Clipmarks | kelvin273's clips

Evangelicals may go Democratic

Sun, 13 Apr 2008 23:12:33 GMT

clipped by: kelvin273
clipper's remarks: If a fair number of evangelicals were to actually vote for a liberal like Obama in the general election, that would mark a sea change in U.S. politics. I can't help but worry that Hell would also freeze over.

Clip Source: www.cnn.com

(CNN) -- Which Democrat is winning the battle for religious voters? God only knows.

For years, the evangelical community has largely supported Republican presidential candidates.

Conservative Christian activists, drawn by the party's stands on abortion, gay marriage and other social issues, have been among the GOP's most reliable foot soldiers. Watch how faith is playing into the election »

During the primary season, former Baptist minister Mike Huckabee appealed directly to evangelicals as one of their own -- but in opinion polls conducted early in the primary season, those voters preferred either Democrat to the former Arkansas governor.

Winning over religious voters, especially evangelicals, is still an uphill climb for any Democrat -- but for the first time in recent memory, the party believes its next nominee may have a prayer.

Tags: politics, religion, election

Russian space shuttle clone retired

Thu, 10 Apr 2008 01:06:40 GMT

clipped by: kelvin273
clipper's remarks: It would have been interesting to see how the Buran would have developed. While we were good at going to the moon and sending probes to planets, the Soviet program was more concerned with the kind of earth-orbit stuff the shuttle's about.

Clip Source: www.space.com

COLOGNE, Germany (AP) - The one-time pride of the Soviet space program is making a decidedly sedate journey to its new home, chugging up the Rhine River aboard a pontoon boat.

The Buran 002 space shuttle is headed for the Technik-Museum Speyer in southwestern Germany, which says it has long had its eye on the spacecraft.

The shuttle has been in storage in Bahrain since 2002.

The Buran - the Soviet space program's answer to NASA's space shuttle, to which it bears a strong resemblance - made its maiden flight in 1988.

Soviet space officials claimed at the time that the Buran was superior to its American rival because of its ability to fly on autopilot and its bigger capacity, but the program was mothballed amid chaos and fund shortages in the run-up to the 1991 Soviet collapse. Several Buran shuttles were left rusting in hangars.

Tags: space, russia

Are body piercings really worth it?

Fri, 28 Mar 2008 06:46:55 GMT

clipped by: kelvin273
clipper's remarks: Jokes aside, it's weird that nipple rings set off the alarm but belly-button piercings don't. It makes you wonder if male agents calibrate the machine.

Clip Source: www.cnn.com

Mandi Hamlin, at center with attorney Gloria Allred, demonstrates how she removed her nipple ring.

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- A Texas woman who said she was forced to remove a nipple ring with pliers in order to board an airplane called Thursday for an apology by federal security agents and a civil rights investigation.

"I wouldn't wish this experience upon anyone," Mandi Hamlin said at a news conference. "My experience with TSA was a nightmare I had to endure. No one deserves to be treated this way."

Hamlin said she told the woman she was wearing nipple piercings. The agent called over her male colleagues, one of whom said she would have to remove the jewelry, Hamlin said.

She was taken behind a curtain and managed to remove one bar-shaped piercing but had trouble with the second, a ring.

She said she heard male TSA agents snickering as she took out the ring. She was scanned again and was allowed to board even though she still was wearing a belly button ring.

Tags: airlines, security

WTC Developers suing airlines, airport

Fri, 28 Mar 2008 06:31:46 GMT

clipped by: kelvin273
clipper's remarks: I'm still trying to figure out how there can be liability for the airlines when their pilots did the standard procedure for a hijacking at the time: cooperate. I could possibly see some grounds for suing the airport for security lapses, but even that's a little shaky given that the only thing legally wrong with the hijackers (before the horrific murder/suicide attack) was that they had overstayed their visas, IIRC.

Clip Source: www.cnn.com

NEW YORK (CNN) -- The developer of the World Trade Center in New York is seeking $12.3 billion in damages from the airlines and other companies associated with the September 11 terrorist attacks, his spokesman said Thursday.

Larry Silverstein, president and CEO of Silverstein Properties, has recovered $4.6 billion in insurance payments, spokesman Bud Perrone said.

The additional money is meant to offset the remaining costs of what was lost on September 11.

Perrone was not able to provide a full list of defendants, but the companies named in the suit include American Airlines, United Airlines, Continental Airlines and Boeing.

Also named: MassPort, which manages Logan International Airport in Boston, where the planes that hit the World Trade Center took off.

Tags: 9/11, law, courts

Dolphins use objects to impress females

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 05:48:23 GMT

clipped by: kelvin273

Clip Source: www.livescience.com

Just as men can use fast cars or showy clothes to impress the ladies, so too do male Amazon river dolphins show off stuff to woo the opposite sex.

Among these dolphins, the attention-getter is a male carrying a branch or similar flotsam in its mouth. Such "player" behavior is a first to be documented in aquatic mammals and, among land mammals, it has previously been seen only in chimpanzees and humans, researchers said.

The botos had often seemed to play with items such as sticks or lumps of hard clay, thrashing them against the surface of the water or tossing them with flicks of their heads.

One day scientists noticed that three botos that held objects in their mouths were all adult males. This prompted speculation that such behavior might not be play at all.

Martin and his colleagues found the overwhelming majority of those who carried items were adult males, which are larger and pinker than females.

Tags: science

Vikings dressed flashier than previously thought

Tue, 26 Feb 2008 05:14:41 GMT

clipped by: kelvin273
clipper's remarks: Frankly, I don't find the pictured outfit very sexy at all. I'm not sure if it's the model or the fact that it's very loose. Still, it's much more ornate than what you would associate with Vikings.

Clip Source: www.livescience.com

A runway fashion show in Viking times would have spotlighted women cloaked in imported colored-silk gowns adorned with metallic breast coverings and long trains.

This surprising claim is the result of a new analysis of remnants from a woman's wardrobe discovered in a grave dating back to the 10th century in Russia, painting a picture of Viking panache before Christianity was established that runs counter to previous ideas about buttoned-up, prudish looking Norsewomen.

"Now we can say the pre-Christian dress code was very rich," textiles researcher Annika Larsson of Uppsala University in Sweden told LiveScience. "When Christianity came, the dress was more like that of nuns. There was a big difference."

(The findings here apply to the Swedish Vikings, who mostly traveled east into modern-day Russia and further on to Byzantium and beyond, rather than the Danish/Norwegian Vikings who went westward).

Tags: vikings, clothing, archaeology

New Texas poll, or the elephant in the room

Tue, 26 Feb 2008 04:19:40 GMT

clipped by: kelvin273
clipper's remarks: I find it interesting that they're so obsessed with whether Clinton is going to narrowly win or narrowly lose. She needs to dominate in Ohio and Texas in order to catch up in the delegate count, due to the Democrats' fondness for proportional representation.

Clip Source: www.cnn.com

(CNN) -- Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are in a statistical dead heat in Texas, according to a poll released eight days before the state's crucial presidential primary.

In the CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey released Monday, 50 percent of likely Democratic primary voters said Obama is their choice for the party's nominee, while 46 percent backed Clinton.

But taking into account the poll's sampling error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points for Democratic respondents, the race is a virtual tie.

"The 2-point gain for Obama and the 4-point drop for Clinton are both within the poll's sampling error, so although the survey appears to indicate some movement toward Obama, we cannot say for certain that he has gained any ground since last week," said CNN polling director Keating Holland.

Tags: politics, election, hillary clinton, barack obama, poll, texas

St. Patrick's Day causing Catholic dilemma

Thu, 21 Feb 2008 02:55:55 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan

Clip Source: www.cnn.com

That famous saint named Patrick will have his green-drenched party this year, but it's unclear when the guests are supposed to arrive.

For the first time since 1940, St. Patrick's Day will fall during Holy Week, the sacred seven days preceding Easter.

Because of the overlap, liturgical rules dictate that no Mass in honor of the saint can be celebrated on Monday, March 17, according to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

But a few Roman Catholic leaders are asking for even more moderation in their dioceses: They want parades and other festivities kept out of Holy Week as well.

"The city has a very strong Irish Catholic community, a very traditional Irish Catholic community," Bell said. "They attend Mass regularly. And the last thing they want to do is get in the bad graces of the Catholic Church."

"It's not a sin to celebrate your Irish culture," countered Mark Dempsey, the club's president.

"Actually, you're born Irish first," he said, "and then you're baptized Catholic."

Tags: catholic, church, irish, easter, religion, belief, holiday, culture

Female official not allowed to ref boys game

Thu, 14 Feb 2008 03:25:43 GMT

clipped by: kelvin273
clipper's remarks: Apparently, nobody asked if this renegade Catholic school has female teachers or if the young boys are required to listen to their mothers.

Clip Source: sportsillustrated.cnn.com

The Kansas State High School Activities Association said referees reported that Michelle Campbell was preparing to officiate at St. Mary's Academy near Topeka on Feb. 2 when a school official insisted that Campbell could not call the game.

The reason given, according to the referees: Campbell, as a woman, could not be put in a position of authority over boys because of the academy's beliefs.

The Activities Association said it is considering whether to take action against the private religious school. St. Mary's Academy, about 25 miles northwest of Topeka, is owned and operated by the Society of St. Pius X, which follows older Roman Catholic laws. The society's world leader, the late Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, was excommunicated by Pope John Paul II in the late 1980s.

Tags: sports, sexism, religion

BW: Before Word

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 02:40:05 GMT

clipped by: mickfinn
clipper's remarks: Printing with movable type. One of the greatest inventions.

Clip Source: en.wikipedia.org

A case of cast metal type pieces and typeset matter in a composing stick

ffi

K-

en
qd

em
qd

3-em
spaces

;

quads

ffl

The California Job Case

In addition to placing the most commonly used letters in setting text in a given language in the easiest positions for the typeseter to get to, the characters' boxes varied in size depending upon the frequency of usage of the character. Thus for English the "e" box is the largest while the "j", "k", "q", "x", and "z" boxes are the smallest.

Prior to the adoption of the California Job Case, the capital letters were stored in a separate drawer or case that was located above the case that held the other letters; this is why capital letters are called "upper case" characters while the non-capitals are "lower case".

punch

5th century BC

woodblock

revolving table typecase

1313

1377

1490

metal type

Ten Tricks to Using Google You Probably Dont Know

Sun, 27 Jan 2008 18:58:40 GMT

clipped by: murieleileen

Clip Source: articles.mercola.com

10. Get Local Time: Type in What time is it followed by any city to get the current time.

9. Track Flight Status:

8. Convert Currency, Metrics, Bytes and More:

7. Search for Pages That are “Better Than,” “Similar to,” or “Reminds me of”: Enter “better than keyword” or “similar to keyword” to find Web pages you never knew existed.

6. Use Google as a Free Proxy: Enter cache:website.com to view a Web page that’s been blocked from the computer you’re using.

5. Remove Affiliate Links From Product Searches:

4. Find Related Items: Enter ~ before any search term to find related items as well.

3. Find Music and Comic Books:

2. See Images of People, Objects, Etc.: Type in a search term, and click on images to see photos of the results.

1. Search for Faces: If you’re looking for a photo of a person named Rose, and don’t want to see photos of the flower, add &imgtype=face to the end of your image search. It will show you only images of faces.

Tags: google, computer, tricks

Britney Spears dependent on paparazzi...literally

Tue, 29 Jan 2008 06:41:13 GMT

clipped by: kelvin273
clipper's remarks: This explains a lot, both about Britney and the perils of an inability to do things for yourself.

Clip Source: www.mtv.com

Everyone is trying to figure out what's wrong with Britney Spears. Blender has a new diagnosis: Stockholm syndrome.

The magazine's March issue, on newsstands February 12, claims the singer has a "self-created" relationship with the paparazzi, one in which she has been chased for so long and by so many that she has come to not only accept them but need them in her life. The dozen or so photographers who stake her out regularly also change her flat tires, pump her gas, give her directions when she's lost and often pick up her tab. "She seems to be basking [in the attention], and she seems to be trapped," Blender writer Michael Joseph Gross observed. "She plays the role they expect her to play."

Tags: britney spears, celebrity, paparazzi, stockholm syndrome

Bhutto's niece speaks out against aunt, system

Wed, 23 Jan 2008 02:20:34 GMT

clipped by: kelvin273
clipper's remarks: Granted, her mother blames Benazir Bhutto for her father's violent death, but these comments are still interesting. Charges of systemic corruption are more credible when they come from somebody who's not actively seeking office.

Clip Source: www.cnn.com

Some of the toughest criticism of Pakistan's pro-democracy movement comes from an unlikely source: the 25-year-old niece of Benazir Bhutto, who says Pakistani party politics do nothing but support military rule. It's an environment, she said, her late aunt is partly responsible for.

She raised her voice as she described what she feels is the core of Pakistan's political problems: the lack of a true democratic culture. Instead, she said, the country is run by power grabbers.

"Ultimately to them, it's a game of revolving chairs. As long as they get to be in one, they don't care who's in the other one."

"We have to seriously look at her political legacy, which is deeply flawed," Fatima Bhutto said. "Both her governments were known for widespread corruption, for an abuse of human rights, and for an excess of police violence."

though her name would probably propel her to the highest levels of Pakistani politics almost instantly, she said that won't happen anytime soon.

Tags: benazir bhutto, pakistan, politics, corruption

Dr. Phil and Britney Spears

Tue, 08 Jan 2008 06:43:36 GMT

clipped by: kelvin273
clipper's remarks: I had to clip this for the funny quote at the end of the first paragraph.

Clip Source: www.usatoday.com

"It's true people sometimes need to be placed under involuntary mental health treatment because they can't take care of themselves," veteran psychiatrist Dr. Jeffrey Sugar said of the 26-year-old Spears. "But there's a difference between being detained involuntarily for psychological treatment and being forced to endure Dr. Phil involuntarily."

Spears, who appeared to have enough trouble already, saw McGraw barge into her life Saturday when he showed up at her room at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center as she was about to be discharged. She had been taken there Thursday after an hours-long standoff with police that was triggered by her custody dispute with ex-husband Kevin Federline.

McGraw said he was invited to the hospital by Spears' family.

Also, Albright said, the tough-love therapy that McGraw practices is really only the first of many steps therapists must take to change destructive behavior. What's more, she said, it really only works when the recipient is receptive.

Tags: dr. phil, britney spears, celebrity, therapy, psychology

Huckabee's Media Magic

Thu, 03 Jan 2008 08:20:48 GMT

clipped by: kelvin273
clipper's remarks: This blogger pretty much sums up my attitude toward Mike Huckabee. He's a funny guy. I might enjoy hanging out with him, but I really don't want him to be president. Actually, I see him in a more dangerous light than the blogger. When pressed about issues, he comes off as a religious fanatic who insists on bringing God into every policy debate and who insists on conformity.

Clip Source: www.washingtonmonthly.com

At present moment, Mike Huckabee has managed to, if not literally unite, at least draw affection from both bonafide social conservatives and ironic horn-rimmed glasses folks, like yours truly, who enjoy watching him call out the absurdities of the campaign process. (Note: that's some affection, not a vote; he has many dubious policy positions.)

For instance, there's the reporter who wants to know, at the end of an Iowa pheasant hunt, if Huckabee has devilishly named the pheasants he downed "Romney" and "Thompson."

There's the debate questioner who persists in being hyper-literal about his own creationism question.

And, of course, there's the Chuck Norris ad, which isn't really about Chuck or Huckabee, but about the odd genre of endorsement ads.

The man might make a very scary president, but he's a genius at reality-TV.

Most of the other candidates aren't acknowledging that the interview segments are pretty corny,

But Huckabee plays it with more panache than the Bachlorette.

Tags: politics, campaign, media, mike huckabee