Youtube (www.youtube.com)
March 21, 2009
"Hey!"
Posted by AlexanderBrady
LINK: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prgm4eKq6d4&feature=player_embedded
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Friday, July 10, 2009
Superman Arrested!!
New York Post (www.nypost.com)
July 10th, 2009
"BIFF! WHAM! POW! TIMES SQ. COPS VS. SUPER HEROES"
Written by BETH STEBNER and JENNIFER FERMINO
Additional reporting by Philip Messing
Superman and Batman took on New York’s Finest last night in an epic Crossroads of the World battle that left the Man of Steel behind bars and the Caped Crusader in cuffs.
Superman and Batman took on New York's Finest last night in an epic Crossroads of the World battle that left the Caped Crusader in cuffs.
Stunned Times Square tourists and office workers watched agog as cops struggled to subdue Clark Kent's alter ego without kryptonite.
"The Man of Steel didn't go down with just two officers, it took seven officers!" witness Ryan McCormick said. "He was putting up a good fight. Little kids were like, 'Mommy, it's Superman!' "
If that wasn't weird enough, McCormick turned and saw the Dark Knight handcuffed to a chair like a common villain.
Stunned Times Square tourists and office workers watched agog as cops struggled to subdue Clark Kent’s alter ego without kryptonite.
"As this was happening, someone is like, 'It's Batman!' I turn around and there's Batman in handcuffs," he said.
Superman, aka Maksim Katsnelson, 23, of The Bronx, was arrested and charged with assault and resisting arrested, police said, accusing him of punching a female officer in the face while she was trying to subdue him.
The incident occurred when cops approached Katsnelson, who was panhandling, and asked him for ID.
When Katsnelson said he didn't have any ID, cops continued to ask him questions, sources said.
That's when Katsnelson punched the female officer, sources said.
"He freaked out and punched the girl cop in the face," Batman said later.
Cops cuffed Batman, actually Frank Frisoli, but let him go because he didn't cause any problems, he told The Post.
The Maine resident, who has been visiting the city for two weeks, said the two had dressed up as the super heroes for laughs.
"We were just having a good time," Frisoli said.
Their comic-book adventure went awry when cops approached the dynamic duo on 43rd Street to see whether they had the required license to perform in costume in public, Frisoli said.
When they said no, cops asked for IDs. Again, they answered no, which prompted cops to handcuff Batman.
That's when Superman took off, screaming, "I'm not getting arrested."
But a crowd of police took him down and brought him to a special Fortress of Solitude -- the Midtown South station house.
Meanwhile, Batman left with another costumed character, said Melba Williams, a tourist from Tennessee.
"He walked off with the Statue of Liberty."
LINK: http://www.nypost.com/seven/07102009/news/regionalnews/biff__wham__pow__178573.htm
July 10th, 2009
"BIFF! WHAM! POW! TIMES SQ. COPS VS. SUPER HEROES"
Written by BETH STEBNER and JENNIFER FERMINO
Additional reporting by Philip Messing
Superman and Batman took on New York’s Finest last night in an epic Crossroads of the World battle that left the Man of Steel behind bars and the Caped Crusader in cuffs.
Superman and Batman took on New York's Finest last night in an epic Crossroads of the World battle that left the Caped Crusader in cuffs.
Stunned Times Square tourists and office workers watched agog as cops struggled to subdue Clark Kent's alter ego without kryptonite.
"The Man of Steel didn't go down with just two officers, it took seven officers!" witness Ryan McCormick said. "He was putting up a good fight. Little kids were like, 'Mommy, it's Superman!' "
If that wasn't weird enough, McCormick turned and saw the Dark Knight handcuffed to a chair like a common villain.
Stunned Times Square tourists and office workers watched agog as cops struggled to subdue Clark Kent’s alter ego without kryptonite.
"As this was happening, someone is like, 'It's Batman!' I turn around and there's Batman in handcuffs," he said.
Superman, aka Maksim Katsnelson, 23, of The Bronx, was arrested and charged with assault and resisting arrested, police said, accusing him of punching a female officer in the face while she was trying to subdue him.
The incident occurred when cops approached Katsnelson, who was panhandling, and asked him for ID.
When Katsnelson said he didn't have any ID, cops continued to ask him questions, sources said.
That's when Katsnelson punched the female officer, sources said.
"He freaked out and punched the girl cop in the face," Batman said later.
Cops cuffed Batman, actually Frank Frisoli, but let him go because he didn't cause any problems, he told The Post.
The Maine resident, who has been visiting the city for two weeks, said the two had dressed up as the super heroes for laughs.
"We were just having a good time," Frisoli said.
Their comic-book adventure went awry when cops approached the dynamic duo on 43rd Street to see whether they had the required license to perform in costume in public, Frisoli said.
When they said no, cops asked for IDs. Again, they answered no, which prompted cops to handcuff Batman.
That's when Superman took off, screaming, "I'm not getting arrested."
But a crowd of police took him down and brought him to a special Fortress of Solitude -- the Midtown South station house.
Meanwhile, Batman left with another costumed character, said Melba Williams, a tourist from Tennessee.
"He walked off with the Statue of Liberty."
LINK: http://www.nypost.com/seven/07102009/news/regionalnews/biff__wham__pow__178573.htm
Woman's Best Friend!!
Independent Online (www.int.iol.co.za)
July 8th, 2009
"Dog is Now a Woman's Best Friend"
Written by Unknown
A Ghanaian woman has married her dog because it has qualities she had seen only in her late father.
Emily Mabou, 29, of Aburi, married the 18-month-old dog in a ceremony attended by a traditional priest and local, curious villagers, reports the Daily Dose.
Her younger brother David Mabou said her family boycotted the wedding which they felt was "a stupid step to combat her loneliness".
But Ms Mabou said: "For so long, I've been praying for a life partner who will have all the qualities of my dad. My dad was kind, faithful, and loyal to my mum, and he never let her down.
"I've been in relationships with so many men..., and they are all the same... skirt-chasers and cheaters. My dog is kind, and loyal to me and he treats me with so much respect."
In the ceremony, the priest warned villagers not to mock the wedding, but to "rejoice with her as she has found happiness at last".
LINK: http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=29&art_id=vn20090708052658317C271760&set_id=1
July 8th, 2009
"Dog is Now a Woman's Best Friend"
Written by Unknown
A Ghanaian woman has married her dog because it has qualities she had seen only in her late father.
Emily Mabou, 29, of Aburi, married the 18-month-old dog in a ceremony attended by a traditional priest and local, curious villagers, reports the Daily Dose.
Her younger brother David Mabou said her family boycotted the wedding which they felt was "a stupid step to combat her loneliness".
But Ms Mabou said: "For so long, I've been praying for a life partner who will have all the qualities of my dad. My dad was kind, faithful, and loyal to my mum, and he never let her down.
"I've been in relationships with so many men..., and they are all the same... skirt-chasers and cheaters. My dog is kind, and loyal to me and he treats me with so much respect."
In the ceremony, the priest warned villagers not to mock the wedding, but to "rejoice with her as she has found happiness at last".
LINK: http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=29&art_id=vn20090708052658317C271760&set_id=1
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Famous Species!!
Popular Mechanics (www.popularmechanics.com)
July 1, 2009
"Top 18 Species Named After Famous People"
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, we've compiled a list of famous (and infamous) people and the often quirky species named after them.
Written by Lisa Merolla
[CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE!!]
What do George W. Bush, Roy Orbison and Darth Vader have in common? All three have had new beetle species named after them.
Naming species after celebrities is one seriously effective way for scientists to draw attention to taxonomy. Giving species a famous name for more public interest is "shameless self-promotion," says Quentin Wheeler, the director of the International Institute for Species Exploration in Arizona (whose names populate four of our top-15 list). "When you are a taxonomist and are mentioned in Rolling Stone," Wheeler says, "you know you have arrived."
Scientists are given free rein with naming, as long as they abide by guidelines set by the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature. The rules for patronyms—or scientific names in honor of people—do not limit which names are used. They just provide a uniform naming method. In general, an animal species ending in 'i' is named after one man. The ending 'ae' is for species named after one woman; 'orum' is reserved for species named after couples. Plant species operate under slightly different rules because the gender of the species must match that of the genus.
President Barack Obama is one of the latest to be immortalized in the taxonomic record. And the list of famous plants, bacteria and animals ranges in the hundreds, if not thousands—from the sea of many, here are our 18 favorite famous namesakes.
1. Barack Obama: Caloplaca obamae
(Photograph by Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images/J. C. Lendemer)
Our current president's namesake is an orange-colored lichen. Discovered in California, the lichen was named this March. Kerry Knudsen, the lichen curator in the University of California, Riverside Herbarium, picked the name to "show my appreciation for the president's support of science and science education."
2, 3 and 4. George W. Bush, Agathidium bushi; Dick Cheney, Agathidium cheneyi; and Donald Rumsfeld, Agathidium rumsfeldi
(Photograph by Charles Ommanney/Getty Images/Frances Fawcett)
All three members of the former administration have a slime-mold beetle named in their honor. Wheeler is responsible for this choice, which was meant as a compliment. He said President Bush called to thank him for the gesture.
5. Darth Vader: Agathidium vaderi
(Photograph by Twentieth Century Fox/Byron Alexander)
Wheeler named another slime-mold beetle in honor of the fictional Star Wars villain. The reasoning is that both Darth Vader and his namesake have broad, shiny heads and similar eyes.
6. Roy and Barbara Orbison: Orectochilus orbisonorum
(Photograph by Ebet Roberts/Ethan Miller/Getty Images/Charles Kazilek/Arizona State University)
In January of last year Wheeler and his colleagues named a whirligig beetle after legendary singer song-writer, Roy Orbison and his widow, Barbara Orbison. The beetle looks as if it is wearing a tuxedo.
7 and 8. Stephen Colbert: Aptostichus stephencolberti and Agaporomorphus colberti
(Photograph by Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images/Kelly Miller/University of New Mexico)
The comedian, who has begged scientists to name species after him on The Colbert Report, has been honored twice—once with a spider and once with a Venezuelan diving beetle. The beetle species is notable for its male reproductive organs, which display a unique row of fine hairs.
9, 10 and 11. Frank Zappa: Phialella zappai (jellyfish), Pachygnatha zappa (spider), Zappa,a genus of Gobiidae (fish)
Guitarist, free-speech advocate and prolific song writer Frank Zappa is a popular inspiration for a number of species' names. In 1987, a scientist named a species of jellyfish after Zappa because he wanted to meet the artist (his plan worked). Next, scientists named an entire genus of goby fish was after the musician, followed by an orb-weaver spider whose black markings reminded the researchers of Zappa's signature mustache.
12. John Cleese: Avahi cleesei
(Photograph by Tim Whitby/Getty Images/Urs Thalmann)
In 2005, scientists named woolly lemur species after the British comic actor to recognize his work in lemur conservation. Cleese promoted lemurs in the film Fierce Creatures and the documentary Operation Lemur With John Cleese.
13. Kate Winslet: Agra katewinsletae
(Photograph by Jim Spellman/Getty Images/George Venable/Smithsonian Institution)
This ground-beetle species is named after Kate Winslet because of her role in the film Titanic. The scientific paper describing the beetle said, "Her character did not go down with the ship, but we will not be able to say the same for this elegant canopy species, if all the rain forest is converted to pastures."
14. Hugh Hefner: Sylvilagus palustris hefneri
(Photograph by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images/Rosanna Tursi)
Scientists named the marsh rabbit, found in the southeastern United States, after the founder of Playboy. Hefner's organization has donated money to support research about the endangered "bunnies."
15. Greta Garbo: Rostropria garbo
(Photograph by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images/Lucinda Gibson/Museum Victoria)
This solitary female wasp reminded the scientists of the reclusive Garbo, who famously said, "I want to be alone."
16 and 17. Harrison Ford: Pheidole harrisonfordi (ant) and Calponia harrisonfordi (spider)
(Photograph by Ray Tamarra/Getty Images)
Two types of insects bear Ford's name. Scientists named a spider species after the actor to thank him for narrating a documentary for the London Museum of Natural History. The ant species was named after Ford to honor his conservation work.
18. Gary Larson: Strigiphilus garylarsoni
The creator of the Far Side comic strip, Larson's namesake is a species of owl louse. About the recognition, he wrote: "I considered this an extreme honor. Besides, I knew no one was going to write and ask to name a new species of swan after me. You have to grab these opportunities when they come along."
LINK: http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/earth/4323547.html
July 1, 2009
"Top 18 Species Named After Famous People"
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, we've compiled a list of famous (and infamous) people and the often quirky species named after them.
Written by Lisa Merolla
[CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE!!]
What do George W. Bush, Roy Orbison and Darth Vader have in common? All three have had new beetle species named after them.
Naming species after celebrities is one seriously effective way for scientists to draw attention to taxonomy. Giving species a famous name for more public interest is "shameless self-promotion," says Quentin Wheeler, the director of the International Institute for Species Exploration in Arizona (whose names populate four of our top-15 list). "When you are a taxonomist and are mentioned in Rolling Stone," Wheeler says, "you know you have arrived."
Scientists are given free rein with naming, as long as they abide by guidelines set by the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature. The rules for patronyms—or scientific names in honor of people—do not limit which names are used. They just provide a uniform naming method. In general, an animal species ending in 'i' is named after one man. The ending 'ae' is for species named after one woman; 'orum' is reserved for species named after couples. Plant species operate under slightly different rules because the gender of the species must match that of the genus.
President Barack Obama is one of the latest to be immortalized in the taxonomic record. And the list of famous plants, bacteria and animals ranges in the hundreds, if not thousands—from the sea of many, here are our 18 favorite famous namesakes.
1. Barack Obama: Caloplaca obamae
(Photograph by Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images/J. C. Lendemer)
Our current president's namesake is an orange-colored lichen. Discovered in California, the lichen was named this March. Kerry Knudsen, the lichen curator in the University of California, Riverside Herbarium, picked the name to "show my appreciation for the president's support of science and science education."
2, 3 and 4. George W. Bush, Agathidium bushi; Dick Cheney, Agathidium cheneyi; and Donald Rumsfeld, Agathidium rumsfeldi
(Photograph by Charles Ommanney/Getty Images/Frances Fawcett)
All three members of the former administration have a slime-mold beetle named in their honor. Wheeler is responsible for this choice, which was meant as a compliment. He said President Bush called to thank him for the gesture.
5. Darth Vader: Agathidium vaderi
(Photograph by Twentieth Century Fox/Byron Alexander)
Wheeler named another slime-mold beetle in honor of the fictional Star Wars villain. The reasoning is that both Darth Vader and his namesake have broad, shiny heads and similar eyes.
6. Roy and Barbara Orbison: Orectochilus orbisonorum
(Photograph by Ebet Roberts/Ethan Miller/Getty Images/Charles Kazilek/Arizona State University)
In January of last year Wheeler and his colleagues named a whirligig beetle after legendary singer song-writer, Roy Orbison and his widow, Barbara Orbison. The beetle looks as if it is wearing a tuxedo.
7 and 8. Stephen Colbert: Aptostichus stephencolberti and Agaporomorphus colberti
(Photograph by Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images/Kelly Miller/University of New Mexico)
The comedian, who has begged scientists to name species after him on The Colbert Report, has been honored twice—once with a spider and once with a Venezuelan diving beetle. The beetle species is notable for its male reproductive organs, which display a unique row of fine hairs.
9, 10 and 11. Frank Zappa: Phialella zappai (jellyfish), Pachygnatha zappa (spider), Zappa,a genus of Gobiidae (fish)
Guitarist, free-speech advocate and prolific song writer Frank Zappa is a popular inspiration for a number of species' names. In 1987, a scientist named a species of jellyfish after Zappa because he wanted to meet the artist (his plan worked). Next, scientists named an entire genus of goby fish was after the musician, followed by an orb-weaver spider whose black markings reminded the researchers of Zappa's signature mustache.
12. John Cleese: Avahi cleesei
(Photograph by Tim Whitby/Getty Images/Urs Thalmann)
In 2005, scientists named woolly lemur species after the British comic actor to recognize his work in lemur conservation. Cleese promoted lemurs in the film Fierce Creatures and the documentary Operation Lemur With John Cleese.
13. Kate Winslet: Agra katewinsletae
(Photograph by Jim Spellman/Getty Images/George Venable/Smithsonian Institution)
This ground-beetle species is named after Kate Winslet because of her role in the film Titanic. The scientific paper describing the beetle said, "Her character did not go down with the ship, but we will not be able to say the same for this elegant canopy species, if all the rain forest is converted to pastures."
14. Hugh Hefner: Sylvilagus palustris hefneri
(Photograph by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images/Rosanna Tursi)
Scientists named the marsh rabbit, found in the southeastern United States, after the founder of Playboy. Hefner's organization has donated money to support research about the endangered "bunnies."
15. Greta Garbo: Rostropria garbo
(Photograph by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images/Lucinda Gibson/Museum Victoria)
This solitary female wasp reminded the scientists of the reclusive Garbo, who famously said, "I want to be alone."
16 and 17. Harrison Ford: Pheidole harrisonfordi (ant) and Calponia harrisonfordi (spider)
(Photograph by Ray Tamarra/Getty Images)
Two types of insects bear Ford's name. Scientists named a spider species after the actor to thank him for narrating a documentary for the London Museum of Natural History. The ant species was named after Ford to honor his conservation work.
18. Gary Larson: Strigiphilus garylarsoni
The creator of the Far Side comic strip, Larson's namesake is a species of owl louse. About the recognition, he wrote: "I considered this an extreme honor. Besides, I knew no one was going to write and ask to name a new species of swan after me. You have to grab these opportunities when they come along."
LINK: http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/earth/4323547.html
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
123456789!!
Chicago Tribune (www.chicagotribune.com)
July 8, 2009
"123456789 Day: Big Moment Momes at 12:34:56 on 7/08/09"
Written by Georgia Garvey
For the digitally inclined, Wednesday marks a cool spot in sequential history. At exactly 12:34:56, the time and date will be 12:34:56 7/08/09. That only happens once -- or twice -- every 100 years, so for some, it's worth celebrating.
Plenty on Facebook and Twitter are spreading reminders or cluing others in. Rainn Wilson, the actor who plays Dwight on "The Office," tweeted about it, and on Facebook, pages popped up commemorating the date. Jon Everett, a 23-year-old University of Texas at Austin employee, created a Facebook page about the date with more than 600 Facebook users R.S.V.P.-ing yes to his "two-second celebration."
But there's always a spoilsport.
Many point out the time comes twice today, in the a.m. and in the p.m. (though, if you're on military time, 12:34 a.m. would be 00:34 a.m.). Nitpickers say the actual date is 7/08/2009, so the true 7/08/09 was 2,000 years ago. Others note serial dates aren't all that unusual (1/02/03 4:56, and 1:23:45 last year on 6/07/08).
And Miguel Lerma of the Northwestern University Math Department writes in an e-mail that 12:34:56 7/08/09 arrives in August for countries that put the day before the month in numerical date abbreviations. Some countries even use the year/month/day designation, which means their 7/08/09 was two years ago.
In any case, it seems safe to say it's no harbinger of Armageddon. It might've been weird when people picked 6/06/06 for weddings and a lucky coincidence to choose 7/07/07, but serious Cubs fans know the first night game at Wrigley Field was played on 8/8/88 -- which just happens to be four sideways infinity symbols.
They need to keep their fingers crossed that isn't the wait for a championship.
LINK: http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/chi-talk-number-day-08-jul08,0,1623610.story
--------------
Cracked (www.cracked.com)
7/8/09
"7.8.9: Because Today Should Have Its Own Retarded Movie"
7.8.9: Because Today Should Have Its Own Retarded Movie -- powered by Cracked.com
LINK: http://www.cracked.com/video_17571_789-because-today-should-have-its-own-retarded-movie.html
July 8, 2009
"123456789 Day: Big Moment Momes at 12:34:56 on 7/08/09"
Written by Georgia Garvey
For the digitally inclined, Wednesday marks a cool spot in sequential history. At exactly 12:34:56, the time and date will be 12:34:56 7/08/09. That only happens once -- or twice -- every 100 years, so for some, it's worth celebrating.
Plenty on Facebook and Twitter are spreading reminders or cluing others in. Rainn Wilson, the actor who plays Dwight on "The Office," tweeted about it, and on Facebook, pages popped up commemorating the date. Jon Everett, a 23-year-old University of Texas at Austin employee, created a Facebook page about the date with more than 600 Facebook users R.S.V.P.-ing yes to his "two-second celebration."
But there's always a spoilsport.
Many point out the time comes twice today, in the a.m. and in the p.m. (though, if you're on military time, 12:34 a.m. would be 00:34 a.m.). Nitpickers say the actual date is 7/08/2009, so the true 7/08/09 was 2,000 years ago. Others note serial dates aren't all that unusual (1/02/03 4:56, and 1:23:45 last year on 6/07/08).
And Miguel Lerma of the Northwestern University Math Department writes in an e-mail that 12:34:56 7/08/09 arrives in August for countries that put the day before the month in numerical date abbreviations. Some countries even use the year/month/day designation, which means their 7/08/09 was two years ago.
In any case, it seems safe to say it's no harbinger of Armageddon. It might've been weird when people picked 6/06/06 for weddings and a lucky coincidence to choose 7/07/07, but serious Cubs fans know the first night game at Wrigley Field was played on 8/8/88 -- which just happens to be four sideways infinity symbols.
They need to keep their fingers crossed that isn't the wait for a championship.
LINK: http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/chi-talk-number-day-08-jul08,0,1623610.story
--------------
Cracked (www.cracked.com)
7/8/09
"7.8.9: Because Today Should Have Its Own Retarded Movie"
7.8.9: Because Today Should Have Its Own Retarded Movie -- powered by Cracked.com
LINK: http://www.cracked.com/video_17571_789-because-today-should-have-its-own-retarded-movie.html
Emotional Robot!!
CBS (cbs13.com)
June 23, 2009
"New 'Emotional' Robot Unveiled In Japan"
Humanoid Robot Uses Whole Face And Body To Express Emotion
TOKYO (CBS) ― A walking humanoid robot that is able to use its whole face and body to express emotion was unveiled on Tuesday in Japan.
The robot was created by scientists at Tokyo's Waseda University and is thought to be the first of its kind according to its makers.
It is able to express a range of different emotions, including happiness, fear, surprise, sadness, anger and disgust, by opening and closing its eyes, moving its lips and eyebrows, and using its arms and legs.
The robot is installed with 48 "actuators" which allow its face and body to move in a variety of ways.
Humanoid robot KOBIAN shows an emotional display of "disgust" during a demonstration at Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan, on June 23, 2009.
Shizuo Kambayashi/AP
It shows happiness by opening its eyes and mouth wide and raising its arms, and sorrow by drooping its head and covering its eyes.
The robot's hands are covered with a soft material which is supposed to replicate the feeling of a human hand.
Professor Atsuo Takanishi and his team at Waseda University's Faculty of Science and Engineering, spent the last two and a half years creating the robot, which they called "KOBIAN".
Takanishi believes KOBIAN is the first robot able to express emotion with its entire body.
He said the ability to express feeling was an "important factor" in achieving "natural communication" between robots and humans.
The professor hopes robots such as KOBIAN could be used in the future to help elderly people with housework and in nursing homes.
But he said the robot was still at the prototype stage and was not yet able to interact with humans emotionally apart from through its set of pre-programmed responses.
Takanishi said it could be several decades before robots such as KOBIAN can be used to help people in their homes.
Waseda University set up the Humanoid Robotics Institute in April 2000 to carry out research on creating new relationships between humans and machines.
According to its website, the institute hopes to create a robot which will eventually experience the same patterns of thought and behavior as a human being.
LINK: http://cbs13.com/watercooler/humanoid.robot.emotions.2.1056050.html
June 23, 2009
"New 'Emotional' Robot Unveiled In Japan"
Humanoid Robot Uses Whole Face And Body To Express Emotion
TOKYO (CBS) ― A walking humanoid robot that is able to use its whole face and body to express emotion was unveiled on Tuesday in Japan.
The robot was created by scientists at Tokyo's Waseda University and is thought to be the first of its kind according to its makers.
It is able to express a range of different emotions, including happiness, fear, surprise, sadness, anger and disgust, by opening and closing its eyes, moving its lips and eyebrows, and using its arms and legs.
The robot is installed with 48 "actuators" which allow its face and body to move in a variety of ways.
Humanoid robot KOBIAN shows an emotional display of "disgust" during a demonstration at Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan, on June 23, 2009.
Shizuo Kambayashi/AP
It shows happiness by opening its eyes and mouth wide and raising its arms, and sorrow by drooping its head and covering its eyes.
The robot's hands are covered with a soft material which is supposed to replicate the feeling of a human hand.
Professor Atsuo Takanishi and his team at Waseda University's Faculty of Science and Engineering, spent the last two and a half years creating the robot, which they called "KOBIAN".
Takanishi believes KOBIAN is the first robot able to express emotion with its entire body.
He said the ability to express feeling was an "important factor" in achieving "natural communication" between robots and humans.
The professor hopes robots such as KOBIAN could be used in the future to help elderly people with housework and in nursing homes.
But he said the robot was still at the prototype stage and was not yet able to interact with humans emotionally apart from through its set of pre-programmed responses.
Takanishi said it could be several decades before robots such as KOBIAN can be used to help people in their homes.
Waseda University set up the Humanoid Robotics Institute in April 2000 to carry out research on creating new relationships between humans and machines.
According to its website, the institute hopes to create a robot which will eventually experience the same patterns of thought and behavior as a human being.
LINK: http://cbs13.com/watercooler/humanoid.robot.emotions.2.1056050.html
Labels:
computers and technology,
video
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Granularity!!
Wired (www.wired.com)
June 24, 2009
"Grains of Sand Reveal Possible Fifth State of Matter"
Written By Brandon Keim
In the formation of droplets in a stream of falling sand, scientists have witnessed a dynamic that points beyond the boundaries of traditional physics, and may represent one aspect of a fifth state of matter.
“Here we have a material right underneath our noses, that everybody grows up playing with in a sandbox, yet it’s full of surprises for scientists,” physicist said Heinrich Jaeger of the University of Chicago.
The droplets formed because of instabilities in the subtle atomic forces that attract sand grains to each other. Something similar happens to water falling from a faucet, but the forces acting on those molecules are 100,000 times stronger.
Measurements of this phenomena, published Wednesday in Nature, overturn the previous explanation for sand droplets — that grains stick to each other after colliding — and quantify what’s called an “ultralow-surface-tension regime.” It’s entirely new territory for researchers, and just one of many dynamics governing the behavior of granular materials, which for reasons unknown to science act sometimes as solids, or liquids, or gases — or something in-between.
“You walk on the beach, and the sand supports your weight. Pick up a handful, and it runs through your fingers, like a liquid. But you can’t walk on water,” said Jaeger. “In the top of an hourglass, sand is this strange solid. It’s at the verge of being a solid; it flows through the middle as something like a liquid, and then it’s a solid again,” he said.
Since the early 1990s, Jaeger has treated granularity as both a form of matter unto itself and a model for investigating the dynamics of types of matter, as though molecules could be seen by a naked eye. Jaeger also sees in granularity a potentially universal dynamic, reflected in everything from highway traffic to crowd patterns to ecosystem function.
“You have many interacting particles. Energy is put in, sometimes they get stuck, and sometimes it flows,” said Jaeger. “If it flows, what properties does it have? With many interacting players, that behavior is typically very complex and crosses between solid- and liquid-like behavior.”
On a less-speculative level, research into granularity could be a boon for manufacturers. Most finished products and foods pass at some point through a granular stage — pellets of plastic, gravel in concrete, corn in a silo, powders in a pill, on and on. A report published by the Rand Corporation in 1986 found that granular industrial processes generally function at about 60% of capacity.
“Semingly modest changes in conditions, such as temperature, humidity, and surface conditions routinely cause earth bound devices to fail,” concluded the authors of a 2005 NASA technical report on the importance of understanding granularity to exploring Mars and the Moon.
The authors are scathing in their critique of industry, which in the absence of granular theory relies on “millennia-long trial-and-error practices that lead to today’s massive over-design, high failure rate, and extensive incremental scaling up of industrial processes because of the inadequate predictive tools for design.”
“Physicists have a rich toolbox for dealing with solids, liquids and gases. But we don’t have a manual for when the old categories don’t apply,” said Jaeger.
LINK: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/06/sandgrains/
June 24, 2009
"Grains of Sand Reveal Possible Fifth State of Matter"
Written By Brandon Keim
In the formation of droplets in a stream of falling sand, scientists have witnessed a dynamic that points beyond the boundaries of traditional physics, and may represent one aspect of a fifth state of matter.
“Here we have a material right underneath our noses, that everybody grows up playing with in a sandbox, yet it’s full of surprises for scientists,” physicist said Heinrich Jaeger of the University of Chicago.
The droplets formed because of instabilities in the subtle atomic forces that attract sand grains to each other. Something similar happens to water falling from a faucet, but the forces acting on those molecules are 100,000 times stronger.
Measurements of this phenomena, published Wednesday in Nature, overturn the previous explanation for sand droplets — that grains stick to each other after colliding — and quantify what’s called an “ultralow-surface-tension regime.” It’s entirely new territory for researchers, and just one of many dynamics governing the behavior of granular materials, which for reasons unknown to science act sometimes as solids, or liquids, or gases — or something in-between.
“You walk on the beach, and the sand supports your weight. Pick up a handful, and it runs through your fingers, like a liquid. But you can’t walk on water,” said Jaeger. “In the top of an hourglass, sand is this strange solid. It’s at the verge of being a solid; it flows through the middle as something like a liquid, and then it’s a solid again,” he said.
Since the early 1990s, Jaeger has treated granularity as both a form of matter unto itself and a model for investigating the dynamics of types of matter, as though molecules could be seen by a naked eye. Jaeger also sees in granularity a potentially universal dynamic, reflected in everything from highway traffic to crowd patterns to ecosystem function.
“You have many interacting particles. Energy is put in, sometimes they get stuck, and sometimes it flows,” said Jaeger. “If it flows, what properties does it have? With many interacting players, that behavior is typically very complex and crosses between solid- and liquid-like behavior.”
On a less-speculative level, research into granularity could be a boon for manufacturers. Most finished products and foods pass at some point through a granular stage — pellets of plastic, gravel in concrete, corn in a silo, powders in a pill, on and on. A report published by the Rand Corporation in 1986 found that granular industrial processes generally function at about 60% of capacity.
“Semingly modest changes in conditions, such as temperature, humidity, and surface conditions routinely cause earth bound devices to fail,” concluded the authors of a 2005 NASA technical report on the importance of understanding granularity to exploring Mars and the Moon.
The authors are scathing in their critique of industry, which in the absence of granular theory relies on “millennia-long trial-and-error practices that lead to today’s massive over-design, high failure rate, and extensive incremental scaling up of industrial processes because of the inadequate predictive tools for design.”
“Physicists have a rich toolbox for dealing with solids, liquids and gases. But we don’t have a manual for when the old categories don’t apply,” said Jaeger.
LINK: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/06/sandgrains/
Labels:
science and mathematics,
video
Monday, July 6, 2009
Monday Thriller!!
Youtube (www.youtube.com)
October 20, 2007
"Indian Thriller"
Posted by everymeme
Scene from the Bollywood film Donga (Thief)
Vijayalakshmi Art Pictures (1985)
Directed by A. Kodandarami Reddy
Song: "Golimar (Shoot the Bullet)"
LINK: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCrxEUU5UwU
October 20, 2007
"Indian Thriller"
Posted by everymeme
Scene from the Bollywood film Donga (Thief)
Vijayalakshmi Art Pictures (1985)
Directed by A. Kodandarami Reddy
Song: "Golimar (Shoot the Bullet)"
LINK: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCrxEUU5UwU
Monday, June 29, 2009
Cancer Nanocure??
Reuters (www.reuters.com)
Sydney, Australia
June 28, 2009
"Australian Scientists Kill Cancer Cells With 'Trojan Horse'"
Written by Michael Perry
Edited by Alex Richardson
Australian scientists have developed a "trojan horse" therapy to combat cancer, using a bacterially-derived nano cell to penetrate and disarm the cancer cell before a second nano cell kills it with chemotherapy drugs.
The "trojan horse" therapy has the potential to directly target cancer cells with chemotherapy, rather than the current treatment that sees chemotherapy drugs injected into a cancer patient and attacking both cancer and healthy cells.
Sydney scientists Dr Jennifer MacDiarmid and Dr Himanshu Brahmbhatt, who formed EnGenelC Pty Ltd in 2001, said they had achieved 100 percent survival in mice with human cancer cells by using the "trojan horse" therapy in the past two years.
The scientists plan to start human clinical trials in the coming months. Human trials of the cell delivery system will start next week at the Peter MacCullum Cancer Center at the Royal Melbourne Hospital and The Austin at the University of Melbourne.
The therapy, published in the latest Nature Biotechnology journal, sees mini-cells called EDVs (EnGenelC Delivery Vehicle) attach and enter the cancer cell.
The first wave of mini-cells release ribonucleic acid molecules, called siRNA, which switch off the production of proteins that make the cancer cell resistant to chemotherapy.
A second wave of EDV cells is then accepted by the cancer cell and releases chemotherapy drugs, killing the cancer cell.
"The beauty is that our EDVs operate like 'Trojan Horses' They arrive at the gates of the affected cells and are always allowed in," said MacDiarmid.
"We are playing the rogue cells at their own game. They switch-on the gene to produce the protein to resist drugs, and we are switching-off the gene which, in turn, enables the drugs to enter."
DISARMING TUMOUR CELLS
RNA interference, or RNAi, is designed to silence genes responsible for producing disease-causing proteins and is one of the hottest areas of biotechnology research. RNA was the basis of the 2006 Nobel Prize in medicine.
Dozens of biotechnology companies are looking for ways to manipulate RNA to block genes that produce disease-causing proteins involved in cancer, blindness or AIDS.
Brahmbhatt said that after treatment with conventional drug therapy, a large number of cancer cells die but a small percentage of the cells can produce proteins that make cancer cells resistant to chemotherapeutic drugs.
"Consequently, follow-up drug treatments can fail. The tumors thus become untreatable and continue to flourish, ultimately killing the patient," said Brahmbhatt.
"We want to be part of moving toward a time when cancers can be managed as a chronic disease rather than being regarded as a death sentence," he said.
The Nature report said the mini-cells were "well tolerated with no adverse side effects or deaths in any of the actively treated animals, despite repeated dosing."
"Significantly, our methodology does not damage the normal cells and is applicable to a wide spectrum of solid cancer types," said MacDiarmid.
"The hope is that the benign nature of this EDV technology should enable cancer sufferers to get on with their lives and operate normally using out-patient therapy."
LINK: http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE55R1Q320090628?rpc=64
Sydney, Australia
June 28, 2009
"Australian Scientists Kill Cancer Cells With 'Trojan Horse'"
Written by Michael Perry
Edited by Alex Richardson
Australian scientists have developed a "trojan horse" therapy to combat cancer, using a bacterially-derived nano cell to penetrate and disarm the cancer cell before a second nano cell kills it with chemotherapy drugs.
The "trojan horse" therapy has the potential to directly target cancer cells with chemotherapy, rather than the current treatment that sees chemotherapy drugs injected into a cancer patient and attacking both cancer and healthy cells.
Sydney scientists Dr Jennifer MacDiarmid and Dr Himanshu Brahmbhatt, who formed EnGenelC Pty Ltd in 2001, said they had achieved 100 percent survival in mice with human cancer cells by using the "trojan horse" therapy in the past two years.
The scientists plan to start human clinical trials in the coming months. Human trials of the cell delivery system will start next week at the Peter MacCullum Cancer Center at the Royal Melbourne Hospital and The Austin at the University of Melbourne.
The therapy, published in the latest Nature Biotechnology journal, sees mini-cells called EDVs (EnGenelC Delivery Vehicle) attach and enter the cancer cell.
The first wave of mini-cells release ribonucleic acid molecules, called siRNA, which switch off the production of proteins that make the cancer cell resistant to chemotherapy.
A second wave of EDV cells is then accepted by the cancer cell and releases chemotherapy drugs, killing the cancer cell.
"The beauty is that our EDVs operate like 'Trojan Horses' They arrive at the gates of the affected cells and are always allowed in," said MacDiarmid.
"We are playing the rogue cells at their own game. They switch-on the gene to produce the protein to resist drugs, and we are switching-off the gene which, in turn, enables the drugs to enter."
DISARMING TUMOUR CELLS
RNA interference, or RNAi, is designed to silence genes responsible for producing disease-causing proteins and is one of the hottest areas of biotechnology research. RNA was the basis of the 2006 Nobel Prize in medicine.
Dozens of biotechnology companies are looking for ways to manipulate RNA to block genes that produce disease-causing proteins involved in cancer, blindness or AIDS.
Brahmbhatt said that after treatment with conventional drug therapy, a large number of cancer cells die but a small percentage of the cells can produce proteins that make cancer cells resistant to chemotherapeutic drugs.
"Consequently, follow-up drug treatments can fail. The tumors thus become untreatable and continue to flourish, ultimately killing the patient," said Brahmbhatt.
"We want to be part of moving toward a time when cancers can be managed as a chronic disease rather than being regarded as a death sentence," he said.
The Nature report said the mini-cells were "well tolerated with no adverse side effects or deaths in any of the actively treated animals, despite repeated dosing."
"Significantly, our methodology does not damage the normal cells and is applicable to a wide spectrum of solid cancer types," said MacDiarmid.
"The hope is that the benign nature of this EDV technology should enable cancer sufferers to get on with their lives and operate normally using out-patient therapy."
LINK: http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE55R1Q320090628?rpc=64
Friday, June 26, 2009
Today's Short Film!!
Youtube (www.youtube.com)
"Michael Jackson's Thriller"
1982 - MJJ Productions
I hear it's been a while since you've watched the video for Michael Jackson's Thriller in it's entirety (all 13 and a half minutes of it). Today's a great day to do so, dont'cha think? Embedding for this video has been disabled, but this link has the whole short film. -bdvdb
Michael Jackson
August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009
LINK: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtyJbIOZjS8&feature=PlayList&p=2B92B4DA6F9711A6&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=2
"Michael Jackson's Thriller"
1982 - MJJ Productions
I hear it's been a while since you've watched the video for Michael Jackson's Thriller in it's entirety (all 13 and a half minutes of it). Today's a great day to do so, dont'cha think? Embedding for this video has been disabled, but this link has the whole short film. -bdvdb
Michael Jackson
August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009
LINK: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtyJbIOZjS8&feature=PlayList&p=2B92B4DA6F9711A6&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=2
Labels:
movies and television,
music,
obituaries,
people and celebrities,
video
Dissociative Fugue!!
The other day, when Governor Mark Sanford was "missing", I heard a very unlikely theory on his disappearance (rather, a very creative excuse for his behavior). Obviously, the answer was much simpler... - bdvdb
--------------------
Merck (www.merck.com)
June 2008
"Dissociative Fugue"
Last full revision by Daphne Simeon, MD
Dissociative fugue involves one or more episodes of sudden, unexpected, but purposeful travel from home during which people cannot remember some or all of their past life, including who they are (their identity). These episodes are called fugues.
--Unbearable stress or a traumatic event may trigger dissociative fugue.
--When in a fugue, people disappear from their usual routine and may assume a new identity, forgetting all or some of their usual life.
--Usually, doctors make the diagnosis by reviewing the history and collecting information about the circumstances before travel, the travel itself, and the establishment of an alternate life.
--Usually, fugues last only hours or days, then resolve on their own.
--Memory retrieval techniques, including hypnosis and drug-facilitated interviews, may be tried but may be unsuccessful.
Dissociative fugue affects about 2 of 1,000 people in the United States. It is much more common among people who have been in wars, accidents, or natural disasters.
Causes
Dissociative fugue is usually triggered by severe trauma, such as wars, accidents, natural disasters, or sexual abuse during childhood.
Dissociative fugue is often mistaken for malingering because both conditions may give people an excuse to avoid their responsibilities (as in an intolerable marriage), to avoid accountability for their actions, or to reduce their exposure to a known hazard, such as a battle. However, dissociative fugue, unlike malingering, occurs spontaneously and is not faked.
Many fugues seem to represent disguised wish fulfillment (for example, an escape from overwhelming stresses, such as divorce or financial ruin). Other fugues are related to feelings of rejection or separation, or they may develop as an alternative to suicidal or homicidal impulses.
Symptoms
A fugue may last from hours to weeks, months, or occasionally even longer. People in a fugue state, having lost their customary identity, usually disappear from their usual haunts, leaving their family and job. If the fugue is brief, they may appear simply to have missed some work or come home late. If the fugue lasts several days or longer, people may travel far from home and begin a new job with a new identity, unaware of any change in their life.
During the fugue, they may appear normal and attract no attention. However, at some point, they may become aware of the memory loss or confused about their identity. If they are confused, they may come to the attention of medical or legal authorities. During the fugue, people often have no symptoms or are only mildly confused. However, when the fugue ends, they may experience depression, discomfort, grief, shame, intense conflict, and suicidal or aggressive impulses.
Diagnosis
A doctor may suspect dissociative fugue when people seem confused about their identity or are puzzled about their past or when confrontations challenge their new identity or absence of one. The doctor carefully reviews symptoms and does a physical examination to exclude physical disorders that may contribute to or cause memory loss. A psychologic examination is also done.
Sometimes dissociative fugue cannot be diagnosed until people abruptly return to their pre-fugue identity and are distressed to find themselves in unfamiliar circumstances. The diagnosis is usually made retroactively when a doctor reviews the history and collects information that documents the circumstances before people left home, the travel itself, and the establishment of an alternate life.
Treatment
Most fugues last for hours or days, then disappear on their own.
Treatment, when needed, may include hypnosis or drug-facilitated interviews (interviews conducted after a sedative is given intravenously to relax people). However, efforts to restore memories of what happened during the fugue itself are usually unsuccessful.
A therapist may help people explore their patterns of handling the types of situations, conflicts, and moods that triggered the fugue to prevent subsequent fugues.
LINK: http://www.merck.com/mmhe/sec07/ch106/ch106d.html
--------------------
Merck (www.merck.com)
June 2008
"Dissociative Fugue"
Last full revision by Daphne Simeon, MD
Dissociative fugue involves one or more episodes of sudden, unexpected, but purposeful travel from home during which people cannot remember some or all of their past life, including who they are (their identity). These episodes are called fugues.
--Unbearable stress or a traumatic event may trigger dissociative fugue.
--When in a fugue, people disappear from their usual routine and may assume a new identity, forgetting all or some of their usual life.
--Usually, doctors make the diagnosis by reviewing the history and collecting information about the circumstances before travel, the travel itself, and the establishment of an alternate life.
--Usually, fugues last only hours or days, then resolve on their own.
--Memory retrieval techniques, including hypnosis and drug-facilitated interviews, may be tried but may be unsuccessful.
Dissociative fugue affects about 2 of 1,000 people in the United States. It is much more common among people who have been in wars, accidents, or natural disasters.
Causes
Dissociative fugue is usually triggered by severe trauma, such as wars, accidents, natural disasters, or sexual abuse during childhood.
Dissociative fugue is often mistaken for malingering because both conditions may give people an excuse to avoid their responsibilities (as in an intolerable marriage), to avoid accountability for their actions, or to reduce their exposure to a known hazard, such as a battle. However, dissociative fugue, unlike malingering, occurs spontaneously and is not faked.
Many fugues seem to represent disguised wish fulfillment (for example, an escape from overwhelming stresses, such as divorce or financial ruin). Other fugues are related to feelings of rejection or separation, or they may develop as an alternative to suicidal or homicidal impulses.
Symptoms
A fugue may last from hours to weeks, months, or occasionally even longer. People in a fugue state, having lost their customary identity, usually disappear from their usual haunts, leaving their family and job. If the fugue is brief, they may appear simply to have missed some work or come home late. If the fugue lasts several days or longer, people may travel far from home and begin a new job with a new identity, unaware of any change in their life.
During the fugue, they may appear normal and attract no attention. However, at some point, they may become aware of the memory loss or confused about their identity. If they are confused, they may come to the attention of medical or legal authorities. During the fugue, people often have no symptoms or are only mildly confused. However, when the fugue ends, they may experience depression, discomfort, grief, shame, intense conflict, and suicidal or aggressive impulses.
Diagnosis
A doctor may suspect dissociative fugue when people seem confused about their identity or are puzzled about their past or when confrontations challenge their new identity or absence of one. The doctor carefully reviews symptoms and does a physical examination to exclude physical disorders that may contribute to or cause memory loss. A psychologic examination is also done.
Sometimes dissociative fugue cannot be diagnosed until people abruptly return to their pre-fugue identity and are distressed to find themselves in unfamiliar circumstances. The diagnosis is usually made retroactively when a doctor reviews the history and collects information that documents the circumstances before people left home, the travel itself, and the establishment of an alternate life.
Treatment
Most fugues last for hours or days, then disappear on their own.
Treatment, when needed, may include hypnosis or drug-facilitated interviews (interviews conducted after a sedative is given intravenously to relax people). However, efforts to restore memories of what happened during the fugue itself are usually unsuccessful.
A therapist may help people explore their patterns of handling the types of situations, conflicts, and moods that triggered the fugue to prevent subsequent fugues.
LINK: http://www.merck.com/mmhe/sec07/ch106/ch106d.html
Labels:
health and medicine,
psychology
Thursday, June 25, 2009
LOTR Tehran!!
Salon (www.salon.com)
June 24, 2009
"Tehran Dispatch: The Regime Shows Us Movies"
They want to keep us indoors, and quiet. But which subversive programmer picked The Lord of the Rings?
Editor's note: For reasons of personal safety, the author chooses to remain anonymous.
By Anonymous
In Tehran, state television's Channel Two is putting on a Lord of the Rings marathon, part of a bigger push to keep us busy. Movie mad and immunized from international copyright laws, Iranians are normally treated to one or two Hollywood or European movie nights a week. Now it's two or three films a day. The message is "Don't Worry, Be Happy." Let's watch, forget about what's happened, never mind. Stop dwelling in the past. Look ahead.
Frodo: "I wish the ring had never come to me. I wish that none of this had happened."
Gandalf: "So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."
On the news, it's more of the same. The state-run media is trying to tell us that life needs to go on, that politics is a nasty business, but now it's over. Except for that first night, the news broadcasts have not shied away from the violence outside. Instead they've found a way to turn it inside out, make it about the protesters and not the curious mathematics of the election. At least nothing is hidden or subtle. When they want to make a point they lay it on, 10 minutes at a time, sometimes close to 15. It's like a friend says -- this is not news, it's interpretation, spin.
They interview regular folk on the street and in the parks. They want viewers to know that all those millions of protesters are, somehow, not regular folk: "Khastekonande." It's getting old. "Kasebam. Barayenke moafaq basham bayad moid e am dashte bashe." I'm a businessman. For my business to succeed, I need for there to be calm. "Ma faghat mikhaim ye nooni darbiarim, dombal e kar e zendegi berim." We just wanna make some bread, take care of our lives and our business. "In ha kay shooloogh mikonand mardoom nistand. Man fekr nemikonam kay mardoom hastand." The ones who are rioting aren't of the people. I don't think that they're part of the people. "Chand rooze ke natoonestam pesar va dokhtaram biaram park bekhatere in shoolooghia." It's been several days that I haven't been able to bring my son and daughter to the park, because of the violence.
Back to "Lord of the Rings." Gandalf the Gray returns to the Fellowship as Gandalf the White. He casts a blinding white light, and his face is hidden behind a halo. "Imam zaman e?!" someone in the room asks. Is it the Mahdi, the last imam and, according to Shia Islam, the savior of mankind?
Who picked this film? I start to suspect that there is a subversive soul manning the controls at Seda va Sima, AKA the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting. It is way too easy to play with the film, to draw comparisons to what is happening in real life. There are the overt Mousavi themes: the unwanted quest and the risking of life in pursuit of an unanticipated destiny. Then there is the sly nod to Ahmadinejad. Iranian films are dubbed (forget the wretched dubbing into English in the U.S.; in Iran dubbing is a craft) and there are plenty of references to "kootoole," little person, the Farsi word used in the movie for hobbit and dwarf. "Kootoole," of course, was, is, the term used in many of the chants out on the street against President Ahmadinejad. He is the "little person." ("And whose side are you on?" Pippin asks the ancient, forest-dwelling giant named Treebeard. Those watching might think the answer is Mousavi, since Treebeard is decked out in green.)
The 9-year-old in the room loudly predicts that the "Lord of the Rings" marathon will put an end to the nightly shouts of "Allah Akbar" from Tehran's rooftops. People will not take to the roofs and windows because these films will keep them occupied. Besides, there is a dubious rumor going around that the basij are marking the doorways of those households that continue to call out "Allah Akbar!" at night, a kind of reverse Passover. Fear, as well as Tolkien, will no doubt play a part.
The 9-year-old goes on to report that the kids on his school "service" (no Blue Bird buses in Tehran, but long Toyota vans instead) have been chanting, "Pas rai e ma koojast?! Pas rai e ma koojast?! Pas rai e ma koojast?!" Then where is our vote?! Then where is our vote?! Then where is our vote?! I ask him what the driver is doing while all this goes on and he tells me that the driver honks along. Honk honk-honk-honk! "Pas rai e ma koojast?!" Honk honk-honk-honk!
Back to the movie. Gandalf's white steed strides into the frame. It is instantly transformed by local viewers into Rostam's mythical horse, Rakhsh. Rostam, the great dragon-slaying champion of Ferdowsi's poetic epic "Shahnameh," which recounts the whole history of Iran.
The 9-year-old is wrong about the rooftops. The sound begins as a low roll from a nearby park then quickly builds upward. "Allah Akbar! Allah Akbar!" No way. We rush to the window. It begins at 10 at night and will continue for another 30 minutes ...
On the television screen, Boromir, human of Aragon, falls. He dies an honorable death defending the lives of his compatriots.
"In edame dare." This is to be continued. The phrase has become our hesitant slogan, our phrase of reassurance. "In edame dare." People are not going to let up so easily.
Each time I've lost faith, I've been wrong. Iranians are proving to be a sturdier lot than I have given them credit, much mightier even than the formidable kootooloos that stand in their way.
LINK: http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2009/06/24/tehran_seven/index.html
June 24, 2009
"Tehran Dispatch: The Regime Shows Us Movies"
They want to keep us indoors, and quiet. But which subversive programmer picked The Lord of the Rings?
Editor's note: For reasons of personal safety, the author chooses to remain anonymous.
By Anonymous
In Tehran, state television's Channel Two is putting on a Lord of the Rings marathon, part of a bigger push to keep us busy. Movie mad and immunized from international copyright laws, Iranians are normally treated to one or two Hollywood or European movie nights a week. Now it's two or three films a day. The message is "Don't Worry, Be Happy." Let's watch, forget about what's happened, never mind. Stop dwelling in the past. Look ahead.
Frodo: "I wish the ring had never come to me. I wish that none of this had happened."
Gandalf: "So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."
On the news, it's more of the same. The state-run media is trying to tell us that life needs to go on, that politics is a nasty business, but now it's over. Except for that first night, the news broadcasts have not shied away from the violence outside. Instead they've found a way to turn it inside out, make it about the protesters and not the curious mathematics of the election. At least nothing is hidden or subtle. When they want to make a point they lay it on, 10 minutes at a time, sometimes close to 15. It's like a friend says -- this is not news, it's interpretation, spin.
They interview regular folk on the street and in the parks. They want viewers to know that all those millions of protesters are, somehow, not regular folk: "Khastekonande." It's getting old. "Kasebam. Barayenke moafaq basham bayad moid e am dashte bashe." I'm a businessman. For my business to succeed, I need for there to be calm. "Ma faghat mikhaim ye nooni darbiarim, dombal e kar e zendegi berim." We just wanna make some bread, take care of our lives and our business. "In ha kay shooloogh mikonand mardoom nistand. Man fekr nemikonam kay mardoom hastand." The ones who are rioting aren't of the people. I don't think that they're part of the people. "Chand rooze ke natoonestam pesar va dokhtaram biaram park bekhatere in shoolooghia." It's been several days that I haven't been able to bring my son and daughter to the park, because of the violence.
Back to "Lord of the Rings." Gandalf the Gray returns to the Fellowship as Gandalf the White. He casts a blinding white light, and his face is hidden behind a halo. "Imam zaman e?!" someone in the room asks. Is it the Mahdi, the last imam and, according to Shia Islam, the savior of mankind?
Who picked this film? I start to suspect that there is a subversive soul manning the controls at Seda va Sima, AKA the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting. It is way too easy to play with the film, to draw comparisons to what is happening in real life. There are the overt Mousavi themes: the unwanted quest and the risking of life in pursuit of an unanticipated destiny. Then there is the sly nod to Ahmadinejad. Iranian films are dubbed (forget the wretched dubbing into English in the U.S.; in Iran dubbing is a craft) and there are plenty of references to "kootoole," little person, the Farsi word used in the movie for hobbit and dwarf. "Kootoole," of course, was, is, the term used in many of the chants out on the street against President Ahmadinejad. He is the "little person." ("And whose side are you on?" Pippin asks the ancient, forest-dwelling giant named Treebeard. Those watching might think the answer is Mousavi, since Treebeard is decked out in green.)
The 9-year-old in the room loudly predicts that the "Lord of the Rings" marathon will put an end to the nightly shouts of "Allah Akbar" from Tehran's rooftops. People will not take to the roofs and windows because these films will keep them occupied. Besides, there is a dubious rumor going around that the basij are marking the doorways of those households that continue to call out "Allah Akbar!" at night, a kind of reverse Passover. Fear, as well as Tolkien, will no doubt play a part.
The 9-year-old goes on to report that the kids on his school "service" (no Blue Bird buses in Tehran, but long Toyota vans instead) have been chanting, "Pas rai e ma koojast?! Pas rai e ma koojast?! Pas rai e ma koojast?!" Then where is our vote?! Then where is our vote?! Then where is our vote?! I ask him what the driver is doing while all this goes on and he tells me that the driver honks along. Honk honk-honk-honk! "Pas rai e ma koojast?!" Honk honk-honk-honk!
Back to the movie. Gandalf's white steed strides into the frame. It is instantly transformed by local viewers into Rostam's mythical horse, Rakhsh. Rostam, the great dragon-slaying champion of Ferdowsi's poetic epic "Shahnameh," which recounts the whole history of Iran.
The 9-year-old is wrong about the rooftops. The sound begins as a low roll from a nearby park then quickly builds upward. "Allah Akbar! Allah Akbar!" No way. We rush to the window. It begins at 10 at night and will continue for another 30 minutes ...
On the television screen, Boromir, human of Aragon, falls. He dies an honorable death defending the lives of his compatriots.
"In edame dare." This is to be continued. The phrase has become our hesitant slogan, our phrase of reassurance. "In edame dare." People are not going to let up so easily.
Each time I've lost faith, I've been wrong. Iranians are proving to be a sturdier lot than I have given them credit, much mightier even than the formidable kootooloos that stand in their way.
LINK: http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2009/06/24/tehran_seven/index.html
Monday, June 22, 2009
Washington!!
To set the musical tone for the following article... Remember THIS??
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The Art of Manliness (artofmanliness.com)
June 14, 2009
"Manvotional: George Washington’s Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation"
Written by Brett & Kate McKay
Respect. All men wish to have the respect of those around them. One man who earned respect from his comrades and his enemies alike was America’s first president, George Washington. Washington was known for his gentlemanly comportment. Some might argue that his formality bordered on being frigid. But his formality helped earn him respect wherever he went.
When Washington was just 16 years old, he copied by hand a list of 110 rules on civility that were compiled by 16th Century Jesuit priests. I’m sure the time Washington spent as a boy writing out these rules helped shape the magnanimous statesman he would become as an adult.
While some of the rules on the list are a little too stuffy, formal, and school marmy-ish for our modern taste, many of them are still just as applicable today. A man who practices these rules will definitely distinguish himself from the other cads out there.
George Washington’s Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation
(Note: The original spelling and punctuation was retained)
1. Every Action done in Company, ought to be with Some Sign of Respect, to those that are Present.
2. When in Company, put not your Hands to any Part of the Body, not usually Discovered.
3. Show Nothing to your Friend that may affright him.
4. In the Presence of Others Sing not to yourself with a humming Noise, nor Drum with your Fingers or Feet.
5. If You Cough, Sneeze, Sigh, or Yawn, do it not Loud but Privately; and Speak not in your Yawning, but put Your handkerchief or Hand before your face and turn aside.
6. Sleep not when others Speak, Sit not when others stand, Speak not when you Should hold your Peace, walk not on when others Stop.
7. Put not off your Cloths in the presence of Others, nor go out your Chamber half Dressed.
8. At Play and at Fire its Good manners to Give Place to the last Commer, and affect not to Speak Louder than Ordinary.
9. Spit not in the Fire, nor Stoop low before it neither Put your Hands into the Flames to warm them, nor Set your Feet upon the Fire especially if there be meat before it.
10. When you Sit down, Keep your Feet firm and Even, without putting one on the other or Crossing them.
11. Shift not yourself in the Sight of others nor Gnaw your nails.
12. Shake not the head, Feet, or Legs roll not the Eyes lift not one eyebrow higher than the other wry not the mouth, and bedew no mans face with your Spittle, by approaching too near him when you Speak.
13. Kill no Vermin as Fleas, lice ticks &c in the Sight of Others, if you See any filth or thick Spittle put your foot Dexterously upon it if it be upon the Cloths of your Companions, Put it off privately, and if it be upon your own Cloths return Thanks to him who puts it off.
14. Turn not your Back to others especially in Speaking, Jog not the Table or Desk on which Another reads or writes, lean not upon any one.
15. Keep your Nails clean and Short, also your Hands and Teeth Clean yet without Showing any great Concern for them.
16. Do not Puff up the Cheeks, Loll not out the tongue rub the Hands, or beard, thrust out the lips, or bite them or keep the Lips too open or too Close.
17. Be no Flatterer, neither Play with any that delights not to be Play’d Withal.
18. Read no Letters, Books, or Papers in Company but when there is a Necessity for the doing of it you must ask leave: come not near the Books or Writings of Another so as to read them unless desired or give your opinion of them unasked also look not nigh when another is writing a Letter.
19. Let your Countenance be pleasant but in Serious Matters Somewhat grave.
20. The Gestures of the Body must be Suited to the discourse you are upon.
21. Reproach none for the Infirmities of Nature, nor Delight to Put them that have in mind thereof.
22. Show not yourself glad at the Misfortune of another though he were your enemy.
23. When you see a Crime punished, you may be inwardly Pleased; but always show Pity to the Suffering Offender.
Don’t draw attention to yourself.
24. Do not laugh too loud or too much at any Public Spectacle.
25. Superfluous Complements and all Affectation of Ceremony are to be avoided, yet where due they are not to be Neglected.
26. In Pulling off your Hat to Persons of Distinction, as Noblemen, Justices, Churchmen & make a Reverence, bowing more or less according to the Custom of the Better Bred, and Quality of the Person. Amongst your equals expect not always that they Should begin with you first, but to Pull off the Hat when there is no need is Affectation, in the Manner of Saluting and resaluting in words keep to the most usual Custom.
27. Tis ill manners to bid one more eminent than yourself be covered as well as not to do it to whom it’s due Likewise he that makes too much haste to Put on his hat does not well, yet he ought to Put it on at the first, or at most the Second time of being asked; now what is herein Spoken, of Qualification in behavior in Saluting, ought also to be observed in taking of Place, and Sitting down for ceremonies without Bounds is troublesome.
28. If any one come to Speak to you while you are are Sitting Stand up though he be your Inferior, and when you Present Seats let it be to every one according to his Degree.
29. When you meet with one of Greater Quality than yourself, Stop, and retire especially if it be at a Door or any Straight place to give way for him to Pass.
30. In walking the highest Place in most Countries Seems to be on the right hand therefore Place yourself on the left of him whom you desire to Honor: but if three walk together the middest Place is the most Honorable the wall is usually given to the most worthy if two walk together.
31. If any one far Surpasses others, either in age, Estate, or Merit yet would give Place to a meaner than himself in his own lodging or elsewhere the one ought not to except it, So he on the other part should not use much earnestness nor offer it above once or twice.
32. To one that is your equal, or not much inferior you are to give the chief Place in your Lodging and he to who ‘is offered ought at the first to refuse it but at the Second to accept though not without acknowledging his own unworthiness.
33. They that are in Dignity or in office have in all places Precedency but whilst they are Young they ought to respect those that are their equals in Birth or other Qualities, though they have no Public charge.
34. It is good Manners to prefer them to whom we Speak before ourselves especially if they be above us with whom in no Sort we ought to begin.
35. Let your Discourse with Men of Business be Short and Comprehensive.
36. Artificers & Persons of low Degree ought not to use many ceremonies to Lords, or Others of high Degree but Respect and highly Honor them, and those of high Degree ought to treat them with affability & Courtesy, without Arrogance.
37. In speaking to men of Quality do not lean nor Look them full in the Face, nor approach too near them at lest Keep a full Pace from them.
38. In visiting the Sick, do not Presently play the Physician if you be not Knowing therein.
39. In writing or Speaking, give to every Person his due Title According to his Degree & the Custom of the Place.
40. Strive not with your Superiors in argument, but always Submit your Judgment to others with Modesty.
41. Undertake not to Teach your equal in the art himself Professes; it Savours of arrogance.
42. Let thy ceremonies in Courtesy be proper to the Dignity of his place with whom thou converses for it is absurd to act the same with a Clown and a Prince.
43. Do not express Joy before one sick or in pain for that contrary Passion will aggravate his Misery.
44. When a man does all he can though it Succeeds not well blame not him that did it.
45. Being to advise or reprehend any one, consider whether it ought to be in public or in Private; presently, or at Some other time in what terms to do it & in reproving Show no Sign of Cholar but do it with all Sweetness and Mildness.
46. Take all Admonitions thankfully in what Time or Place Soever given but afterwards not being culpable take a Time & Place convenient to let him him know it that gave them.
47. Mock not nor Jest at any thing of Importance break [n]o Jest that are Sharp Biting and if you Deliver any thing witty and Pleasant abstain from Laughing thereat yourself.
48. Wherein you reprove Another be unblameable yourself; for example is more prevalent than Precepts.
49. Use no Reproachful Language against any one neither Curse nor Revile.
50. Be not hasty to believe flying Reports to the Disparagement of any.
51. Wear not your Cloths, foul, ripped or Dusty but See they be Brushed once every day at least and take heed that you approach not to any Uncleaness.
52. In your Apparel be Modest and endeavor to accommodate Nature, rather than to procure Admiration keep to the Fashion of your equals Such as are Civil and orderly with respect to Times and Places.
53. Run not in the Streets, neither go too slowly nor with Mouth open go not Shaking your Arms kick not the earth with R feet, go not upon the Toes, nor in a Dancing fashion.
54. Play not the Peacock, looking every where about you, to See if you be well Decked, if your Shoes fit well if your Stockings sit neatly, and Cloths handsomely.
55. Eat not in the Streets, nor in the House, out of Season.
56. Associate yourself with Men of good Quality if you Esteem your own Reputation; for ‘is better to be alone than in bad Company.
57. In walking up and Down in a House, only with One in Company if he be Greater than yourself, at the first give him the Right hand and Stop not till he does and be not the first that turns, and when you do turn let it be with your face towards him, if he be a Man of Great Quality, walk not with him Cheek by Joul but Somewhat behind him; but yet in Such a Manner that he may easily Speak to you.
58. Let your Conversation be without Malice or Envy, for ‘is a Sign of a Tractable and Commendable Nature: And in all Causes of Passion admit Reason to Govern.
59. Never express anything unbecoming, nor Act against the Rules Moral before your inferiors.
60. Be not immodest in urging your Friends to Discover a Secret.
61. Utter not base and frivolous things amongst grave and Learned Men nor very Difficult Questions or Subjects, among the Ignorant or things hard to be believed, Stuff not your Discourse with Sentences amongst your Betters nor Equals.
62. Speak not of doleful Things in a Time of Mirth or at the Table; Speak not of Melancholy Things as Death and Wounds, and if others Mention them Change if you can the Discourse tell not your Dreams, but to your intimate Friend.
63. A Man ought not to value himself of his Achievements, or rare Qualities of wit; much less of his riches Virtue or Kindred.
64. Break not a Jest where none take pleasure in mirth Laugh not aloud, nor at all without Occasion, deride no mans Misfortune, though there Seem to be Some cause.
65. Speak not injurious Words neither in Jest nor Earnest Scoff at none although they give Occasion.
66. Be not froward but friendly and Courteous; the first to Salute hear and answer & be not Pensive when it’s a time to Converse.
67. Detract not from others neither be excessive in Commanding.
68. Go not thither, where you know not, whether you Shall be Welcome or not. Give not Advice without being Asked & when desired do it briefly.
69. If two contend together take not the part of either unconstrained; and be not obstinate in your own Opinion, in Things indifferent be of the Major Side.
70. Reprehend not the imperfections of others for that belongs to Parents Masters and Superiors.
71. Gaze not on the marks or blemishes of Others and ask not how they came. What you may Speak in Secret to your Friend deliver not before others.
72. Speak not in an unknown Tongue in Company but in your own Language and that as those of Quality do and not as the Vulgar; Sublime matters treat Seriously.
73. Think before you Speak pronounce not imperfectly nor bring out your Words too hastily but orderly & distinctly.
74. When Another Speaks be attentive your Self and disturb not the Audience if any hesitate in his Words help him not nor Prompt him without desired, Interrupt him not, nor Answer him till his Speech be ended.
75. In the midst of Discourse ask not of what one treateth but if you Perceive any Stop because of your coming you may well intreat him gently to Proceed: If a Person of Quality comes in while your Conversing it’s handsome to Repeat what was said before.
76. While you are talking, Point not with your Finger at him of Whom you Discourse nor Approach too near him to whom you talk especially to his face.
77. Treat with men at fit Times about Business & Whisper not in the Company of Others.
78. Make no Comparisons and if any of the Company be Commended for any brave act of Virtue, commend not another for the Same.
79. Be not apt to relate News if you know not the truth thereof. In Discoursing of things you Have heard Name not your Author always A Secret Discover not.
80. Be not Tedious in Discourse or in reading unless you find the Company pleased therewith.
81. Be not Curious to Know the Affairs of Others neither approach those that Speak in Private.
82. Undertake not what you cannot Perform but be Careful to keep your Promise.
83. When you deliver a matter do it without Passion & with Discretion, however mean the Person be you do it too.
84. When your Superiors talk to any Body hearken not neither Speak nor Laugh.
85. In Company of these of Higher Quality than yourself Speak not til you are asked a Question then Stand upright put of your Hat & Answer in few words.
86. In Disputes, be not So Desirous to Overcome as not to give Liberty to each one to deliver his Opinion and Submit to the Judgment of the Major Part especially if they are Judges of the Dispute.
87. Let thy carriage be such as becomes a Man Grave Settled and attentive to that which is spoken. Contradict not at every turn what others Say.
88. Be not tedious in Discourse, make not many Digressions, nor repeat often the Same manner of Discourse.
89. Speak not Evil of the absent for it is unjust.
90. Being Set at meat Scratch not neither Spit Cough or blow your Nose except there’s a Necessity for it.
91. Make no Show of taking great Delight in your Victuals, Feed not with Greediness; cut your Bread with a Knife, lean not on the Table neither find fault with what you Eat.
92. Take no Salt or cut Bread with your Knife Greasy.
93. Entertaining any one at the table, it is decent to present him with meat; Undertake not to help others undesired by the Master.
94. If you Soak bread in the Sauce let it be no more than what you put in your Mouth at a time and blow not your broth at Table but Stay till Cools of it Self.
95. Put not your meat to your Mouth with your Knife in your hand neither Spit forth the Stones of any fruit Pie upon a Dish nor Cast anything under the table.
96. It’s unbecoming to Stoop much to ones Meat Keep your Fingers clean & when foul wipe them on a Corner of your Table Napkin.
97. Put not another bit into your mouth till the former be swallowed. Let not your morsels be too big for the jowls.
98. Drink not nor talk with your mouth full; neither gaze about you while you are drinking.
99. Drink not too leisurely nor yet too hastily. Before and after drinking, wipe your lips; breath not then or ever with too great a noise, for its uncivil.
100. Cleanse not your teeth with the table cloth napkin, fork, or knife; but if others do it, let it be done without a peep to them.
101. Rinse not your mouth in the presence of others.
102. It is out of use to call upon the company often to eat; nor need you drink to others every time you drink.
103. In the company of your betters, be not longer in eating than they are; lay not your arm but only your hand upon the table.
104. It belongs to the chiefest in company to unfold his napkin and fall to meat first, but he ought then to begin in time & to dispatch with dexterity that the slowest may have time allowed him.
105. Be not angry at the table whatever happens & if you have reason to be so, show it not; put on a cheerful countenance especially if there be strangers, for good humor makes one dish of meat a feast.
106. Set not yourself at the upper of the table; but if it be your due or that the master of the house will have it so, contend not, least you should trouble the company.
107. If others talk at the table, be attentive but talk not with meat in your mouth.
108. When you speak of God or his attributes, let it be seriously & with reverence. Honor & obey your natural parents although they be poor.
109. Let your recreations be manful not sinful.
110. Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire called conscience.
LINK: http://artofmanliness.com/2009/06/14/manvotional-george-washingtons-rules-of-civility-and-decent-behavior-in-company-and-converation/
----------------
The Art of Manliness (artofmanliness.com)
June 14, 2009
"Manvotional: George Washington’s Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation"
Written by Brett & Kate McKay
Respect. All men wish to have the respect of those around them. One man who earned respect from his comrades and his enemies alike was America’s first president, George Washington. Washington was known for his gentlemanly comportment. Some might argue that his formality bordered on being frigid. But his formality helped earn him respect wherever he went.
When Washington was just 16 years old, he copied by hand a list of 110 rules on civility that were compiled by 16th Century Jesuit priests. I’m sure the time Washington spent as a boy writing out these rules helped shape the magnanimous statesman he would become as an adult.
While some of the rules on the list are a little too stuffy, formal, and school marmy-ish for our modern taste, many of them are still just as applicable today. A man who practices these rules will definitely distinguish himself from the other cads out there.
George Washington’s Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation
(Note: The original spelling and punctuation was retained)
1. Every Action done in Company, ought to be with Some Sign of Respect, to those that are Present.
2. When in Company, put not your Hands to any Part of the Body, not usually Discovered.
3. Show Nothing to your Friend that may affright him.
4. In the Presence of Others Sing not to yourself with a humming Noise, nor Drum with your Fingers or Feet.
5. If You Cough, Sneeze, Sigh, or Yawn, do it not Loud but Privately; and Speak not in your Yawning, but put Your handkerchief or Hand before your face and turn aside.
6. Sleep not when others Speak, Sit not when others stand, Speak not when you Should hold your Peace, walk not on when others Stop.
7. Put not off your Cloths in the presence of Others, nor go out your Chamber half Dressed.
8. At Play and at Fire its Good manners to Give Place to the last Commer, and affect not to Speak Louder than Ordinary.
9. Spit not in the Fire, nor Stoop low before it neither Put your Hands into the Flames to warm them, nor Set your Feet upon the Fire especially if there be meat before it.
10. When you Sit down, Keep your Feet firm and Even, without putting one on the other or Crossing them.
11. Shift not yourself in the Sight of others nor Gnaw your nails.
12. Shake not the head, Feet, or Legs roll not the Eyes lift not one eyebrow higher than the other wry not the mouth, and bedew no mans face with your Spittle, by approaching too near him when you Speak.
13. Kill no Vermin as Fleas, lice ticks &c in the Sight of Others, if you See any filth or thick Spittle put your foot Dexterously upon it if it be upon the Cloths of your Companions, Put it off privately, and if it be upon your own Cloths return Thanks to him who puts it off.
14. Turn not your Back to others especially in Speaking, Jog not the Table or Desk on which Another reads or writes, lean not upon any one.
15. Keep your Nails clean and Short, also your Hands and Teeth Clean yet without Showing any great Concern for them.
16. Do not Puff up the Cheeks, Loll not out the tongue rub the Hands, or beard, thrust out the lips, or bite them or keep the Lips too open or too Close.
17. Be no Flatterer, neither Play with any that delights not to be Play’d Withal.
18. Read no Letters, Books, or Papers in Company but when there is a Necessity for the doing of it you must ask leave: come not near the Books or Writings of Another so as to read them unless desired or give your opinion of them unasked also look not nigh when another is writing a Letter.
19. Let your Countenance be pleasant but in Serious Matters Somewhat grave.
20. The Gestures of the Body must be Suited to the discourse you are upon.
21. Reproach none for the Infirmities of Nature, nor Delight to Put them that have in mind thereof.
22. Show not yourself glad at the Misfortune of another though he were your enemy.
23. When you see a Crime punished, you may be inwardly Pleased; but always show Pity to the Suffering Offender.
Don’t draw attention to yourself.
24. Do not laugh too loud or too much at any Public Spectacle.
25. Superfluous Complements and all Affectation of Ceremony are to be avoided, yet where due they are not to be Neglected.
26. In Pulling off your Hat to Persons of Distinction, as Noblemen, Justices, Churchmen & make a Reverence, bowing more or less according to the Custom of the Better Bred, and Quality of the Person. Amongst your equals expect not always that they Should begin with you first, but to Pull off the Hat when there is no need is Affectation, in the Manner of Saluting and resaluting in words keep to the most usual Custom.
27. Tis ill manners to bid one more eminent than yourself be covered as well as not to do it to whom it’s due Likewise he that makes too much haste to Put on his hat does not well, yet he ought to Put it on at the first, or at most the Second time of being asked; now what is herein Spoken, of Qualification in behavior in Saluting, ought also to be observed in taking of Place, and Sitting down for ceremonies without Bounds is troublesome.
28. If any one come to Speak to you while you are are Sitting Stand up though he be your Inferior, and when you Present Seats let it be to every one according to his Degree.
29. When you meet with one of Greater Quality than yourself, Stop, and retire especially if it be at a Door or any Straight place to give way for him to Pass.
30. In walking the highest Place in most Countries Seems to be on the right hand therefore Place yourself on the left of him whom you desire to Honor: but if three walk together the middest Place is the most Honorable the wall is usually given to the most worthy if two walk together.
31. If any one far Surpasses others, either in age, Estate, or Merit yet would give Place to a meaner than himself in his own lodging or elsewhere the one ought not to except it, So he on the other part should not use much earnestness nor offer it above once or twice.
32. To one that is your equal, or not much inferior you are to give the chief Place in your Lodging and he to who ‘is offered ought at the first to refuse it but at the Second to accept though not without acknowledging his own unworthiness.
33. They that are in Dignity or in office have in all places Precedency but whilst they are Young they ought to respect those that are their equals in Birth or other Qualities, though they have no Public charge.
34. It is good Manners to prefer them to whom we Speak before ourselves especially if they be above us with whom in no Sort we ought to begin.
35. Let your Discourse with Men of Business be Short and Comprehensive.
36. Artificers & Persons of low Degree ought not to use many ceremonies to Lords, or Others of high Degree but Respect and highly Honor them, and those of high Degree ought to treat them with affability & Courtesy, without Arrogance.
37. In speaking to men of Quality do not lean nor Look them full in the Face, nor approach too near them at lest Keep a full Pace from them.
38. In visiting the Sick, do not Presently play the Physician if you be not Knowing therein.
39. In writing or Speaking, give to every Person his due Title According to his Degree & the Custom of the Place.
40. Strive not with your Superiors in argument, but always Submit your Judgment to others with Modesty.
41. Undertake not to Teach your equal in the art himself Professes; it Savours of arrogance.
42. Let thy ceremonies in Courtesy be proper to the Dignity of his place with whom thou converses for it is absurd to act the same with a Clown and a Prince.
43. Do not express Joy before one sick or in pain for that contrary Passion will aggravate his Misery.
44. When a man does all he can though it Succeeds not well blame not him that did it.
45. Being to advise or reprehend any one, consider whether it ought to be in public or in Private; presently, or at Some other time in what terms to do it & in reproving Show no Sign of Cholar but do it with all Sweetness and Mildness.
46. Take all Admonitions thankfully in what Time or Place Soever given but afterwards not being culpable take a Time & Place convenient to let him him know it that gave them.
47. Mock not nor Jest at any thing of Importance break [n]o Jest that are Sharp Biting and if you Deliver any thing witty and Pleasant abstain from Laughing thereat yourself.
48. Wherein you reprove Another be unblameable yourself; for example is more prevalent than Precepts.
49. Use no Reproachful Language against any one neither Curse nor Revile.
50. Be not hasty to believe flying Reports to the Disparagement of any.
51. Wear not your Cloths, foul, ripped or Dusty but See they be Brushed once every day at least and take heed that you approach not to any Uncleaness.
52. In your Apparel be Modest and endeavor to accommodate Nature, rather than to procure Admiration keep to the Fashion of your equals Such as are Civil and orderly with respect to Times and Places.
53. Run not in the Streets, neither go too slowly nor with Mouth open go not Shaking your Arms kick not the earth with R feet, go not upon the Toes, nor in a Dancing fashion.
54. Play not the Peacock, looking every where about you, to See if you be well Decked, if your Shoes fit well if your Stockings sit neatly, and Cloths handsomely.
55. Eat not in the Streets, nor in the House, out of Season.
56. Associate yourself with Men of good Quality if you Esteem your own Reputation; for ‘is better to be alone than in bad Company.
57. In walking up and Down in a House, only with One in Company if he be Greater than yourself, at the first give him the Right hand and Stop not till he does and be not the first that turns, and when you do turn let it be with your face towards him, if he be a Man of Great Quality, walk not with him Cheek by Joul but Somewhat behind him; but yet in Such a Manner that he may easily Speak to you.
58. Let your Conversation be without Malice or Envy, for ‘is a Sign of a Tractable and Commendable Nature: And in all Causes of Passion admit Reason to Govern.
59. Never express anything unbecoming, nor Act against the Rules Moral before your inferiors.
60. Be not immodest in urging your Friends to Discover a Secret.
61. Utter not base and frivolous things amongst grave and Learned Men nor very Difficult Questions or Subjects, among the Ignorant or things hard to be believed, Stuff not your Discourse with Sentences amongst your Betters nor Equals.
62. Speak not of doleful Things in a Time of Mirth or at the Table; Speak not of Melancholy Things as Death and Wounds, and if others Mention them Change if you can the Discourse tell not your Dreams, but to your intimate Friend.
63. A Man ought not to value himself of his Achievements, or rare Qualities of wit; much less of his riches Virtue or Kindred.
64. Break not a Jest where none take pleasure in mirth Laugh not aloud, nor at all without Occasion, deride no mans Misfortune, though there Seem to be Some cause.
65. Speak not injurious Words neither in Jest nor Earnest Scoff at none although they give Occasion.
66. Be not froward but friendly and Courteous; the first to Salute hear and answer & be not Pensive when it’s a time to Converse.
67. Detract not from others neither be excessive in Commanding.
68. Go not thither, where you know not, whether you Shall be Welcome or not. Give not Advice without being Asked & when desired do it briefly.
69. If two contend together take not the part of either unconstrained; and be not obstinate in your own Opinion, in Things indifferent be of the Major Side.
70. Reprehend not the imperfections of others for that belongs to Parents Masters and Superiors.
71. Gaze not on the marks or blemishes of Others and ask not how they came. What you may Speak in Secret to your Friend deliver not before others.
72. Speak not in an unknown Tongue in Company but in your own Language and that as those of Quality do and not as the Vulgar; Sublime matters treat Seriously.
73. Think before you Speak pronounce not imperfectly nor bring out your Words too hastily but orderly & distinctly.
74. When Another Speaks be attentive your Self and disturb not the Audience if any hesitate in his Words help him not nor Prompt him without desired, Interrupt him not, nor Answer him till his Speech be ended.
75. In the midst of Discourse ask not of what one treateth but if you Perceive any Stop because of your coming you may well intreat him gently to Proceed: If a Person of Quality comes in while your Conversing it’s handsome to Repeat what was said before.
76. While you are talking, Point not with your Finger at him of Whom you Discourse nor Approach too near him to whom you talk especially to his face.
77. Treat with men at fit Times about Business & Whisper not in the Company of Others.
78. Make no Comparisons and if any of the Company be Commended for any brave act of Virtue, commend not another for the Same.
79. Be not apt to relate News if you know not the truth thereof. In Discoursing of things you Have heard Name not your Author always A Secret Discover not.
80. Be not Tedious in Discourse or in reading unless you find the Company pleased therewith.
81. Be not Curious to Know the Affairs of Others neither approach those that Speak in Private.
82. Undertake not what you cannot Perform but be Careful to keep your Promise.
83. When you deliver a matter do it without Passion & with Discretion, however mean the Person be you do it too.
84. When your Superiors talk to any Body hearken not neither Speak nor Laugh.
85. In Company of these of Higher Quality than yourself Speak not til you are asked a Question then Stand upright put of your Hat & Answer in few words.
86. In Disputes, be not So Desirous to Overcome as not to give Liberty to each one to deliver his Opinion and Submit to the Judgment of the Major Part especially if they are Judges of the Dispute.
87. Let thy carriage be such as becomes a Man Grave Settled and attentive to that which is spoken. Contradict not at every turn what others Say.
88. Be not tedious in Discourse, make not many Digressions, nor repeat often the Same manner of Discourse.
89. Speak not Evil of the absent for it is unjust.
90. Being Set at meat Scratch not neither Spit Cough or blow your Nose except there’s a Necessity for it.
91. Make no Show of taking great Delight in your Victuals, Feed not with Greediness; cut your Bread with a Knife, lean not on the Table neither find fault with what you Eat.
92. Take no Salt or cut Bread with your Knife Greasy.
93. Entertaining any one at the table, it is decent to present him with meat; Undertake not to help others undesired by the Master.
94. If you Soak bread in the Sauce let it be no more than what you put in your Mouth at a time and blow not your broth at Table but Stay till Cools of it Self.
95. Put not your meat to your Mouth with your Knife in your hand neither Spit forth the Stones of any fruit Pie upon a Dish nor Cast anything under the table.
96. It’s unbecoming to Stoop much to ones Meat Keep your Fingers clean & when foul wipe them on a Corner of your Table Napkin.
97. Put not another bit into your mouth till the former be swallowed. Let not your morsels be too big for the jowls.
98. Drink not nor talk with your mouth full; neither gaze about you while you are drinking.
99. Drink not too leisurely nor yet too hastily. Before and after drinking, wipe your lips; breath not then or ever with too great a noise, for its uncivil.
100. Cleanse not your teeth with the table cloth napkin, fork, or knife; but if others do it, let it be done without a peep to them.
101. Rinse not your mouth in the presence of others.
102. It is out of use to call upon the company often to eat; nor need you drink to others every time you drink.
103. In the company of your betters, be not longer in eating than they are; lay not your arm but only your hand upon the table.
104. It belongs to the chiefest in company to unfold his napkin and fall to meat first, but he ought then to begin in time & to dispatch with dexterity that the slowest may have time allowed him.
105. Be not angry at the table whatever happens & if you have reason to be so, show it not; put on a cheerful countenance especially if there be strangers, for good humor makes one dish of meat a feast.
106. Set not yourself at the upper of the table; but if it be your due or that the master of the house will have it so, contend not, least you should trouble the company.
107. If others talk at the table, be attentive but talk not with meat in your mouth.
108. When you speak of God or his attributes, let it be seriously & with reverence. Honor & obey your natural parents although they be poor.
109. Let your recreations be manful not sinful.
110. Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire called conscience.
LINK: http://artofmanliness.com/2009/06/14/manvotional-george-washingtons-rules-of-civility-and-decent-behavior-in-company-and-converation/
Friday, June 19, 2009
New Clouds!!
National Geographic News (news.nationalgeographic.com)
June 3, 2009
"New Cloud Type Discovered?"
Written by Christine Dell'Amore
Photograph courtesy Jane Wiggins
These choppy clouds over Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in an undated picture could be examples of the first new type of cloud to be recognized since 1951. Or so hopes Gavin Pretor-Pinney, founder of the Cloud Appreciation Society.
The British cloud enthusiast said he began getting photos of "dramatic" and "weird" clouds (including the above) in 2005 that he didn't know how to define.
A few months ago he began preparing to propose the odd formations as a new cloud variety to the UN's World Meteorological Organization, which classifies cloud types.
Pretor-Pinney jokingly calls it the "Jacques Cousteau cloud," after its resemblance to a roiling ocean surface seen from below. But the cloud fan has proposed a "formal," Latin name: Undulus asperatus--roughly, "a very turbulent, violent, chaotic form of undulation," explained Pretor-Pinney, author of the new Cloud Collector's Handbook.
Margaret LeMone, a cloud expert with the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, said that she has taken photos of asperatus clouds intermittently over the past 30 years.
It's likely that the cloud will turn out to be a new variety, LeMone said.
"Having a group of people enthusiastic about clouds can only help the field of meteorology," she added.
Asked how has such a striking cloud type could go unrecognized, Pretor-Pinney cites its rarity--and the proliferation and portability of digital cameras. "Technology has allowed us to have this new perspective on the sky."
An "asperatus" cloud rolls over New Zealand's South Island in an undated picture.
Photograph courtesy Merrick Davies
This apparently new class of clouds is still a mystery. But experts suspect asperatus clouds' choppy undersides may be due to strong winds disturbing previously stable layers of warm and cold air.
Asperatus clouds may spur the first new classification in the World Meteorological Organization's International Cloud Atlas since the 1950s, Gavin Pretor-Pinney said.
Since the last addition to the atlas, the emergence of satellite imagery has pushed meteorologists to take a much broader view on weather and focus less on small-scale cloud formations.
But "the tide is turning back again," in part because the humble cloud is seen as a "wild card" in climate-change prediction, Pretor-Pinney said.
LeMone agreed that clouds are a "big unknown" in climate change, mostly because climate-change models do not provide a high-enough resolution to determine what clouds' impacts will be on a changing world.
A possibly new variety of cloud, the asperatus, coats the sky in Perthshire, Scotland, in an undated picture.
Photograph courtesy Ken Prior
Gavin Pretor-Pinney, who is proposing that asperatus clouds be officially recognized, said that clouds get a "bad rap."
"People complain about … having a cloud hanging over them, compared to someone having a sunny outlook on life," said Pretor-Pinney, founder of the Cloud Appreciation Society.
"To me, clouds are one of the most beautiful parts of nature. … "
LeMone, a self-described "cloud nut," agreed.
"If you have a rotten day, you can look outside and see a spectacular cloud," she said.
Asperatus clouds over Devon, U.K. in an undated picture
Photograph courtesy Richard Huntington
If the asperatus cloud type is classified as a new variety (above, asperatus clouds over Devon, U.K. in an undated picture), it would be the first addition to the World Meteorological Organization's cloud atlas since 1951.
Asperatus's champion, Gavin Pretor-Pinney, author of The Cloud Collector's Handbook, argues for greater appreciation of his subject.
"Even if you live in the middle of the city," he said, "the sky is the last wilderness you can look out on."
LINK: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/06/photogalleries/new-cloud-pictures/index.html
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Uighurs in Bermuda!!
Toronto Star (www.thestar.com)
June 13th, 2009
"From Hell to Paradise for Ex-Gitmo Detainees"
Four ethnic Uighurs adjusting to Bermuda, and life on outside
Written by Michelle Shephard
HAMILTON, Bermuda – After almost eight years of captivity, each step of Khelil Mamut's freedom is a little overwhelming.
The ocean, which he could hear only on windy days when the waves crashed beyond Guantanamo's razor wire rimmed fence, is now something he can wade into.
People call him by his name, not 278, his internee serial number.
Uighurs Salahidin Abdulahat, 32, left, and Khelil Mamut, 31, go fishing in Bermuda, where they're living after almost eight years in Guantanamo Bay. (June 13, 2009)
Then there was the horse he saw while walking one of the island trails on Thursday, the day he and three other Chinese citizens of the Muslim Uighur minority arrived in Bermuda. The animal made him stop suddenly, just to stare.
"How can I express it," he said yesterday, describing the new tropical home where he now lives with the three other former Guantanamo detainees. "It is so great, so beautiful."
"This may be a small island," added Abdullah Abdulqadir. "But it has a big heart."
The men spent yesterday with the Toronto Star, as they adjusted to life on the outside and reflected on a week that one local paper headlined: "From prison to paradise."
Despite the backlash to their move, which has all Bermudians talking, they seemed insulated in their oceanside pink cottage, enjoying a fish lunch, a sunset swim and fielding the occasional media call.
They broke their composure only when a local imam visited them, embracing each fiercely.
The U.S. government is footing the bill for their food and accommodation until they can find work, which likely won't be a problem since local companies have reportedly already made six offers.
Inside their three-bedroom apartment, where the carpet, curtain and walls match the pastel exterior, the men have managed to form a makeshift family.
American translator Rushan Abbas, who alternated yesterday between typing emails to their U.S. lawyers and kneading dough for a traditional Uighur dinner, joked that despite only being a few years older she considered the men her children.
Abbas worked for U.S. interrogators translating with Uighur detainees when she first started at Guantanamo in 2002.
Then she "switched sides," she said, and started working for defence attorneys. She came here for a few days to make the transition smoother since Abdulqadir and Mamut know only limited English, and the other two men, Salahidin Abdulahat and Ablikim Turahun, don't understand at all.
The men also have the assistance of a retired Bermudian army major, Glenn Brangman, who now works with the government. With his booming voice and hibiscus-patterned surf shorts, Brangman has become their energetic guide.
Two weeks ago the scene for these men in Camp Iguana – the U.S. military's name for the prison where they were detained in Guantanamo – couldn't have been more different. On June 1, Abdulqadir approached a small group of journalists during a rare unscripted moment in a prison where the message is tightly controlled.
"Who's in charge?" Abdulqadir asked, as reporters, including one from the Star, stood mute on the other side of the fence due to rules that forbid communication between journalists and prisoners.
Abdulqadir and another detainee then quickly displayed a sketch pad where they'd written their message in crayon, managing to pull off the detention centre's first public protest.
"We need to freedom (sic)," said one page.
Ten days later, a secret pre-dawn private flight whisked them away from Guantanamo to this tourist mecca.
There's no doubt the four men stand out in this self-governing British territory that's only 54 square kilometres – less than half the size of Guantanamo's U.S. naval base.
There's no Uighur population here and when locals are asked if there's an Asian community, most point to a Japanese resident who opened a restaurant.
Their arrival has consumed the local media and parliament. Opposition members tabled a no-confidence motion on Friday to oust Bermuda's Premier Ewart Brown, arguing that his covert deal with U.S. President Barack Obama was indicative of his "autocratic" leadership.
"We don't know who these men are," opposition minister Shawn Crockwell said in an interview with the Star.
"All of a sudden there's an association between Bermuda and terrorism. Whether or not these men are or not, there's that association."
The men yesterday said they hoped they could shake the terrorist label.
"There's absolutely no hard feelings toward the U.S.," said Abdulqadir.
"There are some people accusing us, labelling us as dangerous people, but that's not true at all."
For years, the debate over the Uighur detainees, who range in age from 30 to 38, was whether they were Guantanamo victims or men who had formed links with Al Qaeda to support their opposition to China's rule.
The men said they fled China in the summer of 2001 for neighbouring Afghanistan – the two countries share a tiny stretch of border – because they could not get passports enabling them to go elsewhere.
After the 9/11 attacks and the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001, the men were caught by Pakistani services and sold to the United States for a bounty.
The Pentagon accused them of training at "Al Qaeda-linked" camps and belonging to the East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM), which opposes China's oppression of Uighurs.
In September 2002, after the men had been in custody for almost a year, the ETIM was designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department.
The listing itself was criticized by some who accused the United States of succumbing to China's pressure at a time when Beijing's support was sought for the upcoming war in Iraq.
During years of litigation, the D.C. courts slammed the inadequacy of the government's evidence, eventually pushing the Bush administration to concede that the Uighurs were no longer designated "enemy combatants."
This administrative reclassification, which cleared the men for release, prompted one District Court judge to quip: "The government's use of the Kafkaesque term `no longer enemy combatants' deliberately begs the question of whether these petitioners ever were enemy combatants."
Yesterday, the men said the toughest time in their captivity was when Chinese interrogators were allowed on the base in 2002.
They also talked of their year inside Camp 6, where they were kept in solitary confinement and only meals and calls of other prisoners broke the monotony of the day.
After a D.C. judge ordered them released last October, they were transferred to Camp Iguana, a separate prison of enclosed wooden huts, perched high on a rocky cliff overlooking the ocean.
But when the United States denied them refuge and no other country would accept them, they were trapped in a legal limbo until last week.
Another 13 Uighur detainees, heading for the tiny Pacific island of Palau, still remain in Guantanamo, as does Canadian Omar Khadr.
Some residents here were angry that Bermuda accepted men other Western nations refused to take, while others say the men will integrate well.
"I feel people need somewhere to go. These guys haven't done anything wrong and have been locked up," said Carol Turini, a 70-year-old cab driver who retired from a job in the immigration department eight years ago.
"Why not?"
Their American lawyer, Sabin Willet, said one of the most poignant moments for him came when they were shopping for new clothes as a local talk radio show was airing irate callers saying Bermuda was harbouring terrorists.
Hearing the radio, and then recognizing the men, the storeowner looked at them and said, "Well, I welcome you here."
LINK: http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/650568
June 13th, 2009
"From Hell to Paradise for Ex-Gitmo Detainees"
Four ethnic Uighurs adjusting to Bermuda, and life on outside
Written by Michelle Shephard
HAMILTON, Bermuda – After almost eight years of captivity, each step of Khelil Mamut's freedom is a little overwhelming.
The ocean, which he could hear only on windy days when the waves crashed beyond Guantanamo's razor wire rimmed fence, is now something he can wade into.
People call him by his name, not 278, his internee serial number.
Uighurs Salahidin Abdulahat, 32, left, and Khelil Mamut, 31, go fishing in Bermuda, where they're living after almost eight years in Guantanamo Bay. (June 13, 2009)
Then there was the horse he saw while walking one of the island trails on Thursday, the day he and three other Chinese citizens of the Muslim Uighur minority arrived in Bermuda. The animal made him stop suddenly, just to stare.
"How can I express it," he said yesterday, describing the new tropical home where he now lives with the three other former Guantanamo detainees. "It is so great, so beautiful."
"This may be a small island," added Abdullah Abdulqadir. "But it has a big heart."
The men spent yesterday with the Toronto Star, as they adjusted to life on the outside and reflected on a week that one local paper headlined: "From prison to paradise."
Despite the backlash to their move, which has all Bermudians talking, they seemed insulated in their oceanside pink cottage, enjoying a fish lunch, a sunset swim and fielding the occasional media call.
They broke their composure only when a local imam visited them, embracing each fiercely.
The U.S. government is footing the bill for their food and accommodation until they can find work, which likely won't be a problem since local companies have reportedly already made six offers.
Inside their three-bedroom apartment, where the carpet, curtain and walls match the pastel exterior, the men have managed to form a makeshift family.
American translator Rushan Abbas, who alternated yesterday between typing emails to their U.S. lawyers and kneading dough for a traditional Uighur dinner, joked that despite only being a few years older she considered the men her children.
Abbas worked for U.S. interrogators translating with Uighur detainees when she first started at Guantanamo in 2002.
Then she "switched sides," she said, and started working for defence attorneys. She came here for a few days to make the transition smoother since Abdulqadir and Mamut know only limited English, and the other two men, Salahidin Abdulahat and Ablikim Turahun, don't understand at all.
The men also have the assistance of a retired Bermudian army major, Glenn Brangman, who now works with the government. With his booming voice and hibiscus-patterned surf shorts, Brangman has become their energetic guide.
Two weeks ago the scene for these men in Camp Iguana – the U.S. military's name for the prison where they were detained in Guantanamo – couldn't have been more different. On June 1, Abdulqadir approached a small group of journalists during a rare unscripted moment in a prison where the message is tightly controlled.
"Who's in charge?" Abdulqadir asked, as reporters, including one from the Star, stood mute on the other side of the fence due to rules that forbid communication between journalists and prisoners.
Abdulqadir and another detainee then quickly displayed a sketch pad where they'd written their message in crayon, managing to pull off the detention centre's first public protest.
"We need to freedom (sic)," said one page.
Ten days later, a secret pre-dawn private flight whisked them away from Guantanamo to this tourist mecca.
There's no doubt the four men stand out in this self-governing British territory that's only 54 square kilometres – less than half the size of Guantanamo's U.S. naval base.
There's no Uighur population here and when locals are asked if there's an Asian community, most point to a Japanese resident who opened a restaurant.
Their arrival has consumed the local media and parliament. Opposition members tabled a no-confidence motion on Friday to oust Bermuda's Premier Ewart Brown, arguing that his covert deal with U.S. President Barack Obama was indicative of his "autocratic" leadership.
"We don't know who these men are," opposition minister Shawn Crockwell said in an interview with the Star.
"All of a sudden there's an association between Bermuda and terrorism. Whether or not these men are or not, there's that association."
The men yesterday said they hoped they could shake the terrorist label.
"There's absolutely no hard feelings toward the U.S.," said Abdulqadir.
"There are some people accusing us, labelling us as dangerous people, but that's not true at all."
For years, the debate over the Uighur detainees, who range in age from 30 to 38, was whether they were Guantanamo victims or men who had formed links with Al Qaeda to support their opposition to China's rule.
The men said they fled China in the summer of 2001 for neighbouring Afghanistan – the two countries share a tiny stretch of border – because they could not get passports enabling them to go elsewhere.
After the 9/11 attacks and the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001, the men were caught by Pakistani services and sold to the United States for a bounty.
The Pentagon accused them of training at "Al Qaeda-linked" camps and belonging to the East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM), which opposes China's oppression of Uighurs.
In September 2002, after the men had been in custody for almost a year, the ETIM was designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department.
The listing itself was criticized by some who accused the United States of succumbing to China's pressure at a time when Beijing's support was sought for the upcoming war in Iraq.
During years of litigation, the D.C. courts slammed the inadequacy of the government's evidence, eventually pushing the Bush administration to concede that the Uighurs were no longer designated "enemy combatants."
This administrative reclassification, which cleared the men for release, prompted one District Court judge to quip: "The government's use of the Kafkaesque term `no longer enemy combatants' deliberately begs the question of whether these petitioners ever were enemy combatants."
Yesterday, the men said the toughest time in their captivity was when Chinese interrogators were allowed on the base in 2002.
They also talked of their year inside Camp 6, where they were kept in solitary confinement and only meals and calls of other prisoners broke the monotony of the day.
After a D.C. judge ordered them released last October, they were transferred to Camp Iguana, a separate prison of enclosed wooden huts, perched high on a rocky cliff overlooking the ocean.
But when the United States denied them refuge and no other country would accept them, they were trapped in a legal limbo until last week.
Another 13 Uighur detainees, heading for the tiny Pacific island of Palau, still remain in Guantanamo, as does Canadian Omar Khadr.
Some residents here were angry that Bermuda accepted men other Western nations refused to take, while others say the men will integrate well.
"I feel people need somewhere to go. These guys haven't done anything wrong and have been locked up," said Carol Turini, a 70-year-old cab driver who retired from a job in the immigration department eight years ago.
"Why not?"
Their American lawyer, Sabin Willet, said one of the most poignant moments for him came when they were shopping for new clothes as a local talk radio show was airing irate callers saying Bermuda was harbouring terrorists.
Hearing the radio, and then recognizing the men, the storeowner looked at them and said, "Well, I welcome you here."
LINK: http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/650568
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Open Letter!!
Youtube.com (www.youtube.com)
June 15th, 2009
"An Open Letter From Iranians TO The World-Spread it World Wide"
Name of Poster Withheld
Text Version of Video:
"Human beings are members of a whole, In creation of one essence and soul. If one member is afflicted with pain, Other members uneasy will remain. If you have no sympathy for human pain, The name of human you cannot retain." - Saadi, the great Persian poet
This week Iranians turned out in record numbers not seen since the beginning of the Iranian revolution to change their current President Mahmood Ahmadinejad.
Their willingness to exercise their democratic right was both historic and uncommon in the Middle East. Iranians longed for change the same way people in the United States, and indeed worldwide, longed for a new beginning after the Bush years. They were tired of an increasingly delusional President who has thrown their country into economic turmoil and portrayed their country as a conflict seeking entity in the Middle East.
But today the same Iranian regime that has denied a dialog with the world, denied human rights, denied democracy, denied the Holocaust, is blatantly denying the will of its people by committing massive election fraud to reelect Mahmood Ahmadinejad, and arresting journalists and opposition leaders in broad daylight. Accepting this deception will be costly not only for the people of Iran but also for the people of the Middle East, with far reaching consequences worldwide.
As you read these words, the people in Iran have taken to the streets in nationwide protests. Despite brutal government suppression tactics the Iranian people are courageously fighting for their rights. As anti-riot police batons crush the bones of demonstrators whose only protest is election fraud, Iranians are screaming for the world to hear them:
WE DENOUNCE MAHMOOD AHMADINEJAD!
The people of Iran now ask for your support! We do not expect you to fight our struggle but to help us fight it. We expect people worldwide to put pressure on their governments and politicians not to accept the legitimacy of the Iranian elections and the fraudulent presidency of Mahmood Ahmadinejad.
Democratic societies worldwide must not leave the Iranian people alone now that they have risen to the challenge. Instead they need to align their policies with the will of the Iranian people.
We ask you not to let 70 million people in Iran be taken hostage.
Any government that accepts Mahmood Ahmadinejad as the new president of Iran has betrayed the Iranian people, endangered world peace, and has no sympathy for human pain.
LINK: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8D7SYJVzqg&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fandrewsullivan%2Etheatlantic%2Ecom%2F&feature=player_embedded
June 15th, 2009
"An Open Letter From Iranians TO The World-Spread it World Wide"
Name of Poster Withheld
Text Version of Video:
"Human beings are members of a whole, In creation of one essence and soul. If one member is afflicted with pain, Other members uneasy will remain. If you have no sympathy for human pain, The name of human you cannot retain." - Saadi, the great Persian poet
This week Iranians turned out in record numbers not seen since the beginning of the Iranian revolution to change their current President Mahmood Ahmadinejad.
Their willingness to exercise their democratic right was both historic and uncommon in the Middle East. Iranians longed for change the same way people in the United States, and indeed worldwide, longed for a new beginning after the Bush years. They were tired of an increasingly delusional President who has thrown their country into economic turmoil and portrayed their country as a conflict seeking entity in the Middle East.
But today the same Iranian regime that has denied a dialog with the world, denied human rights, denied democracy, denied the Holocaust, is blatantly denying the will of its people by committing massive election fraud to reelect Mahmood Ahmadinejad, and arresting journalists and opposition leaders in broad daylight. Accepting this deception will be costly not only for the people of Iran but also for the people of the Middle East, with far reaching consequences worldwide.
As you read these words, the people in Iran have taken to the streets in nationwide protests. Despite brutal government suppression tactics the Iranian people are courageously fighting for their rights. As anti-riot police batons crush the bones of demonstrators whose only protest is election fraud, Iranians are screaming for the world to hear them:
WE DENOUNCE MAHMOOD AHMADINEJAD!
The people of Iran now ask for your support! We do not expect you to fight our struggle but to help us fight it. We expect people worldwide to put pressure on their governments and politicians not to accept the legitimacy of the Iranian elections and the fraudulent presidency of Mahmood Ahmadinejad.
Democratic societies worldwide must not leave the Iranian people alone now that they have risen to the challenge. Instead they need to align their policies with the will of the Iranian people.
We ask you not to let 70 million people in Iran be taken hostage.
Any government that accepts Mahmood Ahmadinejad as the new president of Iran has betrayed the Iranian people, endangered world peace, and has no sympathy for human pain.
LINK: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8D7SYJVzqg&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fandrewsullivan%2Etheatlantic%2Ecom%2F&feature=player_embedded
Sir Christopher Lee!!
Google News (www.google.com) via Associated Press (ap.org)
June 13th, 2009
"Arise, Sir Dracula! Queen Knights Christopher Lee"
Written By RAPHAEL G. SATTER
LONDON (AP) — The Lord of the Undead is now a knight of the British Empire.
Christopher Lee, whose sonorous voice and burning black eyes made him a memorable arch-villain in films from "Dracula" to "Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith," was given one of Britain's highest honors Saturday by Queen Elizabeth II.
Golfer Nick Faldo, captain of Europe's 2008 Ryder Cup team, was also promoted to "sir." He can add the title to his six major championship wins.
Among the others receiving royal honors: Tony-award winning actor Alan Cumming, for his work in films such as "X2: X-Men United" and his gay rights advocacy; celebrity hairdresser Vidal Sassoon, who lent his name to a worldwide brand of shampoos and salons; and U.S. economist David Blanchflower, who accurately predicted Britain's recession during his tenure on the interest rate-setting committee at the Bank of England.
Celebrity chef Delia Smith, whose recipe books adorn kitchens around the world, was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire, or CBE, for her help in teaching the country how to cook.
Poetry also got a boost, with Andrew Motion and Christopher Ricks both awarded knighthoods. Motion was Britain's Poet Laureate for a decade until he was replaced by Carol Ann Duffy earlier this year. Ricks steps down from his post of Oxford Professor of Poetry later this year.
Lee, 87, who made his name in Britain's low-budget Hammer Studios horror films, is one of cinema's consummate bad-guys, appearing as everything from Bond villain Scaramanga in "The Man With the Golden Gun" to the disreputable Russian mystic in "Rasputin, the Mad Monk."
More recent turns include the evil wizard Saruman in "The Lord of the Rings" movies and fallen Jedi Count Dooku in two of George Lucas' "Star Wars" prequels.
Faldo first picked up a golf club at age 14 and has gone on to win more than 40 tournaments. His six major victories include a triumph at the U.S. Masters in 1996 and the Nissan Open in 1997. The 51-year-old has since made a series of entrepreneurial moves — into fairground design and television commentary, among others.
Cumming was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire, or OBE; Blanchflower and Sassoon were both made CBE.
Lee, Faldo, and the rest are among 984 people honored in Queen Elizabeth II's Birthday Honors list.
In descending order, the main honors are knighthoods, Commander of the Order of the British Empire, and Officer of the Order of the British Empire, OBE, and Member of the Order of the British Empire, or MBE.
Knights are addressed as "sir" or "dame," while recipients of CBEs, OBEs and MBEs have no title but can put the letters after their names.
The honors are bestowed twice a year by the monarch, but recipients are selected by committees of civil servants from nominations made by the government and the public.
Although sportsmen, politicians, and artists regularly top the list, more than two-thirds of the honors go to people out of the limelight, especially civil servants and those with long service to their communities.
This year's recipients include a former elementary school janitor from Aberdeenshire in Scotland and an information desk assistant at Belfast International Airport in Northern Ireland.
LINK: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ij82OBGsx4n5ZVzhEvVoWKTJXC_wD98PDUPG0
June 13th, 2009
"Arise, Sir Dracula! Queen Knights Christopher Lee"
Written By RAPHAEL G. SATTER
LONDON (AP) — The Lord of the Undead is now a knight of the British Empire.
Christopher Lee, whose sonorous voice and burning black eyes made him a memorable arch-villain in films from "Dracula" to "Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith," was given one of Britain's highest honors Saturday by Queen Elizabeth II.
Golfer Nick Faldo, captain of Europe's 2008 Ryder Cup team, was also promoted to "sir." He can add the title to his six major championship wins.
Among the others receiving royal honors: Tony-award winning actor Alan Cumming, for his work in films such as "X2: X-Men United" and his gay rights advocacy; celebrity hairdresser Vidal Sassoon, who lent his name to a worldwide brand of shampoos and salons; and U.S. economist David Blanchflower, who accurately predicted Britain's recession during his tenure on the interest rate-setting committee at the Bank of England.
Celebrity chef Delia Smith, whose recipe books adorn kitchens around the world, was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire, or CBE, for her help in teaching the country how to cook.
Poetry also got a boost, with Andrew Motion and Christopher Ricks both awarded knighthoods. Motion was Britain's Poet Laureate for a decade until he was replaced by Carol Ann Duffy earlier this year. Ricks steps down from his post of Oxford Professor of Poetry later this year.
Lee, 87, who made his name in Britain's low-budget Hammer Studios horror films, is one of cinema's consummate bad-guys, appearing as everything from Bond villain Scaramanga in "The Man With the Golden Gun" to the disreputable Russian mystic in "Rasputin, the Mad Monk."
More recent turns include the evil wizard Saruman in "The Lord of the Rings" movies and fallen Jedi Count Dooku in two of George Lucas' "Star Wars" prequels.
Faldo first picked up a golf club at age 14 and has gone on to win more than 40 tournaments. His six major victories include a triumph at the U.S. Masters in 1996 and the Nissan Open in 1997. The 51-year-old has since made a series of entrepreneurial moves — into fairground design and television commentary, among others.
Cumming was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire, or OBE; Blanchflower and Sassoon were both made CBE.
Lee, Faldo, and the rest are among 984 people honored in Queen Elizabeth II's Birthday Honors list.
In descending order, the main honors are knighthoods, Commander of the Order of the British Empire, and Officer of the Order of the British Empire, OBE, and Member of the Order of the British Empire, or MBE.
Knights are addressed as "sir" or "dame," while recipients of CBEs, OBEs and MBEs have no title but can put the letters after their names.
The honors are bestowed twice a year by the monarch, but recipients are selected by committees of civil servants from nominations made by the government and the public.
Although sportsmen, politicians, and artists regularly top the list, more than two-thirds of the honors go to people out of the limelight, especially civil servants and those with long service to their communities.
This year's recipients include a former elementary school janitor from Aberdeenshire in Scotland and an information desk assistant at Belfast International Airport in Northern Ireland.
LINK: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ij82OBGsx4n5ZVzhEvVoWKTJXC_wD98PDUPG0
Labels:
people and celebrities
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Iranian Tweets.
This is going on NOW in Iran. The cable news networks have provided very little information on the events, but Andrew Sullivan's blog, The Daily Dish, has been compiling up-to-the-minute news as it hits the internet.
In order to post this quickly, I have NOT included the photos. For the photos and continued coverage, go to The Daily Dish.
This info is not from an official news site. These messages are today's Twitter messages from inside Iran by people on the streets. Go Here to learn about Twitter.
The Atlantic - The Daily Dish (andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com)
16 Jun 2009 01:18 pm
"Live-Tweeting the Revolution"
we told everybody to get out and leave dorms. but most of the student got no where to go & no relatives in Tehran.
it looks they are going to attack dorms again! IRG's chopper just passed by Yousefabad. there is noting left to destroy over there!
a state TV employee: Gun shooting sound is heard near Jaame jam building
confirmed by farsi twitters: around 2000 basiji is now standing in front of dorms.
Mousavi supporters are having "Calmness will beat the bullets" placards and standing near TV/Radio station's mosque.
NEWS: Mousavi supporters moving towards IRIB News Network HQ. 8 ppl confirmed killed
more than 150,000 people are demostrating to Tajrish Sq.Basiji forces are ready to attack / in Tehran
they are searching for Dr Yazdi , a political activist
Basij are wearing civilian clothing. Do not mix them up with protestors!!
Police is going to houses and seizing satellite receivers.
Qazvin Uni kids right now tore up their exam papers and stopped the exams
BBCPersian has just gone black. [Shiraz]
Mousavi said he is ready for a live show at IRIB (Iran TV). do u think they will let him do that. No way.
IRNN : Guardian Council "revocation of the result of the election is a possibility"
At first Arabs sent their congrats to AhmadiNejad very fast but now their newspapers are turning on him.
I'm hearing LOUD shouts (Allaho Akbar/DownWithDictator) from the street. There should be a struggle. My wife is going to check
The most famous-legal-Iranian singer(Shajarian)said "TV has no right to play my music.I've not sang them for Ah.Nej."
Many have said my username is long. I'm sorry guys, I didn't mean to be political at the time I created this account.
Gmail and Yahoo messenger is filtered too. They are blocking all the communication means.
For those of you who don't know, the rally is in Jameh Jam.
Rally is on. Silent, calm, and peaceful. This is what we all want! Thanks for everyone who's there, and who's watching!
my cousin in tehran, a girl of 29, was beaten with batten in her legs and can't participate today because she can't walk
Masood just called (he's OK), his laptop is destroyed & unfortunately gov intelligent found and arrest Reza at shariati Hospital.
Ashora platoons now moving from valiasr toward National Tv staion. mousavi's supporters are already there. my father is out there!
eyewitness: The crowd is from Mirdamad upto Park Saayi. (That's huge!!)
Eyewitness Live: More ppl have joined, walking on Valiasr. packed from Mirdaamad upto Park, moving towards north.
everyone! I'm reporting pro-mousavi rally up valiasr to Jaam-e-jam!! Obvious I'm not trying to discourage anyone!
There is conflict in front of TV station
DO NOT RT anything U read from "NEW" tweeters, gvmt spreading misinfo
Security forces opening twitter accounts 2 pose as protestors n spread disinformation
24 newspapers were closed down in iran to stop the true reflection of the recent events.
Iran has banned all foreign journalists from reporting on the sts.
State-TV is repeatedly telling people to go to Mousavi's protest in Valiasr Sq. One can only imagine what their plan is. :((
state TV is now requesting people (armed forces) to go to valiasr st and protest against the outlaws & criminals! (people)
The News Channel of Iran just announced that neither Mousavi nor his supporters will participate in today's protest in Vali Asr square.
Another source confirmed: "11 dead yesterday in Rasoul Hospital"
gmail blocked tooo:(( i heard in Velenjak & Farmanie they assemblage satellites from ppl homes:(
yesterday my friend saw a girl that fell into street and a guardians stands beside her and shoot into her leg:( (jenah st)
unconfirmed rumours - army generals arrested - many rumours of coupdetat by army
rumour spreading Tehran - Army Generals have met in secret - Army considering position
his family beaten seriously and brother taken away - house destroyed
Saeid Hajarian - rumour - arrested last night
The girl that was taken away at 2 AM in Tehran was Shiva Nazaragahi
NEWS: Girl that was taken 2AM; It is unclear whether the agents really were intelligence agents or lying.
Woman says ppl knocking on her door 2 AM saying they were intelligence agents, took her daughter
are hearing that all foreigner visas are being cancelled by gov
security in Jamaran is unbelieveble - hundreds of Baseej guarding Khamenei
confirmed - Tabriz - Baseej headqurters set fire - 'many' dead
Tehran hotels under high security to stop Iranians from contacting foreign press
anyone with camera or laptop is attacked in street
i am seeing tweets about a lot of disturbances, arrests, violence in Shahrak Gharb, any reports?
we hear 1dead in shiraz, livefire used in other cities RT
Very scared, I was talkin to myuncle in shiraz and he was so paranoid.
If you hear the forces talking in arabic..BE CAREFUL..these guys are imported in, they are not affraid of suicide bombing and killing
Police the reason of insecurity; Dead students buried by profs
Basij attacking Shiraz and Mashad universities, Shiraz U's dean resigned
some student killed by the 4a blast in Babol Univ's dorms; surrounded by Basij forces
Militia still attacking people in sidestreets but main roads are peaceful marchers.
Basij Militia attacks a residential complex
Students are protesting in Mashhad's Ferdowsi uni. surrounded by Basij & Ansar forces UNCONF
Confirmed info: hezbollah mobilized & lebanese coming in. this is going to get a lot worse before it gets any better pass it down
it's not only police that we're dealing with. there's basij, anti riot guard, elite IRGC
Basij (pro leader militia) is announcing a demonstration at 3 in ValiAsr Sq. , Mousavi's is at 5; same place.
Supporters of Ahmadinejad plan a rally today at the same Tehran square where backers of Mousavi say they will gather
Conf: Abtahi (key reformist, and supporter of Karroubi) is arrested.
stay safe and I will RT anything you write! The world is watching and history is being made--we bear witness!
unconfrm:10 highrank Sepaah officers Sepaah arrested as they intended to support ppl 2gether W Artesh officers. know more?
BIG explosion at Nooshiravani Babol University (North Iran),police does not lets people to go there and see what had happened.
March for today 5pm is ON, at Valiasr Sq. in Tehran, spread to all u know, Mousavi himself will not be attending
All last night we hear shooting accross Tehran - everyone is full of rumours and stories - many arrests in night
Iran state radio says 7 protesters killed overnight in tehran, report of one killed in shiraz
Just heard from an eye witness in Tehran: last night 12 people shot to death had been brought to Rasul_Akram hospital, with dozens wounded.
i used to use twitter to follow my favorite tech bloggers... good old days :(
areh manam haminor i never thought i use facebook so much, i only use to read tech blogs
EVERYONE everywhere set yourLOCATION to TEHRAN! Confuse them.They can't follow everyone!
Still not confirmed if the #iranelection hashtag is blocked. KEEP USING IT. Could be a propaganda to disperse everyone.
"JUST IN: Iran blocking #iranelection tags. Migrate to #iran9 hashtag instead."
#IranElection hashtag is not blocked in Iran. Yells of Allaho Akbar just happen for two hours, 9:00-11:00 PM local time.
We gather to stand in and in solidarity with the people of Iran. No political factions!!! No flags!! (from any country) TELL YOUR FRIENDS!!
I was proud to cast my 1st vote as a US citizen this year, but I am dissapointed at how other govs are acting
it was heart warming to see protestors helping iranian police that were injured and hurt. never lose your true cause, integrity,principle!
confirmed - most of Tehran Bazar is closed today
people saying that army is split. people talking of coup. unconfirmed. we need army on our side.
ppl (protesters against coup) are on strike, with black clothes today. mourning for what is happening in Iran.
Nobody will go to office today as a strike. I will stay at home.
Today is a day of strikes throughout Iran, will it be successful?
this will be a pivotal day for Iran, have faith in yourselves and know that you are not alone. Far and wide we are following :)
We have no national press coverage in Iran, everyone should help spread Mousavi's message. One Person = One Broadcaster.
wow guys, i cant express how great it feels to have so much support from you all for my country, its surreal, many many thanks
stat-run TV: "Tomorrow @3pm: protest against rioters!"i.e. millions who rallied on Mon.
IRANIANS: Tuesday(TOM) at 5pm at Valiasr Sq we will march for our rights and in memory of 5 students killed yesterday
Since ppl cannot say "death to ahmadinejad" or such, they say "allah o akbar" which is "god is great"
I had never seen this much harmony in ppl.You can now see how iranians are united with each other, it's truly an amazing
sight From Chizar Sq. I can hear people shouting their heart out from Qeitarieh & Andarzgu St.! and cars honking! Way to go ppl!
All normal proxys out - all normal ISP's out in Tehran
Mssg from Twitter: Our...partners at NTT America recognize the role Twitter is currently playing as an important communication tool in Iran.
tear gas was used inside the girls dorm
and motorbikes ridden into the boys dorm
Glass and nails being set on streets to thwart motorcycle terror
squads of lebas shakhsi [Lebanese in private clothes] on motorbikes all over the place
molotov cocktails have come out
reports say that the Uni Tehran's dorms has been stormed by the paramilitary forces again tonight
STOP all the attacks on Iran goverment websites. Hurting Iran's internet connection. RT very important
good night. viva freedom. viva truth. Hope a better coverage by media. That's our only support.
I'm so tired and going to get some rest while I know there r people & students in streets fighting for justice.
we are all tired - no sleep for 3 days - one of us is injured from baton - waiting for doctor
Shiraz Univ closed. Students are asked to leave the dorm.
still hearing news about more deaths during last nights raid to dormitories and todays shootings.
more than 100 students missing from Tehran Uni dorms - reports of several dead from last night
Activists call for help to catalog faces of plain-cloths militia4 later IDing.,thy r d ones who r shooting at ppl, u can help
CONFIRMED Basiji central building put on fire today by ppl
BBC & CNN, PLEASE publish information on nationwide strike planned for tomorrow Tuesday throughout all of Iran
Tomorrow rally at ValiAsr Sq. 5:00PM
State TV announced that they will "recount" voted again since tomorrow
Ahmadinejad called us Dust, we showed him a sandstorm.
Protesters writing "only Mousavi" on Freedon sqr. tower, Iran's most prominent landmark
U beat (us),U kill,U cut, what DO u do with d unpreventable growth of new blooms" a Persian song*
ppl chanting "Police, police, support us"
also 6 students who were beaten last night in the dorm died today. they were from my university. we wore black today :((
NOTE to HACKERS - attack www.farhang.gov.ir - pls try to hack all iran gov wesites. very difficult for us.
confirmed - ahmadinejad website hacked off net.
Intelligence calling homes and play recording saying "u participated in today's march, don't repeat"
Reports of gunfire in Tehran's Saadatabad district
Tarasht dormitory is seiged by basij
Non stop sound of shooting heard in Tehran
after hearing about killing a person by Basij people from Ikbatan(a part of Tehran) came out & started another demonstration
People are shouting "This Blood in my veins will stop the coup"
Sources in #Tehran say candidate Mehdi Karrubi will speak in 2 hours. He's protesting results w/#Mousavi.
Hearing Allaho Akbar and Down with dictator from all the roofs
ppl get together in front of our apartment it seems ppl ready for demonstration again in tonight
we are going offline to get a phone free for calling out. we are also moving location - too long here - is dangerous.
we are hearing that large numbers gathering in Tajreesh sq, north tehran, now. rumour that there will be another speech
tonight Kamenei will fight hard - he knows he is close to finish.
3 ppl from our group still not returned from march. no mobile contact. last phone contact 2 hours ago.
we have decided not to go out now and wait to see if situation calm down.
streets very dangerous now. groups of militia on motorbikes searching for protesters.
we estimate marchers today were 1 million ++. confirmed at least one dead in azadi sq - first hand.
confirmed - it was unprovoked attack by Baseej. People running to hide everywhere in streets around Azadi.
People are running in streets outside. There is panic in streets. people going ino houses to hide.
Baseej shooting in Azadi sq - army standing by and watching for now.
Dr. Jebhe Dar Maralani, the president of Tehran University’s College of Electronics resigned in protest to last night’s killing of five students.
From Ahvaz: Around Ahavaz bridge the sounds of gunshots can be heard. People have gathered in Naderi street. Cell phones have been disconnected in this city.
Satellite TV is jammed... Internet is slow... Cell phone service coming and going... the night is coming in... this makes one worried
People in Rasht being hunted by police forces, reportedly with teargas. Those in their houses shelter the ones running.
We have heard what sounds like gunshots in distance. still have people on streets we have not heard from.
As it gets dark Basij expected target University dorms again
AT LEAST ONE DEAD AFTER PRO-GOVERNMENT MILITIA OPEN FIRE AT OPPOSITION SUPPORTERS IN TEHRAN. Pls RT!
People are getting killed in Azadi Sq.
Demo spread from Azadi sq, to streets and hwys around it. Cars honking horns, smaller groups marching. False hopes?
Dispersed fights in Tehran; sound of shooting heard
Tho today's protest is illegal, police not moving in. Possibly too big to handle, or images of attax beg. to embarrass ldrs
Just returned from Mousavi demonstration. Huge, easily 100s of thousands. Mood is peaceful, even happy.
unconfirmed as yet - mousavi newspaper offices raided.
Students are being surrounded in Shiraz Uni civil police (Basij) is in fight with people.
There are too many people just watching. Watching argument between forces and youth. What are they thinking about?
I hear that NPR is claiming that it is false news that Mousavi is in crowd now. IT'S NOT! Tell them pp, we have pics!
Mousavi now; "these masses were not brought by bus or by threat. they were not brought for potatoes. they came themselves"
@BabakMehrabani is saying that he was beaten by a baton and his right hand is numb. He is twitting with the left hand.
They blocked all the streets ends to university!
Tens of thousands of protestors are chanting "No fear, No fear, we are with each other".
In Shiraz there r around 300 "Basiji" in Sinama Sadi cross. They r being fully armed with shields & batons.
Other cities also having their own parades but with MORE oppression; Mashhad, Babol, Tabriz, ...
Rumors: fake unsuccessful Ahmadinejad's assassination is planned for tomorrow. Please inform everybody.
it's worth taking the risk, we're going. I won't be able to update until I'm back. again thanks for your kind support and wish us luck
Grand Ayatollah Saanei accompanies today's anti Ahmadinejad rally
People were holding signs saying: We are not sheep.
Hundreds of thousands of people are demonstrating from Engelab to Azadi. The number of people is constantly increasing as more people join to protest against the coup d’état.
LINK: http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2009/06/livetweeting-the-revolution.html
In order to post this quickly, I have NOT included the photos. For the photos and continued coverage, go to The Daily Dish.
This info is not from an official news site. These messages are today's Twitter messages from inside Iran by people on the streets. Go Here to learn about Twitter.
The Atlantic - The Daily Dish (andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com)
16 Jun 2009 01:18 pm
"Live-Tweeting the Revolution"
we told everybody to get out and leave dorms. but most of the student got no where to go & no relatives in Tehran.
it looks they are going to attack dorms again! IRG's chopper just passed by Yousefabad. there is noting left to destroy over there!
a state TV employee: Gun shooting sound is heard near Jaame jam building
confirmed by farsi twitters: around 2000 basiji is now standing in front of dorms.
Mousavi supporters are having "Calmness will beat the bullets" placards and standing near TV/Radio station's mosque.
NEWS: Mousavi supporters moving towards IRIB News Network HQ. 8 ppl confirmed killed
more than 150,000 people are demostrating to Tajrish Sq.Basiji forces are ready to attack / in Tehran
they are searching for Dr Yazdi , a political activist
Basij are wearing civilian clothing. Do not mix them up with protestors!!
Police is going to houses and seizing satellite receivers.
Qazvin Uni kids right now tore up their exam papers and stopped the exams
BBCPersian has just gone black. [Shiraz]
Mousavi said he is ready for a live show at IRIB (Iran TV). do u think they will let him do that. No way.
IRNN : Guardian Council "revocation of the result of the election is a possibility"
At first Arabs sent their congrats to AhmadiNejad very fast but now their newspapers are turning on him.
I'm hearing LOUD shouts (Allaho Akbar/DownWithDictator) from the street. There should be a struggle. My wife is going to check
The most famous-legal-Iranian singer(Shajarian)said "TV has no right to play my music.I've not sang them for Ah.Nej."
Many have said my username is long. I'm sorry guys, I didn't mean to be political at the time I created this account.
Gmail and Yahoo messenger is filtered too. They are blocking all the communication means.
For those of you who don't know, the rally is in Jameh Jam.
Rally is on. Silent, calm, and peaceful. This is what we all want! Thanks for everyone who's there, and who's watching!
my cousin in tehran, a girl of 29, was beaten with batten in her legs and can't participate today because she can't walk
Masood just called (he's OK), his laptop is destroyed & unfortunately gov intelligent found and arrest Reza at shariati Hospital.
Ashora platoons now moving from valiasr toward National Tv staion. mousavi's supporters are already there. my father is out there!
eyewitness: The crowd is from Mirdamad upto Park Saayi. (That's huge!!)
Eyewitness Live: More ppl have joined, walking on Valiasr. packed from Mirdaamad upto Park, moving towards north.
everyone! I'm reporting pro-mousavi rally up valiasr to Jaam-e-jam!! Obvious I'm not trying to discourage anyone!
There is conflict in front of TV station
DO NOT RT anything U read from "NEW" tweeters, gvmt spreading misinfo
Security forces opening twitter accounts 2 pose as protestors n spread disinformation
24 newspapers were closed down in iran to stop the true reflection of the recent events.
Iran has banned all foreign journalists from reporting on the sts.
State-TV is repeatedly telling people to go to Mousavi's protest in Valiasr Sq. One can only imagine what their plan is. :((
state TV is now requesting people (armed forces) to go to valiasr st and protest against the outlaws & criminals! (people)
The News Channel of Iran just announced that neither Mousavi nor his supporters will participate in today's protest in Vali Asr square.
Another source confirmed: "11 dead yesterday in Rasoul Hospital"
gmail blocked tooo:(( i heard in Velenjak & Farmanie they assemblage satellites from ppl homes:(
yesterday my friend saw a girl that fell into street and a guardians stands beside her and shoot into her leg:( (jenah st)
unconfirmed rumours - army generals arrested - many rumours of coupdetat by army
rumour spreading Tehran - Army Generals have met in secret - Army considering position
his family beaten seriously and brother taken away - house destroyed
Saeid Hajarian - rumour - arrested last night
The girl that was taken away at 2 AM in Tehran was Shiva Nazaragahi
NEWS: Girl that was taken 2AM; It is unclear whether the agents really were intelligence agents or lying.
Woman says ppl knocking on her door 2 AM saying they were intelligence agents, took her daughter
are hearing that all foreigner visas are being cancelled by gov
security in Jamaran is unbelieveble - hundreds of Baseej guarding Khamenei
confirmed - Tabriz - Baseej headqurters set fire - 'many' dead
Tehran hotels under high security to stop Iranians from contacting foreign press
anyone with camera or laptop is attacked in street
i am seeing tweets about a lot of disturbances, arrests, violence in Shahrak Gharb, any reports?
we hear 1dead in shiraz, livefire used in other cities RT
Very scared, I was talkin to myuncle in shiraz and he was so paranoid.
If you hear the forces talking in arabic..BE CAREFUL..these guys are imported in, they are not affraid of suicide bombing and killing
Police the reason of insecurity; Dead students buried by profs
Basij attacking Shiraz and Mashad universities, Shiraz U's dean resigned
some student killed by the 4a blast in Babol Univ's dorms; surrounded by Basij forces
Militia still attacking people in sidestreets but main roads are peaceful marchers.
Basij Militia attacks a residential complex
Students are protesting in Mashhad's Ferdowsi uni. surrounded by Basij & Ansar forces UNCONF
Confirmed info: hezbollah mobilized & lebanese coming in. this is going to get a lot worse before it gets any better pass it down
it's not only police that we're dealing with. there's basij, anti riot guard, elite IRGC
Basij (pro leader militia) is announcing a demonstration at 3 in ValiAsr Sq. , Mousavi's is at 5; same place.
Supporters of Ahmadinejad plan a rally today at the same Tehran square where backers of Mousavi say they will gather
Conf: Abtahi (key reformist, and supporter of Karroubi) is arrested.
stay safe and I will RT anything you write! The world is watching and history is being made--we bear witness!
unconfrm:10 highrank Sepaah officers Sepaah arrested as they intended to support ppl 2gether W Artesh officers. know more?
BIG explosion at Nooshiravani Babol University (North Iran),police does not lets people to go there and see what had happened.
March for today 5pm is ON, at Valiasr Sq. in Tehran, spread to all u know, Mousavi himself will not be attending
All last night we hear shooting accross Tehran - everyone is full of rumours and stories - many arrests in night
Iran state radio says 7 protesters killed overnight in tehran, report of one killed in shiraz
Just heard from an eye witness in Tehran: last night 12 people shot to death had been brought to Rasul_Akram hospital, with dozens wounded.
i used to use twitter to follow my favorite tech bloggers... good old days :(
areh manam haminor i never thought i use facebook so much, i only use to read tech blogs
EVERYONE everywhere set yourLOCATION to TEHRAN! Confuse them.They can't follow everyone!
Still not confirmed if the #iranelection hashtag is blocked. KEEP USING IT. Could be a propaganda to disperse everyone.
"JUST IN: Iran blocking #iranelection tags. Migrate to #iran9 hashtag instead."
#IranElection hashtag is not blocked in Iran. Yells of Allaho Akbar just happen for two hours, 9:00-11:00 PM local time.
We gather to stand in and in solidarity with the people of Iran. No political factions!!! No flags!! (from any country) TELL YOUR FRIENDS!!
I was proud to cast my 1st vote as a US citizen this year, but I am dissapointed at how other govs are acting
it was heart warming to see protestors helping iranian police that were injured and hurt. never lose your true cause, integrity,principle!
confirmed - most of Tehran Bazar is closed today
people saying that army is split. people talking of coup. unconfirmed. we need army on our side.
ppl (protesters against coup) are on strike, with black clothes today. mourning for what is happening in Iran.
Nobody will go to office today as a strike. I will stay at home.
Today is a day of strikes throughout Iran, will it be successful?
this will be a pivotal day for Iran, have faith in yourselves and know that you are not alone. Far and wide we are following :)
We have no national press coverage in Iran, everyone should help spread Mousavi's message. One Person = One Broadcaster.
wow guys, i cant express how great it feels to have so much support from you all for my country, its surreal, many many thanks
stat-run TV: "Tomorrow @3pm: protest against rioters!"i.e. millions who rallied on Mon.
IRANIANS: Tuesday(TOM) at 5pm at Valiasr Sq we will march for our rights and in memory of 5 students killed yesterday
Since ppl cannot say "death to ahmadinejad" or such, they say "allah o akbar" which is "god is great"
I had never seen this much harmony in ppl.You can now see how iranians are united with each other, it's truly an amazing
sight From Chizar Sq. I can hear people shouting their heart out from Qeitarieh & Andarzgu St.! and cars honking! Way to go ppl!
All normal proxys out - all normal ISP's out in Tehran
Mssg from Twitter: Our...partners at NTT America recognize the role Twitter is currently playing as an important communication tool in Iran.
tear gas was used inside the girls dorm
and motorbikes ridden into the boys dorm
Glass and nails being set on streets to thwart motorcycle terror
squads of lebas shakhsi [Lebanese in private clothes] on motorbikes all over the place
molotov cocktails have come out
reports say that the Uni Tehran's dorms has been stormed by the paramilitary forces again tonight
STOP all the attacks on Iran goverment websites. Hurting Iran's internet connection. RT very important
good night. viva freedom. viva truth. Hope a better coverage by media. That's our only support.
I'm so tired and going to get some rest while I know there r people & students in streets fighting for justice.
we are all tired - no sleep for 3 days - one of us is injured from baton - waiting for doctor
Shiraz Univ closed. Students are asked to leave the dorm.
still hearing news about more deaths during last nights raid to dormitories and todays shootings.
more than 100 students missing from Tehran Uni dorms - reports of several dead from last night
Activists call for help to catalog faces of plain-cloths militia4 later IDing.,thy r d ones who r shooting at ppl, u can help
CONFIRMED Basiji central building put on fire today by ppl
BBC & CNN, PLEASE publish information on nationwide strike planned for tomorrow Tuesday throughout all of Iran
Tomorrow rally at ValiAsr Sq. 5:00PM
State TV announced that they will "recount" voted again since tomorrow
Ahmadinejad called us Dust, we showed him a sandstorm.
Protesters writing "only Mousavi" on Freedon sqr. tower, Iran's most prominent landmark
U beat (us),U kill,U cut, what DO u do with d unpreventable growth of new blooms" a Persian song*
ppl chanting "Police, police, support us"
also 6 students who were beaten last night in the dorm died today. they were from my university. we wore black today :((
NOTE to HACKERS - attack www.farhang.gov.ir - pls try to hack all iran gov wesites. very difficult for us.
confirmed - ahmadinejad website hacked off net.
Intelligence calling homes and play recording saying "u participated in today's march, don't repeat"
Reports of gunfire in Tehran's Saadatabad district
Tarasht dormitory is seiged by basij
Non stop sound of shooting heard in Tehran
after hearing about killing a person by Basij people from Ikbatan(a part of Tehran) came out & started another demonstration
People are shouting "This Blood in my veins will stop the coup"
Sources in #Tehran say candidate Mehdi Karrubi will speak in 2 hours. He's protesting results w/#Mousavi.
Hearing Allaho Akbar and Down with dictator from all the roofs
ppl get together in front of our apartment it seems ppl ready for demonstration again in tonight
we are going offline to get a phone free for calling out. we are also moving location - too long here - is dangerous.
we are hearing that large numbers gathering in Tajreesh sq, north tehran, now. rumour that there will be another speech
tonight Kamenei will fight hard - he knows he is close to finish.
3 ppl from our group still not returned from march. no mobile contact. last phone contact 2 hours ago.
we have decided not to go out now and wait to see if situation calm down.
streets very dangerous now. groups of militia on motorbikes searching for protesters.
we estimate marchers today were 1 million ++. confirmed at least one dead in azadi sq - first hand.
confirmed - it was unprovoked attack by Baseej. People running to hide everywhere in streets around Azadi.
People are running in streets outside. There is panic in streets. people going ino houses to hide.
Baseej shooting in Azadi sq - army standing by and watching for now.
Dr. Jebhe Dar Maralani, the president of Tehran University’s College of Electronics resigned in protest to last night’s killing of five students.
From Ahvaz: Around Ahavaz bridge the sounds of gunshots can be heard. People have gathered in Naderi street. Cell phones have been disconnected in this city.
Satellite TV is jammed... Internet is slow... Cell phone service coming and going... the night is coming in... this makes one worried
People in Rasht being hunted by police forces, reportedly with teargas. Those in their houses shelter the ones running.
We have heard what sounds like gunshots in distance. still have people on streets we have not heard from.
As it gets dark Basij expected target University dorms again
AT LEAST ONE DEAD AFTER PRO-GOVERNMENT MILITIA OPEN FIRE AT OPPOSITION SUPPORTERS IN TEHRAN. Pls RT!
People are getting killed in Azadi Sq.
Demo spread from Azadi sq, to streets and hwys around it. Cars honking horns, smaller groups marching. False hopes?
Dispersed fights in Tehran; sound of shooting heard
Tho today's protest is illegal, police not moving in. Possibly too big to handle, or images of attax beg. to embarrass ldrs
Just returned from Mousavi demonstration. Huge, easily 100s of thousands. Mood is peaceful, even happy.
unconfirmed as yet - mousavi newspaper offices raided.
Students are being surrounded in Shiraz Uni civil police (Basij) is in fight with people.
There are too many people just watching. Watching argument between forces and youth. What are they thinking about?
I hear that NPR is claiming that it is false news that Mousavi is in crowd now. IT'S NOT! Tell them pp, we have pics!
Mousavi now; "these masses were not brought by bus or by threat. they were not brought for potatoes. they came themselves"
@BabakMehrabani is saying that he was beaten by a baton and his right hand is numb. He is twitting with the left hand.
They blocked all the streets ends to university!
Tens of thousands of protestors are chanting "No fear, No fear, we are with each other".
In Shiraz there r around 300 "Basiji" in Sinama Sadi cross. They r being fully armed with shields & batons.
Other cities also having their own parades but with MORE oppression; Mashhad, Babol, Tabriz, ...
Rumors: fake unsuccessful Ahmadinejad's assassination is planned for tomorrow. Please inform everybody.
it's worth taking the risk, we're going. I won't be able to update until I'm back. again thanks for your kind support and wish us luck
Grand Ayatollah Saanei accompanies today's anti Ahmadinejad rally
People were holding signs saying: We are not sheep.
Hundreds of thousands of people are demonstrating from Engelab to Azadi. The number of people is constantly increasing as more people join to protest against the coup d’état.
LINK: http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2009/06/livetweeting-the-revolution.html
Future Superhero!!
The Telegraph (www.telegraph.co.uk)
June 12th, 2009
"14-year-old Hit By 30,000 MPH Space Meteorite"
A schoolboy has survived a direct hit by a meteorite after it fell to earth at 30,000mph.
Writer Unknown
Gerrit Blank, 14, was on his way to school when he saw "ball of light" heading straight towards him from the sky.
A red hot, pea-sized piece of rock then hit his hand before bouncing off and causing a foot wide crater in the ground.
The teenager survived the strike, the chances of which are just 1 in a million - but with a nasty three-inch long scar on his hand.
He said: "At first I just saw a large ball of light, and then I suddenly felt a pain in my hand.
"Then a split second after that there was an enormous bang like a crash of thunder."
"The noise that came after the flash of light was so loud that my ears were ringing for hours afterwards.
"When it hit me it knocked me flying and then was still going fast enough to bury itself into the road," he explained.
Scientists are now studying the pea-sized meteorite which crashed to Earth in Essen, Germany.
"I am really keen on science and my teachers discovered that the fragment is really magnetic," said Gerrit.
Chemical tests on the rock have proved it had fallen from space.
Ansgar Kortem, director of Germany's Walter Hohmann Observatory, said: "It's a real meteorite, therefore it is very valuable to collectors and scientists.
"Most don't actually make it to ground level because they evaporate in the atmosphere. Of those that do get through, about six out of every seven of them land in water," he added.
The only other known example of a human being surviving a meteor strike happened in Alabama, USA, in November 1954 when a grapefruit-sized fragment crashed through the roof of a house, bounced off furniture and landed on a sleeping woman.
LINK: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/scienceandtechnology/science/space/5511619/14-year-old-hit-by-30000-mph-space-meteorite.html
June 12th, 2009
"14-year-old Hit By 30,000 MPH Space Meteorite"
A schoolboy has survived a direct hit by a meteorite after it fell to earth at 30,000mph.
Writer Unknown
Gerrit Blank, 14, was on his way to school when he saw "ball of light" heading straight towards him from the sky.
A red hot, pea-sized piece of rock then hit his hand before bouncing off and causing a foot wide crater in the ground.
The teenager survived the strike, the chances of which are just 1 in a million - but with a nasty three-inch long scar on his hand.
He said: "At first I just saw a large ball of light, and then I suddenly felt a pain in my hand.
"Then a split second after that there was an enormous bang like a crash of thunder."
"The noise that came after the flash of light was so loud that my ears were ringing for hours afterwards.
"When it hit me it knocked me flying and then was still going fast enough to bury itself into the road," he explained.
Scientists are now studying the pea-sized meteorite which crashed to Earth in Essen, Germany.
"I am really keen on science and my teachers discovered that the fragment is really magnetic," said Gerrit.
Chemical tests on the rock have proved it had fallen from space.
Ansgar Kortem, director of Germany's Walter Hohmann Observatory, said: "It's a real meteorite, therefore it is very valuable to collectors and scientists.
"Most don't actually make it to ground level because they evaporate in the atmosphere. Of those that do get through, about six out of every seven of them land in water," he added.
The only other known example of a human being surviving a meteor strike happened in Alabama, USA, in November 1954 when a grapefruit-sized fragment crashed through the roof of a house, bounced off furniture and landed on a sleeping woman.
LINK: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/scienceandtechnology/science/space/5511619/14-year-old-hit-by-30000-mph-space-meteorite.html
Labels:
science and mathematics
Monday, June 15, 2009
Big Tobacco, Little Tobacco!!
New York Times (www.nytimes.com)
June 12th, 2009
"With House Vote, Tobacco Bill Goes to Obama"
Written by Duff Wilson
The House moved quickly Friday to pass the Senate’s tobacco bill and send it to the White Hosue, where President Obama promised to sign it.
Mr. Obama, who himself has struggled to quit smoking, said the measure would “protect our kids and improve our public health.” Appearing in the Rose Garden just moments after the House vote, he said the tobacco legislation was “a bill that truly defines changes in Washington” and one that “changes the way Washington works and who it works for.”
The law would for the first time give the Food and Drug Administration the authority to regulate tobacco products, which kill more than 400,000 people in this country each year.
The House vote Friday was 307-to-97, following Senate passage of the measure 79-to-17 on Thursday. A key to Senate passage was a vote earlier in the week to overcome a filibuster, by a two-vote margin.
Under the law, the F.D.A. will be able to set product standards and ban some chemicals in tobacco products, although not to totally ban addictive nicotine. The F.D.A. will set up a new tobacco regulatory office financed by industry fees, which are expected to be $85 million in the first year and as much as $700 million annually within in 10 years.
The F.D.A. would have the power not only to consider changing existing products, but could also ban new products unless the agency found they contribute to overall public health.
Within 15 months, the F.D.A. is charged with imposing a ban on tobacco advertising within 1,000 feet of schools and playgrounds, a measure that is likely to draw court challenges from the tobacco industry saying it violates the First Amendment.
Also, within one year, the industry will be banned from claiming products are “light,” “mild” or “low tar,” terms which have been found to mislead smokers into thinking they are safer when they are not.
By the year 2012, the law provides that new, graphic warning labels must be designed and approved by the F.D.A. and occupy 50 percent of the space on each package of cigarettes. According to David Adelman, tobacco industry for Morgan Stanley, the larger warning is the key to the new F.D.A. legislation in making it harder to lure customers to buy cigarettes.
“The newer warning label requirement in the Senate bill could compromise the graphics appearance of all U.S. cigarette brands,” Mr. Adelman wrote in a note to investors Friday.
The Senate required a larger warning than a bill the House had previously passed and required that the warning contain “color graphics depicting the negative health consequences of smoking.” That is likely to include photographs of cancerous and diseased tissue, similar those that run on cigarette packs in Canada.
Seeking to combat youth smoking — Mr. Obama noted that an additional 1,000 or so Americans under the age of 18 become regular smokers each day — the legislation will quickly ban most flavoring in tobacco and raise penalties selling tobacco to underaged buyers.
But in a political compromise it exempted one key flavoring, menthol, which masks the harshness of tobacco and accounts for about one-quarter of the market.
Some anti-smoking groups, particularly ones representing African-Americans, had wanted the law’s ban on tobacco flavorings to include menthol. Mentholated brands are preferred by three-quarters of black smokers, who also have a disproportionate share of lung cancer.
Menthol is to be studied by the F.D.A. by 2011, though, and the agency would have the power to ban it, if the evidence warrants.
The tobacco legislation was supported by Altria Group, parent company of Philip Morris with its dominant Marlboro brand, and was opposed by other major cigarette makers, who argued it would protect Philip Morris and stifle innovation.
Last year, the House passed similar legislation, but the Senate did not act in the closing weeks of Congress last fall. At the time, President Bush was threatening to veto it.
Anti-smoking advocacy groups like the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network were praising Congress on Friday."This bill is proof positive that the tobacco industry is no longer running the show on Capitol Hill and that the health of Americans is a top priority for our elected officials,” the group’s chief executive, John R. Seffrin, said in a released statement.
Sheryl Gay Stolberg contributed reporting.
LINK: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/13/business/13tobacco.html?ref=business
-----------------------
New York Times (www.nytimes.com)
October 6th, 2008
"When Doctors, and Even Santa, Endorsed Tobacco"
Written by STUART ELLIOTT
[CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE!!]
PEOPLE who remember when tobacco advertising was a prominent part of the media landscape — and others who recall what they learned in Marketing 101 — probably recollect that actors like Barbara Stanwyck and athletes like Mickey Mantle routinely endorsed cigarettes.
But how about doctors and other medical professionals, proclaiming the merits of various cigarette brands? Or politicians? What about cartoon characters in cigarette ads? Or children? Babies? Even Santa Claus?
Those images — some flabbergasting, even disturbing — were also used by Madison Avenue to peddle tobacco products. An exhibit that opens on Tuesday in New York presents cigarette ads from the 1920s through the early 1950s in an effort to demonstrate what has changed since then — and what may not have.
An advertisement from 1930 asserts that 20,679 physicians say that Lucky Strike cigarettes are less irritating. The ad is part of an exhibit at the Science, Industry and Business Library, part of the New York Public Library. The exhibit aims to show how Madison Avenue sold America on cigarettes.
Mickey Mantle, the Yankee outfielder, appeared in many ads for cigarettes, including this one for Viceroy in the 1950s.
An ad from 1946 asserting that more doctors smoke Camels than any other cigarette. The ads are part of a collection compiled by Dr. Robert K. Jackler of Stanford University's School of Medicine. "This era of over-the-top hucksterism went on for decades, and it was all blatantly false," Dr. Jackler said.
The exhibit, of hundreds of print ads and television commercials, is titled “Not a Cough in a Carload: Images Used by Tobacco Companies to Hide the Hazards of Smoking.” The first part of the title is borrowed from a slogan for Old Gold cigarettes, a brand that subsequently boasted in its ads of being “made by tobacco men, not medicine men.”
The exhibit will be on display through Dec. 26 at Healy Hall at the Science, Industry and Business Library of the New York Public Library, 188 Madison Avenue, at 34th Street. It can also be viewed online (tobacco.stanford.edu).
The exhibit is the brainchild of Dr. Robert K. Jackler of the Stanford School of Medicine, who described himself in an interview as “an accidental tourist in the world of advertising.”
“The very best artists and copywriters that money could buy” would work on cigarette accounts, said Dr. Jackler, who is also chairman of the department of otolaryngology, head and neck surgery.
“This era of over-the-top hucksterism went on for decades,” he added, “and it was all blatantly false.”
Even babies appeared as accessories in ads aimed at parents who smoked, as in this ad from 1951, before Marlboro was considered manly.
Another ad from 1946 asserting that more doctors smoke Camels than any other cigarette.
An ad from 1951 asserts that Chesterfield cigarettes give off "no unpleasant after-taste."
The genesis of the exhibit was an ad from around 1930 for Lucky Strike cigarettes, which shows a doctor above a headline proclaiming that “20,679 physicians say ‘Luckies are less irritating.’ ”
“That captivated me,” Dr. Jackler said.
The Luckies doctor was joined in Dr. Jackler’s collection of about 5,000 ads by scores of scientists and medical professionals — doctors, dentists, nurses — making statements that are now known to be patently untrue. “Not one single case of throat irritation due to smoking Camels!” is a typical assertion.
“I was struck by the noble depiction of the medical profession, bemused and surprised, actually,” said Kristin McDonough, the Robert and Joyce Menschel director of the Science, Industry and Business Library.
“Some of the claims being made in the ads, you did not have to be a scientist in a laboratory to dispute,” Ms. McDonough said, citing ads that smoking certain brands “does not cause bad breath” or “can never stain your teeth.”
In 1953, Mickey Mantle appeared in an ad for Camels. Mantle was among many athletes and celebrities who endorsed multiple brands during their careers.
An ad from the 1950s asserting that a dentist recommends Viceroy cigarettes.
Santa Claus, apparently, was a smoker too, and enjoyed Pall Malls in this ad from 1951.
Other approaches that could cause double takes (if not whiplash) among contemporary consumers include ads featuring Santa Claus, for brands like Pall Mall; senators like Charles Curtis of Kansas, who endorsed Lucky Strike before he was elected vice president in 1928; cartoon characters like the Flintstones and penguins, for brands like Winston and Kool; children, who appear as accessories for their smoking parents; and babies, for brands like Marlboro.
The exhibit also includes copious examples of more traditional cigarette endorsements by athletes — occasionally in uniform — and entertainers. Some promoted multiple brands during their careers; for example, Mantle, the New York Yankees outfielder, pitched brands like Camel and Viceroy, while the actress Claudette Colbert endorsed at least five, Dr. Jackler found.
A primary purpose of the exhibit, Dr. Jackler said, is to connect the dots between now and then. He likened ads from decades ago intended to encourage women to smoke — “Blow some my way,” for Chesterfield, and “You’ve come a long way, baby,” for Virginia Slims — to the campaign last year from R. J. Reynolds Tobacco to introduce a version of Camels for women called Camel No. 9.
And there is a theme that runs from vintage tobacco ads to contemporary ones, Dr. Jackler said: “It’s all about youth marketing. The intent is to turn youth, ages 12 to 22, into youthful smokers.”
Documents from the George Arents Collection on Tobacco from the archives of the Science, Industry and Business Library will also be on display. The exhibit was seen in cities like Boston and San Francisco before arriving in New York.
LINK: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/07/business/media/07adco.html?_r=1
June 12th, 2009
"With House Vote, Tobacco Bill Goes to Obama"
Written by Duff Wilson
The House moved quickly Friday to pass the Senate’s tobacco bill and send it to the White Hosue, where President Obama promised to sign it.
Mr. Obama, who himself has struggled to quit smoking, said the measure would “protect our kids and improve our public health.” Appearing in the Rose Garden just moments after the House vote, he said the tobacco legislation was “a bill that truly defines changes in Washington” and one that “changes the way Washington works and who it works for.”
The law would for the first time give the Food and Drug Administration the authority to regulate tobacco products, which kill more than 400,000 people in this country each year.
The House vote Friday was 307-to-97, following Senate passage of the measure 79-to-17 on Thursday. A key to Senate passage was a vote earlier in the week to overcome a filibuster, by a two-vote margin.
Under the law, the F.D.A. will be able to set product standards and ban some chemicals in tobacco products, although not to totally ban addictive nicotine. The F.D.A. will set up a new tobacco regulatory office financed by industry fees, which are expected to be $85 million in the first year and as much as $700 million annually within in 10 years.
The F.D.A. would have the power not only to consider changing existing products, but could also ban new products unless the agency found they contribute to overall public health.
Within 15 months, the F.D.A. is charged with imposing a ban on tobacco advertising within 1,000 feet of schools and playgrounds, a measure that is likely to draw court challenges from the tobacco industry saying it violates the First Amendment.
Also, within one year, the industry will be banned from claiming products are “light,” “mild” or “low tar,” terms which have been found to mislead smokers into thinking they are safer when they are not.
By the year 2012, the law provides that new, graphic warning labels must be designed and approved by the F.D.A. and occupy 50 percent of the space on each package of cigarettes. According to David Adelman, tobacco industry for Morgan Stanley, the larger warning is the key to the new F.D.A. legislation in making it harder to lure customers to buy cigarettes.
“The newer warning label requirement in the Senate bill could compromise the graphics appearance of all U.S. cigarette brands,” Mr. Adelman wrote in a note to investors Friday.
The Senate required a larger warning than a bill the House had previously passed and required that the warning contain “color graphics depicting the negative health consequences of smoking.” That is likely to include photographs of cancerous and diseased tissue, similar those that run on cigarette packs in Canada.
Seeking to combat youth smoking — Mr. Obama noted that an additional 1,000 or so Americans under the age of 18 become regular smokers each day — the legislation will quickly ban most flavoring in tobacco and raise penalties selling tobacco to underaged buyers.
But in a political compromise it exempted one key flavoring, menthol, which masks the harshness of tobacco and accounts for about one-quarter of the market.
Some anti-smoking groups, particularly ones representing African-Americans, had wanted the law’s ban on tobacco flavorings to include menthol. Mentholated brands are preferred by three-quarters of black smokers, who also have a disproportionate share of lung cancer.
Menthol is to be studied by the F.D.A. by 2011, though, and the agency would have the power to ban it, if the evidence warrants.
The tobacco legislation was supported by Altria Group, parent company of Philip Morris with its dominant Marlboro brand, and was opposed by other major cigarette makers, who argued it would protect Philip Morris and stifle innovation.
Last year, the House passed similar legislation, but the Senate did not act in the closing weeks of Congress last fall. At the time, President Bush was threatening to veto it.
Anti-smoking advocacy groups like the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network were praising Congress on Friday."This bill is proof positive that the tobacco industry is no longer running the show on Capitol Hill and that the health of Americans is a top priority for our elected officials,” the group’s chief executive, John R. Seffrin, said in a released statement.
Sheryl Gay Stolberg contributed reporting.
LINK: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/13/business/13tobacco.html?ref=business
-----------------------
New York Times (www.nytimes.com)
October 6th, 2008
"When Doctors, and Even Santa, Endorsed Tobacco"
Written by STUART ELLIOTT
[CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE!!]
PEOPLE who remember when tobacco advertising was a prominent part of the media landscape — and others who recall what they learned in Marketing 101 — probably recollect that actors like Barbara Stanwyck and athletes like Mickey Mantle routinely endorsed cigarettes.
But how about doctors and other medical professionals, proclaiming the merits of various cigarette brands? Or politicians? What about cartoon characters in cigarette ads? Or children? Babies? Even Santa Claus?
Those images — some flabbergasting, even disturbing — were also used by Madison Avenue to peddle tobacco products. An exhibit that opens on Tuesday in New York presents cigarette ads from the 1920s through the early 1950s in an effort to demonstrate what has changed since then — and what may not have.
An advertisement from 1930 asserts that 20,679 physicians say that Lucky Strike cigarettes are less irritating. The ad is part of an exhibit at the Science, Industry and Business Library, part of the New York Public Library. The exhibit aims to show how Madison Avenue sold America on cigarettes.
Mickey Mantle, the Yankee outfielder, appeared in many ads for cigarettes, including this one for Viceroy in the 1950s.
An ad from 1946 asserting that more doctors smoke Camels than any other cigarette. The ads are part of a collection compiled by Dr. Robert K. Jackler of Stanford University's School of Medicine. "This era of over-the-top hucksterism went on for decades, and it was all blatantly false," Dr. Jackler said.
The exhibit, of hundreds of print ads and television commercials, is titled “Not a Cough in a Carload: Images Used by Tobacco Companies to Hide the Hazards of Smoking.” The first part of the title is borrowed from a slogan for Old Gold cigarettes, a brand that subsequently boasted in its ads of being “made by tobacco men, not medicine men.”
The exhibit will be on display through Dec. 26 at Healy Hall at the Science, Industry and Business Library of the New York Public Library, 188 Madison Avenue, at 34th Street. It can also be viewed online (tobacco.stanford.edu).
The exhibit is the brainchild of Dr. Robert K. Jackler of the Stanford School of Medicine, who described himself in an interview as “an accidental tourist in the world of advertising.”
“The very best artists and copywriters that money could buy” would work on cigarette accounts, said Dr. Jackler, who is also chairman of the department of otolaryngology, head and neck surgery.
“This era of over-the-top hucksterism went on for decades,” he added, “and it was all blatantly false.”
Even babies appeared as accessories in ads aimed at parents who smoked, as in this ad from 1951, before Marlboro was considered manly.
Another ad from 1946 asserting that more doctors smoke Camels than any other cigarette.
An ad from 1951 asserts that Chesterfield cigarettes give off "no unpleasant after-taste."
The genesis of the exhibit was an ad from around 1930 for Lucky Strike cigarettes, which shows a doctor above a headline proclaiming that “20,679 physicians say ‘Luckies are less irritating.’ ”
“That captivated me,” Dr. Jackler said.
The Luckies doctor was joined in Dr. Jackler’s collection of about 5,000 ads by scores of scientists and medical professionals — doctors, dentists, nurses — making statements that are now known to be patently untrue. “Not one single case of throat irritation due to smoking Camels!” is a typical assertion.
“I was struck by the noble depiction of the medical profession, bemused and surprised, actually,” said Kristin McDonough, the Robert and Joyce Menschel director of the Science, Industry and Business Library.
“Some of the claims being made in the ads, you did not have to be a scientist in a laboratory to dispute,” Ms. McDonough said, citing ads that smoking certain brands “does not cause bad breath” or “can never stain your teeth.”
In 1953, Mickey Mantle appeared in an ad for Camels. Mantle was among many athletes and celebrities who endorsed multiple brands during their careers.
An ad from the 1950s asserting that a dentist recommends Viceroy cigarettes.
Santa Claus, apparently, was a smoker too, and enjoyed Pall Malls in this ad from 1951.
Other approaches that could cause double takes (if not whiplash) among contemporary consumers include ads featuring Santa Claus, for brands like Pall Mall; senators like Charles Curtis of Kansas, who endorsed Lucky Strike before he was elected vice president in 1928; cartoon characters like the Flintstones and penguins, for brands like Winston and Kool; children, who appear as accessories for their smoking parents; and babies, for brands like Marlboro.
The exhibit also includes copious examples of more traditional cigarette endorsements by athletes — occasionally in uniform — and entertainers. Some promoted multiple brands during their careers; for example, Mantle, the New York Yankees outfielder, pitched brands like Camel and Viceroy, while the actress Claudette Colbert endorsed at least five, Dr. Jackler found.
A primary purpose of the exhibit, Dr. Jackler said, is to connect the dots between now and then. He likened ads from decades ago intended to encourage women to smoke — “Blow some my way,” for Chesterfield, and “You’ve come a long way, baby,” for Virginia Slims — to the campaign last year from R. J. Reynolds Tobacco to introduce a version of Camels for women called Camel No. 9.
And there is a theme that runs from vintage tobacco ads to contemporary ones, Dr. Jackler said: “It’s all about youth marketing. The intent is to turn youth, ages 12 to 22, into youthful smokers.”
Documents from the George Arents Collection on Tobacco from the archives of the Science, Industry and Business Library will also be on display. The exhibit was seen in cities like Boston and San Francisco before arriving in New York.
LINK: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/07/business/media/07adco.html?_r=1
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Turn it Down!!
New York Daily Record (ydr.inyork.com)
June 11th, 2009
"Bill Would Turn Down Volume on TV Ads"
Written By CARRIE WELLS
WASHINGTON -- Congress soon might mute screaming TV-ad announcers who press viewers to "buy now!" -- if broadcasters don't beat the lawmakers to the volume button.
Under a proposal to be taken up today, the Federal Communications Commission would limit ad volumes to the average decibels of the TV show during which they appear.
Currently, TV ads can't be louder than the loudest peak in a show, said David Perry, the chairman of the broadcast production committee of the American Association of Advertising Agencies in New York. Ads often seem louder to viewers, he added, because a program's volume peak rarely comes just before an ad.
"Every time the ads came on they blew me out of my seat," said Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., who introduced the bill last June. "It really turns you off, makes you think, 'I'll be damned if I give them any of my money.' "
She's a member of the House Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet, which will consider the Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation Act, aka CALM. It has 63 co-sponsors in the House of Representatives and two in the Senate.
Broadcasters say they have their own plan to lower TV ad volume, which could take effect within a couple of months. The switch to digital TV on Friday, they say, also could help by enabling advertisers to use a wider range of sounds, instead of relying on pure volume to get attention.
Dan Jaffe, the executive vice president for government relations of the New York-based Association of National Advertisers, said that advertising and broadcasting industry leaders knew that loud commercials annoyed customers because they'd received numerous complaints.
To resolve them, broadcasters and advertisers want to set their own standards, in which a commercial would be "loud enough that a reasonable person can hear it, but not so loud you can hear it in Mongolia," Jaffe said. "Our members don't want to offend viewers."
Eshoo concedes that her bill isn't as high a priority as, say, health care or war funding, but she's confident that it will pass.
"People practically throw their arms around me when they hear about it," she said.
However, an aide to Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., who introduced the bill in the Senate last year, said Wicker wouldn't reintroduce the bill because he was working with broadcasters to hold down the volume.
"The senator is monitoring the progress being made and will consider reintroducing legislation if the industry cannot fix the problem on its own," Wicker's spokesman, Jahan Wilcox, said in an e-mail.
Perry, the ad agency association's spokesman on the matter, agreed that broadcasters should set their own loudness standards.
"Congress will inevitably make it more messy than it needs to be," he said. "It's like going after a fly with a pistol."
Britain set similar restrictions on loud ads last year.
LINK: http://ydr.inyork.com/ci_12566562
June 11th, 2009
"Bill Would Turn Down Volume on TV Ads"
Written By CARRIE WELLS
WASHINGTON -- Congress soon might mute screaming TV-ad announcers who press viewers to "buy now!" -- if broadcasters don't beat the lawmakers to the volume button.
Under a proposal to be taken up today, the Federal Communications Commission would limit ad volumes to the average decibels of the TV show during which they appear.
Currently, TV ads can't be louder than the loudest peak in a show, said David Perry, the chairman of the broadcast production committee of the American Association of Advertising Agencies in New York. Ads often seem louder to viewers, he added, because a program's volume peak rarely comes just before an ad.
"Every time the ads came on they blew me out of my seat," said Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., who introduced the bill last June. "It really turns you off, makes you think, 'I'll be damned if I give them any of my money.' "
She's a member of the House Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet, which will consider the Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation Act, aka CALM. It has 63 co-sponsors in the House of Representatives and two in the Senate.
Broadcasters say they have their own plan to lower TV ad volume, which could take effect within a couple of months. The switch to digital TV on Friday, they say, also could help by enabling advertisers to use a wider range of sounds, instead of relying on pure volume to get attention.
Dan Jaffe, the executive vice president for government relations of the New York-based Association of National Advertisers, said that advertising and broadcasting industry leaders knew that loud commercials annoyed customers because they'd received numerous complaints.
To resolve them, broadcasters and advertisers want to set their own standards, in which a commercial would be "loud enough that a reasonable person can hear it, but not so loud you can hear it in Mongolia," Jaffe said. "Our members don't want to offend viewers."
Eshoo concedes that her bill isn't as high a priority as, say, health care or war funding, but she's confident that it will pass.
"People practically throw their arms around me when they hear about it," she said.
However, an aide to Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., who introduced the bill in the Senate last year, said Wicker wouldn't reintroduce the bill because he was working with broadcasters to hold down the volume.
"The senator is monitoring the progress being made and will consider reintroducing legislation if the industry cannot fix the problem on its own," Wicker's spokesman, Jahan Wilcox, said in an e-mail.
Perry, the ad agency association's spokesman on the matter, agreed that broadcasters should set their own loudness standards.
"Congress will inevitably make it more messy than it needs to be," he said. "It's like going after a fly with a pistol."
Britain set similar restrictions on loud ads last year.
LINK: http://ydr.inyork.com/ci_12566562
Saturday, June 13, 2009
New Element!!
BBC News (news.bbc.co.uk)
June 10th, 2009
"Periodic Table Gets a New Element"
Written By Victoria Gill
The ubiquitous periodic table will soon have a new addition - the "super-heavy" element 112.
More than a decade after experiments first produced a single atom of the element, a team of German scientists has been credited with its discovery.
The team, led by Sigurd Hofmann at the Centre for Heavy Ion Research, must propose a name for their find, before it can be formally added to the table.
Scientists continue the race to discover more super-heavy elements.
Professor Hofmann began his quest to add to the periodic table in 1976.
The fusion experiments he and his colleagues carried out at the centre have already revealed the existence of elements with atomic numbers 107-111.
These are known as "super-heavy elements" - their numbers represent the number of protons which, together with neutrons, give the atom the vast majority of its mass.
To create element 112, Professor Hofmann's team used a 120m-long particle accelerator to fire a beam of charged zinc atoms (or zinc ions) at lead atoms. Nuclei of the two elements merged, or fused, to form the nucleus of the new element.
These very large and heavy nuclei are also very unstable. They begin to fall apart or "decay" very soon after being formed - within a few milliseconds, in this case.
This releases energy, which scientists can measure to find out the size of the decaying nucleus.
But such experiments produce very few successful fusions, and scientists need increasingly powerful accelerators to run experiments for longer and find the elusive, unstable elements.
This is why it took such a long time for element 112 to be officially recognised by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC).
Its discovery had to be independently verified, and so far only four atoms have ever been observed.
IUPAC temporarily named the element ununbium, as "ununbi" is derived from the figures "one one two" in Latin; but Professor Hofmann's team now has the task of proposing its official name.
He is currently keeping the shortlist under wraps.
Powerful particle accelerators speed up the hunt for "super-heavy elements"
Working Together
Teams in Russia, the US and Japan are taking part in what Professor Hofmann described as the "friendly competition" to discover new, heavier elements.
In 2006, Professor Hofmann's competitors at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR) in Dubna, Russia, claimed the discovery of element 118. It was made by bombarding a californium target with a beam of calcium ions.
"We have confirmed some of these results," Professor Hofmann told BBC News.
But he is now setting his sights higher. "We tried the same experiment to get to element 120. We've not seen it yet, but we believe the element exists and, with a long enough beam time, it could be produced," he said.
"It's certainly a race, and it's nice to be first."
LINK: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8093374.stm
June 10th, 2009
"Periodic Table Gets a New Element"
Written By Victoria Gill
The ubiquitous periodic table will soon have a new addition - the "super-heavy" element 112.More than a decade after experiments first produced a single atom of the element, a team of German scientists has been credited with its discovery.
The team, led by Sigurd Hofmann at the Centre for Heavy Ion Research, must propose a name for their find, before it can be formally added to the table.
Scientists continue the race to discover more super-heavy elements.
Professor Hofmann began his quest to add to the periodic table in 1976.
The fusion experiments he and his colleagues carried out at the centre have already revealed the existence of elements with atomic numbers 107-111.
These are known as "super-heavy elements" - their numbers represent the number of protons which, together with neutrons, give the atom the vast majority of its mass.
To create element 112, Professor Hofmann's team used a 120m-long particle accelerator to fire a beam of charged zinc atoms (or zinc ions) at lead atoms. Nuclei of the two elements merged, or fused, to form the nucleus of the new element.
These very large and heavy nuclei are also very unstable. They begin to fall apart or "decay" very soon after being formed - within a few milliseconds, in this case.
This releases energy, which scientists can measure to find out the size of the decaying nucleus.
But such experiments produce very few successful fusions, and scientists need increasingly powerful accelerators to run experiments for longer and find the elusive, unstable elements.
This is why it took such a long time for element 112 to be officially recognised by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC).
Its discovery had to be independently verified, and so far only four atoms have ever been observed.
IUPAC temporarily named the element ununbium, as "ununbi" is derived from the figures "one one two" in Latin; but Professor Hofmann's team now has the task of proposing its official name.
He is currently keeping the shortlist under wraps.
Powerful particle accelerators speed up the hunt for "super-heavy elements"
Working Together
Teams in Russia, the US and Japan are taking part in what Professor Hofmann described as the "friendly competition" to discover new, heavier elements.
In 2006, Professor Hofmann's competitors at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR) in Dubna, Russia, claimed the discovery of element 118. It was made by bombarding a californium target with a beam of calcium ions.
"We have confirmed some of these results," Professor Hofmann told BBC News.
But he is now setting his sights higher. "We tried the same experiment to get to element 120. We've not seen it yet, but we believe the element exists and, with a long enough beam time, it could be produced," he said.
"It's certainly a race, and it's nice to be first."
LINK: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8093374.stm
Labels:
science and mathematics
Friday, June 12, 2009
Friday Cake-Wrecking!!
Check out the Cake Wrecks site for a great way to pass the time. -bv
----------------------
Cake Wrecks (cakewrecks.blogspot.com)
June 1st, 2009
"Panic at the Disco"
Written by Jen Yates
Ashley R. is the one who makes all the "cool" cakes for her friends' birthdays, so when it came time for her own birthday her friend Kat decided to order her a "super spectacular" professional cake. Kat gave the baker this photo of Ashley's favorite band, Panic at the Disco:
...and she asked that the cake look like lead singer Brendon Urie (2nd from left).
Now, this can't be the best photo of Urie out there - I mean, he's gnawing on a bunch of flowers - so you have to pity the baker a little.
Well, until you see this, that is:
"HEY YOU GUUUUYSS!!"
Now you're just pitying Ashley, right?
If you're like me, you're not going to be able to tear your eyes away from this thing for a while. That's Ok, though; I'll wait.
[whistling]
Poor Kat had the cake delivered right to Ashley's door, so she didn't see it herself until after she arrived at the party to find everyone backed wide-eyed against the walls in a defensive line. Then, when they tried to cut the thing, they found it was covered with rock-hard rice krispy treats and tasted bad to boot. Still, all was not lost: Upon discovering that the mouth and nostrils were hollow, the party-goers amused themselves by sticking stuff in them.
Ah, Ashley, it's nice to hear your friends are my kind of friends. I'd have some red licorice strips up those nostrils faster than you can say "deranged man found beaten to death by his own hand".
LINK: http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/2009/06/panic-at-disco.html
---------------------------------
Youtube.com (www.youtube.com)
July 25th, 2007
"Eddie Izzard-Cake or Death"
Posted by Thorn2200
A lego animation to one of comic Eddie Izzard's most popular jokes, 'Cake or Death?'
LINK: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZVjKlBCvhg&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fcakewrecks%2Eblogspot%2Ecom%2F2009%2F05%2Fsweet%2Dtweets%2Ehtml&feature=player_embedded
------------------------------------
Cake Wrecks (cakewrecks.blogspot.com)
May 26th, 2009
"An Indecent Proposal"
Written by Jen Yates
Wrecks reader Mark B. decided to propose to his girlfriend while they were on a Caribbean cruise last August. Like all good guys, he wanted to do it in a way that was both memorable and a little unique. So, after much thought, he decided to use a cake. (Told you he was a good guy.) With that settled, all that was left to do was choose the perfect words to form his request.
Well, the night before he planned to propose arrived, and Mark still hadn't decided on an inscription. As he and his girlfriend went for a walk on the beach, though, they came across the very inspiration he'd been looking for. There, written in the sand, illuminated by moonlight, was the word "dork".
Ok, so that might not seem like the most romantic of inspirations to you or me, but for Mark it was "a sign". He tells me his girlfriend was always calling him a dork at the time (with much affection, I'm sure), and so standing there that night, he knew exactly what his proposal cake should say.
Now, let's set the scene:
The meal is over, the dessert orders have been given, and Mark is sitting on pins and needles, awaiting the arrival of his proposal cake. The waiter approaches and, with a smile at Mark, places a covered tray before his unsuspecting girlfriend. Then, with a flick of the wrist, the waiter removes the lid to reveal....
this.
Huh.
Well, on the bright side, Mark, this IS quite memorable. In an incomprehensible, what-exactly-did-the-baker-think-s/he-was-writing? kind of way. Still, here's hoping your lovely lady had "many" reasons to agree to "marry" the dork in question. ;)
LINK: http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/2009/05/indecent-proposal.html
-------------------------------
The Capital Times, Madison, WI (www.madison.com)
February 17th, 2009
"Goat Breaks Into Home, Eats Cake"
Written by Aaron Martin
Hat Tip: Cake Wrecks
TOWN OF WESTFORD -- What do you get when a goat follows a dog into a house?
For Sherry Shirley of Westford, the answer is a big mess.
When she opened the front door of her home on Lake Road to let her dog in Saturday morning, a full-grown goat burst into the house, jumped onto a kitchen counter and helped itself to a freshly baked chocolate cake, according to the Dodge County Sheriff's Department.
Deputies responded to a call from Shirley at 11:43 Saturday morning, but a neighbor had dragged the goat from the home by its horns before officers arrived, patrol captain Molly Soblewski said.
"The goat didn't do a lot of damage. It knocked some dishes to the floor that broke and began eating the chocolate cake she had just made," Soblewski said.
The chocolate cake caper, however, was far from a perfect crime. Deputies followed the goat's tracks to a nearby farm on Mill Road and had it behind bars by 12:35 p.m. Saturday.
Soblewski said the owners of the goat will not be cited.
"It was just an unfortunate circumstance," she said. "I feel sorry for the lady, but it is kind of funny."
LINK: http://www.madison.com/tct/news/stories/438982
----------------------
Cake Wrecks (cakewrecks.blogspot.com)
June 1st, 2009
"Panic at the Disco"
Written by Jen Yates
Ashley R. is the one who makes all the "cool" cakes for her friends' birthdays, so when it came time for her own birthday her friend Kat decided to order her a "super spectacular" professional cake. Kat gave the baker this photo of Ashley's favorite band, Panic at the Disco:
...and she asked that the cake look like lead singer Brendon Urie (2nd from left).
Now, this can't be the best photo of Urie out there - I mean, he's gnawing on a bunch of flowers - so you have to pity the baker a little.
Well, until you see this, that is:
"HEY YOU GUUUUYSS!!"
Now you're just pitying Ashley, right?
If you're like me, you're not going to be able to tear your eyes away from this thing for a while. That's Ok, though; I'll wait.
[whistling]
Poor Kat had the cake delivered right to Ashley's door, so she didn't see it herself until after she arrived at the party to find everyone backed wide-eyed against the walls in a defensive line. Then, when they tried to cut the thing, they found it was covered with rock-hard rice krispy treats and tasted bad to boot. Still, all was not lost: Upon discovering that the mouth and nostrils were hollow, the party-goers amused themselves by sticking stuff in them.
Ah, Ashley, it's nice to hear your friends are my kind of friends. I'd have some red licorice strips up those nostrils faster than you can say "deranged man found beaten to death by his own hand".
LINK: http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/2009/06/panic-at-disco.html
---------------------------------
Youtube.com (www.youtube.com)
July 25th, 2007
"Eddie Izzard-Cake or Death"
Posted by Thorn2200
A lego animation to one of comic Eddie Izzard's most popular jokes, 'Cake or Death?'
LINK: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZVjKlBCvhg&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fcakewrecks%2Eblogspot%2Ecom%2F2009%2F05%2Fsweet%2Dtweets%2Ehtml&feature=player_embedded
------------------------------------
Cake Wrecks (cakewrecks.blogspot.com)
May 26th, 2009
"An Indecent Proposal"
Written by Jen Yates
Wrecks reader Mark B. decided to propose to his girlfriend while they were on a Caribbean cruise last August. Like all good guys, he wanted to do it in a way that was both memorable and a little unique. So, after much thought, he decided to use a cake. (Told you he was a good guy.) With that settled, all that was left to do was choose the perfect words to form his request.
Well, the night before he planned to propose arrived, and Mark still hadn't decided on an inscription. As he and his girlfriend went for a walk on the beach, though, they came across the very inspiration he'd been looking for. There, written in the sand, illuminated by moonlight, was the word "dork".
Ok, so that might not seem like the most romantic of inspirations to you or me, but for Mark it was "a sign". He tells me his girlfriend was always calling him a dork at the time (with much affection, I'm sure), and so standing there that night, he knew exactly what his proposal cake should say.
Now, let's set the scene:
The meal is over, the dessert orders have been given, and Mark is sitting on pins and needles, awaiting the arrival of his proposal cake. The waiter approaches and, with a smile at Mark, places a covered tray before his unsuspecting girlfriend. Then, with a flick of the wrist, the waiter removes the lid to reveal....
this.
Huh.
Well, on the bright side, Mark, this IS quite memorable. In an incomprehensible, what-exactly-did-the-baker-think-s/he-was-writing? kind of way. Still, here's hoping your lovely lady had "many" reasons to agree to "marry" the dork in question. ;)
LINK: http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/2009/05/indecent-proposal.html
-------------------------------
The Capital Times, Madison, WI (www.madison.com)
February 17th, 2009
"Goat Breaks Into Home, Eats Cake"
Written by Aaron Martin
Hat Tip: Cake Wrecks
TOWN OF WESTFORD -- What do you get when a goat follows a dog into a house?
For Sherry Shirley of Westford, the answer is a big mess.
When she opened the front door of her home on Lake Road to let her dog in Saturday morning, a full-grown goat burst into the house, jumped onto a kitchen counter and helped itself to a freshly baked chocolate cake, according to the Dodge County Sheriff's Department.
Deputies responded to a call from Shirley at 11:43 Saturday morning, but a neighbor had dragged the goat from the home by its horns before officers arrived, patrol captain Molly Soblewski said.
"The goat didn't do a lot of damage. It knocked some dishes to the floor that broke and began eating the chocolate cake she had just made," Soblewski said.
The chocolate cake caper, however, was far from a perfect crime. Deputies followed the goat's tracks to a nearby farm on Mill Road and had it behind bars by 12:35 p.m. Saturday.
Soblewski said the owners of the goat will not be cited.
"It was just an unfortunate circumstance," she said. "I feel sorry for the lady, but it is kind of funny."
LINK: http://www.madison.com/tct/news/stories/438982
Labels:
animals,
animation and comic strips,
comedy,
computers and technology,
food,
video
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Deadline!!
Youtube (www.youtube.com)
June 5th, 2009
"DEADLINE Post-It Stop Motion"
Posted by bunliu
"Deadline"
Directed by Bang-yao Liu
Sound design by Shaun Burdick
Music by Röyksopp
bunliu: "This is my senior project at Savannah College of Art and Design. Where my idea comes from is that every time when I am busy, I feel that I am not fighting with my works, I am fighting with those post-it notes and deadline. I manipulating the post-it notes to do pixel-like stop motion and there are some interactions between real actor and post-its. Here is the making of:
Just want to say thank you to every one
The responses are really beyond my expectation...
Especially thank to my teacher and my friends who help me a lot.
Thank to Ashton Kutcher...that was unbelievable for me!!!
Appreciated you like it !! : )"
LINK: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpWM0FNPZSs
"MAKING OF" LINK: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArJYvaCCB3c
June 5th, 2009
"DEADLINE Post-It Stop Motion"
Posted by bunliu
"Deadline"
Directed by Bang-yao Liu
Sound design by Shaun Burdick
Music by Röyksopp
bunliu: "This is my senior project at Savannah College of Art and Design. Where my idea comes from is that every time when I am busy, I feel that I am not fighting with my works, I am fighting with those post-it notes and deadline. I manipulating the post-it notes to do pixel-like stop motion and there are some interactions between real actor and post-its. Here is the making of:
Just want to say thank you to every one
The responses are really beyond my expectation...
Especially thank to my teacher and my friends who help me a lot.
Thank to Ashton Kutcher...that was unbelievable for me!!!
Appreciated you like it !! : )"
LINK: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpWM0FNPZSs
"MAKING OF" LINK: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArJYvaCCB3c
Labels:
animation and comic strips,
video
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