Clipmarks | BobbyRutan's clips

Sea Snot: Climate Change Gets Gross

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 19:52:39 GMT

clipped by: BobbyRutan
clipper's remarks: See video by National Geographic at source. Gross and troublesome.

Sea Snot: Climate Change Gets Gross

What's grosser than gross? Two words: Sea mucus. National Geographic has the scoop on marine mucilages, "jello-like sheets of disease-carrying mucus" that are spreading across the Mediterranean Sea. If you have not eaten in the last hour, check out the video below. A recent study found that sea-snot outbreaks increase when water temperatures rise, making this perhaps the most revolting evidence yet of the unexpected effects of climate change. It has some competition from the Arctic blob, a "fibrous, hairy" black goo that mysteriously appeared off Alaska this summer. It turned out to be an algae bloom, and one scientist suggested it had something to do with climate change. Global blob takeover—do you really need any more reason to get serious about global warming?

It is horrifying to see our gorgeous planet turn into garbage, but until the peoples of the world come together to stop the human destruction of our environment, it will only get worse.

Tags: climate change, warm seas, sea snot, grossness

Sept. 19th - Tis time to talk pirate, me hearties

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 15:35:25 GMT

clipped by: BobbyRutan
clipper's remarks: More:

But it wasn't until humorist Dave Barry caught wind of the idea and threw his support behind it in a September 2002 Miami Herald column that this rickety ship took sail.

# Ahoy -- Hello.

# Avast -- Stand and give attention; listen up.

# Aye -- I heartily agree with everything you said or did.

# Aye Aye -- Yeah, boss, I'll get on that as soon as I finish this coffee or rum.

#Aarrr -- Not to be confused with Arrgh (a sign of pain), it's a way of announcing yourself to the world, telling everyone you're here and alive. It could mean don't look at my girlfriend that way, or I'm enjoying this hamburger.

Clip Source: www.cnn.com

Easy tip number one, if you want to talk like a pirate: Add "me hearties" to the end of any sentence.

The meaning is simple -- "my friends, my mates" -- said John "Ol' Chumbucket" Baur, before offering as way of example, "Turn your head and cough, me hearties. Or, fill it up with regular, me hearties."

Saturday marks "Talk Like a Pirate Day," an observance that has been recognized on all seven continents and beyond.

It was an idea born in 1995 on an Albany, Oregon, YMCA racquetball court. Baur, 54, and his friend Matt "Cap'n Slappy" Summers, 46, began unleashing insults at one another, as pirates might

Putting their deep-thinking noggins together, the two decided the world needed in on this, too.

They selected September 19, simply because Summers had recently divorced, it was his ex-wife's birthday, and he figured "the date was stuck in my head, and I wasn't going to do anything with it anymore."

Matt Summers, aka Cap'n Slappy, left, and John Baur, known as Ol' Chumbucket,

Tags: talk like a pirate day

75% of Oklahoma High Schoolers Can't Name First President.

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 06:16:31 GMT

clipped by: BobbyRutan
clipper's remarks: It explains quite a bit here on Clipmarks.

Clip Source: www.news9.com

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Only one in four Oklahoma public high school students can name the first President of the United States, according to a survey released today.

The survey was commissioned by the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs in observance of Constitution Day on Thursday.

Brandon Dutcher is with the conservative think tank and said the group wanted to find out how much civic knowledge Oklahoma high school students know.

"They're questions taken from the actual exam that you have to take to become a U.S. citizen," Dutcher said.

A thousand students were given 10 questions drawn from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services item bank. Candidates for U.S. citizenship must answer six questions correctly in order to become citizens.

About 92 percent of the people who take the citizenship test pass on their first try, according to immigration service data. However, Oklahoma students did not fare as well. Only about 3 percent of the students surveyed would have passed the citizenship test.

Clip Source: whyoklahomasucks.files.wordpress.com

Tags: okrahoma, jokelahoma, take your pick

San Francisco test drives Universal Health Care: Result - Good

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 02:10:14 GMT

clipped by: BobbyRutan
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The program, now in its third year, is proving popular. More than 43,000 people were enrolled as of June, up from 24,000 a year before. One reason for the jump: the income test for eligibility was relaxed in February to include people whose income was 500 percent of the poverty level--about $54,000 for a single person and $110,000 for a family of four. The program costs San Francisco about $280 per person per month.

How are the results? Hospital admissions of plan members have dropped, and the average stay for those who wind up in the hospital has been cut almost in half, Varney reports. Those changes suggest chronic illnesses, such as diabetes, asthma and hypertension, are being managed better, reducing the need for crisis care.

Clip Source: www.npr.org

Could a public health option

actually work?

Take a look at San Francisco for a clue. An experiment there in universal coverage is bearing fruit, KQED's Sarah Varney reports on Tuesday's Morning Edition.

Called Healthy San Francisco, the program for the uninsured isn't health insurance but instead offers care in clinics and covers admissions to hospitals located in the city.

How are the results? Hospital admissions of plan members have dropped, and the average stay for those who wind up in the hospital has been cut almost in half

Employers in the city fretted over a 2008 mandate requiring they offer health coverage to employees, contribute to workers' health savings accounts or pitch in on Healthy San Francisco. But predictions the requirements would drive businesses under haven't proved true.

The San Francisco experiment is working, and it's working well," Ken Jacobs, chair of the University of California, Berkeley labor center, said

no evidence of any impact

on employment in San Francisco

Tags: universal health care, health care reform

Health Care Reform: Poll shows most Doctors support Public Option

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 03:13:56 GMT

clipped by: BobbyRutan
clipper's remarks: More:

"Whether they lived in southern regions of the United States or traditionally liberal parts of the country," says Keyhani, "we found that physicians, regardless — whether they were salaried or they were practice owners, regardless of whether they were specialists or primary care providers, regardless of where they lived — the support for the public option was broad and widespread."

The survey even found widespread support for a public option among doctors who are members of the American Medical Association, a group that's opposed to it. The AMA fears a public option eventually could lead to government putting more limits on doctors' fees.

Appears only rightwing nutjob townhall screamers don't support health care reform.

Clip Source: www.npr.org

Among all the players in the health care debate, doctors may be the least understood about where they stand on some of the key issues around changing the health care system. Now, a new survey finds some surprising results: A large majority of doctors say there should be a public option.

When polled, "nearly three-quarters of physicians supported some form of a public option, either alone or in combination with private insurance options," says Dr. Salomeh Keyhani. She and Dr. Alex Federman, both internists and researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, conducted a random survey, by mail and by phone, of 2,130 doctors. They surveyed them from June right up to early September.

When the American public is polled, anywhere from 50 to 70 percent favor a public option. So that means that when compared to their patients, doctors are bigger supporters of a public option.

The survey was published online Monday by the New England Journal of Medicine

Tags: health care reform and public option - it's time

Glenn Beck's '9-12' Logo based on Communist and Socialist designs

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 16:25:09 GMT

clipped by: BobbyRutan
clipper's remarks: More:

Turnout for the 9-12 Project's Saturday march on Washington was a bust; 30,000 protesters signed up in advance (MSNBC reporter David Shuster tweeted that D.C. park police called that figure "generous"). But even if three times that many actually showed up, the number would fall far short of the hundreds of thousands (and even millions) claimed to be planning to attend. Even in that reduced crowd, however, surely someone recognized how odd the right-wing gathering's left-wing logo was.

Maybe Beck will explain. Sort of.

Clip Source: latimesblogs.latimes.com

Ever since Glenn Beck took to the Fox television airwaves recently to offer a bizarre reading of the art commissioned 70 years ago for New York's Rockefeller Center, I've been puzzled by the graphic design element of his 9-12 Project. The logo (pictured) for his affiliated groups' rally in Washington, D.C., this weekend derives from century-old communist, socialist and other left-wing designs.

Those were the motifs he railed against in his Rockefeller rant.

Unity and resistance are what the fist represented in 1917, when it was first employed by the Industrial Workers of the World, a union organization founded by socialists. And in the 1940s, when it stood for various nations' communist party organizations.

That's also what it meant when it was revived in the 1960s, appearing as a symbol for the SDS, as well as anti-war and feminist movements

today, it's the symbol for the Progressive Labor Party (pictured), a political outfit whose website says it "fights to smash capitalism."

Clip Source: unreasonablysafe.files.wordpress.com

Clip Source: cache.gawker.com

Tags: glenn beck loves tea bagging

Rebubbacan Newt Gingrich Hearts Porn Company

Sat, 12 Sep 2009 04:20:45 GMT

clipped by: BobbyRutan
clipper's remarks: “Newt would like to arrange a private dinner with you at the historic Capitol Hill Club on the evening of October 7, 2009 in Washington. You’ll dine privately with Newt at this exclusive venue and he’ll take the occasion to present you with your well deserved award and have your photo taken together.”

Alas, after McKenna's post, American Solutions for Winning the Future, Gingrich's PAC, rescinded the offer.

Family Values Rebubbacans strike again. FAIL!

Clip Source: www.motherjones.com

The Washington City Paper reports that the PAC of former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich recently offered an "entrepreneur of the year" award to Allison Vivas, the owner of a California porn company, Pink Visual, whose credits include "Desperately Seeking Cock," "House Wife Bangers," and "Memoirs of a Gusher." CP's Dave McKenna gives the gory details of an apparent fundraising scheme gone awry:

Vivas’ PR representative, Brian S. Gross, is circulating a letter dated Wednesday ostensibly from Joe Gaylord, a consultant working for Gingrich, telling her “Newt’s Business Defense and Adviory [sic] Council” had agreed that she was deserving of the honor in “recognition of the risks you take to ceate [sic] jobs and stimulate the economy.”

Clip Source: www.rodneyanonymous.com

Clip Source: www.cduniverse.com

Clip Source: www.motherjones.com

Newt would like to arrange a private dinner with you at the historic Capitol Hill Club on the evening of October 7, 2009 in Washington.

to present you with your well deserved award and have your photo taken together.

Tags: family values rebubbacans love porn

Walter Cronkite Memorial: Presidents Obama & Clinton Speak

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 18:26:18 GMT

clipped by: BobbyRutan
clipper's remarks: More:

… We also remember and celebrate the journalism that Walter practiced — a standard of honesty and integrity and responsibility to which so many of you have committed your careers. It’s a standard that’s a little bit harder to find today. We know that this is a difficult time for journalism. Even as appetites for news and information grow, newsrooms are closing. Despite the big stories of our era, serious journalists find themselves all too often without a beat. Just as the news cycle has shrunk, so has the bottom line.

And too often, we fill that void with instant commentary and celebrity gossip and the softer stories that Walter disdained, rather than the hard news and investigative journalism he championed. “What happened today?” is replaced with “Who won today?” The public debate cheapens. The public trust falters.

Clip Source: mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com

The stature and influence Walter Cronkite held as the anchor of the “CBS Evening News” “will never be duplicated,” said Sean McManus, the president of CBS News, at a memorial service for the late anchor Wednesday in Manhattan.

President Obama and former president Bill Clinton also addressed hundreds of Mr. Cronkite’s friends and former colleagues at the memorial at Lincoln Center, which CBS called “A Celebration of Life.”

Doug Mills/The New York Times

President Obama, who was the last to speak, said that too much of the content that passed as journalism today was the “instant commentary and celebrity gossip and the softer stories that Walter disdained, rather than the hard news and investigative journalism he championed.”

Mr. Kaplan added: “Walter knew nothing is more important to a democracy than an informed public, and he took that responsibility very seriously.

Clip Source: wtolblog.files.wordpress.com

Clip Source: storyballoon.files.wordpress.com

Clip Source: tommcmahon.typepad.com

Clip Source: www.time.com

CBS/ Everett

Clip Source: www.time.com

Clip Source: mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com

Too often in the media, “What happened today?” is replaced with “Who won today?,” Mr. Obama said

Clip Source: crooksandliars.com

Tags: yellow journalism = glenn beck, hero = walter cronkite

U.S. style feedlots and the death of the Argentinian Gaucho

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 05:34:34 GMT

clipped by: BobbyRutan
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General manager of the Argentine Feedlot Chamber, Troncoso has a master's degree in agribusiness and travels to other major cattle-producing countries, including the United States, to study their latest techniques. Troncoso said he expects that more than 60 percent of Argentina's cattle will pass through feedlots in five years.

"I'm not a romantic," he said, referring to those who pine for the old days in cattle country. "Argentina sold this image to the world to position itself -- that was the '40s, '50s, '60s, '70s and '80s. But the reality is all the rest of the world went the other way."

From Australia to the United States, the world's top cattle producers have been penning up cattle for years. Troncoso said that if Argentina wants to take advantage of the world's growing appetite for meat, then it, too, must become a more efficient producer of beef.

Me:

How sad.

Clip Source: www.washingtonpost.com

MAGDALENA, Argentina -- Cattle once ruled the seemingly endless grasslands here, delivering decades of prosperity for Argentina and producing a brand familiar to the world -- natural, grass-fed beef.

But a quiet revolution has arrived on the famously fertile pampa, a swath of plains bigger than Texas.

Instead of roaming freely and eating to their hearts' content, a growing number of Argentine cattle are spending a third of their lives in U.S.-style feedlots. There, crammed in muddy corrals, they are pumped with antibiotics and fed mounds of protein-rich grain, which fattens them up fast but hardly conjures up the romantic image of the Argentine cowboy, the iconic gaucho, lassoing cattle on the high plains.

Clip Source: www.argentour.com

Clip Source: medicineworld.org

Clip Source: www.washingtonpost.com

"There's a big difference between grass-fed beef and feedlot beef," said Leclercq, who manages about 250 head of cattle for a Buenos Aires businessman and eats meat daily. "Beef raised on the plains is better

Clip Source: fransonchiropractic.files.wordpress.com

Tags: feedlots, antibiotic choked beef, gauchos, grass fed beef, argentina, united states

Glenn Beck, anti-communist art critic?

Mon, 07 Sep 2009 18:44:14 GMT

clipped by: BobbyRutan
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Fair enough. That’s cable television for you. On to a bigger question: Does Beck know what he’s talking about?

Absolutely not, says Christopher Knight, an art critic (a real one) for the Los Angeles Times. Beck was as “nutty as usual,” Knight wrote:

He pointed to a portrait of Lenin in Mexican master Diego Rivera’s destroyed Rockefeller lobby mural, “Man at the Crossroads,” but forgot to mention that old John D. had the mural removed because of it. (Facts are stubborn things — even more stubborn than demagoguery.) With comedy stylings like that, Beck is turning out to be the Harold Harby of our day.

Who was Harold Harby? A Los Angeles city councilman in the early 1950s, Harby took up propaganda-arms with a paranoid group of right-wing loonies called the Society for Sanity in Art. They made it their patriotic duty to search out Communist symbols they just knew were hidden in that weird, postwar abstract art.

Clip Source: features.csmonitor.com

Let no one call Glenn Beck a one-trick pony.

Over the past few years, Beck has worn many hats, only a few of them constructed from tin foil: Ardent opponent of President Barack Obama. Pal of Palin. High-pitched radio host nonpareil. Notoriously emotional prognosticator. Best-selling author. Self-described Libertarian. Leader of the crusade against ACORN.

Now, Glenn Beck is an art critic

Beck launched a lengthy and rambling investigation of the “communist” art splayed across the face of Rockefeller Center

he went on to accuse John D. Rockefeller, whose family developed the plaza, of supporting communism and fascism. (Apparently one can believe in both at once.)

let us sketch this out a little for you. Rockefeller Center is home to MSNBC, which airs “The Rachel Maddow Show” and “Countdown with Keith Olbermann.” Olbermann and Maddow are progressives

By questioning the decoration of the plaza

he is also questioning the mores of the men and women who work nearby

Clip Source: farm2.static.flickr.com

Clip Source: crooksandliars.com

Tags: glenn beck, wrapped in the flag, joe mccarthy, harold harby

It's not only what you eat, but when you eat. Eating late tied to Obesity.

Mon, 07 Sep 2009 05:44:05 GMT

clipped by: BobbyRutan
clipper's remarks: But if I am a night owl, isn't that the right time for me?

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Eating late at night adds weight

A team from Northwestern University, Illinois, found that when you eat, not just how you eat, could make a big difference.

Scientists found that when mice ate at unusual hours, they put on twice as much weight, despite exercising and eating as much as others.

The study, in the journal Obesity, is said to be the first to show directly that there is a "wrong" time to eat.

"How or why a person gains weight is very complicated, but it is clearly not just calories in and calories out," said Fred Turek, from the Northwestern's Center for Sleep and Circadian Biology, where the research took place.

At this stage, the results could still be interpreted as controversial when applied to humans.

The scientists now hope they can find out more about how the process works. It is thought that sleep, hormones and body temperature all play a part in how we gain weight.

One group of mice ate at times when they would normally be asleep. They put on twice as much weight.

Tags: obesity, circadian rhythmns

President Obama pushes tax shelters & savings plans for employees and families

Sun, 06 Sep 2009 16:19:58 GMT

clipped by: BobbyRutan
clipper's remarks: OH MY GOD. I'M SURE ON SOME LEVEL THIS IS AN EVIL COMMUNIST CONSPIRACY THAT WILL WRECK WHAT ALL US TRUE HARD WORKIN 'MERICUNS HAVE STOOD FOR FOR YEARS.

GLENN BECK WILL SHOW ME THE LIGHT!

Clip Source: features.csmonitor.com

Uncle Sam wants you to save more money

Millions of Americans don't have a tax-sheltered savings plan. President Obama has announced new federal initiatives that would help you build a nest egg for retirement.

Obama’s moves, which don’t require congressional approval, come on four fronts. The Treasury will:

Make it easier for firms to automatically enroll their workers in 401(k) and other retirement saving plans, by streamlining the process for changing the terms of plans

Pave the way for employers to allow workers to convert their unused vacation or other similar leave into additional retirement savings

Offer a new way for people to save a portion or all of their tax refunds. In addition to the electronic deposit options that Americans already have, they’ll now be able to roll tax-refund money directly into US savings bonds

Create a “road map” on the IRS to help workers and their employers better understand the available options for tax-favored retirement saving

Clip Source: www.shareordie.in

Tags: president obama, economics, tax, 401k

OU Sooners lose to BYU, lose Quarterback, and lose chance at National Championship

Sun, 06 Sep 2009 05:44:23 GMT

clipped by: BobbyRutan
clipper's remarks: The season ends so early these days with the BCS and all.

14-13

Clip Source: www.sltrib.com

BYU pulls off shocking upset of No. 3 Oklahoma

Arlington, Texas » It wasn't a miracle, but for the BYU Cougars, it was the next best thing.

Stunning the college football world on Saturday night in a fashion every bit as spectacular as the setting, the No. 20-ranked Cougars shocked No. 3 Oklahoma 14-13 at Cowboys Stadium.

It was BYU's first win over a ranked opponent in 13 tries, and the Cougars did it without their best running back, Harvey Unga, who missed the game with hamstring soreness.

Clip Source: www.newsok.com

First, Oklahoma lost its Heisman-winning quarterback.

Then, the Sooners lost the game.

Bradford lay on his back and clutched his injured shoulder until the training staff helped him off the field.

Clip Source: lastrow.files.wordpress.com

Tags: should have gone pro

Crazed Oklahoma State GOP Senator likens U.S. government to North Korea and Iraq

Fri, 04 Sep 2009 19:13:01 GMT

clipped by: BobbyRutan
clipper's remarks: I believe President H.W. Bush was speaking to Oklahoma State Senator Steve Russell

The Oklahoma City school district proves there are some sane people in Oklahoma ......... but not many.

Clip Source: blogs.usatoday.com

Some conservatives, driven by radio pundits and bloggers, are urging schools and parents to boycott the address, the AP says

"As far as I am concerned, this is not civics education — it gives the appearance of creating a cult of personality," says Oklahoma Republican state Sen. Steve Russell. "This is something you'd expect to see in North Korea or in Saddam Hussein's Iraq."

Clip Source: blog.newsok.com

Clip Source: blogs.usatoday.com

According to The Oklahoman, the Oklahoma City school district issued a statement saying the district "will always be respectful of the three branches of government. As an educational entity, we will listen to each and be respectful of their message.”

The Dallas Morning News, and many other papers, note that President George H.W. Bush in 1991 gave a similar live speech on education, in which he said, "What's so great about being stupid?"

Tags: treasonous republicans, rebubbacans, tin foil hats

Fall colors fade in U.S. west as Aspen Trees die

Fri, 04 Sep 2009 16:16:59 GMT

clipped by: BobbyRutan
clipper's remarks: Dale Bartos, aspen ecologist with the Rocky Mountain Research Station, is cautious about using climate-based forecasts to predict an end to aspen.

"I see aspen moving up and down the hillsides with climate change," he said. "As it dries out, we may see aspen on the lower end move up the hill. I don't think the answer is cut and dried."

Others foresee a grim outlook for a tree long associated with the appeal of the West.

"What we think will happen is that aspen will disappear in some areas and there will not be anything we can do about it," said SAD expert Wayne Shepperd.

A study by the federal Rocky Mountain Research Station presented just such a scenario. It predicted the near total disappearance of aspen in the Rocky Mountain region by 2090.

The research, to be published in Forest Ecology and Management, concludes that up to 41 percent of Western forests would be unable to support aspen by 2030. That figure would rise to 75 percent by 2060 and as much as 94 percent

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

SALMON, Idaho (Reuters) – The American West is losing its autumn colors as global warming begins to bite and there is far more at stake than iconic scenery.

Aspen, the white-barked trees with golden leaves that gave their name to the famed Colorado ski resort, have been dying off across the Rocky Mountain states. The die-off is puzzling but some foresters point to climate change.

This disaster coincides with beetle outbreaks that have laid waste to millions of acres of pine and spruce forest in the American and Canadian west. They too have been linked to warmer winters since extremely cold temperatures are needed to kill the insects.

Recent droughts and other factors linked to global warming are seen as likely causes for "sudden aspen decline," or SAD, so named because it can strike a forest so quickly

Dwindling aspen would spell trouble for mountain towns

where tourists flock each autumn to see their spade-shaped leaves turn from green to gold

Clip Source: www.gratefuleyeimages.com

Clip Source: www.so-utah.com

Clip Source: aspen.middle.schoolfusion.us

Tags: global warming, tourism, aspen, fall colors, trees