Clipmarks | dakotayii's Pops

President Bush Edits Thomas Jefferson

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 23:14:36 GMT

clipped by: dulios
clipper's remarks: Christianity neither is, nor ever was a part of the common law.
-Thomas Jefferson, letter to Dr. Thomas Cooper, February 10, 1814

Clip Source: scienceblogs.com

Bush Edits Out Jefferson's Religious Views

President Bush was at Monticello for a 4th of July celebration and he delivered an address. But it's quite telling that his speechwriters, in quoting Jefferson, cut out an anti-religious statement from a long and famous quote. Here's the way Bush put it:

"May it be to the world, what I believe it will be -- to some parts sooner, to others later, but finally to all -- the Signal of arousing men to burst the chains, and to assume the blessings and security of self-government."

Now let's look at the full quote

May it be to the world, what I believe it will be, (to some parts sooner, to others later, but finally to all,) the signal of arousing men to burst the chains under which monkish ignorance and superstition had persuaded them to bind themselves, and to assume the blessings and security of self-government.

Tags: bush, jefferson, independence day, religion

Back in Kabul, Never at Peace: A Photojournal

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 23:24:45 GMT

clipped by: dulios

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

Back in Kabul, Never at Peace

STREET LIFE Refugees have streamed into Kabul, and many become beggars, like this woman caring for her sick son.

My first trip to Kabul was in 2001. I arrived as Northern Alliance soldiers were fighting Taliban gunmen in and around the Afghan capital. Those who resisted were killed, and those captured were more likely to be executed than taken prisoner. There was a power vacuum in Kabul, a brief moment when one set of rulers fled and the next had not yet taken over. This can be a liberating time for a photographer. There were no clear rules, no central authority that might restrict you from taking pictures. I’ve returned to Afghanistan nearly every year since then.

Photographer's Journal: Kabul in Transition

Tags: kabul, photos

Iran Is Still Good Business For The US

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 06:39:42 GMT

clipped by: BartendingBear
clipper's remarks: Imagine that!

Clip Source: www.cnbc.com

Nuclear weapons? No way. But there are plenty of items on Iran's shopping list the United States is more than happy to supply: cigarettes, brassieres, bull semen and more.

U.S. exports to Iran grew more than tenfold during President Bush's years in office even as he accused it of nuclear ambitions and sponsoring terrorists. America sent more cigarettes to Iran — at least $158 million worth under Bush — than any other product.

Other surprising shipments during the Bush administration: fur clothing, sculptures, perfume, musical instruments and military apparel. Top states shipping goods to Iran include California, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio and Wisconsin, according to an analysis by The Associated Press of seven years of U.S. government trade data.

The fact that the United States sells anything to Iran is news to some.

Though some trade with Iran is legal, some businesses prefer that people not know about it.

Black hole now a racist term?

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 03:39:58 GMT

clipped by: n2sooners

Clip Source: cityhallblog.dallasnews.com

A special meeting about Dallas County traffic tickets turned tense and bizarre this afternoon.

County commissioners were discussing problems with the central collections office that is used to process traffic ticket payments and handle other paperwork normally done by the JP Courts.

Commissioner Kenneth Mayfield, who is white, said it seemed that central collections "has become a black hole" because paperwork reportedly has become lost in the office.

Commissioner John Wiley Price, who is black, interrupted him with a loud "Excuse me!" He then corrected his colleague, saying the office has become a "white hole."

That prompted Judge Thomas Jones, who is black, to demand an apology from Mayfield for his racially insensitive analogy.

Mayfield shot back that it was a figure of speech and a science term. A black hole, according to Webster's, is perhaps "the invisible remains of a collapsed star, with an intense gravitational field from which neither light nor matter can escape."

Tags: racism, politics, science, humor, ignorance

A Dying Breed

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 00:38:08 GMT

clipped by: Socratoad
clipper's remarks: This is so sad Such striking beauty should be preserved.

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

A Dying Breed

Herd Extinct: The Ankole cow could disappear within 50 years.

GERSHOM MUGIRA COMES from a long line of cattle-keepers. His people, the Bahima, are thought to have migrated into the hilly grasslands of western Uganda more than a thousand years ago, alongside a hardy breed of longhorns known as the Ankole. For centuries, man and beast subsisted there in a tight symbiotic embrace. Mugira’s nomadic ancestors wandered in search of fresh pasture for their cattle, which in turn provided them with milk. It is only within the last few generations that most Bahima have accepted the concept of private property. Mugira’s family lives on a 500-acre ranch, and one sunny day in November, the wiry 26-year-old showed me around, explaining, with some sadness but more pragmatism, why the Ankole breed that sustained his forebears for so many generations is now being driven to extinction.

First Clip

Sat, 05 Jul 2008 06:44:46 GMT

clipped by: cjessup3
clipper's remarks: I don't know what to do with this...I just wanted practice clipping

Clip Source: www.getmiro.com

Tags: first clip

living on the edge: 2 stunningly scary clifftop communities

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 03:49:03 GMT

clipped by: constantskeptic
clipper's remarks: wow

Clip Source: deputy-dog.com

living on the edge: 2 stunningly scary clifftop communities

[above] welcome to ronda (google maps here), a beautiful city in southern spain which is split in two by el tajo gorge. as a result, certain buildings have been perched on the edge of the gorge’s verticall walls, enormous cliffs bridged by the 200 year old peunte neuvo. now, although living on the edge of that gigantic 130m crack would give me the shakes, i’d much rather live there than bonifacio…

[above] this is bonifacio in corsica (google maps here). this fragile looking citadel sits precariously above limestone cliffs which over the years have been battered by the mediterranean sea, a process which is apparent by both the piles of eroded stone at the base and the overhang of the cliff walls. how long before the next building gets swallowed? no idea, but from the look of the first photo it can’t be long.

anyone know of any more frightening clifftop towns?

Pride and Progress: How Far America Has Come In The Last 40 Years

Sat, 05 Jul 2008 21:42:40 GMT

clipped by: gingembre
clipper's remarks: food for thought from Jonah Lehrer

a bit more: "Over time, these conscious limits on language helped re-engineer our unconscious beliefs, allowing people to slowly purge themselves of obsolete stereotypes. (We tend to think of the unconscious as the domineering elephant of the mind, but sometimes the feeble rider manages to steer the beast in the right direction.) Of course, the unconscious remains a murky and biased place, but I think white Americans have shown that it can be amended, that simply altering the ways in which we refer to people can, over time, change what we secretly think of people."

Clip Source: scienceblogs.com

You know what makes me proud to be an American? The fact that the black presidential candidate with the funny African-Muslim name is leading in the polls against the white aviator war hero married to a beer heiress. And I'm not just saying that because I want universal health care and a progressive tax policy (although I do). I think what it really illustrates is just how far this country has come within Barack Obama's lifetime.

Obama's candidacy should serve as a poignant reminder of our collective achievement in creating a more just society. (And yes, I know he hasn't won anything yet and that signs of injustice still abound.)

How did we go from Rosa Parks to Barack Obama within a few decades?

part of what happened is that we redefined the boundaries of public discourse. Political correctness may have a bad reputation, but it's hard to deny the importance of collectively agreeing that certain types of language and certain kinds of thought are simply unacceptable. Not illegal, just wrong

Tags: moral progress, america, political correctness, language

Befriending Iraqi children is crucial, major says

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 00:59:06 GMT

clipped by: missjackson

Clip Source: www.bpnews.net

HILL AIR FORCE BASE, Utah (BP)--During his deployment in Iraq, Air Force Maj. Chris Gay learned firsthand that a key component of succeeding in the war is befriending Iraq's youth and showing them a level of kindness and goodwill they may never encounter otherwise.

During that time, he visited the largest of eight internally displaced persons camps in Iraq. The camp housed more than 2,500 Iraqis who fled their homes during terrorist and sectarian violence.

Clip Source: www.bpnews.net

When he discovered the children there didn't have sufficient clothing and blankets to cope with the winter weather, Gay organized a campaign to have his Sunday School class at Mountain View Baptist send boxes of garments that he could pass out to the children.

"I have two kids myself, so I had compassion for the kids," he told Baptist Press.

In the process of completing what he dubbed Operation Warm Winter, Gay said he gained a better understanding of the Iraqis living in the camp.

"We are making a tremendous difference," he said

Beautiful Black And White Photography

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 20:45:48 GMT

clipped by: carrerinyes

Clip Source: www.smashingmagazine.com

Beautiful Black-And-White-Photography

13 Strange Last Requests

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 20:55:42 GMT

clipped by: carrerinyes
clipper's remarks: Some funny ones at the site!

Clip Source: www.cracked.com

13 Last Requests That Prove It's OK to Laugh at Dead People

Fredric Baur Gets Canned

Back in the '60s, Baur was the man who finally got sick of chips being all willy-nilly in big disorganized bags, and invented the Pringles tube we all know, love and store our weed in. A few weeks ago Mr. Baur captured a nation's attention and journalistic integrity when he made his family jam his remains into one of his pillars of delicious.

It's unclear if he wanted his remains to stay fresh longer than leading dead body or just wanted to render the slogan "Once you pop, you can't stop" creepy instead of vaguely obscene. But what we really want to know is if everybody in the food packaging industry does it that way? Is there some guy out there who had himself frozen into a Push Pop? Or compressed into a can of aerosol cheese?

Mark Gruenwald Gets Immortalized in Print (literally)

Dr. Harold West Declines Vampirism

John Bowman Packs a Lunch

Jeremy Bentham Performs a Wax Haunting

Chocolate Cake In 5 Mins! A new take...

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 21:23:46 GMT

clipped by: carrerinyes
clipper's remarks: Clipped for the photos...!

Clip Source: www.dizzy-dee.com

Chocolate Cake In 5 Minutes!

Ingredients:

4 Tablespoons cake flour
4 Tablespoons sugar
2 Tablespoons cocoa
1 Egg
3 Tablespoons milk
3 Tablespoons oil
1 Mug

Instructions:

Mix flour, sugar and cocoa:

Spoon in 1 egg

Pour in milk and oil, and mix well

Put in microwave for 3 minutes on maximum power (1000watt)

Wait until it stops rising and sets in the mug

Tip contents out of mug onto saucer and enjoy!

For mothers, baby's smile brings 'natural high'

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 10:10:40 GMT

clipped by: missjackson

Clip Source: www.chron.com

Everyone knows nothing melts a mother's heart like a baby's smile.

But Houston researchers have found that it also activates a region of the brain known as the reward center, a middle area associated with feelings of euphoria. Previous research has shown the reward center also flips on when addicts take drugs.

"This could be described as a natural high," said Dr. Lane Strathearn, a pediatrics professor at Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children's Hospital and the research's lead investigator. "Mothers just had to look at their baby's smiling face, and blood flow in the region picked up."

The finding, reported in today's edition of the journal Pediatrics, one day could lead to the development of a drug treatment for mothers emotionally detached from their children, Strathearn said. Right now, he said, researchers are just trying to understand the process in the brain.

The activity occurred in reward center pathways associated with dopamine, a pleasure-related chemical

The streets of Paris, December 1851

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 14:15:57 GMT

clipped by: missjackson

Clip Source: herald-zeitung.com

It was December 1851 and the streets of Paris, France, were darkened with barricades following a coup d’e`tat. Young Frederic Auguste Bartholdi was making his way home knowing that Louis Bonaparte’s troops had left the beloved city under siege.

Suddenly, out of the darkness a beautiful young woman carrying a fiery torch leapt over one of the barricades shouting, “Forward! Forward!”

Immediately one of Bonaparte’s soldiers shot her in the head.

She died instantly.

As a witness to the incident, Bartholdi never forgot that unknown woman and when he became a sculptor, decided she would become the look for the spirit of liberty and be commemorated forever in his famous statue.

Clip Source: img184.imageshack.us

Clip Source: herald-zeitung.com

It is a statement that not only reflects the pride I felt passing that great monument, but helps me to understand my own sense of patriotism and love I have for this great country.

5 Psychological Experiments That Prove Humanity is Doomed

Sat, 05 Jul 2008 04:47:30 GMT

clipped by: CrazyRedHead
clipper's remarks: ...Think about that when you're walking around the mall: Eight out of ten of those people you see would torture the sh*t out of a puppy if a dude in a lab coat asked them to.

Clip Source: www.cracked.com

The Asch Conformity Experiment

Subjects were told that they would be taking part in a vision test

everybody else in the room other than the subject was in on it, and they were were told to give obviously wrong answers

32 percent of subjects would answer incorrectly if they saw that three others in the classroom gave the same wrong answer

The Good Samaritan Experiment

subjects would pass a person slumped in an alleyway, who looked to be in need of help.

only 10 percent would stop to give any aid

Bystander Apathy Experiment

Clip Source: www.cracked.com

Stanford Prison Experiment

volunteers were all male college students who were then divided arbitrarily into 12 guards and 12 prisoners.

It took about one day for every subject to suddenly go as insane as a shit-house rat.

Milgram Experiment

The subject was told that whenever the other guy gave an incorrect answer, he was to press a button that would give him an electric shock.

Subjects will mindlessly deliver pain to an innocent stranger

Tags: science, health, mental health, psychology