Clipmarks |

Everything happens for a reason

Thu, 03 Jan 2008 17:54:31 GMT

clipped by: dorine
clipper's remarks: Rest at the site. Very inspiring. Apologies to debbyski...I found this thru your "Power of love" clip.

Clip Source: 12enlighten.blogspot.com

Sometimes people come into your life and you know right away that they were meant to be there, to serve some sort of purpose, teach you a lesson, or to help you figure out who you are or who you want to become.

You never know who these people may be, your neighbor, your coworker, a long lost friend, or a complete stranger. When you lock eyes with them, you know at that very moment they will affect your life in some profound way.

Sometimes things happen to you that may seem horrible, painful, and unfair at first, but in reflection you find that without overcoming those obstacles you would have never realized your potential, strength, willpower, or heart.

Everything happens for a reason. Nothing happens by chance or by means of good luck.

Illness, injury, love, lost moments of true greatness, and sheer stupidity all occur to test the limits of your soul. Without these small tests, whatever they may be, life would be like a smoothly paved,straight, flat road to nowhere.

Tags: life, people, inspiring

Test your Geography Knowledge

Fri, 04 Jan 2008 17:09:36 GMT

clipped by: Socratoad
clipper's remarks: I love these type of quizzes as they,at least, slow down the rotting of my brain.

Clip Source: www.lizardpoint.com

Test your Geography Knowledge

Click on an area of the map to select a quiz

World- Continents and Oceans
Continents:	Cities:
Africa
Asia	Asia - country capitals New!
Europe	Europe - country capitals New!
Australia/Oceania
South America	South America - country capitals New!
Continent zoom-ins: (regions within a continent)
Caribbean (part of N. America) Central America (part of N. America) Middle East (Western Asia)
Countries:	Cities:
Australia
Canada	Canada - provincial capitals New!
China
Germany
India
Mexico
Pakistan New!
Russia
United States	United States - state capitals New! United States major cities New!

12 Funniest Homeless signs

Fri, 04 Jan 2008 21:58:36 GMT

clipped by: Bluephoenix4
clipper's remarks: "If a homeless person has a funny sign, he hasn't been homeless that long."
--Chris Rock

Clip Source: www.2spare.com

"For beer -- for wine -- for whisky -- for hangover"

Tags: humor, funny, sincere, signs, homeless, streets

Importance of Teaching Evolution Noted

Sat, 05 Jan 2008 11:09:11 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Clip Source: news.wired.com

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Scientific advisers to the government emphasize in a report the importance of teaching evolution in public schools.

The report by the National Academy of Sciences and its Institute of Medicine follows up on similar past publications, the last of which came out in 1999. The new document includes recently discovered evidence supporting evolution, including an important fossil find.

The report released Thursday also takes swipes at creationism and other anti-evolution views.

"Despite the lack of scientific evidence for creationist positions, some advocates continue to demand that various forms of creationism be taught together with or in place of evolution in science classes," the report says.

Intelligent design holds that the universe's order and complexity are so great that evolution cannot explain it.

Tags: evolution, education

Christian Men Who Hate Women

Sat, 05 Jan 2008 14:47:53 GMT

clipped by: debbyski
clipper's remarks: Inspired from another clip by dakotayii. Link below. First of all, I'd like to say there are many good Christian men who treat their wives kindly and as equals, and this clip does not speak to them, rather the abuser who uses his abuse and control of women in his mind by religious justification.

Clip Source: www.pinn.net

Rinck tells us how to recognize these men, suggests how to deal with these men, and tells us that we women are fully human and that no one, man or woman, has God's blessing to treat us as any less than fully human.

The man assumes he has the "God-given" right to control how she lives and behaves. Her needs or thoughts are not even considered.

He acts charming and sweet at church and is well-liked at work, yet at home the family has to "walk on eggs" to prevent setting him off.

He may even try to restrict her normal church activities because "a woman's place is in the home." If other people, especially other men, notice her or talk to her, he becomes very angry or jealous.

When anything goes wrong in the home or in their relationship, the problem is always her. If she would just be "more submissive" or "more filled with the spirit" or "obey me like a good Christian wife," everything would be fine

Internet Implications

Thu, 03 Jan 2008 20:38:57 GMT

clipped by: abailart

Clip Source: www.elon.edu

Many theorists, philosophers, and scientists see the Internet as merely an early manifestation of what is to become what they describe as a collective consciousness, a neobiological civilization with a global mind – a godmind, or an unlocatable, omnipresent entity.

If this is true and we wish to successfully survive the transition to such a world, we'd better come to an understanding of the ways and means of networks as soon as possible.

It's important to pay attention to the work of biologists, psychologists, physicists, mathematicians, neuroscientists, engineers, and social scientists who have enlarged the study of what has been called "Gaia theory," "the theory of complexity," "dynamical systems theory," "network dynamics," or "the web of life."

you'll be able to say to your grandchildren, 'I was there when all computers couldn't talk to each other.' But what is more likely: you'll be explaining your time to an applet that your grandchildren created to deal with their grandparents

Tags: internet, complexity, networks, ai

Evolution: What the Fossils Say ? (a book recomm)

Fri, 04 Jan 2008 12:03:25 GMT

clipped by: syncopath
clipper's remarks: Michael Shermer - is a science writer, historian of science, founder of The Skeptics Society, and editor of its magazine Skeptic, which is largely devoted to investigating and debunking pseudoscientific and supernatural claims.

since April 2004 has been a monthly columnist for Scientific American magazine with his Skeptic column. Shermer was once a fundamentalist Christian. Shermer is now a professed atheist, but prefers to use nontheist, and an advocate for humanist philosophy.

Clip Source: www.skeptic.com

Evolution: What the Fossils Say & Why it Matters, by Donald Prothero

One of the best books explaining evolution and new discoveries of the incredibly rich fossil record; plus a no holds barred critique of the claims of creationism and Intelligent Design. Over 200 illustrations.

The claims of the Intelligent Design creationists are brilliantly encapsulated and devastatingly dismantled by the geologist and paleontologist Donald Prothero in the best book ever produced on the subject. I’ve known Don since the early 1990s when I took an active role investigating the claims of the creationists

Throughout this odyssey Don has been my co-pilot, directing my efforts, focusing my concentration, checking my facts, and guiding me through the labyrinth of scientific sources, of which he is the master.

It’s a thankless job but someone has to do it, and the world is a better place for Don’s efforts.

—Michael Shermer

Declawing - What You Need To Know

Fri, 04 Jan 2008 05:35:24 GMT

clipped by: thisnamecantbetaken
clipper's remarks: Of all the "well-intentioned" things people do to their pets, this has always been the worst IMO. I have seen cats suffer tremendous lifelong chronic pain, after this barbaric surgery. Some even having to be put down after botched surgery. Another side effect is, that if a cat is "a scratcher", amputating their toes often turns them into biters instead. (Please don't pull all their teeth either!! *LOL*)

Anyway...the whole problem here lies not in that cats have claws, it lies in people not providing the appropriate environment for the cat . A simple scratching post and a bit of education is all you need, to have a happy healthy non-destructive cat WITH all it's toes (and teeth).

Cats live 3-dimensional lives, as apposed to dogs, who live in two. Being able to climb is essential for the well-being of a cat. Cats have toes and claws for a reason!! Please don't mutilate your pet, but get smart instead. Your cat will thank you for it, and so will I.

Clip Source: www.declawing.com

First, you should know that declawing is pretty much an American thing, it's something people do for their own convenience without realizing what actually happens to their beloved cat. In England declawing is termed "inhumane" and "unnecessary mutilation." I agree. In many European countries it is illegal. I applaud their attitude.

Declawing is actually an amputation of the last joint of your cat's "toes". When you envision that, it becomes clear why declawing is not a humane act.

This is not a surgery to be taken lightly.

Your cat's body is perfectly designed to give it the grace, agility and beauty that is unique to felines. Its claws are an important part of this design.

Amputating the important part of their anatomy that contains the claws drastically alters the conformation of their feet.

I have also had people tell me that their cat's personality changed after being declawed.

declawing is too drastic a solution

Is there an acceptable solution?

Happily, the answer is yes.

Tags: do, unto, others

Our Minds- the Next Victim of Climate Change

Thu, 03 Jan 2008 14:47:39 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Clip Source: www.wired.com

Clive Thompson on How the Next Victim of Climate Change Will Be Our Minds

Australia is suffering through its worst dry spell in a millennium. The outback has turned into a dust bowl, crops are dying off at fantastic rates, cities are rationing water, coral reefs are dying, and the agricultural base is evaporating.

But what really intrigues Glenn Albrecht — a philosopher by training — is how his fellow Australians are reacting.

They're getting sad.

In interviews Albrecht conducted over the past few years, scores of Australians described their deep, wrenching sense of loss as they watch the landscape around them change. Familiar plants don't grow any more. Gardens won't take. Birds are gone. "They no longer feel like they know the place they've lived for decades," he says.

Albrecht believes that this is a new type of sadness. People are feeling displaced. They're suffering symptoms eerily similar to those of indigenous populations that are forcibly removed from their traditional homelands

Tags: australia, dry spell, philosophy

Fresh Fossil Evidence Of Eye Forerunner Uncovered

Thu, 03 Jan 2008 13:49:01 GMT

clipped by: Mohir

Clip Source: www.sciencedaily.com

ScienceDaily (Jan. 2, 2008) — Ancient armoured fish fossils from Australia present some of the first definite fossil evidence of a forerunner to the human eye, a scientist from The Australian National University says.

The palaeobiologist discovered that unlike all living vertebrate animals – which includes everything from the jawless lamprey fish to humans – placoderms had a different arrangement of muscles and nerves supporting the eyeball – evidence of an “intermediate stage” between the evolution of jawless and jawed vertebrates.

“Part of the trouble in tracing the evolution of the eye is that soft tissues don’t tend to fossilise. But the eye cavities in the braincase of these 400 million-year-old fossil fish were lined with a delicate layer of very thin bone. All the details of the nerve canals and muscle insertions inside the eye socket are preserved – the first definite fossil evidence demonstrating an intermediate stage in the evolution of our most complex sensory organ.

Tags: evolution, eye, fossil, fish

The Terrifying Future of Computing

Sat, 05 Jan 2008 11:15:00 GMT

clipped by: wildcat
clipper's remarks: Q&A: Author Nicholas Carr
--
Carr: The scariest thing about Stanley Kubrick's vision wasn't that computers started to act like people but that people had started to act like computers. We're beginning to process information as if we're nodes; it's all about the speed of locating and reading data. We're transferring our intelligence into the machine, and the machine is transferring its way of thinking into us.

Clip Source: www.wired.com

Wired: What happened to the Web undermining institutions and empowering individuals?

Carr: Computers are technologies of liberation, but they're also technologies of control. It's great that everyone is empowered to write blogs, upload videos to YouTube, and promote themselves on Facebook. But as systems become more centralized — as personal data becomes more exposed and data-mining software grows in sophistication — the interests of control will gain the upper hand. If you're looking to monitor and manipulate people, you couldn't design a better machine.

Wired: So it's Google über alles?

Carr: Yeah. Welcome to Google Earth. A bunch of bright computer scientists and AI experts in Silicon Valley are not only rewiring our computers — they're dictating the future terms of our culture. It's terrifying.

Wired: Back to the future — HAL lives!

Tags: computing, future

Sculptures

Fri, 04 Jan 2008 22:09:23 GMT

clipped by: righthand

Clip Source: visionsfineart.com

Rodd Ambroson

" You Song My Heart "

Clip Source: visionsfineart.com

" Joy "

Clip Source: visionsfineart.com

" Serenity "

Clip Source: visionsfineart.com

" Make the Dance Your Own "

Clip Source: visionsfineart.com

" Reflection "

Clip Source: visionsfineart.com

" Dreamer "

Clip Source: visionsfineart.com

" Contemplation "

Clip Source: visionsfineart.com

" Three Graces "

Clip Source: visionsfineart.com

" Dawning "

Clip Source: visionsfineart.com

" Angel of Compassion: Bronze "

Clip Source: visionsfineart.com

" Peace Dove "

Tags: images, photos

Baby Pictures

Fri, 04 Jan 2008 20:36:40 GMT

clipped by: sweetsfoods
clipper's remarks: Awesome babies!

Clip Source: www.pelapapas.com.mx

Tags: babies, baby, photo, photography, photos, pictures, images

Life has no limitations except the ones u

Sat, 05 Jan 2008 07:18:13 GMT

clipped by: mugofcoffee
clipper's remarks: make!

Clip Source: www.my-inspirational-quotes.com

Do not wait to strike until the iron is hot but make it hot by striking.

God gives every bird its food, but He does not throw it into the nest. He does not unearth the good that the earth contains, but He puts it in our way, and gives us the means of getting it ourselves.

There’s only one corner of the universe you can be sure of improving, and that’s your own self.

Nothing is particularly hard if you divide it into small jobs

Clip Source: www.my-inspirational-quotes.com

Plough deep, while sluggards sleep, and you shall have corn to sell and keep.

Those who know “what” and “how” will always work for those who knows “why”.

To youth I have but three words of counsel - work, work, work

You have to be first, different or great. If you’re one of them, you may make it

Always do more than is required of you.

Clip Source: www.my-inspirational-quotes.com

No man can climb the ladder of success without first placing his foot on the bottom rung

Work as though you would live forever, and live as though you would die today.

Life has no limitations, except the ones you make.

We Should Take the 'Posthuman' Era Seriously

Sat, 05 Jan 2008 01:55:39 GMT

clipped by: wildcat
clipper's remarks: MARTIN REES
President, The Royal Society; Professor of Cosmology & Astrophysics; Master, Trinity College, University of Cambridge; Author, Our Final Century: The 50/50 Threat to Humanity's Survival

Clip Source: www.edge.org

Human-induced changes are occurring with runaway speed. It's hard to predict a mere century from now, because what will happen depends on us — this is the first century where humans can collectively transform, or even ravage, the entire biosphere. Humanity will soon itself be malleable, to an extent that's qualitatively new in the history of our species. New drugs (and perhaps even implants into our brains) could change human character; the cyberworld has potential that is both exhilarating and frightening. We can't confidently guess lifestyles, attitudes, social structures, or population sizes a century hence. Indeed, it's not even clear for how long our descendants would remain distinctively 'human'.

Darwin himself noted that "not one living species will transmit its unaltered likeness to a distant futurity"

Our own species will surely change and diversify faster than any predecessor —— via human-induced modifications

Tags: posthuman era, transhuman