Clipmarks |

thinking of you...

Wed, 28 Nov 2007 22:15:32 GMT

clipped by: boozich
clipper's remarks: having lost my brother last year...this is quite moving

Clip Source: muzich.blogspot.com

thinking of you...son

Tags: reflection, wall

Outrageously politically incorrect adverts from the time equality forgot

Wed, 28 Nov 2007 06:53:42 GMT

clipped by: michellezm

Clip Source: www.dailymail.co.uk

n A politically correct age, they seem like outrageous anachronisms. And there is no doubt these adverts - many taken from the first half of the last century - reveal just how much women used to be caricatured as downtrodden housewives or hair-brained office girls.

Now, a new book - You Mean A Woman Can Open It?: The Woman's Place In The Classic Age Of Advertising - brings together images which would surely cause a howl of protest if they were released today.

1902: Just fill The Dalli Box Iron with smokeless fuel and your wife can do double the work in half the time!

1970: Your wife won't be able to stall the car or grind the gears - and there's even one pedal fewer to confuse her with the Mini Automatic

Tags: chauvanism, advertising

Douglas Adams: The Atheist interview

Wed, 28 Nov 2007 12:43:35 GMT

clipped by: wildcat
clipper's remarks: People will then often say “But surely it’s better to remain an Agnostic just in case?” This, to me, suggests such a level of silliness and muddle that I usually edge out of the conversation rather than get sucked into it. (If it turns out that I’ve been wrong all along, and there is in fact a god, and if it further turned out that this kind of legalistic, cross-your-fingers-behind-your-back, Clintonian hair-splitting impressed him, then I think I would chose not to worship him anyway.)

Clip Source: www.americanatheist.org

AMERICAN ATHEISTS: Mr. Adams, you have been described as a “radical Atheist.” Is this accurate?

I don’t accept the currently fashionable assertion that any view is automatically as worthy of respect as any equal and opposite view. My view is that the moon is made of rock. If someone says to me “Well, you haven’t been there, have you? You haven’t seen it for yourself, so my view that it is made of Norwegian Beaver Cheese is equally valid” - then I can’t even be bothered to argue. There is such a thing as the burden of proof, and in the case of god, as in the case of the composition of the moon, this has shifted radically. God used to be the best explanation we’d got, and we’ve now got vastly better ones. God is no longer an explanation of anything, but has instead become something that would itself need an insurmountable amount of explaining. So I don’t think that being convinced that there is no god is as irrational or arrogant a point of view as belief that there is

Tags: douglas adams, atheism, belief

Read This To Me

Wed, 28 Nov 2007 16:05:23 GMT

clipped by: thisnamecantbetaken
clipper's remarks: What a good idea.

Clip Source: www.readthistome.org

ReadThisToMe is a free reading service for blind and low-vision people, powered by volunteers and Internet collaboration.

ReadThisToMe allows blind and low-vision people (clients) to have printed documents read to them over the phone. All a person needs is a phone line and a fax machine (no computer is required.)

The service is available throughout the U.S. and Canada and is absolutely free (though donations are gladly accepted).

Because the reading is done by people, this service can handle documents that electronic reading hardware and software cannot, such as handwritten documents, documents with complex graphics, etc. The cost of entry is just a phone line and a cheap fax machine. (A flatbed fax machine is slightly more expensive but can be more versatile, allowing clients to fax pages from books, food containers, and other thicker items.)

ReadThisToMe needs more volunteer readers: all volunteers need are a few minutes a day

More info about volunteering.

An audio version

1-877-333-8847

Tags: volunteering, vision impaired, blind

Fish have personalities

Wed, 28 Nov 2007 00:52:49 GMT

clipped by: wildcat
clipper's remarks: "The recognition that behavioral syndromes exist in a wide range of animal species is a key development in the understanding of animal behavior,"

Clip Source: www.canada.com

OTTAWA -- Fish have personalities. Ordinary Canadian brook trout exhibit different traits: some social, others not. Some risk-takers, others scaredy-fish. And so on.

University of Guelph scientists noticed the different personalities as they sat by the Credit River, west of Toronto, watching trout feed. Then they scooped out the fish and ran them through six days of personality tests in the lab, and even some swimming tests.

And the revelation suggests an answer to an old question: How can different species, with different types of behaviour, evolve from a single starting point?

The idea of personalities is starting to spread across our views of the whole animal kingdom, says Rob McLaughlin, the Guelph biologist who ran the study. This seems obvious in the case of dogs or chimpanzees, but less obvious among fish.

"We've known that out in the field, these young brook trout examine differences in their foraging behaviour - what they're feeding on," he said.

Tags: fish, personality, animal behavior, traits, evolution, biology

Shirts: Naughty but Nice - pics

Wed, 28 Nov 2007 17:42:18 GMT

clipped by: righthand

Clip Source: www.threadpit.com


RAT

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Tags: photos

The Rot Is Taking Place

Tue, 27 Nov 2007 19:47:45 GMT

clipped by: debbyski

Clip Source: www.truthout.org

All great empires and nations decay from within. By the time they hobble off the world stage, overrun by the hordes at the gates or vanishing quietly into the pages of history books, what made them successful and powerful no longer has relevance

Dying empires cling until the very end to the outward trappings of power. They mask their weakness behind a costly and technologically advanced military. They pursue increasingly unrealistic imperial ambitions. They stifle dissent with efficient and often ruthless mechanisms of control.

Few want to fight and die for a Halliburton or an Exxon. This is why we do not have a draft. It is why taxes have not been raised and we borrow to fund the war. It is why the state has organized, and spends billions to maintain, a mercenary army in Iraq. We leave the fighting and dying mostly to our poor and hired killers. No nationwide sacrifices are required. We will worry about it later.

Tags: at, the, bidding, of, corporate, america

India's 'pink' vigilante women

Tue, 27 Nov 2007 02:48:55 GMT

clipped by: JohnWaterman

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

They wear pink saris, the traditional Indian dress for women, go after corrupt officials and boorish men, and brandish sticks and axes when the push comes to shove

The several hundred vigilante women of India's northern Uttar Pradesh state's Banda area proudly call themselves the "gulabi gang" (pink gang) striking fear in the hearts of wrongdoers and earning the grudging respect of officials.

Two years after they gave themselves a name and an attire, the pink women have thrashed men who have abandoned or beaten their wives and unearthed corruption in the distribution of food grains for the poor.

They have also stormed a police station and thrashed a policeman after they took in an untouchable man and refused to register a case.

women bear the brunt of poverty and discrimination in Banda's highly caste-ridden, feudalistic and male dominated society. Dowry demands, domestic and sexual violence are common

Tags: news, women, india, law, justice, vigilantes

Easier to build strong children than repair broken men

Tue, 27 Nov 2007 16:50:17 GMT

clipped by: bignosemousie
clipper's remarks: Heartwarming story.

Clip Source: www.chron.com

Turning Deonté

By LISA GRAY
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle

Cheryl Powell dreaded calls from the elementary school. Her boy Deonté Mccardell, the teachers said, had an attitude problem. He was too cool, too hard, wouldn't do what they told him. He swaggered like a gangsta

Last spring Powell's cousin brought her a brochure for KIPP Polaris Academy, a new middle school recruiting minority boys. The charter school wanted kids like Deonté, kids who'd been in trouble at other schools, kids with lousy grades and test scores — kids the school could "turn" and orient toward college. The principal, Shawn Hardnett, chose a Frederick Douglass quote as the school motto: "It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men."

Cheryl Powell, at work, braces herself for a call from Deonté's school, then hears that her boy has won an award, that he's done something great.

"You're sure?" she asks in tears. "My son?"

She gets her answer. On cue, every boy in the room shouts: "Deonté!"

Tags: education, society, children, hope

Why Isn't America More Christ-Like?

Mon, 26 Nov 2007 22:56:01 GMT

clipped by: debbyski

Clip Source: www.opednews.com

If Jesus said blessed are the peacemakers then why do more than 70% of the religious right support the war in Iraq and a potential war in Iran?

If Jesus warned that those who live by the sword shall die by the sword then why has Blackwater gotten rich serving a Christian president?

If the Bible prophesied swords shall be beat into plowshares then why does the religious right support huge military spending?

If Jesus taught to pray for your enemies and wish them well then why are we waging war to wipe them out?

If Jesus admitted that not even he knew the day and hour of the end of days then why do so many religious righters make a career off predicting Armageddon?

If Jesus instructed that the mercy you show will be the mercy you are shown then why are conservative Christians so much in favor of the death penalty?

If Jesus gave notice that whoever does unto one of these little ones is doing in my name then why don’t all American children have health coverage?

Tags: some, good, questions

Diet may influence the sex of your baby

Wed, 28 Nov 2007 11:29:35 GMT

clipped by: wildcat
clipper's remarks: Folklore says that mothers should eat more red meat and salty snacks if they want a boy, and fish, vegetables, chocolates and sweets if they want a girl.

Clip Source: www.newscientist.com

A mother’s diet in the run-up to conception could influence the sex of her child, suggests a study in mice. The research shows that mice given drugs to lower their blood-sugar levels produced significantly more female than male pups.

The findings lend credence to traditional beliefs that eating certain foods can influence the sex of offspring.

The conventional wisdom is that the father’s sperm is the main determinant of the sex of a child. But increasingly scientists have found hints that maternal factors might have an influence too. For example, earlier work has suggested that single mothers are more likely to give birth to daughters.

Elissa Cameron at the University of Pretoria in South Africa and her colleagues wanted to study how changes in diet might influence sex ratios – the proportion of males to females in a population.

Evolutionary advantage

The idea of diet influencing sex ratio is already part of traditional wisdom

Tags: diet, gender, food, evolution

Parallel lives can never touch -Interview

Wed, 28 Nov 2007 11:24:37 GMT

clipped by: wildcat
clipper's remarks: He never faltered in his belief over his many-worlds theory, whereas no one else took it seriously. So he just gave up. That must be such an incredibly lonely feeling.

Clip Source: www.newscientist.com

Mark Everett, known as E, is the creative force behind the rock band Eels. His latest project is a documentary film about the father he barely knew - the physicist Hugh Everett, originator of the "many worlds" view of quantum mechanics. Peter Aldhous asks E what this has taught him about his father and his ideas

How did the film come about?

The BBC came to me, and I couldn't say no. I like to do things that I get something out of. I've dealt with a lot of my family issues by making albums about them. The documentary made me feel uncomfortable. I've written a lot of songs that make me feel really uncomfortable - those might be the ones that are really worth it.

You lived with your father for 19 years, yet you say he was a stranger. Can you explain?

Why do you think your father was so withdrawn?

He never faltered in his belief over his many-worlds theory, whereas no one else took it seriously. So he just gave up. That must be such an incredibly lonely feeling.

Tags: hugh everett, many worlds interpretation, film

"Mark Twain ; God Knows Where"

Tue, 27 Nov 2007 17:38:11 GMT

clipped by: syncopath
clipper's remarks: "Mark Twain was now regarded by many as the foremost American author. Certainly he was the most widely known. As a national feature he rivaled Niagara Falls. No civilized spot on earth that his name had not reached"

Another letter addressed: "Mark Twain, The Devil Knows Where"
also reached him, and he answered, “He did, too.”

Clip Source: s197.photobucket.com

Clip Source: us.mg2.mail.yahoo.com

At the height of Mark Twain's popularity, a group of his friends

in New York wanted to send him a birthday greeting.

But Twain was traveling abroad and none of them knew

where to direct the letter.

After some hopeless havering they simply addressed it:

"Mark Twain, God Knows Where."

Several weeks later a note arrived from Twain. It said:

"He did."

Clip Source: student.britannica.com

Tags: mark twain