Clipmarks | Folly's clips

The Well-Traveled Viking

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 21:53:29 GMT

clipped by: Folly

Swedes find Viking-era Arab coins

Swedish archaeologists have discovered a rare hoard of Viking-age silver Arab coins near Stockholm's Arlanda airport.

About 470 coins were found on 1 April at an early Iron Age burial site. They date from the 7th to 9th Century, when Viking traders travelled widely.

Most of the coins were minted in Baghdad and Damascus, but some came from Persia and North Africa, said archaeologist Karin Beckman-Thoor.

Canine Rabies Virus: Gone but Not Forgotten

Sat, 08 Sep 2007 07:13:51 GMT

clipped by: Folly
clipper's remarks: This is actually kind of a big deal from a biological/public health stand point--but it really doesn't change much as far as pet owner responsibility. I hope people don't read/hear this and think they can skip Fido's rabies vaccine.

Also interesting to hear about the only known unvaccinated survivor from 2004. Previously, as I understood it, rabies was labeled the only infectious disease that, left untreated (via vaccination), had a 100% mortality rate.

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

canine rabies has disappeared from the United States.

While dogs may still become infected from raccoons, skunks or bats, they will not catch dog-specific rabies from another dog

the strain most specific to dogs has not been seen anywhere in the United States since 2004

While the incubation period for rabies is as long as six years in humans, it is only six months in a dog.

Rabies kills 55,000 people a year globally, according to the World Health Organization. It is easily prevented with a vaccine, but many people do not realize they have been infected and once symptoms begin to show, it is almost impossible to treat.

Only one person -- a Wisconsin girl who was put into an intentional coma in 2004 -- has ever been known to have survived rabies infection.

"The elimination of canine rabies in the United States represents one of the major public health success stories in the last 50 years,"

"However, there is still much work to be done to prevent and control rabies globally."

Tags: science, rabies, vaccine, dogs, virus, cdc, who, public health

The Scottish Wizard Who Tutored the Pope

Wed, 29 Aug 2007 16:17:31 GMT

clipped by: Patty2007

Clip Source: heritage.scotsman.com

Not much is known about the real Michael Scott, but his reputation as a wizard with a magic staff is remembered to this day.

NOT MANY Scots appear in Dante's Inferno – that extraordinary 13th-century poem by Dante Alighieri depicting hell, purgatory and heaven. But there is one, deep down in the eighth circle of hell, undergoing gruesome torture and condemned to eternal torment amongst the other sorcerers. This Scot is none other than Michael Scott, scholar, tutor to the Pope and wizard.

Scott was born in 1175, some say in Fife, others believe in the Borders. Both places lay claim to him and "mythologise" him in fantastical ways. Border folk remember him as the man who split the Eildon Hills near Melrose, a story that is recounted in the work of Sir Walter Scott. In Balwearie, Fife, he is gifted with the ability to spin rope from sand.

Tags: wizard, pope, scotland

Arming the (Sometime) Enemy of My Enemy

Fri, 03 Aug 2007 10:46:46 GMT

clipped by: Folly
clipper's remarks: I've been thinking about this from all kinds of angles, and no matter how hard I try I can't find a good outcome resulting from this proposal.
Er, unless like me, you derive some small, petty pleasure from the fact that Cheney might be the least bit irritated by the failure of Rice and Gates to focus exclusively on his suggestion (decree?) that the USA proceed with a military solution to the Iran situation.

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

The Bush administration announced on Monday the huge arms sales package to Saudi Arabia and other Gulf state allies aimed at creating a bulwark against Iran.

"There isn't a doubt that Iran constitutes the single most important single-country strategic challenge to the United States and to the kind of Middle East that we want to see."

"These countries stand for everything we stand against."

Iran, which expressed alarm over the sales, accused Washington of creating an arms race to help the US defence industry. Syria, an ally of Iran, echoed this, with its foreign ministry saying yesterday: "He who wants to make peace does not start out with an arms initiative."

The arms sale is part of a US strategy aimed at putting a squeeze on Iran that involves everything short of war. Both Ms Rice and Mr Gates are advocates of this approach, in contrast to the US vice-president, Dick Cheney, who argues that in the end military strikes will be needed.

Tags: iran, arms, middle east, stupidity, war

Images that changed the world?

Fri, 03 Aug 2007 07:04:21 GMT

clipped by: thekay

Clip Source: pinguy.infogami.com

Images That Changed The World ?

Execution of a Viet Cong Guerrilla [1968]

The lynching of young blacks [1930]

Soweto Uprising [1976]

Hazel Bryant [1957]

Triangle Shirtwaist Company Fire [1911]

Phan Thị Kim Phúc [1972]

Kent State [1970]

Tiananmen Square [1989]

Thích Quảng Đức [1963]

Portrait of Winston Churchill [1941]

Albert Einstein [1951]

Nagasaki [1945]

Hiroshima, Three Weeks After the Bomb [1945]

Dead on the Beach [1943]

Buchenwald [1945]

Anne Frank [1941]

V-J Day, Times Square, [1945]

Casualties of war [1991]

The Falling Man [2001]

U.S. Marines raising the flag on Iwo Jima [1945]

Lunch atop a Skyscraper [1932]

Migrant Mother [1936]

Omayra Sánchez [1985]

A vulture watches a starving child [1993]

Biafra [1969]

Misery in Darfur [2004]

Tragedy in Oklahoma [1995]

How Life Begins [1965]

First Flight [1903]

Earthrise [1968]

Tags: photos, news

Father-to-be allowed into delivery room for first time in Iran

Sun, 29 Jul 2007 13:50:58 GMT

clipped by: Deepti

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Sarem hospital in Tehran last week became the first in Iran to allow a father inside a delivery room for the birth of his child. The hospital is offering couples the chance to stay together during childbirth after being told that it is permissible under Iran's Islamic laws

What has become common practice in the west is still unknown in Iran, where pregnancy and birth are still seen as women's business

But Dr Abutaleb Sarem

medical director at Sarem hospital, is urging patients to bring in husbands for health and psychological reasons. He believes the presence of fathers is necessary to soothe women's nerves and make them more willing to give birth naturally

Dr Sarem came up with the proposal after Iran's health ministry asked doctors to reduce the number of caesarean births. About 70% of babies in Iran are born by caesarean section, largely due to women's fears about the pain of childbirth and the worry that natural births make them less attractive to their husbands

Tags: iran, father, delivery, child, baby, health, childbirth

Thank Heaven for Little...Boys?

Sun, 29 Jul 2007 06:59:09 GMT

clipped by: Folly
clipper's remarks: Maurice Chevalier would be so disappointed.

I *really* don't want to sit in judgement upon a culture about which I am largely ignorant, but this preference seems alarmingly short-sighted. On a biological level, it doesn't make much long-term sense. Let's say that parents depend on their son(s) to provide for them in their old age--is it crazy to imagine that their daughter-in-law would be a critical component in their care? How, precisely, do bachelor sons care for elderly parents.

I'd love to be enlightened on this issue. Can anyone help me understand this?

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

In India ultrasound technology, coupled with a traditional preference for boys, has led to mass female foeticide. Although gender-based abortion is illegal, parents are choosing to abort female foetuses in such large numbers that experts estimate India has lost 10 million girls in the past 20 years. In the 12 years since selective abortion was outlawed only one doctor has been convicted of the crime.

The prejudices against having a daughter run deep in India, where tradition dictates that when she is married a woman's family must pay the groom's in-laws a large dowry. By contrast a son is considered an asset.

A survey revealed that female foeticide was highest among women with university degrees. The urban middle classes can also afford the ultrasound tests to determine the sex of the foetus.

for the two years up to 2005 Indian had just 880 female babies born to each 1,000 males.

unmarried young men are turning to crime and violence against women has increased.

Tags: india, babies, ultrasound, gender, medicine, wtf

Family Values...Republican Style

Thu, 26 Jul 2007 05:53:25 GMT

clipped by: Folly
clipper's remarks: "It's a fun day. It's a family day...." That just kills me.

The only promising thing about this is the fact that none of the candidates are going to attend.

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

A planned Republican fundraiser in New Hampshire aims to promote gun ownership in America by letting supporters fire powerful military-style weapons -- from Uzi submachine guns to M-16 rifles.

The Manchester Republican Committee is inviting party members and their families to a "Machine Gun Shoot" where, for $25, supporters can spend a day trying out automatic weapons, said organizer Jerry Thibodeau.

"It's a fun day. It's a family day," said Thibodeau of the August 5 event. "It's quite exciting."

Thibodeau said he invited all the Republican candidates in the 2008 presidential race to the event at Pelham Fish and Game Club outside of Manchester, the state's largest city, but he said they declined. He said all shooters would undergo training.

Tags: politics, wtf, republicans, elections, guns, fundraising, gun control

"Cat Lady" Phenomenon Solved?

Thu, 26 Jul 2007 04:47:44 GMT

clipped by: Folly
clipper's remarks: Perhaps your neighborhood "cat lady" just wants to know that someone will be there at the end.

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

Nursing home cat can sense death, ease passing

When Oscar the Cat visits residents of the Steere House Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Providence, Rhode Island, the staff jumps into action -- Oscar can sense within hours when someone is about to die.

"It's not that the cat is consistently there first," Dr. Joan Teno, a professor of community health at Brown University, who sees patients in the unit. "But the cat always does manage to make an appearance, and it always seems to be in the last two hours."

"I don't think this is a psychic cat," said Teno. "I think there's probably a biochemical explanation," she said in a telephone interview.

On a particular day detailed by Dr. Dosa, Oscar settled onto the bed of a patient in room 313.

His presence sent staff off to make calls and set up vigil.

When a grandson asked why the cat was there, his mother explained: "He is here to help Grandma get to heaven," according to Dosa's account.

She died a half an hour later.

Tags: animals, death, medicine, elderly, nursing, cats

Rights removed after 9/11

Sun, 22 Jul 2007 05:58:25 GMT

clipped by: Oortcloud

Clip Source: garlinggauge.wordpress.com

Gentle Reminder

Tags: politics, america, rights, 9/11

101 Extraordinary Uses for Ordinary Things

Fri, 20 Jul 2007 07:20:50 GMT

clipped by: 2muchInfo
clipper's remarks: Follow all underline links for 101 uses.

Clip Source: www.realsimple.com

In every part of your house, everyday items — from clothespins to cotton swabs — are simply waiting to do surprising new things

Unexpected New Uses for Bathroom Items

A soak in the tub can wash away your cares, but there's more magic to be found in the medicine cabinet

Unexpected New Uses for Bedroom Items

The same items that keep your bed comfortable and wardrobe neat can also preserve produce or hold CDs

Unexpected New Uses for Laundry Room Items

A few surprising spins on utility-room essentials can give you new appreciation for laundry day

Unexpected New Uses for Home Office Items

Make your office supplies work double time with these new twists

Unexpected New Uses for Kitchen Items

Gadgets that step up to the plate in less time it takes to heat up last night's leftovers

Tags: new uses for bathroom items, bedroom items, laundry room items, home office items, kitchen items, tips, how-to's

Does Guinea Have a Better Curriculum than U.S.?

Fri, 20 Jul 2007 01:41:46 GMT

clipped by: Folly
clipper's remarks: I don't recall learning very much about Mongolia. Maybe I was too distracted by all the lights, air conditioning, and AV equipment to notice....

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

Kids in Guinea study under airport lamps

It's exam season in Guinea, ranked 160th out of 177 countries on the United Nations' development index, and schoolchildren flock to the airport every night because it's among the only places where they'll always find the lights on.

Groups of elementary and high school students begin heading to the airport at dusk, hoping to reserve a coveted spot under the oval light cast by one of a dozen lampposts in the parking lot. Some come from over an hour's walk away.

"I used to study by candlelight at home but that hurt my eyes. So I prefer to come here. We're used to it," says 18-year-old Mohamed Sharif, who sat under the fluorescent beam memorizing notes on the terrain of Mongolia for the geography portion of his college entrance test.

Only about a fifth of Guinea's 10 million people have access to electricity and even those that do experience frequent power cuts. With few families able to afford generators, students long ago discovered the airport.

Tags: education, electricity, africa, schools, poverty

15 Hilarious Graffitis

Tue, 17 Jul 2007 06:01:49 GMT

clipped by: skwirlinator

Clip Source: www.oddee.com

15 Hilarious Graffitis

Tags: 15 hilarious graffitis, funny, humor

The Irony of Life - KKK

Tue, 10 Jul 2007 19:49:26 GMT

clipped by: Bluephoenix4

Clip Source: www.keithwhite.us

Tags: society, racism, history, usa, kkk, photograph

Gandhi Quote

Wed, 14 Mar 2007 14:42:28 GMT

clipped by: AtlLiberal
clipper's remarks: The best quotes read like poetry

Clip Source: www.theaustralian.news.com.au

As I often find when reflecting on matters such as this, the last word goes to Gandhi: "I do not want my house to be walled in on all sides and my windows to be stuffed. I want the cultures of all lands to be blown about my house as freely as possible. But I refuse to be blown off my feet by any."

Tags: quotes gandhi