Clipmarks | boniface's clips

Student Suspended for Cancer Head Shave

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 06:22:53 GMT

clipped by: thisnamecantbetaken

Clip Source: www.news.com.au

A 15-YEAR-old Brisbane schoolgirl was suspended for shaving her head to raise money for vital cancer research

her father is battling leukemia.

He underwent a bone marrow transplant a few weeks ago but has been given only a few months to live.

Ms Pridham decided to shave her head as part of a fundraiser for cancer research.

"Basically my way of coping is to try and help other people going through the same thing," she said.

Ms Pridham said she has been banned from Mount Alvernia College until her hair grows back.

Barbara Pridham said she supports her daughter's fundraising decision.

"I am just appalled that she could be suspended by a Catholic school that promotes joy, respect and community spirit," she said.

Mount Alvernia College released a statement to Channel Nine News that said Ms Pridham had breached the college's uniform guidelines and had been suspended because of "ongoing issues".

Why is marriage a civil right?

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 02:34:47 GMT

clipped by: Lexica
clipper's remarks: More:

This is why refusing communion is not a violation of civil rights - because communion is not a civil contract, it does not confer civil rights or responsibilities, and is therefore not a matter of civil law.

I will say it yet again. Your laws that say same-sex couples can't get married are the same laws that say they can't eat shrimp or cut their beards. Which is fine and well for you, but I'm going to continue to enjoy my crab louie salad bare-faced without even humoring the idea that I need to protect, defend, and preserve your "sanctity of brunch".

Clip Source: tongodeon.livejournal.com

An anonymous poster is asking, perhaps rhetorically, why marriage is considered a civil right. And it's a good question. Why does the state get involved in this sacrament? The state doesn't recognize baptism, or circumcision, or first communion, or any other religious sacrament. Why does marriage get special legal attention?

In the context of civil law marriage is a civil contract, which is why the right to that contract is a civil right. Circumcision doesn't confer shared property rights, first communion doesn't confer hospital visitation, baptism doesn't provide power of attorney. Marriage does, along with a bunch of other well-known civil rights and a few obscure ones. Some religions currently consider marriage a sacrament, but "protecting" religious sacraments with secular laws is as irrelevant as secular cracker-eating laws would be to protect the sanctity of Catholic communion.

Tags: marriage, religion, politics, equality

Ralph Lauren says size 4 is too fat!

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 21:52:14 GMT

clipped by: boniface
clipper's remarks: Ladies, when are you going to stop buying from companies like this?

Clip Source: www.accesshollywood.com

The model at the center of an advertising photo editing controversy last week has claimed she was fired for being a size 4.

At 5’ 10” and 120 pounds, 23-year-old model Filippa Hamilton claims her weight was behind Ralph Lauren terminating her contract earlier this year.

“Had they told you before they wanted you to lose weight?” Acccess Hollywood’s Shaun Robinson asked Filippa on Wednesday morning.

“No,” Filippa said. “It makes me sad. It makes me think Ralph Lauren wants to have this kind of image.”

Filippa claims she was terminated in April, six months before the abnormally thin Photoshopped advertisement published by the fashion house surfaced online.

However, the French bombshell maintains her agent was sent a letter noting she didn’t fit into the sample clothes she needed to wear.

Pittsburgh Police Riot, Attack Students

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 19:43:31 GMT

clipped by: brightlight4

Clip Source: www.alternet.org

Pittsburgh Police Riot, Attack Students

"The only figures breaking any laws on that calm campus were the cops themselves."

[Video]

The video in the window to your right was comes to us from John Ennis. The reader who sent it our way writes:

As you'll see, the students were (a) not numerous, and (b) not really doing much of anything, but sort of hanging out. And yet the cops were suited up for heavy combat (in some galaxy far, far away), and came down hard on.... nothing. They lobbed gas grenades, dragged people off, etc., as if there were a riot going on. But the only figures breaking any laws on that calm campus were the cops themselves.

Eco-Facts

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 00:50:23 GMT

clipped by: thisnamecantbetaken
clipper's remarks: The population grows as much every three days as it did every century, on average, for most of the last one-thousand centuries before the Industrial Revolution.

Worldwatch Institute,1999

Clip Source: www.energyxroads.com

ECO-FACTS

The average American consumes five times more energy than the average global citizen or 10 times more than the typical Chinese.

Today, transportation is the world’s fastest-growing form of energy use, accounting for nearly 30 percent of world energy use and 95 percent of global oil consumption.

If all the cars on US roads had properly inflated tires, it would save an estimated 2 billion gallons of gasoline per year

Indoor lighting use is highest during the hours of 9 to 5, even though the light bulb was invented to help us see in the dark.

11.Today the planet adds 77 million people each year, the equivalent of 10 New York Cities.

Replacing one wasted can requires the energy equivalent to light a 100-watt light bulb for 5 hours or to power the average laptop computer for 11 hours.

Each weekend, about 54 million Americans mow their lawns, using 800 million gallons of gas per year and producing 5% of the nation's air pollution

A single mower puts out more pollution than 73 new cars.

'Moon rock' given to Holland by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin is fake

Sun, 30 Aug 2009 18:06:31 GMT

clipped by: brightlight4

Clip Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

'Moon rock' given to Holland by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin is fake

A moon rock given to the Dutch prime minister by Apollo 11 astronauts in 1969 has turned out to be a fake.

Curators at Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum, where the rock has attracted tens of thousands of visitors each year, discovered that the "lunar rock", valued at £308,000, was in fact petrified wood.

Xandra van Gelder, who oversaw the investigation, said the museum would continue to keep the stone as a curiosity.

"It's a good story, with some questions that are still unanswered," she said. "We can laugh about it."

The rock was given to Willem Drees, a former Dutch leader, during a global tour by Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin following their moon mission 50 years ago.

J. William Middendorf, the former American ambassador to the Netherlands, made the presentation to Mr Drees and the rock was then donated to the Rijksmuseum after his death in 1988.

Celeb Searches: Most Dangerous Names on the Web

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 17:39:33 GMT

clipped by: boniface

Clip Source: abcnews.go.com

What's the matter with Jessica Biel? McAfee, the anti-virus software maker, is out with its third annual list of the most dangerous names to search on the web, and reports that if you Google "Jessica Biel screensavers" (or Yahoo or Bing it), almost half the downloads you could click on will try to deposit malware (viruses, pop-up ads, spyware, etc.) in your computer.

Here is McAfee's list of the "Riskiest Celebrities to Search on the Web":

1. Jessica Biel
2. Beyonce
3. Jennifer Aniston
4. Tom Brady
5. Jessica Simpson
6. Gisele Bundchen
7. Miley Cyrus
8. Megan Fox, Angelina Jolie (tie)
9. Ashley Tisdale
10. Brad Pitt (he was first last year)
11. Reese Witherspoon
12. Britney Spears
13. Rihanna
14. Lindsay Lohan
15. Kim Kardashian

"Cybercriminals are star watchers too -- they latch onto popular celebrities to encourage the download of malicious software in disguise," said Jeff Green, a McAfee senior vice president, in a press statement.

A Third of Nurses Will Refuse to Have the Swine Flu Jab

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 20:48:48 GMT

clipped by: thisnamecantbetaken
clipper's remarks: At the time of clipping this, the poll at the site asks:

"Will you have the Swine Flu Jab?"

Results;

YES - 19%
NO - 81%

Clip Source: www.dailymail.co.uk

Up to a third of nurses will say no to the swine flu jab because of concerns over its safety, a poll has found.

NHS workers are first in line for the vaccine, but a survey of 1,500 nurses found many will reject it.

Last night a Government scientist condemned the results saying nurses who do not have the jab are putting patients at risk.

Nevertheless the poll, by Nursing Times magazine, will raise questions over the Government's planned mass vaccination programme.

30 per cent would not say yes to the vaccine, while 33 per cent said maybe. Just 37 per cent said they would definitely have the jab.

60 per cent said their main reason was concern about the safety of the vaccine.

One told the magazine: 'I would not be willing to put myself at risk of unknown long-term effects to facilitate a short-term solution.'

Another added: 'I have yet to be convinced there is a genuine health risk and it's not just Government propaganda.'

News from a source other then media

Sat, 15 Aug 2009 23:55:54 GMT

clipped by: cptenaud
clipper's remarks: Might be worth checking out.

Clip Source: www.goharrison.com

Premiere of Reality check video podcast for mid-august, 2009

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Harrison on the Red Carpet

Are Baby Boomers Killing Facebook and Twitter?

Fri, 22 May 2009 15:10:24 GMT

clipped by: boniface

Clip Source: www.pcworld.com

The story is as old as the Web: A social network born among twenty-something college kids and young wired professionals sprouts up, apparently out of nowhere, and grows into a cultural phenomenon. Eventually, it reaches critical mass and explodes, its mushroom cloud drawing the attention of millions of Baby Boomers, leading to a huge influx of new users, which in turn triggers complaints from the youngsters who started it all.

Can't we all just be Facebook friends, man? Baby Boomers in their colorful native garb.

"Younger folks don't want their parents there," Rainie says. "But does that mean they'll all flock to different places?"

"My father, who I dearly love, has a tendency to forward e-mails that are off pretty off-color," says Smith.

Clip Source: www.pcworld.com

But like many of her generation, Linda is deeply concerned about the amount of personal information that her kids--particularly her 20-year-old daughter, who is still in school--share online.

You Didn't Get Mad When...

Sun, 16 Aug 2009 23:01:05 GMT

clipped by: AtlLiberal
clipper's remarks: Misplaced outrage!

Clip Source: www.democraticunderground.com

You didn't get mad when the Supreme Court stopped a legal recount and appointed a President.

You didn't get mad when Cheney allowed Energy company officials to dictate energy policy.

You didn't get mad when a covert CIA operative got outed.

You didn't get mad when the Patriot Act got passed.

You didn't get mad when we illegally invaded a country that posed no threat to us.

You didn't get mad when we spent over 600 billion(and counting) on said illegal war.

You didn't get mad when over 10 billion dollars just disappeared in Iraq.

You didn't get mad when you found out we were torturing people.

You didn't get mad when we didn't catch Bin Laden.

You finally got mad when.. when... wait for it... when the government decided that people in America deserved the right to see a doctor if they are sick. Yes, illegal wars, lies, corruption, torture, stealing your tax dollars to make the rich richer, are all ok with you but helping other Americans... well fuck that. That about right? You know it is.

Bob Dylan mistaken for homeless man

Sat, 15 Aug 2009 15:25:52 GMT

clipped by: boniface

Clip Source: www.abcnews.go.com

Forty Years After Woodstock, Bob Dylan Is Mistaken for a Homeless Man

Talk about "a complete unknown."

Bob Dylan was detained by police in Long Branch, N.J. last month, when a young officer failed to recognize him, police said. The officer proceeded to go to earnest lengths to ensure the hooded, disheveled, rain-soaked music legend was, in fact, who he said he was.

Dylan, 68, one of the most celebrated, eccentric artists in American history, was in the area on July 23 as part of a national concert tour -- a fact lost on 24-year-old Long Branch police officer Kristie Buble.

To hear the young New Jersey police officer describe it, the scene was like something out of one of Dylan's epic song-poems: It was pouring rain, Dylan was soaked and wandering alone, far from the traveling home of his entourage of tour buses.

Government website takes over your computer

Mon, 03 Aug 2009 23:25:18 GMT

clipped by: lollipop10
clipper's remarks: You gotta watch this, omg. And don't just get caught up on Skype...he said "or some other internet phone system." I wonder if it's the same in Canada? Yikes, this is scary.

Clip Source: www.youtube.com

[Video]

Court rules for Fox News: It's perfectly OK to lie and distort the news

Tue, 11 Aug 2009 23:06:23 GMT

clipped by: Lexica
clipper's remarks: More:

The court did not dispute the heart of Akre's claim, that Fox pressured her to broadcast a false story to protect the broadcaster from having to defend the truth in court, as well as suffer the ire of irate advertisers. Fox argued from the first, and failed on three separate occasions, in front of three different judges, to have the case tossed out on the grounds there is no hard, fast, and written rule against deliberate distortion of the news.…

In its six-page written decision, the Court of Appeals held that the Federal Communications Commission position against news distortion is only a "policy," not a promulgated law, rule, or regulation. Fox aired a report after the ruling saying it was "totally vindicated" by the verdict.

Clip Source: ceasespin.org

On February 14, a Florida Appeals court ruled there is absolutely nothing illegal about lying, concealing or distorting information by a major press organization. The court reversed the $425,000 jury verdict in favor of journalist Jane Akre who charged she was pressured by Fox Television management and lawyers to air what she knew and documented to be false information. The ruling basically declares it is technically not against any law, rule, or regulation to deliberately lie or distort the news on a television broadcast.

On August 18, 2000, a six-person jury was unanimous in its conclusion that Akre was indeed fired for threatening to report the station's pressure to broadcast what jurors decided was "a false, distorted, or slanted" story about the widespread use of growth hormone in dairy cows.

The attorneys for Fox, owned by media baron Rupert Murdock, argued the First Amendment gives broadcasters the right to lie or deliberately distort news reports on the public airwaves.

Tags: news, law, lies, first-amendment, corporatism

School officials face jail time for meal-time prayers

Tue, 11 Aug 2009 16:42:24 GMT

clipped by: jay8h

Clip Source: www.onenewsnow.com

School officials face jail time for meal-time prayers

A principal and an athletic director are facing criminal charges for a lunch-time prayer.

Last year, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit against Pace High School in Santa Rosa County, Florida. The ACLU claimed some teachers and administrators were endorsing religion, but the school chose to give in to the ACLU's demands rather than fight them in court.

According to the settlement, all school employees are banned from engaging in prayer or religious activities before, during, or after school hours. Now two school officials are facing criminal charges for offering meal-time prayers at an appreciation dinner for adults who had helped with a school field house project. Principal Frank Lay and athletic director Robert Freeman are scheduled to go on trial next month on criminal contempt charges. If convicted, both are subject to fines and imprisonment.