Clipmarks |

10 Most Fascinating Tombs in the World

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 21:24:57 GMT

clipped by: JohnWaterman

Clip Source: www.neatorama.com

Newgrange

the world’s oldest surviving building

Tana Toraja

the bones are offered cigarettes or various offerings

Westminster Abbey

Newton’s grave

Giza Necropolis

Valley of the Kings

Catacombs of Paris

Terracota Army

the burial ground of Qin Shi Huangdi

Capuchin Catacombs of Palermo

Sedlec Ossuary

Taj Mahal

the most beautiful mausoleum

Bonus:

Here is another one that didn’t quite make the list:

City of the Dead in Northern Ossetia, Russia

Local legends have it that in the 18th century, a plague swept through Ossetia. The clans built quarantine houses for sick family members, who were provided with food, but not freedom to move about, until death claimed their lives. A slow and painful way to go, indeed.

A True Image from False Kiva

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 21:10:20 GMT

clipped by: Mohir

Clip Source: antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov

Explanation: Is there any place in the world you could see a real sight like this? Yes. Pictured above is single exposure image spectacular near, far, and in between. Diving into the Earth far in the distance is part of the central band of our Milky Way Galaxy, taken with a long duration exposure. Much closer, the planet Jupiter is visible as the bright point just to band's left. Closer still are picturesque buttes and mesas of the Canyonlands National Park in Utah, USA, lit by a crescent moon. In the foreground is a cave housing a stone circle of unknown origin named False Kiva. The cave was briefly lit by flashlight during the long exposure. Astrophotographer Wally Pacholka reports that getting to the cave to take this image was no easy trek. Also, mountain lions were a concern while waiting alone in the dark for just the right exposure.

Tags: photo, astronomy

Our New $1 Bill

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 05:51:56 GMT

clipped by: BartendingBear
clipper's remarks: Sums it right up.

Clip Source: flickr.com

Ahmadinejad accepts Israel's right to exist

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 06:56:24 GMT

clipped by: zasel
clipper's remarks: Iran's president finally opens himself to the possibility of recognizing Israel's right to exist, and no one reports on it. I am no fan of this bastard, but when he makes threatening statements about Israel, his words make headlines. But when he starts to soften his stance, his words are ignored. Is this because the media is afraid to report anything positive about this man? And who are they afraid of upsetting?

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has made a remarkable announcement. He's admitted that Iran might agree to the existence of the state of Israel.

Ahmadinejad was asked: "If the Palestinian leaders agree to a two-state solution, could Iran live with an Israeli state?"

This was his astonishing reply:

If they [the Palestinians] want to keep the Zionists, they can stay ... Whatever the people decide, we will respect it. I mean, it's very much in correspondence with our proposal to allow Palestinian people to decide through free referendums.

Since most Palestinians are willing to accept a two-state solution, the Iranian president is, in effect, agreeing to Israel's right to exist and opening the door to a peace deal that Iran will endorse.

Surprisingly, Ahmadinejad's sensational softening of his long-standing, point-blank anti-Israeli stance was not even headlined by the two reporters. Perhaps this was a decision by their editors?

the story wasn't picked up by the world's media.

Tags: iran, ahmadinejad, media

Researchers decode thought

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 23:58:20 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: “In one of our early studies, we showed people words representing tools and words representing buildings,” Mitchell said. “We found that we could train our model so that it could successfully distinguish new tool words from new building words.” Having developed a model able to categorize objects correctly approximately 90 percent of the time, the team sought to determine the effect that viewing an object as a picture, as opposed to viewing an object as a word, has on a person’s brain activation patterns. The team therefore trained their model on fMRI data collected from subjects looking at pictures, and then tested the model on fMRI data collected as subjects read corresponding words.

“The accuracy was almost the same,” Mitchell said. “The fact that it doesn’t matter whether we use a word or a picture means that we are really capturing the neural activity associated with the meaning of an item, and not just the [item’s representation].”

Clip Source: thetartan.org

Researchers at CMU have developed a computer-based model designed to decode the patterns of neural activity within the human brain.

Their model is not only able to differentiate between a person’s perceptions of different physical objects, but is also able to predict the brain activation patterns associated with new, untested objects.

The knowledge acquired from this research may lead to an increased understanding of certain neurological conditions. “With these techniques, we can ask how a person with autism, for example, represents a concept like ‘friendship,’ ‘parent,’ or ‘love,’ and compare that neural representation to those of typical people, in order to see what is different,” Just said. “It is amazing to think that the [required] technology was not even available 10 or 15 years ago,” Mitchell said. “But now we can use it to study questions that people have been interested in for thousands of years.

Tags: brain, neuroscience, neural correlates

Lois Greenfield Photography of Dance

Sun, 28 Sep 2008 23:25:20 GMT

clipped by: JohnWaterman

Clip Source: www.loisgreenfield.com

Clip Source: www.loisgreenfield.com

Clip Source: www.loisgreenfield.com

Clip Source: www.loisgreenfield.com

Clip Source: www.loisgreenfield.com

Clip Source: www.loisgreenfield.com

Clip Source: www.loisgreenfield.com

Clip Source: www.loisgreenfield.com

Clip Source: www.loisgreenfield.com

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Clip Source: www.loisgreenfield.com

Dance Styles

New Images

Recent Additions

Dance Companies

Page of Main Collection

What percent of US budget goes to foreign aid?

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 02:50:33 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: Most Americans drastically over-estimate it. Despite laudable recent increases in US giving to poverty, US aid as a percent of personal income is second to last among wealthy nations; most of that doesn't go to the poorest countries. We give about 25 cents per American per [oops, sorry I wrote per year should be per day] day in foreign aid; with private giving, another dime. It's a lot, because there are a lot of us. But it's far behind the level of sacrifice made by people in most developed nations.

Clip Source: www.borgenproject.org

The Perception Problem
Americans drastically overestimate U.S. involvement in poverty reduction.

U.S. Second to Last Among Wealthy Nations

Source: OECD-DAC

Less than half of aid from the United States goes to
the poorest countries where people earn less than
$2 a day.
The largest recipients are strategic allies such as
Egypt, Israel, Russia, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq.
Israel is the richest country to receive U.S.
assistance ($77 per Israeli compared to $3 per
person in poor countries).

(Center for Global Development)

Incredible Potential for Good

The U.S. was the largest single donor
in a global campaign that eradicated
smallpox from the world by 1977.
The U.S. provided funding for a
program to prevent river blindness in
West Africa. As a result of these
efforts, 18 million children now living
in the program's region are free from
the risk of river blindness.

(Center for Global Development)

Tags: foreign policy, economy

Roger Ebert's Analysis of McCain

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 17:03:50 GMT

clipped by: rmowery
clipper's remarks: McCain either thinks he is too good to speak to Obama or has something to hide. I think both are the case. McCain married into money and is simply an Ultra Rich Bitch and now considers himself above the average American. So if in office he will not work for the American people, but for big corporations and the ultra rich.
He really should take a lesson from some of the very wealthy in Silicon Valley who do good with their money and treat people of all levels with dignity and respect.

Clip Source: rogerebert.suntimes.com

by Roger Ebert

I do not like you, John McCain. My feeling has nothing to do with issues. It has to do with common courtesy. During the debate, you refused to look Barack Obama in the eye. Indeed, you refused to look at him at all. Even when the two of you shook hands at the start, you used your eyes only to locate his hand, and then gazed past him as you shook it.

Obama is my guy. If you are rude to him, you are rude to me. If you came to dinner at my house and refused to look at or speak with one of my guests, that would be bad manners and I would be offended. Same thing if I went to your house. During the debate, you were America's guest.

Tags: mccain, obama, elections, us, republican, democarat, roger ebert, body language, debate