Clipmarks | debbyski's clips

An Ideal Husband

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 15:33:25 GMT

clipped by: debbyski

“Hollywood says you can be deeply in love with someone and then your marriage will work,” the twinkly eyed, white-haired priest says. “But you can be deeply in love with someone to whom you cannot be successfully married.”

For 40 years, he has been giving a lecture — “Whom Not to Marry” — to high school seniors, mostly girls because they’re more interested.

“Never marry a man who has no friends,”

“Does he use money responsibly? Is he stingy?

“Steer clear of someone whose life you can run, who never makes demands counter to yours.

Does he have a sense of humor?

A therapist friend insists that ‘more marriages are killed by silence than by violence.

“Don’t marry a problem character thinking you will change him

Imagine a religious fundamentalist married to an agnostic.

“After I regale a group with this talk, the despairing cry goes up: ‘But you’ve eliminated everyone!’ Life is unfair.”

Tags: lol, life, is, unfair, eh?

The Truth Commission

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 15:28:55 GMT

clipped by: debbyski
clipper's remarks: It will set you free, you know.

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

When a distinguished American military commander accuses the United States of committing war crimes in its handling of detainees, you know that we need a new way forward.

The first step of accountability isn’t prosecutions. Rather, we need a national Truth Commission to lead a process of soul searching and national cleansing.

It’s a national disgrace that more than 100 inmates have died in American custody in Afghanistan, Iraq and Guantánamo. After two Afghan inmates were beaten to death by American soldiers, the American military investigator found that one of the men’s legs had been “pulpified.”

Among those I admire most are the military lawyers who risked their careers, defied the Pentagon and antagonized their drinking buddies — all for the sake of Muslim terror suspects in circumstances where the evidence was often ambiguous. At a time when we as a nation took the expedient path, these military officers took the honorable one, and they deserve medals for their courage.

The Urge To End It All

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 15:24:27 GMT

clipped by: debbyski
clipper's remarks: "Quite inadvertently, the British gas conversion proved that the incidence of suicide across an entire society could be radically reduced, upending the conventional wisdom about suicide in the process.
At least a partial answer is that many of those Britons who asphyxiated themselves did so impulsively. In a moment of deep despair or rage or sadness, they turned to what was easy and quick and deadly — “the execution chamber in everyone’s kitchen,” as one psychologist described it — and that instrument allowed little time for second thoughts. Remove it, and the process slowed down; it allowed time for the dark passion to pass."

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

There is but one truly serious philosophical problem,” Albert Camus wrote, “and that is suicide.” How to explain why, among the only species capable of pondering its own demise, whose desperate attempts to forestall mortality have spawned both armies and branches of medicine in a perpetual search for the Fountain of Youth, there are those who, by their own hand, would choose death over life? Our contradictory reactions to the act speak to the conflicted hold it has on our imaginations: revulsion mixed with fascination, scorn leavened with pity.

Then there is the most disheartening aspect of the riddle. The National Institute of Mental Health says that 90 percent of all suicide “completers” display some form of diagnosable mental disorder. But if so, why have advances in the treatment of mental illness had so little effect?

But if we want to unravel posthumously the thought processes of the lost with an eye to saving lives in the future, the “how” may be the best place to look.

As Web Traffic Grows . . .

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 15:14:01 GMT

clipped by: debbyski

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

SAN FRANCISCO — Alex Payne, a 24-year-old Internet engineer here, has devised a way to answer a commonly asked question of the digital age: Is my favorite Web site working today?

In March, Mr. Payne created downforeveryoneorjustme.com, as in, “Down for everyone, or just me?” It lets visitors type in a Web address and see whether a site is generally inaccessible or whether the problem is with their own connection.

There is plenty of disappointment to go around these days. Such technology stalwarts as Yahoo, Amazon.com and Research in Motion, the company behind the BlackBerry, have all suffered embarrassing technical problems in the last few months.

The Web, like any technology or medium, has always been susceptible to unforeseen hiccups. Particularly in the early days of the Web, sites like eBay and Schwab.com regularly went dark.

Now the Web is an irreplaceable part of daily life, and Internet companies have plans to make us even more dependent on it.

Tablet Ignites Debate on Messiah and Resurrection

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 12:38:47 GMT

clipped by: tabsey
clipper's remarks: Lots of theories to be heard this week. The full article may be of interest to those who follow christian religions.

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

JERUSALEM — A three-foot-tall tablet with 87 lines of Hebrew that scholars believe dates from the decades just before the birth of Jesus is causing a quiet stir in biblical and archaeological circles, especially because it may speak of a messiah who will rise from the dead after three days.

If such a messianic description really is there, it will contribute to a developing re-evaluation of both popular and scholarly views of Jesus, since it suggests that the story of his death and resurrection was not unique but part of a recognized Jewish tradition at the time.

The tablet, probably found near the Dead Sea in Jordan according to some scholars who have studied it, is a rare example of a stone with ink writings from that era — in essence, a Dead Sea Scroll on stone.

It is written, not engraved, across two neat columns, similar to columns in a Torah. But the stone is broken, and some of the text is faded, meaning that much of what it says is open to debate.

Emails that erase themselves -- Privnote.com

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 05:53:55 GMT

clipped by: enbar
clipper's remarks: I can think of a million ways this might be useful. Of course, if your intention is not to leave a paper trail, I suggest not using your computer.

Clip Source: www.readwriteweb.com

Send Messages That Self-Destruct With Privnote

Sending private messages through back channels is nothing new. We do it all the time with emails and direct messages on multiple services. However, sometimes information is just too sensitive to keep around once it's been sent. Wouldn't it be great to have messages self-destruct after being read a la Harry Potter style? Well Privnote is just the service for you.

Developed by Insophia using Django and Python, Privnote allows you to send a message and have it be immediately deleted once it is read. Spotted by MakeUsOf, simply head to the homepage of Privnote and type in your message. Once your done click the "post it" button to grab a link to send to a recipient. Once the message is read or the link is clicked, the link is no longer accessible. You can also receive notifications for when a your link is clicked, which will include the ip address of the reader.

Tags: email, messaging, privacy, blogclip, via:readwriteweb, via:friendfeed, tools

Cause For Alarm

Sat, 05 Jul 2008 11:53:13 GMT

clipped by: debbyski
clipper's remarks:
"Mr. Boren believes that the combination of unrestrained partisanship and the corrosive influence of big money have all but paralyzed the political process. He worries about the neglect of the nation’s infrastructure, about the growing divide between the very wealthy and everyone else, and about “the catastrophic drop in the way the rest of the world views us.”

Listen, I love my country, but the writing is on the wall. We can't ignore this any longer or there will be great suffering. The alarm is ringing loud . . . just listen.

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

Beaches, barbecues and flags as big as baseball fields.

It was a July Fourth like many others. There was nothing overt to signal anything was wrong.

And yet, there was an undercurrent of anxiety in the land. Vacations have been curtailed because of the price of fuel

Something fundamental seems to have gone haywire

“The country we love is in trouble,” he said. “In truth, we are in grave danger of declining as a nation. If we do not act quickly, that decline will become dramatic.”

I couldn’t agree more. The symbols of patriotism — bumper stickers and those flags the size of baseball fields — have taken the place of the hard work and sacrifice required to keep a great nation great.

There are signs galore of the nation’s turn for the worse. We are fighting a debilitating war in Iraq without any idea of how to pay for it — or how to end it. No one has any real idea about how to cope with the devastating energy crisis, or how to turn the economy around.

Tags: can, you, hear, it

The Forgotten Cost of High Gas Prices

Sat, 05 Jul 2008 11:45:03 GMT

clipped by: debbyski
clipper's remarks: "In the survey of agencies, more than 70 percent said it was more difficult to recruit and keep volunteers.
A recent survey by the group concluded that home health and hospice workers drove 4.8 billion miles in 2006 to serve 12 million clients. “If we lose these agencies in rural areas, we’ll never get them back,” Mr. Halamandaris said."

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

SOUTH HAVEN, Mich. — Early last month, Jeanne Fair, 62, got her first hot meals delivered to her home in this lake town in the sparsely populated southwestern part of the state. Then after two deliveries the meals stopped because gas prices had made the delivery too expensive.

“They called and said I was outside of the delivery area,” said Mrs. Fair, who is homebound and has not been able to use her left arm since a stroke in 1997.

Faced with soaring gasoline prices, agencies around the country that provide services to the elderly say they are having to cut back on programs like Meals on Wheels, transportation assistance and home care, especially in rural areas that depend on volunteers who provide their own gas

But older poor people and those who are homebound are doubly squeezed by rising gas and food prices, because they rely not just on social service agencies, but also on volunteers.

THE Bigot is Dead

Sat, 05 Jul 2008 01:24:15 GMT

clipped by: zasel
clipper's remarks: Jesse Helms was a disgraceful representation of an elected official in our country. He despised blacks, gays, lesbians, hispanics and everyone who did not look like him or believed as he believed.

While I never take pleasure in the death of another human being, it is my sincere hope that with his death, another layer of bigotry in the U.S. is buried with him. I have to think that maybe seeing Obama on the brink of the presidency may have been just too much for his aging heart to take.

Clip Source: blogs.villagevoice.com

Jesse Helms, an unrepentant supporter of unnatural causes throughout his life, died of natural causes this morning at the age of 86.

The death of Helms is just about the best birthday present the United States could wish for on July 4. Free at last — of Jesse Helms.

As a senator, he explained that he voted against Roberta Achtenberg, President Clinton's nominee for a Housing and Urban Development position, "because she's a damn lesbian."

In 1990, Helms stayed away in protest when Nelson Mandela addressed a joint session of Congress.

While the networks and most of the press will soft-pedal his virulent racism and reckless disregard for the First Amendment in his hounding of artists, foreigners and many others, Helms stayed his divisive course until the bitter end — at least until the end of his public career.

And it's fitting that he should die during a presidential race that features young black man Barack Obama.

Rove's Third Term

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 18:02:34 GMT

clipped by: debbyski

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

Al Gore never claimed that he invented the Internet. Howard Dean didn’t scream. Hillary Clinton didn’t say she was staying in the race because Barack Obama might be assassinated. And Wesley Clark didn’t impugn John McCain’s military service.

Scott McClellan, the former White House press secretary, titled his tell-all memoir “What Happened.” But a true account of modern American politics should be titled “What Didn’t Happen.” Again and again we’ve had media firestorms over supposedly revealing incidents that never actually took place.

Yet the Clark affair did reveal something important — not about General Clark, but about Mr. McCain. Now we know what a McCain administration would represent: namely, a third term for Karl Rove.

Will Rovian tactics work this year?

In 2002 and 2004, Republicans were so successful at playing the patriotism card thanks to a combination of compliant media and cowering Democrats.

Looking For Liberty

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 17:57:00 GMT

clipped by: debbyski

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

ACCORDING to the film “National Treasure,” the Declaration of Independence is a document of such far-seeing sagacity that it has secret codes and treasure maps hidden in the parchment. You just have to know how to look for them. But that poses the question: which document, precisely, is the Declaration of Independence?

Most of us would answer that it’s the manuscript written on vellum, dated July 4, 1776, now displayed in a baroque case at the National Archives, where it is protected by bulletproof glass, argon gas and the 55-ton underground vault it is lowered into every night. But like everything connected to the Declaration, the situation is complicated, for that document was not written on July 4; it was a handwritten copy that Congress ordered later that summer and post-dated. The version that was in the room as the vote was taken has never been seen since then.

Beauty And The Release

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 17:45:32 GMT

clipped by: debbyski
clipper's remarks: "All they've ever been is shut down in their lives, and now they have this chance to verbally emote," said Joe Loya, a senior staffer who works at several of the Walden facilities throughout the state.

Like any beauty pageant, it was also about primping. Just half an hour before it started, the upstairs hallway was full of dark red lips and masses of hair as women hurriedly tugged at borrowed dresses and pulled on strapped heels. "

Clip Source: www.latimes.com

Stepping to the front of the makeshift stage, she rolled up her essay on "What Independence Means to Me" into a tight cylinder in her hands. "I'm not going to read my essay," Darlene Escalante said, her eyes watery, her voice a husky whisper.

"I'm just going to talk to you from my heart," said Escalante, 25, eyes rimmed in dark liner, lips outlined in dark pencil. "Independence means breaking the cycle of three generations of incarceration. It means independence from three generations of drug addiction. It means independence from living a gang life."

Her voice grew stronger. "My independence means getting myself together and living for my kids." The room erupted in applause. In a treatment facility where tears and anger and angst are the rule of the day, a beauty pageant was an opportunity to let self-esteem flourish.

Tags: now, this, is, what, i, call, a, beauty, pagent

Alive In Independence Hall: The Declaration of Independence

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 16:46:25 GMT

clipped by: BartendingBear
clipper's remarks: DO NOT MISS THIS!!!

Clip Source: www.youtube.com

[Video]

Adopt A Scientist Program

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 13:39:29 GMT

clipped by: tabsey
clipper's remarks: If you can afford to be involved , it could be fun, oh, and educational.

Clip Source: www.seti.org

Anyone can adopt a SETI Institute scientist and become part of the adventure!

Each of our scientists offers a compelling journey of discovery. When you adopt a scientist, you help lead the way towards answering profound questions regarding our place in the universe.

The SETI Institute’s Carl Sagan Center for the Study of Life in the Universe and Center for SETI Research are home to more than 90 scientists. Their work covers a broad spectrum of research dedicated to understanding the origins of life and the extent to which life may be present beyond Earth. Traditionally, each scientist, or principal investigator (PI), has had many partners who sponsor his/her work including NASA, the National Science Foundation, and major universities. However, current trends in government funding are making it increasingly difficult for astrobiologists to depend on those sources of support.

Tags: science, is, expensive

Ernest Hemingway’s Top 9 Words of Wisdom

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 11:53:55 GMT

clipped by: revenantdm
clipper's remarks: Hemingway was an amazing man - a rare talent. Sometimes happy, sometimes morose but always entertaining We may never know what made him decide to take his own life (outside of despondency), but we can learn from the ultimate "tough man.'
Hemingway's Cabana is still preserved as it was in Cubs. He was a personal favorite of Fidel Castro and a cultural icon to the people of Cuba.

Clip Source: www.positivityblog.com

Ernest Hemingway’s Top 9 Words of Wisdom

“The world is a fine place and worth the fighting for and I hate very much to leave it.”

1. Listen

“I like to listen. I have learned a great deal from listening carefully. Most people never listen.”

2. Take the first step.

“The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them.”

3. Keep your eyes on where you are going.

“Never mistake motion for action.”

4. Just do.

“The shortest answer is doing the thing.”

5. Do. Fail. Learn. Do.

“The first draft of anything is shit”

6. Find strength through your tough times.

“The world breaks everyone, and afterward, some are strong at the broken places.”

7. Don’t get hung up on the small things in life.

“The man who has begun to live more seriously within begins to live more simply without.”

8. Don’t let your imagination hold you back

“Cowardice … is almost always simply a lack of ability to suspend the functioning of the imagination.”

9. Don’t judge

“The writer’s job is not to judge, but to seek to understand.”

Tags: advice, wisdom, top, list, hemingway, writer