Archive for January, 2009
Iraqi Minister Fires Museum Chief
Should the Iraqi government reopen its long-shuttered archaeology museum in Baghdad? An Iraqi minister says yes, and the head of the country’s archaeology board says no. So on 11 January, the minister fired the board president.
The Curse of Being Weird
The Infinite and the Beyond — Podcast: Episode #001 — The Curse of Being Weird
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In the introductory episode of The Infinite and the Beyond, we introduce the listener to the show by discussing the show title and direction. As you may be wondering if this is a pagan podcast why does it have such an unusual and generic title and why does the show seem to focus on such a broad scope of issues? Good Point! I address these issues right in the beginning of this episode.
We learn about Aleister Crowley in the regular show segment A Corner in the Occult. Love him or hate him, he is one of the more well known figures from the last one hundred years of occult history. One of the members of the original Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and primary figurehead behind the Ordo Templi Orientis, Aleister Crowley has influenced multiple spiritual, religious, and political movements; inspired a list of characters and films; and has even been the focus of famous song writers, singers, and musicians.
Later we address the issues with being an individual and what to avoid if you happen to be one of the cursed because being vastly different within any community is an extremely difficult thing to handle. Too many people fall in line with the norm and are oblivious to their situation, because to them they’re like everyone else, and if this is the case then what can be wrong with that?
Are you a Pantheist? After all, many pagans consider themselves to be Pantheists. To finish the show we take a look into Pantheism by addressing the tenants of Pantheism as laid down by The World Pantheism Movement and other Pantheist organizations.
To message the show please go here.
Sweden’s Fix for Banks: Nationalize Them
CARTER DOUGHERTY, NY Times: The Swedes have a simple message to the Americans: Bite the bullet and nationalize. Officials in Washington are trying to figure out how to shore up American banks that once ruled the financial world but now seem to weaken by the day, despite receiving hundreds of billions of dollars in government aid.
With Sweden’s banks effectively bankrupt in the early 1990s, a center-right government pulled off a rapid recovery that led to taxpayers making money in the long run. Former government officials in Sweden, many of whom come from the market-oriented end of the political spectrum, say the only way to solve the crisis in the United States is for the government to be prepared to temporarily take full ownership of the banks.
Sweden placed its banks with troubled assets into a so-called bad bank, where they could be held and then sold over time when market and…
Apple’s Evolution: In the Beginning
TIME Magazine: Steve Jobs was a 21-year-old college dropout living with his parents in Los Altos, Calif, where he and two friends, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne, would hang out in the garage. For other trios, this would be the beginning of a rock band; but Jobs, “Woz” and Wayne had other things on their minds.
Jobs and Wayne had both worked together at the gaming company, Atari, while Wozniak, 26, had worked for Hewlett-Packard. The three men created Apple Computers on April 1, 1976. While the two Steves went on to greatness as Apple’s revolutionary approach to personal computing bore fruit, Wayne sold his share of the newly created Apple for just $800 just three months after its inception.
Mars and Mercury Formed From Planetary Scraps from Earth and Venus
Ker Than, National Geographic News: Mars and Mercury were formed from the scraps of Earth and Venus, according to a radical new theory of rocky planet formation.
The model could explain some characteristics of Mars and Mercury that have long puzzled scientists, said Brad Hansen, an astronomer at the University of California, Los Angeles.
“In this picture, Mars and Mercury are essentially byproducts” of Earth and Venus, said Hansen, who presented his research at a recent meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Long Beach, California.
Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars
Israel Defends Use of Phosphorus
Israel insists its use of white phosphorus shells during its three-week campaign in Gaza was not illegal.
Foreign ministry spokesman Ygal Palmor said an internal investigation so far had found no evidence to support claims it was illegally fired near civilians.
White phosphorus is legal for making smokescreens in open battleground. But rights groups and journalists say it was used in crowded civilian areas. The weapon sticks to human skin and will burn through to the bone.
It can cause death or leave survivors with painful wounds which are slow to heal. Its ingestion or inhalation can also be fatal.
Army investigation
The UN said its headquarters were hit by three white phosphorus shells during the offensive, causing a fire destroying much of its aid supplies.
Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and foreign journalists who have gone into Gaza since the operation ended say they have found evidence of its use in crowded residential areas.
The Israeli…
Bury My Heart At Gaza
Black Sun Gazette’s Ulysses Lazarus contemplates the current situation in Gaza, it’s recent history, and it’s immediate future.
Map of Structurally Deficient Bridges in United States
CleanTech: The bridges displayed on this map represent the results of a Bureau of Transportation Statistics effort to geocode bridges from the Federal Highway Administration’s National Bridge Inventory (NBI). With the exception of Kentucky and Pennsylvania, whose most current data is 2006, all data is from the 2007 NBI.
Of the 6,126 structurally-deficient bridges in the United States national highway system, 451 could not be geolocated because of insufficient data. The impressive number of bridges that need repairs suggest that the Obama administration’s plan to spend on infrastructure projects should go forward with or without an economic recession.
Bridges Listed as Structurally Deficient by U.S. Dept. of Transportation Indicated By Green Dots
Trust Me, I’m A Journalist
Trust in the media promotes health. A study of people from 29 Asian countries, reported in the open access journal BMC Medicine, has shown that individuals with high levels of trust in the mass media tend to be healthier.
A team of researchers led by Yasuharu Tokuda from St. Luke’s International Hospital and Takashi Inoguchi from Chuo University, both in Tokyo, used data from a survey of 39,000 people to investigate the relationships between trust and self-reported health.
Tokuda said, “This study is the first to analyze this relationship. Our findings suggest that mass media programs can contribute towards better health, especially among those people who have trust in mass media. The media need to recognize the importance of their important social role in terms of public health”.
Barack Obama Action Figure
Telegraph: A Japanese company is selling a realistic Barack Obama toy as an action figure:
The Trash Was Historic, Too: 130 Tons of Inaugural Garbage
Petula Dvorak, Washington Post: Washington trash trucks hauled away at least 130 tons of garbage after the inauguration of President Obama, with more to go. National Park Service workers picked up almost 100 tons on the Mall and near the White House.
Because most trash cans had been removed for security reasons and a record-breaking crowd gathered downtown, the mountain of rubbish left behind was of historic proportions. “More than any Fourth of July, more than any event we’ve seen,” Park Service spokesman William Line said.
The detritus included handwarmer packets, bottles, food, newspapers, blankets, gloves, coolers and a table or two, in addition to items bought from street vendors. “They left behind Obama hats, Obama bags, Obama socks,” said Mafara Hobson, spokeswoman for Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D). “People left behind a lot of trash. A lot of it was the vendors along the parade route, too.”
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Husband Murders Wife for Changing Facebook Status to ‘Single’
BBC News: A man murdered his estranged wife after becoming “enraged” when she changed her marital status on Facebook to “single”.
Edward Richardson, 41, of Mayfield Road, Biddulph, was found guilty of stabbing Sarah Richardson to death.
He killed the 26-year-old hairdresser at her parents’ home in Brown Lees, Staffordshire, on 12 May, 2008, Stafford Crown Court heard.
Richardson tried to kill himself after the attack and was sentenced to life with a minimum of 17 years in prison.
Fiona Cortese, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “Richardson became enraged when Sarah changed her marital status on Facebook to single and decided to go and see her as she was not responding to his messages.
Facebook Now Nearly Twice The Size Of MySpace Worldwide
Michael Arrington, TechCrunch: In November 2008 Facebook drew 200 million unique worldwide visitors; more than 1 in 5 people who accessed the Internet that month visited the site. When sites are that big growth generally stagnates, but in Facebook’s case it’s still skyrocketing. In December, 222 million people visited the site says newly released Comscore stats, a 10.8% month over month growth rate. 22% of the total Internet audience went to Facebook in December.
Facebook now has nearly 100 million more worldwide users than MySpace, which added 4 million new users in December to 125 million total. The page view difference is more dramatic — Facebook had 80 billion monthly page views in December v. 43 billion for MySpace. Just six months ago the sites were about the same size.
Facebook, still a private company, is the world’s default social network. MySpace is still the king in the U.S., but trends suggest…
Is Uncle Sam STILL Watching You?
“The NSA had access to all Americans’ communications,” begins this report on Countdown with Keith Olbermann. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist James Risen reacts to the Countdown report and states that he was spied on by the Bush administration, and is taking legal action.
Bush Was Actually Spying on … Everyone?!?
Following up on the earlier post from Jacob about NSA whistleblower Russell Tice, he sits down with Keith Olbermann again to expand on the extent of the illegal wiretapping program under the Bush Administration.
President Obama, is this still going on?
Goat Detained for Armed Robbery
LAGOS (Reuters): Police in Nigeria are holding a goat on suspicion of attempted armed robbery.
Vigilantes took the black and white beast to the police saying it was an armed robber who had used black magic to transform himself into a goat to escape arrest after trying to steal a Mazda 323.
“The group of vigilante men came to report that while they were on patrol they saw some hoodlums attempting to rob a car. They pursued them. However one of them escaped while the other turned into a goat,” Kwara state police spokesman Tunde Mohammed told Reuters by telephone.
“We cannot confirm the story, but the goat is in our custody. We cannot base our information on something mystical. It is something that has to be proved scientifically, that a human being turned into a goat,” he said.
Too Much Law, Too Little Monitoring January 23
Main Street argues that our financial problems result from inadequate regulation and Wall Street believes there’s already too much. They’re both half right. We need cleaner law appropriately administered rather than left to the over-exuberant free market.
Banker Gives Spankings to 50 Customers
A Pennsylvania banker punished more than 50 customers who were late on their loan payments by spanking them in his office.
In the tiny town of Baden, Pennsylvania (population 4,377), bank manager David Rhodes admitted that he’d spanked all 50 of the delinquent customers, bragging that it was effective because “I never had any trouble with them afterward.”
The best part of the story? He was later convicted for “misappropriating” $88,000 in bank money — and was sent to prison for three years.
10 Most Dangerous Foods
The dangers of these foods range from PCBs in certain fish, to large trace amounts of pesticides on fresh fruit and veggies. This past year, the National Institutes of Health even linked long-term pesticide exposure to diabetes. To avoid these health risks, we came up with a list of ten foods to beware, both for your health and for the health of the environment.
1. Farmed Salmon: Tim Fitzgerald, a scientist with the Oceans Program of the Environmental Defense Fund, says, “Salmon is the third most popular seafood in the US, so people are eating a lot of it and most of what they’re eating is farmed. As a result of the feed salmon are given, they are very high in PCBs and environmental contaminants.
For reasons of health, the environment, and popularity with consumers, farmed salmon is at the top of the list of seafood to avoid.” The average dioxin level in…
