Clipmarks | kenstipe's Comments

Inedible and dangerous: black and white animals

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 03:06:28 GMT

clipped by: bignosemousie
clipper's remarks: I was playing a game with my daughter and discovered there are more black and white animals than I thought.

Clip Source: tiger.gsfc.nasa.gov

Clip Source: www.fantom-xp.com

Clip Source: www.wildlifedamagecontrol.net

Clip Source: findarticles.com

In the human arena, simple black-and-white color schemes jump out from a more complicated world as effective attention-getting devices. Like the stripes on railroad crossing gates, they warn of danger. To would-be predators, patterns found on the likes of striped polecats, marbled salamanders and Carabid beetles cry out that the wearer is inedible, dangerous or foul tasting. Predators quickly learn not to touch.

While in Egypt preparing bird skins for a museum collection, the scientist noticed that swarms of hornets were feeding on the skinned remains of doves but ignoring nearby carcasses of pied kingfishers. Could it be, Cott wondered, that the black-and-white plumage of the pied kingfisher was warning coloration? The biologist ran blind taste tests with the flesh of 38 different species of birds, using humans, cats and hornets as tasters. Astonishingly, the diverse group concurred, giving the 'least edible' rating to the only three black-and-white birds on the menu.

Believing Global Warming

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 01:43:16 GMT

clipped by: Rustee

Clip Source: online.wsj.com

Last week marked the 20th anniversary of the mass hysteria phenomenon known as global warming. Much of the science has since been discredited. Now it's time for political scientists, theologians and psychiatrists to weigh in.

The real place where discussions of global warming belong is in the realm of belief, and particularly the motives for belief.

The first is as a vehicle of ideological convenience.

Take just about any other discredited leftist nostrum of yore – population control, higher taxes, a vast new regulatory regime, global economic redistribution, an enhanced role for the United Nations – and global warming provides a justification.

A second explanation is theological.

A light carbon footprint has become the 21st-century equivalent of sexual abstinence.

Finally, there is a psychological explanation.

What's remarkable is the extent to which penance sells among a mostly secular audience. What is there to be penitent about?

He made lists to fend off depression

Sat, 29 Mar 2008 04:25:14 GMT

clipped by: kenstipe
clipper's remarks: Guess who?

Clip Source: www.reuters.com

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - His mother suffered dark depressions and tried to dominate his life. His sister and daughter had severe mental problems, his father and wife died young and a beloved uncle committed suicide in his arms.

So what did Peter Mark Roget, the creator of Roget's Thesaurus, do to handle all the pain, grief, sorrow, affliction, woe, bitterness, unhappiness and misery in a life that lasted over 90 years?

He made lists.

Ten Reasons that Thinking Americans Love Their Country

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 02:07:28 GMT

clipped by: missjackson

Clip Source: img110.imageshack.us

Despite the intellectual pretensions of those who practice it, anti-Americanism is reflexive and mindless. Patriotism, despite its bad reputation amongst the intelligentsia, is a rational sentiment for an American to hold.

No one is obligated to love their country. Yet Americans do-overwhelmingly. Why are Americans, despite the national self-hatred expressed by so many elites, still patriotic? Because America is a force for good in the world as no country has ever been.

Here are ten good reasons why thinking Americans should love their country:

Fear of Terrorism Lowest Since 9/11

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 19:45:52 GMT

clipped by: Wisco
clipper's remarks: More bad news for McCain.

"Sen. McCain's greatest strength is in foreign policy, particularly his reputation as the candidate best able to fight the war on terror," said Keating Holland, CNN's polling director.

"As the threat of a terrorist attack continues to recede in the mind of the American voter, the state of the economy and other domestic issues are likely to become even more important. That would be good news for Sen. Obama, since the Democrats currently beat or tie the Republicans on every issue except terrorism."

The piece also cites Bush's low approvals as a source of worry for Team McCain.

Clip Source: www.cnn.com

As Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama battle over who has the best approach to national security, a new CNN poll finds Americans' concerns about terrorism have hit an all-time low for the post-September 11 era.

According to a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey released Wednesday, 35 percent of Americans believe a terrorist attack somewhere in the United States is likely over the next several weeks.

The figure is the lowest in a CNN poll since the September 11, 2001, al Qaeda attacks, which killed nearly 3,000 people.

The latest CNN poll also indicates that the war in Iraq remains deeply unpopular. Three in 10 voters favor the war, while 68 percent oppose it. Similarly, a third of voters would like to see the next president keep the same number of troops in Iraq that are stationed there now. See how the poll numbers stack up »

Tags: news

For WHAT? One Man! And the Next WAR?

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 02:46:24 GMT

clipped by: righthand
clipper's remarks: And all for the lack of one assassins bullet. Where is Mossad when it's needed? "Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?" If he was such a bad man could no one be found to "judicially assassinate" this 'turbulent' ruler? Keeping the rules has NOT been the hallmark of this administration, so why not 'eliminate' Saddam?

The truth is that he was never the target. Assassination would not have produced occupation. It would have save 4,000+ US lives but we have learnt that these didn't matter either. The out of sight, out of mind, no presidential presence at funerals worked for AWOL Bush. However the broken in mind and body will not go away so easily. Until they are swamped by the next lot.

Clip Source: 66.102.9.104

El soldado David Rozelle. The soldier David Rozelle.

David Rozelle. David Rozelle.

Tags: photos, iraq, war, usa, bush

"Global disruption" better than "Global warming"

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 23:00:08 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: John Holdren, professor of environmental policy at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He is the director of the Woods Hole Research Center and just completed a term as board chair of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Clip Source: www.democracynow.org

“Global Disruption” More Accurately Describes Climate Change, Not “Global Warming”–Leading Scientist John Holdren

Leading scientist John Holdren says “global warming” is not the correct term to use; he prefers “global disruption.” “‘Global warming’ [is] misleading. It implies something that’s mainly about temperature, that’s gradual, and that’s uniform across the planet,” says Holdren. “In fact, temperature is only one of the things that’s changing. It’s a sort of an index of the state of the climate. The whole climate is changing: the winds, the ocean currents, the storm patterns, snow packs, snowmelt, flooding, droughts. Temperature is just a bit of it.” [includes rush transcript]

Tags: environment

What to Celebrate on Independence Day?

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 04:34:47 GMT

clipped by: Rustee
clipper's remarks: Duh.

Clip Source: capmag.com

"Independence Day" is a critically important title. It signifies the fundamental meaning of this nation, not just of the holiday. The American Revolution remains unique in human history: a revolution--and a nation--founded on a moral principle, the principle of individual rights.

The Declaration of Independence was a declaration against servitude, not just servitude to the Crown but servitude to anyone.

What we hear from politicians, intellectuals, and the media is that independence is passé, that we've reached a new age of "interdependence."

We hear demands from trust-busters that successful companies be punished for being "greedy" and not serving society. But this is not the message of America.

To the Founding Fathers, there was no authority higher than the individual mind, not King George, not God, not society.

Independence is what should be celebrated on Independence Day.

It is a legacy we should keep, not because it is a legacy, but because it is right and just.

Tags: history, government

Broadcast Industry "Rocked"

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 23:50:46 GMT

clipped by: willhelm

Clip Source: www.drudgereport.com

While newspapers and traditional broadcast media are experiencing declining revenues, Limbaugh's golden microphone has turned diamond-laced:

Earnings now pace him ahead of the annual salaries for network news anchors: Katie Couric, Brian Williams, Charlie Gibson and Diane Sawyer — combined!

The deal represents a stunning triumph over the establishment by an outsider who connected with and captured the spirit of the nation's heartland.

The American broadcast industry is rocked, realigned and blasted into a new orbit, yet again, by Rush Limbaugh, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned.

In what is being described as an unprecedented radio contract, Limbaugh will keep his syndicated show on-the-air and e-v-e-r-y-w-h-e-r-e through 2016 with CLEAR CHANNEL and PREMIERE RADIO.

LIMBAUGH SIGNS THROUGH 2016; $400 MILLION DEAL SHATTERS BROADCAST RECORDS

Why Do We Remember Bad Things?

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 19:01:07 GMT

clipped by: dmegivern

Clip Source: www.time.com

Why Do We Remember Bad Things?

TIME asked Matt Wilson, a professor of neurobiology at MIT's Picower Institute for Learning and Memory.

Q: Why do we remember unpleasant events better than ordinary ones?

A: We think of memory as a record of our experience. But the idea is not just to store information; it's to store relevant information. [The idea is] to use our experience to guide future behavior.

The speculation is that we process memory in order to solve problems. And things we should learn from, things that are particularly important or that have strong emotions tied to them, may be things that are going to be important in the future. If you present stimuli with a strong negative emotional component, the memories do seem to be more easily retrieved than neutral stimuli or even those that are somewhat positive, for example happy faces versus angry faces.

[Emotional content] does not necessarily mean that events are remembered more accurately, and that's an important distinction.

Tags: memory, trauma

Celebrate Diversity Part Deux

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 22:14:06 GMT

clipped by: sillysam

Clip Source: article.nationalreview.com

Like those in Tucson, for example. The Tucson Unified School District (TUSD) has, in fact, welcomed Raza Studies in its classrooms for about a decade, but it’s been mighty secretive about the association.

What, exactly, is Raza Studies? Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne asked that question in November 2007 when he inquired if it wouldn’t be too much trouble for TUSD to send to him the Raza curricula it was teaching and the textbooks from which it taught them. Actually, TUSD replied to Horne, meeting his request would be a heckuva lot of trouble.

Then the local papers piled on Arizona’s superintendent. The first sentence of a November 26th editorial in the Tucson Citizen read, “Memo to Tom Horne: Butt out.” Another editorial, titled “Horne meddling in TUSD’s ethnic studies efforts,”

Ignorant America: Just How Stupid Are We?

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 22:23:18 GMT

clipped by: Socratoad

Clip Source: www.alternet.org

Ignorant America: Just How Stupid Are We?

Millions of Americans are embarrassingly ill-informed and they do not care that they are.

"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." -- Thomas Jefferson

Just how stupid are we? Pretty stupid, it would seem, when we come across headlines like this: "Homer Simpson, Yes -- 1st Amendment 'Doh,' Survey Finds" (Associated Press 3/1/06).

"About 1 in 4 Americans can name more than one of the five freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment (freedom of speech, religion, press, assembly and petition for redress of grievances.) But more than half of Americans can name at least two members of the fictional cartoon family, according to a survey.
"The study by the new McCormick Tribune Freedom Museum found that 22 percent of Americans could name all five Simpson family members, compared with just 1 in 1,000 people who could name all five First Amendment freedoms."

Denmark, World's happiest nation and zimbabwe...

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 22:50:31 GMT

clipped by: mugofcoffee

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Denmark is the happiest country in the world, according to the latest World Values Survey published by the United States National Science Foundation.

The annual study surveyed people in 97 countries to discover who is happiest.

The survey asked people two simple questions about their happiness and their level of satisfaction with life.

Puerto Rico and Colombia completed the top three happiest nations. Zimbabwe was found to be the least happy, with Russia and Iraq also in the bottom 10.

The study also found that the countries at the bottom of the list all struggle with widespread poverty or authoritarian governments.

H. G. Wells Quotes

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 03:00:37 GMT

clipped by: ratilfar

Clip Source: www.brainyquote.com

A time will come when a politician who has willfully made war and promoted international dissension will be as sure of the dock and much surer of the noose than a private homicide. It is not reasonable that those who gamble with men's lives should not stake their own.

H. G. Wells

Heresies are experiments in man's unsatisfied search for truth.

History is a race between education and catastrophe.

I must confess that my imagination refuses to see any sort of submarine doing anything but suffocating its crew and floundering at sea.

If we don't end war, war will end us.

Leaders should lead as far as they can and then vanish. Their ashes should not choke the fire they have lit.

Sailors ought never to go to church. They ought to go to hell, where it is much more comfortable.

You have learned something. That always feels at first as if you had lost something.

Why take these clowns in Washington seriously?

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 23:43:43 GMT

clipped by: willhelm

Clip Source: cafehayek.typepad.com

Below is a link to an MP3 file that features part of President Jimmy Carter's July 1979 speech on energy policy.

Download National_Energy_Crisis_Address.mp3

I have no doubt that 30 years from now people will revisit the speeches, blog-posts, and writings of the likes of Barack Obama and John McCain and find them to be just as fancifully idiotic as is this speech by Jimmy Carter.