Friday, March 4, 2011

Today marks the 150th anniversary of the First National Flag of the Confederate States of America

The first national flag of the Confederate States of America, also known as the Stars & Bars (© Bob Jordan/AP)

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

(From top) The second national flag of the Confederate States of America, also known as the Stainless Banner & the third national flag of the Confederate States of America (Photos courtesy of the Museum of the Confederacy)

The president of the Confederacy

The man who designed the flag

The flag's other name

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

Image: brain scan

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.

Article Source

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

Image: Car with sun shade

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?

 FULL STORY

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

March 2nd is the Day to Pay Homage to Banana Cream Pie…

 Remember good old Soupy Sales? He was the King of Pie Throwing in his day. And speaking of pies…

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

Obama of trying to implement a "nanny state." Sarah Palin gave her a ribbing on her reality show when, while searching for s'mores ingredients for a camping trip, she said, "This is in honor of Michelle Obama, who the other day said we shouldn't have dessert."
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

Image: Bradley Manning

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

Trump's Lowest Grift Ever Saved for Holy Week

This is a story about how the devil's puppet, aka Donald Trump, mocked Christianity by selling a book combining the Bible, the Constitu...