My Last Week in ChinaThe last week in China was very busy lots of lessons to teach and packing and socialising to do too.I started off the weekend before I left going to have the final fitting for my Whitechapel Players' Ruby Ball dress at the fabric market and took a few photos. I also took some photos of the school as my mum said I didn't have any. When we went for our weekly trip to Noodle M
WoW Guide to Deathbringer Saurfang10manpart two
Hello guys here is MmooffersIf you have no time to earn the cheapest wow gold65292you can buy it from our website at the lowest price. We will try our best to help you. Here are some WoW Guide to Deathbringer Saurfang10man hope it could do great help to you.You haven't downed him yet but you will be walking in with just him on the schedule Monday night. Here's some things you experiencedO
A wee bit lonely
Hi everyoneI'm in Chiang Mai and staying at a place called the Royal Guesthouse. It's very cool looking with a pool as well which I'm a bit shy to get into just yet It's starting to cool down here so maybe I will hold off until tomorrow. My room is 250 baht which is about 8 and jeeezz it's on the 6th floor..and no elevator..omg I was so out of breath lol. I walked around the outskirts of the ol
The Grand Palace Wat Po in Bangkok
Just as we were finally getting to sleep after the loud music had stopped the noisy cleaning staff had finished the alarm went off at 9am. We grabbed a Kiwi shake and walked through the Thai market to the Temples. We passed a man begging he had black swollen legs covered in white dry skin. I think it could have been Gangreen and looked really painful. The entrance fee for the Grand Palace 59
Frenchmen really ARE romantic
CLASSYesterday I had my two Contemporary Art components which go from 300700pm. One is Sculpture and Color in the 19th Century and the other is History of Photography. Here you just show up and then you find out what the actual subject is. The first prof. is a guy who was pretty disorganized. He arrived 15 minutes late and dictated the bibliography of the course to us but had forgett
Dressing for Battle
DAY 438Well the job search continues and I am up early this morning Susan is ready for work and walks past us she says ldquohellordquo then ldquogoodbyerdquo as she exits the door and goes off to work.We sit and have some breakfast whilst watching the world news and talk about our plan for the day. We need a plan as there is a lot to do and it needs all to fall in to place.We lock the
A week of firsts and lasts
Hello So Irsquove been in Ghana for a little over a week now and its been pretty great so far. We had orientation for Monday to Wednesday last week and even though it did answer a bunch of questions there are still a lot of things we all donrsquot know about our placementshellip but thatrsquos just how it is around here. No one is really in a rush to give you answers. You will find out
Same-Sex Marriage Case in California
In "An Odd Couple Defends Couples That Some (Oddly) Find Odd" in yesterday's New York Times, Maureen Dowd describes the intriguing lawyer-team of Ted Olsen and David Boies (former adversaries in the 2000 Bush v. Gore case), who are now arguing together against the constitutionality of California's Proposition 8 in the U.S. District Court in California.
“'Ted Olson and David Boies, so what are they up to?'” Dowd reports Olson mock querying, "summarizing the confusion and conspiracy theories that their union inspired.
"As the sun set on the Bay Bridge behind him and the curtain dropped on the first week of the dramatic trial to challenge the constitutionality of the state’s ban on same-sex marriage, Olson reviewed the case: 'We’re going to explain why allowing same-sex couples to have that same right that the rest of us have is not going to hurt heterosexual marriages. It has no point at all except some people don’t want to recognize gays and lesbians as normal, as human beings.'
"Boies, wearing a flag pin on his lapel, said that the state of California is engaged in 'gay bashing.' He spoke intensely about the gay and lesbian plaintiffs, who offered poignant testimony about their loving relationships and about wanting to be liked and accepted: 'These people are people you would want your child to grow up and marry. You can be a child molester and get married. You can be a wife beater and get married. You can be a child-support scofflaw and get married. The importance of that emotional relationship is so vital to the pursuit of happiness that even prison felons, who aren’t really procreating, have a right to get married.'
"Noting the rabid effort being made to restrict marriage to only those who can protect its sanctity, a chuckling Olson reeled off some names: 'Tiger Woods, Eliot Spitzer, Mark Sanford, Kobe Bryant, Bill Clinton.' ...
"'I think there’s something the matter with you if you don’t care enough to feel the suffering that they’ve been through and if you’re not emotionally upset about the fact that we’re doing an immense amount of harm to people,' he said. 'We’re not treating them like Americans. We’re not treating them like citizens.'
"Boies said the problem was generational, and they have to try the case before judges their own age who might find it hard to move beyond old prejudices. ....
"'I’ve got a grandson who’s a senior in college, and he can’t imagine fighting over this issue,' Boies said. 'It’s like explaining to my daughter that there was a time when women didn’t have the right to vote and couldn’t own property.'"
Indeed. Today we look back on state laws that forbade inter-racial marriage with a degree of disbelief. But it was just forty years ago that the Supreme Court in Loving v. Virginia struck down the laws of 16 states that did just that. Forty or fifty years from now, we will look back on today's discrimination against same-sex marriage with similar disbelief.
Dowd continues: "The anti-gay-marriage proponents whipped up a moral frenzy in 2008, suggesting conjugal parity would harm children, summon the devil, tear down churches and melt civilization. But Olson argued in his opening statement that the discrimination gays experience 'weakens our moral fiber in this country.'
"While Charles Cooper, the lawyer on the anti-gay-marriage side, cited President Obama’s declaration that marriage should only be between a man and a woman, Olson noted that Obama’s parents could not have married in Virginia before he was born.
"I asked the lawyers if they were disappointed that the president who had once raised such hope in the gay community now seemed behind the curve.
“'Damned right,' Boies snapped. 'I hope my Democratic president will catch up to my conservative Republican co-counsel.'
"Olson added: 'I’m not talking about Obama, but that’s what’s so bad about politicians. They say, ‘I must hasten to follow them, for I am their leader.’
"Obama sees himself as such a huge change that he can be cautious about other societal changes. But what he doesn’t realize is that legalizing gay marriage is like electing a black president. Before you do it, it seems inconceivable. Once it’s done, you can’t remember what all the fuss was about."
Scott Brown unofficial Election Day Victory Song
Libertarian Republicans raise our glasses to the next US Senator from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts
There was Bob McDonnell. There was Chris Cristie. But this one tops them all.
The Greatest Republican Victory since Bush beat Kerry in 2004.
Enjoy!
Eric Dondero, Co-Founder
Libertarians for Bush 2004
(Special message in video at precisely 55 seconds in.)
Blog posts will be light today until the returns start to come in. Please consider this post an open thread to discuss everything and anything Scott Brown.
UPDATE!
Our unofficial Ombudsmen (crumudgeon) Left Libertarian Thomas Knapp has a contrarian view on the election up at his blog Knappster, "Election Day in Taxachussetts." Knapp pegs the final at 49% Scott Brown, 46% Martha Coakley, 5% Joe Kennedy. (My own prediction: Brown 51%, Coakley 48%, Kennedy 1%).
He sees a Brown win as a negative for the Republican Party and the Tea Party movement, as it would "galvanize" the Far Left base on Health Care.
MSNBC talking heads concede race to Scott Brown
Biggest GOP Win since '04
Chris Matthews, Mike Barnicle, and the entire MSNBC "Morning Joe" crew conceded with double digit leads for Scott Brown over Martha Coakley in bellweather polls, he'll easily win. Matthews: "The game's over..." Barnacle strikes up Brown's win to a revolt against the establishment mood in the middle-class suburbs south and west of Boston.
Memorable Quote:
"This will be the biggest Republican Victory since Bush won in 2004" -- Joe Scarborough
See the video at YouTube (10 minutes entire segment).
2008 Libertarian Vice-Presidential candidate Roots for Scott Brown Victory
Says a Brown Win is a Win for Tea Party America
2008 Libertarian Party Vice-Presidential candidate, Author of "The Conscience of a Libertarian," and prospective 2012 Libertarian Presidential candidate Wayne Allyn Root predicted a big Scott Brown victory. Root makes his living as a Sports oddsmaker in Las Vegas. He likened a Brown win to a revolutionary "shot heard round the World."
Excerpt from Root Press Release, Jan. 18:
But here’s my most important prediction of all- Obama and the Democrats are about to be swept out of office in the biggest Tea Party revolt since 1776. As a matter of fact, my gut instinct tells me Massachusetts Republican U.S. Senate candidate Scott Brown will pull one of the most shocking political upsets in history on Tuesday. Mark it down…whether Brown wins, or simply comes close…the Tea Party political revolution began in Massachusetts just like the first one in 1776.
I believe that a Scott Brown victory will be a huge victory for Tea Parties and be the ultimate “canary in the coal mine.” Brown’s victory will destroy the 60 vote margin needed to pass universal healthcare in the U.S. Senate.
Note - Root also acknowledged and expressed his support for the efforts of LP Senate candidate Joe Kennedy.
Live from Boston: Time for Celebration
From the Editor:
Please enjoy what in my humble opinion, is one of the greatest rock songs of all-time, and certainly one of my personal favorties.
This morning is no time for deep analysis. That can wait. And besides, many of us are a little hungover. It's simply time for celebration.
We'll get to all the analysis tonight, starting late in the afternoon. Be prepared for a flood of posts from all corners of the Libertarian Republican movement. Our inbox is full.
See you later in the day.
We'll return to regular Libertarian Republican news tomorrow. But as for today, it's all Scott Brown, all the time.
Donors receive | Cosmic Variance
With the arrival of a certain book (selling like hotcakes on Amazon!), Sean has generously sent out thank you gifts to all deserving participants of the DonorsChoose challenge.
The final tally was 36 donors contributing $12,125, reaching a total of 3,112 students across the nation. These are incredible numbers! We can all feel proud that we have had a tangible impact on so many lives. And who knows, maybe one of the kids we have reached will now be inspired to become the next Einstein?
As promised, we’re doling out loot. 13 people gave over $100, and 4 gave over $500 (with 2 giving over $1k each!). Here is the list of recipients:
>$100: copy of Sean’s book
Raymundo in College Station, TX
James in New York, NY
Pete in St. Paul, MN
Paul in Dearborn, MI
>$500: copy of Sean’s lectures
Kitty’s Coffee in Cincinnati, OH
Sili in Odense, Denmark
There are many people that “qualified”, but haven’t sent me their addresses (of special note were Meghan in Melbourne, FL and Herbert in Bahama, NC, who were especially generous). If you would like to receive a token of our appreciation, please contact me.
Thank you again to everyone for participating!
Noisy Carnival | Bad Astronomy
Hey, this week’s Carnival of Space is on my friend Nicole Glarvenharbennargen’s blog One Astronomer’s Noise. At least, I think that’s how she pronounces her last name. That’s what I always hear when she says it. Anyway, she’s cool, and so is the carnival. Go read it.
Will NASA No Longer Boldly Go?
Has the USA hit its final frontier in human space exploration?, USA Today
"When experts try to read the tea leaves, they're not hopeful about human space exploration in the next decade. "There won't be any," says space policy expert John Logsdon of George Washington University. Instead, he and others suggest, the administration probably will continue support of the International Space Station, which hangs in low-Earth orbit and eats up money that otherwise could send astronauts to the moon, Mars or asteroids. "Clearly, NASA is at a crossroads," says science historian Michael Robinson of the University of Hartford (Conn.). "We are revisiting some questions of a century ago about what we want out of exploration as a nation as we look to space."
Nuclear Power and the Obama Administration
Conceptual view of Nuclear Power Plant-- Esquire
Yucca Mountain Haunts the Obama Administration. By Katherine Ling, Greenwire, “While President Obama’s fiscal 2011 budget proposal is expected to sound a death knell for the planned Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository, the administration has so far failed to launch the blue-ribbon commission it promised almost a year ago to decide on a waste-disposal alternative. Hanging in the balance is 60,000 metric tons of commercial and defense nuclear waste. I find it quite disconcerting that a commission with a proper broad charter to look at this problem hasn’t been created, said Arjun Makhijani, president of Institute for Energy and Environmental Research [IEER], a nonprofit opposed to nuclear power. ‘I think the bigger danger is that inaction will simply lead us back to Yucca Mountain,’ Makhijani said, adding, ‘Leaving the problem to fester is not good.’
“Obama dramatically cut funding for the Nevada repository in his fiscal 2010 budget request and announced his intention to form a commission to chart an alternative waste-management solution. Energy Secretary Steven Chu quickly followed up, telling Congress last March that the commission would be formed ‘ideally’ within a month and would craft recommendations by the end of 2009. Last week, Chu responded to questions about the commission by saying the Energy Department is ‘working as hard and fast as we can on that.’ The lawmaker who has led opposition to the Yucca project, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), is confident that the administration’s delay won’t translate into a revival of the Nevada project… But despite agreements between Reid and the administration, Yucca Mountain remains — by law — the disposal site for U.S. nuclear waste. The DOE repository license has not been withdrawn, nor has the department moved to do so, according to an industry source. Meanwhile, Reid is facing a tough re-election battle this year. Moreover, some say that disagreement over whether the blue-ribbon panel should consider Yucca Mountain as a potential waste management solution is one reason the administration has taken so long to get the commission going. Qualified candidates, several sources say, do not agree Yucca should be taken off the table.”
I thought Yucca Mountain was off the table, but apparently it’s still being considered. Some people are still arguing for its use as a nuclear waste repository. (They are mostly Republicans who are against Obama’s energy policy in general). According to others, on-site nuclear waste storage is just fine for now until a better national site is found. (Some people whose land is used for this would disagree). Stewart Brand feels that the threat from nuclear waste pales in comparison to the threat from the continued use of coal. (e360 interview) and he has said that we can figure out where to put the nuclear waste later on, in another interview heard in the Climate Files podcast.
More nuclear news compiled by the Climate Crisis Coalition:
Browner Emphasizes Obama Support for Nuclear Power. By Jeff Mason, Reuters, January 11, 2010.
“The [...]
Summer Arrives with Rapid Sea Ice Breakup in Antarctica
Rapid Sea Ice Breakup along the Ronne-Filchner Ice Shelf - January 13 2010
Ice Chunk Larger than Rhode Island Breaks Away From Antarctica. Live Science, January 17, 2010.
“In less than a day, the Ronne-Filchner Ice Shelf, which is bigger than the state of Rhode Island, broke away from Antarctica and shattered into many pieces last week. NASA’s Aqua and Terra satellites captured the event, at the Ronne-Filchner Ice Shelf, in a series of photo-like images on Jan. 12-13. The long, narrow tongue of ice is a bridge of sea ice linking the A-23A iceberg to the Ronne-Filchner Ice Shelf in West Antarctica. The ice bridge is fast ice, or sea ice that does not move because it is anchored to the shore. Compared to an ice shelf, the sea ice is a thin shell of ice over the ocean. The difference in thickness is visible in the images. The taller, thicker Ronne-Filchner Ice Shelf casts a visible shadow on the ice bridge made of sea ice. This particular ice bridge breaks up and reforms regularly. Even though the images show a routine event, they provide a spectacular view of the sometimes dramatic arrival of summer in the Polar South.”
This should reassure the skeptics that the latest ice age is not coming after all. It’s not cold everywhere — like in the southern hemisphere, where summer has arrived and the Antarctic ice bridges are melting. Should this melting worry people? Not this particular ice bridge, which breaks up routinely, according to NASA. What’s interesting about this thin ice is that the breakup, which comes with summer, was captured in photos. See the original images here. From NASA:
Within a 24-hour space, an area of sea ice larger than the state of Rhode Island broke away from the Ronne-Filchner Ice Shelf and shattered into many smaller pieces. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua and Terra satellites captured this event in this series of photo-like images from January 12 and January 13, 2010.
The long, narrow tongue of ice is a bridge of sea ice linking the A-23A iceberg to the Ronne-Filchner Ice Shelf in West Antarctica. The ice bridge is fast ice, or sea ice that does not move because it is anchored to the shore. Compared to an ice shelf, the sea ice is a thin shell of ice over the ocean. The difference in thickness is visible in the images. The taller, thicker Ronne-Filchner Ice Shelf casts a visible shadow on the ice bridge made of sea ice. This particular ice bridge breaks up and reforms regularly. Even though the images show a routine event, they provide a spectacular view of the sometimes dramatic arrival of summer in the Polar South.
Other recent melting in the Antarctic is something to be much more concerned about. “The East Antarctic ice sheet has been losing mass for the last three years, according to an analysis of data from a gravity-measuring satellite mission.” Read more here.
Exhibit dedicated to sculptor Regina in Brescia
REGINA. Futurismo, arte concreta e oltre
January 16 – April 9, 2010
Fondazione Ambrosetti (Brescia)
Catalog
Delle 140 opere molte sono prestate dal “Museo Regina” che ha sede al Castello Sangiuliani, in piazza della Repubblica a Mede. Nel nuovo allestimento realizzato da Alberto Ghinzani, ospita 400 opere opere di Regina donate dal marito, Luigi Bracchi, alla città natale dell’artista.
Outsourcing Desktop Initiative for NASA (ODIN) Contract Extended
NASA has awarded Lockheed Martin of Bethesda, Md., a contract extension to continue the Outsourcing Desktop Initiative for NASA, or ODIN, services to support the agency. The contract extension has a value of approximately $230 million and will continue through Oct. 31, 2011.
Agency-wide services under the ODIN master contract and center delivery orders include desktop hardware and software, personal digital assistants, telephone operations, network services, information technology security and other services.
The contract will be managed by the NASA Shared Services Center near Bay St. Louis, Miss. For more information about the shared services center, visit:
For more information on NASA and its programs, visit:
View my blog's last three great articles....
- NASA to Hold Briefing on Advanced Mission to Study...
- NASA Names New Wallops Flight Facility Director
- NASA Offers Tranquility Node Satellite Interviews ...
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NASA to Hold Briefing on Advanced Mission to Study Our Sun
NASA is scheduled to host a briefing at 1 p.m. EST, on Thursday, Jan. 21, to discuss the upcoming launch and science of an unprecedented mission to study the sun and its dynamic behavior. The briefing on NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, or SDO, mission will take place in the NASA Headquarters auditorium, located at 300 E St. S.W. in Washington and at the press site at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The briefing participants are:
- Richard Fisher, Heliophysics division director, NASA Headquarters in Washington
- Madhulika Guhathakurta, SDO program scientist, NASA Headquarters
- Dean Pesnell, SDO project scientist, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.
- Elizabeth Citrin, SDO project manager, Goddard
The briefing will be broadcast live on NASA Television and the agency's Web site. To watch the briefing on the Web, visit:
Reporters unable to attend the briefing may ask questions by telephone. To reserve a telephone line, journalists should e-mail their name, media affiliation and telephone number to J.D. Harrington at:
NOTE: Due to launch processing schedules, this briefing may move to 2 p.m. EST, Friday, Jan. 22. Media representatives should contact Harrington at 202-358-5241 Thursday morning for an update.
For more information about the SDO mission, visit:
View my blog's last three great articles....
- NASA Names New Wallops Flight Facility Director
- NASA Offers Tranquility Node Satellite Interviews ...
- NASA's ASTER Instrument Observes Haiti Quake After...
View this site car shipping car transport auto transport auto shipping
