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Why We Need to Call a Pig a Pig - The politics of language ..

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 05:36:56 GMT

clipped by: einbar
clipper's remarks: We know Orwell for his novels, but it's the way he saw the politics of language that makes him relevant.

Clip Source: www.newsweek.com

Why We Need to Call a Pig a Pig (With Or Without Lipstick)

We know Orwell for his novels, but it's the way he saw the politics of language that makes him relevant.

Clip Source: www.newsweek.com

Though many of Orwell's essays describe single incidents, his concerns are political, in the largest sense: the way human dignity is corrupted by false phrases. He was less interested in what motivates people to act without integrity than in the words they use to camouflage and perpetuate their dishonesty: for Orwell, bad language and bad politics were one and the same. Yet for all his penury and despair, his faith in the power of clear, strong language can only be read as optimistic.

Orwell's ideas have been bastardized and simplified over time, so that "Big Brother," the totalitarian, state-run citizen-control mechanism of "1984," is now the name of a reality-TV show that bears little resemblance to the book, except for the fact that contestants are watched by cameras

still kissing after all these years ....

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 23:56:48 GMT

clipped by: syncopath

Clip Source: www.nydailynews.com

Nurse in iconic V-J Day Times Square photo still kissing

The famed kissing nurse in the iconic 1945 Times Square photograph is back in New York to serve as a grand marshal in Tuesday's Veterans Day Parade.

More than six decades after her image thrilled a nation, 90-year-old Edith Shain even got a kiss from another young man in uniform Sunday.

Nick Mayo, 25, who plays sailor Richard West in the Lincoln Center production of "South Pacific," gave Shain a smooch - and a long dip backstage.

"He's getting tired," she giggled. "Don't drop me!"

Remembering that celebratory kiss, Shain, who was a nurse in the now-demolished Doctors Hospital on the East Side, said she regretted never getting the dashing sailor's number.

"In retrospect, I should have said, 'Hey, wait a minute!'" the spry woman laughed.

I'm going home.

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 00:22:10 GMT

clipped by: reimers

Clip Source: friendfeed.s3.amazonaws.com

Stupid Products

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 02:27:18 GMT

clipped by: BartendingBear
clipper's remarks: Consumers MUST BE SATISFIED!

Clip Source: www.guidespot.com

Inflatable Toast

The Goatee Saver

Taco Propers

Sci Fi Themed Condoms

Handsets for cell phones

Cassette Tape Dispenser

Day-Glo Camouflage

Zaky Infant Pillow

Two-da-loo Tandom Toilet

CLEAN-UP SLIPPERS

Hair Guard for Noodle Eating

DVD Rewinder

Noodle Cooling Fan

Umbrella Shoes

Why do women always feel colder than men?

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 11:02:00 GMT

clipped by: wildcat
clipper's remarks: New research is suggesting that we all feel the cold differently

Clip Source: www.timesonline.co.uk

Let the battle of the thermostat begin. Now that the evenings have grown dark and chilly, most people have switched on their central heating. But many are keeping the temperature low to save on fuel bills, which are expected to rise by 42 per cent this year. Home heating can spark fierce disagreement in couples. Some people sneakily crank up the thermostat when their partners aren't looking; others wear woolly hats and gloves indoors as an ostentatious protest at the temperature of the room.

Some people, it seems, feel the cold more than others. But why is this and is there anything we can do about it?

Research is emerging to suggest that our biological thermostats are set to slightly different levels. We all feel the cold to different degrees, depending on our gender, fitness, age, diet, how much sleep we have, and even the company we keep.

Tropical past is cause of cold feet

“Man is a tropical animal. We evolved on the Equator and have since migrated to all parts of the planet.

Tags: women, cold, men, evolution

They just don't fear heaven and earth

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 13:24:04 GMT

clipped by: balthazarus
clipper's remarks: "If anything, they are superior in many ways to us. Thinking too much about the future or worrying too much about the past is really unhealthy. The Pirahã taught me that very lesson. Living in the moment is a sophisticated way to live. I don't see depression. I don't see some of the things that afflict our society - and that's not because they don't face pressures."

An interesting story.

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

The power of speech

'It's wrong to try and convert tribal societies' ... Everett with a member of the Piraha

Just 350 Pirahã (pronounced Pee-da-HAN) hunt and gather from their simple homes in the Brazilian rainforest. Linguists believe their language is unrelated to any other

Pirahã is tonal and speaking in a different pitch transforms the meaning of a word. Unlike other tonal languages, Pirahã can also be hummed and sung

The Pirahã have no socially lubricating "hello" and "thank you" and "sorry".

They have no words for colours, no words for numbers and no way of expressing any history beyond that experienced in their lifetimes

Thirty years living with the Pirahã destroyed his evangelical faith in God

wrecked his marriage and estranged him from two of his three children

he is continuing his fight with Noam Chomsky in a debate that could transform our understanding of human language.

they just don't fear heaven and hell."

an incredibly peaceful, sweet people

Tags: linguistics, amazon

Parrot Saved Girl's Life With Warning

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 22:05:17 GMT

clipped by: reimers

Clip Source: cbs4denver.com

A babysitter's parrot is being credited with helping save the life of a 2-year-old girl who was choking Friday at a Denver area home while the sitter was in the bathroom

While I was in the bathroom, Willie (the parrot) started screaming like I'd never heard him scream before and he started flapping his wings," said Meagan, the babysitter. "Then he started saying 'mama baby' over and over and over again until I came out and looked at Hannah and Hannah's face was turning blue because she was choking on her pop tart

Meagan performed the Heimlich maneuver on Hannah, which stopped the choking.

"If (Willie) wouldn't have warned me, I probably wouldn't have come out of the bathroom in time because she was already turning blue, her lips were blue and everything," Meagan said.

"If anything happened to her, I don't know what I would do," said Samantha Kuusk, Hannah's mother. "I'm very grateful for the both of them because they both saved her."

Scenes from Antarctica

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 21:35:05 GMT

clipped by: JohnWaterman
clipper's remarks: More great photos from The Boston Globe.
Visit the site for full impact.

Clip Source: www.boston.com

Sharks under threat

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 03:15:28 GMT

clipped by: balthazarus

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Gulper sharks are a large common deep-water dogfish which is classed as 'vulnerable'

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

The whitefin tope shark is on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature endangered species list

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Sawfish have a saw-like snout, called a rostrum which is covered with motion- and electro-sensitive pores that allow them to detect movement and even heartbeats of prey buried in the ocean floor

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Guitarfish can reach up to 5 or 6 feet in length and feed on crustaceans on the seabed

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Angel sharks are bottom feeders and hide in seaweed or under sand before lunging at their prey

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Spiny dogfish shark found dead in a fishing net. It is also known as the spurdog, greyfish or piked dogfish. In Europe it is often sold as 'rock salmon' or 'sea eel'

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Common skate before it is tagged and released alive

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Bigeye thresher sharks are slow growing and threatened by commercial fisheries. Sharks are hunted for liver oil, skin and fins

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Basking shark feeding on plankton in the Atlantic Ocean

Tags: biology, sharks, extinction, pictures

3D Display Offers Glimpse of Future Media

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 11:53:35 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Clip Source: www.physorg.com

[Video]

The 3D objects in the display box may at first look like a product of smoke-and-mirrors trickery. That impression would be about half right, as a rapidly spinning mirror is one important component of the display.

Tags: 3d display, future media

Miriam Makeba - Pata Pata - A homage

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 14:02:51 GMT

clipped by: Fast T friend
clipper's remarks: To a great singer and activist that passed away. May she live in our songs!

Clip Source: www.youtube.com

[Video]

Tags: miriam, makeba, pata, africa

Obama is already sitting down with an unpopular, aggressive world leader without preconditions

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 00:20:16 GMT

clipped by: reimers

Clip Source: www.talkingpointsmemo.com

Obama to get his first look at the Oval Office

History in the making: Obama's first Oval Office visit will be a sit-down with President Bush

Barack Obama has never set foot in the Oval Office. Talk about making an entrance. In a sit-down discussion Monday with President Bush, the president-elect will get his first feel for the place where momentous decisions will soon fall to him.

Bush invited Obama for the private talk, a rite of passage between presidents and successors that extends for decades.

The moment is sure to be steeped in history, part of a symbolic changing of a guard to Democratic leadership and the country's first black president.

But it will be substantive as well, as Bush and Obama are expected to review the nation's enormous economic downturn and the war in Iraq.