Friday, May 30, 2008

Make Way for Ducklings


"While conducting combat operations in Baqubah, Iraq, insurgents dressed as ducks slip effortlessly by the watchful eyes of 1st Infantry Division soldiers." http://www.michaelyon-online.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage-ask3.tpl&product_id=76&category_id=7&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=62

Cathy's Clown-Reba McEntire

The Best Animals Pics - 2007 (81 pics!)


Best Friends Animal Society







A better world through kindness to animals. For more than two decades, Best Friends Animal Society has been dedicated to the simple philosophy that kindness to animals builds a better world for all of us. http://www.bestfriends.org/

Phone home: Purported UFO video to be shown Friday


The oldest dog in the world? And what she eats...


http://www.irememberlove.com/profiles/blog/show?id=2013722%3ABlogPost%3A16672

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Photo Links







"PhotoLinks is a free directory and portal service dedicated to providing easy access to as many photographic resources as possible." PhotoLinks has been online since 1997 and is a well established online photography resource that sends a steady supply of photo enthusiasts to photographers web sites on a daily basis. http://www.photolinks.com/

How to Read Popular Magazines on your Desktop for Free


When Youre Way Too Close To a Massive Tornado

Giant squid netted off Australia


MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA -- Australian fishermen have hauled up a 6-metre giant squid off the country's southeastern coast.
Skipper Rangi Pene says the 225-kilo squid was dead when it was caught in a trawler's nets Sunday night in waters more than 500 metres deep.
Biologist Paul McCoy said it took 10 men to lift the squid onto a stretcher and place it in a freezer to await scientists. http://www.ottawasun.com/News/National/2008/05/27/5676361-sun.html

Dust Storms - When the Air Turns Against You


"They are known by many names: Haboob, Simum, Black Blizzards. A solid wall of dust almost a mile high, moving whole sand dunes and bringing Biblical darkness to the huge areas of the world. Scorching hot winds (up to 40 degrees Celsius) blowing the sand around with hurricane speeds... What seems extreme to us is actually a common occurrence in Africa and the Middle East. The similar sand-saturated hurricane-speed storms over Mediterranian are called Sirocco, Yugo and Ghibli. The dust (or desert sand) particles become airborne and held in suspension, creating a moving front. The convection of cold air over the heated ground maintains the storm and keeps the dust rolling." http://eamazings.com/index.php/eamazings/dust-storms-when-the-air-turns-against-you-20052008.html

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Camera On Mars Orbiter Snaps Phoenix During Landing

LIFE ON MARS?

Cat Box

Funny video on Funnyplace.org - Pig

YouTube suit called threat to online communication





May 26 11:05 PM US/EasternBy LARRY NEUMEISTERAssociated Press Writer

NEW YORK (AP) - A $1 billion copyright infringement lawsuit challenging YouTube's ability to keep copyrighted material off its popular video-sharing site threatens how hundreds of millions of people exchange all kinds of information on the Internet, YouTube owner Google Inc. said.
Google's lawyers made the claim in papers filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan as the company responded to Viacom Inc.'s latest lawsuit alleging that the Internet has led to "an explosion of copyright infringement" by YouTube and others.
The back-and-forth between the companies has intensified since Viacom brought its lawsuit last year, saying it was owed damages for the unauthorized viewing of its programming from MTV, Comedy Central and other networks, including such hits as "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart."
In papers submitted to a judge late Friday, Google said YouTube "goes far beyond its legal obligations in assisting content owners to protect their works."
It said that by seeking to make carriers and hosting providers liable for Internet communications, Viacom "threatens the way hundreds of millions of people legitimately exchange information, news, entertainment and political and artistic expression."
Google said YouTube was faithful to the requirements of the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act, saying the federal law was intended to protect companies like YouTube as long as they responded properly to content owners' claims of infringement.
On that score, Viacom says Google has set a terrible example.
In a rewritten lawsuit filed last month, Viacom said YouTube consistently allows unauthorized copies of popular television programming and movies to be posted on its Web site and viewed tens of thousands of times.
Viacom said it had identified more than 150,000 unauthorized clips of copyrighted programming—including "SpongeBob SquarePants," "South Park" and "MTV Unplugged" episodes and the documentary "An Inconvenient Truth"—that had been viewed "an astounding 1.5 billion times."
The company said its count of unauthorized clips represents only a fraction of the content on YouTube that violates its copyrights.
It said Google and YouTube had done "little or nothing" to stop infringement.
"To the contrary, the availability on the YouTube site of a vast library of the copyrighted works of plaintiffs and others is the cornerstone of defendants' business plan," Viacom said. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080527/ap_on_hi_te/youtube_lawsuit

Dog and kitten

This kitten may be lunch.

Cat hired as station chief brings passengers back


May 26 07:34 AM US/Eastern
By MARI YAMAGUCHI
Associated Press Writer
TOKYO (AP) - A money-losing Japanese train company has found the purr-fect pet mascot to draw crowds and bring back business—tabby Tama.
All the 9-year-old female cat does is sit by the entrance of Kishi Station in western Japan, wearing a black uniform cap and posing for photos for the tourists who are now flocking in droves from across the nation.

Tama has been doing such a good job of raising revenue for the troubled Kishikawa train line that she was recently promoted to "super-station-master."

"She never complains, even though passengers touch her all over the place. She is an amazing cat. She has patience and charisma," Wakayama Electric Railway Co. spokeswoman Yoshiko Yamaki told The Associated Press Monday. "She is the perfect station master."

Appointing a cat to turn around fortunes makes cultural sense in Japan, where cats are considered good luck and are believed to bring in business.

People are snatching up novelty goods—postcards, erasers, notebooks and pins—decorated with Tama's photos. There's even a special 1,365 yen ($13) book of photos of Tama called, "Diary of Tama, the Station Master."

Tama had been on the brink of losing her place to live, with the nearby store where she was raised being torn down. Now, the station is home.

Kishi Station started running without any workers in April 2006 as part of cost cuts.

The Kishikawa line had been losing 500 million yen ($4.9 million) a year as passenger numbers fell steadily to as low as about 5,000 a day, or some 1.9 million a year.

After Tama's appointment last year passengers have been gradually returning, recently rising 10 percent to about 2.1 million a year.

In December Tama was rewarded with bonus pay—all in cat food. http://mdn.mainichi.jp/national/news/20080526p2a00m0na055000c.html

Spider eats frog


via videosift.com

Tom Waits Interviews Tom Waits

Q: What's wrong with the world?
A: We are buried beneath the weight of information, which is being confused with knowledge; quantity is being confused with abundance and wealth with happiness. Leona Helmsley's dog made 12 million last year... and Dean McLaine, a farmer in Ohio made $30,000. It's just a gigantic version of the madness that grows in every one of our brains. We are monkeys with money and guns.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/allsongs/2008/05/an_interview_with_tom_waits_by.html

Sunday, May 25, 2008

Saskatoon couple spots spirit bear in Victoria park


Sighting of cream-coloured bear would be a local first
Sandra McCulloch, Canwest News Service
Published: Saturday, May 24, 2008
A Saskatchewan couple on holiday came face to face with what they say was a white "spirit bear" in East Sooke Park last week.

"I was mesmerized by its beauty," said Barb Farthing Friday in a telephone interview from her home in Saskatoon.

She and her husband Fred are absolutely certain what they saw was a bear. If so, this would be the first local sighting of a black bear with the genetic mutation that makes its coat white, similar to those found on Princess Royal Island on the central coast. They're known as kermode, or spirit bears.

The kermode bear, also known as the spirit bear, has a genetic mutation that turns its coat white.
The couple were on a holiday to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary and attend a nephew's wedding when, on May 13, they decided to hike the coast trail in East Sooke Park.

"We went down to Beechey Head and the petroglyphs and we were actually on our way back," said Farthing.

It was between 5 and 5:30 p.m. when they saw a flash of white ahead of them on the trail.

"I thought it was people coming along," Farthing said. "Then my husband said, 'Holy cow! It's a bear!'

"Sure enough, I saw this big, cream-colored bear. It turned around to look at us and started to come toward us. We were something like 50 feet away."

The sight of a white bear, with dark eyes and nose, had the couple momentarily frozen in their tracks, said Farthing.

"We were just mesmerized because it was so beautiful. I never knew that, besides polar bears, there was such a thing as a white bear."

They scrambled down the cliff to the beach and walked along the rocky shore for half an hour, then climbed back up to the trail farther on. They got back to their car at 6:30 p.m., unsure they should tell anyone about the bear or who they would tell.

The next day, Fred was in a car with another man when they spotted a black bear at the roadside, and he is convinced the white bear he and Barb had seen was much bigger.

The couple flew home a few days later.

"My husband had told a couple of colleagues at work and one of them was a hunter, and he said 'Wow, I think that's really rare. I think you should let somebody know you saw it,' Farthing said.

So the couple sent an e-mail this week to the Sooke tourist centre, which is part of the Sooke Region Museum.

"I know all about doubting and it's a first reaction that this is a mistake," said Elida Peers, the museum's executive director and a life-long resident.

"I'm inclined to go with this," Peers said. "It doesn't sound like it's a mistake. How do we know that other people haven't seen it and just haven't said anything?"

The Farthings are excited with the discovery of the white bear but Barb said they have one deep regret: "Darn it, we didn't take a picture!"

Jeff Ward of Capital Regional Parks said he has not had any other sightings reported to his office of a white bear in the park.

"I'm sure that would have been hot news here," he said yesterday. http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/westcoastnews/story.html?id=20a385ca-498f-415b-93dd-c2f240e19ffa

"Going Home" - Paul Robeson

The Search For Noah's Ark


The Bible and Interpretation


"Dedicated to delivering the latest news, features, editorials, commentary, archaeological interpretation and excavations relevant to the study of the Bible for the public and biblical scholars. " http://www.bibleinterp.com/articles/BAR_essays.htm