Clipmarks | JohnWaterman's Pops

Bishops seek cover-up forgiveness - Bollocks!

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 21:18:53 GMT

clipped by: foxyarse
clipper's remarks: The Murphy report detailed allegations against a sample 46 priests who served in Dublin between 1975 to 2004 and found several bishops, including Bishop of Limerick Donal Murray who acted inexcusably in one case, mishandled complaints against priests. He is expected to tender his resignation to Pope Benedict in the next few days.

Cardinal Sean Brady and Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin will meet the Pontiff in Rome on Friday.

Clip Source: www.independent.ie

Bishops seek cover-up forgiveness

Irish Catholic bishops have asked for forgiveness over the Church cover-up of paedophile priests.

Formally apologising over abuse and mishandling of allegations in the Dublin Archdiocese, the clergymen said they would open talks with child welfare inspectors to audit Church protection policy.

In a statement from the Irish Bishops' Conference, senior clerics accepted the damning findings of the Murphy inquiry.

"The avoidance of scandal, the preservation of the reputations of individuals and of the Church, took precedence over the safety and welfare of children," the bishops said. "This should never have happened and must never be allowed to happen again. We humbly ask for forgiveness."

Bishops will ask the independent National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church (NBSCC) to explore how policy and practice to safeguard children can be assessed. Government departments and authorities in the Republic and Northern Ireland will also be consulted

Tags: bishops seek cover-up forgiveness - bollocks!

The Steam-Punked House

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 18:32:00 GMT

clipped by: cakebelly

Clip Source: acidcow.com

Bruce and Melanie Rosenbaum from Massachusetts have restored their house into a steampunk home called ModVic (Modern Victorian) Home.
Every corner of the house and every piece of furniture has some steampunk features and materials: wood carvings, moving gears, steel, iron and brass decorations.
Isnt’t it amazing?

An Afrian Tragedy

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 17:20:50 GMT

clipped by: AtlLiberal
clipper's remarks: Certain African countries are at the receiving end of international scorn for their homophobic views. And rightly so. It is difficult to fathom how, in the 21st Century, this type of backwards thinking could exist. Shame on them.

Clip Source: www.huffingtonpost.com

Uganda Considering Death Penalty For Gays

KAMPALA, Uganda — Proposed legislation would impose the death penalty for some gay Ugandans, and their family and friends could face up to seven years in jail if they fail to report them to authorities. Even landlords could be imprisoned for renting to homosexuals.

Gay rights activists say the bill, which has prompted growing international opposition, promotes hatred and could set back efforts to combat HIV/AIDS. They believe the bill is part of a continentwide backlash because Africa's gay community is becoming more vocal.

"It's a question of visibility," said David Cato, who became an activist after he was beaten up four times, arrested twice, fired from his teaching job and outed in the press because he is gay. "When we come out and ask for our rights, they pass laws against us."

America's new ambassador loves New Zealand already because it has most of his favourite vices.

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 20:46:20 GMT

clipped by: hotdoge3

Clip Source: www.stuff.co.nz

America's new ambassador loves New Zealand already because it has most of his favourite vices.

David Huebner held a press conference at his new home in Lower Hutt shortly after his arrival in Wellington yesterday, and immediately established his credentials as a Kiwiphile.

The Flight of the Conchords, wine, cheese, beer and rugby are just a few of his favourite things.

Previously a Shanghai-based lawyer, Mr Huebner followed the rugby sevens in Hong Kong, eschewing American football as too effete.

"I respect the fact that even at the highest levels you don't wear all that armour plating."

In a break from the usual diplomatic protocol, Mr Huebner shook the hand of every journalist and camera operator before – and after – the conference, also scoring points by speaking to reporters even before calling on Prime Minister John Key.

He had practised lines on the "excellent" state of the bilateral relationship and his hope to advance trade, military, and social ties.

Tags: america's, new, ambassador, loves, n-z, favourite, vices.

Did you Ever Feel Like?

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 05:36:40 GMT

clipped by: debbyski

Clip Source: didyoueverfeel.blogspot.com

Did you ever feel your sexual fantasies were being replaced by fantasies of quitting your job?

US to spend $3bn compensating native Americans

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 01:26:05 GMT

clipped by: foxyarse
clipper's remarks: Under an agreement reached with tribes, the Interior Department would distribute $1.4 billion to more than 300,000 native American tribe members to compensate them for historical accounting claims, and to resolve future claims.

The government also would spend $2 billion to buy back and consolidate tribal land broken up in previous generations. The scheme would allow individual tribe members to obtain cash payments for land interests divided among numerous family members and return the land to tribal control.

Clip Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

US to spend $3bn compensating native Americans

The Barack Obama administration has offered to spend $3 billion (£1.8bn) to settle a long-running lawsuit with native American tribes that claim they were swindled out of billions of dollars in royalties for oil, gas, grazing and other leases dating back more than a century.

If cleared by Congress and the courts, the settlement would be the largest Indian claim ever approved against the US government – exceeding the combined total of all previous settlements of Indian claims.

President Obama said an agreement on the case, known as Cobell v. Salazar, was an important step to reconcile decades of acrimony between Indian tribes and the federal government.

I heard from many in Indian Country that the Cobell suit remained a stain on the nation-to-nation relationship I value so much," the president said in a written statement. "I pledged my commitment to resolving this issue, and I am proud that my administration has taken this step today."

Tags: us to spend $3bn compensating native americans

Researchers can't find men for porn-free control group

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 04:38:55 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: "On average, single men watch pornography three times a week for 40 minutes. Those who are in committed relationships watch it on average 1.7 times a week for 20 minutes."

Clip Source: www.eurekalert.org

Montreal, December 1, 2009 – A Université de Montréal researcher, funded by the Interdisciplinary Research Center on Family Violence and Violence Against Women, has launched a new study to examine the effects of pornography on men. "We started our research seeking men in their twenties who had never consumed pornography. We couldn't find any," says Simon Louis Lajeunesse, a postdoctoral student and professor at the School of Social Work.

The research concluded that 90 percent of pornography is consumed on the Internet, while 10 percent comes from video stores. On average, single men watch pornography three times a week for 40 minutes. Those who are in committed relationships watch it on average 1.7 times a week for 20 minutes.

"Pornography hasn't changed their perception of women or their relationship

Those who could not live out their fantasy in real life with their partner simply set aside the fantasy

and men don't want their partner to look like a porn star," says Lajeunesse

Tags: pornography

creepy crawlies

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 08:34:45 GMT

clipped by: zadoz

Clip Source: www.news.com.au

Gallery: Really creepy crawlies

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Colin McCloud's image of Green Ants in Cairns.

Clip Source: www.news.com.au

Jurgen Otto's image of a Peacock Spider (Maratus volans) which is 4mm long.

Clip Source: www.news.com.au

Michael Jensen's image of leaf-cutter ants from Costa Rica, Central America. The picture was taken at night, shooting the flash up on the leaf in the background creating this silhouette.

Clip Source: www.news.com.au

Paul Farley's image of a female Spotted Katydid Nymph that gradually walked on a rose towards the camera.

Clip Source: www.news.com.au

Karl Lens took this picture of a spider in his Bellbowrie backyard on Boxing Day.

Clip Source: www.news.com.au

Not exactly pretty in pink ... the stonefish has spines along its back which inject potent venom into anyone unfortunate enough to stand on one. The pain is terrible.

Tags: ants, spiders, fish

The ugly side of climate politics

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 11:51:11 GMT

clipped by: tabsey
clipper's remarks: Why cannot people have a sane discussion about the facts as known?
The move to hate shows an inability to understand what is happening. This energy could be used for the benefit of the planet. That would benefit humans.

Clip Source: www.abc.net.au

Do not shoot the messenger - well, that used to be the standard. Not any more, according to some climate scientists whose once quiet research careers seem to be giving way to an ugly maelstrom of break-ins, threats and hate mail.

The FBI is investigating death threats to two scientists named in thousands of hacked private emails stolen from East Anglia University's internationally respected Climate Research Unit.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is examining whether the emails show any data was suppressed or manipulated by climate scientists.

But the leading UN climate science body has also expressed concern about the organised nature of the theft, allegedly involving paid Russian hackers.

Adding to fears of an orchestrated campaign, there are also reports of break-ins at the Canadian Centre for Climate Modelling and Analysis at the University of Victoria in British Columbia.

Tags: people

Giant iceberg headed for WA

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 11:56:54 GMT

clipped by: tabsey
clipper's remarks: Western Australia is just about out of drinking water. Could be handy if the scientists can work on getting it ashore. We used to joke about dragging icebergs to Australia during droughts. Seems nature is giving it a go.
There was an iceberg party being organised for one of these icebergs, but it melted.

Clip Source: www.abc.net.au

A giant iceberg is drifting towards Western Australia, impressing scientists with its capacity to travel so far north and stay largely intact.

Australian Antarctic Division glaciologist Neal Young says the iceberg, named B17B, is 1,700 kilometres south-south-west of the Western Australian coast and moving north with the ocean current and prevailing wind.

Mr Young says B17B is 140 square kilometres in area, 19 kilometres long by eight kilometres wide, and calved from the eastern end of the Ross Ice Shelf about 10 years ago.

"As the water warms up, the iceberg is slowly breaking up, resulting in hundreds more smaller icebergs in the area," he said.

Mr Young spotted the iceberg using satellite images taken by NASA and the European Space Agency.

B17B is 19 kilometres long and 8 kilometres wide. (AAP/Australian Antarctic Division)

Tags: strange, world

Plant Disease Devastating Vegetable Crops in Eastern U.S.

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 12:05:20 GMT

clipped by: thisnamecantbetaken
clipper's remarks: The first symptoms are usually brown spots on the stems, followed by the development of nickel-sized brown or olive-green spots on the tops of leaves and a fuzzy white growth on leaf bottoms.

Remove and destroy any infected plant as quickly and completely as possible.

Clip Source: www.naturalnews.com

Plant Disease Devastating Vegetable Crops in Eastern U.S.

(NaturalNews) The same infectious fungus that caused the Irish Potato Famine of the 1840s is now spreading across the Northeastern United States, causing alarm among farmers and raising the specter of another spike in food prices.

"People need to realize this is probably one of the worst diseases we have in the vegetable world,"

McGrath referred to the fungus, known as late blight, as "worse than the Bubonic Plague for plants."

Although not harmful to humans, late blight spreads easily between infected plants, whether in fields or on the shelves of a garden supply store.

The fungus has already been identified in Alabama, Ohio, Vermont, West Virginia and every East Coast state with the exception of Georgia.

t is still unclear whether the fungus has gained a significant foothold in agricultural fields, but growers are worried.

widespread contamination could lead to a significant jump in food prices.

Snow Geese

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 18:18:40 GMT

clipped by: wiganfootie

Clip Source: www.youtube.com

[Video]

"100 Billion" The Most Profound Image in Human History - Hubble's New View of the Universe (VIDEO)

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 13:31:58 GMT

clipped by: tabsey
clipper's remarks: 100 billion is the number of galaxies in the observable universe.

Clip Source: www.dailygalaxy.com

[Video]

In 2004, Hubble created the Hubble Ultra Deep Field (HUDF), the deepest visible-light image of the Universe

The new Wide Field Camera 3 aboard the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has taken the deepest image yet of the Universe in near-infrared light

The faintest and reddest objects in the image are likely the oldest galaxies ever identified, having formed between only 600–900 million years after the Big Bang

The image shows thousands of galaxies, some more than 12 billion years old

The field view of this image would fit behind a grain of sand held at arm's length against the sky

Almost every dot in this photo is an entire galaxy of stars and who knows what fascinating undiscovered mysteries

Astronomers use this photo to estimate the number of galaxies in the known universe by counting the visible galaxies shown and multiplying the number of such photos it would take to make a composite of the entire sky

Their calculations estimate that the observable universe contains about 100 billion galax

Tags: astronomy

Too Big To Punish? Really?

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 13:57:24 GMT

clipped by: BartendingBear
clipper's remarks: But you, mere citizen, spread 'em!

Clip Source: www.mcclatchydc.com

WASHINGTON — Forget too big to fail. In the eyes of federal regulators, many Wall Street firms are too big to punish.

During the past three years, some of the nation's largest financial firms have been accused by the government of cheating or misleading clients and ripping off tens of thousands of consumers of their investments.

Despite these findings, these financial giants got, sometimes repeatedly, special exemptions from the Securities and Exchange Commission that have saved them from a regulatory death penalty that could have decimated their lucrative mutual fund businesses.

SEC rules permit corporate lawbreakers to apply for what are known as Section 9(c) waivers from one of the agency's harshest penalties — effectively shuttering the violator's mutual fund operations — but regulators never rejected any of these firms' applications. While the firms were punished in other ways, they were spared from what some claimed would be "severe and irreparable hardships."

A glass of water can be hard to come by...

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 14:00:24 GMT

clipped by: egoldstein
clipper's remarks: We're all aware of it, yet most of us continue to forget and take for granted that a glass of water is something that so many people in the world don't have access to. If you're reading this, then you're on a computer and you have internet access, so this likely isn't an issue for you. But for so many others, something we consider so basic is perhaps their greatest challenge. I tip my hat to Alyssa Milano for again reminding people to be grateful and to help those who aren't as lucky.

Clip Source: www.huffingtonpost.com

As we take a sip of our water from the fridge and don't think twice about it, there are people that have to walk hours a day fetching unsafe water from remote areas. Imagine that. Imagine having to walk for hours and hours, every day, just to retrieve contaminated water that will most likely get you sick and maybe even kill you. And the time spent collecting this water, keeps children out of school and women from pursuing economic growth. Not having access to clean drinking water perpetuates the cycle of poverty.

Tags: alyssa milano, birthday, water