Clipmarks | Northeast Clips

Heartbreaking Nature Story

Sat, 15 Dec 2007 22:41:50 GMT

clipped by: AtlLiberal
clipper's remarks: We know that whales are intelligent. Whether they are self aware is another matter. Yet, there is something very poignant about this story.

Clip Source: www.kuro5hin.org

The Loneliest Mystery of the Deep

For the last 12 years, a single solitary whale whose vocalizations match no known living species has been tracked across the Northeast Pacific. Its wanderings match no known migratory patterns of any living whale species. Its vocalizations have also subtly deepened over the years, indicating that the whale is maturing and ageing. And, during the entire 12 year span that it has been tracked, it has been calling out for contact from others of its own kind.

It has received no answer. Nor will it ever.

Whatever the identity of this strange unidentified alien whale, it is, for now, the very definition of poetic, existential loneliness, in both time and space. The whale is somewhere wandering the Northeast Pacific, right now, in a rudderless, aimless track. And right now the lonely beast could be calling out for others of its kind, and finding none, for over 12 years and counting.

Tags: nature, whale, lonely, sad

Illegal to Buy an Eco-Friendly Car

Mon, 03 Sep 2007 04:49:42 GMT

clipped by: ellen_001
clipper's remarks: It's illegal to buy a low emissions car. Goes against reason, doesn't it?

Clip Source: autos.msn.com

Dirty Secret: Green Cars
Automakers Won't Sell You

There's only one catch: You can't actually buy this ultra-green Accord, or the four-cylinder version that also produces near-zero pollution. That is, unless you live in California, New York or six other northeast states that follow California's tougher pollution rules. Only there can you buy this Accord, or the roughly two dozen other models that meet so-called Partial Zero Emissions Vehicle standards, PZEV for short.

Not only can't you buy one, but the government says it's currently illegal for automakers to sell these green cars outside of the special states. Under terms of the Clean Air Act—in the kind of delicious irony only our government can pull off—anyone (dealer, consumer, automaker) involved in an out-of-bounds PZEV sale could be subject to civil fines of up to $27,500. Volvo sent its dealers a memo alerting them to this fact, noting that its greenest S40 and V50 models were only for the special states.

Tags: environment, government

World's oldest wall painting unearthed in Syria

Fri, 12 Oct 2007 01:47:43 GMT

clipped by: invictus
clipper's remarks: French archaeologists have discovered an 11,000-year-old wall painting underground in northern Syria which they believe is the oldest in the world.

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

A view of a painting uncovered at Djade al-Mughara Neolihic site, northeast of the Syrian city of Aleppo, in this September 2007 handout photo. The painting was discovered by a team of French archaeologists, who described the painting as the oldest in the world. (Handout/Reuters)

Tags: archaeology, syria, art, rock art, prehistory

dogs.....just beautiful.

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 06:21:03 GMT

clipped by: Antara
clipper's remarks: sad story but what a dog.....

too bad 25 yr old Jake couldn't have hung on another day, seems he had a lot of people (and animals) that loved him

Clip Source: edition.cnn.com

Loyal dog guards owner for weeks after death

GREELEY, Colorado (AP) -- A dog stood guard over her owner's body for up to six weeks after the man committed suicide on the remote northeastern Colorado plains, authorities said.

The body of 25-year-old Jake Baysinger of La Salle, Colorado, was found Sunday on the Pawnee National Grasslands about 75 miles northeast of Denver, Colorado. Cash, his German shepherd, was found beside him, thin and dehydrated but still alive. The dog had apparently survived by eating mice and rabbits, authorities said.

Sara Baysinger of La Salle, Colorado, and her 2-year-old son, Lane, reunite with their German shepherd, Cash.

The Weld County coroner ruled Baysinger's death a suicide. The cause of death wasn't immediately determined but authorities found a gun nearby, the coroner's office said Tuesday.

Tags: suicide, dogs, loyalty, love

QUIZ: What American Accent Do You Have?

Sun, 20 May 2007 17:30:27 GMT

clipped by: Kore7
clipper's remarks: If you think you don't have an accent, think again. This short quiz is a way to find out which dialect of American English you speak.

Different regional accents become more prevalent in countries at different times throughout the years for various socio-economic and geographical reasons. These accents come to be perceived as "neutral" or "accent-less" by the majority during these times. For a while, the American dialect sometimes called "Standard Midwestern" has dominated but, like accents themselves, this "standard" constantly evolves.

Recently, the spoken aspects of American English have trended westward along with the population center of America. Many features distinct to Northeastern accents (think NYC, Boston) are being replaced in popularity with those from Western accents (think LA) across America. This shift tends to be more prominent the younger the speaker is.

Clip Source: www.gotoquiz.com

What American accent do you have?

To most Americans, an accent is something that only other people have, those other people usually being in New York, Boston, and the South. And of those other people, half of the ones you meet will swear they "don't have an accent."

Well, strictly speaking, the only way to not have an accent is to not speak. If you're from anywhere in the USA you have an accent (which may or may not be the accent of the place you're from). Go through this short quiz and you'll find out just which accent that is.

Tags: america, speech, accent, dialect, linguistics, quiz, fun, northeast, west, vowels

Burma, Mass Cremations Turn Evidence to Ash

Mon, 08 Oct 2007 17:09:04 GMT

clipped by: constantskeptic
clipper's remarks: And the world watches on apathetically.... since when did genocide become a spectator sport? If you care, pop it!

Clip Source: www.theaustralian.news.com.au

RANGOON: The Burmese army has burnt an undetermined number of bodies at a crematorium sealed off by armed guards northeast of Rangoon over the past week, ensuring the exact death toll in the recent pro-democracy protests will never be known.

The secret cremations have been reported by local people who have seen olive-green trucks covered with tarpaulins rumbling through the area at night and watched smoke rising continuously from the furnace chimneys.

They say they have watched soldiers in steel helmets blocking off roads to the municipal crematorium and threatening people who poke their heads out of windows overlooking the roads after the 10pm curfew.

"We have first-hand evidence from respected Burmese doctors that hospitals and clinics were ordered not to give any treatment to the wounded," said a foreign medical expert, "so it's not possible to assess the victims by those treated in public hospitals.

Tags: burma, genocide, cremation, rangoon

Man amputates own leg after tree fell on it

Thu, 07 Jun 2007 00:56:42 GMT

clipped by: kkcapricorn
clipper's remarks: I cannot imagine the pain he was in and how he accomplished this.

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

IOWA HILL, Calif. - Residents are pulling for a neighbor who was forced to amputate his left leg below the knee using pocket knives after a tree fell on him, pinning him for about 11 hours.

Al Hill, 66, was cutting trees on a property near the Big Dipper Mine last Friday when a tree fell on his leg and trapped him, authorities said. Alone in the woods and in an area where cellular phone service is spotty or nonexistent, Hill was forced to take the extreme measure to save himself.

it was hard to believe Hill didn't go into shock.

News of Hill's ordeal has captivated this tiny town about 60 miles northeast of Sacramento, where there is no electricity and few services for the roughly 200 residents.

Tags: amputation, medical, amazing stories

Ancient Egyptian city unearthed in Sinai

Thu, 29 May 2008 00:02:21 GMT

clipped by: invictus
clipper's remarks: Another "Breaking News" story from Zahi Hawass... Hmm...

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

CAIRO, Egypt - Archaeologists exploring an old military road in the Sinai have unearthed 3,000-year-old remains from an ancient fortified city, the largest yet found in Egypt, antiquities authorities announced Wednesday.

Among the discoveries at the site was a relief of King Thutmose II (1516-1504 B.C.), thought to be the first such royal monument discovered in Sinai, said Zahi Hawass, chief of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities. It indicates that Thutmose II may have built a fort near the ancient city, located about two miles northeast of present day Qantara and known historically as Tharu.

A 550-by-275-yard mud brick fort with several 13-foot-high towers dating to King Ramses II (1304-1237 B.C.) was unearthed in the same area, he said.

The ancient military road, known as "Way of Horus," once connected Egypt to Palestine and is close to present-day Rafah, which borders the Palestinian territory of Gaza.

Tags: egypt, archaeology, sinai, new kingdom, zahi hawass

Oldest piece of earth on th Earth

Mon, 16 Jul 2007 04:03:47 GMT

clipped by: amgumen

Clip Source: bbs.keyhole.com

The Jack Hills are located in the Narryer Gneiss Terrane of the Yilgarn Craton, Western Australia, and comprise an 80 km long northeast-trending belt of folded and metamorphosed supracrustal rocks.This is the oldest piece of earth on the earth

Sedimentary siliciclastic rocks, interpreted as alluvial fan-delta deposits, are the major lithology. Minor mafic/ultramafic rocks and banded iron formation (BIF) are also found in the sequence. The overall sequence is generally considered to be a granulite gneiss, which has undergone multiple deformations and multiple metamorphic episodes. The protolith age of the Narryer Gneiss Terrane is variable, but generally considered to be in excess of 3.6 Ga (billion years).

Detrital zircons with ages >4000 Ma (billion years) have been found in these rocks and a 4,404 +/- 8 Myr zircon was found at Eranondoo Hill (Wilde et al., 2001), the oldest dated material on Earth.

They were found within part of the 3.6-3.8 Ga (billion years) supracrustal sequence

Tags: nature, science, interesting

Glory Over Pacific Ocean Clouds

Sun, 03 Aug 2008 03:11:11 GMT

clipped by: amgumen

Clip Source: geology.com

A "glory" is an atmospheric phenomenon with the same colors as a rainbow. They form when sunlight is scattered by the water droplets of a cloud.

The most obvious ring is about 60 kilometers wide in its center; the red and orange wavelengths are most visible. Parts of at least one inner and one outer concentric ring are also visible, however. At the northwest perimeter of the central ring, a faint patch of green hints at the presence of an outer ring. A faint orange oval is nestled in the center of the main ring as well.

A glory is caused by the scattering of sunlight by a cloud made of water droplets that are all roughly the same size.

Another interesting feature in the scene is the yin-yang-shaped vortices at the upper right of the image. These vortices, properly known as Von Karman Vortices, appear downwind of islands that perturb the flow of air like a boulder creates an eddy downstream in a river. The large image shows the islands, and farther northeast, part of the Baja California Pe

The Bolivian Road of Death!

Sat, 27 Sep 2008 09:36:45 GMT

clipped by: boozich

Clip Source: muzich.blogspot.com

The North Yungas Road, also
known as El Camino de la Muerte
(Spanish for "Road
of Death"), is a 43 mile road
that leads from La Paz to Coroico,
35 miles (56 km) northeast of La Paz in the Yungas region of
Bolivia.

In many places, the road is too small. There is only one lane.
As a result, when the vehicle going down comes across a vehicle
coming up, it has to BACK UP to the passing area to allow the
climbing vehicle to proceed. It is very dangerous to back
up. Cars and trucks have actually fallen while trying to
back up because there is so little room for error!

Down below across the valley is the winding Road of Death as seen from
the village of Coroico. Unbelievable.

those stone cairns in the picture above
mark a spot
where vehicles have gone off the road

U.S. 'the Biggest Producer of Terror'

Sat, 02 Feb 2008 15:05:24 GMT

clipped by: Rasmus

Clip Source: www.alternet.org

Many people in Baquba, capital of Diyala 40 km northeast of Baghdad, had supported U.S. forces when they ousted former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. But failed reconstruction projects and muddled policies mean the U.S. has lost that support.

The U.S. has also alienated people through its policy of extensive detentions.

In November the International Committee of the Red Cross said that around 60,000 people are currently detained in Iraq.

"The Americans occupied our country and put our men in prisons," Dhafir al-Rubaiee, an officer from Iraq's previous army told IPS. "The majority of these prisoners have been arrested for nothing other than for being Sunni. Every one of these prisoners has a family, and these families now have reason to hate Americans."

"The Americans crossed thousands of miles to destroy our home and kill our men. They are the reason for all our disasters."

America is the biggest producer of terror, and they spend huge funds for creating and training death squads

Tags: hearts and minds, dahr jamail, iraq, usa, terror

Who were the Hurrians?

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 18:51:35 GMT

clipped by: JohnWaterman

Clip Source: www.archaeology.org

Urkesh

on the dusty plains of what is now northeastern Syria was a spiritual center for a puzzling people called the Hurrians

their origin remains obscure

were far more than just another wandering tribe in the fractious Middle East.

strongly influenced the language, culture, and religion of later peoples

may have been present 1,000 years earlier--just as nearby Mesopotamians began to create the first cities

idea is at odds with a long-held belief among scholars that the Hurrians arrived much later from the Caucasus or some other distant region to the northeast, drawn to the fringes of civilization after the rise of the great southern Sumerian centers of Ur, Uruk, and Nippur

Hurrian, like Sumerian, is a language unrelated to Semitic

that dominated the region during and after the third millennium B.C

a sophisticated city with monumental architecture, plumbing, stonework, and a large population contradicts the idea that Hurrians were a roving mountain people in a strange land

Dog rescues owner that forgot keys

Sun, 25 Nov 2007 02:30:19 GMT

clipped by: pokkets
clipper's remarks: The dog Anna woke her owner up when there was a fire. They both got out, but the owner, a janitor, forgot her keys. She went back inside, and Anna followed her back, and led her out , leading her through the smoke.
I've seen a few dogs rescuing owners stories over the past month, and there seems to have been one thing in common.
The dogs had generally been stray, or adopted from the pound after being abused by previous owners. The dogs were proving they can be grateful, Perhaps seeing it as repaying in kind.

Clip Source: www.mail.com

Candace Jennings was sleeping on the couch when she was nudged awake by her dog, Anna, to find her mobile home engulfed in flames early Thanksgiving Day. The blond heeler, an abused stray dog Jennings had adopted from an animal shelter, whined and howled until they ran outside.

"I had an awful headache. The place was filled with smoke," she told the Idaho Statesman for a story published Saturday

But Jennings said she ran back into her burning home to save some items

"I'm a janitor in town," she said. "I had everyone's keys in my backpack. I had to go back and get them."

She

"She pushed on me; she nudged me out the door,"

crawled back into her burning home in Idaho City, about 40 miles northeast of Boise, with Anna close at her side.

But Jennings said she became disoriented and was nearly overcome by smoke. She tried to get back out but crawled in the wrong direction, heading toward the pantry instead of the door.

Anna showed her the way out.

The roof collapsed as Jennings

ran to some trees

Tags: dog, rescue, owner, fire, anna

America Buying Big Slices of South America

Mon, 11 Jun 2007 10:04:34 GMT

clipped by: thisnamecantbetaken
clipper's remarks: I like the idea of private conservation (better than no conservation at all), but I can also see a scenario in which the rich lay claim to the increasingly scarce resources of the future, such as water (and oil of course i.e Iraq.) I guess only the future will tell, if the rich intend to 'share'.

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

American buys slices of South America

LOS ESTEROS DEL IBERA, Argentina - The American multimillionaire who founded the North Face and Esprit clothing lines says he is trying to save the planet by buying bits of it. First Douglas Tompkins purchased a huge swath of southern Chile, and now he's hoping to save the northeast wetlands of neighboring Argentina.

Tompkins, 64, is a hero to some for his environmental stewardship. Others resent his land purchases as a foreign challenge to their national patrimony.

Tompkins hopes to do in Argentina what he did in Chile — create broad stretches of land protected from agribusiness or industrial development, and one day turn them over to the government as nature reserves.

"These lands should not belong to an individual, much less a foreigner," said Luis D'Elia, who argues the American could gain "control of resources that are going to be scarce in the future, like water."

and worrying that he might never cede the lands to the state.

Tags: conservation, sustainability, environment, stewardship, biodiversity, rainforest, water, resources, elite, future