Scientists contend that the microscopic aerosol particles, which reflect sunlight and cool the atmosphere, have been masking the effect of global warming on Atlantic Ocean hurricanes for several decades. The researchers say that it is only in recent decades, as aerosol emissions from North America and Europe have declined due to clean air standards, that the full impact of greenhouse gas emissions on hurricane strength has been realized.

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After all, Bart does imitate life.

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The following is from the Wikipedia article on Charles Taylor, former leader of Liberia and all around bastard.

Taylor and Pat Robertson

According to a June 2, 1999 article in The Virginian-Pilot,[12] Taylor had extensive business dealings with televangelist Pat Robertson. According to the article, Taylor gave Robertson (who also had business dealings with Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire) the rights to mine for diamonds in Liberia’s mineral-rich countryside. According to two airplane pilots who reported this incident to the state of Virginia for investigation in 1994, Robertson used his Operation Blessing planes to haul diamond-mining equipment to Robertson’s mines in Liberia, despite the fact that Robertson was telling his 700 Club viewers that the planes were sending relief supplies to the victims of the genocide in Rwanda. The subsequent investigation by the state of Virginia concluded that Robertson diverted his ministry’s donations to the Liberian diamond-mining operation, but Attorney General of Virginia Mark Earley blocked any potential prosecution against Robertson.[13]

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Businessweek asks: What is it with Steve Jobs and translucent cubes?

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Check out this video:

(Thanks, Dad!)

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Three medium-sized planets of roughly the same mass as Neptune have been discovered around a nearby Sun-like star, scientists announced today.
The planets were discovered around HD 69830, a star slightly less massive than the Sun located 41 light-years away in the constellation Puppis (the Stern)…
The finding, detailed in the May 18 issue of the journal Nature, marks a first for astronomers because previously discovered multi-planet solar systems besides our own contain at least one giant, Jupiter-sized planet.
“For the first time, we have discovered a planetary system composed of several Neptune-mass planets,” said study team member Christophe Lovis of the Geneva Observatory in Switzerland.
It is similar to our own solar system in many ways: The outermost planets is located just within the star’s habitable zone, where temperatures are moderate enough for liquid water to form, and the system also contains an asteroid belt.

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Apropos of nothing, here is a baby platypus:

I stole it from this page about the summoning of thought forms, which in retrospect may have been a bad idea.

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I was going to post this photo on Mother’s Day with a caption that read “Look ma, no hands,” but then I thought better of it and I realized that posting it on the day after Mother’s Day would be much more inappropriate.

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The wild breeding stock that produces most of the world’s bananas appears to be in jeopardy:

Virtually all bananas traded internationally are of a single variety, the Cavendish, the genetic roots of which lie in India. Three years ago, New Scientist revealed that the world Cavendish crop was threatened by pandemics of diseases such as that caused by the black sigatoka fungus. The main hope for survival of the Cavendish lies in developing new hybrids resistant to the fungus, but this is a difficult and time-consuming task because the seedless modern fruit does not reproduce sexually and has to be bred from cuttings.

Link

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Gone! GM announces the end of the offensive Hummer 1 model. Hopefully gas prices will push the H2 & H3 out of production next. Link

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CNN Poll:
Respondents favored Clinton by greater than 2-to-1 margins when asked who did a better job at handling the economy (63 percent Clinton, 26 percent Bush) and solving the problems of ordinary Americans (62 percent Clinton, 25 percent Bush).

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So I guess this makes it official.

You Belong in Dublin

Friendly and down to earth, you want to enjoy Europe without snobbery or pretensions. You’re the perfect person to go wild on a pub crawl… or enjoy a quiet bike ride through the old part of town.

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Good news for alternative clean, renewable energy initiatives:

Kartik Madiraju, an 11th-grader from Montreal, was able to generate about half the voltage of a normal AA battery with a fifth of an ounce of naturally occurring magnetic bacteria. And the bacteria kept pumping current for 48 hours nonstop.

“No one has ever used magnetic bacteria to produce an electrical current before,” Madiraju said.

Interesting. Link

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Green Tea Martini

Total time: 40 minutes; active time: 10 minutes

2 ounces Green Tea-Infused Vodka

Splash of peach schnapps

Garnish: dried peach or apricot pieces

Shake Green Tea-Infused vodka in a cocktail shaker with ice and a splash of peach schnapps. Strain into a chilled martini glass. Garnish with dried peach or apricot pieces.
Yield: 1 serving

Green Tea-infused Vodka

1 liter Absolut Vodka

1 vanilla bean, split

11/2 cup loose green tea

1/4 cup diced dried peach or apricot (1/4-inch pieces)

1/4 cup diced dried quince or apple (1/4-inch pieces)

2 tablespoons dried mallow or chamomile blossoms

Pour vodka into a large pitcher. Scrape seeds from vanilla bean into vodka, then add remaining ingredients. Let the mixture sit 30 minutes, then taste. If the flavor is not strong enough, allow the mixture more time to blend. When the flavor is to your liking, strain the mixture through double layers of cheesecloth or through a coffee filter. (It’s important to remove all bits of tea, fruit, and vanilla bean, as these ingredients can cause the vodka to degrade more quickly.) Once strained, the vodka can be stored several months chilled or at room temperature.
Yield: 1 liter

Compliments of the bartender.

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Click the correct pig to play.

Thanks Ben!

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Rest assured, if this were my kid, somebody would be shot.

Following a visit in October 2005, the HM Inspectorate of Education found staff at the nursery did not change aprons often enough or use two gloves when changing nappies.

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Woohoo! On September 12th of this year, LucasFilm will finally be releasing the original versions of the first trilogy. Original, meaning no cute animations and Greedo doesn’t shoot first. Meaning I can once again enjoy the defining literary work of my childhood in its pure, uncorrupted form. Happy Birth-day to me… Link

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Everybody dance!

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“Brother Consolmagno, who works in a Vatican observatory in Arizona and as curator of the Vatican meteorite collection in Italy, said a “destructive myth” had developed in modern society that religion and science were competing ideologies.

He described creationism, whose supporters want it taught in schools alongside evolution, as a “kind of paganism” because it harked back to the days of “nature gods” who were responsible for natural events.”

Between this and the lifting of the ban against condom use, I’m pretty impressed so far with the current papal administration. Link

(from Warren Ellis)

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The Scientology headquarters in Clearwater, Florida is about to start offering a training program called “Super Power”:

Church officials won’t discuss specifics of Super Power. But Feshbach and another prominent Clearwater Scientologist who, like Feshbach, is a major donor to Super Power’s building fund, provided some details in interviews with the St. Petersburg Times. A group of former Scientologists who worked for the church on a campus in California where the program was in development also described elements of it.

Super Power uses machines, apparatus and specially designed rooms to exercise and enhance a person’s so-called perceptics. Those machines include an antigravity simulator and a gyroscope-like apparatus that spins a person around while blindfolded to improve perception of compass direction, said the former Scientologists.

So that’s how they’re planning to take over the world. They’re going to seize power with an army of amped-up superhuman rich people.

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If you can imagine it and someone will pay for it, it’s only a matter of time. Link

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More heavy material to complement a gray Monday:

Maybe I’m just getting old, but I no longer see the real value in being tolerant of other people’s beliefs. Sure, when beliefs are relegated to the realm of pure entertainment, they pose no real danger. So, a kid believes U2 is really a supergroup on par with The Beatles or The Who. That’s *his* problem, and it doesn’t really do a lot of harm to anyone except those of us who still stop by MTV occasionally to see what might be playing.

When religions are practiced, as they are by a majority of those in developed nations, today, as a kind of nostalgic little ritual - a community event or an excuse to get together and not work - it doesn’t really screw anything up too badly. But when they radically alter our ability to contend with reality, cope with difference, or implement the most basic ethical provisions, they must be stopped.

Link

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The End of Sex (worksafe)

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Sorry, couldn’t resist the title. Apparently, the sensation of dread uses the same neural pathways as pain sensations, which is why the anticipation of pain is sometimes worse than the pain itself. Link

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