Ichingcarpenter
Ichingcarpenter's JournalSerious Qustion :George Bush Center for Intelligence
Well he got that named after even before he died.
The joke is just too blatant.
https://www.cia.gov/about-cia/todays-cia/george-bush-center-for-intelligence/index.html
Playing the latest international edition Trivial Pursuit with the family
The Six of us missed this question.
Which wax figure at madame tussauds wax museum does the staff have to keep pulling up the zipper on the exhibit since it was displayed.?
China passes law requiring people to visit their elderly parents, or risk being sued by them
AP
The amendment does not specify how frequently such visits should occur.
State media say the new clause will allow elderly parents who feel neglected by their children to take them to court. The move comes as reports abound of elderly parents being abandoned or ignored by their children.
A rapidly developing China is facing increasing difficulty in caring for its aging population. Three decades of market reforms have accelerated the breakup of the traditional extended family in China, and there are few affordable alternatives, such as retirement or care homes, for the elderly or others unable to live on their own.
Earlier this month, state media reported that a grandmother in her 90s in the prosperous eastern province of Jiangsu had been forced by her son to live in a pig pen for two years. News outlets frequently carry stories about other parents being abused or neglected, or of children seeking control of their elderly parents' assets without their knowledge.
The expansion of China's elderly population is being fueled both by an increase in life expectancy — from 41 to 73 over five decades — and by family planning policies that limit most families to a single child. Rapid aging poses serious threats to the country's social and economic stability, as the burden of supporting the growing number of elderly passes to a proportionately shrinking working population and the social safety net remains weak.
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/china-requiring-people-visit-their-aged-parents
By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest;
Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest.
Confucius
2 Rocket Launchers and 75 assault turned in during LA exchange
Yesterday's LAPD gun buyback was so successful that two-hour waits and gift-card shortages were reported.
The department says it picked up 75 assault weapons as part of its no-questions-asked effort that saw $100 dollar cards handed out for handguns and long guns and $200 for the kind of rifle used in the Newtown tragedy. The LAPD says 901 handguns, 698 rifles, 363 shotguns will also be destroyed.
Good stats. But this is the one that gut us saying WTF:
Cops picked up two -- count 'em two -- rocket launchers (!) (and not one, as other outlets are reporting), an LAPD official with close knowledge of the program told us. Holy hell why do people on our streets have military grade rocket launchers?
http://blogs.laweekly.com/informer/2012/12/rocket_launchers_lapd_gun_buyback.php
Well that would take out a coyote trying to kill your Chihuahua
Speed of Gravity equal to speed of light
BEIJING, Dec. 27 (Xinhua) -- Chinese scientists revealed Wednesday that they have found evidence supporting the hypothesis that gravity travels at the speed of light based on data gleaned from observing Earth tides.
Scientists have been trying to measure the speed of gravity for years through experiments and observations, but few have found valid methods.
By conducting six observations of total and annular solar eclipses, as well as Earth tides, a team headed by Tang Keyun, a researcher with the Institute of Geology and Geophysics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), found that the Newtonian Earth tide formula includes a factor related to the propagation of gravity.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/sci/2012-12/27/c_132067538.htm
Open abstract and paper link
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11434-012-5603-3
Tom Tomorrow's 1999 toon: gez this guy is good
?1355777351
The artist and writer says to his readers:
'As a small reminder of how long we've been having the exact same conversation about guns, I'm posting a few of the cartoons I've written on the topic over the years. This one ran in the New Yorker in 1999''
Indian tea workers set fire to boss
Over 1,000 tea workers in the India state of Assam have gathered outside the home of the plantation owner as part on an on-going labour dispute. Following shots being fired from the plantation owner’s house, the workers set his house and cars alight. The plantation owner, Mridul Bhattacharya, has a history of exploiting and killing workers.
An unnamed female tea worker was quoted as saying that:
Quote:
“We all came and attacked the bungalow and set it on fire. They deserved to be killed as the planter has exploited us for a long time and tortured us for petty things"
A local newspaper reported that the violence was sparked by the plantation owner and exploiter Mridul Bhattacharya ordering 10 workers to leave their homes with immediate effect, and the detention of several workers by the police on unspecified charges. The workers claim that Bhattacharya had not paid them their wages that had been due in December, and all the other issues have stemmed from workers complaining about the non-payment.
When workers refused to leave their homes (owned by the plantation) he had them arrested and imprisoned. An unnamed worker said that:
Quote:
“Some workers met Bhattacharya Wednesday morning and requested him to get the arrested labourers released. He, however, did not pay any heed to the request and threatened the workers of dire consequences. This angered the labourers and they took the extreme step,”
http://libcom.org/blog/indian-tea-workers-set-fire-boss-27122012
The Progressive Honor Roll of 2012
The Nation’s annual Most Valuable Progressives Honor Roll has been going strong for the better part of a decade, and its alumni are moving up. Elizabeth Warren is now a senator-elect. Keith Ellison and Raúl Grijalva co-chair the Congressional Progressive Caucus. Two of our most valuable state legislators were elected to Congress on November 6: Wisconsin’s Mark Pocan and Arizona’s Kyrsten Sinema. Ed Schultz has a prime-time show on MSNBC. The Dream Act dreamers spoke from the podium of the Democratic National Convention, and President Obama and Vice President Biden hailed their courage. But after a long election season and a hopeful outcome, there is still work to be done. Here are some of the Americans doing it.
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Most Valuable Progressive: Bernie Sanders
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Most Valuable Senator: Jeff Merkley
Most Valuable Representative: Tammy Baldwin
Most Valuable Governor: Peter Shumlin
Most Valuable State Official: Montana Attorney General: Steve Bullock
Most Valuable State Legislator: Marcia Moody
Most Valuable Educational TV Show: The Colbert Report
Many more on the list and with details on what they have done for progressives
http://www.thenation.com/article/171867/progressive-honor-roll-2012
Lighter-than-air material discovered
German material scientists from Kiel University and the Hamburg University of Technology have created the world’s lightest material, dubbed aerographite.
One cubic centimeter of aerographite weighs just 0.2 milligrams, which is four times lighter than the previous record holder, 5,000 times less dense than water, and six times lighter than air. Aerographite is so light that it is difficult to work with it in a normal lab. Any small movement in the lab can create winds that blow the material around.
“If you wanted to have one kilogram of this material it would be five cubic metres large. That means a one square metre base, which goes five metres up in the air like a house or tower – that would be one kilogram. You would need about 14 car boots if you wanted to transport this kilogram,” says researcher Matthias Mecklenburg.
Aerographite is a mesh of carbon tubes, each around 15nm in diameter, interwoven at the micro and nano-scale level. Because of its lightness and relatively large surface area, aerographite could enable the creation of much lighter lithium-ion batteries. It could be used for waterproof clothes, for lighter computers, for air and water filtration and also for protective shielding for satellites.
http://www.euronews.com/2012/11/01/lighter-than-air-material-discovered/
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Wikileaks' 10 greatest stories
Wikileaks, the whistleblowing website, is preparing to release 400,000 files on the Iraq war in a publication that promises to eclipse the release in the summer of 70,000 classified US military files on the Afghanistan conflict. Here are 10 previous high-profile leaks.
Details at link.. headlines only
Iraq Apache helicopter attack
Guantanamo Bay operating procedures
Scientology
Climate Research Unit emails
Australian internet blacklist
Trafigura's Minton Report
BNP membership
Sarah Palin's email account
9/11 pager data
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/8070253/Wikileaks-10-greatest-stories.html
Keep up the good fight. for transparency .. I didn't post the details but the article even links to the original story plus gives a synopsis.
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