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Shroud Of Turin Accidentally Dyed Pink

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 03:37:10 GMT

clipped by: JohnWaterman

VATICAN CITY—The Shroud of Turin, an ancient linen cloth believed to bear the image of Christ and considered by many clerics and devotees to be one of the holiest relics of the Christian faith, was inadvertently dyed a light shade of pink after being washed with a red T-shirt, sources reported

Though it has suffered oxidation and fire damage over the centuries, this is the first time that the shroud has been harmed in a laundry-related mishap

"Simply because the shroud has been given a slight pinkish tint does not in any way diminish its sanctity," Vatican spokesman Cardinal Giovanni Lajolo said during a press conference held to address the spiritual repercussions of the shroud's staining

the damage occurred when Pope Benedict XVI

did not notice that a brand-new, bright-red Hanes Beefy-T belonging to Cardinal Angelo Sodano had been placed inside of the consecrated cleansing vessel

And who are we to question or reject the ways the Lord works through our laundry?" Lajolo continued

Amazing Sandcastles

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 02:12:02 GMT

clipped by: raven714
clipper's remarks: Sandcastles are a lot of fun to build.

Clip Source: spluch.blogspot.com

These sandcastles comes in all forms and appear to come from the annual competition at the Harrison Hot Springs Resort in the Fraser Valley of B.C. Canada.

Tags: sandcastles, art, beach, islandfun

Boldest pictures taken during groundbreaking scientific research

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 02:16:20 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks: Wellcome Image Awards 2008

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Special Award Winner: The new technique of Optical Projection Tomography enables stained whole embryos and small pieces of tissue to reveal internal structures without the need for cutting sections, as shown here on this mouse embryo

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Crystals of oxidised Vitamin C

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Colour-enhanced image of red blood cells

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Villi from the human small intestine

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Liquid crystal seen under polarised light

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Colon cancer cells growing in a dish

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Internal structure of an HIV particle

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Trachea from a silkworm

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

A clump of prostate cancer cells.

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

A clump of breast cancer cells.

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Colour-enhanced image of a single breast cancer cell

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

A carpet of red blood cells clearly showing their typical biconcave disc shape

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

A molecular model showing all the different molecules

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Meningitis bacteria

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

fly on sugar crystals

Tags: science

food art

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 11:37:15 GMT

clipped by: splendidus
clipper's remarks: *smile*

Clip Source: fotogaleri.samanyoluhaber.com

Tags: photos, food, art

Childhood is dying in Iraq

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 06:04:16 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: .5M kids died during sanctions before 2003. 122k children died in 2005 alone.

Clip Source: www.commondreams.org

BAQUBA - Iraq’s children have been more gravely affected by the U.S. occupation than any other segment of the population.

The United Nations estimated that half a million Iraqi children died during more than 12 years of economic sanctions that preceded the U.S. invasion of March 2003, primarily as a result of malnutrition and disease.

A report from the non-governmental relief organisation Save the Children shows Iraq continues to have the highest mortality for children under five. Since the first Gulf War, this has increased 150 percent. It is estimated that one in eight children in Iraq dies before the fifth birthday: 122,000 children died in 2005 alone. Iraq has a population of about 25 million.

UN Children’s Fund report

“at least two million Iraqi children lack adequate nutrition, according to the World Food Programme assessment of food insecurity in 2006, and face a range of other threats including interrupted education, lack of immunisation services and diarrhoea diseases.”

Tags: politics, foreign policy, iraq, terrorism

888 Hate groups in USA

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 21:04:07 GMT

clipped by: Viiltaja

Clip Source: www.splcenter.org

The Year in Hate

Active U.S. Hate Groups Rise to 888 in 2007

By David Holthouse and Mark Potok

Live Webcast March 26
Discuss the Year in Hate with Intelligence Report Editor Mark Potok and Southern Poverty Law Center President Richard Cohen. Register today.

Sheriff's deputies gunned down by "Aryan" gangsters in Bastrop, La. Tax protesters with bombs arrested in New Hampshire. Gun-toting white supremacists marching in Jena, La. A police officer murdered in Salt Lake City. Nativist leaders demanding sniper teams and mines along the Mexican border. Calls for assassinating politicians, immigrants and Jews. Rapidly spreading racist conspiracy theories.

Are Women Really Better at Language?

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 17:20:36 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks: In a classroom setting, it implies that boys need to be taught language both visually (with a textbook) and orally (through a lecture) to get a full grasp of the subject, whereas a girl may be able to pick up the concepts by either method.

Clip Source: www.sciam.com

Scientific literature has been littered with studies over the past 40 years documenting the superior language skills of girls, but the biological reason why has remained a mystery until now.

Researchers report in the journal Neuropsychologia that the answer lies in the way words are processed: Girls completing a linguistic abilities task showed greater activity in brain areas implicated specifically in language encoding, which decipher information abstractly. Boys, on the other hand, showed a lot of activity in regions tied to visual and auditory functions, depending on the way the words were presented during the exercise.

The finding suggests that although linguistic information goes directly to the seat of language processing in the female brain, males use sensory machinery to do a great deal of the work in untangling the data.

Tags: science, girls, boys, biology, language, research

Woman

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 11:08:30 GMT

clipped by: abailart
clipper's remarks: good site for good paintings

Clip Source: www.icecastle.org

Tags: women in art, romanticism, pre-raphaelites

The battle for Wikipedia's soul

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 20:51:09 GMT

clipped by: Aribeth
clipper's remarks: "To create a new article on Wikipedia and be sure that it will survive, you need to be able to write a “deletionist-proof” entry and ensure that you have enough online backing (such as Google matches) to convince the increasingly picky Wikipedia people of its importance. This raises the threshold for writing articles so high that very few people actually do it. Many who are excited about contributing to the site end up on the “Missing Wikipedians” page: a constantly updated list of those who have decided to stop contributing. It serves as a reminder that frustration at having work removed prompts many people to abandon the project.

Google has recently announced its own entry into the field, in the form of an encyclopedia-like project called “Knol” that will allow anybody to create entries on topics of their choice.But even if it does not turn out to be the Wikipedia-killer that some people imagine, it may push Wikipedia to rethink its editorial stance."

Clip Source: www.economist.com

The battle for Wikipedia's soul

Wikipedia is facing an identity crisis as it is torn between two alternative futures.

It can either strive to encompass every aspect of human knowledge, no matter how trivial; or it can adopt a more stringent editorial policy and ban articles on trivial subjects, in the hope that this will enhance its reputation as a trustworthy and credible reference source.

These two conflicting visions are at the heart of a bitter struggle inside Wikipedia between “inclusionists”, who believe that applying strict editorial criteria will dampen contributors' enthusiasm for the project, and “deletionists” who argue that Wikipedia should be more cautious and selective about its entries.

The rules of the game

To measure a subject's worthiness for inclusion (or “notability”, in the jargon of Wikipedians), all kinds of rules have been devised.

Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia, has himself fallen foul of these tricky notability criteria.

Tags: wiki, encyclopedia

Dalai Lama speaks out

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 17:00:14 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: www.iol.co.za

Dharamshala, India - The Dalai Lama on Monday attacked China's human rights record, accusing it of "unimaginable and gross violations" in his Himalayan homeland.

"Repression continues to increase with numerous, unimaginable and gross violations of human rights, denial of religious freedom and politicisation of religious issues," he told hundreds of flag-waving supporters on the 49th anniversary of his escape to India after an abortive uprising in Lhasa.

The Nobel Peace Prize winner's angry comments came in a speech in the northern Indian town of Dharamshala and contrasted sharply with what his critics say has been a "soft" approach on China.

"For nearly six decades Tibetans have had to live in a state of constant fear under Chinese repression," he said.

"All these take place as a result of the Chinese government's lack of respect of the Tibetan people," the 72-year-old told the gathering from his palace in this seat of the Tibetan government-in-exile.

Tags: china, dalai lama

Sex - wot's the big deal?

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 10:02:55 GMT

clipped by: Fast T friend
clipper's remarks: Sex exhibition for kids? Yes, by all means

Clip Source: www.cite-sciences.fr

Adapted from the highly successful "Guide du zizi sexuel" by Zep and Hélène Bruller (Glénat ed.)*, the Sex - wot's the big deal? exhibition takes a light-hearted and offbeat look at a mass of scientific information while also conveying important values such as respect and consent. The comic-strip hero Tootuf and his classmate Nadia accompany the visitors as they explore delicate themes by means of numerous fun and cheeky hands-on exhibits.

* soon to be published in English by Piccadilly Press as: "Willies : A User's Guide"

Tags: sex, exhibition, kids

Viagra & the Sky-killers (IAF)

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 17:30:26 GMT

clipped by: righthand
clipper's remarks: With combat pilots operating hi-tech equipment in low-pressure environments, doctors believe the drug could enhance their operational abilities.

“The Viagra family of drugs is considered effective in these conditions because when there is a long shortage in oxygen it leads to high blood pressure in the lungs, and the drugs help fight that,” a military medical officer told the weekly magazine.

Clip Source: blog.wired.com

Israel Mulls Viagra-Style Drugs to Keep Pilots Up

Air Forces all around the world drug their pilots, to keep 'em alert. A new Israeli military report says the "Viagra family of drugs" might be the best pills for the job

"Military researchers believe the ingredients that allow improved blood flow for men suffering from sexual problems may help flyers operating at very high altitudes," the Times of London reports.

Viagra, Cialis, and the like might just make you go blind

World War II, American, German, Japanese, and British troops were all issued rations of amphetamines

Afghanistan war, these "go pills" were blamed for a particularly ugly "friendly fire" incident

modafinil, is now being pushed in the U.S. military as a safer alternative.

DARPA, the Pentagon's way-out research arm, is funding scientific studies into more exotic answers

sleeplessnes

keeping people awake for 48 hours straight -- and then zapping their brains with focused magnetic waves, to keep their cognitive capacities intact

Tags: israel, iaf, sex, drugs