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Modern day slavery

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 15:54:40 GMT

clipped by: bignosemousie
clipper's remarks: Check the source for ways to help end modern day slavery.

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."
Martin Luther King Jr.,

Clip Source: www.theamazingchange.com

Many people find it hard to believe that slavery still exists. Whether it's bonded slavery with men, women and children toiling on plantations, in rice mills, brick kilns and many other industries; or, the deplorable and prevalent trade in humans to serve as sex slaves, slavery is flourishing in many parts of the world. It is still every bit as ugly as it was 200 years ago and it must end.

Clip Source: www.theamazingchange.com

27 Million: Number of people in modern-day slavery across the world

Sourced by the UN, New York Times, Amnesty International, The Christian Science Monitor, and Free The Slaves, among others.

800,000: Number of persons trafficked across international borders each year

Sourced by the US State Department, International Justice Mission, and Antislavery.org, among others.

300,000: Estimated number of child soldiers involved in over 30 areas of conflict worldwide, some younger than 10 years old.

Sourced by UNICEF, the BBC, and Amnesty International, among others.

Tags: slavery, social change, volunteer

An answer to the 'cosmic coincidence'?

Tue, 12 Feb 2008 12:00:32 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Clip Source: www.cosmosmagazine.com

NEW YORK: The late formation of rocky planets might explain a vexing cosmological coincidence about why intelligent life has evolved precisely at a relatively exciting point of the universe's history.

During the past ten years, cosmologists have determined the age and composition of the universe to unprecedented precision: the universe is nearly 14 billion years old and is made mostly out of 'vacuum energy', which is making the expansion of the universe accelerate.

The theory goes that empty space isn't really empty, but rather filled with virtual particles constantly popping in and out of existence. All this activity imparts energy to empty space, termed vacuum energy.

The cosmic coincidence is that we are living at precisely the time when vacuum energy is starting to dominate.

This drives some experts crazy because statistically, there's less than a one per cent chance that this would be the case. Why, they ask, is this momentous event happening now, precisely when humans are alive

Surely you Joust?

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 19:05:56 GMT

clipped by: swampfoxz
clipper's remarks: Interesting History

Clip Source: phunkyou.com

Surely you Joust?

Interesting History

The next time you are washing your hands and complain because the water temperature isn’t just how you like it, think about how things used to be.
Here are some alleged facts about the 1500s

* Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May and still smelled pretty good by June. However, they were starting to smell, so brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor. Hence the custom today of carrying a bouquet when getting married.

* Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children, last of all the babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it. Hence the saying “Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water.”

Houses had thatched roofs, thick! Straw piled high, with no wood underneath. It was the only place

Tags: joust