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Volcanic Thunderstorms

Thu, 08 May 2008 09:25:16 GMT

clipped by: coconutshell
clipper's remarks: Wow.

Clip Source: news.nationalgeographic.com

PHOTOS: Chile Volcano Erupts With Ash, Lava, Lightning

May 6, 2008—After 9,000 years of silence, Chile's Chaitén volcano (pictured on May 3) is erupting with lava, ash—and lightning (full story).

Since the volcano awoke on May 2, it has continued erupting intermittently, blanketing the area in ash and forcing more than 4,000 people to flee.

The little-understood storms may be sparked when rock fragments, ash, and ice particles in the plume collide to produce static charges—just as ice particles collide to create charge in regular thunderstorms. (More: "Volcanic Lightning Sparked by 'Dirty Thunderstorms,' Study Finds" [February, 2, 2007].)

The mingling of lightning and ash seen above may be a "dirty thunderstorm."

Clip Source: www.ohgizmo.com

Tags: thunderstorm, volcation, chile, eruption, chaiten, photos, national geographic

Dutch tulip farms transformed into a spectacular display of color

Wed, 07 May 2008 19:32:25 GMT

clipped by: alanocu

Clip Source: viewer.zoho.com

Clip Source: www.dailymail.co.uk

It's always been regarded as a symbol of Holland - so it's little wonder that the country has lived up to its well deserved reputation as the tulip capital of the world as these amazing pictures show.

Clip Source: viewer.zoho.com

Clip Source: www.dailymail.co.uk

The photographs, taken in the nothern Netherlands, also show why thousands of tourists head to the country every year to see the floral displays.

Clip Source: viewer.zoho.com

Clip Source: www.dailymail.co.uk

The tulip season begins in March and lasts until August with several shows held across the country, but the flowers are undoubtably at their most spectacular at this time of year.

The cultivation of flower bulb began more than 400 years ago and today Holland produces more than nine billion bulbs every year, of which two thirds are exported overseas.

Clip Source: viewer.zoho.com

Clip Source: www.dailymail.co.uk

Evenly distributed, this number would allow for almost two flower bulbs for every person on the planet.

The country's reputation for producing the colourful flower has grown so much that the area between Haarlem and Leiden is now regarded as "De bollenstreek" or the bulb district.

Clip Source: viewer.zoho.com

Tags: holland, tulips, flowers

NASA Satellite Captures Image of Cyclone Nargis Flooding in Burma [pics]

Wed, 07 May 2008 19:10:48 GMT

clipped by: alanocu
clipper's remarks: It looks like the coast is missing........

Clip Source: www.nasa.gov

NASA's Terra satellite captured this image of the Burma coast on April 15, 2008, before Tropical Cyclone Nargis flooded the region. Credit: NASA/MODIS Rapid Response Team
> Larger image
> Labeled before and after images

Clip Source: viewer.zoho.com

Clip Source: www.nasa.gov

NASA's Terra satellite captured this image of the Myanmar coast on May 5, 2008, showing the devastation of flooding caused by Tropical Cyclone Nargis. Credit: NASA/MODIS Rapid Response Team
> Larger image
> Labeled before and after images

Clip Source: viewer.zoho.com

Clip Source: www.nasa.gov

> Labeled before and after images

Clip Source: viewer.zoho.com

Clip Source: www.nasa.gov

The entire coastal plain is flooded in the May 5 image. The fallow agricultural areas appear to have been especially hard hit. For example, Yangôn (population over 4 million) is almost completely surrounded by floods. Several large cities (population 100,000–500,000) are in the affected area. Muddy runoff colors the Gulf of Martaban turquoise.

Heaven Or Hell, Your Choice

Thu, 08 May 2008 07:28:37 GMT

clipped by: debbyski
clipper's remarks:

Clip Source: women.timesonline.co.uk

Edgar Kim and Nathan Davis of Tacoma, Washington State, the founders of the website reserveaspotinheaven.com, have done what many before them have failed to do: struck a deal with the Almighty. “We are the only official distributor of reservations into Heaven,” they maintain. “We are directly affiliated and sent down by the Board of Heavenly Officials, the only governing body in Heaven, to offer you one thing and one thing only: a worry-free, secure way into Heaven.”

So what will $12.95 get you? The essential travel kit: not only a first-class ticket to ride but an official Heaven Identification Card and a mini-information guide (so you can avoid culture shock)

And if damp conditions never did suit you, worry not. For exactly the same price you can swap hymns and the Bible for “shots and strippers” at reserveaspotinhell.com. With a 100 per cent money-back guarantee on all of packages, there's simply nothing to lose. Book now, or forever hold thy peace.

Sad Explanations for Supernatural Phenomena

Wed, 07 May 2008 16:09:55 GMT

clipped by: alanocu
clipper's remarks: From the page: "As obvious as the rational explanations for all these phenomena are, I'm a bit sad. I'd enjoy living in a world filled with normally invisible creatures that only show their true, blurry forms on discount audiovisual equipment. Kind of like YouTube, only with more flying and fewer anime clips."

Clip Source: www.wired.com

If you haven't seen the story, the upshot is that some reflected light shows up every non-overcast day on someone's house in Calgary, and the resulting image looks something like a cross between Gollum and the Reddit mascot. Thus, aliens.

Clip Source: viewer.zoho.com

Clip Source: www.wired.com

This is nonsense, unfortunately.

And yet, people keep devising theories.

Exhibit One: Rods

Well, one theory is that they are creatures living in the atmosphere, invisible to the naked eye

the fact is that you can capture "rod" video of your own by pointing a camera set to a slow shutter speed at a bunch of insects

Clip Source: viewer.zoho.com

Clip Source: www.wired.com

Exhibit Two: Orbs

You take a photo of something with your cheapie digital camera, and the picture has a translucent gray dot on it.

so they must be the spirits of the departed

This one's just sad.

Clip Source: viewer.zoho.com

Clip Source: www.wired.com

Exhibit Three: Crowd Demons

On the GhostStudy.com website, you'll find a photo that purportedly shows two demons sitting next to each other at a musical recital.

Yeah, most likely.

I just don't have the patience to play a proper game of Where's Weirdo?

Clip Source: viewer.zoho.com

Tags: loldemon

Study: Conservatives rationalize more, are happier

Wed, 07 May 2008 19:37:12 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: Some of the best comments I've seen on CM, toward the end, below! Knocked me out!

Clip Source: www.foxnews.com

Why Conservatives Are Happier Than Liberals

Individuals with conservative ideologies are happier than liberal-leaners, and new research pinpoints the reason: Conservatives rationalize social and economic inequalities.

Regardless of marital status, income or church attendance, right-wing individuals reported greater life satisfaction and well-being than left-wingers, the new study found.

Conservatives also scored highest on measures of rationalization, which gauge a person's tendency to justify, or explain away, inequalities.

The rationalization measure included statements such as: "It is not really that big a problem if some people have more of a chance in life than others," and "This country would be better off if we worried less about how equal people are."

Officials: Woman Found Hanging From Tree Died in Suicide

"apparently because liberals lack ideological rationalizations that would help them frame inequality in a positive (or at least neutral) light."

Tags: conservative, liberal, progressive

The Only Woman to Earn the Congressional Medal of Honor

Wed, 07 May 2008 13:30:34 GMT

clipped by: alanocu
clipper's remarks: The following is a Woman of Courage profile written and produced by the St. Lawrence County, NY Branch of the American Association of University Women. - http://www.northnet.org/stlawrenceaauw/walker.htm

Clip Source: viewer.zoho.com

Clip Source: en.wikipedia.org

Dr. Mary Edwards Walker (November 26, 1832 – February 21, 1919) was an American feminist, abolitionist, prohibitionist, alleged spy, prisoner of war, surgeon, and the only woman to receive the Medal of Honor.

Clip Source: viewer.zoho.com

Clip Source: en.wikipedia.org

After the war, Walker was recommended for the Medal of Honor by Generals William Tecumseh Sherman and George Henry Thomas. On November 11, 1865, President Andrew Johnson signed a bill to present her the medal, specifically for her services at the First Battle of Bull Run (Manassas).

Clip Source: viewer.zoho.com

Clip Source: en.wikipedia.org

In 1917, the U.S. Congress, after revising the standards for award of the medal so that it could only be given to those who had been involved in "actual combat with an enemy", revoked more than 900 previously-awarded medals, including that of Dr. Mary Edwards Walker and William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody. Although ordered to return the medal, she refused to do so and continued to wear it until her death.

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Clip Source: en.wikipedia.org

President Jimmy Carter restored her medal posthumously in 1977.

Clip Source: viewer.zoho.com

Tags: mary edwards walker, civil war

Missing Matter Spotted by European Probe

Wed, 07 May 2008 23:06:28 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: dsc.discovery.com

An orbital X-ray telescope has found a chunk of matter whose existence had long been theorized, but evidence for which had been lacking, the European Space Agency (ESA) said on Wednesday.

Twin Galaxy Clusters

The discovery made by ESA's XMM-Newton telescope is part of so-called baryonic matter, which comprises less than five percent of the cosmos.

Most of the universe consists of matter and energy of an unknown nature, which astrophysicists call "dark matter." It is believed to be distributed in a web-like structure.

The new claim is based on the observation of a pair of distant galaxy clusters, called Abell 222 and Abell 223, located 2.3 billion light-years from Earth.

Tags: science, astronomy, discovery

Fascination of Agate

Thu, 08 May 2008 02:27:55 GMT

clipped by: amgumen

Clip Source: flickr.com

Forget Brain Age: Researchers Develop Software That Makes You Smarter

Thu, 08 May 2008 00:18:32 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver

Clip Source: www.wired.com

Brain researchers for the first time claim to have found a method for improving the general problem-solving ability scientists call fluid intelligence, otherwise known as "smarts."

Fluid intelligence was previously thought to be genetically hard-wired, but the finding suggests that with about 25 minutes of rigorous mental training a day, healthy adults could improve their mental capacities.

The method, if commercialized, could be a boon to the growing, multimillion-dollar market for "brain fitness" software like Nintendo's Brain Age.

Fluid intelligence measures how people adapt to new situations and solve problems they've never seen before. Fluid intelligence differs from crystallized intelligence, which takes into account skills and knowledge that have been acquired -- like vocabulary, grammar and math.

In a limited trial, he and his team were able to make 34 test subjects significantly better at answering IQ test questions after training them on a completely separate memory task.

Tags: intelligence, self improvement, learning

Patter, patter

Tue, 06 May 2008 23:26:38 GMT

clipped by: JohnWaterman

Clip Source: shootingthekids.dpblogs.com

Clip Source: www.gruberkidz.com

Clip Source: img.photobucket.com

Clip Source: i4.photobucket.com

Clip Source: photography.nationalgeographic.com

Clip Source: drennonfamily.com

Clip Source: tobilytle.files.wordpress.com

Light Houses

Wed, 07 May 2008 14:35:32 GMT

clipped by: tabsey
clipper's remarks: OK pics. Are they round because it is easier to do the staircases?

Clip Source: travel.howstuffworks.com

Tags: pics

MP3 Files Aren't Safe

Wed, 07 May 2008 17:08:46 GMT

clipped by: Mohir

Clip Source: news.softpedia.com

- A McAfee report shows that a number of MP3 files are infected with Trojan horses

Lots of users have already realized, over the past years, how skillful and dangerous a hacker can prove to be. It seems that almost anything you do on the web can infect your personal computer. Yesterday, security

vendor McAfee has reported that a large number of fake MP3 files are spread on peer-to-peer networks. The announcement came to help users realize that they can get their PCs infected by just downloading a simple MP3 file.

After downloading the media file, which can be of either MP3 or MPG form, when users try to play it, they will be prompted to download a file dubbed "PLAY_MP3.exe". Victims should realize that the downloaded "music" or "video" file is actually fake and that no media file would be rendered.

Tags: virus, internet, mp3, trojan horse