Clipmarks | merrie's clips

Pencil Art Evolves Into Unusual Sculptures

Mon, 12 May 2008 01:39:40 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: Before pencils, Maestre was originally building with nails and a liquid rubber-type glue. She started to worry about inhaling all the toxic fumes, however, and began to experiment with different techniques until she settled on beading. Her method of choice? The peyote stitch.
#3 In Watchtower, Maestre focuses on a more architectural form. Peer inside and you'll see a series of pencil struts spiraling up like a staircase in a tower.
#4 Maestre was originally inspired by the push-pull reaction she had to sea urchins.
#5 Hive is one of Mastre's unintentionally more suggestive sculptures. "Certain viewers find it a little obscene," she says. "Maybe because I used the pink eraser ends to outline the orifices." (OK?)
#6 Some see a frog, others a gorilla, and some even an Egyptian mask. What does Threnody look like to you? Maestre may not know herself, but her primary goal was to convey the feeling of something howling.

Clip Source: www.wired.com

Stitched-Together Pencils Evolve Into Beastly Sculptures

Clip Source: www.wired.com

Tags: art, pencils, sculpture, culture, nature, animals

On This Day 10 Years Ago, Chess Champion Defeated By Supercomputer

Mon, 12 May 2008 01:19:19 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: WN: Kasparov's request for a rematch was turned down. Why do you think that was? It looked like IBM had got good publicity but took the ball away and didn't want to play anymore.

Campbell: I believe we had accomplished what we were trying to do for so many years and it was time to move on to other problems. Garry Kasparov has now retired from chess and Deep Blue is in a museum so that's not going to happen, but matches between other computers and the current world champion have taken place as recently as last year.

Clip Source: www.wired.com

On this day 10 years ago, the human race got an inferiority complex. A computer, Deep Blue, beat Russian Garry Kasparov

Blame IBM. Deep Blue was just the latest in a line of three supercomputers developed by Big Blue’s research scientists over the decade before its triumph in New York on May 11, 1997.

Kasparov, who was the youngest-ever world chess champion, trounced the first Deep Thought in a 1989 matchup.

Wired News: What is the state of supercomputer-versus-human matchups? How are we humans doing?

Murray Campbell: Not so well! The current world champion, Vladimir Kramnik from Russia, lost a match to a PC program in November, 4-2. If you look at the supercomputer that Deep Blue ran on, I think a present-day Cell processor has as much processing power as that entire system did in 1997.

Tags: garry kasparov, russian chess champion, ibm, deep thought, supercomputer, human matchups

"Victory, At Long Last"

Mon, 12 May 2008 00:52:30 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: >>>>>>>>>>POLITICAL CARTOON<<<<<<<<<<<

Clip Source: www.townhall.com

Michael Ramirez

Tags: mccain, clinton, obama, 2008

Oppose Climate Alarmist Gore: Sign Free Petition

Mon, 12 May 2008 00:36:09 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: Worried about high food prices, Congress tries to push the biofuel industry to use nonfood crops.
Chicago - America's love affair with corn-based ethanol is cooling – at least in Washington.

Some legislators blame the rising use of corn as a biofuel as a key factor behind high food prices. Others want to freeze the federal mandate on biofuels production at current levels, reversing legislation passed just a few months ago that increases it through 2022. Still others are pushing to shift tax incentives away from corn-based to cellulose-based ethanol in the nearly completed farm bill.

These moves represent a dramatic backlash against corn ethanol, which until a few months ago was widely viewed as a boon for both farmers and consumers. Many experts worry that Washington's new skepticism will undo important progress the US has made in replacing foreign oil with domestic energy alternatives.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0501/p03s03-usec.html

Clip Source: www.grassfire.org

Grassfire's Aggressive Petition Opposing Climate Alarmist Agenda Surpasses 100,000 Signers (outperforming Gore's petition over the same time frame)

More than 130,000 petitions and counting, as citizens wake up to the Al Gore's perpetrated Climate Alarmist ruse that could cost Americans $1.2 trillion! Grassfire opposes any such tax increase, and what would be the largest expansion of government power in our nation's history through the Lieberman-Warner bill. Grassfire is urging citizens to take immediate action to stop this mad dash that will cost us all dearly. Help us reach 200,000 before May 31. See below for more information and to sign our petition
Sign our national petition opposing the Al Gore Carbon Tax Scheme
Read more about the Climate Alarmist Agenda and how you can make a difference
Read our latest release on Climate Alarmism and the coming Carbon Tax

Tags: global warming, al gore, petition

Beauty of Flowers

Sun, 11 May 2008 11:44:03 GMT

clipped by: Lubaska
clipper's remarks: Harold Daviss Photoblog

Clip Source: www.digitalfieldguide.com

Tags: photography, flowers, harold davis

Battle Of the Proxy Incumbents

Sun, 11 May 2008 09:23:56 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: Fiction can be fun! Ultimately though, this fanciful bit of twaddle is unlikely to stick, what with McCain's voting record so thoroughly refuting it. And in a lot of ways, that's too bad. If only we could look back at McCain's votes and comments on the wildly effective investment income tax cuts and find a man who embraced pro-growth fiscal policy as eagerly as Bush, we might be better assured of the continuity of certain beneficial policies that Obama so laments.

Clip Source: www.suitablyflip.com

In case your cable's been out for a couple weeks, the grand, unifying, post-partisan argument in favor of electing this New Kind of Politician is that John McCain, the "Maverick", the Gang of 14er, the pathologically centrist aisle-crosser and frequent thorn in his own party's side, represents George Bush's third term.

Still, Barack assures us that John McCain's and George Bush's policy stances are indistinguishable, so let's so stipulate. Is that worse than the alternative?

After all, what President in the modern era does Senator Obama's agenda most resemble?

Huge expansion of the federal government? Check. Letting entitlement spending run wild? Check. "Windfall profit" taxes on oil companies? Check. Big doofy grin? Check.

Do political fashions run in 30-year cycles? If so, then get ready for the fabulous comeback of energy crises, stagflation, high unemployment, and national malaise.

(Obama caricature by Cox & Forkum)

Tags: mccain, obama, huge government expansion, entitlement spending, oil company taxes, stagflation, high unemployment

Obama Campaign Introduces Customized Lapel Pins

Sun, 11 May 2008 09:11:13 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: Update: It's just been announced that two superdelegates from the Virgin Islands have pledged support for Obama, giving him his first-ever superdelegate lead over Clinton. Interesting timing, no?

You scratch my back, I grant you statehood.

Handcrafted by Flip at 07:49 PM | Permalink |

Clip Source: www.suitablyflip.com

In celebration of his having traveled to an impressive 57 states in his bid for the Presidency (and to finally put to rest the notion that he abhors patriotic accessories), Barack Obama's campaign has introduced a custom line of American flag lapel pins.

[Video]

Get yours today and show your support for the least senile candidate in the race!

Let's all give a warm, manifestly destined welcome to what I assume are our 7 newest states:

51. Puerto Rico
52. Guam
53. Northern Mariana
54. American Samoa
55. St. Croix
56. St. Thomas
57. St. John

I guess we should've seen this coming when Obama was reported to be meeting unofficially with the Governor of the U.S. Virgin Islands when he took his family on "vacation" to St. Thomas.

(HT: Hot Air)

Tags: lapel pins, obama campaign

Obama & Hamas: McCain Camp Responds: Andy McCarthy

Sun, 11 May 2008 06:25:56 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: We understand why Senator Obama doesn't want to engage in a debate over leadership and judgment with John McCain, but the American people demand that debate take place.

Just today, the president of Iran, whom Senator Obama wants to meet with unconditionally, called the state of Israel a 'stinking corpse.' Iran is the paymaster and state sponsor of Hamas.

In his victory speech this week, Senator Obama stated that 'wisdom' is meeting with our enemies, including Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, North Korea's Kim Jong Il, Venezuela's Hugo Chavez and Cuba's Raul Castro. John McCain couldn't disagree more. Rather than giving tyrants and dictators the prestige of meeting with an American president, John McCain will instead meet with the champions of human freedom around the world and opposition leaders fighting for liberty

Clip Source: corner.nationalreview.com

These are serious times that call for a serious debate on the profound issues facing our future. John McCain is ready for that debate and we hope Senator Obama will one day get serious and join it.

We have all become familiar with Senator Obama's new brand of politics. First, you demand civility from your opponent, then you attack him, distort his record and send out surrogates to question his integrity. It is called hypocrisy, and it is the oldest kind of politics there is.

It is important to focus on what Senator Obama is attempting to do here: He is trying desperately to delegitimize the discussion of issues that raise legitimate questions about his judgment and preparedness to be President of the United States.

Senator Obama and his supporters have made clear that ANY criticism on ANY issue — from his desire to raise taxes on millions of small investors to his radical plans to sit down face-to-face with Iranian President Ahmadinejad – constitute negative, personal attacks.

Tags: campaign, mccain, obama, debate, judgment, preparedness, leadership, integrity

Straight Talk About Universal Healthcare

Sun, 11 May 2008 05:35:01 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: I'm all about personal freedom and the rights of individuals. Universal healthcare is not only impractical, but costly - and not just for your pocketbook. It's handing over yet another right to the government, and allowing the government to decide and rule your fate.

I'm not compassionless-I'm just sensible. And universal healthcare as it's being proposed by both Clinton and Obama still doesn't make much sense to me.

The disaster of the Massachusetts universal healthcare system should give you a preview of what life under a universal healthcare scheme could be like.

Even more shocking is the manner in which Massachusetts state officials have decided to deal with the out-of-control costs of their broken system: they've ordered the insurance companies to cut payments to doctors and hospitals, reduce choices for payments, and possibly increase how much patients will have to pay.

Clip Source: www.douglassreport.com

A better way to describe the program would be to call it "universal heath insurance." The idea is that by compelling everyone in the nation to participate in the insurance market, you'd cut down on what's known as the "free rider" syndrome. As the term suggests, this would be people getting a "free ride" from the healthcare system by deciding not to get their own health insurance because they've been assured that in the case of an emergency or personal health catastrophe, inexpensive care will be guaranteed to them by the government. The theory is that mandated participation would help to drive down insurance costs.

But any mandate requires an enforcement component. My fear is that a government branch with the kind of power to actually identify and penalize those seeking to avoid the insurance mandates of universal healthcare would be vast and all-powerful. The new healthcare arm of the government would likely have the same kind of power (and loathsome reputation) as the IRS.

Tags: clinton, obama, government, healthcare, mandate