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Megadiverse Countries

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 21:46:50 GMT

clipped by: musex64
clipper's remarks: I actually came across this wiki article by chance. It is a term I never heard of and find quite interesting.
The list of 17 countries is unique in that it includes "highly developed" nations such as The United States and China and many nations with less "developed" economies.

I put the terms in quotes because the only meaningful way of comparing nation states would be based on the humanity of their institutions and in that regard the US...well lets just leave it there.

In any case, I would love to be at a meeting of these 17 nations.

The environmental crisis facing the entire planet demands creative solutions and challenging efforts at cooperation. Perhaps humanity will rise to the occasion.

Clip Source: en.wikipedia.org

The megadiverse countries are a group of countries that harbor the majority of the earth's species and are therefore considered extremely biodiverse. The World Conservation Monitoring Centre, an agency of the United Nations Environment Programme, has identified 17 megadiverse countries,^[1] most located in the tropics.

In 2002, a separate organization, Like-Minded Megadiverse Countries, was formed consisting of countries rich in biological diversity and associated traditional knowledge.^[2] This organization does not include all the megadiverse countries as identified by the World Conservation Monitoring Centre.

Megadiverse countries

In alphabetical order, the 17 countries^[1] identified as megadiverse by the UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre are:

Tags: environment, reference, politics, geography

Sarah Palin is a Bitch… there I said it.

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 02:49:59 GMT

clipped by: monstersmom
clipper's remarks: "Please take your ridiculous hair, your over lipstick-smacking mouth, your Lenscrafter look smarter glasses and your poorly fitted designer jackets back to Alaska. And when you get there, shove a piece of the pipeline up your considerable ass. I’ll be damned if we’ll put our children’s future in your hands. And the same thing goes for McCain - the ass wipe who gave her this national platform effectively pushing the woman’s movement back into the dark ages - knowing McCain that might have been his plan all along."

Love it!

Clip Source: margaretandhelen.wordpress.com

Look. I am going to say what everyone at CNN, CBS, ABC and NBC is thinking but is afraid to say. Governor Palin is a stupid, conniving bitch. And it’s not because she is a strong woman - I like strong women… worship them… It’s actually the opposite. She is a weak, pathetic woman who thinks big hair, winking, baby talk and self deprecation is somehow becoming of a woman who wants to lead the free world. My god, where is Margaret Thatcher when you need her!

exactly when did sounding like a hick make someone “more like us”

Last time I checked we were a country striving to educate our children to be intelligent and honest.

I think I would die if my daughter came home from school and said something like “I gotta tell ya. Change is a comin’.” At the very least I would remove the Beverly Hillbillies from her approved TV viewing list.

Fact: Sarah Palin is stupid.

Sarah Palin is an ignorant, ranting, whining bitch. There I said it. But lots more are thinking it.

Tags: palin, mccain, stupid

Freakiest (Lab) Animals

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 01:23:45 GMT

clipped by: sahara
clipper's remarks: The last one is Humanzee: It reads "Ok, so this one doesn't actually exist." But could have...
The one I find most intriguing is The spider/goats:
A private biotechnology company in Canada has managed to breed goats whose milk contains spider silk, the same things the eight-legged insects use to make webs and considered one of the strongest fibers occurring in nature. The silk is compatible with the human body and can be used to repair tissues and create replacement ligaments. No word on whether the goats are able to climb buildings or rescue damsels-in-distress.

About the smart mice: Scientists managed to implant a few of the little rodents with human brain cells amounting to about one percent of their total grey matter. The same group has plans to produce mice with one hundred percent human brain cells, which they have permission to do unless the mice start exhibiting human traits. What, like banding together to escape?

Clip Source: www.livescience.com

Green Ham and Eggs

Not since the 1980s have we seen this much fluorescence on one creature. Born in the lab of National Taiwan University, these phosphorescent porkers are green from the inside out--heart, ham and all.

Clip Source: www.livescience.com

Rats from Mice

planted stem cells that produce rat sperm into the testicles of mice, where they grew into viable sperm and were collected to fertilize rat eggs. Surrogate rat mums later bore healthy pups.

Clip Source: www.livescience.com

Wholphins

Shunning the lab and reportedly spotted doing their freaky thing out in the wild, whale-dolphin hybrids (get it? Wholphins?) are nevertheless extremely rare and prove that love, or mating at least, knows no species.

Clip Source: www.livescience.com

The Mouse with Three Ears

Clip Source: www.livescience.com

Spider-Goat

biotechnology company in Canada has managed to breed goats whose milk contains spider silk, the same things the eight-legged insects use to make webs and considered one of the strongest fibers occurring in nature.

can be used to repair tissues

Clip Source: www.livescience.com

The Smartest Mouse on Earth

Clip Source: www.livescience.com

Humans in Sheep's Clothing

Clip Source: www.livescience.com

Swine and Man

Clip Source: www.livescience.com

Zonkeys

Clip Source: www.livescience.com

Tags: animals, man, science

Piano,Piano by Number,Kids

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 18:46:54 GMT

clipped by: emsplanet
clipper's remarks: You can start piano at home with your child using this clever product. There\'s a book with number stickers and fun songs that kids know. So your child can get going right away and develop an appetite for more. Actually, you won\'t be able to keep them away. And they love to play the CD that comes with it!

Clip Source: www.pianoiseasy.com

Parents should prepare their children for piano instruction in the same way they prepare them to read.

For example, most parents teach their preschool children the letters of the alphabet long before they ever go to school, and it should be the same with kids piano and reading music.

Tags: piano, piano by number, kids

HOWTO learn in a networked world

Sat, 04 Oct 2008 11:11:52 GMT

clipped by: nkelly
clipper's remarks: Having been a critical educator for the last 25 years, I would love to see policy makers and administrators lift their heads above the mundane and think about how people are actually living.

Clip Source: www.acm.org

In Defense of Cheating

by Donald A. Norman

Ubiquity Classics
The issue of how to teach and learn in the distributed environment of the Internet is now over a decade old no closer to resolution. Don Norman, a master of clear thought, in 2005 wrote down a set of principles for doing this well. It is surprising how little used these principles are.

Enjoy the resurrection of the debate!

Peter Denning
Editor

10 Cleverly Morbid Ads

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 21:45:19 GMT

clipped by: rmowery

Clip Source: albotas.com

10 Cleverly Morbid Ads

I love advertising. There, I said it. I actually enjoy watching commercials sometimes just to take a look at which direction the ad industry is going. The same goes for any advertising. When I see designers taking a different, unique approach it makes me happy. That being said, here are a few examples of designers thinking outside the box, and a little bit on the morbid side.

Tags: new media, ads, morbid, clever, advertising

Wearing art on your (album) sleeve, Pt 2

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 03:14:29 GMT

clipped by: pcmkrfn

Clip Source: www.mentalfloss.com

The classic simplicity of the prism on Dark Side is partly derived from a textbook illustration designed to show how light passes through a prism to form a spectrum. In a science book, however, a prism spectrum has seven colors. The album cover only has six; they got rid of indigo simply because it looked too much like purple.

Punk thrust a rusted safety pin into the nostril of the bloated music industry with this one. London Calling juxtaposed the concept of a 1956 Elvis album with a blurry image of Paul Simonon smashing his bass. Incidentally, during the shoot, he smashed his watch in the process. That’s the price you pay for ripping on Elvis.

This album was shocking in every way. A pair of Siamese twins joined at the hip and shoulder (actually plaster sculptures built by lead singer Perry Ferrell himself) sit naked on a love seat, their heads on fire.

3D Monitor

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 17:27:09 GMT

clipped by: tehoverlord

Clip Source: www.gamefaqs.com

FINALLY a 3D monitor that won't give you a headache. heh I've actually been wondering how long it would take people to release a monitor that works with polarized glasses instead of relying on shutter glasses or cheap-o red/blue or red/green film glasses. You get true color this way, no framerate reduction the way you do with shutter glasses... it's about bloody time.

The monitors aren't perfect, but they're pretty dang good for new consumer technology... and if it takes off, it'll definitely improve a ton. The biggest drawback right now is the price - around $800USD for a 22". I'd *love* to see one in action tho... Crysis in 3D... druuul...

http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/1391/zalman_trimon_22_3d_monitor_exclusive/index.html

Product info:

http://www.zalman.co.kr/ENG/product/Product_Read.asp?idx=219

And a couple reviews:
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/monitors/display/zalman-zm-m220w.html
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/145185/zalman-trimon-zmm220w.html

...not my balcony. DARN! ;O).

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 21:49:31 GMT

clipped by: LindasHere55
clipper's remarks: I love the sound of Morning Doves...and miss them.

Clip Source: pweb.netcom.com

Nature on my balcony!

When I got home that night from work, mom was gone, but the babies were cuddled together on my balcony. Not sure what to do, I consulted my neighbor, but since she was as dumbfounded as I was, I decided I would try to put the little ones back in their nest.

As I went to reach for them, one of the two flew off. I finally caught the other one, being as gentle as could, and returned her to her home. Sort of relieved, I went in to relax. When I came out later to water my plants, the one little one was still there. I ran out of water, so I returned to the source of water, my kitchen. When I came out just seconds later, the last of my tenants had taken flight.

I checked to be sure that she was not below my balcony, maybe have fallen over. Once I was reassured that she had actually flown away, I looked onto the early evening sky and smiled.

This young Mourning Dove started to nest in my potted plant on
Wednesday, July 1st, 1998.

Tags: mourning doves.

Making meals in a rice cooker

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 19:05:47 GMT

clipped by: Lexica
clipper's remarks: We have a Zojirushi fuzzy-logic rice cooker that we love. It was pricy when we bought it -- $140 or so -- but we use it all the time. If we calculated it as a per-use cost, it'd be down to pennies per meal. The cheapo $20 or $30 rice cookers we'd had before we never used. This was $140 well spent.

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

Although rice cookers are gaining in popularity in the United States, with a respectable 3 million sold last year, they are still not standard equipment. But American cooks with Asian, Middle Eastern or Caribbean traditions hovering over the kitchen often find them indispensable, and surprisingly adaptable.

A basic rice cooker consists of a nonstick metal bowl set inside a plastic-and-metal housing, with a heat source on the bottom. To cook plain rice: add rice, measure water, press start, walk away. The machine brings the mixture to a boil, reduces the heat for a prolonged simmer, then switches to a very low setting to keep the cooked rice at serving temperature.

The new-model rice cookers, with digital menus and “fuzzy logic” operation, are actually less flexible than their one-button ancestors. The machines have their own ideas about brown rice, porridge, sushi rice and sometimes more. These cookers produce perfect results but require peace and quiet to perform their mystical work.

Tags: food, cooking, rice, rice-cookers

Best Dish TV Georgia Deals

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 20:51:06 GMT

clipped by: dishnetworktvga
clipper's remarks: Best Dish TV Georgia Deals.

Click here for the Best Offer.

Clip Source: community.mytypes.com

Best Dish TV Georgia Deals

When you sign up for satellite television service from Dish Network Georgia you're making a statement that you're committed to providing the best possible television for yourself and your family. What can Dish Network do to help you live up to this commitment? Actually everything Dish Network does is focused on providing the most channels, best variety of entertainment packages, and superior television technology all of which have been proven to enhance the television watching experience.

The larger two simply add sixty channels to the ones before them. That way if you decide to upgrade at any point, you won't lose any of the channels you've come to love with these Best Dish TV Georgia Promotions.

For the best television programming can technology, call Dish Network right now. Check out these Best Dish TV Georgia Offers.

Tags: georgia, ga, dish, network, tv, satellite, dishnetwork

Can You Really Love Your Country?

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 16:21:26 GMT

clipped by: thisnamecantbetaken
clipper's remarks: I support the innocent victims and the soldiers who were lied to and tricked into fighting in Iraq. But after the lies and evil were exposed and the truth came out , for all others who still choose to enlist and who still choose to pick up arms against innocent people and to knowingly aid in the occupation and devastation of an innocent sovereign nation ...then no. They get no sympathy from me.

There's a big difference between being a soldier and being a mercenary.

Few are willing to brave the disapproval of their fellows, the censure of their colleagues, the wrath of their society. Moral courage is a rarer commodity than bravery in battle or great intelligence. Yet it is the one essential, vital quality for those who seek to change a world that yields most painful to change. [...] There is pride in that, even arrogance, but there is also experience and truth. In any event, it is the only way we can live. - Senator Edward M. Kennedy,

Clip Source: mwcnews.net

Can You Really Love Your Country?

Why is failing to "support the troops" regarded as a sin?

Because it's a secular blasphemy

Most people would say our country has done so much for us that we should show our gratitude.

what is "our country"?

The government is also part of the country -- and in that regard there's much to dislike

But love of country being blind, most people won't see it.

One can't help thinking that those who loudly profess their love of the country

actually worship the nation and state as though they were mystical god-like entities. When they demand patriotism of others, they really are demanding nationalism.

Nationalism is a secular religion

Idealizing "service to the country,"

ill-suits a free society because it inevitably means service to, or defined by, the state.

And if you die "for your country,"

the rest of us are obliged to honor.

Why is it noble to permit yourself to be ordered to invade other countries

Why is dying -- and killing -- in such a cause an occasion for honor?

Persistince affects student performance

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 20:27:13 GMT

clipped by: tumblon
clipper's remarks: This fascinating Scientific American article makes the case that an attitude of persistence and hard work leads to greater learning and achievement. What it doesn't mention (but is also true) is that persistence actually impacts intelligence - gene expression is affected by stimulation and persistence.

Clip Source: www.sciam.com

Parents and teachers can engender a growth mind-set in children by praising them for their effort or persistence (rather than for their intelligence), by telling success stories that emphasize hard work and love of learning, and by teaching them about the brain as a learning machine.

Subsequent studies revealed that the most persistent students do not ruminate about their own failure much at all but instead think of mistakes as problems to be solved.

Tags: education, science

LifeCell wrinkle cream offers Free 30 day trial

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 15:34:09 GMT

clipped by: healthyskincare
clipper's remarks: I just found 2 more benefits to LifeCell wrinkle cream that pretty much makes it a no brainer - at least for me - 1) it prevents additional aging on top of making you look younger now AND 2) you can try it free for the first 30 days! I love it when companies actually stand behind their products... wish it happened more these days.

Clip Source: www.skincarearticledirectory.com

3. Life Cell skin cream has been found to prevent premature aging as well as help you look younger right now. By preventing future damage you'll continue to enjoy a full and vital life for many years to come.

5. The company responsible for bringing Life Cell skin cream to consumers other than high-profile Hollywood clientele is confident about their product. Currently they are offering to let you try it free for 30 days. If you're not happy with the way it works for you - which is highly unlikely - they won't even charge your credit card.

Tags: lifecell free trial, wrinkle creams, anti aging skin care, life cell anti aging

Ricky Gervais to host Oscars?

Wed, 24 Sep 2008 23:31:22 GMT

clipped by: Angie66
clipper's remarks: How good would that be? I'd actually watch that.

Clip Source: laineygossip.com

Hell yes!

Ricky Gervais is reportedly in negotiations to host the Oscars next year…and if Ricky is allowed to be Ricky, that sh*t will be amazing…

For a change.

Word is, Oscar producers were so impressed by his best-of-the-night bit with Steve Carell at the Emmys on Sunday, they’d like to explore the idea of Ricky at the helm of Hollywood’s biggest night, especially now since he’s transitioned to film.

Unfortunately, no one is giving Ghost Town a chance. Which is a shame. I saw the movie and interviewed him here in Vancouver about a month ago. Darren and I weren’t expecting much: like Scrooge, but at The Office.

Surprisingly Ghost Town is funny. Really funny. And he is even funnier in person. Super nice, super down to earth, totally neurotic, very humble, as hilarious as you want him to be but without making you the expense of his joke…

I love him.

And the prospect of him hosting the Oscars totally makes my life.

But will the Academy have the balls?