'Toons Learn Physics, The Better To Break Its Rules

by Lonny Shavelson

Listen Now [4 min 17 sec] add to playlist

 

Bulked up: When Bruce Banner becomes the Incredible Hulk, where does all that extra mass come from? Professor Alejandro Garcia explains in the video below. Universal Pictures

 

 

 

If the Hulk kicks this guy, which way will he fly? Watch and see.

 

 

 

"You have to know what the rules are in order to break them, to advance the story successfully and [to] keep the audience believing."

Illustrator Courtney Granner

 

 

 

Lonny Shavelson

Alejandro Garcia teaches The Physics of Animation at San Jose State University.

 

All Things Considered, July 3, 2008 · What is it that makes Looney Tunes so loony?

Well, for one thing: when Road Runner lures Wiley Coyote at seemingly supersonic speed off the edge of a cliff. The coyote freezes in mid-air, looks down and realizes there's no cliff under him anymore.

Then, usually with a pained expression, he rockets straight down into the ground.

Of course if a real coyote — one subject to the laws of gravity — were inattentive enough to go speeding off a cliff, it would fall immediately. And its downward path would follow a continuous arc, as vector laws and the physics of velocity insist.

Still, despite its scofflaw ways, Road Runner is physicist Alejandro Garcia's favorite cartoon.

Which is saying something because, thanks to a $200,000 grant from the National Science Foundation, Garcia is spending his summer teaching a master class, The Physics of Animation, for cartooning students at San Jose State University.

In the first class of its kind, he's showing animators how the rules of physics apply to their world.

 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92189335
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Secret report: biofuel caused food crisis

 Internal World Bank study delivers blow to plant energy drive

• by Aditya Chakrabortty

A handful of corn before it is processed.

Photograph: Charlie Neibergall/AP

Biofuels have forced global food prices up by 75% - far more than previously estimated - according to a confidential World Bank report obtained by the Guardian.

The damning unpublished assessment is based on the most detailed analysis of the crisis so far, carried out by an internationally-respected economist at global financial body.

The figure emphatically contradicts the US government's claims that plant-derived fuels contribute less than 3% to food-price rises. It will add to pressure on governments in Washington and across Europe, which have turned to plant-derived fuels to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and reduce their dependence on imported oil.

Senior development sources believe the report, completed in April, has not been published to avoid embarrassing President George Bush.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/jul/03/biofuels.renewableenergy

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Top X: 10 Perfectly Pure Gadgets

permalink

By BBG Staff

Perfection? Some gadgets are already perfect. They don't need further technological advancement. They're pure. If you change one thing about them significantly, you make them worse. You change their nature entirely. When someone finally comes up with a significant improvement to a pure gadget's tech, it will cease to be: it becomes something else. We're calling these gadgets "perfectly pure" and here's ten of them, for the passive absorbption into your cerebral membranes.

The Wristwatch

From the automaton-makers of Rhodes to the battery-powered blinkenlights of a crazy Tokyoflash timepiece, we've always loved machines that work to a schedule. Strip out the modern fad for electronics, however, and the basic workings of the not-so-humble wristwatch haven't changed an awful lot since the mechanism was miniaturized about a century ago. Permitting pocket watches — and a lot of genuine advances in accuracy — and we can look back as far as the 16th century.

In an uncharacteristic flourish, even Wikipedia's army of officious tone-editors allows its entry on the matter to note our enduring love for the wristwatch's "old world craftsmanship." For the rest of us, however, this is a mere a prelude to its introduction to another world—one of escapement mechanisms, differential gears, and other cogporn—that we know we'll love to revisit even when we all have personal atomic clocks embedded in our marrow.

The Toaster

For millennia, the cloddish neanderthal method of toast production reigned haute cuisine — much like a gazelle's torso or the scooped out brainmeats of a blood enemy, toast was best prepared by lancing it with a skewer and holding it over an open flame. There were, of course, sophistications: silver-coated cages used to dangle, to toast unevenly. But it wasn't until the 20th century that the toaster perfected itself, transforming from a helpful kitchen accessory into a nearly Platonic form: the pure mechanical interpretation of the verb to toast.

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My handgun, my parasite

Never forget: The brutal effects of the Bush regime will be felt for generations

By Mark Morford, SF Gate Columnist

Ah, so this is how it's gonna be.

Like recurring cancer. No, more like a rogue rash, an STD, flaring up at unexpected times and in unexpected places and when it fades, you gently let yourself forget all about it until it suddenly erupts and hits hard and ruins your day, and then you can only sit back and moan softly, slather on ointment, shudder.

Wait, one more: Maybe it's most like a nasty intestinal worm, a wicked parasite like those you suck down in India or deep Mexico or the jungles of Indonesia, the kind that burrow deep and attach to all manner of essential organs and induce a wicked bout of dysentery or all-over body convulsion, until you finally crawl out of the hospital and drown in antibiotics and slowly work your way back to semi-health — but only semi, because of course you are never quite the same.

This is where we are. This is the state of the nation after having swallowed the malicious worm of Bush. We have, by all accounts, suffered — and somehow survived — the very worst of the illness, the cancer, the oozing spirit. But now, as America's worst president prepares to amble off the stage he never deserved to be on in the first place, it is time to prepare for any number of convulsions, aftershock, excruciating reminders.

Here is your Bush-loaded Supreme Court, for one regrettable example, addressing the much-misinterpreted Second Amendment for the first time in eons. Here is the majority of the court basically arguing that, in case you forgot, much of America still blindly loves its guns, and of course handguns are a nice addition to any God-fearing family's arsenal of ridiculous self-defense weaponry and therefore banning a device designed to do nothing but kill other humans is just plain wrong.

It is, by all accounts, a severe, dark cloud of a decision, loaded with sadness and a feeling of despair, the cruel notion that America is still defined by its love of violence, or even the utterly phony idea, put forth by Justice Antonin Scalia himself, that only violence prevents violence, or that the answer to the gun problem is, quite simply, more guns, because surely that's what the founding fathers intended, more paranoid NASCAR dads stocking Glocks in the rec room to protect the rug rats from those icky drug-dealing rapists who never come.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2008/07/02/notes070208.DTL

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London Mayoral vote can't be verified due to e-voting irregularities

Glyn sez,

The Open Rights Group's report into e-counting of votes cast in the London Elections is out today. The report finds that:

"there is insufficient evidence available to allow independent observers to state reliably whether the results declared in the May 2008 elections for the Mayor of London and the London Assembly are an accurate representation of voters' intentions."

Votes for London Mayor and the 25 member London Assembly were counted electronically, and overall the election was well-managed by the independent body set up to run elections in London, London Elects.

However, transparency around the recording of valid votes was a major issue, leading many of our team of 27 official observers to conclude that they were unable to observe votes being counted. And while hundreds of screens set up by vote scanners showed almost meaningless data to observers, London Elects admit that the system was likely to be recording blank ballots as valid votes.

The report also details how London Elects are unable to publish an audit, commissioned from KPMG, of some of the software used to count the London vote, because of disputes over commercial confidentiality. The situation highlights the problems that arise when the very public function of running elections is mixed with issues of commercial confidentiality and proprietary software. In the context of a public election, it is unacceptable that these issues should preclude the publication of the KPMG audit.

Link 

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Christopher Hitchens waterboards himself

After Christopher Hitchens wrote a Slate article suggesting that waterboarding wasn't really torture, readers suggested that he try it himself. He did.

So what did it feel like? Hitchens recounts how he was lashed tightly to a sloping board, then, "on top of the hood, three layers of enveloping towel were added. In this pregnant darkness, head downward, I waited until I abruptly felt a slow cascade of water going up my nose ... I held my breath for a while and then had to exhale and - as you might expect - inhale in turn."

That, he says, "brought the damp cloths tight against my nostrils, as if a huge, wet paw had been suddenly and annihilatingly clamped over my face. Unable to determine whether I was breathing in or out, flooded more with sheer panic than with water, I triggered the pre-arranged signal" and felt the "unbelievable relief" of being pulled upright.

The "official lie" about waterboarding, Hitchens says, is that it "simulates the feeling of drowning". In fact, "you are drowning - or rather, being drowned".

He rehearses the intellectual arguments, both for ("It's nothing compared to what they do to us") and against ("It opens a door that can't be closed"). But the Hitch's thoroughly empirical conclusion is simple. As Vanity Fair's title puts it: "Believe me, it's torture."

Link 

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Wall-E is a copyright criminal

 

Posted by Cory Doctorow, July 2, 2008 7:59 AM | permalink

Jesse Willis went to see the new Disney/Pixar movie Wall-E and discovered that the lovable little robot is actually a dire criminal -- because he undertakes a variety of copying activities (bypassing DRM, file-sharing) that will be illegal under Canada's DMCA. Click through to read the unredacted version (warning -- minor spoiler if you do):

1. WALL-E records audio from his favorite movie, XXXXXXXXXXX, putting in onto his own digital recorder (bypassing the macrovision DRM on the tape). A COPYRIGHT CRIME UNDER C-61

2. WALL-E archives the audio, he doesn't merely time-shift it. He listens repeatedly! A COPYRIGHT CRIME UNDER C-61

3. WALL-E shares his DRM-broken music with his friend, another robot named XXXXX. A COPYRIGHT CRIME UNDER C-61

Link

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SOS: the signal that has saved thousands turns 100

It took the tragedy of the Titanic to reveal just how vital an universal distress system was

Fran Yeoman

"Send SOS," one of the Titanic's radio operators supposedly said to another after the famous ship struck that infamous iceberg. "It's the new call and besides this may be your last chance to send it."

That "new call" is 100 years old today, and people around the world who owe their lives to that piece of Morse code may reflect this morning on its importance.

In the past century, "SOS" has become a firm part of popular culture used in everything from DIY programme titles to Abba hits. But it began life in a far more serious setting after being adopted by the international community on July 1, 1908, as the globally recognised distress signal for ships at sea.

At that time voices could not yet be carried across the airwaves and sailors needed a standard means of saying, in Morse code, that they were in trouble.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article4244924.ece

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5th Anniversary of Bush's 'Bring 'em On' Boast on Iraq Is Today

By Greg Mitchell

NEW YORK It appeared, quite innocently and only in passing in The New York Times, five years ago, recording a statement by George W. Bush.

"President Bush today came close to taunting Iraqis who were attacking American-led forces in Iraq and said the assaults would not cause the United States to leave prematurely," the Times reported on July 2, 2003.

'''There are some who feel like -- that the conditions are such that they can attack us there,'' Mr. Bush said. ''My answer is, bring them on. We've got the force necessary to deal with the security situation.'''

An AP account the following day reported that the official White House transcript of the press gathering had Bush saying "bring them on" but "reporters say the phrase actually sounded like 'bring 'em on.'"

In any case, the remarks inspired outrage. Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., called the president's language "irresponsible and inciteful." Sen. John Kerry said they were "unworthy of the office."

To that point in 2003, 186 Americans had lost their lives in Irag. More than 4000 American military personnel, and tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians, have died since that date. Nearly 30,000 Americans have been wounded.

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003822639

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Biodiversity: Some species could be wiped out 100 times faster than feared, say researchers

· Calculations of risk found to be seriously flawed

· Most-endangered may be months from extinction

• by Ian Sample, science correspondent

Mountain gorilla in the Virunga Mountains of Rwanda. Photograph: Andy Rouse/Corbis

Endangered species could become extinct 100 times faster than previously thought, scientists warned yesterday in a bleak reassessment of the threats to global biodiversity. They say methods used to predict when species will die out are seriously flawed and dramatically underestimate the speed at which some will disappear.

The findings, presented in the journal Nature, suggest that animals such as the western gorilla, the Sumatran tiger and Malayan sun bear, the smallest of the bear family, may become extinct much sooner than conservationists had feared.

Ecologists Brett Melbourne, at the University of Colorado at Boulder, and Alan Hastings at the University of California, Davis said conservation organisations should use updated extinction models to urgently re-evaluate the risks to wildlife. "Some species could have months instead of years left, while other species that haven't even been identified as under threat yet should be listed as endangered," said Melbourne.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/jul/03/endangeredspecies.scienceofclimatechange

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Republican Campaign Against Likely Democratic Voters Begins

By Steven Rosenfeld

The GOP's latest accusations are long on rhetoric but short on facts.

Across the country and on the Republican National Committee website, a handful of GOP office holders and party officers are trying to discredit recent voter registration drives and record-setting turnout by Democrats in 2008 primaries, saying efforts seen as benefiting Democrats are rife with "voter fraud."

Consider the following examples:

• The Louisiana Republican Party last month attacked Democrats for a "phony" registration drive because as many as 30 percent of applications were missing information -- an industry norm -- and called for an investigation. Louisiana Secretary of State Jay Dardenne, a Republican, launched that investigation; however, his office has since declined to comment.
• This past Sunday, Alabama Attorney General Troy King, a Republican, appeared on Fox News to complain that voter "fraud and systemic corruption" were rampant in a handful of mostly Democratic-majority counties. He said absentee ballots were being sold for $40 or traded for driveway gravel, but he did not announce any prosecutions.
• In Indiana, after that state's presidential primary, the East Chicago Republican Party chairman claimed that record turnout by Democratic voters included people from nearby Illinois, a charge that the local county election director rejected as unfounded.
• Most notably, the Republican National Committee has a page on its website titled ""You Can't Make This Up!" It features an interactive map on which states are linked to a list of "voter fraud" stories. The reports are a grab bag of almost anything nefarious concerning the voting process or elections, including allegations that may never be prosecuted or tried in court.

Since the 1960s, the Republican Party has raised "ballot security" issues in campaigns to justify a range of activities that critics have said lead to voter suppression. In recent years, fears of voter fraud -- which as defined by the GOP refers to people impersonating other voters -- have led state legislators to pass additional voting regulations, such as tougher voter ID laws and stiff penalties for errors by registration groups. Critics say the laws often are intended to shape the electorate to benefit GOP candidates.

http://www.alternet.org/democracy/90147

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Great Moments in History

Documenting what really matters -- on the Etch a Sketch.

Hey! The Iraq War was over like 6 years ago, right?

http://greatmomentsinhistory.tumblr.com/post/39773904/hey-the-iraq-war-was-over-like-6-years-ago

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Tomgram: Rick Shenkman, American Stupidity

The buck stops… well, where does it stop? And who popularized that phrase, anyway? Herbert Hoover, J. Edgar Hoover, Harry S. Truman, George Washington, or none of the above?

Wait, don't answer! The odds are -- as Rick Shenkman, award-winning investigative journalist and founder of the always provocative website History News Network, tells us in his new book Just How Stupid Are We? Facing the Truth about the American Voter -- you'll be wrong. And when you realize the depths of the ignorance so many Americans take into the voting booth, you may indeed wonder, as Shenkman does to great effect in his new book, where indeed the buck stops.

So here we are heading toward another July 4th, that glorious day when American independence was declared and the Liberty Bell rang out to the world -- the first of which didn't happen on July 4th, the second of which was made up "out of whole cloth" in the nineteenth century in a book for children (but you knew that!). Think of today's post as a bit of counter-programming to our yearly summer celebration of history, a way to ponder what exactly, in the 8th year of the reign of our latest King George, any of us have to celebrate. Consider instead the state of our national brain, preview Shenkman's new book (which should set anyone's mind spinning), and, while you're at it, watch his recent interview with Jon Stewart on The Daily Show by clicking here. Tom

How Ignorant Are We?

The Voters Choose… but on the Basis of What?
By Rick Shenkman

"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." -- Thomas Jefferson

Just how stupid are we? Pretty stupid, it would seem, when we come across headlines like this: "Homer Simpson, Yes -- 1st Amendment 'Doh,' Survey Finds" (Associated Press 3/1/06).

"About 1 in 4 Americans can name more than one of the five freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment (freedom of speech, religion, press, assembly and petition for redress of grievances.) But more than half of Americans can name at least two members of the fictional cartoon family, according to a survey.

"The study by the new McCormick Tribune Freedom Museum found that 22 percent of Americans could name all five Simpson family members, compared with just 1 in 1,000 people who could name all five First Amendment freedoms."

But what does it mean exactly to say that American voters are stupid? About this there is unfortunately no consensus. Like Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart, who confessed not knowing how to define pornography, we are apt simply to throw up our hands in frustration and say: We know it when we see it. But unless we attempt a definition of some sort, we risk incoherence, dooming our investigation of stupidity from the outset. Stupidity cannot mean, as Humpty Dumpty would have it, whatever we say it means.

http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/174951
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Calling all ugly

A few weeks ago, I received the following email which made me snort Jelly Bellies out of my nose when I read it:

Leslie,

I found your name through SheSource. Jim O'Connor publicity professional and award winning author, is writing a book about unattractive people who have faced the world and found happiness, a good job, and love. In a world which places so much emphasis on beauty, Jim wants to know what the secret is in finding success without being beautiful.

Can he interview you? Can we call and set up a time which is good for you?

Hahahahaha. Ha. That, I thought, is the most amazingly backhanded compliment I have ever gotten.

Alas, I was intrigued, and we set up a time to talk.

Yesterday we chatted and he explained his concept a but more and I think it's fascinating and an important topic to address - the world is not all fluffy kittens and Angelina Jolie lips. People are discriminated against and teased about the teeniest, tiniest "imperfections" - we hold ourselves up to impossible standards and criticize ourselves for things (cellulite, a big shnoz) that we'd never even notice on a friend, let alone make them feel like crap for it. I mean, I was on the Today Show discussing "Would you rather be 40 pounds overweight and smart or skinny and dumb" for crying out loud! And let us never forget the day a random teenage boy on the street told me I have cankles.

I told Jim I would help him spread the word as he gathers info for his book. He's already spoken with a number of people from the Ugly NY Talent agency (loathe the name but I "get" the concept of needing "real people" for films and such…and many of them are not traditionally "ugly" - they're simply intriguing or extraordinary-looking -- something we need more of in the media, quite frankly) and is scouting for other men and women to talk to via internet.

http://theweightinggame.ivillage.com/dietfitness/2008/06/calling_all_ugly_1.html
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Trendspotting: The Vonnegut Files

by Richard Laermer

In my book 2011: Trendspotting I tried to cover as much about the future as I could, but the damn editors said a 500-page book wasn't feasible. Recently, I found one of the chapters we cut. I kinda regret it.

It's about Kurt Vonnegut.

No one understood creativity in our world like Vonnegut did. He always said the problem was that people thought too small.

In his last TV interview, the great thinker said he thought what America needed was a "cabinet post" of Secretary of the Future.

On Now on PBS, the esteemed PBS program hosted by David Brancaccio, KV said he thought such a hosted position "would help us live a more sustainable life, not pollute a place where generations in the future have to live. You could also take that to businesses being run in a more sustainable way. Politics. The deficit." Listen to his words:

KURT VONNEGUT: Look, I'll tell you. It's one thing that no cabinet had ever had, is a Secretary Of The Future. And there are no plans at all for my grandchildren and my great grandchildren.

DAVID BRANCACCIO: That's a great idea. In other words a Cabinet post-

KURT VONNEGUT: Well, it's too late! Look, the game is over! The game is over. We've killed the planet, the life support system. And, and it's so damaged that there's no recovery from that. And we're very soon going to run out of petroleum which powered everything that's modern. Razzmatazz about America. And, and it was very shallow people who imagined that we could keep this up indefinitely. But when I tell others, they say; Well, look there's- you said hydrogen fuel. Nobody's working on it.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/richard-laermer/trendspotting-the-vonnegu_b_109294.html

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Reefer Madness

REEFER MADNESS

Book By Kevin Murphy & Dan Studney

Lyrics by Kevin Murphy

Music by Dan Studney 
June 27-July 13

Directed by David McLaughlin
Choreography by Kar-el Green
Costumes by Derik Shopinski
Scenic/Lighting Design by J.W. Layne

The year is 1936. As the play opens, THE LECTURER, a severe authority figure, informs the audience of the new drug menace "Marihuana," which threatens the American way of life! His warnings are reinforced by THE PLACARD GIRL who throughout the play holds up large signs that clearly state the moral of what we've just seen. From his podium, The Lecturer warns us that action must be taken immediately, before the Good Ol' U.S.A. succumbs to the Demon Weed! (REEFER MADNESS!) The Lecturer illustrates his point, introducing us to JIMMY HARPER and MARY LANE, a lovable pair of wholesome teens who hold hands, sip hot cocoa and think pure thoughts while studying Shakespeare for English class. (ROMEO AND JULIET)

 

CLICK HERE FOR MORE THEATRE INFORMATION
 

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Liberty

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Kennedy leads renewed effort on universal healthcare

Presses for bipartisan support before new president takes office

By Lisa Wangsness Globe Staff / July 2, 2008

Senator Edward M. Kennedy's office has begun convening a series of meetings involving a wide array of healthcare specialists to begin laying the groundwork for a new attempt to provide universal healthcare, according to participants.

The discussions signal that Kennedy, who instructed aides to begin holding the meetings while he is in Massachusetts undergoing treatment for brain cancer, intends to work vigorously to build bipartisan support for a major healthcare initiative when he returns to Washington in the fall.

Those involved in the discussions said Kennedy believes it is extremely important to move as quickly as possible on overhauling the healthcare system after the next president takes office in January in order to capitalize on the momentum behind a new administration.

Kennedy was an early endorser of Senator Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee who is also a member of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, which Kennedy chairs.

Obama's Senate staff has attended the roundtable discussions. If Obama is elected, Kennedy's effort to identify points of agreement among senators could smooth the way for the new administration to press ahead on universal healthcare, which Obama has promised to implement within four years.

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Iran 'seriously considering' new international nuclear offer

By Warren P. Strobel

UNITED NATIONS — Iran's senior diplomat said Tuesday that Tehran was seriously considering a new offer from six world powers to resolve the dispute over its nuclear program, and he praised the package as "constructive."

The unusually positive remarks by Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki to a small group of reporters raised hope that a negotiated solution can be found to defuse the crisis.

The U.N. Security Council has demanded that Iran suspend the enrichment of uranium that can be used for nuclear weapons, and the Bush administration has refused direct talks with Iran until it meets that condition.

During a 90-minute luncheon at Iran's United Nations mission, Mottaki dismissed the growing speculation that Israel or the United States will strike at Iran's nuclear facilities during President Bush's last six months in office.

He described news reports to that effect as part of a long-running campaign of "psychological warfare."

The chance that Israel will attack Iran "is almost nil," Mottaki said. As for a U.S. strike, he said there was little public support in this country for a new conflict. "The consequences of such an attack cannot be predicted," he said.

Yet there are signs of intensified debate within Iran's leadership about its nuclear program. Iran has long said that it has an inalienable right to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes. But Mottaki declined three opportunities to reiterate that position Tuesday, indicating that Iran is weighing its options.

"We are seriously and carefully examining" the proposal, Mottaki said.

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/42839.html

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Book Drive for Iraq - How you can do your bit to build democracy.

By Christopher Hitchens

It's quite common to read, usually from liberal opponents of the engagement in Iraq, that George W. Bush's administration hasn't asked the American people to make any sacrifices. I must confess that I never quite understand this criticism. As a society, we collectively contribute a great deal from our common treasury to give Iraq a fighting chance to recover from three decades of war and fascism and to prevent it from falling into the hands of the enemies of civilization. And as fellow citizens, we experience the agony of loss when our soldiers, aid workers, civil servants, and others are murdered. (That each of these is a volunteer is a great cause for national pride.)

However, I do believe that many people wish they could do something positive and make a contribution, however small, to the effort to build democracy in Iraq. And I have a suggestion. In the northern Iraqi city of Sulaymaniya, the American University of Iraq has just opened its doors. And it is appealing for people to donate books.

Here is some background: In 2006, the McKinsey consulting group was hired by my friend Barham Salih, the deputy prime minister of Iraq, to produce a business plan for a university along the lines of the existing success stories of the American Universities in Cairo and Beirut. The board of trustees includes Ayad Allawi, Iraq's former prime minister, Fouad Ajami of Johns Hopkins, Kanan Makiya of Brandeis, and Iraqi President Jalal Talabani. The U.S. Congress has pledged more than $10 million to the project, as has the Kurdish Regional Government, the autonomous administration of the country's northeastern provinces. For reasons of security, the only campus open at present is in this area of Iraq, where Americans are not targeted and where al-Qaida dares not operate. But Salih, who is himself a Kurd and a native of Sulaymaniya, hopes that as the situation on the ground improves, there will also be campuses in Baghdad and Basra.

 http://www.slate.com/id/2194308/
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How hot is it in California?

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Enfeebled superpower: how America lost its grip

The mighty US has held the best ever hand in global political history but played it spectacularly badly. Now its influence is waning on all fronts

US power is being challenged by anti-war protesters worldwide

by  Fareed Zakaria

When historians try to understand the world of the early 21st century, they should take note of the Parsley crisis. In 2002, the government of Morocco sent 12 soldiers to a tiny island called Leila in the Straits of Gibraltar and planted its flag there.

The island is uninhabited and all that thrives on it is wild parsley, hence its Spanish name, Perejil. But its sovereignty had long been contested and the Spanish government reacted forcefully: 75 Spanish soldiers were airlifted onto the island; they pulled down the Moroccan flag, hoisted two Spanish flags and sent the Moroccans home. The Moroccan government denounced the "act of war" and Spain put its warships off the coast of Morocco.

From afar the whole affair looked like a comic opera. But someone was going to have to talk the two countries down. That role fell not to the United Nations, or to the European Union, or to France, which has good relations with both sides. It fell to the United States. "I kept thinking to myself, 'What do I have to do with any of this?' " recalled Colin Powell, who was secretary of state.

Once it became clear that nothing else was working, he began a hectic round of telephone diplomacy from home on a Friday night: "I decided that I had to push for a compromise fast because otherwise pride takes over, positions harden and people get stubborn. And my grandkids were going to come over soon for a swim."

By Saturday morning he had drafted an agreement on his home computer. He got both sides to accept it, signed for each side himself and faxed it to Spain and Morocco. They issued statements thanking the United States for helping to resolve the crisis. Powell got to go swimming with his grandkids.

It is a small example but a telling one. The United States has no interests in the Strait of Gibraltar. But it was the only country that could resolve the dispute for a simple fundamental reason. In the unipolar world we have lived in since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, it is the single superpower.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article4186066.ece

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Mel Gibson is still the number one patriot

July 3rd, 2008 Although it was a short week, News Groper's A-list bloggers did not take an early vacation. Morgan Freeman laid out an itinerary for the day he becomes invisible, Dr. Phil decided defense mechanisms have their rightful place, and Bill O'Reilly drew attention to the number one danger facing America: freeloading penguins. Also we started a tumblr account. www.miquoter.com. Go there to get our funniest short quips throughout the day. Happy 4th! To settle this debate on patriotism, look no further than THE PATRIOT! by Mel Gibson I was wrong, denial can be a great thing by Dr. Phil This recession, like my hair, just needs an elaborate combover by Donald Trump I can see everything by Morgan Freeman I can't survive on 6500 Starbucks by Christopher Walken Thank God my mom made me take dancing lessons by Mario Lopez No more handouts, penguins! by Bill O'Reilly Regards, The News Groper Editors www.newsgroper.com

News Groper is a network of fake parody blogs. Address: News Groper LLC, 18 Bridge St., Suite 2E, Brooklyn, NY 11201, USA. Copyright © 2008 News Groper LLC. All rights reserved.

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French man with two asses surprises Swedish officials

Customs officials in Gothenburg were at a loss as to how to deal with Jacques Abdelaziz and his two four-legged pack animals when the trio wandered off a ferry boat from Denmark on Sunday afternoon.

Abdelaziz, who hails from Brittany in northwestern France, has been wandering around Europe for the past two months with his two donkeys, Nounou and Toutoune, according to the Göteborg-Posten (GP) newspaper.

And the journey had been going smoothly, if not slowly, until the pilgrims landed on Swedish shores, whereupon they were met by requests for permits and paperwork.

"I had thought about just going to Stockholm and then heading back but now I'm not sure what's going to happen. All they care about are documents," Abdelaziz said to GP as he nodded toward the customs checkpoint.

While customs officials weren't unsympathetic to the Frenchman's plight, they explained that he lacked important documents required by Sweden's Board of Agriculture, including a veterinary examination costing €250 ($395), a sum which Abdelaziz wasn't prepared to pay.

The whole incident left the animal's owner feeling frustrated, regretting his decision to come to Sweden.

http://www.thelocal.se/12748.html
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In their boots

Rosie & Alan Babin

Army Medic Alan Babin was running to the aid of a fellow soldier when he was hit in the stomach by hostile fire. His mother, Rosie, is determined to help him walk again.

Celina & Jerry Cortinas Ever since Jerry Cortinas was seriously injured in the line of duty, his wife Celina has helped him slowly readjust to civilian life.

Gary & Amanda Raymond Gary Raymond and his wife, Amanda, prepare their family and their lives for Gary's upcoming tour in Iraq.

Kim & Justin Roy Kim Roy has spent the last fifteen months taking care of her two young boys while her husband, Justin, was away in Afghanistan. Now he's coming home. 

http://intheirboots.com/

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More than 2,000 guitarists appear to set record

CONCORD, Calif. - More than 2,000 guitar-players performing "This Land is Your Land" in a Bay Area park appear to have strummed their way into the record books.

Led by 1960s folk singer Country Joe McDonald, 2,052 electric and acoustic guitar pickers played the Woody Guthrie classic at Todos Santos Park in Concord on Tuesday night.

McDonald kept the racket going for more than six minutes, as children and adults repeated the song's chorus.

Organizers believe the rendition was good enough to beat the Guinness World Record for guitar-ensemble playing. The previous mark was set in Germany in 2007, when 1,802 people played "Smoke on the Water."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080702/ap_on_fe_st/odd_guitar_record;_ylt=Asjeeez6ENyNXMZIh4ry9opxFb8C

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The Fly

In this photo released by the Chatelet theater on Tuesday, July 1, 2008, Canada's Daniel Okulitch performs in a scene of The Fly directed by David Cronenberg in Paris, France. Cronenberg's 1986 horror flick 'The Fly' has undergone a strange metamorphosis, and now it's an opera. The new incarnation of 'The Fly,' with tenor Placido Domingo conducting the orchestra and Academy Award-winning composer Howard Shore behind the score, isn't as gory as the original.

Photo by Marie Noelle Robert 

http://www.theflytheopera.com/

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Good cholesterol linked directly to memory loss

OverTheLimit

Your Daily Dose Of Over The Top News

According to French researchers, low levels of good cholesterol have been linked directly to memory loss, or dementia.

The study was led by Archana Singh-Manoux of the French National Institute for Health and Medical Research in Paris.

At the University College London in England, over 3,500 people took place in the study, which began in 1985.

What they found was that those with low levels of high-density lipoproteins or HDL "good" cholesterol, were more likely to suffer from memory loss or dementia.

This was witnessed in all middle-aged people, men and women.

http://www.overthelimit.info/health/2008/07/01/good-cholesterol-linked-directly-to-memory-loss/

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Flooding continues...

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Mentally Ill Republicans

by Jon Faulkner

It's not difficult to make the case that conservative republicans suffer from a form of mental illness. Americans have watched them embrace family values and discover ethics, while stealing an election and contriving the circumstances for starting wars. They have worked tirelessly to undermine the American Constitution while frantically waving the flag. They firmly believe in the privatization of government and consistently ignore the inconvenient history of the American taxpayer bailout of one failed/scandalized corporation after the next. These things, by and of themselves, don't make republicans soft in their heads, but as Einstein said of insanity, it's "doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."

There are no practical reasons that Americans, unless they are independently wealthy, or industrial capitalists, should belong to the republican party. In a healthy, freedom loving democracy, republicanism would not be tolerated, and its inherents would be shunned like the plague. One has only to ask, "Just what is it that conservative republicans have ever done for the collective good of the nation?" If a rejoinder is slow in coming it's understandable, because the answer is, not much, if anything. Republican mental illness manifests itself in the duality that conservatives want to turn the clock back to mom, apple pie, and that good, ol' time religion, while unmercifully exploiting every natural resource until the ravaged earth will no longer support life. Turning yet another profit takes precedence over their own survival. This is not a healthy, mental state.

To attain public office, conservative republicans must lie. The truth must be disguised because their motives for leadership rest solely on their ambition to material gain. Sharing the nation's vast wealth among its people is anathema to republicans.   Sphere: Related Content

Cindy McCain...homeless?!?

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Google Shuts Down Anti-Obama Sites on its Blogger Platform

By Warner Todd Huston

It looks like Google has officially joined the Barack Obama campaign and decided that its contribution would be to shut down any blog on the Google owned Blogspot.com blogging system that has an anti-Obama message. Yes, it sure seems that Google has begun to go through its many thousands of blogs to lock out the owners of anti-Obama blogs so that the noObama message is effectively squelched. Thus far, Google has terminated the access by blog owners to 7 such sites and the list may be growing. Boy, it must be nice for Barack Obama to have an ally powerful enough to silence his opponents like that!

It isn't just conservative sites that Google's Blogger platform is eliminating. For instance, www.comealongway.blogspot.com has been frozen and this one is a Hillary supporting site. The operator of Come a Long Way has a mirror site off the Blogspot platform and has today posted this notice:

I used to have a happy internet home on Blogger: www.comealongway.blogspot.com. Then on Wednesday night, June 25, I received the following e-mail:

Dear Blogger user,

This is a message from the Blogger team.

Your blog, at http://comealongway.blogspot.com/, has been identified as a potential spam blog. You will not be able to publish posts to your blog until we review your site and confirm that it is not a spam blog.

Sincerely,

The Blogger Team

It turns out that there is an interesting pattern where it concerns the blogs that Google's Blogspot team have summarily locked down on their service. They all belong to the Just Say No Deal coalition, a group of blogs that are standing against the Obama campaign. It seems the largest portion of these blogs are Hillary supporting blogs, too.

All I can say is, WOW! If Google is willing to abuse its power like this even against fellow leftists, what does it plan against conservatives, the folks Google hates even more!?

Here is a list of the Blogspot blogs that have been frozen by Google thus far:

• Blue Lyon @ http://bluelyon.blogspot.com
• Come A Long Way @ http://comealongway.blogspot.com
• Hillary or Bust @ http://hillaryorbust.blogspot.com
• McCain Democrats @ http://mccaindemocrats.blogspot.com
• NObama Blog @ http://nobamablog.blogspot.com
• politicallizard.blogspot.com @ http://thelizardannex.blogspot.com
• Reflections in Tyme @ http://reflections-in-tyme.blogspot.com

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/warner-todd-huston/2008/06/29/google-shuts-down-anti-obama-sites-its-blogger-platform

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