Clipmarks | RossDouglas's clips

Heart of Midlothian war memorial clock.

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 21:33:10 GMT

clipped by: RossDouglas
clipper's remarks: Edinburgh council wants to move this historic clock built in memory of soccer players turned soldiers who fought in both the world wars.
It is more than just a clock to the people of Edinburgh, it is a symbol of what we are. Free people who would rather die free than live in fear.

Please help by signing the petition or posting an email to your friends.

Thanks to anyone who takes the time to sign.

Ross Douglas.

An Edinburgh resident.

Clip Source: www.ipetitions.com

As some of you may or may not know, Edinburgh council are currently planning to move the Heart of Midlothian War Memorial from its home at Haymarket for the duration of the works on the new tram system. The council have also suggested that this move culminates in a new permanent site at Atholl Crescent, located off the main street and behind a row of protected trees - in other words, out of sight of the main thoroughfare.

It is much much more than just bricks and mortar and should continue to be sited in a prominent place at Haymarket, not tucked away out of view for the sake of a tram system which can quite easily accommodate a new site for the monument at Ryrie's Bar anyway. This was the council's original idea and was accepted during public consultation for the planning application - the council now wish to go back on what they promised us and remove the monument from Haymarket altogether.

Most importantly, please sign this petition - the old clock needs your help.

Tags: haymarket war memorial clock, heart of midlothian, mccraes battalion, petition, please sign, please forward, please pop for signatures

More picture nonsense..

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 18:06:50 GMT

clipped by: RossDouglas
clipper's remarks: Where will it end?

Clip Source: www.dailymail.co.uk

At a moment's glance this picture could be the real Big Ben.

But then you notice the hand below and the incredible optical illusion is revealed.

Tourist Michael Hughes today unveiled his extraordinary holiday snaps of the world's famous landmarks - perfectly blended with cheap souvenirs.

He has travelled to over 200 countries and has a collection of nearly 100 similar shots - but incredibly says he stumbled on the idea by accident.

Michael then takes up to 50 photographs with a wide angle lens on a digital camera until he has the ornament positioned in exact proportion to the landmark.

He arrives at the destination, visits the nearest souvenir and buys the cheapest souvenir.

He has photographed the Egyptian pyramids and Sphinx, London's red buses and the Berlin Brandenburg - all combined with their souvenirs.

Michael has released 20 of the best images in a book called Souvenirs published by graphic designers Fivefootsix based in London.

Amazing Natural Caves.

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 13:17:46 GMT

clipped by: RossDouglas
clipper's remarks: A gallery of natural caves from around the world.

Clip Source: www.environmentalgraffiti.com

Far below the Earth’s surface, where the sun rarely penetrates, is a world of twinkling glow worms, precious gems and limestone caves and mountains, a land inhabited by nature alone. Within this world are visions to rival many landscapes decorating our horizon; lakes lie still and calm, great networks of caves know no borders and rivers and rivulets carve an ever-evolving terrain.

8. This underground lake near Macan Ché on the Yucatán Peninsula is one of many that are considered to be gifts from the gods by the Mayans, and therefore sacred.

sanghavedanta

10. How long must it have taken for this little waterfall in Banff, Canada, to make this underwater lake?

Petr

9. The limestone flow feeding into this underground lake in Mexico resembles a waterfall turned to stone. Maybe the Ice Queen is privy to this particular cavern?

4. Stalagtites adorn the roof of Luray Caverns, Virginia, the still waters throwing a perfect reflection.

Ashley Dinges

Nature at work...

Thu, 11 Sep 2008 02:05:00 GMT

clipped by: RossDouglas
clipper's remarks: some of these images are enough to make you forget exactly how destructive hurricanes are.

Clip Source: www.boston.com

Hurricanes, as seen from orbit

Hurricane Ike just rolled across Cuba, and soaked parts of Haiti - both regions still reeling from recent Hurricane Gustav. Ike appears to be weakening now, but is headed tward the Gulf Coast of the U.S., and may yet strengthen. The crew aboard the International Space Station was able to take a photo of Ike from 220 miles overhead last Thursday - one in a long series of great NASA photographs of hurricanes from space. Here are some of the best, from the past several years. (25 photos total)

This image features the eye of Hurricane Ivan at center, partially framed by solar array panels on the International Space Station. One of the strongest hurricanes on record, Ivan was photographed Saturday from an altitude of about 230 miles by Astronaut Edward M. (Mike) Fincke, NASA ISS science officer and flight engineer, aboard the orbital outpost. At the time, Ivan was in the western Caribbean Sea and reported to have winds of 160 mph. (NASA) #

Pirate bay in rough waters

Thu, 31 Jan 2008 13:07:46 GMT

clipped by: RossDouglas

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Pirate Bay hit with legal action

Four men who run one of the most popular file-sharing sites in the world have been charged with conspiracy to break copyright law in Sweden.

The Pirate Bay's servers do not store copyrighted material but offer links to the download location of films, TV programmes, albums and software.

Police seized computers in May 2006, temporarily shutting down the website.

According to the Pirate Bay website, its users are currently downloading close to a million files.

In an interview with the BBC's technology programme Click last year Pirate Bay co-founder Peter Sunde said: "I think it's okay to copy. They get their money from so many places that the sales is just one small part."

If convicted, the four men could face a maximum of two years in prison.

Plaintiffs in the case include Warner, MGM, Columbia Pictures, 20th Century Fox Films, Sony BMG, Universal and EMI.

Got a light?

Thu, 31 Jan 2008 12:29:40 GMT

clipped by: RossDouglas

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Up Helly Aa - Britain's biggest fire festival and torchlight procession took place in Lerwick, Shetland, to celebrate its Norse heritage.

It is better to throw snowballs than handgrenades.

Thu, 31 Jan 2008 12:28:55 GMT

clipped by: RossDouglas

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Members of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's security force throw snowballs at one another at the Muqataa, the Palestinian Authority headquarters in Ramallah.

Katrina flood still making headlines and causing headaches.

Thu, 31 Jan 2008 12:26:24 GMT

clipped by: RossDouglas

Clip Source: www.reuters.com

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - A federal judge in New Orleans on Wednesday dismissed a class action lawsuit against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers over the failure of the city's levee system during Hurricane Katrina's floods in 2005.

U.S. Judge Stanwood Duval ruled that the Corps, which designed and built the levees and floodwalls meant to keep the below-sea-level city from being inundated, was shielded by a 1928 law that protects the federal government from lawsuits over flood control projects.

"Millions of dollars were squandered in building a levee system ... which was known to be inadequate by the Corps' own calculations," Duval wrote in his ruling, issued in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.

Lead plaintiffs' attorney Joe Bruno said in a statement he would appeal the decision.

"I know I'm fighting an uphill battle, but I'm not going to give up," Bruno said.

In his ruling, Duval scolded the agency for "its failure to accomplish what was its task."

War is hell.

Thu, 31 Jan 2008 12:23:22 GMT

clipped by: RossDouglas

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Germany's 'last' WWI veteran dies

The man believed to have been Germany's last World War I veteran has died peacefully at the age of 107.

Erich Kaestner, who at 18 was sent to the Western Front but served only four months in the army, died in a Cologne nursing home, his son said.

Erich Kaestner was unrelated to the writer and poet of the same name.

Reports in Die Welt daily and Der Spiegel magazine identified Kaestner as Germany's last World War I veteran, but verification of the claim was difficult as the country keeps no record of its war veterans.

"The German public was within a hair's breadth of never learning of the end of an era," wrote Der Spiegel, until someone updated his death notice on the internet encyclopaedia site, Wikipedia.

In its obituary for Kaestner, Die Welt noted: "The losers hide themselves in a state of self-pity and self denial that they happily try to mitigate by forgetting."

Born in 1900, Kaestner had joined the army when he left school in 1918.

Some graffiti is good, some bad. This is bad.

Thu, 31 Jan 2008 12:18:48 GMT

clipped by: RossDouglas

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Peacekeepers 'deface ancient art'

UN peacekeepers in the disputed African territory of Western Sahara have vandalised ancient rock paintings, a UN official has told a UK newspaper.

The Times has published pictures of the paintings, some 6,000 years old, showing them defaced with spray paint.

UN peacekeepers were deployed in 1991 to monitor a ceasefire between Morocco and the Algerian-backed Polisario Front, which has been seeking independence for the territory.

"It is a tragedy that UN personnel tasked with resolving one of the world's longest running military and political conflicts are engaging in the wilful destruction of important archaeological sites that have much to teach us about the prehistory of a part of the world that is virtually unknown to the international research community," he writes on his Sand and Dust blog.

"I was appalled. You'd think some of them would know better. These are officers, not squaddies," Mr Harston said.

Dead strange...

Thu, 31 Jan 2008 12:16:34 GMT

clipped by: RossDouglas

Clip Source: www.reuters.com

WARSAW (Reuters) - Red tape is preventing a Polish man from returning from the dead.

Piotr Kucy, 38 and from the city of Polkowice in southwest Poland, was wrongly identified by authorities last August as a drowned man, only to show up a few days after his own funeral.

Despite pointing out the fact that he was alive to government officials, Kucy still remains dead in official records, stopping him from working and paying social insurance.

But on the bright side, a local newspaper reported on Tuesday, he no longer needs to pay taxes.

"We are nearly through January, and my documents still say I'm dead," Kucy told Gazeta Wyborcza, adding: "It's a bit of a joke." But a registry office official was adamant about the situation. "This citizen does not exist," she told the paper.

What cost love?

Thu, 31 Jan 2008 12:10:00 GMT

clipped by: RossDouglas

Clip Source: www.reuters.com

Lottery winner's sweet wish..

LONDON (Reuters) - Retired hospital porter Steve Smith, who is suffering from a potentially fatal heart defect, won almost 19 million pounds ($38 million) on Britain's National Lottery -- but said he would give it all up if he could spend a few more years living with his wife Ida.

"I have a one in 10 chance of living. It's like a ticking time bomb," said the 58-year-old Smith, enjoying a bittersweet glass of celebratory champagne with his wife Ida.

Smith, who has an aortic aneurysm, told reporters when collecting his check: "It's Ida I worry for, it's leaving her behind. I would give all that back if I am allowed to still be with her because there are no shops in the cemetery are there?"

Smith landed the giant prize with an extra stroke of luck -- the couple stopped off on the way home from a family visit to buy some lucky dip tickets and it was one of those which hit the jackpot.

Mile high in your eye...

Thu, 31 Jan 2008 11:47:01 GMT

clipped by: RossDouglas

Clip Source: www.reuters.com

Fly naked on nudist holiday flight

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - German nudists will be able to start their holidays early by stripping off on the plane if they take up a new offer from an eastern German travel firm.

Travel agency OssiUrlaub.de said it would start taking bookings from Friday for a trial nudist day trip from the eastern German town of Erfurt to the popular Baltic Sea resort of Usedom, planned for July 5 and costing 499 euros ($735).

The 55 passengers will have to remain clothed until they board, and dress before disembarking, said Hess. The crew will remain clothed throughout the flight for safety reasons.

"I wish I could say we thought of it ourselves but the idea came from a customer," Hess told Reuters by phone. "It's an unusual gap in the market."

Naturism, or "free body culture" (FKK) as it is known in Germany, was banned by the Nazis but blossomed again after the Second World War, particularly in eastern Germany.

Making terrorism a good thing?

Thu, 31 Jan 2008 11:45:37 GMT

clipped by: RossDouglas

Clip Source: www.reuters.com

Bin Laden on patrol in Colombia

(00:48) Report

Email Video | Digg Video | Embed Video:

Jan 30 - A rough-and-tumble neighborhood in Bogota now has its own crusader against crime - a security guard dressed as Osama bin Laden.

The security guard survives on tips from people in the area and shop owners.

Lindsay Claiborn reports.

Soundbite: Fernando Aguirre, Security guard who dresses like Osama bin Laden, speaking,(Spanish)
"(I guard) stores, taverns, and, most of all, restaurants, so that people come to have fun here in Santa Fe and it is not a dangerous place because Osama is here."

Heavy stuff.

Thu, 31 Jan 2008 11:41:13 GMT

clipped by: RossDouglas

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Isaac Newton wrote down his theory of gravity in 1689, and his equations are used to this day to send space probes to the outer edges of our Solar System.

There are problems with Newton's theory, however. It doesn't quite describe the orbit of Mercury, the closest planet to the Sun, and as Newton knew very well it has nothing to say about what the force of gravity actually is.

Einstein's General Theory of Relativity describes the force we see as gravity as being due to the bending and curving of space and time (or to be more accurate "space-time") by heavy objects like the Earth and Sun.

This is a bizarre concept, but many of us use Einstein's theory every day when we jump in our cars and turn on the satellite navigation system.

Einstein's theory of curved space-time beautifully predicts the orbit of Mercury, and much more extreme phenomena out in the Universe.

Gravitational waves as predicted by Einstein are one of the strangest phenomena in nature.