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You are missed Alanocu

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 10:28:23 GMT

clipped by: michellezm
clipper's remarks: This is a re-clip of one of Alanocu's clips. I really miss him.

Clip Source: viewer.zoho.com

the mouse that roared....

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 02:10:19 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan

Clip Source: www.ananova.com

A tiny mouse was thrown into a cage as food for a viper - but turned the tables and killed the snake instead.

Firefighters in Nantou town, Taiwan, caught the 35cm snake and put it into a mouse cage for safe-keeping.

"We then found it a mouse for lunch," a spokesman for the team told Apple Daily.

But the firefighters were stunned to see how aggressive the mouse became once it saw the predator in the cage.

"It attacked the snake continuously, biting and scratching it," the spokesman added.

After a vicious 30 minute battle, the snake was dead and the mouse was left with hardly a scratch.

Lan Sengqiu, the chief fireman, added: "Perhaps it used up its venom when we caught it, and perhaps it was a novice predator."

Tags: nature, wildlife, snake, mouse, battle

Goat 'condoms' save Kenyan herds

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 10:52:58 GMT

clipped by: balthazarus
clipper's remarks: "Those who do not use it could face a hefty fine if their bucks are found guilty of impregnating another herder's doe. "

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Goat 'condoms' save Kenyan herds

Maasai herdsmen in Kenya have turned to an age-old contraceptive device, the "olor", to protect their precious goat herds from an ongoing drought.

The olor is made from cowhide or a square piece of plastic, and is tied around the belly of the male goat.

It prevents the bucks from mating with the female goats.

The herdsmen are using the device to limit the goat population and ensure there are not too many animals grazing on sparse vegetation.

"We don't want them to breed in this drought," says Mr Ole Ngoshoi Kipameto, a goat owner in Kajiado district.

The area, which is 80km (50 miles) from the capital, Nairobi, has received insufficient rainfall, making the landscape barren and forcing residents to move from place to place in search of pasture and water.

"We tie this hide under the belly of the buck for three months. After that we remove it and then they can breed by November when the short rains come," Mr Kipameto says.

"It looks like an apron,"

Tags: climate, drought

US Debt Clock Runs Out of Digits

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 08:16:39 GMT

clipped by: abailart

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

The US government's debts have ballooned so badly the National Debt Clock in New York has run out of digits to record the spiralling figure.

The digital counter marks the national debt level, but when that passed the $10 trillion point last month, the sign could not display the full amount.

The board was erected to highlight the $2.7 trillion level of debt in 1989.

The clock's owners say two more zeros will be added, allowing the clock to record a quadrillion dollars of debt.

Some economists believe the $700bn bail-out plan for ailing US financial institutions could send the national debt level to $11 trillion

Tags: economics

An 82-year-old's perspective on the debates

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 04:43:11 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: She says: "It’s OK. We’ve been part of the greatest generation. We had our turn. Now we get to sit back and enjoy our pie while someone else worries about the calories. The new guy has the energy and the new ideas. Senator Obama, I hope you’re up for the challenge."

Clip Source: margaretandhelen.wordpress.com

here is what my heart is telling me. I am 82 years old (83 in December). It’s time to hand the reigns over to the next generation and hope that we did a good job raising them. To Senator McCain I say, with love in my heart, sit down and shut up. You’re beginning to look like

a cross between Barnie Fife and Floyd the Barber

There is too much at stake. You can’t agree with George Bush all of the time and then say you are about change. You can’t say the economy is strong in the morning and then say it’s a crisis that afternoon. You can’t be about deregulation for 25 years and then suddenly be against it. And for God’s sakes war can’t be the answer to everything

It’s OK. We’ve been part of the greatest generation. We had our turn. Now we get to sit back and enjoy our pie while someone else worries about the calories. The new guy has the energy and the new ideas. Senator Obama, I hope you’re up for the challenge.

One more thing

before this old bird goes to bed. Ronald Reagan is dead. Let it go

Tags: obama, mccain, election

Forgiveness

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 09:07:38 GMT

clipped by: abailart

Clip Source: www.peaceinspiration.com

Forgiveness is an exercise in spiritual growth: the more we forgive, the more we grow. Conversely, bitterness makes spiritual growth impossible: when our hearts are filled with resentment and anger, there’s no room left for love.

Clip Source: www.peaceinspiration.com

In the long run, it’s not a question of whether they deserve to be forgiven. You’re not forgiving them for their sake. You’re doing it for yourself. For your own health and well-being, forgiveness is simply the most energy-efficient option. It frees you from the incredibly toxic, debilitating drain of holding a grudge. Don’t let these people live rent free in your head. If they hurt you before, why let them keep doing it year after year in your mind? It’s not worth it but it takes heart effort to stop it. You can muster that heart power to forgive them as a way of looking out for yourself. It’s one thing you can be totally selfish about.

Forgiveness is the fragrance the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it. ~Mark Twain

Tags: forgiveness

'Deepest ever' living fish filmed

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 19:14:39 GMT

clipped by: cakebelly
clipper's remarks: video won't clip

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

'Deepest ever' living fish filmed

By Rebecca Morelle
Science reporter, BBC News

The "deepest ever" living fish have been discovered, scientists believe.

A UK-Japan team found the 17-strong shoal at depths of 7.7km (4.8 miles) in the Japan Trench in the Pacific - and captured the deep sea animals on film.

The scientists have been using remote-operated landers designed to withstand immense pressures to comb the world's deepest depths for marine life.

Monty Priede from the University of Aberdeen said the 30cm-long (12in), deep-sea fish were surprisingly "cute".

The fish, known as Pseudoliparis amblystomopsis, can be seen darting about in the darkness of the depths, scooping up shrimps.

Alan Jamieson, from the University of Aberdeen, said: "It was an honour to see these fish.

Nobody has really been able to look at these depths before - and I think we will see fish living much deeper

Why no outrage over foreclosures?

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 04:20:03 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: Why do we automatically assume the buyers are at fault? Did they risk other peoples' money? Did they know we were in a housing bubble? Was it explained that the ARM would default if their home value declined? Why do we let professional sales-people make money leading people into the largest purchase in their lives without issuing precautions that first-time homebuyers often do not understand? And why is the homebuyer the loser, rather than the shyster that sold them a loan they could not possibly have understood? Why do we let them take our homes away?

Clip Source: ehrenreich.blogs.com

A few days before Congress passed its Housing Bill, Carlene Balderrama of Taunton MA found her own solution to the housing crisis. Just a little over two hours in advance of the time her mortgage company, PHH Mortgage Corporation – may its name live in infamy – was to auction off her home, Balderrama killed herself with her husband’s rifle.

This is not the kind of response to hard times that James Grant had in mind when he wrote his July 19 Wall Street Journal essay entitled “Why No Outrage?” “One might infer from the lack of popular anger,” the famed Wall Street contrarian wrote, “that the credit crisis was God's fault rather than the doing of the bankers and the rating agencies and the government's snoozing watchdogs.” For contrast, he cites the spirited response to the depression of the 1890s, when lawyer/agitator Mary Lease stirred crowds with the message that “We want the accursed foreclosure system wiped out

We will stand by our homes and stay by our firesides by force if necessary

Tags: mortgage, finance, foreclosure