:: The Freewheelin' Reader ::

:: 28.11.05 ::

Veg News has pusblished its best of issue. Always a good time.

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VegNews founder Joseph Connelly made the following announcement on Thursday, November 17. "It is with great sadness that I convey that Donald Watson, who coined the word 'vegan' and founded the world's first vegan organization in 1944 -- aptly named The Vegan Society -- has died. Watson passed away on Wednesday evening at his north England home after a brief illness. He was 95.

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Richard Branson sets out to make it all better.
Idiot.

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"earthquake diplomacy" proves our world is fucked up.

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This large retrospective of work by Alejandro Xul Solar (1887-1963), an Argentine modernist painter, brings together 120 pieces, mostly vivid watercolours on paper, that chronicle the artist's preoccupation with religion, symbolism and the esoteric. Born in 1887, Solar spent 12 years in Europe, where he was clearly influenced by Kandinsky and Klee, before returning to Buenos Aires in 1924. He became part of an intellectual group that included Jorge Luis Borges, a close friend.
Solar’s works are on a small scale and use, for the most part, intense colours to portray mythical beasts, Catholic symbols and characters from the zodiac. One section of the show draws comparisons with his Brazilian contemporaries, including Ismael Nery, Antonio Gomide and Lasar Segall. Solar's desire to create a pan-Latin American utopia led him to invent a language that mixes Spanish and Portuguese called “neocriollo”, words from which appear in his pictures

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One of the judges of the Nobel Prize for Literature resigns in protest at the choice of last year's winner.

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After the criticism of his disastrous handling the Katrina disaster, President George Bush promises a reconstruction programme of $200bn for areas destroyed by the hurricane. But the first and biggest beneficiaries will be businesses that specialise in profiting from disaster, and have already had lucrative contracts in Iraq; they will gentrify New Orleans at the expense of its poor, black citizens.

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Finally!
There is proof that someone reads this site.
I posted a picture from Maxim's Hometown Hotties contest w/o permission. The woman who's picture I had posted saw it and asked me to take it down. I bowed to the pressure.
*grin*
Actually, I was so amazed that anyone found this site that I gladly did it.

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Bill Introduced As Joke Signed Into Law
WASHINGTON, DC—Sen. George Allen was chagrined Tuesday when a bill he introduced ironically actually passed Congress.

I needed a good laugh right now, and this hit the spot.

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Most substances melt when heated, so why does my scrambled egg turn from liquid to solid as I cook it?

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How Does Something Like This Even Come Close to Happening?
Sony announced that it will cut 10,000 jobs or roughly 7% of its global workforce, in an effort to restore the company's profitability. The company will also close or sell 11 of its 65 manufacturing plants. Sony shares have lost two-thirds of their value over the last five years, as the company has struggled to keep pace with new developments in portable music and flat-screen televisions. The restructuring follows the appointment in March of Sir Howard Stringer, as the group's first foreign chief executive. - The Economist.

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Turns out as the California Governor Schwarzenegger has the authority to veto any bill he wants. I wonder if he'll change the official terminology from veto to terminate.
Man, I fell like Jay Leno. And that ain't good.
FYI, Schwarzenegger is going to terminate a bill in favour of gay marriages.

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15-year-old Branca from Angola misses school two days a week to help her mother on market days. She is now six years behind the normal educational cycle, and may have to drop out altogether if her families fragile livelihood is suddenly hindered. Woman's Edge says, supporting mothers like Branca's will ensure their daughters' quest for education and a better life.

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I'm all for a UN-style organization, but the one we have does not seem to be working. Proof: The investigation into the U.N.'s Oil-for-Food scandal has cleared Secretary General Kofi Annan of improper conduct, but revealed the need for urgent and fundamental reform of the world body in order to eliminate the corruption, incompetence and lack of accountability that characterised the scandal.

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I can't believe I read this entire three page article on Tom Cruise

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A Pakistani woman who was gang-raped on the orders of a village council launched an appeal Monday before Pakistan's Supreme Court against a ruling that acquitted five of her alleged attackers, her lawyer said.
In good news: Since her assault, Ms. Mai has become a prominent women's rights activist. Although she grew up illiterate herself, Ms. Mai has helped set up a school for girls in her village, mainly with donations from supporters, many of them in the United States.

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A dashboard finger scanner could prevent thousands of car injuries each year by fine-tuning crash restraint systems to a passenger's bone density.

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What are the anatomical prerequisites for a naturally pleasant singing voice?

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New hack cracks 'secure' Bluetooth devices
Cryptographers have discovered a way to hack Bluetooth-enableddevices even when security features are switched on. The trick,demonstrated in real gadgets, works by spoofing a device’s identityand pretending to have forgotten a cryptographic key. The techniquemay allow hackers to eavesdrop on conversations or steal callingtime.

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Lenny Bruce earned $108,000 (US) in 1960. In 1964, he made only $6,000. He was bankrupt by 1965, and by 1966 he was dead. The police found him lying on the bathroom floor of his Los Angeles home on August 3, 1966, with a needle in his arm. He had overdosed on either morphine or heroin. It was a tawdry end, but the police felt compelled to add their own personal touches. They moved his body to a more dramatic position, found a package of syringes and placed them under the sink near Bruce's body. Then they called the press and brought photographers in, two by two, to capture the death tableau on film.

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Children are being trafficked into the UK from Africa and used for human sacrifices, a confidential report for the Metropolitan Police suggests.

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Genes blamed for fickle female orgasm
A woman’s ability to achieve orgasm depends largely on her genessuggests a new study – and it appears that evolution has dealt manywomen a duff hand

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Michael Douglas' movie, The Game is now a reality.
Oh, and it's really creepy.

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YAY!
Global spending on arms tops $1 trillion

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I love everything about Maxim's Hometown Hotties Contest.

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How the hell does anybody run 100m in 9.77 seconds?

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In his new book, 'Breaking Rank,' former Seattle police chief Norm Stamper opens up about the dark side of American policing, from institutionalized racism to misogyny and homophobia. And how America is losing its fightagainst drugs -- and why we should considerdecriminalization.

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In his new book, 'Breaking Rank,' former Seattle police chief Norm Stamper opens up about the dark side of American policing, from institutionalized racism to misogyny and homophobia.

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Wha?
CANOLA HEISTS PLAGUE MANITOBA FARMERS
Thieves have stolen canola worth hundreds of thousands of dollars in aseries of robberies in southern Manitoba, even using one farmer's ownequipment to siphon truckloads of seed in the middle of the night.

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Scratching a Living
A million children are working in mines across the world

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Undercover - Exposing Cambodian capital's child prostitute trade

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The Christian right has launched a series of boycotts and pressure campaigns aimed at corporate America -- and at its sponsorship of entertainment, programs and activities they don't like.

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June 5th, World Environment Day, Governor Geraldo Alckmin and the mayor, José Serra, announced that both the state and the city would try to buy wood only from accredited sources. This came in response to a recent report that deforestation of Brazil's Amazon rainforest had increased by 6% from 2003 to 2004—the second-biggest rise in history. In the year to August 2004, an area larger than the American state of New Jersey was destroyed.
It is a noble goal, but the problem is not a lack of laws. Brazil already has impressively tough restrictions on paper, which impose stiff penalties for illegal logging. But the destruction continues to accelerate. Last month, several government-agency officials were accused of involvement in a huge illegal-logging operation in Mato Grosso, the state with the biggest deforestation problem. Most of the timber from the Amazon forests is sold to domestic buyers, with São Paulo state consuming about 15% of the total. To Folha de São Paulo, a local newspaper, the announcement from the governor and mayor smacks of political opportunism: Mr Alckmin is jockeying for position to become president in 2006, and Mr Serra comes from the same opposition party.
See article: The economy booms, the trees vanish, May 19th

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Okay, so The Prince of Pop has been found not guilty on all charges. He's had his day in court. I'd say leave him alone except for the irony of his wanting to perform at Live8. Live8 has all kinds of controversy surrounding it due to the lack of black performers. This being a concert for Africa and all it kind of makes sense to have some African performers.
Queery: Does Micheal Jackson count?

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Okay, so The Prince of Pop has been found not guilty on all charges. He's had his day in court. I'd say leave him alone except for the irony of his wanting to perform at Live8. Live8 has all kinds of controversy surrounding it due to the lack of black performers. This being a concert for Africa and all it kind of makes sense to have some African performers.
Queery: Does Micheal Jackson count?

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The US Senate has apologised for spending decades blocking efforts to make lynchings and mob violence against black Americans a federal crime.
Okay, I'm all for the Senate apologizing. And don't get me wrong, I don't want to see anybody hung. But why do we need a seperate law for black people here? Shouldn't lynching be outlawed for everybody? Yes, I know blacks suffered disproportinanetly from this form of punishment, but are seperate laws really necessary? I think one law, making it illegal to lynch anyone would be sufficient.

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Being overweight and a smoker makes a person biologically older than slim non-smokers of the same birth age, UK and US researchers have found.
Maybe some people, but not me! I'm getting younger every day.

I can't believe this sort of trype is allowed on the BBC. Why, according to the Chinese government smoking saves lives!

Rubbish.

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This is what Hamilton needs to divert people away from the grime and poverty - a law suit agianst some university students.
Actually, I'm not saying what these eco-warriors did was right, but com'on DiIanni give it up.

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Let Africa Use Its Own Wealth
Africa is a rich continent made poor by rapacious western corporations.
by Naomi Klein

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If I cared that much about this site any more then this article may prove to be very interesting, if not vital:
From 13 June 2005 openDemocracy will be publishing the majority of its articles under Creative Commons licences. It's part of our contribution to global democracy. The rest is up to you. Click here to read more.

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Globally, there are 2.2 billion children. Close to 50 percent of them live in poverty, reports UNICEF. Many have to confront abuse, violence and exploitation in their daily lives. This week's research focuses on the lives of street children, orphans and child labourers and highlights the importance of recognising children's voices.

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The landscape of global security is a muddled and complicated one, encompassing issues of water, weapons, disease, oil, population, climate change, unemployment...the list goes on and on. The Worldwatch Institute helps to straighten it all out with a set of articles and discussion questions on the key issues that are re-defining our times.

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Common has a new one too.
Yay Common!

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Diddi-diddi bop Funky funky - yeah yeah - diddi-diddi bop ....
Us3 has a new album out.

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look at treatments that promise to help you ditch your glasses.

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I think I posted this before, but just in case I'm misremembering here it is again

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I got to see this movie.
Memorable quotes: A policeman dismisses Ackerman's supernatural explanation for the killing spree by saying, "As much as I like ol' Ed, you got to take some of his theories with a grain of salt. After all, he did undergo 30 days of continued shelling at Khe Sanh." To which his partner replies, "My god. The horror."
Plus, there's this....

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Once again, The Washington Post has published the winning submissions to itsyearly contest, in which readers are asked to supply alternate meanings forcommon words.
The winners are: 1. Coffee (n.), the person upon whom onecoughs.
2. Flabbergasted (adj.), appalled over how much weight you havegained.
3. Abdicate (v.), to give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach.
4. Esplanade (v.), to attempt an explanation while drunk.
5. Willy-nilly(adj.), impotent.
6. Negligent (adj.), describes a condition in which youabsentmindedly answer the door in your nightgown.
7. Lymph (v.), to walkwith a lisp.
8. Gargoyle (n.), olive-flavored mouthwash.
9. Flatulence (n.)emergency vehicle that picks you up afte r you are run over by a steamroller. 10. Balderdash (n.), a rapidly receding hairline.
11. Testicle(n.), a humorous question on an exam.
12. Rectitude (n.), the formal,dignified bearing adopted by proctologists.
13. Pokemon (n), a Rastafarianproctologist.
14. Oyster (n.), a person who sprinkles his conversation withYiddishisms.
15. Frisbee tarianism (n.), The belief that, when you die, your Soul flies up onto the roof and gets stuck there.
16. Circumvent (n.), anopening in the front of boxer shorts worn by Jewish men

Frisbee tarianism is my favourite.

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Dad sent me this one:
Offshoring a sign of economic progress

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Sarah & RW are putting a bunch of their books up for grabs.
Here's the list, though it is a little old. Contact me if you want any and I'll pass it along.
"a stack of books that we haven't been able to sell, but which are still interesting and (in most cases) in relatively good shape (some have scant underlinings and notes... if you take a book, you have to promise not to mock us for our undergrad/grad musings).

Rather than tossing them in the garbage and feeling bad about it, I thought I would compile a list to see if anyone wanted to take any of them off our hands. If you see anything you like--or someone you know might like--just drop me a line and it's yours. Also, first come, first served."

1. Titus Groan by Mervyn Peake. Penguin pbk edition ca. 1974. Some slightly odd stains on inside front coverage. OK condition.

2. Mick Jackson, The Underground Man. A hardcover novel with a very interesting fold-out dust jacket. Description on inside front flap talks about “powerful emotional intensity” and a man who builds tunnels beneath the estate of a slightly eccentric Duke. Can’t say I remember much else about it.

3. Funny boy, Shyam Selvadurai’s first and much-acclaimed novel about growing up in Sri Lanka. I remember it was an enjoyable read. This is the hardcover version (first US edition).

4. A hardcover edition of Dickens’ American Notes (in a slipcover).

5. The Telling of Lies by Timothy Findley. Mass market copy in a distinctly dodgy condition, but it is signed (to me, by the way!), and it was a great mystery. Won the 1989 Edgar Award.

6. Timothy Findley’s Famous Last Words. Mass market edition. A ripping good yarn. So-so condition (I read it hard and didn’t care two damns for the spine while I was doing it!).

7. Bakunin on Anarchy. Bought used, but in remarkably decent condition (except for a few tears on the back cover).

8. Giorgio Vasari’s Lives of the Artists (vol.1, 2). Penguin trade editions in really decent shape—except that I bought them used for school so they have nasty yellow and black used stickers on the spine.

9. The Island of the Day Before by Umberto Eco. I made it through The Name of the Rose, but this doorstop halted me in my tracks. Any takers for this hardcover edition…please?

10. Rethinking popular culture (1991). Just screams textbook doesn’t it? Well, you’re right (Thanks to Professsor Tritschler for making us buy this recommended textbook and only reading about three essays from it). Decent collection of essays including the following titles: “The Dream World of Mass Consumption”, “Notes on the Balinese Cockfight”, “Sport and Social Class”, and “Movies of the Week”.

11. Lady Chatterley’s Lover with a weirdo film tie-in cover ca. 1982.

12. Robert decided to keep this one.

13. To Kill a Mockingbird, a rough around the edges mass market edition.

14. The Good Soldier by Ford Maddox Ford. Nice Vintage International trade edition that deals with two wealthy couples that meet each year at the Bad Nauheim spa in the years leading up to WWI. Apparently contains lots of hatred, deceit, infidelity, and betrayal. The cover blurb is attributed to Graham Greene, who describes it as “ one of the 15 or 20 greatest novels produced in English in our century.” The marginalia are attributed to Robert Hickey, who describes it as "a book I had to read and have already purged from my memory."

15. John Le Carre’s A Murder of Quality. A really good mystery set in one of England’s leading public schools. Features Le Carre’s George Smiley character.

16. Homer’s The Odyssey. Harper Perennial trade edition (1991). Translated by Richmond Lattimore.

17. Milton’s Paradise Lost, a "new" edition edited by Merritt Y. Hughes.

18. Poet for Sale, a novel by Lewis Vella. Apparently Vella is also the author of Mutant Migrant. The first line of the back cover description reads as follows: “Poet for Sale is a tender, vicious account of a street writer on the verge, trying to survive in modern urban society.” I have no idea why we own this book…(signed by the author, who was selling copies out of his van in front of Lee's Palace before a Ben Folds Five concert.)

19. A really nice Phaidon hardcover (unfortunately without the dust jacket) of the works of Fra Angelico. Really nice quality color plates. I’d keep it, but I haven’t opened it in years.

20. English Romantic Writers textbook (2nd ed.) Features works by Blake, Robert Burns, Mary Wollstonecraft, Wordsworth, Sir Walter Scott, etc. A nice collection of works for those interested in the period.

21. A used mass market edition of Sussana Moodie’s Roughing It In the Bush. Useful for those interested in roughing it in the bush.

22. A penguin edition of Brideshead Revisited with a sort of psychedelic cover. Not at all useful for roughing it in the bush.

23. The classic Erwin Panofsky text: Renaissance and Renascences in Western Art.

24. An Anthology of Pre-Raphaelite Writings. Pretty much just what its title would suggest.

25. A slim book of photographic art by Sally Gall, an American photographer called The Water’s Edge. Lots of beautiful dreamy landscapes. A little Vaseline-y with the lack of hard edges. Dust jacket is in rough shape.

26. The Women Who Knew too Much: Hitchcock and Feminist Theory. By Tania Modleski. Some pretty daunting Kristevan readings of Hitchcock's work, but offers some convincing arguments.

27. Some post-colonial stuff: Black Skin White Masks, by Frantz Fanon.

28. Modern Perspectives in Western Art History. Not much to say about this one. Just a bunch of 20th century essays.

29. The Importance of Being Earnest. A Dover thrift edition, unabridged.

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Oh Yeah!
Now this is the head-bashing type hunting I've always dreamed of.



Isn't there a less mobile animal they could wack at? I think it would be great if they could only wack the seal while they were under water. Good luck with that!

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A program in Senegal, which has led 1,527 villages to stop circumcising girls, is becoming a regional model.

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More than 1,000 African journalists have formed an online network to raise the profile of water and sanitation issues in the context of poverty reduction efforts, including progress towards the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. The Water Chronicle will begin publishing later this year.

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This sign pretty much sums up the state of the US right now I think.



It sure is a damn mockery...they're just too dumb to recognize that it's common sense and decency that they're mocking.

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"People will think you brilliant only if you tell them what they know. To avoid being thought brilliant, avoid knowing what they know. Write to discover to yourself what you know."
- Laura Riding, poet, Anarchism is Not Enough (University of California Press)

I can't stop picturing this woman as anyone other than a young person whom had been told they are profound, or thinks that they aren't profound and thus attempts to act with some profundity.

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Coke: The New NikeBy
Michael Blanding, The NationThere's a new corporate hood in town. It goes by the name of Coke. It's got a lot of college students angry, and that means boycotts. Students all over the world are gearing up to take on the soda giant, which stands accused of complicity in the murders by paramilitaries of union members at the company's Colombian bottling plants. -- Hannah Lobel
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20050411&s=blanding

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Huh?
Lars Ulrich, Fair Use Crusader?
By Xeni Jardin, BoingBoing.net
Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich is winning back some of the points he lost when he sued thousands of fans for illegally downloading his band's music through Napster. His new cause: protecting fair use -- the doctrine that says you can copy, share, and modify copyrighted works provided it's for the purpose of education, criticism, satire, or to create derivative works. When Sony Music, Metallica's record label, recently forced the Milwaukee cover band Beatallica to shut down its website, Ulrich came to the rescue, personally financing Beatallica's legal defense. -- Leif Utne

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On March 24, 1989, the nation's worst oil spill occurred as the supertanker Exxon Valdez ran aground on a reef in Alaska's Prince William Sound and began leaking 11 million gallons of crude.

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On March 25, 1965, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. led 25,000 marchers to the state capitol in Montgomery, Ala., to protest the denial of voting rights to blacks.

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Only in America!
Colorado Court Bars Execution Because Jurors Consulted Bible
By KIRK JOHNSON
The Bible, the court said, constituted an improper outside influence and a reliance on what the court called a "higher authority.
Actually, it's a pleseant suprise that the judge ruled as he did.

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Greetings,The largest commercial slaughter of marine mammals on the planethas begun. By the end of this year's hunt, more than 300,000 seals willhave been brutally killed - many of them babies as young as 12days old. Some of them will have been skinned while stillconscious and able to feel pain. The Humane Society of theUnited States is on the front lines in Canada, fighting to haltthis atrocity. Please stand with us today and stop the seal huntforever.
[STEP 1] TELL THE CANADIAN GOVERNMENT TO END THE SEAL HUNT.Seal hunting is an off-season activity conducted by fishers fromCanada's East Coast. They earn, on average, a small fraction oftheir incomes from seal hunting - the rest from commercialfisheries. Canada earns $3 billion annually from seafoodexports to the United States. The connection between thecommercial fishing industry and the seal hunt in Canada givesconsumers all over the world the power to end this brutalslaughter. Click here to sign the pledge to boycott Canadianseafood.
http://ga3.org/ct/21zhf951rm35/
We'll deliver your pledge to Canada's government so thepoliticians will know you've joined our efforts and arecommitted to ending the seal hunt once and for all.
[STEP 2] SPREAD THE WORD.Canada is sensitive to world opinion. Hundreds of thousands ofpeople protesting and, in particular, refusing to buy Canadianseafood will make a difference. Taking the pledge is simple andeffective. Click here to pass it on!http://ga3.org/ct/Npzhf951rm3v/
[STEP 3] DOWNLOAD YOUR POCKET SEAFOOD GUIDE.We've made your pledge to boycott Canadian seafood EASY with ourwallet-sized guide. Once you've signed the pledge, click here todownload your free guide.
http://ga3.org/ct/2pzhf951rm3b/
An HSUS team of seal experts, campaigners, and journalists iscurrently on the ice in Canada. We're using a spotter plane topinpoint the slaughter locations, and helicopters take our teamsonto the ice so they can record the ugly truth about whathappens away from public view. You can stay in touch with ourbiggest animal protection campaign of the year and findup-to-the-minute news, videos and actions athttp://ga3.org/ct/wdzhf951rm3O/. I know that it's painful to think about this awful abuse, butyour involvement and action are critical to ending it. Thank youfor joining us today in our fight to abolish the brutal sealhunt forever.
Sincerely,Wayne PacellePresident & CEOThe Humane Society of the United States
P.S. Get frequent updates from Rebecca Aldworth, our Director ofCanadian Wildlife Issues, who will be on the ice during thefirst phase of the hunt to witness and report. Click here.http://ga3.org/ct/27zhf951rm3g/

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Raw food eaters thin but healthy
People who follow a raw food vegetarian diet are light in weight but healthy, according to US researchers.

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Surprising nearly everyone, Richard Kramer, a Republican-appointed judge on San Francisco County's Superior Court, ruled on March 14th that the state's ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional. He wrote that California's “protracted denial of due process cannot be justified simply because such constitutional violation has become traditional. Simply put, same-sex marriage cannot be prohibited because California has always done so before”.
Mr Kramer was presiding over a lawsuit challenging the ban filed by same-sex couples and the city of San Francisco. In early 2004, Gavin Newsom, San Francisco's mayor, granted marriage licenses to nearly 4,000 same-sex couples. The state Supreme Court later ruled that he had exceeded his authority, but did not weigh in on the validity of the ban. Under state law, Mr Kramer's decision is stayed for 60 days to allow time for appeals. Opponents plan to do just that, and have also renewed calls for a federal constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. They have promised to try for a statewide referendum on the issue.

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A major study will examine what limits should be put on the continued use of non-human primates in UK experiments.

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The media coverage of the Schiavo case doesn't include oneimportant detail: a Texas law that authorizes health careproviders to remove their patients from life support. Guesswho signed it into law?

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A number puzzle originating in the work of self-taught maths genius Srinivasa Ramanujan nearly a century ago has been solved. The solution may one day lead to advances in particle physics and computer security.

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Apparently I was blog crazy back in '03 b/c I started a Walrus journal too.
Huh.

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I don't know what all this information means, but it looks like someone might be buying my blog

URL
http://freewheeling.blogspot.com/
News feed
Syndic8.com
Valuation
B$1,000.00
Added
20:26 02 Apr 2004
Last Updated
15:44 23 Feb 2005
Status
Available to Trade.

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Fox provides us with some

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It’s been three years since the Belgian duo 2 Many DJs first popularized the mash-up — a renegade copyright-infringing multi-artist cut-up. Since then the art form has gone worldwide. New York-based DJ Reset (AKA Jeremy Brown) is now taking things to the next level. His latest single, “Frontin’ on Debra”, a soulful lovers-only concoction of Beck’s “Debra” (from 1999’s Midnight Vultures) and Pharrell Williams and Jay-Z’s 2003 single “Frontin’” is the first commercially released song of its kind ever, and has made considerable waves on Apple’s iTunes music store. That Beck, Pharrell, and Jay-Z all signed off is an indication that the new style is being accepted beyond what Reset could have imagined. He has also created other musical crossbreeds: Mary J. Blige and the Rolling Stones’ lamentable (“Sympathy Dayz”), Eminem and the White Stripes’ anthemic (“7 Superman Army”), and the Beatles and Slick Rick’s soft-spoken (“Mother Nature’s Rick”).Brown’s sights are set on an even greater accomplishment — a hybrid of Paul McCartney and Wings’ “With a Little Luck” and Prince’s “1999.” He sounds hopeful — McCartney is said to be a fan.
JASON BLACK, Planet mag.

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The government of Niger, which had blessed the release of 7,000 slaves, scheduled for last week, changed its mind, denied that there were any slaves on its territory and intimidated the slave-owners into parroting this denial. No slaves were freed.
See article
Thank gawd for people, eh.

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Matthew Scott Kelemen,
AlterNet
The children featured in 'Born into Brothels' are growing upfast. Filmmakers Zana Briski and Ross Kauffman hope to givethem some tools to navigate with.

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JETSGO SHUTS DOWN, STRANDS TRAVELLERS
Discount airline Jetsgo is grounding its fleet immediately and advising travellers to find another way to get to their destination.
A couple of my students have been affected by Jetsgo shutting down. Big news. I thought they were doing really well.

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Remember I told you there would be wars over water. I'm like a friggin' prophet.
Two of Kenya's prominent ethnic groups--the Maasai and the Kikuyu--continue to battle over use of water from the Ewaso Kedong River. At least 14 have been killed and hundreds forced to flee since the fighting began in late January.

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'Me Decade' Celebrates 35th Year
NEW YORK—
The "Me Decade," a period beginning in 1970 and marked by self-awareness and self-fulfillment, celebrated its 35th year Monday. "With careerism, materialism, and general self-involvement as popular as they were was decades ago, the Me Decade may well go on for another 35 years," said historian and Columbia University professor Dr. Vera Conklin. "It's been the longest-running decade in American history, beating the selfless 'Greatest Generation' of the '40s by a good 15 years. Selfishness, it seems, is here to stay." Author Tom Wolfe, who coined the term in his essay "The Me Decade And The Third Great Awakening," was unavailable for comment, as he is working on his memoirs.
- The Onion

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I wasn't going to post anything today, but something kept tugging at me to do it.
I think this might be it:
Canadian couple's photos of the tsunami that killed them
It's not actually that interesting (except that the people in the pictures are now dead).

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Kathy sent this...
Hippo bird-day two ewe,
Hippo bird-day two ewe,
Hippo bird-day deer Timmie....
Hippo bird-day two ewe!

(respectfully stolen from Boynton and Hallmark cards)

... it's for my birthday.

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This is a website for all you D&D fans who just won't let go. Naturally it was sent to me by LaRue.

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Your eco-friendly garden designs
In our Planet Under Pressure series we've looked at some of the world's biggest environmental problems.

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Mr Lebanon
Will the murder of the country's richest man dent the economy?

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In Mexico, where half of the 100 million people are under the age of 24, three out of every 10 children are born to mothers under 20 years old. There are estimated to be more than 50,000 abortions a year among girls between 15 and 19, says former New York Times bureau chief and foreign correspondent Barbara Crossette.

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Technoskeptic Techie
By Joseph Hart
There have always been dissenters from the digital revolution: technoskeptics who have raised red flags about the degree to which computer technology rules our lives. Arrayed against them have been the geeks who have mostly been cheerleaders for a fully digital future. But these days, voices of dissent are beginning to emerge from the computer industry itself. Some high-level techies are questioning the value of the very genies whose lamps they've rubbed.

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You're minding your own business waiting for a bus when a squad car approaches. The police officer glances at a $20 handheld scanner, and in the seconds it takes him to drive past, he knows your name and birthday, all about last week's vasectomy, and even what you paid for your latest magazine subscription. You feel like you're starring in a science fiction flick. But you're not. You've stumbled into one potential use of radio frequency identification (RFID) -- an existing technology that allows products, credit cards, driver's licenses, and even your own body to transmit a unique radio signal that anyone can intercept.

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Rebels on the Backlot: Six Maverick Directors and How They Conquered the Hollywood Studio System, by Sharon Waxman - http://www.powells.com/pow/review/2005_02_05. I love Paul Thomas Anderson, so maybe I'll read this book.

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A recommendation that mass killings in the Darfur region of Sudan be referred to the International Criminal Court is threatening to become a new source of tension between the United States and some of its allies.

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Danny sent me this. Very Cool.

"Check this out. All LEGO pieces. Kinda neat. The only church where the parishoners can remove and exchange heads with each other. My dad sent this to me.
I thought that the many of us who have ever bought and/or played with Lego would enjoy this piece of artwork. It was about a year and a half of planning, building and photographing. More than 75,000 pieces of Lego to build it - 7 feet by 5 1/2 feet by 30 inches. Seats 1372 people, 3976 windows. It features a balcony, a Narthex, stairs to the balcony, restrooms, coat rooms, mosaics, a nave, a baptistry, an altar, a crucifix, a pulpit and an elaborate pipe organ. "

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The Ten Worst Corporations of 2004

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The International CXT, a giant new pickup that puts the Hummer to shame, is the latest vehicular toy of the rich, famous and environmentally indifferent.
At just over nine feet high, the 7300 CXT, which went on sale in September, weighs about seven tons unloaded, more than twice the weight of the Hummer H2 and equivalent to about five MINI Coopers. The CXT can tow a 20-ton boat and carry another six tons of cargo in the truck bed. Because it rides at the height of an 18-wheeler, drivers will spend most of their time looking at the tops of cars.
The price starts at about $90,000,

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On Jan. 30, 1948, Indian political and spiritual leader Mahatma Gandhi was murdered by a Hindu extremist.

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On Jan. 31, 1865, the House of Representatives passed a constitutional amendment to abolish slavery.

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As a concept, Romeo Dallaire is everywhere: he's a book, a television documentary, a feature film, a novel -- even a video game.

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I accept that it is unlikely, but is it at least theoretically possible that a fault in the Earth's crust on an ocean floor could drain an enormous quantity of seawater? What would be the effect, not only on life on Earth, but on the planet's structural integrity if sea levels underwent a colossal drop? Of course it's hypothetical, but indulge me.

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Google's search for meaning
Using search engines to glean the meaning of words may be the vital spark that will lead to intelligent computers

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In all the ads for The Woodsman one sees Kevin Bacon holding onto a red ball. I guess in the movie he holds his blue balls. He looks pretty intense.

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Sandy sent me this link that apparently has a music and video tribute for the tsunami victims. I couldn't get it to work, but maybe you's guys can.

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My man Paul sent me this great link on World Poverty.

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How is This Even a Topic Of Discussion?
With the prospect looming of the imperial line dying out in a generation, Japan's government may legalise female succession. Naruhito, the 44-year-old crown prince, and his wife Masako, who is 41, have one three-year-old daughter, and no males have been born into the imperial family since 1965. (Many have speculated that Princess Masako's widely reported bouts of depression are brought on by the stress of not having borne a male heir.) The government plans to put the reform to a vote in 2006.
The issues to be ironed out are whether sex should trump birth order in succession, and whether females in the imperial family retain their royalty after marriage (which would cause the family and its budget to swell). Popular support for a change is strong: a poll in 2003 found that 70% of Japanese believe the 1947 Imperial House Law (which mandated male emperors) should be amended.
- The Economist

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Caged Saddam To Be Highlight Of Inaugural Ball
WASHINGTON, DC—Attendees at the Independence Ball, one of nine officially sanctioned galas celebrating President George W. Bush's second inauguration Thursday, will be treated to a viewing of a caged Saddam Hussein, White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan said Monday. "What better way to honor the president than with a physical symbol of his many first-term triumphs?" McClellan said as Hussein rattled the bars of a cage already suspended above the ballroom where the event will be held. "And I must compliment the planning committee. Outfitting Gitmo detainees with iron collars and forcing them to serve appetizers was an inspired stroke." Ball attendees will also be awarded door prizes, including a basket of nuts, 20 yards of cloth, and a barrel of crude oil.
- The Onion

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What is the Hajj?
A step-by-step guide to the pilgrimage that began on Tuesday

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i was with this article, right up to the last line, then I stopped.
A new report from over 250 of the world's top experts has slashed a few long-standing myths about world poverty. Truth is, the worst poverty around the world can be eradicated within a generation and it won't cost too much--rich countries will only have to give about 50 cents for every 100 dollars of national income. (emphasis mine)

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The Expos Aren't Doing Any Better in Their New Home
After the initial jubilation in September over Washington, DC's new baseball team, the city has been struggling to find the necessary funds. The Nationals (formerly the Montreal Expos) are expected to be in Washington in time for the 2005 season, but the city still has not yet decided how to finance a new stadium. Final city council approval for a new publicly-funded stadium on the south-east waterfront was expected to be easy, but the council passed a last-minute amendment in late November, sponsored by Linda Cropp, its chairwoman, mandating that half the costs of the stadium should come from private sources.
Major League Baseball shut down the Nationals' operations until the city council softened its stance. Now the city is still looking for private funds, but has agreed to cover the entire cost if a good plan isn't available. Eight groups have submitted bids to fund the stadium in exchange for a range of privileges, including charging for parking and building on adjacent land. The city's chief financial officer must decide by March 15th whether any of the plans are feasible.
- The Economist

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Quote of the Day II
“Those who repeat to us that there is no such thing as a free lunch, would have us believe that there is such a thing as a free market, free trade and indeed, the free world.”
- Mel Watkins

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Tough Question to Answer
Earlier this month, the panelists on a news show were discussing this point: the Asian tsunami had thus far killed 155,000 people, but every month diarrhea kills more than 140,000 people worldwide while malaria and AIDS each kill about 250,000. So why is the world so keen to send $3-4 billion in aid to help tsunami victims while the staggering annual sum of preventable disease deaths goes largely unaddressed?

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Quote of the Day
"A time comes when silence is betrayal. Even when pressed by the demands of inner truth, men do not easily assume the task of opposing their government's policy, especially in time of war. Nor does the human spirit move without great difficulty against all the apathy of conformist thought, within one's own bosom and in the surrounding world."
- Martin Luther King Jr.

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Bloody Brilliant!

Avon and Somerset Police are encouraging pub landlords and club managers to use the famously versatile spray to coat toilet lids to prevent customers using them to snort cocaine from. When the drug comes into contact with a light coating of WD-40, it congeals, making it impossible to sniff.

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An estimated 10,000-30,000 people will line the streets ofPennsylvania Ave. in Washington, D.C. this week withoutpins, buttons or signs. Their voices will not rise inunison, and there will not be a bullhorn among them. Butthere will be protest.

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i'll give you one guess to figure out why cops suck.
here's a clue.

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US peer-to-peer pirates convicted
Two men are convicted of swapping films and music over the net and face up to five years in prison.

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First biological test for ADHD unveiled
The 10-minute test for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder claims a high accuracy and could one day predict which cases will respond to drugs

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The woman at the centre of the landmark 1973 Supreme Court Roe v Wade decision that legalised abortion petitioned the court to change its mind. Norma McCorvey now says that abortion procedures may harm women.
- The Econimist

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Army Specialist Charles Graner was sentenced by court-martial in Texas to ten years in prison for mistreating and sexually abusing Iraqi prisoners in Abu Ghraib jail. Mr Graner is said to be the ringleader in the scandal. Meanwhile, three British soldiers faced a court-martial in Germany for allegedly abusing Iraqi prisoners in Basra, in the south of the country. Several gruesome photographs emerged showing the mistreatment of prisoners by the soldiers.
See article

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Finally a blog worth reading. The blog of Henry David Thoreau.

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Why do people seem to be more upset at idiot Prince Harry than idiot George W. Compare the photos.

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Baseball's new steroid rules are a friggin' joke.
Right?

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The Globe and Mail interview with Ken Burns.

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First ever earthquake movie created
The team used the measurements to build up one of the most detailed pictures ever of seismic waves propagating during a quake.

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Whole nations at risk from virus that has bred a generation of orphans

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How much do I love Charisma Carpeneter?

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Oh yeah, i'm seeing this movie

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Prince Harry has sparked an outcry by wearing a Nazi armband at a party. Sixty years on, two war veterans explain what the swastika means to them

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Oh Crap!
The tsunami has increased danger of mines in Sri Lanka

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Shaft, Stretch, and Dick are animated condoms. They're cute, they're funny and they are convincing audiences around the world that condoms are an essential component of safer sex.

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Stunning Stat
Each day, 30,000 children under five die, and most don't have to.

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Once upon a time, according to 'The Assassination of Richard Nixon,' an American dreamer tried to kill the 37th president.
i don't know why but I was immediately drawn to this movie and I'm jonesing to see it.

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Though Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is an officially declared public holiday, many local government agencies still refuse to shut their doors, while opposition is most persistent among businesses.

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I read a review of Blink: The Power of Thinking without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell in the Globe on Saturday and the reviewer was kind of mambly-pambly. This guy might be more convincing.

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The signing of a peace deal in Sudan last weekend has reignited interest in the country's vast oil reserves.

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Somebody sent me this movie link, http://www.wisehearts.com/yaam.html , to which Ed wisely replied; On the other hand, to quote Fight Club, "you are not a beautiful and unique snowflake. You are the same decaying organic matter as everything else."
You don't want to know what special and unique thing this movie gave me.

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In my opinion there is no denying that Michelle Wie is the sports story of the last few years. And she wll continue to be until another 13 year old plays in the PGA.

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A T-shirt proclaiming 'I had an abortion' puts the battlefor choice front and center -- and stirs up controversy on both sides of the issue.

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A T-shirt proclaiming 'I had an abortion' puts the battlefor choice front and center -- and stirs up controversy on both sides of the issue.

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Who says these guys are overpaid babies?

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I've heard this question once before, though I can't remember where; Was Lincoln Gay?
"The Intimate World of Abraham Lincoln," by C. A. Tripp, a sex researcher and chronicler of the gay rights movement, makes the case.

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I was talking to A and La Rue about the Brad Pitt Jeniffer Aniston split and what we came up with is that it's insane that two people's lives have become so ingrained on our collective psyche that they feel compelled to announce their split in an article for an international tabloid mag.
I mean, how did Freewheelin' miss this scoop?

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North Korea has launched an intensive media assault on its latest arch enemy - the wrong haircut.
A Google Images search did not reveal any webpages dedicated to images of the North Korean haircut.
It's a damn shame. So many pages dedicated to the mullet and none to the North Korean haircut.

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Hey, Remember This Story?
Today is the anniversary of the founding of America's prison camp for 'enemy combatants', And despite evidence of systematic abuse and widespread international condemnation it looks set to stay open

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Reputed Ku Klux Klansman Edgar Ray Killen has pleaded not guilty to murder charges in connection with the 1964 crime that inspired the movie Mississippi Burning.

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Environmental groups are hoping to use the Brazilian legal system to prevent the destruction of a highly endangered remnant of the Atlantic forest threatened by a hydroelectric dam project.

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Wanna know why the earth quakes? This is a simple, but accurate slide show.

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Vancouver crooks are meeting to talk about their compulsion to be lawless

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Imagine wearing a jacket or rucksack that charges up your mobile phone while you take a walk. Or a tent whose flysheet charges batteries all day so campers can have light all night. Or a roll-out plastic sheet you can place on a car's rear window shelf to power a child's DVD player.

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We always talk about the environment and the animals in the arctic that act as indicators of disaster, but what about the houses up there?

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The BBC set up a site to help find those that might still be missing as a result of the devestation in South Asia. Worth checking out if you have any friends or relatives visiting or living there.

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Alternet has a list of dumb quotes from 2004. There's no denying this is a classic - "Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." -President Bush

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I've been listening to the radio a lot and i didn't hear anything about this tran accident until just now - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4132247.stm
Wow, there seems to be no end to the levels of destruction that was caused by this earthquake and tsunami.

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RIP
Law and Order and Dirty Dancing actor Jerry Orbach died of prostate cancer at the age of 69 - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4132969.stm
anyone who watched Law and Order loved Lennie Briscoe. As far as TV stars go, I'll definetly miss him a lot.

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As if There Weren't Enough Proof Already
Here's more evidence that eating shit makes you fat: Fast-food meals are causing consumers to gain weight, according to a 15-year study on the health effects of the diet pattern - http://www.cbc.ca/story/science/national/2004/12/30/fast-food041230.html

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You're probably all wondering what Freewheelin' did for New Year's Eve. Well, my wonderful wife and i saw The Life Aquatic with Steve Sizou and cannot say enough good things about it, so go dee it for yourselves (http://lifeaquatic.movies.go.com/splash.html).

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Millions of hard working people around the world will finally get a stake in the fabric of society's economic and financial life in 2005. In observance of the International Year of Microcredit this year, the UN, its agencies and member countries will focus on developing banking and financial services for people outside traditional financial systems. - http://us.oneworld.net/link/gotoarticle/addhit/100705/3356/10475

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i remember being impressed by the CN tower as a kid, but does it really hold any special impact to people any more. i mean, you never see it on the discovery network. Nevertheless, I have to ask, does this statement, "Taipei 101 is not the tallest structure in the world - that is still the CN Tower in Toronto - but it has been officially recognised as the world's tallest building." mean anything to any of my T-dot homies? I'm guessing not.
Note: I'm doing the next couple of entries from a Mac which doesn't seem to fully support blogger so you'll have to click on the links which hopefully work.
This link is worth checking out if not for the size of the building, than at least it's bizzare shape: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4137865.stm

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