Clipmarks | arifsali's clips

Apollo 14 astronaut claims aliens HAVE made contact

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 22:58:46 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks: Can you believe this? The guy is 77 years old now, could he be cooking things up?

Clip Source: www.dailymail.co.uk

Apollo 14 astronaut claims aliens HAVE made contact - but it has been covered up for 60 years

Aliens have contacted humans several times but governments have hidden the truth for 60 years, the sixth man to walk on the moon has claimed.

Apollo 14 astronaut Dr Edgar Mitchell, said he was aware of many UFO visits to Earth during his career with NASA but each one was covered up.

Dr Mitchell, 77, said during a radio interview that sources at the space agency who had had contact with aliens described the beings as 'little people who look strange to us.'

He said supposedly real-life ET's were similar to the traditional image of a small frame, large eyes and head.

Edgar Mitchell was the Lunar Module Pilot for Apollo 14

Tags: astronomy, ufo

"Untouchable" boy caned to death by teacher for writing a love poem

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 22:56:46 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com

UNA: A 16-year-old Dalit boy died after he was thrashed in front of other students by an upper caste teacher in a rural higher secondary school of this Himachal district for writing a verse in appreciation of an upper caste girl.

Surjit Singh was beaten up on Tuesday by a teacher in the Nangal Kalan Government High school in public, said the Dalit sarpanch of the village Gyan Kaur. His two classmates said, "When the teacher came to know about the Surjit's love poem, he caned him till he almost dropped dead."

That was not the end of his ordeal; he was again beaten up by the family members of the girl the next day, Wednesday. Surjit was later found semi-conscious and taken to the hospital but succumbed to injuries.

Local leaders have sought an inquiry into the incident as the police appear to be siding with the upper caste girl's family and the teacher.

Tags: india, discrimination

Iran's stunning wooden village

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 02:02:56 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: deputy-dog.com

Tags: iran

Ancient Bible to be made whole online

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 18:25:23 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: www.cnn.com

LONDON (AP) -- The oldest surviving copy of the New Testament, a 4th century version that had its Gospels and epistles spread across the world, is being made whole again -- online.

The British Library says the full text of the Codex Sinaiticus will be available to Web users by next July, digitally reconnecting parts that are held in Britain, Russia, Germany and a monastery in Egypt's Sinai Desert.

A preview of the Codex, which also has some parts of the Old Testament, will hit the Web on Thursday -- the Book of Psalms and the Gospel of Mark.

"Only a few people have ever had the opportunity to see more than a couple of pages of the (Codex)," said Scot McKendrick, the British Library's head of Western manuscripts. The Web site will give everyone access to a "unique treasure," he said.

Tags: bible, online

Male and Female brains are built from different genetic blueprints

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 18:41:20 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: www.mcgill.ca

Brains apart: the real difference between the sexes

Research is revealing that male and female brains are built from markedly different genetic blueprints, which create numerous anatomical differences. There are also differences in the circuitry that wires them up and the chemicals that transmit messages between neurons. All this is pointing towards the conclusion that there is not just one kind of human brain, but two. The research contradicts the long-held theory that the differences in the way the sexes think are caused by social pressure and upbringing, or the action of sex hormones. The gender gap has only just come to light because neuroscientists have traditionally carried out their studies on male brains, be they animal or human. Pain researcher, Jeff Mogil, of McGill University said: 'It's scandalous. 'Women are the most common pain sufferers, and yet our model for basic pain research is the male rat.

Tags: research, brain, male, female, science

Rare lemur find in Madagascar excites experts

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 22:25:40 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: www.canada.com

NAIROBI - Researchers in Madagascar have found critically endangered greater bamboo lemurs living far from the only other place they were known to exist, raising hopes for the survival of the species, experts said on Tuesday.

Clip Source: www.canada.com

The discovery was made in the Torotorofotsy wetlands of east central Madagascar, more than 400 kilometres north of the isolated pockets of bamboo forest where the rest of the known populations of the species live.

"Finding the extremely rare Prolemur simus in a place where nobody expected it was probably more exciting than discovering a new lemur species," said Edward Louis, a U.S. conservation geneticist who coordinated the joint research, in a statement.

Tags: animals, madagascar

Reading cool, libaries say

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 22:30:25 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks: Good news.

Clip Source: www.canada.com

Business is booming at Canada's major public libraries, which credit everything from the high price of buying books to social networking, erotic vampires and a new social acceptance for frothy best-sellers.

Toronto boasts the busiest public library system per capita in the world, with 1.2 million cardholders and 28.9 million items in 40 languages circulating each year. In Edmonton 385 people are on the waiting list for Fearless Fourteen, the newest offering from romance-turned-crime writer Janet Evanovich. Halifax public libraries have 240 readers on a waiting list for Kathy Reichs' newest forensic mystery, which won't even be published until the end of the summer.

"Everyone thinks the Internet has been the death of the public libraries and exactly the opposite is true," says Grant Kaiser, director of marketing and development for Calgary Public Library. "We see more and more and more readership every year."

Tags: library, canada

Carbon nanotube springboard can weigh individual atoms

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 19:00:45 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: technology.newscientist.com

A tiny springboard constructed from a carbon nanotube can weigh individual atoms as they fall onto its surface. The device could replace high-resolution mass spectrometers, which tend to destroy the samples they weigh.

Resonators, materials that naturally oscillate strongly at certain frequencies, help to enhance the sound of many musical instruments.

Kenneth Jensen, Kwanpyo Kim and Alex Zettl at the University of California in Berkeley have discovered that carbon nanotubes are perfect for the task.

Because nanotubes are hollow, they have a mass four orders of magnitude lower than specially built micromachined resonators. That brings their mass into the attogram range (a billionth of a billionth of a gram), and means they respond to single atoms.

Jensen's team took a multi-walled carbon nanotube roughly 250 nanometres in length and attached one end to an electrode while leaving the other end free, forming a tiny springboard.

Tags: nanotechnology, atom

Unique fossil discovery shows Antarctic was once much warmer

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 01:17:41 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: www.eurekalert.org

A new fossil discovery- the first of its kind from the whole of the Antarctic continent- provides scientists with new evidence to support the theory that the polar region was once much warmer.

The team made a new fossil discovery in the Dry Valleys of the East Antarctic region. The fossils (ostracods) come from an ancient lake - 14 million years old - and are exceptionally well preserved, with all of their soft anatomy in 3-dimensions.

Dr Mark Williams from the Department of Geology at the University of Leicester said: "This is a rare occurrence in the fossil record - but is the first of its kind from the whole of the Antarctic continent.

Tags: environment, fossil, discovery, antarctic

Treasures From the Mughal Empire

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 22:17:35 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

An Emperors’ Art: Small, Refined, Jewel Toned

WASHINGTON — Muraqqa is the Persian term for a patched garment traditionally worn by Sufi mystics as a sign of poverty and humility. Yet it is also the word for a gilded and lavishly calligraphed album. This type of muraqqa, a luxury object from the Mughal empire in India, is a patchwork of imagery: portraits of emperors and courtiers, Eastern mystics and Western religious figures; examples of plant and animal life.

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

"Akbar Fights with Raja Man Singh," from a copy of the Akbarnama. (circa 1600-03)

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

"Mu'in al-Din Chishti Holding a Globe"

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

"The Women at the Well of Kanchinpur,"

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

"Raja Udai Singh (Mota Raja) in a Gold, Flowered Jama"

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

"Majnun in the Wilderness"

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

The young Jahangir also commissioned an album called the “Shikarnama,” or “Hunting Book.”

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

"A Garden Gathering with a Prince in a Green Jama"

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

"Akbar, Jahangir and Shah Jahan with their Ministers,"

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

Tags: india, mughal

What Do Prisoners Make for Victoria's Secret?

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 01:21:07 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: www.motherjones.com

NEWS: From Starbucks to Microsoft: a sampling of what US inmates make, and for whom

Tens of thousands of US inmates are paid from pennies to minimum wage—minus fines and victim compensation—for everything from grunt work to firefighting to specialized labor. Here's a sampling of what they make, and for whom.

Eating in: Each month, California inmates process more than 680,000 pounds of beef, 400,000 pounds of chicken products, 450,000 gallons of milk, 280,000 loaves of bread, and 2.9 million eggs (from 160,000 inmate-raised hens). Starbucks subcontractor Signature Packaging Solutions has hired Washington prisoners to package holiday coffees (as well as Nintendo Game Boys). Confronted by a reporter in 2001, a Starbucks rep called the setup "entirely consistent with our mission statement."

Tags: prison, corporations

Health 'Facts' You Only Thought You Knew

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 18:46:33 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

In 45 years of writing about medicine and health, I’ve heard more than my share of myths and misinformation, from the merely nonsensical to the downright dangerous. And until I explored the evidence, I too occasionally fell for a “fact” that turned out to be less than met the eye.

The following myths owe something to both authors, and also to my own research. How well informed are you?

DRINK EIGHT GLASSES OF WATER A DAY

POISON IVY IS CONTAGIOUS

USE COTTON SWABS TO CLEAN YOUR EARS

DON’T SWIM AFTER EATING

SHAVING MAKES HAIR GROW BACK FASTER AND COARSER

COLON CLEANSING WASHES OUT POISONS

NATURAL IS SAFER THAN MAN-MADE

TAKE PAINKILLERS ONLY FOR SERIOUS PAIN

Tags: health, myths

Taboos About Sex Hinder Efforts to Fight AIDS in Pakistan, Study Says

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 18:48:33 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

In Pakistan, seven times as many men as women are reported to be infected with the AIDS virus, but the country’s taboos about sex make it very difficult to even address the epidemic, researchers are reporting this week.

The findings, published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases, are by researchers at two Pakistani universities, who said India and Bangladesh, with similarly conservative Muslim cultures, had addressed the issues more openly.

Pakistan has at least 85,000 citizens infected with the virus, according to Unaids, the United Nations AIDS agency.

Islamic law forbids sex outside marriage, and many Pakistanis believe the disease is not a threat in Muslim countries, the authors said. As a result, safe-sex education is rare.

In Pakistan as in many other countries, gay relationships and networks of male sex workers exist.

Tags: aids, sex, pakistan

"America can't kill or capture its way to victory"

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 07:13:39 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: feeds.bignewsnetwork.com

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates Tuesday said diplomacy and development should lead American efforts abroad, and he warned against a “creeping militarization” of U.S. foreign policy.

In a speech to rousing applause, US Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has said America can't kill or capture its way to victory over the long term, and diplomacy not militarization should lead U.S. efforts abroad. (Click on photo for full story).

“Broadly speaking, when it comes to America’s engagement with the rest of the world, it is important that the military is, and is clearly seen to be, in a supporting role to civilian agencies,” he said.

In a speech interrupted several times by rousing applause, Gates told the audience at a dinner organized by the U.S. Global Leadership Campaign that America cannot simply “kill or capture our way to victory” over the long term.

Tags: united states, politics

RUNNING FOR HER LIFE: Afghan Athlete Seeks Asylum in Europe

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 05:51:04 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: www.spiegel.de

Mehboba Ahdyar was to be the poster-child for the Olympics but the 19-year-old Afghan runner ran away from an Italian training camp last week. She has since told her parents she is too scared of reprisals and plans to seek asylum in Europe.

Mehboba Ahdyar was shouldering the heavy burden of overwhelming expectations. And in the end, it proved more than she could bear. The 19-year-old from Kabul was to be the only female athlete representing Afghanistan in this summer's Olympic Games in Beijing. Now the young woman has run away, leaving a training camp in Italy and telling her family she is applying for political asylum in Europe.

Tags: afghanistan, sports, female