Clipmarks | BitDrifter's clips

GOP uses Amplify to focus the health care debate

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 22:18:58 GMT

clipped by: egoldstein
clipper's remarks: One of the greatest challenges of our time is trying understand the complex issues being debated in Washington. Whether it's regarding the Swine Flu, global warming or in this case, the proposed health care bill, people need a better way to understand it all. I am incredibly excited that the House Republicans are using Amplify to take transparency to a whole new level in regards to the legislative process. Forgive me for sounding a bit corny, but i think this is truly a great thing for our democracy.

Clip Source: healthcaretruth.amplify.com

As House Republicans continue to battle Speaker Pelosi’s $1.3 trillion government takeover of health care, they’re using a new tool - Amplify.com - to engage the American people in a section-by-section dialogue scrutinizing all 1,990 pages of PelosiCare. Republicans hope the new site will provide the American people with an unfiltered online clearinghouse for emerging information about the Pelosi bill as Democrats attempt to bring the massive legislation to a vote. The idea is simple. As House Republicans pour pore through the Speaker’s health care monstrosity and uncover harmful provisions not being disclosed to the American people by the majority, Amplify allows House Republicans to clip specific portions and explain what they mean in plain English.

Tags: gop, health care

Former Gitmo Detainee Killed by Saudi Forces

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 23:07:46 GMT

clipped by: Eaglewings
clipper's remarks: Although declared innocent by liberals in America this one time terrorist was wrongly killed in the line of duty while attempting to blow himself up. Hmm seems to me he was determined to die one way or another.

Instead of releasing these terrorists why not just let them bow themselves up?

Clip Source: blog.american.com

On October 13, Yousef Mohammed al Shiri, one of the innocent young Muslims illegally detained at Guantanamo, was killed somewhere along the Saudi-Yemeni border by Saudi forces while he was preparing for a suicide bombing. I’ve lost count (and so has the Pentagon, apparently), but by January of this year, at least 61 former detainees had returned to jihad. Let’s add at least one to that number.

Just because these detainees want to kill people, doesn’t mean they don’t deserve to live in Michigan.

Congress voted to let these innocent men be tried in the United States, but hasn’t cleared the way for incarceration or liberation stateside. Apparently, that’s not enough for Amherst, Massachusetts selectman Gerry Weiss. He’s not too worried about terrorism: “I think they were wrongly imprisoned,” he told the Boston Globe. “I don’t believe they want revenge. I think they would be very grateful to any people that show them some kindness.

Or, better still, Massachusetts.

Tags: detainees, gitanomo bay, gitmo, jihadist, suicide bombers, terrorism

The $150 Edge-of-Space Camera: MIT Students Beat NASA On Beer-Money Budget

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 23:58:06 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: via Jules Crittenden

Of course, all this would be pointless if the guys couldn’t find the rig when it landed, so they dropped a prepaid GPS-equipped cellphone inside the box for tracking. Total cost, including duct tape? $148.

Launch

Two weeks ago, on Sept. 2, at the leisurely post-breakfast hour of 11:45 a.m., the balloon was launched from Sturbridge, Massachusetts. Lee and Yeh took a road trip in order to compensate for the prevailing winds, which could have otherwise taken the balloon out onto the Atlantic, and checked in on the University of Wyoming’s balloon trajectory website to estimate the landing site.

Because of spotty cellphone coverage in central Massachusetts, it was important to keep the rig in the center of the state so it could be found upon landing. Light winds meant the guys got lucky and, although the cellphone’s external antenna was buried upon landing, the fix they got as the balloon was coming down was close enough.

Clip Source: www.wired.com

Meet the $150 (almost to) Space Camera.

Bespoke is old hat. Off-the-shelf is in. Even Google runs the world’s biggest and scariest server farms on computers home-made from commodity parts. DIY is cheaper and often better, as Justin Lee and Oliver Yeh found out when they decided to send a camera into space.

The two students (from MIT, of course) put together a low-budget rig to fly a camera high enough to photograph the curvature of the Earth. Instead of rockets, boosters and expensive control systems, they filled a weather balloon with helium and hung a styrofoam beer cooler underneath to carry a cheap Canon A470 compact camera. Instant hand warmers kept things from freezing up and made sure the batteries stayed warm enough to work.

See Also:

Photo credit: 1337 Arts/Justin Lee and Oliver Yeh

Tags: beer-budget technology, mit students, space, space camera pictures

Italy launches first clean hydrogen power plant

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 05:07:11 GMT

clipped by: cakebelly

Clip Source: www.grahamhancock.com

MILAN, Italy (AFP) – Italian power company Enel said Friday that it had started up a ground-breaking hydrogen-powered electricity plant producing no greenhouse gases.

Enel said the 12 megawatt plant, at Fusina in Venice's industrial zone of Porto Marghera, was the first of its kind in the world to operate on such a scale.

Powered by hydrogen by-products from local petrochemical industries such as the Eni group's Polimeri Europa factory, it can meet the needs of 20,000 families, while saving emissions equivalent to more than 17,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year, according to Enel.

Your Body Literally Glows With Light

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 08:47:51 GMT

clipped by: murieleileen

Clip Source: articles.mercola.com

The human body literally glows, emitting a visible light in extremely small quantities at levels that rise and fall with the day.

Past research has shown that the body emits visible light, 1,000 times less intense than the levels which can be seen with the naked eye. In fact, virtually all living creatures emit very weak light.

To learn more about this faint visible light, scientists in Japan employed extraordinarily sensitive cameras capable of detecting single photons. Five healthy male volunteers in their 20’s were placed bare-chested in front of the cameras in complete darkness in light-tight rooms for 20 minutes every three hours.

The researchers found the body glow rose and fell over the day, with its lowest point at 10 AM and its peak at 4 PM, dropping gradually after that. These findings suggest there is light emission linked to the body clock, most likely due to how metabolic rhythms fluctuate over the course of the day.

Faces glowed more than the rest of the body.

Tags: light, body glows

Scientific Evidence for Survival Of consciousness after death

Wed, 12 Aug 2009 15:43:35 GMT

clipped by: jay8h
clipper's remarks: Be sure to visit the site if this interest you.

Clip Source: www.near-death.com

Scientific Evidence for Survival

Of consciousness after death

Dr. Ken Ring published a paper in the Journal of Near-Death Studies (Summer, 1993) concerning near-death experiencers who, while out of their bodies, witness real events that occur far away from their dead body. The important aspect to this phenomenon is that these events seen far away are later verified to be true. Experiencers not only witness events from great distances, but they have been documented to hear conversations between people at the same events. Conversations such as these have also verified to be true. An even more fascinating phenomenon occurs when the experiencer actually appears in spirit to someone, usually a loved one, during their NDE and it is verified to be true by the experiencer and the loved one. It is evidence such as this, if scientifically controlled, that can provide absolute scientific proof that consciousness can exist outside of the body.

9 Reasons there was no stress in the good ol' days

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 03:24:42 GMT

clipped by: willhelm

Clip Source: www.zmescience.com

Of course, as a working mother, things are never easy. So when you get home, you want to get some peace and quiet, and that’s exactly what this soothing syrup was doing. Because no matter how noisy and restless a child is, 65 miligrams of morphine per fluid ounce does the trick.

NASA's HiRise camera reveals breathtaking sand-dunes on Mars

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 15:13:33 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: www.independent.co.uk

The wonder of Mars in its seasonal glory

These images of sand dunes in Proctor Crater were taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment camera on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

Clip Source: www.independent.co.uk

This stereo image suggests a process of rock formation called 'rhythmic bedding' in sedimentary rock within the Becquerel crater. A three-dimensional analysis on pairs of images confirmed the regularity of the repetition in the thickness of the beds. The image covers an area about half a mile wide

Clip Source: www.independent.co.uk

These dark, fern-like features on the floor of the Antoniadi Crater tell the story of an ancient wet environment on Mars where life may have existed.

One hypothesis is that these represent a network of channels that now stand in inverted relief. The channels may have become filled in with materials more resistant to erosion

Clip Source: www.independent.co.uk

This false-colour image shows gully channels in a crater in the southern highlands of Mars. The gullies emanate from cliffs near the crater's rim.

Tags: mars, nasa, pictures

What does one TRILLION dollars look like?

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 06:55:51 GMT

clipped by: artdawgs

Clip Source: www.pagetutor.com

What does one TRILLION dollars look like?

A packet of one hundred $100 bills is less than 1/2" thick and contains $10,000. Fits in your pocket easily and is more than enough for week or two of shamefully decadent fun.

Believe it or not, this next little pile is $1 million dollars (100 packets of $10,000). You could stuff that into a grocery bag and walk around with it.

While a measly $1 million looked a little unimpressive, $100 million is a little more respectable. It fits neatly on a standard pallet...

And $1 BILLION dollars... now we're really getting somewhere...

Next we'll look at ONE TRILLION dollars. This is that number we've been hearing so much about. What is a trillion dollars? Well, it's a million million. It's a thousand billion. It's a one followed by 12 zeros.

Notice those pallets are double stacked.
...and remember those are $100 bills.

Tags: trillion dollars

Interview with an Iranian demonstrator: "don't leave us alone"

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 03:55:05 GMT

clipped by: enbar
clipper's remarks: One Iranian demonstrator, in a phone interview with CNN American Morning, pleads with the world to intervene on behalf of the protestors. He is very direct and forthright and calls on Obama to treat the current Iranian regime as criminal and "insane." This isn't what I would have expected him to say.

Clip Source: amfix.blogs.cnn.com

For about three decades our nation has been humiliated and insulted by this regime. Now Iranians are united again one more time after 1979 Revolution. We are a peaceful nation. We don’t hate anybody. We want to be an active member of the international community. We don’t want to be isolated. Is this much of a demand for a country with more than 2,500 years of civilization? We don’t deny the Holocaust. We do accept Israel’s rights.

Americans, European Union, international community, this government is not definitely — is definitely not elected by the majority of Iranians. So it’s illegal. Do not recognize it.

I’m addressing President Obama directly – how can a government that doesn’t recognize its people’s rights and represses them brutally and mercilessly have nuclear activities? This government is a huge threat to global peace. Will a wise man give a sharp dagger to an insane person? We need your help international community. Don’t leave us alone.

Tags: iran, politics, voting, interview, middle_east

Raccoons Stuck In Soda Machine Video

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 12:42:21 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJTcmHPhV8w&feature=channel_page

Clip Source: www.youtube.com

Imagine dropping your quarters into a soda machine and having a raccoon face pop out instead of your drink. In an Oklahoma apartment complex, two raccoons needed to be rescued.

Tags: two baby raccoons stuck, vending machine

Opera Unite turns every computer into a web server

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 12:36:51 GMT

clipped by: egoldstein
clipper's remarks: Seems very cool. Curious to learn more...

Clip Source: welovecrowds.com

Opera product analyst Launrence Eng writes, "Opera Unite is a unique technology that turns any computer or device running Opera into a Web server. In other words, your computer (running Opera Unite) is truly part of the fabric of the Web, rather than just interacting with it."

Tags: opera, web

Air supply systems extracting air from water

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 04:25:30 GMT

clipped by: amgumen

Clip Source: www.likeafish.biz

Seawater naturally contains between 1.5% to 2.5% dissolved air, 34% of which is Oxygen. The dissolved air can be separated from the water by applying low pressure. This, according to Henry's Law, which states that the amount of a gas that can be dissolved in a liquid is proportional to the pressure on the liquid. Reducing the pressure will cause dissolved gas to be released from the liquid (this is what happens when you open a bottle of soda). Reduction of the pressure will be achieved by using a centrifuge, causing lower pressure in the center. After separation the air is transferred to an air bag for use by the diver.

Block Diagram of System

SAS take on Taliban

Sun, 31 May 2009 01:01:29 GMT

clipped by: foxyarse

Clip Source: www.timesonline.co.uk

SAS take on Taleban in Afghanistan after defeating al-Qaeda in Iraq

The British Army’s SAS Regiment, which played a vital role in defeating al-Qaeda in Iraq, is now arriving in Afghanistan in one of the biggest deployments of UK special forces since the Second World War.

Two squadrons from 22 SAS are being sent to Afghanistan now that Britain’s combat role in Iraq has been wound up, to carry out clandestine operations against the Taleban.

The deployment of the SAS, which will be joining the Special Boat Service (SBS) already serving in southern Afghanistan, represents a mini-surge of troops to add to the 700 regular British soldiers going out for a four-month period to provide extra security during the presidential election.

The impact of the SAS in Baghdad in eliminating the threat from alQaeda and persuading Sunni insurgents to swap sides and become informants helped to bring the war to an end.

"How Does Our Language Shape the Way We Think?

Sat, 30 May 2009 09:13:51 GMT

clipped by: einbar
clipper's remarks: Words, and classifications of words in different languages, do matter

Clip Source: www.npr.org

"How Does Our Language Shape the Way We Think?"

Look at it for a moment and ask yourself, "What three descriptive words come into my head when I look at a bridge?"

OK, here's the same bridge. Does it by any chance look:

Or, are you more likely to describe it as:

The first batch of words — such as beautiful, elegant, slender — were those used most often by a group of German speakers

Lera Boroditsky,

told the group to describe the image that came to mind when they were shown the word, "bridge.

The second batch of words — such as strong, sturdy, towering — were most often chosen by people whose first language is Spanish.

What explains the difference?

because the word for "bridge" in

is a feminine noun

in Spanish — el puente — is a masculine noun, native speakers unconsciously give nouns the characteristics of their grammatical gender

William Shakespeare may have said

"a rose by any other name would smell as sweet

but Boroditsky thinks

Words, and classifications of words in different languages, do matter