Politics

"Being in politics is like being a football coach. You have to be smart enough to understand the game, and dumb enough to think it's important. - Eugene McCarthy (1916-2005)

Those who are too smart to engage in politics are punished by being governed by those who are dumber. - Plato (427 BC - 347 BC)"

Sinfest

Sinfest: "Cross Training Jesus"

BBC NEWS | Europe | Heavy metal monk in second album

BBC NEWS | Europe | Heavy metal monk in second album: "At first glance, Cesare Bonizzi looks like the archetypal Capuchin monk - round-faced, stout, with twinkling eyes and a long flowing white beard. But beneath his robes beats a heart of metal.

Brother Cesare is the lead singer in a heavy metal band which has just released its second album.

A former missionary in the Ivory Coast, he lives in a small friary in the Milan hinterland.

The 62-year-old monk's love affair with heavy metal began when he attended a Metallica concert some 15 years ago.

'I was overwhelmed and amazed by the sheer energy of it' he says."

Running for Office: It's Like A Flamewar with a Forum Troll, but with an Eventual Winner

Running for Office: It's Like A Flamewar with a Forum Troll, but with an Eventual Winner: "Running for Office: It's Like A Flamewar with a Forum Troll, but with an Eventual Winner"

best of craigslist : Nemesis required. 6-month project with possibilty to extend

best of craigslist : Nemesis required. 6-month project with possibilty to extend: "Nemesis required. 6-month project with possibilty to extend"

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Water 'widespread' on early Mars

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Water 'widespread' on early Mars: "Water was once widespread on Mars, data from a Nasa spacecraft shows, raising the prospect that the Red Planet could have supported life.

Researchers found evidence of vast lakes, flowing rivers and deltas on early Mars, all of which were potential habitats for microbes.

They also discovered that wet conditions probably persisted for a long time on the Red Planet."

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Water 'widespread' on early Mars

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Water 'widespread' on early Mars: "Water was once widespread on Mars, data from a Nasa spacecraft shows, raising the prospect that the Red Planet could have supported life.

Researchers found evidence of vast lakes, flowing rivers and deltas on early Mars, all of which were potential habitats for microbes.

They also discovered that wet conditions probably persisted for a long time on the Red Planet."

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Fishing ban brings seas to life

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Fishing ban brings seas to life: "Five years without fishing around Lundy Island off the coast of Devon have brought a significant revival in sea life, scientists report.

Lobsters are seven times more abundant within the protected zone than outside.

The eastern coast of Lundy is the UK's only 'no-take' zone, where fishing is completely prohibited."

Cultron Needs Conformists

Sinfest: "Cultron Needs Conformists"

Asimov's 30 Laws of Robotics

Asimov's 30 Laws of Robotics: "9. A robot must stop visiting Isaac Asimov's bedroom at night and fabricating situations that would make it appear that the sleeping Asimov has less than total control of his urinary faculties."

The Complete Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition Player's Handbook

The Complete Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition Player's Handbook

BBC NEWS | UK | Squaddie makes Miss England final

BBC NEWS | UK | Squaddie makes Miss England final: "A female soldier who once fought off a suspected Iraqi insurgent has won a place in the final of Miss England.

Katrina Hodge, 21, will participate in the contest in July, having already won the Miss Tunbridge Wells crown.

L/Cpl Hodge was nicknamed Combat Barbie in 2005 after being given a bravery commendation for saving the lives of members of her regiment in Iraq."

BBC NEWS | Health | Happiness 'immune to life events'

BBC NEWS | Health | Happiness 'immune to life events': "Momentous events in your life such as having children, or getting married, may make you happier, but only temporarily, say researchers.

Our basic happiness level essentially stays the same throughout adult life, the Economic Journal reports."

BBC NEWS | UK | England | Bradford | X-Men star becomes real professor

BBC NEWS | UK | England | Bradford | X-Men star becomes real professor: "Hollywood star Patrick Stewart, who plays Professor Xavier in the X-Men science fiction films, has had a real-life professorship given to him.

The actor was taking on the new role of Professor of Performing Arts at Huddersfield University, where he is chancellor, in a ceremony on Monday."

"Baby Boom" in a Stellar Nursery -- Berardelli 2008 (711): 2 -- ScienceNOW

"Baby Boom" in a Stellar Nursery -- Berardelli 2008 (711): 2 -- ScienceNOW: "Call it Cosmic Hollywood. Astronomers have found a very young galaxy that produces thousands of stars a year--hundreds of times more than our own Milky Way. The study is 'an important step forward' in understanding the evolution of early galaxies, says astronomer Giovanni Fazio of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts."

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Apples beat pears on crunch issue

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Apples beat pears on crunch issue: "Just why pears rot faster than apples can now be explained by science."

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Living in a world without waste

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Living in a world without waste: "There are no waste collections from households at all. People have to take full responsibility for everything they throw away."

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Pre-quake changes seen in rocks

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Pre-quake changes seen in rocks: "Scientists have made an important advance in their efforts to predict earthquakes, the journal Nature says.

A team of US researchers has detected stress-induced changes in rocks that occurred hours before two small tremors in California's San Andreas Fault.

The observations used sensors lowered down holes drilled into the quake zone.

The team says we are a long way from routine tremor forecasts but the latest findings hold out hope that such services might be possible one day.

'If you had 10 hours' warning, from a practical point of view, you could evacuate populations, you could certainly get people out of buildings, you could get the fire department ready,' said co-author Paul Silver of the Carnegie Institution for Science, Washington."

BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | China bans dog from Olympic menu

BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | China bans dog from Olympic menu: "Authorities have also told people to queue up politely, to smile and not to spit on the streets."

Table of Contents: Creative and Beautiful Examples | Monday Inspiration | Smashing Magazine

Table of Contents: Creative and Beautiful Examples | Monday Inspiration | Smashing Magazine

quotes

If you want things to stay as they are, things will have to change. - Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa (1896-1957)

It isn't what you have, or who you are, or where you are, or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy. It is what you think about. - Dale Carnegie (1888-1955)

The question isn't who is going to let me; it's who is going to stop me. - Ayn Rand (1905-1982)

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Moon's interior 'did hold water'

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Moon's interior 'did hold water': "US scientists have found evidence that water was held in the Moon's interior, challenging some elements of the theory of how Earth's satellite formed.

The Moon is thought to have been created in a violent collision between Earth and another planet-sized object.

Scientists thought the heat from this impact had vaporised all the water.

But a new study in Nature magazine shows water was delivered to the lunar surface from the interior in volcanic eruptions three billion years ago.

This suggests that water has been a part of the Moon since its early existence.

The discovery came from lunar volcanic glasses, pebble-like beads collected and returned to Earth by the US Apollo missions in the late 1960s and early 1970s."

BBC NEWS | Europe | Famed Roman statue 'not ancient'

BBC NEWS | Europe | Famed Roman statue 'not ancient': "A statue symbolising the mythical origins and power of Rome, long thought to have been made around 500BC, has been found to date from the 1200s.

The statue depicts a she-wolf suckling Remus and his twin brother Romulus - who is said to have founded Rome."

Chess boxers slug it out | NEWS.com.au

Chess boxers slug it out | NEWS.com.au: "A RUSSIAN man has been crowned world champion in the novelty sport of chess boxing, a game that requires equal skill at moving pawns and throwing punches."

BBC NEWS | Technology | Hydrogen refuel station unveiled

BBC NEWS | Technology | Hydrogen refuel station unveiled: "A hydrogen refuelling station which could be installed in the home as an alternative to visiting a petrol station has been unveiled."

BBC NEWS | Americas | US man makes balloon chair trip

BBC NEWS | Americas | US man makes balloon chair trip: "An American man has succeeded at the third attempt in making a 235-mile (378km) trip in an armchair held aloft by party balloons."

BBC NEWS | UK | England | Norfolk | Teenager finds bat asleep in bra

BBC NEWS | UK | England | Norfolk | Teenager finds bat asleep in bra: "A teenager who thought movement in her underwear was caused by her vibrating mobile phone found a bat curled up asleep in her bra."

BBC NEWS | UK | Magazine | The bulb hoarders

BBC NEWS | UK | Magazine | The bulb hoarders: "The government wants your old-fashioned energy-hungry incandescent tungsten light bulb gone, and gone soon. But some people are willing to go to great lengths to hang onto the lights they love.

Incandescent bulbs - that's the traditional kind to you or me - waste 95% of the energy they use, according to Greenpeace. They calculate that phasing them out in the UK will save more than five million tonnes in CO2 emissions a year.

And yet some households are so attached to them that they not only keep buying them - they're stockpiling them ahead of the day when they're no longer available."

BBC NEWS | Europe | Russians reflect on Afghan conflict

BBC NEWS | Europe | Russians reflect on Afghan conflict

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Tablet stirs resurrection debate

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Tablet stirs resurrection debate: "An ancient tablet shows the idea of the resurrection of a messiah after three days was part of Jewish tradition before Jesus' birth, it is claimed."

BBC NEWS | Technology | Robots scale new heights

BBC NEWS | Technology | Robots scale new heights: "Robots that can climb walls have been developed by scientists in the United States.

The robots can scale surfaces using the same principles behind electrostatic charges, which make balloons stick to ceilings after being rubbed."

BBC NEWS | South Asia | India beggar amasses coin fortune

BBC NEWS | South Asia | India beggar amasses coin fortune: "When 60-year-old Laxmi Das recently deposited her earnings in an Indian bank in Calcutta, it was a bit more than the usual mundane money transfer.

Ms Das handed over 91kg (200lb) of coins - the produce of 44 years of hard begging - enabling her to open an account and qualify for a credit card."

BBC NEWS | Americas | US 'pregnant man' has baby girl

BBC NEWS | Americas | US 'pregnant man' has baby girl: "An American man who was born female but subsequently underwent gender reassignment has given birth to a girl, US media have reported.

Thomas Beatie, 34, is legally male but kept his female reproductive organs after having breast surgery to remove glands and flatten his chest.

Both Mr Beatie and his daughter are reported to be doing well in a hospital in Bend, Oregon.

He was inseminated using sperm from an anonymous donor."

BBC NEWS | Health | Male biological clock 'ticks too'

BBC NEWS | Health | Male biological clock 'ticks too': "Scientists say they have found more evidence that men as well as women have biological clocks and that they start to tick in their mid-30s.

A French study of over 12,200 couples having fertility treatment suggests the chance of a successful pregnancy falls when the man is aged over 35.

It adds that the chance is significantly lower if he is over 40.

Previous studies have shown that both natural and assisted conception is more difficult if the man is over 40."

Sinfest The Face of Jesus

Sinfest

BBC NEWS | Europe | Drunken Swede tries to row home

BBC NEWS | Europe | Drunken Swede tries to row home: "A last drink proved one too many for a 78-year-old Swede who fell asleep while trying to row home - from Denmark.

Reports say the man had been drinking in the Danish town of Helsingor but found he did not have enough money for the ferry home to Sweden.

Instead of waiting until morning, he stole a dinghy and tried to row the 5km (three miles) across the Oresund Strait to Helsingborg, police said.

But he fell asleep half-way and drifted until he was rescued by the coastguard.

The man, who has not been named, was found still asleep in the bottom of the boat, and towed back across the strait - a busy shipping lane - to Denmark.

He was put on the next ferry home after he had sobered up, writes the Danish news service Ritzau.

Police said the owner of the dinghy had decided not to press charges, Reuters reports. "

BBC NEWS | Europe | Dutch coffee shops weed out tobacco

BBC NEWS | Europe | Dutch coffee shops weed out tobacco: "From Tuesday 1 July, the Dutch will impose a nationwide ban on smoking tobacco in cafes, bars and restaurants - meaning any joints rolled using tobacco will be illegal.

Strictly speaking, marijuana is illegal as well - but it is tolerated. So, perhaps oddly, the smoking of pure grass or hash will still be allowed"

Op-Ed Columnist - Anxious in America - Op-Ed - NYTimes.com

Op-Ed Columnist - Anxious in America - Op-Ed - NYTimes.com