http://www.last.fm/music/The+Cure
Saturday, May 25, 2013
Giant Anteater, Brazil
'This is the critter they need in New Orleans to eat a couple of termites.'-Sally and Sam
I took this shot of a giant anteater in the Fazenda Barranco Alto, a 30,000-acre cattle ranch and wildlife preserve in the Pantanal of the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul. I had been looking for animals all day long, driving and walking through grasslands and forest patches that surround the endless lakes dotting the landscape of this region. During the day I had seen other giant anteaters, a giant otter, white-lipped peccaries, and many other interesting mammals. As the sun was setting, I saw a dark shadow on the shore of one of the lakes. I took my camera and walked slowly toward that moving shadow. With great surprise I found out that it was a giant anteater. I took the photo with a flash against the fading daylight. It was a memorable moment that was caught in my photo. —Gerardo Ceballos
Photograph by Gerardo Ceballos, Your Shot
This Month in Photo of the Day: The Stories Behind Your ShotsI took this shot of a giant anteater in the Fazenda Barranco Alto, a 30,000-acre cattle ranch and wildlife preserve in the Pantanal of the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul. I had been looking for animals all day long, driving and walking through grasslands and forest patches that surround the endless lakes dotting the landscape of this region. During the day I had seen other giant anteaters, a giant otter, white-lipped peccaries, and many other interesting mammals. As the sun was setting, I saw a dark shadow on the shore of one of the lakes. I took my camera and walked slowly toward that moving shadow. With great surprise I found out that it was a giant anteater. I took the photo with a flash against the fading daylight. It was a memorable moment that was caught in my photo. —Gerardo Ceballos
New Orleans ‘Termite Apocalypse’ In Photos, video
The city of New Orleans got struck by thousands and thousands of swarming Formosan termites on Wednesday night that kept hitting for everything that was lit up.
Obviously people reacted in a way they react to everything these days. They took pictures of the bizarre attack and posted them on social media instantly. Within no time the internet was flooded with photos of these creatures crawling and flying around homes and cars and everywhere else.
Here are a few pictures of the creepy ‘termite apocalypse’ for you to look at: photos here.
Without Cats, Birds Would Suffer, So Would We
By What would happen if all the world’s cats vanished? That’s the question posed by Natalie Wolchover on the Mother Nature Network. And it’s a particularly relevant question since several ‘bird groups’ have recently and repeatedly pursued lots of press alleging that innocent wildlife is being exterminated by community cats. The allegation is that songbirds are at risk, many are endangered and may perish as a result of cats. This isn’t only an issue in America.
Earlier this year, a New Zealand environmentalist wanted to actually ban future cat ownership. His idea didn’t get very far, but it received international coverage and is illustrative of anti cat sentiment.
Some one must love cats, at least in America, cats are the most popular pet, outnumbering dogs. There are about 74 million pet cats in America, and about 70 million dogs. In truth, cats are man’s best friends...Read here...
‘They don’t want to integrate’: Fifth night of youth rioting rocks Stockholm
:Youth gang riots in the Swedish capital Stockholm have entered fifth
straight night. Hundreds of mostly immigrant teenagers tore through the
suburbs, smashing windows and burning cars in the country’s worst
outbreak of violence in years.At least six vehicles were torched throughout the city late on Thursday while the police called for reinforcements from other Swedish cities bracing for further unrest.
Firefighters were putting out flames that engulfed several cars and a school in immigrant-dominated areas of Stockholm...“In Sweden you’ve got welfare, access to the educational system – up to university level, you got access to public transport, libraries, healthcare – to everything. And still they feel that they [immigrants] need to riot through stones and Molotov cocktails. It’s ridiculous and a bad excuse,” Swedish Democrats MP Kent Ekeroth told RT...Continue reading...
Friday, May 24, 2013
Bethany Hamilton - My Story "Soul Surfer"
[photo]
What is a “Soul Surfer”?
“It’s funny how ‘Soul Surfer’ became the name of the movie &
book. A lot of people think soul surfing is only for people who don’t
compete. I don’t know what the description really is. But for me soul surfing is just being passionate about the ocean and surfing.
That’s what I am. I’m passionate about being out there and enjoying
God’s creation. People didn’t think I would continue surfing, but I did.
That just shows my passion for surfing.” – Bethany Hamilton. http://bethanyhamilton.com/soul-surfer/Bethany Hamilton.bio
‘Anonymous’ a little less so, thanks to Israeli hackers. THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
Anonymous,' Israel-style, courtesy of the Israel Elite Force -- IEF (photo credit: Screenshot)
By David Shamah:
After April’s largely unsuccessful campaign by Anonymous and Arab hackers, #OpIsrael, to “remove Israel from the Internet,” a second round of hack attacks against Israeli sites, “OpIsrael Reloaded,” is planned for Saturday. The followup campaign seeks to demonstrate that Israel did indeed sustain a great deal of damage and economic loss during the first effort.
By David Shamah: After April’s largely unsuccessful campaign by Anonymous and Arab hackers, #OpIsrael, to “remove Israel from the Internet,” a second round of hack attacks against Israeli sites, “OpIsrael Reloaded,” is planned for Saturday. The followup campaign seeks to demonstrate that Israel did indeed sustain a great deal of damage and economic loss during the first effort.
The campaign has picked up some steam on
hacker networks, but is unlikely to be as large as #OpIsrael. There were
dozens of YouTube videos “advertising” that campaign with hundreds of
thousands of views, while #OpIsraelReloaded showed up just a few times
on the site, with only a few thousand views recorded, as of Thursday
evening. Nevertheless, system administrators in government and
enterprise are redoubling their network defenses to ensure that they
weather the coming storm.
This time, however, the identities of the
Anonymous hackers planning the attack are a little less, well,
Anonymous. Born on the eve of the original #OpIsrael in April, a
pro-Israel hacker team called the Israel Elite Force (IEF) has been
responding in kind, defacing sites in Arab countries and publishing what
it claims are names and passwords for credit card, Facebook, bank and
email accounts, and other information that is supposed to be secure.
The IEF’s latest gambit seeks to “rip the mask
off the hackers attacking Israel,” the group says in a video. A message
on a hacker site and in the IEF’s Twitter feed refers web surfers to a web page
listing personal details of individuals the group says are key figures
in the #OpIsrael hacking operations. The information was gathered, the
group said, by hackers in its own organization, and with the help of a
joint team of American and Israeli hackers...Continue reading...
Saskatoon considers ban on dogs in truck beds
By Charles Hamilton, The StarPhoenix: It's a common sight in Saskatoon and rural communities, but animal advocates say it's dangerous for drivers and pets alike.
Driving with a dog in the open back of your truck could soon be illegal in the city, if members of a civic committee get their way.
"It's a risk to motorists on the road and it's a huge risk to dogs," Cassandra Hovedestad told the city's advisory committee on animal control at a meeting on Thursday.
Hovedestad is spearheading the city's push for a bylaw to stop people from transporting dogs in the beds of trucks...Read here...
Shocking Wolf Attacks - Surviving a Wolf Attack
Here's the skinny on wolves: They are efficient killers, killing large game animals like moose, elk, caribou, deer, and bighorn sheep as well as a consistent diet of small mammals like boar, birds, and lizards, eating up to 20 pounds of meat in one sitting. They most often travel and hunt in packs ranging from approximately 6 - 10 wolves, sometimes larger.
With that said, environmentalists and animal rights advocates want people to believe that wolves aren't a threat to people. Ranchers of course don't agree with that -- but typically ranchers are looking at the continuous slaughter of livestock by area wolves.
Wolf advocates don't understand what happens when wolf populations increase and natural food sources dwindle and these wolves start crossing paths with humans. If you spend any time at or near an area of the country where wolves have been re-introduced or packs have simply traveled into nearby wilderness areas (such as Washington State wolf packs heading into Oregon or North Carolina wolves heading into Tennessee), you need to read this.
It may save your life...Read here...
Thursday, May 23, 2013
We are Muslims, Ambassadors of PEACE and we are NOT terrorists
Anthropophagic alien invaders or Islamic spokesmen?
Six of one, half-dozen of the other
When Muslims wage soft jihad (with words, not weapons), the more
skilled practitioners require a translator for the benefit of most
non-Muslim audiences. We wouldn’t want any “infidels” to misunderstand
the Religion of Pathological Deception, would we?Six of one, half-dozen of the other
In response to Michal’s lengthy propaganda effort. He begins:
We are Muslims, Ambassadors of PEACE and we are NOT terroristsThe only problem is, our idea of “peace” means that you don’t try to slaughter, rape, or enslave us, and we won’t have to defend ourselves against you. Unfortunately, Muhammad’s idea of “peace” was the kind that comes from (literally) killing the competition:
“Say to the Unbelievers, if (now) they desist (from Unbelief), their past would be forgiven them; but if they persist, the punishment of those before them is already (a matter of warning for them). And fight them until there is no more Fitnah (disbelief and polytheism: i.e. worshipping others besides Allah) and the religion (worship) will all be for Allah Alone (in the whole of the world). But if they cease (worshipping others besides Allah), then certainly, Allah is All-Seer of what they do” (Qur’an 8:38; ayah 39 from Noble Qur’an).As for “terrorism”? Of course, not all Muslims carry out or condone terrorism. But what’s the best you can expect when “Allah’s Apostle said, ‘I have been made victorious with terror’” (Bukhari Volume 4, Book 52, Number 220)?
Who will define who a “sweet” person from other religions is?How about Muhammad? He said of non-Muslims in general (and Jews and Christians, and perhaps Zoroastrians and others — it depends on whom you ask):
“Those who disbelieve, neither their possessions nor their (numerous) progeny will avail them aught against Allah: They are themselves but fuel for the Fire” (Qur’an 3:10). “Abu Huraira reported Allah’s Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying: The last hour would not come unless the Muslims will fight against the Jews and the Muslims would kill them until the Jews would hide themselves behind a stone or a tree and a stone or a tree would say: Muslim, or the servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me; come and kill him; but the tree Gharqad would not say, for it is the tree of the Jews” (Muslim Book 41, Number 6985).[link]
“Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, (even if they are) of the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued” (Qur’an 9:29)...Continue reading...
ABARIS on Vimeo
ABARIS from OttoJanWillem on Vimeo.
Far from the world of machines, from the civilization ripping the human soul, a man returns to the higher and pure nature, to the Sun, to the light that comes down from heaven and the earth as water washes bright as gold, the flight of his spirit into the sunset, the elevation over the mountains, beyond the clouds full of sunlight ...
Directed by Ottavio Stellato
Bald Eagle In Pursuit Of Great Blue Heron
By Tiffiny M
In an interview with National Geographic, where this same photo made it’s Top 25 Wild Bird Photographs of The Week, Deutsch says,
In an interview with National Geographic, where this same photo made it’s Top 25 Wild Bird Photographs of The Week, Deutsch says,
“This Bald Eagle was chasing the Great Blue Heron away from the eggs in her nest. It wasn’t trying to kill the Heron or she would have done so long before this once in a lifetime shot was captured.”Deutsch got his start in professional photography working as a fashion photographer, which he did for twenty years. After a hiatus from photography to pursue other goals, he made his return to photography, this time working as a bird and wildlife photographer.PICTURE CORRECT
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Heartwarming (and Heartbreaking) Stories of Tornado Victims and Their Animals
by Dashiell Bennett:
In addition to the tragic loss of life and widespread damage to homes
and businesses, the tornadoes that hit Oklahoma this week have also taken a heavy toll on the area's animals.
Thousands of local residents have pets that were killed or lost,
possibly forever, while livestock and even wild animals have also been
affected by the storm. The Orr Family Farm, a local horse farm, took a direct hit to its stables
that may have killed as many as 100 of their horses. For them, the
animals are more than just companions, they're a business and a family's
livelihood. A website has already been set up to help reunite lost pets with their owners...Continue reading...
In addition to the tragic loss of life and widespread damage to homes
and businesses, the tornadoes that hit Oklahoma this week have also taken a heavy toll on the area's animals.
Thousands of local residents have pets that were killed or lost,
possibly forever, while livestock and even wild animals have also been
affected by the storm. The Orr Family Farm, a local horse farm, took a direct hit to its stables
that may have killed as many as 100 of their horses. For them, the
animals are more than just companions, they're a business and a family's
livelihood. A website has already been set up to help reunite lost pets with their owners...Continue reading...
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Warren Faidley professional storm chaser
"Warren Faidley has been called "America's foremost, hands-on severe weather and disaster survival expert." This is likely due to the fact he has outwitted and survived some of the planet's most extreme weather and natural disasters for over 25 years. As a fulltime, extreme weather journalist, Warren has encountered a host of calamities including violent tornadoes, floods, firestorms, earthquakes, lightning jolts, grapefruit-sized hail, blizzards, hurricanes (including Category 5 Andrew) and even pitchfork-yielding farmers..." stormchaser.com/
Huge tornado hits Oklahoma City suburb, kills 51
Kay James holds her cat as she sits in her driveway after her home was destroyed by the tornado that hit the area on Monday. [dailymail]
[photo]
Associated Press:
[photo]Associated Press:
MOORE, Okla. (AP) -- A monstrous tornado at least a half-mile wide
roared through the Oklahoma City suburbs Monday, flattening entire
neighborhoods and destroying an elementary school with a direct blow as
children and teachers huddled against winds up to 200 mph. At least 51
people were killed, and officials said the death toll was expected to
rise...Read here...9news.com
Monday, May 20, 2013
The KFC smugglers of Gaza
The service, according to the New York Times, requires first placing an international telephone order, making a payment by wire transfer, an Egyptian taxi driver to pick up the food from a franchise in El-Arish in the Sinai, couriers to bring it through the half-mile tunnels, a Gazan taxi driver to deliver it from the southern Gaza border to the northern Gaza office of the entrepreneur behind the scheme, and a fleet of motorbikes to take the chicken and chips – by now, presumably cold and limp – to their final destination.
And it doesn't come cheap: a bucket of 12 pieces of chicken plus chips costs around $27. Enough people in Gaza appear to think it's worth the cost and the wait to make Khalil Efrangi's venture a cautious success. In recent weeks he has delivered around 100 meals (orders are restricted to chicken, chips, coleslaw and apple pie), making a $6 profit on each...Read here...
Powerful tornadoes strike in four central U.S. states
By Chris Francescani
(Reuters) - A massive storm front swept north through the central United States on Sunday, hammering the region with fist-sized hail, blinding rain and tornadoes, including a half-mile wide twister that struck near Oklahoma City. News reports said at least one person had died.
By 9:30 p.m. Central Standard Time, more than two dozen tornadoes had been spotted in parts of Iowa, Oklahoma, Kansas and Illinois, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and local news reports. Hail stones, some as large as baseballs, were reported from Georgia to Minnesota, the NOAA said.
Fox News reported that one person was killed in Shawnee, Oklahoma, east of Oklahoma City...Read here...http://zoomradar.com/homepage/?page_id=650
Sunday, May 19, 2013
Canadian Dog Heroes Inducted Into Purina Animal Hall of Fame
Pet Product News: Bella, Vicious, Snickers and Teak are the latest four-legged members of Canada’s pantheon of hero animals.
The four dogs were inducted into the Purina Animal Hall of Fame on May 6 during a ceremony at Toronto’s PawsWay, an education and events center sponsored by Nestlé Purina PetCare Canada and home of the Animal Hall of Fame.
While a similar medallion was placed around each dog’s neck, each animal had a different background story: Bella and owner Chris Larocque.
Teak and his former partner, Constable Derrick Gibson. Read article here.
The four dogs were inducted into the Purina Animal Hall of Fame on May 6 during a ceremony at Toronto’s PawsWay, an education and events center sponsored by Nestlé Purina PetCare Canada and home of the Animal Hall of Fame.
While a similar medallion was placed around each dog’s neck, each animal had a different background story: Bella and owner Chris Larocque.
Teak and his former partner, Constable Derrick Gibson. Read article here.Tommy Chong Beats Prostate Cancer with Hemp Oil and Proper Diet
[gif]
By Dylan Charles Waking Times: Last June, the famous comedian, actor and pro-marijuana legalization advocate, Tommy Chong, reported to the world that he had been diagnosed with stage 1 prostate cancer and that he was seeking unconventional treatment using Cannabis Oil. Almost one year later, Tommy is feeling better than ever and is cancer free.
Tommy’s recent announcement, in a blog post, about his successful
battle with cancer is a huge boon to those battling this illness and
many others, and also for those fighting for the common-sensical
liberation of this promising natural medicine:..Read here...
By Dylan Charles Waking Times: Last June, the famous comedian, actor and pro-marijuana legalization advocate, Tommy Chong, reported to the world that he had been diagnosed with stage 1 prostate cancer and that he was seeking unconventional treatment using Cannabis Oil. Almost one year later, Tommy is feeling better than ever and is cancer free.'Crazy' Ants Driving Out Fire Ants in Southeast
An illustration shows the
tawny crazy ant, a South American invasive species that first was found
in Texas in 2002 and since has spread to at least three other Gulf Coast
states.
(Joe MacGown / Mississippi Entomological Museum)[illustration]
Douglas Main, Staff Writer, LiveScience: Invasive fire ants have been a thorn in the sides of Southerners for years. But another invasive species, the so-called "crazy" ant — that many describe as being worse — has arrived and is displacing fire ants in several places. "When you talk to folks who live in the invaded areas, they tell you they want their fire ants back," said Edward LeBrun, a researcher at the University of Texas at Austin, in a statement from the school. "Fire ants are in many ways very polite. They live in your yard. They form mounds and stay there, and they only interact with you if you step on their mound."
Crazy ants, on the other hand, "go everywhere," invading homes and nesting in walls and crawlspaces, even damaging electrical equipment by swarming inside appliances. [Image Gallery: Ants of the World]...Continue reading... See also: Invasion of the Crazy Ants
Elijah Harper: The humble man who said no
Elijah Harper: 1949-2013 (RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS) 
OTTAWA — The man who said "no" and changed the course of Canadian history has died.
Elijah Harper, former chief, MLA and MP, died in Ottawa early Friday morning from complications due to diabetes. He was 64.
"It’s a sad day indeed," said Manitoba Aboriginal Affairs Minister Eric Robinson, who knew Harper for years. "Elijah was a good person, a person of tremendous humility."
His most famous and longest-lasting legacy came in June 1990, when he held up an eagle feather in the Manitoba legislature and said "no" to allowing the Meech Lake accord to come to a vote in the house. The vote required unanimous consent and Harper’s opposition is recognized as one of the things that killed the constitutional amendments being pushed by then-prime minister Brian Mulroney.
"The problem is we, as aboriginal people, have not been dealt fairly, and also the governments have not dealt with the aboriginal issues the way we would like them to have," Harper said in an interview with CBC’s As It Happens during the Meech debate in June 1990. "I think we have always been dealt with as second-class citizens and aboriginal nations are not a priority for first ministers and governments across this country."...winnipegfreepress
OTTAWA — The man who said "no" and changed the course of Canadian history has died.Elijah Harper, former chief, MLA and MP, died in Ottawa early Friday morning from complications due to diabetes. He was 64.
"It’s a sad day indeed," said Manitoba Aboriginal Affairs Minister Eric Robinson, who knew Harper for years. "Elijah was a good person, a person of tremendous humility."
His most famous and longest-lasting legacy came in June 1990, when he held up an eagle feather in the Manitoba legislature and said "no" to allowing the Meech Lake accord to come to a vote in the house. The vote required unanimous consent and Harper’s opposition is recognized as one of the things that killed the constitutional amendments being pushed by then-prime minister Brian Mulroney.
"The problem is we, as aboriginal people, have not been dealt fairly, and also the governments have not dealt with the aboriginal issues the way we would like them to have," Harper said in an interview with CBC’s As It Happens during the Meech debate in June 1990. "I think we have always been dealt with as second-class citizens and aboriginal nations are not a priority for first ministers and governments across this country."...winnipegfreepress
Saturday, May 18, 2013
Great Spirit Prayer
Help me to remain calm and strong in the face of all that comes towards me. Let me learn the lessons you have hidden in every leaf and rock. Help me seek pure thoughts and act with the intention of helping others. Help me find compassion without empathy overwhelming me. I seek strength, not to be greater than my brother, but to fight my greatest enemy - Myself. Make me always ready to come to you with clean hands and straight eyes. So when life fades, as the fading sunset, my spirit may come to you without shame. ---American Indian - Lakota - Chief Yellow Lark 1887 http://johnnydforever.tumblr.com/
b
Friday, May 17, 2013
Killer Frogs Wiping Out Amphibian Species; 1 Found In SF Golden Gate Park
An African clawed frog. (Stanford University)
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) – A frog which carries a deadly infection that kills other amphibian species has been found in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, according to researchers.
The infection found in African clawed frogs doesn’t affect humans, but it is decimating the amphibian population around the world, according to study from Stanford University School of Medicine...Read here...
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) – A frog which carries a deadly infection that kills other amphibian species has been found in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, according to researchers.
The infection found in African clawed frogs doesn’t affect humans, but it is decimating the amphibian population around the world, according to study from Stanford University School of Medicine...Read here...
Alaska volcano continues to erupt, with lava, ash
ANCHORAGE, Alaska- A remote Alaska volcano continues to erupt, spewing lava and ash clouds.
The Alaska Volcano Observatory said Thursday a continuous cloud of ash, steam and gas from Pavlof Volcano has been seen 20,000 feet above sea level. The cloud was moving to the southeast Thursday...Read here...
Egypt's Black Bloc Doesn't Want to Be Your Friend
Anarchists in the West get pretty touchy about the usage of the phrase
"black bloc." While the mainstream media has co-opted the term to
christen a new movement of furious, state-destroying bank smashers, the
anarchists gripe that all it really refers to is the tactic of wearing
all black to help preserve your anonymity at a protest or riot.
In Egypt, however, they seem less concerned with the terminology. Modeling themselves on the anti-establishment ideals of their Western counterparts, the Egyptian Black Bloc share the same tactics and uniform, but have adopted the name with its capital letters intact: Black Bloc as anti-Islamist movement, rather than lowercase anti-CCTV strategy...Continue reading...
"Black Bloc' shows up in Egypt
In Egypt, however, they seem less concerned with the terminology. Modeling themselves on the anti-establishment ideals of their Western counterparts, the Egyptian Black Bloc share the same tactics and uniform, but have adopted the name with its capital letters intact: Black Bloc as anti-Islamist movement, rather than lowercase anti-CCTV strategy...Continue reading...
"Black Bloc' shows up in Egypt
Men who are physically strong are more likely to have right wing political views
By
Daily Mail Reporter:
Men who are strong are more likely to take a right-wing stance, while weaker men support the welfare state, researchers claim.
Their study discovered a link between a man’s upper-body strength and their political views.
Scientists from Aarhus University in Denmark collected data on bicep size, socio-economic status and support for economic redistribution from hundreds in America, Argentina and Denmark...Read here...
Men who are strong are more likely to take a right-wing stance, while weaker men support the welfare state, researchers claim.
Their study discovered a link between a man’s upper-body strength and their political views.
Scientists from Aarhus University in Denmark collected data on bicep size, socio-economic status and support for economic redistribution from hundreds in America, Argentina and Denmark...Read here...
Google ‘Knows When You’re Home’
Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet.com:
Google makes Big Brother look like an amateur.
Google has devised yet another ingenious way of convincing people to hand over their real-time location data, by offering location specific “reminders” as part of its Google Now feature.
During the company’s Google I/O conference for developers in San Francisco yesterday, it was announced that Google Now, the voice-recognizing search product, will soon be available on desktop computers and will network seamlessly with mobile devices.
Google Now enables users to perform Internet searches by speaking to their computers, but it also allows Google to provide both time and location specific reminders that function via GPS technology...Continue reading...
Prison Planet.com:
Google makes Big Brother look like an amateur.
Google has devised yet another ingenious way of convincing people to hand over their real-time location data, by offering location specific “reminders” as part of its Google Now feature.
During the company’s Google I/O conference for developers in San Francisco yesterday, it was announced that Google Now, the voice-recognizing search product, will soon be available on desktop computers and will network seamlessly with mobile devices.
Google Now enables users to perform Internet searches by speaking to their computers, but it also allows Google to provide both time and location specific reminders that function via GPS technology...Continue reading...
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Canada’s Aglukkaq takes hot seat at Arctic Council - Canada still blocked granting observer status to the European Union
PAUL KORING:
Canada took the the helm Wednesday at a ministerial summit of the circumpolar, eight-nation Arctic Council, where Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq faced a clamour from southern nations seeking a greater role in the race to extract the Arctic’s vast oil and mineral riches.
"We must remember that the Arctic Council was formed by Northerners,for Northerners, long before the region was of interest to the rest of the world,” Ms Aglukkaq said, even as the group agreed to give five more nations observer status.
Canada still blocked granting observer status to the European Union -- part of a lingering, bitter dispute over the EU's ban on seal products -- but a slew of nations were given a role in the council.
China, India, South Korea, Singapore and Italy were all given observer status.
“I’ll bring a different perspective to the table,” that of a real northerner, Ms. Aglukkaq had said before leaving for Sweden. She who was born and raised in Canada’s Arctic, and represents Nunavut as a Conservative MP. That Prime Minster Stephen Harper picked her – not the foreign minister, who usually holds Canada’s seat at the council – was seen as symbolic. But Ms. Aglukkaq is no figurehead; she has already served notice that she’s fed up with southern environmentalists trying to dictate – or stall – northern development. "There is no shortage of views, often from afar, as to how the Arctic should be managed and developed in response to the new challenges facing the region,” she said as Canada took over the chair...Continue reading...
Canada took the the helm Wednesday at a ministerial summit of the circumpolar, eight-nation Arctic Council, where Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq faced a clamour from southern nations seeking a greater role in the race to extract the Arctic’s vast oil and mineral riches.
"We must remember that the Arctic Council was formed by Northerners,for Northerners, long before the region was of interest to the rest of the world,” Ms Aglukkaq said, even as the group agreed to give five more nations observer status.
Canada still blocked granting observer status to the European Union -- part of a lingering, bitter dispute over the EU's ban on seal products -- but a slew of nations were given a role in the council.
China, India, South Korea, Singapore and Italy were all given observer status.
“I’ll bring a different perspective to the table,” that of a real northerner, Ms. Aglukkaq had said before leaving for Sweden. She who was born and raised in Canada’s Arctic, and represents Nunavut as a Conservative MP. That Prime Minster Stephen Harper picked her – not the foreign minister, who usually holds Canada’s seat at the council – was seen as symbolic. But Ms. Aglukkaq is no figurehead; she has already served notice that she’s fed up with southern environmentalists trying to dictate – or stall – northern development. "There is no shortage of views, often from afar, as to how the Arctic should be managed and developed in response to the new challenges facing the region,” she said as Canada took over the chair...Continue reading...
Bus beheader Vince Li should be allowed to go to the beach: doctor
[image]
Steve Lambert, Canadian Press, WINNIPEG — A man who beheaded and cannibalized a fellow passenger on a
Greyhound bus in Manitoba is likely to get more privileges in the
coming weeks — something his victim’s mother says should never happen.
Vince Li, 45, has stopped having hallucinations, has been a model patient at the Selkirk Mental Health Centre and is ready for more escorted passes into the community, his psychiatrist said Monday.
“I believe that, primarily, Mr. Li is invested in co-operating with and working with the treatment team,” Dr. Steven Kremer told the Criminal Code Review Board, which examines Li’s condition annually.
Li has made “excellent improvement” since the 2008 attack, Kremer said...Continue reading... Related:Murder of Tim McLean
Steve Lambert, Canadian Press, WINNIPEG — A man who beheaded and cannibalized a fellow passenger on a
Greyhound bus in Manitoba is likely to get more privileges in the
coming weeks — something his victim’s mother says should never happen.Vince Li, 45, has stopped having hallucinations, has been a model patient at the Selkirk Mental Health Centre and is ready for more escorted passes into the community, his psychiatrist said Monday.
“I believe that, primarily, Mr. Li is invested in co-operating with and working with the treatment team,” Dr. Steven Kremer told the Criminal Code Review Board, which examines Li’s condition annually.
Li has made “excellent improvement” since the 2008 attack, Kremer said...Continue reading... Related:Murder of Tim McLean
US windfarms avoiding prosecution for eagle deaths
A golden eagle. Photograph: W Perry Conway/Corbis
The Obama administration has never fined or prosecuted a windfarm for killing eagles and other protected bird species, shielding the industry from liability and helping keep the scope of the deaths secret, an Associated Press investigation has found.
More than 573,000 birds are killed by the country's windfarms each year, including 83,000 hunting birds such as hawks, falcons and eagles, according to an estimate published in March in the peer-reviewed Wildlife Society Bulletin.
Each death is federal crime, a charge that the Obama administration has used to prosecute oil companies when birds drown in their waste pits, and power companies when birds are electrocuted by their power lines. No wind energy company has been prosecuted, even those that repeatedly flout the law...Read here...
The Obama administration has never fined or prosecuted a windfarm for killing eagles and other protected bird species, shielding the industry from liability and helping keep the scope of the deaths secret, an Associated Press investigation has found.
More than 573,000 birds are killed by the country's windfarms each year, including 83,000 hunting birds such as hawks, falcons and eagles, according to an estimate published in March in the peer-reviewed Wildlife Society Bulletin.
Each death is federal crime, a charge that the Obama administration has used to prosecute oil companies when birds drown in their waste pits, and power companies when birds are electrocuted by their power lines. No wind energy company has been prosecuted, even those that repeatedly flout the law...Read here...
For 40 Years, This Russian Family Was Cut Off From All Human Contact, Unaware of WWII
Karp Lykov and his daughter Agafia, wearing clothes donated by Soviet geologists not long after their family was rediscovered.
In 1978, Soviet geologists prospecting in the wilds of Siberia discovered a family of six, lost in the taiga
By Mike Dash
Siberian summers do not last long. The snows linger into May, and the
cold weather returns again during September, freezing the taiga into a
still life awesome in its desolation: endless miles of straggly pine and
birch forests scattered with sleeping bears and hungry wolves;
steep-sided mountains; white-water rivers that pour in torrents through
the valleys; a hundred thousand icy bogs. This forest is the last and
greatest of Earth's wildernesses. It stretches from the furthest tip of
Russia's arctic regions as far south as Mongolia, and east from the
Urals to the Pacific: five million square miles of nothingness, with a
population, outside a handful of towns, that amounts to only a few
thousand people.When the warm days do arrive, though, the taiga blooms, and for a few short months it can seem almost welcoming. It is then that man can see most clearly into this hidden world—not on land, for the taiga can swallow whole armies of explorers, but from the air. Siberia is the source of most of Russia's oil and mineral resources, and, over the years, even its most distant parts have been overflown by oil prospectors and surveyors on their way to backwoods camps where the work of extracting wealth is carried on. Thus it was in the remote south of the forest in the summer of 1978. A helicopter sent to find a safe spot to land a party of geologists was skimming the treeline a hundred or so miles from the Mongolian border when it dropped into the thickly wooded valley of an unnamed tributary of the Abakan, a seething ribbon of water rushing through dangerous terrain. The valley walls were narrow, with sides that were close to vertical in places, and the skinny pine and birch trees swaying in the rotors' downdraft were so thickly clustered that there was no chance of finding a spot to set the aircraft down. But, peering intently through his windscreen in search of a landing place, the pilot saw something that should not have been there. It was a clearing, 6,000 feet up a mountainside, wedged between the pine and larch and scored with what looked like long, dark furrows. The baffled helicopter crew made several passes before reluctantly concluding that this was evidence of human habitation—a garden that, from the size and shape of the clearing, must have been there for a long time...Continue reading...
Saluting Pamela Geller: a Champion of Liberty - Atlas Shrugs
Amil Imani is an ex-Muslim, an Iranian-born American citizen, and a pro-freedom activist. He knows Sharia oppression firsthand, and cuts through the "Islamophobia" nonsense.
Saluting Pamela Geller: a Champion of Liberty Amil Imani, May 14, 2013
Tragically, during these times of great peril, truth is sacrificed by the politically correct, the myopic self-serving in the liberally dominated media, and the ruling class. Against this backdrop, a women of great courage and integrity labors tirelessly in speaking the truth and in the defense of liberty.Pamela Geller’s work in objectively revealing the true nature of Islam makes her a valued champion and defender of human dignity with liberty for all, and in particular, for women as longstanding victims of Islamic misogyny.Geller methodically sheds light on the dark nature of Islamic beliefs and the barbaric practices involving the abuse of women in all ways, such as honor killing, female genital mutilation, child sex trafficking, forced child brides, severe abuse of homosexuals, and much more under the Stone Age Sharia law. Her work upholds and defends the ideals of human rights...Continue reading...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)