Clipmarks | Rustee's Other Clippers collection

clipped by: mickfinn
clipper's remarks: A bowline knot, also known as a bowline hitch, makes a fixed loop at the end of a rope or string. The loop can be secured over an object like a post or passed through a ring or hole before the knot is tied. A variation of this knot called the double bowline knot is sometimes used for climbing. These instructions will guide you in making a simple bowline knot with string.

My short time in the Cubs becoming useful at last.

Clip Source: www.wikihow.com

Steps

Hold one end of the string in your left hand, and one end in your right hand

Make a small loop with the end of the string in your left hand. These instructions assume you start with an "underhand" loop, so that the free end of the string is under the intersection formed by the loop

Put the end of the string in your right hand through the loop made by your left hand. The end should be coming towards you as it goes through the loop

Bring the end around (behind) the string that is facing up from the loop

Put that same string back through the loop. This time the end is going away from you

Take the top loose string in your left hand and all the rest of the string and pull in opposite directions to tighten the hitch

Another way to remember how to make this knot is with a rhyme:

"Lay the bight to make a hole
Then under the back and around the pole
Over the top and thru the eye
Cinch it tight and let it lie"

Warnings

Do not use this knot for heavy loads or climbing

Sad but true!

Fri, 21 Mar 2008 03:44:23 GMT

clipped by: mooner-one

Clip Source: www.suburbanhousehunters.com

Gas Prices

Why Winning In Iraq Is So Critical

Sun, 16 Mar 2008 13:41:41 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: It is in Europe, not in post-Iraq Kansas, where a Turkish prime minister announces to Muslim expatriate residents that they must remain forever Turks and assimilation is a crime; it is in post-Iraq Europe, not Los Angeles, where politicians and churchmen talk of the inevitability of Sharia law; and it is in post-Iraq Europe, not the United States, where honor killings and Islamic rioting are common occurrences.

Why? A number of reasons, but despite all the misrepresentation and propaganda, the message has filtered through the Middle East that the United States will go after and punish jihadists — but also, alone of the Western nations, it will risk its own blood and treasure to work with Arab nations to find some alternative to the extremes of dictatorship and theocracy. Europe, in contrast to its utopian rhetoric, will trade with and profit from, but most surely never challenge, a Middle Eastern thug. ...Read the whole thing.

Clip Source: astuteblogger.blogspot.com

Iraq, as no one ever imagined, ended up as a landscape in which the United States and al-Qaeda would battle for the hearts and minds of the Arab world on the world stage. And in Anbar Province, the jihadists are losing — losing militarily and losing the support of the local Sunni population. Again, whereas the conventional wisdom holds that we have radicalized an entire generation of young Muslims, it may turn out instead that we have convinced a generation that it is not wise after 9/11 to wage war against the United States. In any case, there is no other constitutional Arab government in the Middle East that actively hunts down and kills al-Qaeda terrorists.

Irony abounds: Since 2003, Europe — not the United States — has experienced a series of attacks, and near-constant threats, ranging from bombed subways and rail stations to Islamic demands to censor cartoons, operas, films, and papal exegeses.

Tags: iraq, al-qaeda, big media, anbar province, constitutional arab government

Why doing nothing may sometimes be the best action of all

Sat, 15 Mar 2008 19:41:37 GMT

clipped by: Aribeth
clipper's remarks: By taking action — even if it’s neither rational nor likely to be successful — they can at least be seen to have done something.If they stand and wait until the ball is kicked and then fail to stop it, they feel worse because of their inaction; and others are far more likely to criticize them for not appearing even to try. It’s better to try a poor action than try a better — but seemingly passive — response if both fail; even though the “inactive” response is more rational and based on a better likelihood of success.

In today’s business world, action is preferred over the alternatives and is more likely to result in forgiveness when a mistake is made. You can always say that you tried. The person who does nothing is doubly damned: once for the mistake and again for not “doing something.”This urge to action — to get things done — is more emotional than rational. “Wait and see” risks your credibility and reputation, even where it can be shown to be the optimal course.

Clip Source: www.lifehack.org

Fresh research suggests our bias for action is emotional, not rational.

Ofer H. Azar at Ben-Gurion University of Negev in Israel

is interested in

how investors make high-stakes decisions.

Rather than construct some artificial experiment, Azar decided to study professional soccer goalkeepers and how they deal with the toughest, highest-stakes decision they are forced to make on a regular basis: how to act to stop a penalty kick at goal.

By analyzing data on more than 300 kicks, the researchers calculated the action most likely to prevent a goal being scored. Surprisingly, it is standing in the center of the goal and doing nothing until the trajectory of the ball can be seen. This resulted in a 1 in 3 success rate — far higher than the average.

Yet goalkeepers almost never act in this way.

Fearing censure more than failure

Others value action, even when it’s wrong

The researchers suggest that the answer lies in the goalkeepers’ emotions and the response they meet from others after failing.

Tags: economics, football

Dr. Medhav Khandekar

Sat, 15 Mar 2008 01:19:19 GMT

clipped by: willhelm

Clip Source: epw.senate.gov

IPCC 2007 Expert Reviewer Madhav Khandekar, a Ph.D meteorologist, a scientist with the Natural Resources Stewardship Project who has over 45 years experience in climatology, meteorology and oceanography, and who has published nearly 100 papers, reports, book reviews and a book on Ocean Wave Analysis and Modeling: "To my dismay, IPCC authors ignored all my comments and suggestions for major changes in the FOD (First Order Draft) and sent me the SOD (Second Order Draft) with essentially the same text as the FOD. None of the authors of the chapter bothered to directly communicate with me (or with other expert reviewers with whom I communicate on a regular basis) on many issues that were raised in my review. This is not an acceptable scientific review process."

What's Your Most Essential Firefox Keyboard Shortcut?

Sun, 09 Mar 2008 08:56:24 GMT

clipped by: Scattered_Fusion

Clip Source: lifehacker.com

You sit down at a computer running that other browser and you hit Ctrl+T to open a new tab, and... nothing happens. Ctrl+T! Ctrl+T! You mash the keyboard and gnash your teeth and finally, begrudgingly, reach for the mouse. Anyone who's burned keyboard shortcuts into their muscle memory knows it can feel like you're missing a limb when they're not available. But when it comes to Firefox—which is loaded with key combos—we want to know:

What Firefox key combination can you not live without?

Ctrl+T (New tab)

Ctrl+L (Cursor to address bar)

Ctrl+K (Cursor to search box)

Ctrl+Shift+T (Undo last closed tab)

Ctrl+ -/+ (Reduce/enlarge font size)

F5 (Reload current page)

Ctrl+Enter (add http://www and .com to word in URL bar)

Ctrl+F (Find as you type search box)

Other--list it in the comments!

skip to current results >

(Mac users, substitute the Cmd key for Ctrl.)

Tags: tech, firefox, keyboard, short cuts, key comands

Oil Companies

Sat, 08 Mar 2008 14:24:56 GMT

clipped by: mklosinski
clipper's remarks: Great article to read for those that bash the oil companies.

Clip Source: www.townhall.com

When it comes to public hatred of big business, there’s no better target than oil companies. This hatred has been all the more intense since Exxon Mobil announced last year’s net income at $40.6 billion, the largest-ever profit for a publicly-traded company. With the threat of recession looming, many policymakers have been tempted to pay for relief measures by raising taxes on “Big Oil”—including the House’s recent bill rolling back tax deductions on integrated oil companies (though leaving them in place for other companies). Understandable as this impulse may be, it is a bad idea for average Americans. If the government tries to “do something” about record oil profits, it won’t provide meaningful relief revenue, but will certainly raise the price at the pump.

oil and gas earnings are less impressive. The industry’s net profit per dollar of revenue was just under 9 cents, compared to 13 cents for the S&P 500, meaning the “markup” for the oil and gas industry is below average .

Tags: gas prices, oil companies

Global Warming Researcher says Equations "totally wrong"

Fri, 07 Mar 2008 05:48:03 GMT

clipped by: willhelm
clipper's remarks: "How did modern researchers make such a mistake? They relied upon equations derived over 80 years ago, equations which left off one term from the final solution."

"Looking at a series of differential equations for the greenhouse effect, he noticed the solution -- originally done in 1922 by Arthur Milne, but still used by climate researchers today -- ignored boundary conditions by assuming an "infinitely thick" atmosphere. Similar assumptions are common when solving differential equations; they simplify the calculations and often result in a result that still very closely matches reality. But not always."

"So Miskolczi re-derived the solution, this time using the proper boundary conditions for an atmosphere that is not infinite. His result included a new term, which acts as a negative feedback to counter the positive forcing. At low levels, the new term means a small difference ... but as greenhouse gases rise, the negative feedback predominates, forcing values back down."

Clip Source: www.dailytech.com

New derivation of equations governing the greenhouse effect reveals "runaway warming" impossible

Miklós Zágoni isn't just a physicist and environmental researcher. He is also a global warming activist and Hungary's most outspoken supporter of the Kyoto Protocol. Or was.

That was until he learned the details of a new theory of the greenhouse effect, one that not only gave far more accurate climate predictions here on Earth, but Mars too. The theory was developed by another Hungarian scientist, Ferenc Miskolczi, an atmospheric physicist with 30 years of experience and a former researcher with NASA's Ames Research Center.

Zágoni stopped calling global warming a crisis, and has instead focused on presenting the new theory to other climatologists.

"Runaway greenhouse theories contradict energy balance equations,"

Just as the theory of relativity sets an upper limit on velocity, his theory sets an upper limit on the greenhouse effect

Global Temperatures

Wed, 27 Feb 2008 03:27:56 GMT

clipped by: mklosinski
clipper's remarks: Quick, we need more carbon dioxide to warm and save the planet ! ! !

Clip Source: images.dailytech.com

Tags: global cooling, global warming

Another good list of open-source alternatives to commercial software

Sun, 24 Feb 2008 14:05:38 GMT

clipped by: enbar
clipper's remarks: This list, discovered via Twitter, includes a fair amount of information about programs I hadn't seen before, like free alternatives to Quicktime, Adobe Premier, and Microsoft Money.

Clip Source: whdb.com

February 7th, 2008The Top 50 Proprietary Programs that Drive You Crazy — and Their Open Source Alternatives

The following fifty proprietary programs are listed in no particular order within broad categories along with their open source alternatives. In some cases you could probably write your own book on frustrations with the proprietary programs shown here. In other cases, you’ll discover that the open source alternative isn’t quite up to snuff yet. And, in other cases still, you’ll learn that some proprietary programs are real gems, but that the open source advocate can replace those gems with equally shiny objects from the open source repertoire.

Microsoft Project to Open Workbench

Adobe Illustrator to Inkscape:

Adobe Premiere to Avidemux:

Adobe Dreamweaver to NVU:

Macromedia Flash Professional to OpenLaszlo:

Quicktime to Darwin Streaming Server:

Windows Media Player to Miro:

Norton Ghost to Partition Image:

Microsoft Money (Plus) to TurboCash:

Tags: software, free, links, open_source, list, cool, via:twitter

The 10 Weirdest Facts about American Presidents

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 19:01:07 GMT

clipped by: Aribeth
clipper's remarks: 7. Calvin Coolidge, the 30th president, was reported to be a very interesting character. When not having his head massaged with Vaseline during breakfasts in bed or riding his own mechanical bull, he was ringing the White House doorbell and then running off to hide.

8. So far, all American presidents have claimed ancestry limited to one or more of just seven nationalities: Dutch, English, German, Irish, Scottish, Swiss, and Welsh.

9. Grover Cleveland was the only president to openly admit that he had fathered an illegitimate child.

10. There were four presidents who were not actual presidents of the United States: Sam Houston, Mirabeau Lamar, and Anson Jones were all presidents of the Republic of Texas. Jefferson Davis was President of the Confederate States of America.

Clip Source: polizine.com

1. Franklin D. Roosevelt (President #32) was related in some way to 11 former U.S. Presidents.

2. James Garfield, the 20th president, was a professor of ancient languages; he was also ambidextrous. He is said to have been able to write in Latin with one hand while writing in Greek with the other.

3. John Tyler, the 10th president, fathered an impressive 15 children. He was in his 70s when the 15th child was born.

4. The tall stovepipe hat that Abraham Lincoln (President #16) is usually depicted wearing was, in fact, a useful wardrobe device. He stored important papers inside of it.

5. Our 17th President, Andrew Johnson, was born poor and could not read until the age of 17, when he met his future wife and she tutored him in reading, public speaking, and mathematics.

6. The 22nd and 24th president, Grover Cleveland, was drafted in the Civil War but paid a substitute $150 to take his place so he could stay behind to care for his mother and sisters.

Tags: weird facts

Surprisingly hot phenomenon

Fri, 11 Jan 2008 23:40:11 GMT

clipped by: amgumen

Clip Source: www.oregonlive.com

For the past three years, the researchers have journeyed to the Antarctic to deploy hydrophones designed and built at this tiny science center on Newport's Yaquina Bay

Earthquakes and magma spewing on the seafloor go hand in hand, and what we are seeing is, there are new heat sources right off the coast of Deception Island that no one was aware of before

It's the only place on the planet where active seafloor and subaerial (above sea level) volcanoes are near large icebergs and ice sheets.

the team's studies lead to new information about how the seafloor volcanoes and earthquakes contribute to the breakup of ice in the region

If it wasn't for our work, these deep-sea eruptions would be completely unknown

three-quarters of the Earth is covered by ocean, the vast majority of volcanic activity on Earth is occurring without our knowledge undersea

So it's unknown how much heat and chemicals the underwater volcanoes spew into the ocean and atmosphere, affecting global ocean temperatures and climat

Tags: climate, environment, geology, interesting, nature, ocean, science

The Secret To Raising Smart Kids

Sun, 23 Dec 2007 05:53:19 GMT

clipped by: murieleileen

Clip Source: articles.mercola.com

More than three decades of scientific research suggests that repeatedly telling children that they are especially smart or talented leaves them vulnerable to failure, and fearful of challenges.

Children raised this way develop an implicit belief that intelligence is innate and fixed, making striving to learn seem less important than seeming smart; challenges, mistakes, and effort become threats to their ego rather than opportunities to improve.

However, teaching children to have a “growth mind-set,” which encourages effort rather than on intelligence or talent, helps make them into high achievers in school and in life. This results in “mastery-oriented” children who tend to think that intelligence is malleable and can be developed through education and hard work.

This can be done by telling stories about achievements that result from hard work. Talking about math geniuses who were born that way puts students in a fixed mind-set, but descriptions of great mathematicians who developed

Tags: kids, intlligence, children, talent, ego, genius

Caught 1-1/2 miles offshore while Fishing!

Sun, 23 Dec 2007 03:04:58 GMT

clipped by: Newfman

Clip Source: www.animaltalk.us

And yes, we turned him loose when we got back to shore. Just try beating
this Fish Story!