Horses in Iceland.
Feb. 23rd, 2005 08:47 am
Feb. 23rd, 2005
I love The Onion.
Feb. 23rd, 2005 10:28 amI support the occupation of Iraq, but I do not support our troops.
"Yes, occupying Iraq does require troops, but they are there for one reason and one reason only: to carry out the orders of the U.S. Defense Department. As far as their overall importance goes, they are no more worthy of our consideration than a box of nails. Ribbons and banners in ostensible "support" of the troops miss the whole point of the invasion, which is to gain a strategic hold over that volatile and lucrative geopolitical region."
"Yes, occupying Iraq does require troops, but they are there for one reason and one reason only: to carry out the orders of the U.S. Defense Department. As far as their overall importance goes, they are no more worthy of our consideration than a box of nails. Ribbons and banners in ostensible "support" of the troops miss the whole point of the invasion, which is to gain a strategic hold over that volatile and lucrative geopolitical region."
(no subject)
Feb. 23rd, 2005 10:51 am"Allah's Sniper" - an interview with an Iraqi man who kills Americans.
It's a creepy piece. He says he concentrates on the ones who shoot civilians or make a point of mistreating them - he shot one man who repeatedly urinated on people's houses from the top of a Bradley - and he takes "requests" from locals.
It's a creepy piece. He says he concentrates on the ones who shoot civilians or make a point of mistreating them - he shot one man who repeatedly urinated on people's houses from the top of a Bradley - and he takes "requests" from locals.
Over the past decade, a number of major automakers in America have relied on the services of a French-born cultural anthropologist, G. Clotaire Rapaille, whose speciality is getting beyond the rational--what he calls "cortex"--impressions of consumers and tapping into their deeper, "reptilian" responses.
And what Rapaille concluded from countless, intensive sessions with car buyers was that when S.U.V. buyers thought about safety they were thinking about something that reached into their deepest unconscious. "The No. 1 feeling is that everything surrounding you should be round and soft, and should give," Rapaille told me. "There should be air bags everywhere. Then there's this notion that you need to be up high. That's a contradiction, because the people who buy these S.U.V.s know at the cortex level that if you are high there is more chance of a rollover. But at the reptilian level they think that if I am bigger and taller I'm safer. You feel secure because you are higher and dominate and look down. That you can look down is psychologically a very powerful notion. And what was the key element of safety when you were a child? It was that your mother fed you, and there was warm liquid. That's why cupholders are absolutely crucial for safety. If there is a car that has no cupholder, it is not safe. If I can put my coffee there, if I can have my food, if everything is round, if it's soft, and if I'm high, then I feel safe. It's amazing that intelligent, educated women will look at a car and the first thing they will look at is how many cupholders it has."
And what Rapaille concluded from countless, intensive sessions with car buyers was that when S.U.V. buyers thought about safety they were thinking about something that reached into their deepest unconscious. "The No. 1 feeling is that everything surrounding you should be round and soft, and should give," Rapaille told me. "There should be air bags everywhere. Then there's this notion that you need to be up high. That's a contradiction, because the people who buy these S.U.V.s know at the cortex level that if you are high there is more chance of a rollover. But at the reptilian level they think that if I am bigger and taller I'm safer. You feel secure because you are higher and dominate and look down. That you can look down is psychologically a very powerful notion. And what was the key element of safety when you were a child? It was that your mother fed you, and there was warm liquid. That's why cupholders are absolutely crucial for safety. If there is a car that has no cupholder, it is not safe. If I can put my coffee there, if I can have my food, if everything is round, if it's soft, and if I'm high, then I feel safe. It's amazing that intelligent, educated women will look at a car and the first thing they will look at is how many cupholders it has."
Bill Maher is wonderful.
Feb. 23rd, 2005 12:35 pm"I think that flying planes in a building was a faith-based initiative."
Anything that annoys the AFA is inherently good.
(Full transcript here)
Anything that annoys the AFA is inherently good.
(Full transcript here)
(no subject)
Feb. 23rd, 2005 01:25 pmScientists solve structure of rare-but-naturally-occuring antibody that destroys HIV.
Significantly, the structure shows what an effective HIV-neutralizing antibody can look like. 4E10 targets an area on the HIV surface protein GP41 that the virus uses to fuse its membrane to the membrane of a human cell it is infecting. The target area is unusually close to the virus's membrane surface, and the antibody has an unusual adaptation that might help it stick to the virus close to the membranea "finger" of amino acids with a propensity to dip down into the membrane and bring the antibody in contact with the target area.
Moreover, since the structure shows what the "epitope" looks like -- the area on the HIV surface to which 4E10 binds -- this work gives scientists insight into how to reverse-engineer a component of an HIV vaccine. The structure of this antibody could be used as a template to design an epitope mimic that would stimulate the human immune system to make 4E10 or similar broadly neutralizing antibodies against HIV.
"Once one knows what the epitope is, one can design mimics of it much more easily," says Wilson, who is an investigator in The Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology at The Scripps Research Institute.
Significantly, the structure shows what an effective HIV-neutralizing antibody can look like. 4E10 targets an area on the HIV surface protein GP41 that the virus uses to fuse its membrane to the membrane of a human cell it is infecting. The target area is unusually close to the virus's membrane surface, and the antibody has an unusual adaptation that might help it stick to the virus close to the membranea "finger" of amino acids with a propensity to dip down into the membrane and bring the antibody in contact with the target area.
Moreover, since the structure shows what the "epitope" looks like -- the area on the HIV surface to which 4E10 binds -- this work gives scientists insight into how to reverse-engineer a component of an HIV vaccine. The structure of this antibody could be used as a template to design an epitope mimic that would stimulate the human immune system to make 4E10 or similar broadly neutralizing antibodies against HIV.
"Once one knows what the epitope is, one can design mimics of it much more easily," says Wilson, who is an investigator in The Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology at The Scripps Research Institute.
A British-led team of astronomers have discovered an object that appears to be an invisible galaxy made almost entirely of dark matter - the first ever detected. A dark galaxy is an area in the universe containing a large amount of mass that rotates like a galaxy, but contains no stars.
Hihgh School Student expelled for "terrorist threat" - when an anonymous chat log, written from her home computer, doctored and edited, is delivered to the teacher by another student looking to get the first one in trouble.
What did the chat log say? That she hated her Spanish teacher, who was not mentioned by name.
Texas Summit keynote speaker and civil rights attorney Judith Browne of the Advancement Project said that in Houston there were more than 1,000 arrests in schools in 2001 and more than 4,000 in 2002. In Texas in grades one through four, there were more than 16,000 placements, 77 percent for discretionary reasons, she said.
"Zero tolerance started with things like crack cocaine, guns and weapons in urban schools," Browne said. "Now it's Advil, Midol and an asthma inhaler. We are abandoning common sense."
In Texas Senator Jon Lindsay's April 2003 newsletter, the senator cited the example of a high school student expelled after a bread knife was discovered in his truck bed. "Apparently the student helped his grandmother move the previous day and the knife was accidentally left behind. While school administrators knew the student's intent was innocent, they were forced to expel him under the zero tolerance law."
What did the chat log say? That she hated her Spanish teacher, who was not mentioned by name.
Texas Summit keynote speaker and civil rights attorney Judith Browne of the Advancement Project said that in Houston there were more than 1,000 arrests in schools in 2001 and more than 4,000 in 2002. In Texas in grades one through four, there were more than 16,000 placements, 77 percent for discretionary reasons, she said.
"Zero tolerance started with things like crack cocaine, guns and weapons in urban schools," Browne said. "Now it's Advil, Midol and an asthma inhaler. We are abandoning common sense."
In Texas Senator Jon Lindsay's April 2003 newsletter, the senator cited the example of a high school student expelled after a bread knife was discovered in his truck bed. "Apparently the student helped his grandmother move the previous day and the knife was accidentally left behind. While school administrators knew the student's intent was innocent, they were forced to expel him under the zero tolerance law."
(no subject)
Feb. 23rd, 2005 03:25 pmElderly Thai monk mistakes superglue for eye drops.
Operation "Unseal Eye #1" successful - followup operation planned.
Operation "Unseal Eye #1" successful - followup operation planned.
(no subject)
Feb. 23rd, 2005 03:28 pm
Neighbour: "Sean Connery made my life hell!"
In a $30 million lawsuit, Dr. Burton Sultan accuses the 74-year-old former James Bond star of allowing workers to create a deafening noise, fumes, dripping water and an infestation of rats, not to mention loud music allegedly played at all hours, the UK's Press Association reports.
Sultan claims construction work has "wreaked havoc on (his) collection of museum-quality Victorian and early 20th-century wicker furniture ... irreparably damaged by water, falling plaster and black soot and grime."
Pakistani man is punished for adultery by being forced to marry his neice to the woman's husband.
His TWO YEAR OLD neice.
None of the parties to the dispute could be reached for comment Monday. Their Mazari tribal village has no telephone service.
Rashid Rahman, a lawyer and Multan-based co-ordinator with the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, condemned the village council's decision.
"These types of panchayats are illegal and nobody has the right to take a decision about a child's life," he said. "This country has its legal system and all decisions should be taken under it."
He said that the betrothal of a minor did not break the law - but that forcing a woman to marry against her will carries a maximum 14-year jail sentence. Underage marriage, also illegal, is only punishable by a fine.
Village councils in conservative rural parts of Pakistan traditionally rule on local disputes, such as when a family's "honour" is purportedly besmirched by allegations of love affairs. The councils can dictate harsh - and sometimes illegal - punishments.
In 2002, another village council near Multan ordered a woman to be gang-raped as punishment for her brother's sexual relations with another woman.
A court later convicted six men who perpetrated the rape and sentenced them to death. They are appealing their sentences.
His TWO YEAR OLD neice.
None of the parties to the dispute could be reached for comment Monday. Their Mazari tribal village has no telephone service.
Rashid Rahman, a lawyer and Multan-based co-ordinator with the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, condemned the village council's decision.
"These types of panchayats are illegal and nobody has the right to take a decision about a child's life," he said. "This country has its legal system and all decisions should be taken under it."
He said that the betrothal of a minor did not break the law - but that forcing a woman to marry against her will carries a maximum 14-year jail sentence. Underage marriage, also illegal, is only punishable by a fine.
Village councils in conservative rural parts of Pakistan traditionally rule on local disputes, such as when a family's "honour" is purportedly besmirched by allegations of love affairs. The councils can dictate harsh - and sometimes illegal - punishments.
In 2002, another village council near Multan ordered a woman to be gang-raped as punishment for her brother's sexual relations with another woman.
A court later convicted six men who perpetrated the rape and sentenced them to death. They are appealing their sentences.
(With many, many other non-animated pictures. HERE THERE BE SPOILERS.)