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World's Poor Pay Price

Sun, 18 May 2008 13:11:19 GMT

clipped by: debbyski

LOS BAÑOS, Philippines — The brown plant hopper, an insect no bigger than a gnat, is multiplying by the billions and chewing through rice paddies in East Asia, threatening the diets of many poor people.

The damage to rice crops, occurring at a time of scarcity and high prices, could have been prevented. Researchers at the International Rice Research Institute here say that they know how to create rice varieties resistant to the insects but that budget cuts have prevented them from doing so.

This is a stark example of the many problems that are coming to light in the world’s agricultural system. Experts say that during the food surpluses of recent decades, governments and development agencies lost focus on the importance of helping poor countries improve their agriculture.

“People felt that the world food crisis was solved, that food security was no longer an issue, and it really fell off the agenda,” said Robert S. Zeigler, the director general of the rice institute.

Tags: what, else, is, new

“Show me yours, I’ll show you mine…”

Sun, 18 May 2008 14:22:35 GMT

clipped by: CrazyRedHead
clipper's remarks: From the ‘Sex under the burka’ department…

Clip Source: forums.sulekha.com

Saudi wants divorce after husband lifts her veil

Never showed her face in 30 years of marriage

A 50-year-old Saudi woman asked for divorce after her husband lifted her face veil while she was sleeping, local press reported.

For 30 years, the wife said she never showed her face to her husband in conformity with the tradition of her native village near the south western Saudi city of Khamis Mushayt.

“After all these years, he tries to commit such a big mistake,” the wife told Saudi newspaper Al-Riyadh, after she left the house in total disbelief.

She said the husband apologized and promised never to do it again.

This is not the first case of husbands who have not seen their wives’ faces in decades.

In the past Al Arabiya has reported the case of Ali al-Qahtani, whose wife had been wearing the face veil for the entire ten years of their marrage. When he tried to take it off, she threatened to leave and only decided to stay after he swore never to try again.

Tags: religion, arab, islam, idiots, sex

World's Most Beautiful Libraries

Sun, 18 May 2008 16:59:50 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: Silence full of exploding potential. Libraries were always so deeply attractive to me.

Clip Source: www.boredstop.com

Tags: libraries

Celebrity Caricature

Sat, 17 May 2008 18:49:56 GMT

clipped by: dakotayii

Clip Source: www.boulevardofthestars.com

~ Cosmo Kramer Caricature ~

Clip Source: www.boulevardofthestars.com

~ Antonio Banderas Caricature ~

Clip Source: www.boulevardofthestars.com

~ Tom Cruise Caricature ~

Clip Source: www.boulevardofthestars.com

~ Prince Charles Caricature ~

Clip Source: www.boulevardofthestars.com

~ Conan O'Brien Caricature ~

Clip Source: www.boulevardofthestars.com

~ Tom Hanks Caricature ~

Clip Source: www.boulevardofthestars.com

~ Angelina Jolie Caricature ~

Clip Source: www.boulevardofthestars.com

~ Leonardo DiCaprio Caricature ~

Clip Source: www.boulevardofthestars.com

~ Bruce Willis Caricature ~

Clip Source: www.boulevardofthestars.com

~ Tom Hanks Caricature ~

Clip Source: www.boulevardofthestars.com

~ Will Smith Caricature ~

Clip Source: www.boulevardofthestars.com

~ Nicolas Cage Caricature ~

Clip Source: www.boulevardofthestars.com

~ Tom Cruise Caricature ~

Clip Source: studentsmetro.com

Arnold Schwarzenegger - Terminator

Beatles

Bill Murray

Britney Spears

Clint Eastwood

Ellis Cooper

Elton John

George W. Bush

Hillary Clinton

Mulder and Scully X-files

Nicole Kidman

Tom Hanks

Tags: cartoon

Are there nuclear reactors at Earth's core?

Sat, 17 May 2008 09:25:51 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Clip Source: www.nature.com

Nuclear reactors could be burning deep beneath the ground, two scientists have claimed. They say that uranium could become sufficiently concentrated at the base of Earth’s mantle to ignite self-sustained nuclear fission, as in a human-made reactor.

This is not the first time that natural ‘georeactors’ deep inside Earth have been proposed, and the idea has previously been greeted with scepticism by geoscientists. But physicist Rob de Meijer of the University of the Western Cape in Cape Town, South Africa, and geochemist Wim van Westrenen of the Free University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands, believe that their new proposal¹ is more plausible.

Radioactive decay of unstable isotopes of heavy elements such as uranium happens all the time beneath Earth's surface.

Spontaneous ignition

Yet it is clear that natural nuclear reactors can occur. Crustal rocks at Oklo in Gabon, Africa, bear unambiguous evidence of spontaneous ignition of uranium fission in mineral deposits 1.7 billion years ago.

Tags: amazing earth, nuclear reactors, nature

Saying "I'm Sorry"

Sun, 18 May 2008 13:09:25 GMT

clipped by: debbyski

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

CHICAGO — In 40 years as a highly regarded cancer surgeon, Dr. Tapas K. Das Gupta had never made a mistake like this.

Once an X-ray provided proof in black and white, Dr. Das Gupta, the 74-year-old chairman of surgical oncology at the University of Illinois Medical Center at Chicago, did something that normally would make hospital lawyers cringe: he acknowledged his mistake to his patient’s face, and told her he was deeply sorry.

By promptly disclosing medical errors and offering earnest apologies and fair compensation, they hope to restore integrity to dealings with patients, make it easier to learn from mistakes and dilute anger that often fuels lawsuits.

Despite some projections that disclosure would prompt a flood of lawsuits, hospitals are reporting decreases in their caseloads and savings in legal costs. Malpractice premiums have declined in some instances, though market forces may be partly responsible.

Tags: two, little, words, can, sometimes, make, a, difference

A Friend Unseen

Sun, 18 May 2008 12:41:07 GMT

clipped by: carrerinyes
clipper's remarks: So true...

Clip Source: sniffles.stumbleupon.com

Rome style Ethnic Cleansing of Roma Gypsies!

Sat, 17 May 2008 12:21:27 GMT

clipped by: righthand

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Firefighters inspect the remains of a Gypsy camp set alight in Naples after a resident was accused of trying to abduct a baby

68% of Italians want Roma expelled - poll

· Government accused of stoking racial tension
· Yobs boast of ethnic cleansing after attacks

Sixty-eight per cent of Italians, fuelled by often inflammatory attacks by the new rightwing government, want to see all of the country's 150,000 Gypsies, many of them Italian citizens, expelled

70,000 Gypsies in Italy hold Italian passports, including about 30,000 descended from 15th-century Gypsy settlers in the country. The remainder have arrived since, many fleeing the Balkans during the 1990s

10,000 Gypsies came from Romania after it joined the European Union in January 2007, according to an Italian human rights organisation, EveryOne, part of the approximately half million Romanians believed to be in Italy

Romanians were among the 268 immigrants rounded up in a nationwide police crackdown on prostitution and drug dealing

Italy

Tags: italy, ethnic.cleansing, fascist, racism, eu

Saving Horses, One At A time

Sat, 17 May 2008 12:43:50 GMT

clipped by: debbyski
clipper's remarks: We discard things way too easily when they no longer amuse us.

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

“I struggle with it,” Diana Koebel said. She is the owner and trainer here at LumberJack Farm, one of hundreds of horse farms around the country helping rescue and rehabilitate thoroughbreds considered too slow or damaged to be worth anything more than horse meat. The rescuers cannot keep up.

“Are we really helping?” Koebel asked as she stood in a stable stall. “I know we are, and every one counts, but it’s overwhelming at points. Can we really fix this industry?”

LumberJack Farm works with a nonprofit organization called ReRun, which prepares discarded racehorses for a second career — as jumping show horses, maybe, or just as pets — and then makes them available for adoption. ReRun annually places about 40 thoroughbreds once destined for the slaughterhouse.

“But there is a lot of life left,” the ReRun president, Laurie Condurso-Lane, said. Horses can live to 30 years or longer. “They are young. So why not find them new jobs?”

Xenophobia riots in South Africa

Sun, 18 May 2008 18:13:45 GMT

clipped by: michellezm
clipper's remarks: The police are out and there are calls for military intervention in the wake of the riots taking place throughout the country. The riots and attacks on foreigners is spreading. This does not bode well for all the illegal Zimbabwean refugees who are pouring into our country. And this could so easily turn into a black/white issue as well.

Clip Source: www.iol.co.za

Attacks on foreigners living in South Africa are nothing new - they've been going on for over 10 years - and experts warn the government's failure to act decisively has simply fuelled the xenophobia.

This week the media, politicians and aid organisations poured into Alexandra township in Sandton following the bloody attacks, murder and rape of foreigners. The violence followed multiple countrywide attacks.

"This is not a new phenomenon - it's been happening for some time. But it has never been given the due attention it deserves," said Dr Emmanuel Nyakarashi of the Johannesburg-based Refugee Ministries Centre.

Fifteen countrywide mob attacks on foreigners have taken place since December in Gauteng, the North West, Eastern Cape, the Free State and the Western Cape.

The Somalian Association of SA has recorded 471 fatalities in 11 years. And Human Rights Watch warned of "alarming" increases in anti-foreigner feelings since 1998.

He will run, we will win

Sat, 17 May 2008 10:55:36 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: Based on the team’s findings, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne, Switzerland, has ruled that Pistorius is eligible to participate in International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) sanctioned competitions. If he qualifies for the 2008 Beijing games, Pistorius would be the first disabled athlete ever to run against able-bodied athletes in an Olympic event.

Clip Source: images.google.com

Clip Source: www.sciencedaily.com

Based on Rice and MIT findings, the Court of Arbitration for Sports in Lausanne, Switzerland, has ruled that Pistorius is eligible to participate in International Association of Athletics Federations sanctioned competitions. If he qualifies for the 2008 Beijing games, Pistorius would be the first disabled athlete ever to run against able-bodied athletes in an Olympic event.

A world-renowned team of experts in biomechanics and physiology from six universities, led by Professor Hugh Herr of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Media Lab, refute scientific claims that the prostheses worn by Oscar Pistorius, a 21-year-old South African bilateral amputee track athlete, provide him with an unfair advantage in the 400-meter race.

Tags: athletics, sport, human augmentation

Sickening. Not after food

Sun, 18 May 2008 06:41:23 GMT

clipped by: righthand

Clip Source: www.sott.net

"We Created Terror Among the Arabs"

On April 9, 1948, members of the underground Jewish terrorist group, the Irgun, or IZL, led by Menachem Begin, who was to become the Israeli prime minister in 1977, entered the peaceful Arab village of Deir Yassin, massacred 250 men, women, children and the elderly, and stuffed many of the bodies down wells. There were also reports of rapes and mutilations.

Begin said at the time, "We created terror among the Arabs and all the villages around. In one blow, we changed the strategic situation."

Begin was the leader of the Irgun. That group regularly assassinated English soldiers in Palestine and frequently hung their booby-trapped bodies in public places

blew up the King David Hotel

killing 97 British civil servants

assassinated the U.N. representative to Palestine, Count Bernadotte

"The children were killed by breaking their heads with sticks

sealed in houses, as the village was systematically razed

hundreds of children died in the march, from dehydration

Tags: 1948, massacre, idf, arabs, terrorism, un, assassination

Simple Artificial Cell Created From Scratch To Study Cell Complexity

Sat, 17 May 2008 10:38:07 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver

Clip Source: www.sciencedaily.com

A team of Penn State researchers has developed a simple artificial cell with which to investigate the organization and function of two of the most basic cell components: the cell membrane and the cytoplasm--the gelatinous fluid that surrounds the structures in living cells. The work could lead to the creation of new drugs that take advantage of properties of cell organization to prevent the development of diseases.

"Many scientists are trying to understand cells by turning off genes, one at a time, and are observing the effects on cell function, but we're doing the opposite," said Associate Professor of Chemistry Christine D. Keating, who led the research. "We're starting from scratch, adding in components to find out what is needed to simulate the most basic cell functions.

This new structure exhibited the type of complexity that the team had been looking for; it exhibited polarity. "Polarity is critical to development,"

Tags: biology, cell biology

Firefox 3 has arrived

Sun, 18 May 2008 10:37:54 GMT

clipped by: Beholder
clipper's remarks: A must for heavy web users

* Note that this is a release "candidate", meaning it's not fully official yet (but haven't we waited long enough? ).

Clip Source: gizmodo.com

Go kick the tires and light the fires of Firefox 3 Release Candidate 1, which is now available for download at the Mozilla Firefox site. The update delivers a few aesthetic changes, as well as what Mozilla is calling major security enhancements. Users should also expect increased performance and stability for applications like Google Mail. There's an exhaustive list of known bugs to squash too, but that's par for the course with any software. [
Firefox 3 RC1]

Tags: web, firefox

'Mitochondrial Eve' Research: Humanity Was Genetically Divided For 100,000 Years

Sat, 17 May 2008 10:45:45 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver

Clip Source: www.sciencedaily.com

The human race was divided into two separate groups within Africa for as much as half of its existence, says a Tel Aviv University mathematician.

Climate change, reduction in populations and harsh conditions may have caused and maintained the separation.

Dr. Saharon Rosset, from the School of Mathematical Sciences at Tel Aviv University, worked with team leader Doron Behar from the Rambam Medical Center to analyze African DNA. Their goal was to study obscure population patterns from hundreds of thousands of years ago.

“We wanted to look into the ancient history of our species. How did we live throughout most of our existence as a species? Did we live as one — or were we fractured into small groups? Until now, it wasn’t really clear,” says Rosset.

This work has since been extended to show unequivocally that “Mitochondrial Eve” was an African woman who lived sometime during the past 200,000 years.

Tags: genetics, dna, origin of humanity