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Saturday, January 01, 2005 via Yahoo! News British 'angel' saved hundreds from tsunami with classroom knowledgeSat Jan 1, 5:13 AM ETLONDON (AFP) - A 10-year-old British schoolgirl saved the lives of hundreds of people in southern Asia by warning them a wall of water was about to strike, after learning about tsunamis in geography class, British media reported. Tilly, who has been renamed the 'angel of the beach' by the top-selling tabloid The Sun, was holidaying with her family on the Thai island of Phuket when she suddenly grasped what was taking place and alerted her mother. 'Last term Mr Kearney taught us about earthquakes and how they can cause tsunamis,' Tilly was quoted as saying by The Sun. 'I was on the beach and the water started to go funny. There were bubbles and the tide went out all of a sudden. 'I recognised what was happening and had a feeling there was going to be a tsunami. I told mummy.' Her intuition was enough to raise the alert and prompt the evacuation of Phuket's Maikhao beach and a neighbouring hotel before the water came crashing in, saving hundreds of people from death and injury. According to The Sun, no one on Maikhao beach was seriously hurt by the tsunamis that have left more than 125,000 dead and millions homeless around the shores of the Indian Ocean. The girl's geography teacher, Andrew Kearnay from Surrey in northern England, told the paper he had explained to his class that there was about 10 minutes from the moment the ocean draws out before the tsunami strikes. posted by Gary Williams at 11:25 PM | link | via User Friendly Comic Of The Day  via Santa Cruz Good Times -- Risa D'AngelesYou Will Encounter Your True Self (And A Horse)SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 20) You will eventually climb out of the deep watery valleys of Scorpio where you?re always and relentlessly doing battle and being tested and, realizing that your mind is your equipment, move upward onto the plains of the earth where you will encounter your true Self (and a horse). Find the mountain. Prepare to climb it. You are the Archer. Where are your arrows?via Earth Times Comet comes to wish us a Happy New YearPosted on : 2005-01-01| Author : Dan. Y. A| News Category : Space Go out in the open tonight after your dinner and look to the south east of the dark sky. See whether you can spot a celestial body with blue gas tail and the edge of an orange-yellowish dust tail emerging at very different angles from the coma. That’s comet Machholz. The comet also code named as C/2004 Q2 is the 10th comet discovered by Don Machholz of Colfax, California, on August 27th.
The comet will be closest to earth on Sunday and Monday, when it will be 32 million miles away. This is close in astronomical terms. It will be visible to Northern Hemisphere viewers. If you want to enjoy the view then go away from the city light, dust and pollution - to a rural area if possible. Then look to the south east of the sky. Carry a star map with yourself if you are not familiar with constellations. Try locating the constellation Orion – the hunter with three stars in the middle representing a belt. Then look above Orion and you shall see the V-shaped constellation of Taurus. Machholz should be there in early January. Early Jan is the best time to see this comet. The comet will look like a hazy glowing ball with shade of aquamarine green. If you use a binocular or a telescope then you may be able to see the tail of this comet. The 52 yr old astronomer Donald Machholz has spent 30 years of his life combing night sky for comets. He has so far discovered 10 comets. Machholz was discovered by him using a six-inch telescope he paid $200 for in 1968. Friday, December 31, 2004 via William Gibson Canadian Government Offers To Match Tsunami Relief DonationsThe Canadian government, until January 11th, will match any donation to major relief operations working from Canada.In other words, you double the size of your donation if you send money this way, rather than by sending it directly to an affected country or donating in your own country. Donations to Oxfam Canada, the Canadian Red Cross, World Vision Canada, UNICEF Canada, Care Canada, Doctors Without Borders, World University Service of Canada , Salvation Army, Canadian Food for the Hungry International, Save the Children Canada, and SOS Children's Villages will all be doubled by the Canadian government -- but only until January 11th. Best wishes to everyone for the new year. posted by Gary Williams at 9:59 PM | link | via abuddhas memes Waylaid By Personal Perogatives, Let's Look At The Facts:Waylaid by personal prerogatives, I left the blog world. I've decided to come back since I do believe that without my input you don't have a chance.I don't mean only the blogosphere, or you in particular, but all of your actuality. Yes, you!(@ideology.org.). This is not a threat that I am attempting to scare you with, nor is this a projection that I can assert without qualification. Rather, my attempt is one of insight that transcends quality. Let's look at the facts: U.S.American offensive military expenditures equals the GDP of all nations combined. 100K dead in Falluja, et Iraqi al., 100k dead in HAARP induced Indian Ocean techtonic shift, 100K dead in HAARP precipitated BAM, Iran. I could go on but I think that y'all would rather stick your heads in boozy dullness than deal with the reality. The government in which some half of (y)our people ascribe legitimacy is factually corrupt. via Quark Soup AidNY Times editorial: According to a poll, most Americans believe the United States spends 24 percent of its budget on aid to poor countries; it actually spends well under a quarter of 1 percent. posted by Gary Williams at 4:17 AM | link |via Boing Boing: A Directory of Wonderful Things Win DRM hides malicious trojans, RIAA deploys infected music on P2PAccording to PCWorld and TechDirt, Windows DRM contains a flaw that allows for attakcers to create music files that contain trojans that attack your computer when you play them, and moreover, the usic industry has hired a company called Overpeer to flood the P2P networks with infected fake music files.Overpeer is the same company that the recording industry has hired in the past to dump fake versions of songs on file sharing networks. What the article doesn't answer is whether or not the industry hired Overpeer to dump spyware on the network as well, but it's likely they're pleased either way. Overpeer defends their actions by saying that anyone obviously deserves what they get because, obviously, they were looking for unauthorized files. It's not clear that everyone would agree. Sneaking malicious files onto someone's computer because 'they deserved it!' doesn't seem like a very good justification. What may be even more important to this story, however, is the revelation of just how easy it is, thanks to a huge loophole in Microsoft's copy protection technology, to include a malicious file with an audio or video file. Basically, because Windows DRM needs to look for a license, all anyone needs to do is point that license to a website that loads malicious content and off you go. Thank you Microsoft, for creating a huge loophole that will probably make sure millions of new computers are loaded with spamming, DDOSing trojans shortly.posted by Gary Williams at 2:04 AM | link | via Informed Comment Pipes Favors Concentration CampsThat the Revisionist-Zionist extremist Daniel Pipes has fond visions of rounding up Muslim Americans and putting them in concentration camps isn't a big surprise. That a mainstream American newspaper would publish this David-Dukeian evil is. Of course, this is also a man that President Bush appointed to a temporary vacancy at the United States Institute of Peace, after the Senate understandably balked at a regular appointment for him.Pipes's little project requires him to attempt to justify the interment of Japanese-Americans during World War II. I hope Asian-Americans realize that a key wing of the Republican Party, i.e. the Neoconservatives, wishes them ill. If the yahoos in the Red States ever start putting people in concentration camps, I think we may be assured that they won't stop with the Muslims or the Asians, and Mr. Pipes will come to have reason to regret his imprudence and, frankly, his demonic implication. posted by Gary Williams at 1:41 AM | link | Thursday, December 30, 2004 via The New York Times (registration required) Legal Breach: The Government's Attorneys and Abu GhraibBy ANDREW ROSENTHALPublished: December 30, 2004 The most obvious victims of the brutal treatment of prisoners at American military jails are the men, women and children who have been humiliated, sexually assaulted, beaten, tortured and even killed. But, as in all wars, the Bush administration's assault on the Geneva Conventions has caused collateral damage - in this case, to the legal offices of the executive branch and the military. To get around the inconvenience of the Geneva Conventions, the administration twisted the roles of the legal counsels of the White House, the Pentagon and the Justice Department beyond recognition. Once charged with giving unvarnished advice about whether political policies remained within the law, the Bush administration's legal counsels have been turned into the sort of cynical corporate lawyers who figure out how to make something illegal seem kosher - or at least how to minimize the danger of being held to account. This upheaval has been particularly vivid at the Pentagon, where the usual balance between civilian and military authority has been stood on its head. The American system of civilian control of the military recognizes that soldiers' attention must be fixed on winning battles and staying alive, and that the fog of war can sometimes obscure the rule of law. The civilian bosses are supposed to provide coolheaded restraint. Now America has to count on the military to step up when the civilians get out of control. When Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld approved the initial list of interrogation methods for Guant?namo Bay in late 2002 - methods that clearly violated the Geneva Conventions and anti-torture statutes - there were no protests from the legal counsels for the secretary of defense, the attorney general, the president, the Central Intelligence Agency or any of the civilian secretaries of the armed services. That's not surprising, because some of those very officials were instrumental in devising the Strangelovian logic that lay behind Mr. Rumsfeld's order. Their legal briefs dutifully argued that the president could suspend the Geneva Conventions when he chose, that he could even sanction torture and that torture could be redefined so narrowly that it could seem legal. It took an internal protest by uniformed lawyers from the Navy to force the Pentagon to review the Guant?namo rules and restrict them a bit. But the military lawyers' concerns were largely shoved aside by a team of civilian lawyers, led by Mary Walker, the Air Force general counsel. The group reaffirmed the notion that Mr. Bush could choose when to apply the Geneva Conventions. via riley dog..half-baked cookies in the oven..fruitcakes on the street.. PettingA man petted his dog in such a way that the dog screamed in pain. So the man explained to his dog that this was his own particular style of petting, that he knew no other way of showing affection,...:: The dog bit the man posted by Gary Williams at 2:52 AM | link | via Gene Expression Monkeys Conform to Gender Toy Preference Stereotypes TooPosted by God Fearing Atheist at 10:46 PM Little boys like to play with toy cars and girls with dolls. These sexually dimorphic toy preferences extend to non-human primates.
Alexander & Hines (2002) gave 44 vervet monkeys of each sex six toys to play with; two male-typical (a toy car and ball), two female-typical (a doll and pot) and two sex-neutral (a book and stuffed animal). Male ververts were more likely than females to engage the car and ball while females were more likely to play with the doll and pot. No difference was found in the neutral toys. These findings make gender socialization theories of play behaviors increasingly untenable. Even though pre- and neonatal androgen exposure has been linked to play preferences in rats, rhesus monkeys, and human females with Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia, blank slaters like Fausto-Sterling remain unimpressed. Phenotypic masculinization, they suggest, could be altering socialization by parents and peers. Gender self-identification could be weakened by sex hormones and not affecting the neural processes of play as such. But vervets are neither subject to the human socialization process or (so far as we know) capable of gender self-identification. via The South-East Asia Earthquake and Tsunami The South-East Asia Earthquake and Tsunami BlogThe SEA-EAT blog for short. News and information about resources, aid, donations and volunteer efforts.Thursday, December 30, 2004 Charity Efficiency and Transparency RatingsBenjamin Rosenbaum has posted ratings of various charities on his blog. It's not a big list but you can get more ratings if you request. You should probably do this before deciding where to put your money, folks:My contribution to the blogosphere's response to the tsunami... Here's Google's tsunami relief page, here's the Tsunami Blog, and here is a table with ratings by watchdog organizations on the efficiency of the relief organizations most prominently mentioned, plus news: (Since Charity Navigator's site seems to be having trouble with heavy load, I am adding links to the Google cache of their ratings, following the stars.) posted by Gary Williams at 12:05 AM | link | Wednesday, December 29, 2004 via The New York Times (registration required) Hawks Inspect RenovationBy JENNIFER 8. LEEPublished: December 29, 2004  Three weeks after they were evicted from their home of 11 years on Fifth Avenue, two famed red-tailed hawks returned to their old perch above Central Park yesterday to survey the elegant stainless steel structure that was installed so that they might rebuild their nest.
The hawks, Pale Male and Lola, who attracted worldwide attention during their tussle with the co-op board at 927 Fifth Avenue, both landed at least twice on the arched 12th-floor cornice - much to the delight of fervent bird-watchers. While the lacy metal cradle was installed last Thursday, the scaffolding that was used to put it in place remained, blocking the hawks from landing. The scaffolding was not removed until about 10:30 yesterday morning. About 45 minutes later, Pale Male and Lola arrived and stayed between 5 and 10 minutes, said Frederic Lilien, a Belgian cinematographer who flew in after hearing about the controversy and now goes to Central Park daily to observe Pale Male and Lola. Tuesday, December 28, 2004  via FlickrFlickr Free Photo Site/ServiceI've noticed the use of this site on several blogs, and it seems very useful...'Flickr.com Terms of Use'By using the Flickr.com web site,a service of Ludicorp Research and Development, Ltd. ("Ludicorp"), you are agreeing to be bound by the following terms and conditions (“Terms of Use”). Basic Terms 1. You must be 13 years and older to use this site. 2. You are responsible for any activity that occurs under your screen name. 3. You are responsible for keeping your password secure. 4. You must not abuse, harass, threaten or intimidate other Flickr users. 5. You may not use the Flickr.com service for any illegal or unauthorized purpose. International users agree to comply with all local laws regarding online conduct and acceptable content. 6. You are solely responsible for your conduct and any data, text, information, screen names, graphics, photos, profiles, audio and video clips, links (“Content”)that you submit, post, and display on the Flickr.com service. To sign up, go here. posted by Gary Williams at 10:31 PM | link | via CNN.com Aid groups accepting donations for victimsTuesday, December 28, 2004 Posted: 12:14 PM EST (1714 GMT)(CNN) -- International aid organizations are accepting donations to help victims of the powerful earthquake and resulting tsunamis that caused widespread destruction in parts of Asia and Africa. The groups include: via Chicago Tribune Aftermath of the earthquake: Shorter daysPublished December 28, 2004Incredibly, the magnitude 9.0 earthquake that struck off Sumatra on Sunday morning caused a vertical displacement of so much material that the rotation period of the Earth has been permanently altered. By a tiny but measurable amount, the Earth is now rotating more quickly on its axis, and the 24-hour day is now one ten-thousandth second shorter.That's the result of calculations based on preliminary data made by Oak Park astronomer Dr. Leslie M. Golden. It's analogous to the increase in rotational speed that a twirling ice skater experiences when he or she draws in their arms. It is estimated that during the Sumatran quake, a block of material roughly 600 miles in length and 100 miles in width fell 30 feet closer to the Earth's axis of rotation. The planet has responded by rotating more rapidly, albeit ever so slightly, and our 24-hour days are now one ten-thousandth second shorter. posted by Gary Williams at 8:45 PM | link | via FARK and Big Dave's Cow Pages: ASCII Art ASCII Art [cow]Here's a series of ASCII Art pictures featuring cows. In case you don't know, ASCII Art concerns making pictures using only the standard ASCII symbols found on most computer keyboards. (Site contains a large number of excellent cow links.) Here's a good example:posted by Gary Williams at 4:34 PM | link | via The New York Times (registration required) A Young Doctor's Hardest Lesson: Keep Your Mouth Shut By KENT SEPKOWITZ, M.D.
Published: December 28, 2004 An unspoken but ever-present issue in the life of any doctor is an immodest, completely nonmedical concern: are doctors boring people? Sober and serious, surely. Respectable and educated, one hopes. A bit stuffy at times, perhaps. But dreary? As a profession, I think we do tend to run on the dry side, though till recently the reason had eluded me. Then, last month, my wife and I bumped into an acquaintance of hers while walking along the street. The person, unbeknownst to my wife, is a patient of mine, someone whom I treat for a chronic infection. After the patient and I shared a moment of mutual panic, we three chatted amicably and moved on. Except, that evening, my wife kept asking me why I was being so quiet and, well, boring. And I suddenly saw the problem: doctors are waterlogged with secrets, hundreds of them, thousands of them. Monday, December 27, 2004 Magnitude 9.0 - OFF THE WEST COAST OF NORTHERN SUMATRA
2004 December 26 00:58:49 UTC Preliminary Earthquake Report U.S. Geological Survey, National Earthquake Information Center World Data Center for Seismology, Denver Click above for USGS information (including links to aid sites). Click here for 55K image or Click here for full size (660K) image... posted by Gary Williams at 10:39 PM | link |  Ranchers in central Australia use a truck to run down and catch a camel roaming wild on their property in Alice Springs, in this undated photo from the Central Australian Camel Industry Association. To supplement their income ranchers use trucks, planes and motorcycles to round up the wild camels to sell their meat and export them for safari-stupe attractions and camel racing. (AP Photo/Central Australian Camel Industry Association) Camels May Overrun Australia OutbackBy Meraiah FoleyAssociated Press posted: 01 December 2004 11:44 am ET SYDNEY, Australia (AP) -- Parts of Australia's Outback could soon be overrun by wild camels if drastic measures are not taken to cull them, a wildlife scientist said Wednesday. Australia is now home to around 500,000 camels roaming the country's vast tracts of desert, said Glenn Edwards, a senior scientist for the Northern Territory provincial government. Camels were first introduced to Australia in the mid-1800s to transport goods across the desert. When trucks and trains made the beasts of burden unneeded, their owners simply turned them loose. With no natural predators and ample grazing land, the camel population has exploded in parts of central, northern and western Australia, and could exceed 1 million in the next decade, Edwards said. via del.icio.us social bookmarks⇒ del.icio.us is a social bookmarks manager. It allows you to easily add sites you like to your personal collection of links, to categorize those sites with keywords, and to share your collection not only between your own browsers and machines, but also with others.⇒ Once you've registered for the service, you add a simple bookmarklet to your browser. When you find a web page you'd like to add to your list, you simply select the del.icio.us bookmarklet, and you'll be prompted for a information about the page. You can add descriptive terms to group similar links together, modify the title of the page, and add extended notes for yourself or for others.  via Mozilla Firefox 1.0 Release NotesFireFox Release NotesFirefox is a fast, full-featured browser that makes browsing more efficient than ever before. More information about Firefox is available.These Release Notes cover what's new, download and installation instructions, known issues and frequently asked questions for the Firefox 1.0 release. Please read these notes and the bug filing instructions before reporting any bugs to Bugzilla.
I've been having some annoying things happen to FireFox lately (having it hang after I download a number of pictures, for instance). So I was looking for information. The known bugs list and troubleshooting links are on this page. Oh, and if anyone knows how to get the URL displayed when a site is not found, please let me know (since my dialup DNS is unreliable, and I'm tired of having to kill a window just to get a refresh). posted by Gary Williams at 1:29 PM | link | via The New York Times (registration required) Eggheads' Naughty Word GamesBy JOHN STRAUSBAUGHPublished: December 27, 2004 Every year more than 10,000 literature scholars gather at the end of December for the convention of the Modern Language Association, the 120th of which begins today in Philadelphia. Past conventions have yielded papers with titles that were rife with bad puns, cute pop-culture references and an adolescent preoccupation with sex, from 'Victorian Buggery' to 'Bambi on Top' and the tragically hip 'Judith Butler Got Me Tenure (but I Owe My Job to K. D. Lang): High Theory, Pop Culture, and Some Thoughts About the Role of Literature in Contemporary Queer Studies.' The convention has become a holiday ritual for journalists, as routine as articles on the banning of Christmas cr?ches in public places, and every year a goodly number of those scholars tempt journalists to write articles, like this one, noting some of the wackier-sounding papers presented. via whiskey river Transitory, Ephemeral Dynamism::Undefiled, Immaculate And Stable'The new value placed on the transitory, the elusive and the ephemeral, the very celebration of dynamism, discloses a longing for an undefiled, immaculate and stable present.'posted by Gary Williams at 3:06 AM | link | 
The orbit of 2004 MN4 about the Sun is shown in blue. Much of the asteroid's orbit lies within the Earth's orbit, which is the outermost white circle. The positions of the asteroid and the Earth are shown for December 23, 2004, when the object was about 14 million km (9 million miles) away from the Earth. (Click on image to see larger image in new window.) Near-Earth Asteroid 2004 MN4 Reaches Highest Score To Date On Hazard ScaleA recently rediscovered 400-meter Near-Earth Asteroid (NEA) is predicted to pass near the Earth on 13 April 2029. The flyby distance is uncertain and an Earth impact cannot yet be ruled out. The odds of impact, presently around 1 in 300, are unusual enough to merit special monitoring by astronomers, but should not be of public concern. These odds are likely to change on a day-to-day basis as new data are received. In all likelihood, the possibility of impact will eventually be eliminated as the asteroid continues to be tracked by astronomers around the world.This object is the first to reach a level 2 (out of 10) on the Torino Scale. According to the Torino Scale, a rating of 2 indicates 'a discovery, which may become routine with expanded searches, of an object making a somewhat close but not highly unusual pass near the Earth. While meriting attention by astronomers, there is no cause for public attention or public concern as an actual collision is very unlikely. New telescopic observations very likely will lead to re-assignment to Level 0 [no hazard].' This asteroid should be easily observable throughout the coming months. The brightness of 2004 MN4 suggests that its diameter is roughly 400 meters (1300 feet) and our current, but very uncertain, best estimate of the flyby distance in 2029 is about twice the distance of the moon, or about 780,000 km (480,000 miles). On average, an asteroid of this size would be expected to pass within 2 lunar distances of Earth every 5 years or so. via James P. Hogan Happy Gravmas'We three laws of orbiting are,posted by Gary Williams at 2:17 AM | link | via Lawrence Lessig Code V.2 By Lawrence Lessig, Via Wiki So here's something cool that I'm happy to be able to announce. Five years ago, I published Code. It's time for an update. But rather than update in the old fashioned way, Basic Books has agreed to the following:
Beginning in February, we'll be posting Version 1 of Code to a Wiki. 'Chapter Captains' will then supervise updates and corrections. Depending upon the progress, sometime near June, I will take the product and edit and rewrite it to produce Code, v2. The Wiki will stay live forever (under a Creative Commons license). The edited book will be published in the fall. I have donated my advance for Code, v2 to Creative Commons. All royalties beyond the advance will be donated as well. At this point, we're collecting 'Chapter Captain' (CCs, of course) volunteers. CCs should be expert in the subject of the chapter, and willing to work through the Wiki to produce an updated chapter. Sunday, December 26, 2004 Time Magazine Covers In CSSTIME TECHBROTHERS Scanning Family Photos  Several gigabytes later... TIME GARY WILLIAMS Still Looking For Work  Several gigabytes later... My buddy Meg at Mandarin Design has an end-of-the-year feature on how to create a Time Magazine cover using one picture and CSS code. I liked Meg's code (I always like Meg's code) but I wanted to double the size to make a really impressive splash, and here it is... Here's the code showing how to do this double-sized Time: <div style="width:300px;height:408px;background:black;border:12px solid #D94430;text-align:center;"> <div style="border:2px solid black;height:404px;"> <div style="border:2px solid white;height:400px;"> <div style="margin-top:10px;font-weight: bold;color:#D94430;font-size:72px;font-family:times new roman;letter-spacing:14px;">TIME</div> <div style="color:ivory;font-size:20px;font-family:times new roman;"> TECHBROTHERS<br> Scanning Family Photos <a href="http://www.time.com/time/personoftheyear/2004/poymoments.html" title="This image links to the real Time Magazine"><img alt="one of the surprise images" src="http://garywilliams.org/Joel-Jesse200x200.jpg" width="200" height="200" border="0"></a> <br>Several gigabytes later... </div> </div> </div> </div> Oh, if you're doing this in blogger, you need to take out all the linebreaks... posted by Gary Williams at 9:45 PM | link |  via India DailyRemote viewing Tibetan monks see Extra Terrestrial powers saving the World from destroying itself in 2012N.K. Subramanium, Special CorrespondentDecember 26, 2004 Remote viewing is nothing new in Tibetan monasteries. For thousands of years remote viewing in the middle of other spiritual activities have dominated Tibetan culture. What some Indian tourists came to learn from a few Tibetan monasteries under the current Chinese rule is extremely alarming and fascinating. According to these tourists remote viewers are seeing world powers in the course of self-destruction. They also see that the world will not be destroyed. Between now and 2012 the world super powers will continue to engage in regional wars. Terrorism and covert war will be the main problem. In world politics something will happen in and around 2010. At that time the world powers will threaten to destroy each other. Between 2010 and 2012, the whole world will get polarized and prepare for the ultimate dooms day. Heavy political maneuvers and negotiations will take place with little progress. In 2012, the world will start plunging into a total destructive nuclear war. And at that time something remarkable will happen, says, Buddhist monk of Tibet. Supernatural divine powers will intervene. The destiny of the world is not to self-destruct at this time. via The Asteterisk* APOD Editor Robert Nemiroff To Speak At American Museum Of Natural HistoryAPOD editor Robert Nemiroff will speak on 2005 January 7 at 6:30 pm at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. After the talk, weather permitting, attendees will be encouraged to cross the street into Central Park and attend a viewing session of Comet Machholz as it passes nearly in front of the Pleiades. The lecture and viewing are free. Nemiroff does not bite.The talk topic will be 'The Best Astronomy Pictures of 2004' and will feature APOD images subjectively deemed the 'best' of 2004, along with background and commentary. The lecturer speaks as a guest of the Amateur Astronomers Association of New York. Interested sky enthusiasts should meet in the Kaufmann Auditorium after entering the 77th street entrance of the museum. Last year's talk surprisingly became 'standing room only', so please arrive early to be sure of getting a seat. posted by Gary Williams at 2:17 PM | link | via ZAMAN DAILY NEWSPAPER Turkish Foreign Ministry Ready to Intervene for Businessman Kahraman SadikogluA video has been broadcast of Turkish businessman Kahraman Sadiko?lu, who was kidnapped for ransom in Ummu Kasr in Iraq. Sadikoglu says in the video that he was in Iraq for trade and after the investigations of his kidnappers he will be set free. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs took action after the broadcast of Sadikoglu's video.Answering journalists' questions Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said that the former minister Gunes Taner informed him of the issue by phone and added: "I've ordered action to be taken on this issue and we have established contact with Sadikoglu's family." Gul disclosed that the businessman has been missing for one week and added: "We are trying to do our best to save him. We will do everything that is needed. We hope that he is alive." After watching the video of her husband on TV, Sadikoglu's wife Julide Sadikoglu spoke to the press in front of her house. She said that she understood from the video that there is no need to be afraid. She said that her husband went to Iraq in order to construct a sea port and help Iraqi people and if they do not want it he could come back. posted by Gary Williams at 1:02 PM | link | via Bloomberg.com Russian Cargo Ship Arrives at the International Space StationDec. 25 (Bloomberg) -- A Russian Progress spacecraft filled with about 5,000 pounds of food, fuel, spare parts and Christmas presents arrived at the International Space Station today after a two-day journey to the orbiting laboratory.The Progress 16 ship, carrying 70 more containers of food than usual, docked at the station at about 7 p.m., New York time, NASA spokeswoman Melissa Mathews said. The ship will replenish stores after an audit this month showed supplies lower than previously thought. NASA would have had to evacuate the station if Progress 16 hadn't launched on time because the two astronauts aboard have less than two weeks worth of food, Kylie Clem, a spokeswoman for Johnson Space Center in Houston, said in a telephone interview. Progress 16 took off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 5:19 p.m. New York time Dec. 23. Progress 15, loaded with trash, left the station Dec. 22 to clear the way for the next supply ship and was commanded to burn up in the Earth's atmosphere. The two men aboard the station, NASA astronaut Leroy Chiao and Russian cosmonaut Salizhan Sharipov, were ordered to reduce their calorie consumption earlier this month after an inventory revealed the previous crew had eaten some of their food during a six-month stay. Chiao and Sharipov, who have been aboard the station since October, have been eating more sweets and candy that usual in order to make up for the lack of food, and both men, who are required to exercise about two hours a day, have lost five to 10 pounds during the past month. ``It does take a lot of energy to operate in space as compared on the ground,'' Chiao said in a Dec. 22 interview broadcast live on NASA Television. ``You would think being in weightlessness would take less energy. But we exercise two hours a day. We end up burning a lot of calories and that means we have to eat a lot too.'' posted by Gary Williams at 2:47 AM | link | Happy Merry (In CSS...)* *°* .**°. *°**°**°* .***°**°**. *°*°***°*°**°** .**°**°****°****. **°***°***°*°**°**° *.¡.* HAPPY HOLIDAYS As you may have noticed yesterday, I copied Joel's IRC posting, more or less directly, when I converted it to CSS. Afterwards, it occurred to me that it could be much simpler, as you see it above. Here's the code to do that: <center><div style="width:250px;border:5px dotted #00ff00;padding:10px;font-size:18pt;"><div style="color:#00FF00;text-align:center;">
* *<span style="color:yellow;">°</span>* .**<span style="color:blue;">°</span>. *<span style="color:yellow;">°</span>**<span style="color:aqua;">°</span>**<span style="color:aqua;">°</span>* .***<span style="color:red;">°</span>**<span style="color:blue;">°</span>**. *<span style="color:yellow;">°</span>*<span style="color:aqua;">°</span>***<span style="color:yellow;">°</span>*<span style="color:awua;">°</span>**<span style="color:yellow;">°</span>** .**<span style="color:yellow;">°</span>**<span style="color:yellow;">°</span>****<span style="color:blue;">°</span>****. **<span style="color:aqua;">°</span>***<span style="color:blue;">°</span>***<span style="color:aqua;">°</span>*<span style="color:red;">°</span>**<span style="color:orange;">°</span>**<span style="color:red;">°</span> *.¡.*</div><div style="color:red;text-align:center;"> HAPPY HOLIDAYS</div> </div></center> posted by Gary Williams at 1:09 AM | link | |
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Quantum Tea
