A one of a kind talent ... a moment in time.
Obama Distances Himself From Another Activist Minister
by Caryn Rousseau
The Rev. Michael Pfleger, a Chicago activist, also apologized for last Sunday's sermon at Obama's church, in which he said Clinton's eyes welled with tears before the New Hampshire primary because she felt "entitled" to the Democratic nomination and because "there's a black man stealing my show."
In video circulating on the Internet, Pfleger said the former first lady expected to win the nomination before Obama's sudden popularity.
"She just always thought that, 'This is mine. I'm Bill's wife. I'm white.' ... And then, out of nowhere, came 'Hey, I'm Barack Obama." And she said, 'Oh damn, where did you come from? I'm white. I'm entitled. There's a black man stealing my show,'" Pfleger said at Trinity United Church of Christ.
He then went on to parody Clinton, sobbing and wiping his face with a handkerchief.
"She wasn't the only one crying," he said. "There was a whole lot of white people crying."
Obama won the Iowa caucuses, the first contest of the nominating season, in January. Days later, Clinton's eyes brimmed with tears and her voice broke as she talked with New Hampshire voters on the eve of the primary, which she won.
Clinton's campaign denounced Pfleger's comments.
"Divisive and hateful language like that is totally counterproductive in our efforts to bring our party together and have no place at the pulpit or in our politics," the campaign said in a statement. "We are disappointed that Senator Obama didn't specifically reject Father's Pfleger's despicable comments about Senator Clinton, and assume he will do so."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080530/ap_on_el_pr/obama_pfleger
Yahoo! News
Purported UFO Video to be Shown Friday
A video that purportedly shows a living, breathing space alien will be shown to the news media Friday in Denver.
Jeff Peckman, who is pushing a ballot initiative to create an Extraterrestrial Affairs Commission in Denver to prepare the city for close encounters of the alien kind, said the video is authentic and convinced him that aliens exist.
"As impressive as it is, it's still one tiny portion in the context of a vast amount of peripheral evidence," he said Wednesday. "It's really the final visual confirmation of what you already know to be true having seen all the other evidence."
When Peckman went before city officials this month to discuss his proposed ET initiative, he promised to show the video.
Peckman said the general public will have to wait to see it because it's being included in a documentary by Stan Romanek.
"No one will be allowed to film the segment with the extraterrestrial because there is an agreement in place limiting that kind of exposure during negotiations for the documentary," he said.
But people won't have to wait too long to see it for themselves.
"There is an open, public meeting in about a month in Colorado Springs," Peckman said. "We'll hope to do one in Denver at some point, and then in a few months, there will be the documentary that anybody can have, and it'll have the footage."
An instructor at the Colorado Film School in Denver scrutinized the video "very carefully" and determined it was authentic, Peckman said.
Peckman, 54, said the video was among the reasons he was "compelled" to launch the proposed ballot initiative, which has generated news as far as South Africa.
"It shows an extraterrestrial's head popping up outside of a window at night, looking in the window, that's visible through an infrared camera," he said. The alien is about 4 feet tall and can be seen blinking, Peckman said earlier this month.
In a statement, Peckman said "other related credible evidence" proving aliens exist will be shown at Friday's news conference, too.
Rocky Mountain News
Rare Uncontacted Tribe Photographed in Amazon
Skin painted bright red, heads partially shaved, arrows drawn back in the longbows and aimed square at the aircraft buzzing overhead. The gesture is unmistakable: Stay Away.
Behind the two men stands another figure, possibly a woman, her stance also seemingly defiant. Her skin painted dark, nearly black.
The apparent aggression shown by these people is quite understandable. For they are members of one of Earth's last uncontacted tribes, who live in the Envira region in the thick rainforest along the Brazilian-Peruvian frontier.
Thought never to have had any contact with the outside world, everything about these people is, and hopefully will remain, a mystery.
pictures and article from Daily Mail
Behind the two men stands another figure, possibly a woman, her stance also seemingly defiant. Her skin painted dark, nearly black.
The apparent aggression shown by these people is quite understandable. For they are members of one of Earth's last uncontacted tribes, who live in the Envira region in the thick rainforest along the Brazilian-Peruvian frontier.
Thought never to have had any contact with the outside world, everything about these people is, and hopefully will remain, a mystery.
pictures and article from Daily Mail
Fuel Costs Soar in Europe, Angry Truckers, Fishermen Set Up Blockades
Hundreds of truckers shut down a central London highway Tuesday, French fishermen blockaded ports and French President Nicolas Sarkozy proposed cutting European fuel taxes as already high gasoline prices soared even higher.
"It's hard to find words to describe the severity of the problem. It's not even a problem really; it's a meltdown," said Peter Carroll, a trucking industry spokesman who, like hundreds of other drivers, parked his rig on London's A40 highway Tuesday morning, shutting that key commuter artery for most of the day.
The protests spreading across Europe signal a growing agitation at skyrocketing fuel prices in nations already accustomed to paying dearly at the pump.
But for fishermen, taxi drivers, truckers and other people in businesses where using less fuel is not an option, frustration is turning into anger.
"We are being murdered, and you would not walk past a drowning man," said Carroll, speaking after the highway blockade at a protest rally near London's Marble Arch. The drivers are demanding cuts in fuel taxes.
Studies Link Lead to Adult Crime, Brain Damage
by Maggie Fox
Exposure to lead in early childhood or in the womb can cause permanent brain damage that may even cause criminal behavior, researchers reported on Tuesday.
Two studies showed that people with high levels of lead in childhood grew up with blocks of missing brain cells -- and they also were far more likely to be arrested for crimes, especially violent crimes.
MISSING BRAIN CELLS
His colleague Dr. Kim Cecil of Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center did magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI scans, of the brains of their volunteers.
They found more than 1 percent of total gray matter in the brain was missing. "The most affected regions included frontal gray matter, specifically the anterior cingulate cortex," Cecil's team wrote in a second study. This region is responsible for mood regulation and decision-making.
Men were far more affected than women.
"Our findings also suggest that this structural change is permanent," they wrote.
The implications are profound, Dietrich said. "Usually the effects of lead poisoning are irreversible," he said.
More: Studies link lead
Land of Plenty
Fantastic art creations, amazing fantasies, everything in the pictures below are made entirely of food. Wow!
Artist unknown
Media Kooks Twist Hillary's Words Again!
A Tempest in a Teapot
Here she defends her decision to stay in the race by citing 2 historical examples of primaries that dragged on until June. Sounds reasonable enough.
Here she defends her decision to stay in the race by citing 2 historical examples of primaries that dragged on until June. Sounds reasonable enough.
But the Media sees an opportunity to make up a story and posts these headlines:
"Hillary says Obama Assassination is Reason to Stay in Race"
or this
"Hillary Raises Assasination Issue, Defends long Running-Campaign"
or
"Raises Bobby's death to explain Why She Stays in Race"
or how about
"Clinton Faces Uproar Over Kennedy Assasination Comment"
Wonder where that "uproar" came from? hmm.
and
"SHOCK: HILLARY RAISES ASSASSINATION ISSUE"
Watch the video and judge for yourself.
The Legend of the Crystal Skulls
Amethyst Skull "Ami"
The Michell-Hedges skull is often referredto as "The Skull of Doom."
this skull has a hazy greenish color.
Legend of the 13 Crystal Skulls
Some people with a mystical bend credit them with strange, supernatural powers. Geologists marvel at their size. Archaeologists wonder who made them. And nobody denies that they possess an eerie, horrible beauty unmatched by almost any other objects. They are the crystal skulls.
Hey Man...Burning Incense Is Psychoactive
New Class of Antidepressants Might be Right under our Noses
Science Daily
Religious leaders have contended for millennia that burning incense is good for the soul. Now, biologists have learned that it is good for our brains too. An international team of scientists describe how burning frankincense (resin from the Boswellia plant) activates poorly understood ion channels in the brain to alleviate anxiety or depression.
"Perhaps Marx wasn't too wrong when he called religion the opium of the people: morphine comes from poppies, cannabinoids from marijuana, and LSD from mushrooms; each of these has been used in one or another religious ceremony." said Gerald Weissmann, M.D
Diamond-Like Crystals Discovered In Brazilian Beetle
Utah chemists have discovered that nature already has designed photonic crystals with the ideal, diamond-like structure: They are found in the shimmering, iridescent green scales of a beetle from Brazil.
"It appears that a simple creature like a beetle provides us with one of the technologically most sought-after structures for the next generation of computing," says study leader Michael Bartl, "Nature has simple ways of making structures and materials that are still unobtainable with our million-dollar instruments and engineering strategies."
Researchers are seeking photonic crystals as they aim to develop optical computers that run on light (photons) instead of electricity (electrons).
Complete story: sciencedaily.com
Senegalese Fisherman Save Dozens of Stranded Whales
"So many times you hear of this happening in developed countries and always the whales were unable to be saved. I always wondered why with so many boats, trucks and heavy equipment available. Here's a story where people without much means were able to move dozens of beached whales safely back to the water. I applaud them." JV
Second congressman asks FBI to investigate 'Smiley-Face' killers case
by Kristi Piehl
A second congressman has called on the FBI to take another look at the case of the so-called ‘Smiley-Face’ killers after a 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS investigation revealed new details about the case late last month.
"It has come to my attention that recent press reports indicate new evidence linking the drowning deaths of a large number of college-aged men across the country," Rep. Michael R. McNulty, D-NY, wrote in a letter to the FBI earlier this month.
"I am aware that the FBI investigated this matter previously, but it appears that some of these cases may be linked. In light of this new evidence, I respectfully request that the FBI re-open its investigation."
McNulty is the second member of congress to contact the FBI regarding the case. At the beginning of May, Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr., R-Wisconsin, made a similar request of the FBI after seeing our investigation on the national news.
The investigation at the end of April presented information from retired New York City detectives Kevin Gannon and Anthony Duarte regarding the mysterious river deaths of young men around the country.
The detectives believe the deaths of as many as forty young men around the country may be connected, including the death of Chris Jenkins in Minneapolis in 2002. Jenkins' death is the only case to be classified as homicide.
At many of the scenes, Gannon and Duarte discovered graffiti of what appeared to be a smiley face.
KSTP.com
Want to Turn Off Your Brain?
Imagine a day when your worries and cares can turned off by putting on a hat. A hat where magnets are strategically placed on the offending area of your brain.
Afraid...don't worry put the magnet in the #2 slot, worrisome thoughts...slip that magnet into the #4 slot, and so on. With a little imagination it's not hard to conjure up a weaponized version.
Angry protesters calmed, enemies dulled, teenagers silenced. Mansion
by Roger Highfield
A journalist for UK paper The Daily Telegraph filmed himself having the speech centers of his brain shut down while he recited a nursery rhyme — the results, which you can see below, are truly creepy. He literally starts stuttering and ceases to be able to form words for a few seconds in the middle of a sentence.
The first practical demonstration of TMS was made 23 years ago by Prof Anthony Barker at the University of Sheffield.
Since then, it has become a relatively simple, non-invasive, and painless way to interfere with the workings of the brain, though there is a risk of epilepsy.
Many scientists now use it for basic research. Some have used it to induce electrical changes in the brain's temporal lobes, which have been linked with religious belief, because some sufferers of temporal lobe epilepsy seem to experience hallucinations that bear a striking resemblance to mystical experiences of holy figures.
Many doctors believe it has a role in helping a damaged brain to heal.
TMS offers a kinder alternative to electroconvulsive therapy, the treatment of last resort for people with severe depression who do not respond to drugs.
Others have used it to treat severe epilepsy, and there are efforts to use it to quieten the voices heard by schizophrenics and to track nerve development in infants.
A few even believe that it could actually enhance cognitive skills.
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1137883380/bctid1556691972
Child of EBay "Online Auction" Site
Attention: sellers and buyers of online goods. In response to EBay's corporate gouging and unfair policy rules former sellers have banded together and created a new auction site. It has the look and feel of the old EBay and is user friendly.
Check it out and support the grassroots effort, hey you might find a goodie or two. Mansion
Online Auction
EBay Silences Sellers
The corporate giant of online auctions no longer allows sellers to leave negative feedback.
Deadbeat bidders hail the new rule and say it's about time someone stood up for us crooks. Mansion
by Kathleen Ryan O'Connor
When PowerSeller Carol Barton, 49, first heard about the coming revisions to the feedback policy in January, she says her first thought was, "I can't believe eBay is actually going to do this!"
Barton has begun preemptively leaving notes in every package she mails asking her eBay customers to contact her before posting a bad rating. Other sellers are taking more drastic action: A number have posted store notices saying they will no longer leave any feedback at all in protest of eBay's new policy.
EBay officials say the feedback change was necessary to counter a growing trend of sellers leaving retaliatory ratings for buyers who give them negative ratings.
"What we discovered through research was that any negative feedback that the buyer gets reduces their purchasing or willingness to purchase within the marketplace," said Brian Burke, eBay's director of global feedback policy. "The goal behind the changes is really to make sure that we've got buyer accountability and seller accountability."
Barton, an antiques dealer from Kansas City, Mo., doubts that eBay will hold up its end of the enforcement bargain. "Over the years, I've reported fraud and negative behavior and never seen any action," she said. "I don't have a lot of faith in eBay's responses. But, maybe their customer service will change too."
Since the policy revisions were put into effect in February, Barton has slowly moved most of her antique and silver charm sales to other auction and retail sites, most notably Ruby Lane.
"I think the changes, all of the changes, are geared toward large sellers," she said. "That's who they will benefit."
Read the whole story here: CNN-Money EBay
Gigantic Carnivorous Mice Threaten World's Greatest Seabird Colony
by John Vidal
Whalers who visited remote Gough Island in the South Atlantic 150 years ago described a prelapsarian world where millions of birds lived without predators and where a man could barely walk because he would trip over their nests. Today the British-owned island, described as the most important seabird colony in the world, still hosts 22 breeding bird species and is a world heritage site.
What is horrifying ornithgologists is that the humble house mouse which landed on Gough has somehow evolved to two or even three times the size of an ordinary British house mice, and instead of being a vegetarian, eating insects and seeds, has adapted itself to become a carnivore, eating albatross, petrel and shearwater chicks alive in their nests. They are now believed to be the largest mice found anywhere in the world.
More: guardian.co.uk
Obama Freakout Over Wife Michele's Ticking "Whitey" Time Bomb
by Larry Johnson
On ABC’s “Good Morning America,” Barack Obama lost his cool, calling names and making unspecified threats. Why? Ostensibly, it’s because the Tennessee Republican Party issued an Internet video featuring Michelle Obama saying she’s proud of being an American only because her husband is running for president. Well, yes, we all heard that awhile ago.
But the real reason for Obama’s extraordinary freakout is that he fears the release of the videotape, reported here, of Michelle Obama in the pulpit of Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s church railing against “whitey.” And we don’t mean Whitey Ford. Four Republican sources have told me that the tape exists. I’ve also been informed that Karl Rove and his allies have a copy of it and are using it to raise funds for independent expenditure groups. The tape, I’m told, will be disclosed as the GOP October Surprise. It’s a ticking time bomb.
And I’ve learned that a right-wing Republican billionaire has put a $1 million bounty on the video. He doesn’t want John McCain to win, like a number of conservatives, and thinks Obama is a pathetically weak candidate. The billionaire wants that video released now.
Obama, speaking on ABC’s “Good Morning America” showed fear through his name-calling: “If they think that they’re gonna try to make Michelle an issue in this campaign, they should be careful. Because, that I find unacceptable. … The notion that you start attacking my wife or my family — you know, Michelle is the most honest, the best person I know. She is one of the most caring people I know. She loves this country. And for them to try to distort or to play snippets of her remarks in ways that are unflattering to her I think is … just low class.”
Does Obama have a copy of the “whitey” video? We know that he knows that his wife knows. The video really does exist. If we have to wait until October to see it, Obama might explode before then from the tension.
Investigators to Dig for Bodies at Manson Refuge
by Juliana Barbassa AP
An abandoned miners truck found on the Manson ranch with the words Helter Skelter scrawled on the back.
Decades after law enforcement raided the ranch where Charles Manson hid following a 1969 killing spree, detectives and scientists are returning to hunt for undiscovered graves.
The dig scheduled to begin Tuesday will be led by sheriff's officials, with help from specialists in detecting disturbed soils and chemical markers that indicate likely grave sites.
The expedition to the secluded ranch is expected to last through Thursday and will take investigators into the Panamint Mountain range, within Death Valley National Park, where temperatures are forecast to surpass 100 degrees.
For years, rumors have swirled about other possible Manson victims — hitchhikers who visited the ranch and were not seen again, and runaways who drifted into the camp, then fell out of favor.
The decision to further investigate the site where Manson and his followers hid following the murders of actress Sharon Tate and six others came after initial tests in February found at least two sites that could be graves.
A group including two national lab researchers, a police investigator with a cadaver-sniffing dog, and an anthropologist with a magnetic resonance reader determined there was enough evidence to contact the Inyo County Sheriff's Department.
After further soil sampling with inconsistent results, Sheriff Bill Lutze agreed to the exploratory excavation. The National Park Service has closed the ranch to the public for the duration of the dig.
The searchers will use technology that wasn't available when Manson and his followers were arrested nearly 40 years ago, such as radar, magnetometers and portable gas-chromatograph and mass spectrometers that can detect chemical markers characteristic of bodies in decomposition. They will also dig with shovels, Lutze said.
Manson is serving a life sentence at Corcoran State Prison.
Flying Penis Disrupts Russian Meeting
Former chess supremo and Kremlin critic Garry Kasparov must have felt like a pawn in a larger political game after a speech he was giving last weekend was interrupted by a radio-controlled flying penis.
The below-the-belt disruption is thought to be a real world copycat version of a similar, virtual attack perpetrated in December 2006 by cyber vandals in the multiplayer online world ‘game’, Second Life. According to the Moscow Times, the prank was staged by "a couple of pro-Kremlin Young Russia activists".
Around 500 fellow opponents of the Kremlin were in attendance for Kasparov’s address to unite opposition political forces at a rally in Moscow when the helicopter rotor-assisted member made an unscheduled appearance.
The unconventional chopper buzzed around to spatterings of applause for around 20 seconds before a minder bashed it to the ground, as can be seen in the video below.
The below-the-belt disruption is thought to be a real world copycat version of a similar, virtual attack perpetrated in December 2006 by cyber vandals in the multiplayer online world ‘game’, Second Life. According to the Moscow Times, the prank was staged by "a couple of pro-Kremlin Young Russia activists".
Around 500 fellow opponents of the Kremlin were in attendance for Kasparov’s address to unite opposition political forces at a rally in Moscow when the helicopter rotor-assisted member made an unscheduled appearance.
The unconventional chopper buzzed around to spatterings of applause for around 20 seconds before a minder bashed it to the ground, as can be seen in the video below.
UK Mirror
Opec Says Oil Could Hit $200
Opec’s president on Monday warned oil prices could hit $200 a barrel and there would be little the cartel could do to help.
The comments made by Chakib Khelil, Algeria’s energy minister, came as oil prices hit a historic peak close to $120 a barrel, putting further pressure on global economies.
His remarks suggest Algeria wants Opec to continue to resist calls by US and European leaders for the cartel to pump more oil to help ease prices. But Mr Khelil blamed record oil prices on the weak dollar and global political insecurity.
He told El Moudjahid, Algeria’s government newspaper: “I don’t think that an increase in production would help lower prices, because there is a balance between supply and demand and the stocks of gasoline in the United States have recorded a surplus and are at their highest level for five years.”
He added: “The prices are high due to the recession in the United States and the economic crisis, which has touched several countries, a situation that has an effect on the value of the dollar. Each time the dollar falls 1 per cent, the price of the barrel rises by $4 and of course vice versa.”
Some US senators have pinned the blame for high oil prices directly on Opec and Saudi Arabia, its largest and most powerful member.
In a letter to President George W. Bush last week, they said Riyadh had cut its oil production by about 2m barrels a day over the past three years, even though oil prices had continued to rise.
The Financial Times
The Secret to Moving Really Big Things by Yourself
So it’ s not even the European Bronze Age yet. You and your Druid friends are kickin’ over a big pottery crock of mead, and someone trots out the plans for an absolutely magnificent henge over in Salisbury. Very special.
One thing leads to another, songs are sung, promises are made — and pretty soon, you’ve got a cushy construction job. Problem is, those darn stones are pretty heavy. How are you going to move and position monoliths without metal or modern equipment? You’d ask the Egyptians for advice, but they all speak in cartoons.
Wally Wallington has a strange hobby: he moves heavy stuff. By himself. Stuff like barns.
Wallington has discovered what he believes is the incredibly simple secret of how the ancients managed to build Stonehenge. He demonstrates in this video. Got a couple pebbles?
Midnight Music .....
The Crystal Ship
Before you slip into unconsciousness
I'd like to have another kiss
Another flashing chance at bliss
Another kiss, another kiss
The days are bright and filled with pain
Enclose me in your gentle rain
The time you ran was too insane
We'll meet again, we'll meet again
Oh tell me where your freedom lies
The streets are fields that never die
Deliver me from reasons why
You'd rather cry, I'd rather fly
The crystal ship is being filled
A thousand girls, a thousand thrills
A million ways to spend your time
When we get back, I'll drop a line
1967
Drug Companies Kill us While Robbing us Blind
Spend More Money on Marketing than Than Drug Development
This huge increase in people dying is not because of a heroin or crack epidemic. It’s not young, black people who are dying either. This increase in deaths is happening in the middle-aged, white demographic. CDC epidemiologist Leonard Paulozzi stated to Congress, “Mortality statistics suggest that these deaths are largely due to the misuse and abuse of prescription drugs."
click here for more
Indian Village Proud After Double "Honor Killing"
"If this is honor then beam me up."
by Simon Denyer
Five armed men burst into the small room and courtyard at dawn, just as 21-year-old, 22-week pregnant, Sunita was drying her face on a towel.
They punched and kicked her stomach as she called out for her sleeping boyfriend "Jassa", 22-year-old Jasbir Singh, witnesses said. When he woke, both were dragged into waiting cars, driven away and strangled.
A week later, the village of Balla, just a couple of hours drive from India's capital New Delhi, stood united behind the act, proud, defiant almost to a man.
"We are not ashamed of it, absolutely not, we have the honor of doing the village proud," he said.
"We would not have had a face to show if we had not done this. It was the act of 'real men'."
Read the whole story here: Reuters: Honor
Japan Fears Rice 'n' Pickle Diet as Food Supply Slows
Japan could find itself dining on rice, pickles and potatoes if global food supplies keep tightening and imports are cut off, the government warned on Friday.
Just 39 percent of food in Japan is produced at home, the lowest percentage among the major industrialised countries, raising alarm among officials over food security as supplies fall and prices soar.
In a white paper on food and agriculture, the government said eating habits would change radically if the country no longer had access to food from abroad.
Breakfast would consist of a bowl of rice, pickles and boiled potatoes, while dinner would consist of rice, one baked sweet potato and a slice of fish. An egg would appear on the menu only once a week, it said.
"Farms in Japan would have to switch to growing potatoes so people can eat food high in calories," said a farm ministry official.
He said this example was included in the white paper to raise public awareness of Japan's low food self-sufficiency.
"The meals wouldn't be nutritionally balanced, but there wouldn't be a choice, since there would be no imported corn to feed livestock," he said.
Japan is urging people to eat more home-grown food to help raise its self-sufficiency rate to 45 percent by 2015, but consumers have been reluctant to give up on noodles and bread.
Economists also say the target may be tough to reach as farmers age and fewer young people take up agricultural work. (Reporting by Chisa Fujioka;
Are the Obese Causing World Hunger?
A new study finds this may be true.
Obese people are contributing to the world food crisis and climate change, experts say.
The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine calculated the obese consume 18% more calories than average.
They are also responsible for using more fuel, which has an environmental impact and drives up food prices as transport and agriculture both use oil.
The result is that the poor struggle to afford food and greenhouse gas emissions rise, the Lancet reported.
It comes as the World Health Organization predicts the obese population will double by 2015 to 700m.
In the UK, nearly a quarter of adults are classed obese, twice as many as there were in the 1980s.
The team found that obese people require 1,680 daily calories to sustain normal energy and another 1,280 to maintain daily activities - a fifth more than normal.
The higher consumption of food has a two-fold effect, researchers said.
First of all the increasing demand for food, drives up production.
This means that agricultural processes are using more oil to meet demand, which contributes to the rising cost of fuel.
The cost of fuel is then passed on in the cost of food, making it more difficult for poorer areas to afford it.
Prices
What is more, the researchers said obese people are likely to rely on transport more and put more strain on that transport because of their mass, which again drives up prices and usage.
But the researchers said there was a solution.
Phil Edwards, who co-authored the article, said: "Urban transport policies that promote walking and cycling would reduce food prices by reducing the global demand for oil and promotion of a normal weight.
And they added: "Decreased car use would reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
"Transport and food policy and the importance of sustainable transport must not be overlooked."
But Dr David Haslam, of the National Obesity Forum, said it was "stretching it a bit" to blame the obese in the way."Really, it is discriminatory towards obese people. They are an easy target at the moment, but I think the causes of climate change and rising food prices is much more complex."
BBC
Spellcheck anyone?
Racism? In America? Shocking!!!
Mainstream media destroyed Hillary with a 16 year barrage of incessant, phoney negativity. Steers us to Barack who can't win in racist America.
Corporate masters happy.
Alien Ants Swarm Over Houston Area, Fouling Electronics
The hairy, reddish-brown creatures are known as "crazy rasberry ants"—crazy, because they wander erratically instead of marching in regimented lines, and "rasberry" after Tom Rasberry, an exterminator who did battle against them early on. "They're itty-bitty things about the size of fleas, and they're just running everywhere," said Patsy Morphew of Pearland, who is constantly sweeping them off her patio and scooping them out of her pool by the cupful. "There's just thousands and thousands of them. If you've seen a car racing, that's how they are. They're going fast, fast, fast. They're crazy." The ants—formally known as "paratrenicha species near pubens"—have spread to five Houston-area counties since they were first spotted in Texas in 2002. The newly recognized species is believed to have arrived in a cargo shipment through the port of Houston. Scientists are not sure exactly where the ants came from, but their cousins, commonly called crazy ants, are found in the Southeast and the Caribbean. 
by Linda Stewart Ball-AP
In what sounds like a really low-budget horror film, voracious swarming ants that apparently arrived in Texas aboard a cargo ship are invading homes and yards across the Houston area, shorting out electrical boxes and messing up computers.
NASA Announces Discovery of Youngest Known Supernova in the Milky Way
This artist's impression (above left) shows a view looking down on the Milky Way galaxy. The position of the Sun is shown, as are the approximate positions and names (shown in orange) of historical supernovas. These are stellar explosions that are thought to have occurred in the last 2,000 years and may have been seen by early astronomers. The estimated position of the recently discovered G1.9+0.3 is shown in black. Although the distance to this remnant is uncertain, the angle is accurately known. Note that G1.9+0.3 is the only object that is found in the bulge of the galaxy. Credit: NASA/CXC/M. Weiss
A North Carolina State University researcher has discovered the youngest known supernova in our galaxy. Estimated at a mere 140 years old, this celestial whippersnapper is at least 200 years younger than the next oldest known supernova, and its discovery may pave the way to a greater understanding of exploding stars.
Supernovae are exploding stars, and act as the “engines” that drive the life cycles of galaxies. A supernova explosion disperses heavy metals, cosmic rays, and high-energy particles throughout the galaxy, aiding in the formation of new stars. In fact, a supernova explosion may have helped prod our own solar system into existence.
The brightness of supernovae can easily be obscured from optical telescopes by large amounts of interstellar gas and dust, rendering them all but invisible to astronomers. X-ray and radio telescopes, however, can detect the radio waves and high energy X-rays that supernovae emit, enabling us to “see” even highly obscured explosions.
Reynolds says that the G1.9+0.3 supernova has the largest obscuration of any known galactic supernova object.
“If not for all the interstellar ‘gunk’ between us and this object, people would have seen this supernova as a new star in the constellation Sagittarius in the years around 1870 to 1900,” Reynolds adds.
“Normally, we deal with older remnants and have to work very hard to see even tiny changes. This supernova is getting brighter, which means it's still on its way up — studying it will go a long way toward filling in gaps in our knowledge of these events and their effect on galaxies.”
Source: North Carolina State University
Some Detainees Are Drugged For Deportation
by Amy Goldstein and Dana Priest
The U.S. government has injected hundreds of foreigners it has deported with dangerous psychotropic drugs against their will to keep them sedated during the trip back to their home country, according to medical records, internal documents and interviews with people who have been drugged. The government's forced use of antipsychotic drugs, in people who have no history of mental illness, includes dozens of cases in which the "pre-flight cocktail," as a document calls it, had such a potent effect that federal guards needed a wheelchair to move the slumped deportee onto an airplane.
More: washingtonpost.com-detainees
Oldie but Goodie: Why Did The Chicken Cross the Road?
BARACK OBAMA: The chicken crossed the road because it was time
for a CHANGE! The chicken wanted CHANGE!
JOHN MC CAIN: My friends, that chicken crossed the road because he
recognized the need to engage in cooperation and dialogue with all the
chickens on the other side of the road.
HILLARY CLINTON: When I was First Lady, I personally helped that little
chicken to cross the road. This experience makes me uniquely qualified
to ensure -- right from Day One! -- that every chicken in this country
gets the chance it deserves to cross the road. But then, this really isn't
about me.......
DR. PHIL: The problem we have here is that this chicken won't realize
that he must first deal with the problem on "THIS" side of the road before
it goes after the problem on the "OTHER SIDE" of the road. What we
need to do is help him realize how stupid he's acting by not taking on
his "CURRENT" problems before adding "NEW" problems.
OPRAH: Well, I understand that the chicken is having problems, which is
why he wants to cross this road so bad. So instead of having the chicken
learn from his mistakes and take falls, which is a part of life, I'm going to
give this chicken a car so that he can just drive across the road and not
live his life like the rest of the chickens.
GEORGE W. BUSH: We don't really care why the chicken crossed the
road. We just want to know if the chicken is on our side of the road or
not. The chicken is either against us or for us. There is no middle
ground here.
BILL CLINTON: I did not cross the road with THAT chicken!...... What
is your definition of chicken?
DICK CHENEY: Where's my gun?
COLIN POWELL: Now to the left of the screen, you can clearly see the
satellite image of the chicken crossing the road...
ANDERSON COOPER : CNN: We have reason to believe there is a
chicken, but we have not yet been allowed to have access to the other
side of the road.
JOHN KERRY: Although I voted to let the chicken cross the road, I am
now against it! It was the wrong road to cross, and I was misled about
the chicken's intentions. I am not for it now, and will remain against it.
NANCY GRACE: That chicken crossed the road because he's GUILTY!
You can see it in his eyes and the way he walks.
PAT BUCHANAN: To steal the job of a decent, hardworking American.
MARTHA STEWART: No one called me to warn me which way that
chicken was going. I had a standing order at the Farmer's Market to
sell my eggs when the price dropped to a certain level. No little bird
gave me any insider information.
DR SEUSS: Did the chicken cross the road? Did he cross it with a toad?
Yes, the chicken crossed the road, but why it crossed I've not been told.
ERNEST HEMINGWAY: To die in the rain. Alone.
JERRY FALWELL: Because the chicken was gay! Can't you people see
the plain truth? That's why they call it the "other side." Yes, my friends
that chicken is gay. And if you eat that chicken, you will become gay, too.
I say we boycott all chickens until we sort out this abomination that the
liberal media white washes with seemingly harmless phrases like "the
other side." That chicken should not be crossing the road. It's as plain
and as simple as that.
GRANDPA: In my day we didn't ask why the chicken crossed the road.
Somebody told us the chicken crossed the road, and that was good
enough.
BARBARA WALTERS: Isn't that interesting? In a few moments, we will
be listening to the chicken tell, for the first time, the heartwarming story
of how it experienced a serious case of molting and went on to accomplish
its lifelong dream of crossing the road.
ARISTOTLE: It is the nature of chickens to cross the road.
JOHN LENNON: Imagine all the chickens in the world crossing roads
together, in peace.
BILL GATES: I have just released eChicken2008, which will not only
cross roads, but will lay eggs, file your important documents, and balance
your checkbook. Internet Explorer is an integral part of eChicken. This
new platform is much more stable and will never cra...#@&&^(C% ........
reboot.
ALBERT EINSTEIN: Did the chicken really cross the road or did the road
move beneath the chicken?
COLONEL SANDERS: Did I miss one?
AL SHARPTON: Why are all the chickens white?...... We need some
black chickens!
Why did the chicken cross the road?
Solar Bra Brings Conservation Closer to the Heart
TOKYO - Ladies, take your battle for the environment a little closer to your heart with a solar-powered bra that can generate enough electric energy to charge a mobile phone or an iPod.
Lingerie maker Triumph International Japan Ltd unveiled its environmentally friendly, and green colored, "Solar Power Bra" on Wednesday in Tokyo which features a solar panel worn around the stomach.
from Reuters~~click here for more~~
Giant Study Pinpoints Changes from Climate Warming
Beijing reports first child death of hand-foot-mouth disease
2008-05-14 13:41
BEIJING - Beijing's health authority on Wednesday confirmed the first child death of hand-foot-mouth disease (HFMD) in the capital.
Deng Xiaohong, spokeswoman of the Beijing Health Bureau, said that the child, an unidentified resident of Chaoyang District, had died on the way to a hospital on May 11.
She said that the child had tested positive for enterovirus 71 (EV71), a virus that has caused the majority of HFMD deaths in China.
The spokeswoman also confirmed that another child from north China's Hebei Province had died of HFMD in a Beijing hospital.
"Under the disease counting regulations of the Ministry of Health, the child from Hebei was not counted in Beijing's disease toll," said Deng.
Hebei Province, which neighbors Beijing, had not previously reported any child death from HFMD.
This disease already epidemic in some parts of China has now reached the capital, how this will effect the 2008 Olympics remains to be seen, as if China didn't have enough troubles.
Animals Behave Abnormally After the Earthquake
It is often said that animals can sense a coming earthquake. Is there any truth in this? How did animals behave before, during and after the Sichuan earthquake? A Xinhua reporter visited the Chengdu Zoo in search of answers.
At 6:30 PM on May12, the reporter arrived at the zoo, the city having experienced an earthquake that afternoon. No visitors were to be seen, but things were still very noisy because of the unusual behavior of the animals.
Some places in the zoo were quiet; others not at all. In the Parrot House the birds were squawking in an unusual manner. They seemed very anxious and were struggling to escape.
Mr. Wu, the zoo's Breeder of Birds, spoke about what had happened in the afternoon: "The Bird House began to shake violently at about 2 o'clock in the afternoon, which made the baby parrots and peacocks flee in disorder. Fortunately the door was closed, or else they would have escaped."
"Inside the Penguin House, the water in the pool suddenly began to churn and the frightened penguins had no idea where to run", Wu said.
In the Orangutan House, the tame orangutans become violent, using all their strength to bang on the door and shake the iron chains.
Many keepers in the zoo said there were no abnormal signs before the earthquake. "Only after the earthquake, some animals behaved very unusually. I've never seen them like this before", Wu said.
The zoo has already adopted emergency measures to ensure the safety of the animals. Big animals such as elephant, hippopotamus and giraffe have been removed from their glass cages to safer places. All the animals are secure, and no problems have been reported in Chengdu's panda breeding research base.
(China.org.cn by Xiang Bin, May 13, 2008)
Chinese Bloggers & Earthquake Conspiracies
Thousands of frogs cross the road near the earthquake zone.
by
As the death toll in China's Sichuan province climbs, the nation’s bloggers have joined together in the search for a scapegoat.
Broadband connections across the country are pulsing with rumours of "earthquake omens" involving toads or butterflies - all allegedly ignored by the authorities. Some even talk of a vast
pre-Olympic conspiracy. One blogger from Shandong province, in eastern China, wrote that more than a month ago, he went to his local earthquake resesarch centre several times to report that his animals had been disturbed and restless.
But, he wrote: "They not only ridiculed me, they accused me of making up stories."
Other blogs link to Chinese newspaper reports of bizarre natural occurrences in the past few weeks.
The Chutian Metropolis Daily reported that on April 26, 80,000 tonnes of water suddenly drained from a large pond in Enshi, Hubei province. The province shares a border with Chongqing Municipality, which was devastated by the earthquake on Monday.
On May 10, a Sichuan-based newspaper, the West China Metropolis Daily, reported that hundreds of migrating toads descended upon the streets of Mianyang, the second largest city in the province which neighbours Wenchuan County, the epicentre of the earthquake.
The Chinese state news agency reported today that 18,645 people were buried under the city's collapsed buildings and 3,629 people confirmed dead.
In the city of Mianzhu, 60 miles from the epicentre, bloggers pointed to reports just weeks before the earthquake of a mass migration of more than one million butterflies.
Other bloggers seized upon an as yet unsubstantiated rumour that a Chinese geologist had predicted the earthquake in advance but had been stifled by the authorities, and by fear.
"On the seventh of May, a geologist predicted this [earthquake]," wrote one blogger. "But he didn't dare make it public."
Another blogger from Beijing wrote: “Everyone is talking about the rescue effort but they are not actually joining it.
“So, instead we should turn our thoughts to why [the authorities] didn’t forecast the earthquake and evacuate the people...
“Could it be that it was out of a desire for a peaceful Olympics?”
In an editorial in the Southern Metropolis Daily, the established journalist and commentator, Chang Ping, cited the growing tide of rumours and speculation surrounding the earthquake as evidence of the need for greater freedom of information in China.
He wrote: “As the phone lines went down, rumours multiplied...I understood that the vast majority of this information could not be verified and that the police regarded it as the transmission of rumours punishable by criminal detention.
“But as someone with relatives in the affected area, I could not stop myself from seeking whatever information I could ...”
He added: ”The information was clearly unreliable, and it was difficult to tell what was true or false.
“Together it all spoke of a single problem, and that is the people’s fierce appetite for information when faced with a public incident.”
What is CERN?
by The Mansion
From my understanding the CERN project is expected to create a tiny version of the primordial Big Bang right here on our earth. It will release unbelievable amounts of energy never before seen on our planet. Do these "geniuses" know what the consequences will be? I doubt it, they're too busy feeding their egos, and what does this remind me of? It reminds of a time when little boys played with matches called nuclear energy. Brilliant...
CERN was powered up earlier this month and many conspiracy theories floating around the internet surround the startup. These theories include a connection between the swarm of earthquakes in Reno, the cyclone in Myanmar, the Chaiten volcano in Chile which had been sleeping for 9000 years and the recent devastating earthquake in China. Coincidence?
Oddly the Chaiten volcano and earthquake in China lie diametrically opposed to one another on the globe, the antipode point.
Here's an article about the project, it's from last year but worth reading CERN - Large Hadron Collider - Particle Physics - New York Times
Belief in God 'childish,' Jews not chosen people: Einstein letter
Albert Einstein described belief in God as "childish superstition" and said Jews were not the chosen people, in a letter to be sold in London this week, an auctioneer said Tuesday.
The father of relativity, whose previously known views on religion have been more ambivalent and fuelled much discussion, made the comments in response to a philosopher in 1954.
As a Jew himself, Einstein said he had a great affinity with Jewish people but said they "have no different quality for me than all other people".
read more ... briebart
Warning! Potty Mouth WNBC Anchor Women.
I guess some of these congenial news people can be real SOBs.
Strange Clouds Mesmerize Japanese Airliner Crew
These strange clouds were videotaped from the window of a Japanese airliner over the sea of Okhotsk last summer, they stretched over 100 km's.
Bush Asks Court to Block Wider Testing for Mad Cow Disease
By Sam Hananel
The Bush administration on Friday urged a federal appeals court to stop meatpackers from testing all their animals for mad cow disease, but a skeptical judge questioned whether the government has that authority.
The government seeks to reverse a lower court ruling that allowed Kansas-based Creekstone Farms Premium Beef to conduct more comprehensive testing to satisfy demand from overseas customers in Japan and elsewhere.
Less than 1% of slaughtered cows are tested for the disease under Agriculture Department guidelines. The agency argues that widespread testing does not guarantee food safety and could result in a false positive that scares consumers.
"They want to create false assurances," Justice Department attorney Eric Flesig-Greene told a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
But Creekstone attorney Russell Frye contended that the Agriculture Department's regulations covering the treatment of domestic animals contain no prohibition against an individual company testing for mad cow disease, because the test is conducted only after a cow is slaughtered. He said the agency has no authority to prevent companies from using the test to reassure customers.
"This is the government telling the consumers, 'You're not entitled to this information,"' Frye said.
Chief Judge David Sentelle seemed to agree with Creekstone's contention that the additional testing would not interfere with agency regulations governing the treatment of animals.
"All they want to do is create information," Sentelle said, noting that it's up to consumers to decide how to interpret the information.
Larger meatpackers have opposed Creekstone's push to allow wider testing out of fear that consumer pressure would force them to begin testing all animals too. Increased testing would raise the price of meat by a few cents per pound.
Mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, can be fatal to humans who eat tainted beef. Three cases of mad cow disease have been discovered in the U.S. since 2003.
The district court's ruling last year in favor of Creekstone was supposed to take effect June 1, 2007, but the Agriculture Department's appeal has delayed the testing so far.
A Vending Machine That Can Spot a Youthful Face
Cigarette vending machines in Japan will soon be able to judge their user's age from their appearance. The technology has been developed as an effort to have the machines comply with new laws that, from July, requires them to check the age of buyers.
Customers must look into a digital camera attached to the machine. The system will compare facial characteristics, such as wrinkles around the eyes, bone structure and skin sags against a benchmark dataset of more than 100,000 people.
The legal age for smoking in Japan is 20 and the country has about 570,000 tobacco vending machines.
"With face recognition, so long as you have got some change and you are an adult, you can buy cigarettes like before. The problem of minors borrowing (identification) cards to purchase cigarettes could be avoided as well," Hajime Yamamoto, a spokesman for Fujitaka Co, which developed the technology says.
Japan's finance ministry has already given permission to an age-identifying smart card called "taspo" and a system that can read the age from driving licences. It has yet to approve the facial-identification method due to concerns about its accuracy.
Yamamoto said the system could correctly identify about 90% of the users, with the remaining 10% falling into a "grey zone" of "minors that look older, and baby-faced adults".
People not verified by their image would be asked to present their driving licence.
NewScientist.com
NASA to Announce Success of Long Galactic Hunt
WASHINGTON -- NASA has scheduled a media teleconference Wednesday, May 14, at 1 p.m. EDT, to announce the discovery of an object in our Galaxy astronomers have been hunting for more than 50 years. This finding was made by combining data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory with ground-based observations.
Warning! Explicit Language. Bill O'Reilly Blows his Stack.
Vintage "Inside Edition" clip of O'Reilly losing it.
Growing Deficits Threaten Pensions
The funds that pay pension and health benefits to police officers, teachers and millions of other public employees across the country are facing a shortfall that could soon run into trillions of dollars.
State governments alone have reported they are already confronting a deficit of at least $750 billion to cover the cost of the retirement benefits they have promised. But that figure likely underestimates the actual shortfall because of the range of methods they use to make their calculations, including practices that have been barred in the private sector for decades.
Army Removes 'Voice-To-Skull Devices' Website
By Sharon Weinberger
The Army's very strange webpage on "Voice-to-Skull" weapons has been removed. It was strange it was there, and it's even stranger it's gone. If you Google it, you'll see the entry for "Voice-to-Skull device," but, if you click on the website, the link is dead.
The entry, still available on the Federation of American Scientists'.
The entry, still available on the Federation of American Scientists'.
Nonlethal weapon which includes (1) a neuro-electromagnetic device which uses microwave transmission of sound into the skull of persons or animals by way of pulse-modulated microwave radiation; and (2) a silent sound device which can transmit sound into the skull of person or animals. NOTE: The sound modulation may be voice or audio subliminal messages. One application of V2K is use as an electronic scarecrow to frighten birds in the vicinity of airports.
Wired
Is it Really Possible to Make Rubber Out of Urine?
by wiseGEEK
Not only is it possible to make rubber out of urine, it's already being done. Researchers have developed a new rubber-like substance from a complex combination of fatty acids and urea, a key component of processed urine. The rest of the ingredients generally found in urine are mercifully not used, although the finished product does leave a strong urine smell after handling.
The process required to make rubber out of urine is still very labor-intensive as of this writing, but researchers have been able to produce several kilograms at a time in test batches. The resulting urine rubber has a distinctive dark amber color, and a soft consistency somewhere between Silly Putty and rubber cement.
One of the advantages of rubber made of urine is the ecological green effect. Natural rubber products require significant resources to produce, and synthetic rubber products may exude harmful gases over time. If a tire or adhesive company could make rubber out of urine and fatty acids, the impact on the natural world would be minimal.
Urine rubber may sound distasteful, but it has amazing self-healing qualities which would make it an ideal material for many future products. A toy truck made from this material, for example, would eventually reclaim its original shape and elasticity even if a part were completely torn in half. A car tire made from urine rubber would eventually reseal after suffering a puncture or even a slash. Cutting boards made from this rubber would eventually heal from damage caused by blades.
The reason rubber made from a component of urine works so well is the nature of the chemical bonds between the urea and fatty acids. When a normal rubber band snaps, the ends cannot reform the strong covalent chemical bonds necessary to self-heal.
When the researchers decided to make rubber out of urine, however, they discovered the snapped ends still contained millions of tiny "hands" which wanted to reform strong bonds with other "hands." Once these two ends were mated back together and given some time to heal, the new bond was just as strong as if the rubber had never snapped at all.
While research on urine rubber is still in the early stages, it is hoped that the material will eventually be mass produced and used in a number of industries which would benefit from the advantage of self-healing adhesives and rubber products.
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