Saturday - March 04, 2006

Saturday Silliness

Posted by The Skipper     on 03/04/2006 at 03:38 AM   
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   Friday - March 03, 2006

Bubba Takes The Money And Runs

Interestingly, a few hours ago Senator Shrillary Clinton came out and said she had no idea Bill had taken money from these people or that he advised them on the ports deal. That woman has got to be the most out-of-touch person on the planet ... or the biggest liar. We report, you decide ....

Dubai’s ‘Boycott Israel’ Sheik
Funded Bill Clinton
Thursday, March 2, 2006 12:10 p.m. EST

(NEWSMAX)

Former President Bill Clinton has accepted at least $1.6 million from the United Arab Emirates, including $300,000 from a Dubai sheik who adamantly backs the country’s controversial boycott of Israel.

On Jan. 17, 2002, Mr. Clinton was paid $300,000 to address the Science, Technology and Arts Royal Summit in Dubai at the invitation of Crown Prince and UAE Defense Minister Sheik Mohammad bin Rashid Al Maktoum.

Less than three months later, Sheik Mohammad urged the United Nations to approve the use of force against Israel’s to halt what he called the Jewish state’s “butchery” of Palestinians, according to London’s Financial Times. Mr. Clinton’s benefactor called for then-Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to “stand trial before the International War Crimes Tribunal,” where Sheik Mohammad said he would “have a prominent place in the list of world’s killers, terrorists and criminals.”

The Dubai sheik then reminded that “Arabs have a wide room for political, diplomatic and economic moves and have the right, at least, to revive the Arab economic boycott to Israel.” Mr. Clinton accepted another $300,000 from the Dubai regime for a speech in 2005. And his presidential library in Little Rock has collected seven-figure sums from several Arab governments participating in the anti-Israel boycott, including Dubai.

In Sept. 2005, the New York Sun reported: “When the library opened last year, a computer display in the exhibit halls included information on some, but not all, donors. The Saudi Royal Family and the governments of Dubai, Kuwait, and Qatar all gave $1 million or more.” The paper noted that after it published a previous list including Mr. Clinton’s Arab donors, “the computer display was shut off. It has not been restored.”

On Thursday morning, NewsMax called the offices of Mr. Clinton, Sen. Hillary Clinton, Sen. Charles Schumer, Rep. Peter King and the Anti-Defamation League in New York, inquiring about the appropriateness of Mr. Clinton taking so much cash from a country that boycotts Israel. None of the calls had been returned by presstime.

Posted by The Skipper     on 03/03/2006 at 03:09 PM   
Filed Under: • Democrats-Liberals-Moonbat Leftists • Hildabeast • Outrageous •  
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And Now For Something Completely Different

Posted by The Skipper     on 03/03/2006 at 01:21 PM   
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Daily Chicken Little Report

And now, for your viewing pleasure we present the Daily Chicken Little Report, with your news anchor Chicken Little, and our co-anchors University Of Colorado Moonbat Professor Isabelle Velicogna and in our East Coast bureau, Senator John “Just A Gigolo” Kerry. Tonight a special report entitled “Antarctica Down To Ice Cube Size, Greenland Is Now A Tropical Jungle, We’re All Gonna Drown Tomorrow”. Unfair and unbalanced warping and twisting of scientific facts so you can decide ....

Antarctic Ice Sheet Is Melting Rapidly
New Study Warns Of Rising Sea Levels
Friday, March 3, 2006

(WASHINGTON POST)

The Antarctic ice sheet is losing as much as 36 cubic miles of ice a year in a trend that scientists link to global warming, according to a new paper that provides the first evidence that the sheet’s total mass is shrinking significantly. The new findings, which are being published today in the journal Science, suggest that global sea level could rise substantially over the next several centuries.

It is one of a slew of scientific papers in recent weeks that have sought to gauge the impact of climate change on the world’s oceans and lakes. Just last month two researchers reported that Greenland’s glaciers are melting into the sea twice as fast as previously believed, and a separate paper in Science today predicts that by the end of this century lakes and streams on one-fourth of the African continent could be drying up because of higher temperatures.

The new Antarctic measurements, using data from two NASA satellites called the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE), found that the amount of water pouring annually from the ice sheet into the ocean—equivalent to the amount of water the United States uses in three months—is causing global sea level to rise by 0.4 millimeters a year. The continent holds 90 percent of the world’s ice, and the disappearance of even its smaller West Antarctic ice sheet could raise worldwide sea levels by an estimated 20 feet.

“The ice sheet is losing mass at a significant rate,” said Isabella Velicogna, the study’s lead author and a research scientist at Colorado University at Boulder’s Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences. “It’s a good indicator of how the climate is changing. It tells us we have to pay attention.” Richard Alley, a Pennsylvania State University glaciologist who has studied the Antarctic ice sheet but was not involved in the new research, said more research is needed to determine if the shrinkage is a long-term trend, because the new report is based on just three years of data. “One person’s trend is another person’s fluctuation,” he said.

But Alley called the study significant and “a bit surprising” because a major international scientific panel predicted five years ago that the Antarctic ice sheet would gain mass this century as higher temperatures led to increased snowfall. “It looks like the ice sheets are ahead of schedule” in terms of melting, Alley said. “That’s a wake-up call. We better figure out what’s going on.” Velicogna acknowledged that it is hard to predict how fast the ice sheet will melt in the future but said, “I don’t expect it’s going to stop in the next couple of years.”

Scientists have been debating whether the Antarctic ice sheet is expanding or shrinking overall, because the center of the sheet tends to gain mass through snowfall whereas the coastal regions are more vulnerable to melting. Velicogna and her co-author, University of Colorado at Boulder physics professor John Wahr, based their measurements on data from the two GRACE satellites that circle the world more than a dozen times a day at an altitude of 310 miles. The satellites measure variations in Earth’s mass and gravitational pull: Increases or decreases in the Antarctic ice sheet’s mass change the distance between the satellites as they fly over the region.

“The strength of GRACE is that we were able to assess the entire Antarctic region in one fell swoop to determine if it was gaining or losing mass,” Wahr said. But some scientists remain unconvinced. Oregon state climatologist George Taylor noted that sea ice in some areas of Antarctica is expanding and part of the region is getting colder, despite computer models that would predict otherwise. “The Antarctic is really a puzzle,” said Taylor, who writes for the Web site TSCDaily, which is partly financed by fossil fuel companies that oppose curbs on greenhouse gases linked to climate change. “A lot more research is needed to understand the degree of climate and ice trends in and around the Antarctic.”

At the other end of the temperature spectrum, two South African researchers are reporting today in Science that their computer models indicate that by 2100 climate change may rob the south and west of Africa and areas in the upper Nile region of a significant portion of their current water supply. Warming may reduce the rainfall needed to replenish up to 25 percent of Africa’s surface water, said Maarten de Wit and Jacek Stankiewicz at the University of Cape Town in Rondebosch, South Africa. “Water is essential to human survival,” they wrote, “and changes in its supply can potentially have devastating implications, particularly in Africa, where much of the population relies on local rivers for water.”

Congressional Democrats, including Sen. John F. Kerry (Mass.) and Rep. Henry A. Waxman (Calif.) said yesterday that the two new papers show that the United States must act quickly to impose mandatory limits on carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. The Bush administration opposes such curbs on the grounds that they could hurt the country’s economy and has instead invested money on new technology to limit greenhouse emissions and further climate science research. “Climate change is not just someone else’s concern but a very real threat to the lives and livelihood of people across the globe,” Kerry said.

Posted by The Skipper     on 03/03/2006 at 12:24 PM   
Filed Under: • Environment • Stoopid-People •  
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No Hablo Englais

Freedom of speech is fine in Colorado .... unless you speak English. Then it is not allowed. At least you cannot let anyone know that you speak English. If you do, then it is considered “offensive, intolerant” and you are guilty of “discrimination and harassment”. Oh .... and don’t even get me started on ballcaps. In Arapahoe County, some ballcaps are considered hate crimes .... even if they aren’t Yankees ballcaps ....

CBS4 Investigates ‘English Speaking’ Sign Flap
Mar 2, 2006 8:07 pm US/Mountain

DENVER (CBS4)

Arapahoe County is threatening to fire a veteran Public Works employee for promoting the fact that he is an English speaking American. “They claim it’s offensive and I’ve been accused of discrimination and harassment, believe it or not, because of this,” said Mike Gray, a heavy equipment operator with the Arapahoe County Road and Bridge Department for 16 years.

The problems began last spring. Gray, 50, owns a lawn service business on the side. He was routinely driving to work in his pickup truck towing a trailer that he uses to carry lawn mowing equipment for his business. On the side of his trailer, the married father of two affixed a sign that reads “Lawn Services Done With Pride!! By An English Speaking American.”

The sign also gives Gray’s phone number and the lettering is over a background of an American flag. “There are a lot of people in the lawn service that are non-English speaking,” Gray said. “Customers and different people were telling me that they have a hard time trying to communicate with them about the work they want done on their yards. I just want to let people know they at least can communicate with me when I do work on their property.”

Gray also wore a hat to work that says “U.S. Border Patrol,” which he says was a gift from his son. Arapahoe County officials told Gray the sign and hat must go or else. In a Nov. 10, 2005, letter, his supervisor Monty Sedlak wrote the following: “Some of your conduct ... is reprehensible and discriminatory to our non-English speaking and/or Hispanic workforce. You are in violation of ... guidelines which ensure a workplace free from harassment and sensitive to the diversity of employees.”

“You are required to permanently remove your cap from the workplace. It is offensive and harassing. Your business sign, if on work premises, must be completely covered at all times. This behavior is inappropriate and any further incidents of this nature may result in further disciplinary action up to and including termination of employment.”

Andrea Rasizer, spokesperson for Arapahoe County, declined to answer questions, saying the matter was a “personnel issue.” Gray said he believes his First Amendment rights are at stake, and he said he is “not about to surrender.” “I got a new supervisor,” said Gray. “He’s a politically correct, bleeding heart liberal. I believe in what I’m doing. I got to stand up for what I believe in and I don’t think I’m doing a thing wrong. Of course I don’t want to lose my job, but I can’t back down from something I believe in. Like I say, they’re just chipping away at our rights and freedoms.”

In response to the County’s firing threat, Gray stopped wearing his Border Patrol hat to work and partly covers his business sign at work so that the American flag and the words “English speaking American” are the only things still visible. The County says that’s not enough, but it’s as far as Gray is willing to go. “Why would any American do such a thing as cover up the American flag and something that says you’re an American? Its beyond me that anyone could expect me to do that like my employer is.”

Gray has hired attorney David Lane, who plans to file an injunction to allow the County worker to resume wearing his hat on the job and fully display his sign. “What is of concern to me is whether the government of Arapahoe County is violating his Constitutional rights under the First Amendment,” Lane said. “When the government tries to put a gag in people’s mouths because they don’t like the message that’s being delivered, I’d do everything in my power to stop that from happening.”

Posted by The Skipper     on 03/03/2006 at 10:35 AM   
Filed Under: • Democrats-Liberals-Moonbat Leftists • Stoopid-People •  
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All That Glitters

One thing you gotta give the commies, justice is swift and certain. If Glitter had been caught in the US or Britain, he would have been in and out of court for twenty years with no verdict until some higher court eventually threw it out. As it is, he gets to rot in a Vietnamese jail for three years and then gets booted out of the country. Occasionally, the commies get one right ....

Glitter Jailed For Child Abuse
Thursday, March 2, 2006

VUNG TAU, Vietnam (CNN)

Former rocker Gary Glitter has been found guilty of obscene acts with two Vietnamese girls, and sentenced to three years in prison. Glitter, best-known for the anthemic “Rock & Roll, Part 2” song played at sports arenas worldwide, shouted “I’m innocent” after the verdict.

Reporters and onlookers allowed into the courthouse in southern Ba Ria-Vung province to hear the verdict following the closed two-day trial, pressed toward Glitter in a scene of pandemonium as police fended them off and escorted him out of the building.

“I haven’t done anything. I’m Innocent. It’s a conspiracy,” Glitter shouted. Glitter has 15 days to appeal and could become eligible for early parole if he behaves well in prison, officials said, according to Reuters news service. Glitter, 61, whose real name is Paul Francis Gadd, was convicted of committing obscene acts with a 10-year-old and 11-year-old girl at his rented seaside villa in southern Vung Tau last year.

He was then sentenced to three years in prison, followed by deportation from Vietnam. The court, in its verdict, cited graphic testimony from the girls that Glitter had fondled and molested them, and took showers with them naked, in his rented home and in nearby hotels.

Glitter has said he was teaching the girls English at his home and considered them “like his grandchildren.” He has been in police custody since November 19, when he was seized in Ho Chi Minh City trying to board a flight out of the country. Police confiscated his laptop, which had hundreds of pornographic pictures on it.

During the criminal investigation, police considered charging Glitter with child rape, which carries a maximum penalty of death, but said they did not find enough evidence. The girls’ families wrote to the court in December, asking that charges be dropped after Glitter paid $2,000 to each of them.

Although prosecutors decided to move forward with the case anyway, under Vietnam’s legal system, the payments are considered “compensation” that counts towards lessening any sentence. The sleepy resort town of Vung Tau, about 130 kilometers (80 miles) southeast of Ho Chi Minh City, has drawn intense attention from international media.

Glitter’s fall from grace began with a 1999 conviction in Britain for possessing child pornography. He served two months in jail. He later went to Cambodia but was expelled in 2002. Officials did not specify why Glitter was deported.

Posted by The Skipper     on 03/03/2006 at 10:12 AM   
Filed Under: • Crime • International •  
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Sikh The Knife

Just when you thought it was safe to go back into Canada, our friends in the Great White North™ have gone and gotten silly again. If Sikhs can carry knives and Muslims can wear burkhas (which one can easily hide an AK-47 under) I propose that Christians adopt the pump shotgun as our religious symbol. Well .... it’s no more insane than this crap from other religions. For the life of me, I just don’t understand where all of this is going ....

Canada Backs Sikh Dagger Rights
March 3, 2006

(BBC)

Canadian Sikhs should be allowed to wear small daggers central to their faith when they go to school, the country’s Supreme Court has ruled. In an 8-0 judgement, the court reversed the ruling of a Montreal school board, which banned Gurbaj Singh Multani from wearing his dagger, known as a kirpan.

The kirpan is deemed sacred by Sikhs as a symbol of power and truth. School authorities banned the kirpan in 2001 after an objection by a parent concerned about pupil security. Announcing the judgement, the Supreme Court said that a total ban on kirpans violated the country’s Charter of Rights.

The charter guarantees total religious freedom within Canada. “Religious tolerance is a very important value of Canadian society,” Justice Louise Charron wrote in the judgement. “If some students consider it unfair that Gurbaj Singh may wear his kirpan to school, it is incumbent on the schools to discharge their obligation to instil in their students this value that is… at the very foundation of our democracy.”

The government of Quebec had backed the Montreal school board, which imposed the ban. Parents campaigning for tighter restrictions on weapons in school were dismayed by the ruling. “My first reaction as a parent is a feeling of insecurity,” Claude Bouchard of the Quebec Federation of Parents’ Committees, told Reuters news agency.

“As a parent, is the life and safety of a child more important than religious freedom? I think so.” The ruling did allow some restrictions to be imposed on kirpans worn in public, including limiting their length and keeping them sheathed and worn underneath clothes.

Nevertheless, Gurbaj Singh Multani, who was 12 when he was suspended and then removed from his school, welcomed the judgement. “Everybody stood for their rights. I got it. I’m happy,” he said outside the court.

Orthodox Sikhs have been required to carry kirpans since the 17th century, and insist it is not a weapon. About 250,000 Sikhs live in Canada, with 10% considered orthodox.

Posted by The Skipper     on 03/03/2006 at 09:58 AM   
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Sniper Update

Four years later and this asshat is still making his way through our thoroughly efficient court system. He has already been sentenced to death in Virginia, now Maryland gets its chance. I figure that by the time all the trials are finished and this jerk’s rights have all been protected he will sit on death row, getting fat and lazy, with the taxpayers footing the bill for about twenty years. Then some liberal governor will issue a last minute reprieve in the year 2031. Any bets on whether he finds religion and writes a couple of books in the meantime ... ?

Sniper Suspect Won’t Face Death in Md.
March 3, 2006, 12:48 AM EST

BALTIMORE (AP)

Prosecutors will not seek the death penalty against convicted Washington-area sniper John Allen Muhammad when he goes on trial in May, the Montgomery County state’s attorney said Thursday.

Prosecutor Douglas Gansler said late Thursday that “underlying the entire decision was the fact that Muhammad has received a death sentence in Virginia.”

Muhammad, 45, was sentenced to death after being convicted in a sniper shooting in Manassas, Va. Lee Boyd Malvo, 20, who also is a defendant in the case, was sentenced to life in prison for a shooting in Falls Church, Va. Ten people were killed in the Washington area during a three-week shooting spree in October 2002. Of those, six were shot in Montgomery. Authorities also have linked Muhammad and Malvo to shootings in Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Washington state.

Gansler filed notice last month with the county’s Circuit Court that he would seek life without possibility of parole if Muhammad is convicted of the six Montgomery deaths, the Washington Post reported in a story to be published Friday.

Gansler said Maryland requires prosecutors to show beyond a reasonable doubt that Muhammad was the triggerman to pursue the death penalty. The law also requires proof that two or more people were killed in a single incident. Maryland has only executed five people since the death penalty was restored in the late 1970s.

“Given space and time and distance, the multiple murders would not satisfy legal definition of single incident,” Gansler said. Muhammad was moved to Maryland from Virginia in August, and his trial is set to begin May 1. Malvo was brought to Maryland in May and his trial is set for October. Both men are charged with six counts of first-degree murder in Montgomery County.

Posted by The Skipper     on 03/03/2006 at 09:41 AM   
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A Tangled Web They Weave

Obviously, there is nothing loonier than an animal-rights activist nowadays. This group has some serious issues. They make PETA look positively civilized. How can they be so vehemently protective of animals and not give a damn about human life at all? It amazes me the irony in these groups’ stand. Humans are animals too. Where are our rights? Who is going to protect us against these madmen? I got it! Let’s form a new group called ... uh ... Stop Cruelty Against Human Animals By Inhuman Animal Activists. SCAHABIAA. Cool! Let’s run with it ....

Jury Convicts Animal Welfare Activists
March 3, 2006, 3:21 AM EST

TRENTON, N.J. (AP)

Six animal-rights supporters face up to seven years in prison after being convicted of using a Web site to incite threats, harassment and vandalism against a company that tests drugs and household products on animals. A jury returned its verdict against Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty and six of its members on Thursday after three days of deliberations.

Federal Judge Anne E. Thompson ordered five of them held without bail until a sentencing hearing on June 7. The defendants, all in their late 20s or early 30s, face three to seven years in prison and fines up to $250,000. The government charged that SHAC waged a five-year campaign against Huntingdon Life Sciences, posting on its Web site information about the lab’s employees and those who do business with Huntingdon. The information included their home phone numbers, addresses and where their children attended school.

Many of those people saw their homes vandalized, and they and their families received threatening e-mails, faxes and phone calls. SHAC, based in Philadelphia, maintained its actions were protected under the First Amendment. The defendants were not accused of directly making threats or carrying out vandalism. Instead, they were charged with animal enterprise terrorism, stalking and other offenses.

Mike Caulfield, Huntingdon’s general manager, said the verdict was “a victory for democracy, research and patients.” “The government and this jury have sent a strong message to those who would ignore the democratic process and resort to criminal activity to advance their political views,” Caulfield said in a statement. SHAC President Pamelyn Ferdin said the jury was fooled by the government’s case and the judge’s order to remove victims’ names and home addresses from its Web site reeked of fascism.

“This is a scary path for all Americans,” said Ferdin, a former child star who was the voice of Lucy in the “Peanuts” movies and played Felix Unger’s daughter Edna on TV’s “The Odd Couple.” “Here is a government, a feckless federal government, who spent millions of taxpayer dollars to wage an assault on all our constitutional rights,” she said.

Ferdin became leader of the group in 2004 after its former president, Kevin Kjonaas, and the others were indicted. She was not charged. Many of the targets of the harassment testified that they started looking over their shoulders when walking or driving, changed their phone numbers or even moved. Some kept their children from playing outdoors, and several bought guns.

Sally Dillenback broke into tears as she recounted an anonymous e-mail that threatened to cut open her son and fill him with poison “the way Huntingdon does with the animals.” Marian Harlos testified she got late-night calls in which someone asked: “Are you scared? Do you think the puppies should be scared?” She said masked protesters parked down the street from her house, videotaping her comings and goings. They barged into her office, screaming and tossing leaflets, and others ruined the rear door with glue and animal stickers, she said.

On the Net:

SHAC: http://www.shac.net

Huntingdon Life Sciences: http://www.huntingdon.com

Posted by The Skipper     on 03/03/2006 at 09:23 AM   
Filed Under: • Animals • Outrageous •  
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Suspended Sentence

Did you know that you can now be punished for viewing a web site? In California, obviously you can. Admittedly, the jerk who posted this crap needs to be taken out behind the woodshed but what about the others who just viewed his diatribe?

Ya know, back in the good ol’ days when I was in school, the principal would have hauled all of them down to the office and given 30 licks with a paddle to the kid who posted and 10 to each of the viewers, the web site would have been removed and all sent home with a note to the parents who would probably repeat the paddling.

A lot of kids (including mine) had sore butts in those days but their brains got the message ....

20 Calif. Students Suspended Over Web Site
March 3, 2006, 7:34 AM EST

COSTA MESA, Calif. (AP)

A middle school student faces expulsion for allegedly posting graphic threats against a classmate on the popular MySpace.com Web site, and 20 of his classmates were suspended for viewing the posting, school officials said. Police are investigating the boy’s comments about his classmate at TeWinkle Middle School as a possible hate crime, and the district is trying to expel him.

According to three parents of the suspended students, the invitation to join the boy’s MySpace group gave no indication of the alleged threat. They said the MySpace social group name’s was “I hate (girl’s name)” and included an expletive and an anti-Semitic reference.

A later message to group members directed them to a nondescript folder, which included a posting that allegedly asked: “Who here in the (group name) wants to take a shotgun and blast her in the head over a thousand times?”

Because the creator of a posting can change its content at any time, it’s unclear how much the students saw. “With what the students can get into using the technology we are all concerned about it,” Bob Metz, the district assistant superintendent of secondary education, said Wednesday.

Metz said the students’ suspensions in mid-Febuary were appropriate because the incident involved student safety. Some parents however questioned whether the school overstepped its bounds by disciplining students for actions that occurred on personal computers, at home and after school hours.

Posted by The Skipper     on 03/03/2006 at 09:10 AM   
Filed Under: • Crime • Education •  
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Liberal Education

PARSIPPANY—Top school officials will huddle privately this morning to discuss a classroom war crimes “trial"of President Bush at Parsippany High School that suddenly is drawing national attention.

The school board’s president, Robert Perlett, said the 8:30 a.m. meeting was called by mutual agreement on Thursday as the uproar surrounding the mock tribunal escalated on the Internet and talk radio. Perlett said no decision had been made to halt the trial, which is to enter a fourth day today after classes were canceled Thursday due to the snowstorm.

Posted by The Skipper     on 03/03/2006 at 08:58 AM   
Filed Under: • Education • Humor •  
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   Thursday - March 02, 2006

Thought For The Day

This gem was discovered by James Taranto at WSJ’s Opinion Journal. Jennifer Lane, a student at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst writes in the college paper the following:

No matter how you look at it, our society has gotten out of control. No one knows who they are anymore, and there are a lot of pessimistic attitudes walking around. During the 1940s and 1950s, everything was carefree and wonderful. The war was over, and the baby boom began. Every theatrical production had huge dresses and bright, beautiful colors to represent the love and optimistic point of view everyone had.

What has happened to that world? It was a time where people didn’t have to step lightly around politically correct issues, when America was the greatest thing since sliced bread and divorce rates were only 2.6 per 1,000 people (versus today, 4.0/1,000 people) according to census data.

The world spins so quickly. We only have so much time, and we need to spend it wisely. The soldier needs to do his duty and come home as safely and quickly as possible. The loner needs to branch out and find a way to network and enjoy life again. The workaholic needs to find the spice of life. The clouds look like they’re spinning so slowly.

It looks and seems like you have the time of your life, but you never know. You could be on autopilot and take for granted the idea that there’s always tomorrow, when, in fact, you don’t actually know. Hold on to what you have, and try to find your own meaning to life, because you never know how much time you have left.

Posted by The Skipper     on 03/02/2006 at 05:37 PM   
Filed Under: • Philosophy •  
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Photo Du Jour

“Georgia On My Mind”
-by-
The Unknown Photographer

Posted by The Skipper     on 03/02/2006 at 05:21 PM   
Filed Under: • Art-Photography •  
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Where Ya Gonna Go When The Volcano Blows?

Trivia Question: Where is the largest active volcano in the world located?

Non-Trivial Answer: Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming.

The article below states that the last eruption of this SUPER-VOLCANO (25 miles in diameter) was 640,000 years ago. Can you guess how often this monster blows its top, based on geological surveys and scientific data? If you guessed “every 600,000 years” then you would be right. If you also guessed that everything East of Yellowstone, all the way to Illinois would be covered in several feet of ash and volcanic debris you would be right on the money. If you further extrapolated the nature of this phenomenon, you will have guessed by now that the cloud of ash would cover the planet and we would face a 3-4 year long hard, cold winter everywhere. So much for glowball warming ....

Yellowstone Bulge May Cause Thermal Unrest
March 2, 2006, 11:59 AM EST

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP)

A newly discovered surface bulge in Yellowstone National Park may be responsible for some unexpected geothermal activity in recent years, according to a study by U.S. Geological Survey scientists.

The bulge, about 25 miles across, rose 5 inches from 1997 to 2003 and may have triggered some thermal unrest at Norris Geyser Basin, including a sudden rise in temperatures, new steam vents and the awakening of Steamboat geyser.

The findings are part of a paper set to be published Thursday in the journal Nature. Charles Wicks, one of the USGS scientists who worked on the study, said much of what happens beneath the park’s surface remains a mystery, but more is being learned about the Yellowstone caldera, the huge bowl-shaped collapsed volcano in the middle of the park that last erupted 640,000 years ago.

Geologists discovered the dome on the northern rim of the caldera several years ago, and Wicks and others used satellite images and other tools to track its swelling. Wicks and his colleagues theorize that molten rock moved out of the caldera and beneath the area of the inflating dome, which has been named the North Rim Uplift Anomaly. The floor of the caldera sank as the molten rock left.

Around the same time, some unusual activity began occurring in and around Norris Geyser Basin, according to the USGS findings. Steamboat geyser erupted in May 2000 after nine years of dormancy, and then erupted five more times between 2002 and 2003. The nearby Porkchop geyser also sprang to life after 14 years of dormancy. Ground temperatures at Norris, the hottest and most unstable geyser area in the park, rose so high in 2003 that Yellowstone officials closed some boardwalks out of fear that visitors might be burned.

And just north of Norris near Nymph Lake, a series of steam vents churned and emitted white clouds of gas. Scientists studying the shore of Yellowstone Lake found that the caldera has been rising and falling for at least 15,000 years, sometimes swinging more than 10 feet. Henry Heasler, Yellowstone’s lead geologist, said research about the heaving caldera could play a role in predicting volcanic activity and help ensure the public’s safety. “We’ve known that the caldera breathes,” Heasler said. “Now we’re starting to get a much better idea of those respirations.”

Scientists have revealed that Yellowstone Park has been on a regular eruption cycle of 600,000 years. The last eruption was 640,000 years ago…so the next is overdue. The next eruption could be 2,500 times the size of the 1980 Mount St. Helens eruption. Volcanologists have been tracking the movement of magma under the park and have calculated that in parts of Yellowstone the ground has risen over seventy centimeters this century.

Volcanic activity began in the Yellowstone National Park region a little before about 2 million years ago. Molten rock (magma) rising from deep within the Earth produced three cataclysmic eruptions more powerful than any in the world’s recorded history. The first caldera-forming eruption occurred about 2.1 million years ago. The eruptive blast removed so much magma from its subsurface storage reservoir that the ground above it collapsed into the magma chamber and left a gigantic depression in the ground- a hole larger than the state of Rhode Island. The huge crater, known as a caldera, measured as much as 80 kilometers long, 65 kilometers wide, and hundreds of meters deep, extending from outside of Yellowstone National Park into the central area of the Park.

The most recent caldera-forming eruption about 650,000 years ago produced a caldera 53 x 28 miles (85 x 45 kilometers) across in what is now Yellowstone National Park (Figure 2). During that eruption, ground-hugging flows of hot volcanic ash, pumice, and gases swept across an area of more than 3,000 square miles. When these enormous pyroclastic flows finally stopped, they solidified to form a layer of rock called the Lava Creek Tuff. Its volume was about 240 cubic miles (1,000 cubic kilometers), enough material to cover Wyoming with a layer 13 feet thick or the entire conterminous United States with a layer 5 inches thick. The Lava Creek Tuff has been exposed by erosion at Tuff Cliff, a popular Yellowstone attraction along the lower Gibbon River.

Source: “What’s In Yellowstone’s Future?” - US Geological Survey, 2005 Report

Posted by The Skipper     on 03/02/2006 at 01:47 PM   
Filed Under: • Science-Technology •  
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