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Life is SH*T

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 07:51:42 GMT

clipped by: abailart

Minor tragedies, rejections in love, trouble at work: The Web site Vie de Merde is allowing the French to express their daily frustrations -- and make each other laugh.

The Web site Vie de Merde lets the French express their malaise.

"I got two text messages from my girlfriend. In the first she said it was all over. In the second, that she had sent the message to the wrong person. Life is shit."

"Today my 9-year-old daughter, who I raise alone, had to write an essay on the person in her family she loves the most. She got an A- for her very moving tale -- about Skippy the guinea pig. Life is shit."

"My girlfriend beheaded the cat when she pulled down the window. Life is shit."

This online wailing wall for everyday horror consists of short messages -- written with often laconic wit, largely uncensored -- and seems to meet two different needs. It lets the writers vent their emotions, and lets readers indulge in schadenfreude at the lives of others.

Tags: life is shit

LSD vs. Alcohol vs. Tree

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 10:17:48 GMT

clipped by: haraya

Clip Source: wallout.com

Tags: tree, alcohol, drugs, perception, humor, illustration, fun, collection, meme, series

Lions: Africa's Magnificent Predators

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 18:10:30 GMT

clipped by: haraya
clipper's remarks:

Lions are magnificent animals —they can be cruel, brutal and gory, but they're also beautiful and fascinating. A bit like people, I suppose.

Clip Source: www.edge.org

Photo Essay By Nathan Myhrvold

Male lions really look the part of the "king of beasts". Their lives are full of violence, exploitation and sex—in other words just like human royalty through much of history.

Females, on the other hand are sleek efficient hunters. They must kill most of the prey, which is very dangerous work.

for many years field biologists who study lions have realized that cooperative hunting is an illusion

At one of the kills a small herd of elephant came in to investigate. They clearly were thinking about rescuing the buffalo—they trumpeted and the herd matriarch ripped a tree of out the ground to impress the lions

lions bringing down buffalo

The prime spot to start is always claimed by the dominant female, or if the male is there, he takes the prime spot. The prime spot is not what you might thing—it is the rectum.

1 hour after kill

after 24 hours

Lion sex is interesting to watch, but I fear that admission may tell you more about me than about them

Tags: lions, wild, botswana, africa, nature, photography, essay, sex, violence, hunt

Paris in Spring in 1900 in pics

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 09:26:16 GMT

clipped by: righthand

Clip Source: paris-in-photos.com

The Moulin Rouge

Clip Source: paris-in-photos.com

Paris Policeman

Clip Source: paris-in-photos.com

Central Dome

Clip Source: paris-in-photos.com

Palace of Fine Arts

Clip Source: paris-in-photos.com

Pavilion of Nicaragua

Clip Source: paris-in-photos.com

Notre-Dame

Clip Source: paris-in-photos.com

1900 Exhibition, Great Crowds

Clip Source: paris-in-photos.com

Basilica of Saint Clotilde

Clip Source: paris-in-photos.com

The Gigantic Globe

Clip Source: paris-in-photos.com

Palais Bourbon

Clip Source: paris-in-photos.com

Place St. Germain l'Auxerrois

Clip Source: paris-in-photos.com

Palais de Luxembourg

Clip Source: paris-in-photos.com

Pagoda of Ankor

Clip Source: paris-in-photos.com

L'Esplanade des Invalides

Tags: paris, photos, history

What laptop does Microsoft's CEO use?

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 00:04:47 GMT

clipped by: Sheroug

Clip Source: vistasucks.wordpress.com

The man who invented Mars

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 18:02:29 GMT

clipped by: Aribeth
clipper's remarks: It is Lowell's vision of Mars that has enthralled and inspired earthlings ever since.In 1895, Lowell published a book about what he believed he saw.He became famous and immensely popular.Lowell was born at 131 Tremont Street in Boston on March 13,1855,into a family at the pinnacle of what passed for American aristocracy.

The appearance of Lowell's book about Mars in 1895 came at a time of canal-building on earth. The Suez had recently been constructed; the Panama was in the works. For both Lowell and his adoring public, the prospect of canals on a neighboring planet was too captivating to dismiss.

He published his second book about the Red Planet, Mars and Its Canals, in 1906.In 1908, he published his third and final book on the planet, Mars as the Abode of Life.

Back at his observatory on Mars Hill, Lowell renewed his attention to another matter: the possibility of a ninth planet beyond Neptune, which he called "Planet X."

Clip Source: www.boston.com

The Man Who Invented Mars

Long before the space race and space shuttle, a brilliant, wealthy, charming Boston Brahmin named Percival Lowell popularized the idea that we are not alone in the universe.

At left, a colorized version of a 1905 drawing of Mars by Lowell; at right, an artist’s concept of the Phoenix Mars lander.

AT 7:36 P.M. ON May 25, if all goes well, a stranger from Earth will land near the north pole of Mars. It is called Phoenix.

Somewhere, a 19th century Boston Brahmin named Percival Lowell will be smiling.

Long before NASA was established in 1958

Percival Lowell devoted much of his career and considerable fortune to trying to prove that Mars hosted intelligent life. Viewed through his telescopes, the ancient, baleful Red Planet was about the size of a dime.

Lowell believed he was seeing a network of canals on its surface. Therefore, he declared, Mars holds intelligent life. It is not necessarily like human life, he emphasized, but it is intelligent enough to build canals.

Tags: science, space, astronomy

The Fragility of Self-Esteem

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 10:12:14 GMT

clipped by: wildcat
clipper's remarks: what self ?

Clip Source: www.livescience.com

Do you feel good about yourself? Don't get defensive! It's just a question.

Placing yourself on a pedestal isn't all it's cracked up to be, a psychologist says. New research reveals people with "fragile high self-esteem" are more defensive if they feel attacked by others than those who have more stable and secure self-worth.

"There are many kinds of high self-esteem, and in this study we found that for those in which it is fragile and shallow it's no better than having low self-esteem," said Michael Kernis of the University of Georgia. "People with fragile high self-esteem compensate for their self-doubts by engaging in exaggerated tendencies to defend, protect and enhance their feelings of self-worth."

Kernis says the results are not meant to knock down high self-esteem, which has been stamped as one of the keys to happiness and to moving up the popularity or professional ladder. The study only adds another layer to this psychological phenomenon.

Self value

Tags: self esteem, self worth

Segway motorbike

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 12:11:40 GMT

clipped by: CrazyRedHead

Clip Source: www.dailymail.co.uk

A young inventor has created a motorbike with a twist – it uses two wheels but they are positioned right next to each other, giving it the illusion of being a powered unicycle.

Ben Gulak, 18, from Toronto, Canada, named his creation the Uno and the vehicle, which looks like half a motorbike, works like a Segway.

It's powered by electricity and uses gyroscopic technology to make it move. Two gyros have been fitted – one to move forward and reverse, and a second for turning.

It has an on/off switch and Gulak says riders simply have to lean forward to start moving. To slow down or stop, it's a case of leaning back.

Gulak says he turns heads whenever he's riding the Uno, which he designed himself with the help of a 3D software tool called Google SketchUp.

There aren't any current production plans for the vehicle, which is on show at the 2008 National Motorcycle Show in Toronto and it's the only place it can be seen, unless you spot Gulak taking his Uno for a spin.

Tags: science, technology