What Have You Changed Your Mind About? Why?"
- The Best Way to Board a Plane
- ...Fermilab physicist Jason Steffen wondered if there might be a better way. So, in the midst of studying gravitation and axion-like particles, Steffen took a short break to investigate an optimal boarding method for airline passengers.
- Swirl now offers 100,000 US ‘placemarks’
- Checked out Swirl Connect at all? It’s a location-based mobile friend finder service. It enables users to stay connected with friends, experience what their friends experience as it happens, meet new folk on the go and find out about places of interest nearby.
- Two-thirds of Americans think nanotechnology is morally...
- ...we're not exactly sure why a recent study conducted by the researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison found that two-thirds of American think nanotechnology is "morally unacceptable"
- Human Culture Subject To Natural Selection, Study Shows
- The process of natural selection can act on human culture as well as on genes, a new study finds.
- Study Shows Bacteria Are Common in Snow
- Those beautiful snowflakes drifting out of the sky may have a surprise inside - bacteria.
- Harvard Professors Show Science is Sexy - Education News Story - WNEM Saginaw
- Science is sexy. That was the message Thursday at Harvard University, where students and scientists tried smash some stereotypes.
- BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | 'Frog from hell' fossil unearthed
- A 70-million-year-old fossil of a giant frog has been unearthed in Madagascar by a team of UK and US scientists.
- Apple introduces another game changer….. at My Own Reality
- This changes everything! ...Apple TV Take 2 transforms podcasting into an on demand streaming content delivery service in one fell swoop - literally overnight.
- Global warming deniers | Salon News
- The big difference I have with the doubters is they believe the IPCC reports seriously overstate the impact of human emissions on the climate, whereas the actual observed climate data clearly show the reports dramatically understate the impact.
- Machine Taste-tests Coffee | LiveScience
- Now scientists have invented a new machine that could rapidly judge the taste and aromatic qualities of eight different types of espresso nearly as accurately as a panel of trained human espresso tasters.
- 25 Mind-Blowing Gadgets | Smashing Magazine
- we present 25 mind-blowing gadgets and devices which are already available today. Among them you’ll find loudspeakers, turntables, TV sets, furniture, laptop sleeves and further accessories.
- Planet-hunters set for big bounty
- Rocky planets, possibly with conditions suitable for life, may be more common than previously thought in our galaxy, a study has found.
- CK-12: Remix and Share Your Own Text Books as FlexBooks
- CK-12 wants to bring open data to school textbooks under the name of FlexBooks. Through the tools on their site they'll let schools, teachers, parents and students can pull articles from different sources . The books will be available to others via the site.
- New materials can selectively capture CO2, scientists say
- Scientists have created metal-organic crystals capable of soaking up carbon dioxide gas like a sponge, which could be used to keep industrial emissions of the gas out of the atmosphere.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
World
- Attitude Adjustment
- article on the “American businesswoman” busted in Saudi Arabia for patronizing the Riyadh Starbucks in the company of a male colleague.
- Kaboom: A Soldier's War Journal: Wisdom from the Homefront
- ...my favorite portion of the miscellaneous stack of our mail room are the letters written to soldiers by American schoolchildren.
- Man Thrown In Jail In Dubai, For Having 0.003 Grams Of Cannabis Stuck To His Shoe
- A Briton, traveling through Dubai on his way to England, was arrested and sentenced to 4 years in jail, for having a microscopic piece of cannabis stuck to the bottom of one of his shoes.
- Blowback from the GOP's holy war against Muslims
- That sort of wild-eyed bigotry only fuels the cycle of mistrust and vengeance.
- Al Qaeda use two Down's syndrome women to blow up 99 people in Baghdad markets
- Al Qaeda fanatics plumbed to sickening new depths ...when they turned two women with Down's syndrome into human bombs to kill 99 people in Baghdad.
- Reimagining Cities
- Cities are now home to half of the world's 6.6 billion humans. By 2030, nearly 5 billion people will live in cities. This special issue explores the enormous implications of the mass embrace of city life.
- Namco blames Wii for arcade closures in Japan
- Namco Bandai is shuttering between 50 and 60 arcades in Japan, and it's laying the blame squarely on Nintendo's shoulders
- Woman Applying for New ID Says She's 120 :: WRAL.com
- if confirmed, that would make her the oldest person in the world.
- TEDBlog: 14 ways to fix the future
- The National Academies' "Grand Challenges for Engineering" list, released yesterday, runs down the 14 most pressing issues we must face in the 21st century.
- Company seeks tax exemption for bribes - Yahoo! News
- Some companies request tax deductions for philanthropy, others for restaurants bills. But one Israeli business tried to push the envelope by asking to deduct nearly $860,000 it paid in kickbacks.
- Iran nixes candidacy of Ayatollah Khomeini's grandson
- The grandson of the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini described his ban from next month's parliamentary elections Thursday as an insult to his family and said he would never beg to run.
- BBC NEWS | India court in moustache notice
- India's Supreme Court has issued a notice to a state-run airline asking it to explain why an air steward was sacked for wearing a big moustache.
- The Children of Iraq
- What's it like to be kids in the war zone?
- Mexico cops offered cash to slim
- Heavyweight police officers in one Mexican city could soon be offered cash bonuses if they slim down.
- BBC NEWS | Middle East | Pleas for condemned Saudi 'witch'
- Human Rights Watch has appealed to Saudi Arabia to halt the execution of a woman convicted of witchcraft.
- Afghan Journalism Student Sentenced to Death for Reading...
- Six years after "liberation," civil rights are getting worse in Afghanistan.
- Top 9 unique structures soon to be built
- below are 9 strange and unique structures which have either been approved or are in the final stages of approval. some have already been partially constructed. welcome to the future landscape.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Environment
- Global warming deniers | Salon News
- The big difference I have with the doubters is they believe the IPCC reports seriously overstate the impact of human emissions on the climate, whereas the actual observed climate data clearly show the reports dramatically understate the impact.
- 'Doomsday' Seed Vault Opens in Arctic - washingtonpost.com
- Norway opened a frozen "doomsday" vault Tuesday deep within an Arctic mountain where millions of seeds will be stored to safeguard against wars or natural disasters wiping out food crops around the globe.
- Study Shows Bacteria Are Common in Snow
- Those beautiful snowflakes drifting out of the sky may have a surprise inside - bacteria.
- A Primeval Tide of Toxins - Los Angeles Times
- Runoff from modern life is feeding an explosion of primitive organisms. This 'rise of slime,' as one scientist calls it, is killing larger species and sickening people.
- Wild weather battered USA in January
- Rare winter tornadoes in the Midwest. Powerful Pacific storms with hurricane force winds. More than 1,000 daily high temperature records. And that's just in the first month of 2008. Is January the new March?
- Bird Flu: A Virus of Our Own Hatching
- The globalization of this Westernized industrial model of poultry production has not only facilitated the spread of deadly viruses like H5N1, but also plays a role in their emergence in the first place.
- Franken-fish in Britain
- Panic after 'Franken-fish' that is deadlier than a piranha is caught in Britain
- For ‘EcoMoms,’ Saving Earth Begins at Home - New York Times
- Move over, Tupperware. The EcoMom party has arrived, with its ever-expanding “to do” list ...
- 10 Ways Recession Can Help the Environment
- However, it’s not all doom and gloom – recession could do wonders for the environment. Here are 10 ways this could be helping provide a positive respite to the planet:
- Warming Atlantic worsens hurricanes
- When the water in the hurricane breeding grounds of the Atlantic warms one degree in the dead of summer, overall hurricane activity jumps by half, according to a new study.
- Dying Bats+Dying Bees=Trouble
- First there was colony collapse disorder where bees were dying off by the millions. Now it is the bats that are dying in the northeast of the US which means more mosquitoes and other flying insects await us all this spring.
- Alaska town sues over global warming - USATODAY.com
- A tiny Alaska village eroding into the Arctic Ocean sued two dozen oil, power and coal companies Tuesday, claiming that the large amounts of greenhouse gases they emit contribute to global warming that threatens the community's existence.
- Population pressures Western water
- People driving their cars, cranking on their air conditioners and switching on lights and dishwashers are responsible for most of the climate changes that are gradually drying up water supplies in arid and growing western states, a new study finds.
- Google to Outspend US Government on Environment
- ...if you want to weigh Google’s proposed spending, check out my three part series on the US Budget. Check out Budget 09: How’d the Environment Do – the Good, the Bad and the Ugly.
- Climate change threatens West's water, world's crops
- The potential that global warming has to dry up water resources in the American West and the food supplies of 1 billion people in the poorest regions of Africa and Asia are the focus of two studies
- World loses trees at 'alarming' rate
- Experts still warn of extinction of animal and plant life, of the loss of forest peoples' livelihoods, of soil erosion and other damage. But scientists today worry urgently about something else: the fateful feedback link of trees and climate.
- Scientists Say Rules May Keep Timid Fish
- ...it's the fast-growing more aggressive fish that tend to get caught, removing them from the breeding pool.
Friday, March 07, 2008
Space
- Mystery image of 'life on Mars'
- An image of a mysterious shape on the surface of Mars, taken by Nasa spacecraft Spirit, has reignited the debate about life on the Red Planet.
- Black hole powers X-ray jets | Video
- NASA has released new images of a super-massive black hole powering X-ray jets. Scientists think these jets are important vehicles for transporting energy away from the venter of the black hole and affect the rate of formation of new stars.
- BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Planet-hunters set for big bounty
- Rocky planets, possibly with conditions suitable for life, may be more common than previously thought in our galaxy, a study has found.
- Mysterious Ancient UFO Pictures
- I'd like to show you some of the most outstanding "ancient UFO" pictures - images of UFOs that have been painted hundreds (or even thousands) of years ago...
- Biggest black hole in the cosmos discovered - space
- The most massive known black hole in the universe has been discovered, weighing in with the mass of 18 billion Suns.
- Free Earth From Space Wallpaper
- Just a beautiful wallpaper of our planet Earth.
- Astronaut describes what space smells like - Boing Boing
- On NASA's website, ISS Science Officer Don Pettit describes the "smell of space" -- long a staple of science fiction stories.
- Craters of Mercury and Wallpaper
- I want to put it on my office computer and see how many “nice moon” comments I get.
- Huge gas cloud will hit Milky Way
- A giant cloud of hydrogen gas is racing towards a collision with the Milky Way, astronomers have announced.
- ESA Portal - Titan’s surface organics surpass oil reserves on Earth
- Saturn’s orange moon Titan has hundreds of times more liquid hydrocarbons than all the known oil and natural gas reserves on Earth, according to new Cassini data.
- Hubble Heritage Gallery of Images
- Pictures of Galaxies and Nebulae
- A View From Space, part II : Wacky Archives
- Since the last post with images from space was so appreciated, I thought I should share another few more fascinating images from around the Earth.
- Moon Stuck
- Some of the most influential leaders of the space community are quietly working to offer the next U.S. president an alternative to President Bush's "vision for space exploration"--one that would delete a lunar base and move instead toward manned missions to asteroids along with a renewed emphasis on Earth environmental spacecraft.
- zidouta.com - The Earth and Moon as Seen from Mars
- The phase angle is 98 degrees, which means that less than half of the disks of the Earth and Moon have direct illumination. We could image Earth/Moon at full disk illumination only when they are on the opposite side of the sun from Mars, but then the range would be much greater and the image would show less detail.”
- Virgin unveils spaceship designs
- Virgin Galactic has released the final design of the launch system that will take fare-paying passengers into space.
- The Milky Way at 5000 Meters
- Climb up to 5000 meters ...above sea level, ...and your night sky could encompass this cosmic vista.
- Nebulas
- Nebulas photo gallery
- Wallpaper: Southern Saturn
- A gorgeous view of Saturn’s southern pole which has seen every little exposure in terms of global views (or near global) like this.
- Free Desktop Wallpaper-Space Pictures
- Space Pictures-Free Desktop Wallpaper-NASA
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
Crime
- Suspect Leaps Off Bridge With Police Dog
- A man being chased by authorities grabbed a police dog and leaped off a bridge, taking the animal with him into the cold San Diego Bay 200 feet below.
- NYPD Detective Charged With Pimping Teen
- A 13-year-old runaway returned home with a horrific account of being forced into prostitution by the kind of person who should have instead come to her aid: a city detective.
- Wife killed by her pensioner husband and dumped among...
- A pensioner who was stabbed and bludgeoned to death by her mentally ill husband told police she feared for her safety days before the attack.
- New Evidence Emerges in Natalee Holloway Case - International News | News of the World | Middle East News | Europe News
- New evidence has emerged in the Natalee Holloway case that could shed light on how the Alabama teen died and the method by which her body disappeared, the prosecutor in Aruba said Thursday.
- Marijuana ban failing just as Prohibition did
- The hearing on HB 1623, the bill to reduce penalties for marijuana possession, made for some interesting drama in the House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee.
- Report: 1 in every 99 Americans behind bars - USATODAY.com
- For the first time in history, more than one in every 100 American adults is in jail or prison, according to a new report tracking the surge in inmate population and urging states to rein in corrections costs with alternative sentencing programs.
- Felonious Ramblings: 7 Disturbing Unsolved Crimes
- Reminders of 7 Disturbing Unsolved Crimes
- Miss Mug Shot Florida
- Is it wrong to say we look forward to her next arrest?
- Ga. cop accused of shootout with colleague
- Two off-duty officers from different police departments wounded each other in a gun fight in the middle of a road in an Atlanta suburb
- Cayman Islands Bank Gets Wikileaks Taken Offline in U.S....
- Wikileaks, the whistleblower site that recently leaked documents related to prisons in Iraq and Guantanamo Bay, was taken offline last week by its U.S. host after posting documents that implicate a Cayman Islands bank in money laundering and tax evasion activities.
- The night I saw a man get his head blown off
- It was the most bizarre and disgusting thing I'd ever witnessed and I was absolutely frozen.
- Fake Target Clerk Steals $17K In iPod Touches From Stores...
- ..a man who likes to pose as a Target employee while stealing pricey iPods and the man knows so much about the store, he's even helped customers who thought he was a real employee. ...It's believed he has stolen more than $17-thousand worth of iPods.
- Escaped Molester Sent Back To Prison
- Judge gives no leniency as Roy Kresel, 30, faces him after ditching work-release program.
- Mysterious $100 ‘supernote’ counterfeit bills appear...
- “it’s by far the most sophisticated counterfeiting operation in the world,” said James Kolbe, a former congressman from Arizona who oversaw funding for the Secret Service. “We are not certain as to how this is being done or how it’s happening.”
- Ex-Florida prison boss: Drunken orgies tainted system - CNN.com
- Softball, drunken orgies and a prison system run like the mafia. That's what Florida's former prison secretary says he inherited when he took over one of the nation's largest prison systems two years ago.
- Female inmates work with dogs for the disabled
- Female inmates will serve as full time trainers and will be paired with a puppy which they will work with 24 hours a day for at least a year.
- Bronze sculptures end up being sold for scrap in Vermont
- Thirty stolen bronze sculptures are valued at $1 million - not by the scrap yards where most of them ended up.