Friday, March 4, 2011
Today marks the 150th anniversary of the First National Flag of the Confederate States of America
Some argue the flag is a symbol of racism. Others say it's just Southern pride. (Which state was marred in controversy for flying the flag at its state house?)
Let’s take a look at the flag's history and its influence in pop culture. Photo of South’s first flag by Bob Jordon/AP
The Confederacy's first national flag ended its reign in May 1863, when the secession government adopted the second national flag (scroll through photos). The Stainless Banner covered the casket of a famous Civil War general
The president of the Confederacy
The states that seceded from the Union
Latest about the 150th anniversary
Information via Popular Searches
I was born in Ohio, and most of my direct line fought for the North. There was one relative (who lived in Ohio) who fought for the South. That was a common theme that made the whole war even more heart-breaking. Brother against brother.
Here’s a list of inventors killed by their own inventions
This is a list of inventors whose deaths were in some manner caused by or related to a product, process, procedure, or other innovation that they invented or designed.
Aviation
- Ismail ibn Hammad al-Jawhari (died ca. 1003–1010), a Muslim Kazakh Turkic scholar from Farab, attempted to fly using two wooden wings and a rope. He leapt from the roof of a mosque in Nijabur and fell to his death.
- Otto Lilienthal (1848–1896) died the day after crashing one of his hang gliders.
- Franz Reichelt (1879–1912), a tailor, fell to his death off the first deck of the Eiffel Tower while testing his invention, the coat parachute. It was his first ever attempt with the parachute and he had told the authorities in advance he would test it first with a dummy.
- Henry Smolinski (died 1973) was killed during a test flight of the AVE Mizar, a flying car based on the Ford Pinto and the sole product of the company he founded.
- Aurel Vlaicu (1882–1913) died when his self-constructed airplane, Vlaicu II, failed him during an attempt to cross the Carpathian Mountains by air.
- Michael Dacre (died 2009, age 53) died after testing his flying taxi device designed to accommodate fast and affordable travel among nearby cities.
- Read More Here
PHOTO - Franz Reichelt (d. 1912) attempted to use this contraption as a parachute. Reichelt died after he jumped off the Eiffel Tower wearing his invention, which failed to operate properly as a parachute.
Combating Crime? Brain Scans Reveal the Criminal Mind
Have you ever heard the phrase, “What were they thinking?”
The latest neuroscience research is presenting intriguing evidence that the brains of certain kinds of criminals are different from those of the rest of the population.
While these findings could improve our understanding of criminal behavior, they also raise moral quandaries about whether and how society should use this knowledge to combat crime. FULL STORY
Thursday, March 3, 2011
As Union Membership Has Declined, Income Inequality Has Skyrocketed In The United States
Across the country, right-wing legislators continue their attack on labor unions, claiming that they are saving their states money.
Yet in waging these anti-labor campaigns, these politicians are ignoring one very simple fact: unions were a major force in building and sustaining the great American middle class, and as they declined, so has the middle class. As CAP’s Karla Waters and David Madland showed in a report they first published this past January, as union membership has steadily declined since 1967, so too has the middle class’s share of national income, as the super-rich have taken a larger share of national income than any time since the 1920s
This is not to say that declining union membership is the only factor that led to the growth of income inequality over the past 35 years. Yet, the correlation does show that the presence of strong labor unions tends to co-exist with a strong and vibrant middle class. That is why a Main Street Movement all over the country is fighting to protect collective bargaining and the middle class wages, benefits, and protections it promotes.
Recycling Wonder: Buddhist Temple Made from Bottles
It’s the ultimate reclaimed glass bottle project: not a solar hot water heater, not even a house but an entire Buddhist temple.
Monks in Thailand’s Sisaket province collected over a million green Heineken bottles and brown bottles of local Chang beer to create a complex of 20 buildings including the main temple, halls, prayer rooms, water tower, sleeping quarters and even a crematorium.
Even the roofs are made from bottles. And if you’re wondering, no, the caps weren’t wasted – the monks used them to make mosaic murals.
(images via: treehugger)
Here’s a sprinkling of humor on a rainy day…
Berner’s Street Hoax was one of the greatest practical jokes of the 19th Century
The year was 1809. Famed English author, Theodore Hook, made a bet with one of his close friends that within a week he could make any house in London the most talked about place in the city!
GO HERE to read the rest of this story.
U.S. will do anything for oil,including making alliances with dicators
Mike Keefe / Denver Post, Politicalcartoons.com
Warning: This story may prove frustrating for illiterates
A look at some of the dumbest labels telling consumers how not to hurt themselves
“Our society doesn't think much of the average consumer.
To wit: Only a moron would try to wash her daughter in a washing machine; or shake hands with the business end of a chainsaw; or light a match to check the contents of a gas tank.
And yet manufacturers still go to laughable lengths to protect their customers from harm, bombarding them with ridiculous warning labels or stunningly obvious explanations of how their products work. Why else would a carton of eggs actually say that the product may contain eggs?”
PHOTO: The label on the inside of reflective car sun shades advises that you shouldn't drive with them in place. How could you?
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
March 2nd is the Day to Pay Homage to Banana Cream Pie…
Today is Banana Cream Pie Day so go to the nearest bakery or supermarket and buy one in order to properly celebrate.
I know…it’s kinda late to be posting this but I just couldn’t let such a noteworthy day pass by without commenting.
Good night…
Guest Op-Ed: Meghan Daum describes ‘A Feeding frenzy’
It's natural to resist change, but the astonishingly ugly attacks from the GOP and the 'tea party' on Michelle Obama's anti-obesity effort lack any logic, reflecting our deeply divisive political times.
Excerpt:
“Certain members of the GOP — and, from the looks of it, the entire "tea party" — have decided that the first lady's Let's Move campaign, which seeks to fight obesity by improving school lunch programs, increasing focus on physical education and giving poor people better access to healthful foods, is an example of government intrusion and even a socialist plot.
Minnesota Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann accused
Oh, and then there's that paragon of physical fitness, Rush Limbaugh, who suggested last week that the first lady "does not project the image of women that you might see on the cover of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue."
What's going on here (besides the last gasps of an increasingly irrelevant radio blowhard) obviously has nothing to do with keeping kids from being obese. Surely even the most obtuse tea partyers know deep down that Michelle Obama is not planning to force-feed you vegetables and hijack your desserts any more than Laura Bush, who advocated for reading, was interested in foisting books on people and carting away their televisions. Instead, Republicans are turning a patently apolitical issue into an opportunity to bash the president, suggesting that the first lady has wasted tax dollars with her campaign and that the president's budget proposal, which includes adding $1 billion a year for the next 10 years to fund children's nutrition programs, will ruin the nation because it caters to her elitist whims. (Does anyone remember that Nancy Reagan's anti-drug campaign "Just Say No" coincided with $1.7 billion in funding to fight the growing drug problem?)” – Meghan Daum Read the Whole Column
After 7 month investigation Manning faces 22 new charges, possible the death penalty
All I can say is GOOD. I’ve heard a number of lame arguments why he shouldn’t be tried and NOT ONE makes sense. This clown stole military information and should pay the price!
As for him directly giving it to WikiLeaks, that’s neither here nor there. The fact is those military secrets wouldn’t have become public if he wouldn’t have stole them and gave them to whomever.
I don’t think the death penalty is the answer however. Just lock the sorry bastard up for life. He’ll probably pen a best seller for anarchists, but that money will be needed to keep his fellow prisoners from putting him in the “barrel” every day!
Excerpt:
“Following an intensive seven-month investigation, the Army on Wednesday filed 22 additional charges against Pfc. Bradley Manning, accused of illegally downloading tens of thousands of classified U.S. military and State Department documents that were then publicly released by WikiLeaks, military officials tell NBC News.
The most serious of the new charges is "aiding the enemy," a capital offense which carries a potential death sentence. Pentagon and military officials say some of the classified information released by WikiLeaks contained the names of informants and others who had cooperated with U.S. military forces in Afghanistan, endangering their lives.
According to the officials, the U.S. military rounded up many of those named and brought them into their bases for protection. But, according to one military official, "We didn't get them all." Military officials tell NBC News a small number of them still have not been found.” FULL STORY
Assault rifle used in U.S. agent's killing in Mexico traced to Texas
Once again, there’s proof that cartels are buying AK-47s in the states, but does the NRA admit this?
Right now, thanks to the NRA, a person can walk into a gun shop and buy two semi-automatic rifles a month, until the cows (lobbyists) come home!
What kind of person needs to purchase 24 semi-automatic rifles every year? I’ll tell you; someone who is selling those rifles to the first bidder (and they don’t care who the bidder is). Until weapons become really difficult for the cartels to get, they will continue to come across the border and buy weapons wherever they feel like it. For those of you who have never heard of “straw dogs” they are people who are legitimate buying weapons for people who aren’t. Simple. happens every damn day thanks to the NRA!
“U.S. authorities say one of three men they arrested this week purchased an AK-47 at a Texas gun shop that was used in the attack last month that killed a Border Patrol agent and wounded his partner.” FULL STORY
Pallbearers carry the casket of ICE agent Jaime Jorge Zapata, who was shot and killed in Mexico on Feb. 15. (Delcia Lopez / Associated Press / February 22, 2011
I can’t believe the Supreme Court ruled Anti-gay funeral protests OK
What would happen if American al Qaeda followers were demonstrating against the Pentagon’s tactics against them worldwide?
Would that be okay? I’m thoroughly disgusted with our Supreme Court. I thought it hit an all-time low when the justices declared corporations had the same rights as individual citizens.
But, Hell No! Where has common sense gone? When is enough…enough? This decision allows a hate group to threaten gay and lesbian’s very existence in this country… while they advocate DEATH for them!
I know many journalists in America were concerned about First Amendment Rights being watered down if the judges ruled against Phelps and his crazed family and followers. However, these great legal minds that are supposed to be interrupting cases that challenge the Constitution don’t seem to have a lick of sense. There could have been a better outcome than this. Forget about trying to get money from the Phelps psychos and look at the real-world effect they are having on innocent Americans who can’t bury their war dead in peace.
Yes, I’m a veteran, and that makes me somewhat bias. That’s why I’m blowing off steam here. That doesn’t mean that the Supreme Court did the right thing. I honestly feel they dropped the ball again. The Phelps Hate Club isn’t demonstrating for the right to vote, or over some human rights violations committed against them. They are taking advantage of a system that can be exploited by legal minds who have no idea what it’s like living in the real world – instead of their Ivory Towers.
What a sad day this is.
“The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that the First Amendment protects fundamentalist church members who mount attention-getting, anti-gay protests outside military funerals.”
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Why do we believe in electrons, but not in fairies?
By Benjamin Kuipers
“No one has directly observed either electrons or fairies. Both of them are theoretical constructs, useful to explain observations that might be difficult to explain otherwise. The "theory of fairies" can actually explain more things than the "theory of electrons". So why do we believe in electrons, but not in fairies?
Is the issue a political one, where the "electron" fans got the upper hand in the nineteenth century, so by the twentieth century the "fairy" fans were a scorned and persecuted minority? Or, have we proved for sure that fairies don't exist?
No, to both. The real difference is that for electrons, we have accumulated a set of quite narrow and specific rules about how electrons will behave under various circumstances. Those rules let us make very specific predictions about electron behavior, and about the observations that will result. If those predictions don't come true, we know that either we didn't set up the circumstances correctly, or there is something wrong with the rules. But over many decades, we have repeatedly fixed problems with the rules, so we can now make really good predictions about electrons, especially in certain highly contrived circumstances (i.e., circuits).
Fairies are much more free. A fairy does what it decides to do. We haven't been able to find any useful rules for predicting how a fairy will behave under particular circumstances, or even for telling when a fairy has been involved in a particular observation. (At least I don't know of any such rules. I stand ready for correction on this.) Over many, many decades, it has not been possible for people to try out pretty-good sets of fairy-prediction rules, find out where they make mistakes, and replace them with better sets of rules.”
Health Alert: E. coli found on 50 percent of shopping carts
This is one of those things that I almost wish I didn’t know about; shopping carts carrying infectious bacteria. Yuck! The researchers said that the carts were worst than the bathrooms in the supermarkets! Now, that’s bad.
Apparently no one routinely cleans and disinfects shopping carts. Now I have to worry about salmonella and campylobacter bacteria attacking my grandchildren when I take them to the market or other type of store with shopping carts.
Excerpt:
“Every day, parents blithely drop their toddlers into the baskets of shopping carts, never giving a moment’s thought to who might have had their hands on the handle last. Preliminary results from a new study show that may be a mistake.
Researchers from the University of Arizona swabbed shopping cart handles in four states looking for bacterial contamination. Of the 85 carts examined, 72 percent turned out to have a marker for fecal bacteria.” Full Story
Monday, February 28, 2011
Parting shot…where the heck was this photo taken?
I was Stumbling around the web and found this stunning shot. Problem is, there was NO information about it. Do you have any idea where it was taken? Please share if you do.
Guest Opinion: Ted McLaughlin, ‘The (Un) Fairness of Income Tax’
“Does this seem fair to you? Is there any justification for someone making over a million dollars a year to pay a smaller tax rate than those making less than $170,00 a year (many of them making far less than that)?
------------------------------------------
Statistics are from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Internal Revenue Service.
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The richest Americans make most (or all) of their income from interest income or stock gains.
That means they pay the Capital Gains Tax (15%) instead of Income Tax (about 35% in their bracket).
This must be changed. The Capital Gains Tax should be raised to equal the Income Tax, or eliminated and the rich forced to pay their tax in the Income Tax system. Continuing this system of taxation is unfair to most Americans.” Link to original post
Check out this interesting mobile homeless shelter…
Design enthusiast, paul elkins, develops mobile units, and other small scale vehicles.
He previously designed the burning man bicycle camper and his latest development
is a mobile homeless shelter which he designed as part of a competition asking individuals
to meet the demands of the rapidly growing homeless society - a kind of substitute for the
grocery cart situation. Elkins wanted his design construction to be a simple, lightweight,
watertight insulated box on wheels, built with an area for displaying and selling handmade wares.
(Photo right) toilet seat storage and bucket. the mid section of the floor is movable which allows for ample room for use of the bucket.
(Photo Left) the shelter includes a sleeping / resting area, a kitchen and makeshift washroom
GO HERE to see all possible views.
I’m only sharing it because I find it fascinating, and not because I’m promoting it for the company involved.
If you want to know more GO HERE
Awesome Human Rights Ad Campaign - Dictators Afraid of White Mice
GO HERE to see a couple of more terrified dictators. How do you like the mouse they’re afraid of?
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