Clipmarks | Sight Clips

The credit crunch hits Miami

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 20:27:56 GMT

clipped by: reeds
clipper's remarks: luxury condo's overbuilt

At first sight there seems to be little sign in Miami that the turmoil in the financial markets is having any effect on the real economy.

But first impressions can be deceptive, because after a while you realise that although there are plenty of cranes finishing off blocks, there are precious few foundations being dug.

But even in the toughest of times there are some people that prosper.

"We find the most vulnerable of the sellers and we go in there and try and steal the property from them legally and ethically," he says.

"We recently bought a property that was $2.5m (£1.25m) at the height of the market for $800,000."

Mr Zalewski uses some pretty hard tactics, pitching one seller against another to force down the price.

He targets those who have already cut their sale price by 10% and offers them even less on the grounds that they must be desperate to sell. He tells them he can do that because there are five years worth of unsold properties on the Miami market at the moment.

Tags: economy real_estate

Laguna Colorada: The Red Lake of Bolivia

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 04:54:50 GMT

clipped by: hitchhiker08
clipper's remarks: Currently ranked 68 among the new wonders of the world!

Clip Source: www.odditycentral.com

The Red Lake of Bolivia

Bolivia has quite a number of salt lakes but one of the most amazing ones is the Red Lake, also known as the Laguna Colorada.

Like the name suggests it has a reddish color given by an astronomical number of micro-organisms that live in its waters and by the salt crust.

Laguna Colorada is an unforgetable sight especially if you’re lucky enough to spot the rare flamingos that like to spend their time here.

Clip Source: www.new7wonders.com

Laguna Colorada

BOLIVIA

Laguna Colorada is a shallow salt lake in the southwest of the altiplano of Bolivia and close to the border with Chile. The lake contains borax islands, whose white color contrasts nicely with the reddish color of its waters, which is caused by red sediments and pigmentation of some algae.

Tags: red lake, bolivia, south america, salt, laguna colorada

Blind from birth artist!

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 01:38:49 GMT

clipped by: papananook
clipper's remarks: Amazing...freaky, even.

Clip Source: community.livejournal.com

Esref Armaga is an exceptionally talented artist from Turkey. What sets him apart is he was born without eyes.

Esref, from an early age, had a better grasp of perspective and proportion than many sighted artists, which based on everything science knows about sight, should have been absolutely impossible.

As a visual artist, I found it very difficult to accept and understand that a man without eyes could paint accurate and beautiful landscapes, even seascapes, without ever having "seen" them.

The video's slightly long but absolutely worth watching.

Clip Source: lj-toys.com

[Video]

Political Analyst~OR~Partisan Activists???

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 15:35:29 GMT

clipped by: davboz
clipper's remarks: Olbermann's dominance brings out the worst in Matthews. Even Brokaw. They are both more balanced, when KO is nowhere in sight. An insightful eye can tell the difference when responding to Keith they are timidly stammering for words far enough in the extreme left bias to satisfy him. And their facial expression shows it - clearly. They are resentful, pressured, and under the thumb of Keith Olbermann.
At a later point, with Olbermann gone, they are confident, balanced and natural.
Myself, I can ferret out this kind of passive-aggressive, irresponsible phony journalism. There are just too many out there that cannot see that the line between news and amateurish blog has disappeared ~ probably for ever.

Clip Source: newsbusters.org

[7:03pm]

CHRIS MATTHEWS: I have the sense that the Republican image-makers, the ballyhoo boys, know exactly what they're doing. They're setting up a David and Goliath in this sense. Governor Palin as David, us as Goliath. This is showbiz, they know what they're doing. It might work, we'll see. Big night, tonight for the Republicans and their ballyhoo boys.

KEITH OLBERMANN: How long, if it works, can it work? You cannot maintain a permanent protest, you can't file a constant appeal to the refs that never ends. It must have a concluding point, must it not?

MATTHEWS: Richard Nixon did it for many years. It can be done. You can put up, you can create a continual tension between your political party and what you describe as the establishment. You can continue to portray yourself as the underdog in a battle in which you, in fact, carry all the political weight of the government. It's been done before and I think they're gonna try it one more time tonight.

...

Defensive Driving Courses North Carolina

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 07:01:15 GMT

clipped by: flower425
clipper's remarks: Affordable Defensive Driving Courses Online. We offer Defensive Driving Class and Defensive Driving School Online. Courses from Online Defensive Driving Class will improve your Defensive Driving Skills. Learn Defensive Driving Courses at the lowest costs.

Clip Source: www.online-defensive-driving-class.com

North Carolina Defensive Driving Class

With such a huge population and density, seldom does any state have low fatalities due to traffic collisions. There are over 1,500 traffic crash fatalities in North Carolina each year, which shows the same. You may go out of your house today or tomorrow for something or the other, what happens if you see a dead body of a traffic crash fatality victim drenched in blood? Doesn’t your hands tremble a little at the very sight of him? Don’t you end up saying poor him? It could have been you or someone close to you too! It’s just that you are lucky to be alive.

For the same purposes we are there, we are the “I drive safely” defensive driving school. We would give you the insight of driving and tell you various aspects of driving that you might have never known. It would be our pleasure if you would learn something from our courses.

Tags: defensive driving school, class defensive driving online

Between Earth's atmosphere and the void ,at the very edge of space, thin blue clouds hovering ...

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 05:47:07 GMT

clipped by: einbar
clipper's remarks: A weirdly wonderful sight appeared to astronauts...

Clip Source: www.space.com

A weirdly wonderful sight appeared to astronauts aboard the International Space Station this summer — thin blue clouds hovering at the boundary between Earth's atmosphere and the void.

The noctilucent or "night-shining" clouds are at an altitude of 47 to 53 miles (76 to 85 km), where meteors and bright aurora lights are not uncommon and the atmosphere gives way to the blackness of space. The clouds remain a scientifically baffling phenomenon more than 120 years after their discovery.

"It's lovely," said Gary Thomas, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Colorado after looking at a photo taken from the space station. "And it shows just how high these clouds really are – at the very edge of space."

Profanity Immunity

Mon, 01 Sep 2008 05:22:07 GMT

clipped by: debbyski
clipper's remarks: I'd LOVE to have immunity on CM but heck lemme address what I think is "kinky" about GOP "family values" instead of the dreaded F word. (and I meant fudge) I find it profane that they are busy wasting people's lives and treasure on a war for political and oil industry profit. I find it obscene they they have bankrupted the government to pay for tax breaks for the rich, corporate welfare and an insane cold war military style buildup. I find it dirty that they have ignored the Constitution. I find it immoral that they tell us what we really need are some "moral values" issues to shroud their wickedness in Godliness; to keep what they are really up to out of sight and out of mind and out of the news at all costs. I find poverty offensive. I find injustice, racism, sexism, and homophobia offensive. But most of all I find the greed of empire offensive. Oh, F U D G E . . .

Clip Source: www.thejourney-online.com

Dirty, cuss, curse, and four-letter are just some of the ways we describe those little words that those of us who are righteous and holy would surely never ever use.

We boycott movies based on them. We boycott music based on these words.

It is the gift of profanity immunity

These brave souls have protected countless millions of believing Christians from the symptoms of hearing too many of these terrible words.

As a matter of fact they have done such a good job of protecting us there has never been a case of a single symptom worldwide. We don’t even know the symptoms. Would our ears bleed? Maybe they would fall off. Would we be stricken with profanity induced deafness? Or worse yet would it result in God eventually turning his back on us?

Anyway, thanks for keeping the body of Christ safe from the perils of profanity.

Nap time!

Sun, 31 Aug 2008 03:34:38 GMT

clipped by: lap322
clipper's remarks: Now why didn't I think of this?? Maybe I'll open one next door to Beaumont... LOL

Clip Source: money.cnn.com

How much would you pay for a nap?

Yelo is tucked away in a nondescript storefront on West 57th Street, a busy industrial stretch of Manhattan's midtown. But step inside, and you can leave urban noise and pressures behind as you settle into a soundproof YeloCab, a cozy cabin engineered for maximum tranquility. Yelo's business is selling naps - and right now, that business is booming.

The sight of citydwellers napping in bathroom stalls and parking lots inspired him; Ronco saw an unfilled need for temporary oasis spots where New York's 9-to-5 set can curl up for a few minutes on a lunch hour or break.

Yelo opened in doors in February 2007. Since then, more than 4,000 nappers have stopped in

A snooze at Yelo now costs $15 (20 minutes) to $28 (40 minutes). In its first year, the nap shop booked revenue of $400,000; for next year, Ronco projects sales of $1.3 million.

Tags: business, money, sleep

We learn the most from things that don't work

Sat, 30 Aug 2008 13:48:40 GMT

clipped by: Microtargeting
clipper's remarks: Monitoring "why can't" conversations twitter...

Clip Source: search.twitter.com

jbraun430: Why can't the bagel store grasp the concept of a small amount of cream cheese?

hurlyburly: Line of sight, 18 inches - why can't you find my keyboard you Bluetooth POS?!

dhruba_b: My God. Why must the iPhone sync take so long? And why can't you sync only what you want? Can't wait for September's update.

DavidSchultz: Why can't i decide..

jmerritt: oh dear... why can't politicians in the USA learn to separate church and state? then maybe they could differentiate religion from science.

AnissaMayhew: farking hell, why can't i ever seem to actually catch up on my google reader?

PaleZer0: Why can't I preload Spore for Mac? That's silly.

johnjoseph: why oh why can't i enable the mysql slow query log in the config file? (instead of only at the command line)

Tags: twitter, daves blog, davidhartung, marketing, business

Artificial predictions

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 19:32:54 GMT

clipped by: balthazarus
clipper's remarks: The more, we will be able (emotionally and technically) to reduce human behaviours and decision processes to finer approximations, then better performing robots will appear.

Clip Source: www.sciencedaily.com

Robots Learn To Predict Where Their Leader Is Going, And Follow Along

Whether driving on the highway or walking down the street, we pick up on both deliberate signals and unconscious cues to predict what other people are going to do and act accordingly. But robots have trouble following each other around, for example, when a leader turns a corner and disappears from sight.

"The following problem is a quite fundamental problem in robotics

Robots that are better at following could be easier for people to work with

Humans use signals and unconscious cues to build a model that predicts where other people are going. Behavioral studies show that people unconsciously turn their heads a fraction of a second before making a left or right turn. Joshi and his team of researchers developed a control system that could take such behavioral cues into account in making decisions about which way to move.

Robots that incorporated behavioral information into their decisions performed much better at following

Tags: robotics

DBQ 6

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 23:11:58 GMT

clipped by: Chem2009

Clip Source: history.boisestate.edu

Father abandoned child, wife husband, one brother another; for this illness seemed to strike through breath and sight. And so they died. None could be found to bury the dead for money or friendship. Members of a household brought their dead to a ditch as best they could, without priest, without divine offices.

Tags: black death

Tattoo-China

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 20:52:23 GMT

clipped by: horst

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

Slowly, tattooing is overcoming an ancient stigma in Beijing.

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

OLYMPIC SPIRIT Tattoo parlors have attracted many during the Games. More Photos >

Although every Chinese child is taught the legend of Yue Fei, a 12th-century general whose mother tattooed “serve the country with utmost loyalty” on his back, tattoos were considered disreputable in China for centuries. Imperial courts tattooed criminals’ faces before sending them into exile. By the 1949 revolution, the tattoo was the favored mark of crime syndicates and subsequently condemned by the Communist Party. Today, tattoos remain taboo for many of China’s elder generation, which sneers at the sight of a sun or lotus inked on the back of a trendy neighbor.

Choosing Best Colors for the Web

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 10:49:10 GMT

clipped by: bogdanpopescu
clipper's remarks: This Web page contains three basic guidelines for making effective color choices that work for nearly everyone. Following the guidelines are explanations of the three perceptual attributes of color -- hue, lightness and saturation -- as they are used by vision scientists

Clip Source: www.lighthouse.org

Effective Color Contrast

Designing for People with Partial Sight and Color Deficiencies

by Aries Arditi, PhD

This Web page contains three basic guidelines for making effective color choices that work for nearly everyone. Following the guidelines are explanations of the three perceptual attributes of color -- hue, lightness and saturation -- as they are used by vision scientists.

Tags: color, web

Tens of thousands become tens of hundreds

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 13:19:53 GMT

clipped by: spirithiker
clipper's remarks: Did protest organizers misjudge the mood of the country? Or are modern-day protesters more content with protesting from the relative safety of their own computer using the internet instead of carrying signs?

Maybe too many of us can't afford to take time off from work. Or maybe we can't afford the gas to drive to or the airfair to get to Denver.

One thing is certain, Denver Police got to drag out their spiffy riot gear and get all excited about the prospect of busting some heads. I'll bet they feel pretty let down by the sad turnout.

Clip Source: www.coloradoindependent.com

Thanks for turning my city into a fortress with your overinflated turnout projections. I love to see cops with three-and-a-half foot nightsticks, riot helmets, and tear-gas launchers surrounding every building in sight. It’s fantastic.

Maybe it was too hot Sunday afternoon, or maybe they hadn’t gotten warmed up yet, but the tens of thousands of demonstrators that protest organizers promised would march through Denver turned out to be tens of hundreds.

Lt. Ron Saunier, a Denver Police Department spokesman, said the number of protesters that actually showed up was nowhere near what groups had told city officials to expect.

Recreate 68 had projected that 25,000 or even 50,000 people would participate in activities this week. Instead, a group estimated by police at 1,000 to 1,200 participated in an anti-war march Sunday morning, with a much smaller group parading up Colfax Avenue later in the day.

Nassim Nicholas Taleb: the prophet of boom and doom

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 09:41:52 GMT

clipped by: wildcat
clipper's remarks: In December he lectured bankers at Société Générale, France’s second biggest bank. He told them they were sitting on a mountain of risks – a menagerie of black swans. They didn’t believe him. Six weeks later the rogue trader and black swan Jérôme Kerviel landed them with $7.2 billion of losses.

As a result, Taleb is now the hottest thinker in the world. He has a $4m advance on his next book. He gives about 30 presentations a year to bankers, economists, traders, even to Nasa, the US Fire Administration and the Department of Homeland Security. But he doesn’t tell them what to do – he doesn’t know. He just tells them how the world is. “I’m not a guru. I’m just describing a problem and saying, ‘You deal with it.’”

take a moment and read the article

Clip Source: business.timesonline.co.uk

When this man said the world’s economy was heading for disaster, he was scorned. Now traders, economists, even Nasa, are clamouring to hear him speak

He is telling me how to live. “The only way you can say ‘F*** you’ to fate is by saying it’s not going to affect how I live. So if somebody puts you to death, make sure you shave.”

To explain: black swans were discovered in Australia. Before that, any reasonable person could assume the all-swans-are-white theory was unassailable. But the sight of just one black swan detonated that theory. Every theory we have about the human world and about the future is vulnerable to the black swan, the unexpected event. We sail in fragile vessels across a raging sea of uncertainty. “The world we live in is vastly different from the world we think we live in.”

Last May, Taleb published The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable. It said, among many other things, that most economists, and almost all bankers, are subhuman and very, very dangerous.

Tags: nassim nicholas taleb, economy, black swans